rex

Here's a list of elemental correspondances from different cultures (including the Dyani Buddhas): http://www.friesian.com/elements.htm (I wish they displayed the correspondences in directional order, it makes it easier to get the sense of a magic circle/manadala). Later edit: They did! My bad

Just been play fighting and had my arm pinned by two hands against a wall. If I used my normal muscular strength and struggled to push off from the wall I couldn't escape. However if I relaxed and just had the intention of touching the opposite wall escape was easy. I reckon it's down to some sort of subtle communication between to people locked in a physical tussel. If there's tension and suddenly someone relaxes then the other person relaxes as well and this gives the opportunity to escape. Funny thing was even when I told my opponent that I was going to 'think myself strong' and stayed relaxed all the time it still worked. Plenty of room for experiment here. Anyone done something similar?

Thanks for the explanations and useful suggestions everyone. Michael's mentioning of how 'just a thought' can make all the difference is really intriguing (btw a belated happy birthday ). It also reminded me of an exercise we once did in a Spirit Combat class (cross between Aikido and Ju Jitsu). We had a guy on either side of us grab our wrists with both hands and we were to try and escape. Of course we couldn't extract ourselves with finesse, if at all. Then the sensei got us to imagine a wave of energy coming up from the ground which passed up through our body into our arms as we circled them in a relaxed way. To my astonishment the guys fell over. Now just before the same blokes were in control - one of them was always competitive and uncooperative in partner exercises. As Wayfarer says it'll be another matter doing these types of things in a real confrontation. I think the principle of staying mentally relaxed and having 'just a thought' is still an invaluable skill in situational awareness and avoidance. This might be something for a follow up thread but I'll blab on anyway. From the mercifully few iffy situations I've found myself in a change in mental stance clearly had an effect on my energetic presence and how it was perceived by others. Once I had to walk by this guy who had been leaning against this wall and staring at me from quite some distance. Now I walk by people who look at me everyday but the alarm bells don't ring. This guy thought he'd have some fun with a bit of intimidation. I continued on with a clear intention of a line of attack if anything kicked off. When I got to about three feet away and our energy connected his energy just wilted and dissipated. That was the end of that and there was no eye contact. In that brief moment of heightened awareness during a potential situation I sensed that my emotional energy in a three foot radius was strong and clear. There are other examples involving dogs, people looking for an argument and accidentally wandering into a gang's space on a train but the underlying principle is clear, a relaxed state of mind hooked up to a clear image can be used positively in situational awareness (I think El Tortugo once mentioned using bear imagry to put off potential miscreants). Chi kung practice may enhance one's ability to pull it off and I think it can let some sort of inner instinct to kick in when a situation develops. Yes this is all highly subjective and there are all sorts of ifs and buts. There has been some research into how thoughts and intentions can be registered consciously and unconsciously by other people. Vasliev's Experiments in Mental Suggestion gives much food for thought in how mental projection can be used. I once met a sinister guy who said that he used to project commands into people via their solar plexus like 'scratch your face' to see if they did. He didn't claim 100% success but he said he used this as one of his means to sound people out. He did say that people invariably used to instinctively cover their solar plexus area after he sent them a command. This could all make a nice area of study from avoidance strategies to actual physical confronation using sound bio-mechanical principles (thanks Thaddeus) combined with energized intention/imagery.

Nice one Sean, thanks for this. (btw if you use a program like Audacity you could reduce the file size by putting up an FM radio quality recording instead of CD quality. This shouldn't lessen the listening experience unless of course there's any singing etc.)

It was your birthday yesterday (Sunday). Hope you had a good one. Best, Rex

Hi GT, Check your PM. Too much 'inauspicious' energy around.

Same here.

Reminds of that quote:- "When you're young your mind is broad and your belly is narrow. As you get older the situation reverses"

Hello! Are you an ordained man of the cloth?

Nice one Harry

This thread has been revealing in a number of ways: 1) Public forums, alas even Taobums, is not necessarily the place to reveal too much about personal experience; 2) We're a bunch of hungry ghosts!?

Neat trick though. Probably only works on forearms of relaxed compliant subjects. Never did get to test if he could do it sparring on other body parts.

I've got one: 1) An akido guy brushed his hand up my forearm and all the strength left it. Brushing his hand down again restored the strength.

Well it's certainly an attention grabber! We should be grateful to Sean and people like him for not leaving us in the dark. As for not leading to good results I suppose it depends on what is meant by good results - developing power or spiritual development (i.e. developed sense of kinship & responisbility, calmer mind, increased patience and compassion etc). You can have one without the other but if there are methods that don't make them mutually exclusive then all the better.

How about spiritual committment?

Oh this sounds good GT. Is this a specific meditation or something that just happens spontaneously?

Good images of Tara in her 21 aspects here: Twenty One Taras Other deity pics here and here.

Hi Cloud, The Tibetans are no better or no worse than everyone else so their history like everyone elses' has contradictions. The inherent contradiction of a theocracy is that government affairs and spiritual concerns don't always tally especially when power, money and influence are at stake. I think the Dalai Lama is on record as stating that the monasteries did, though not as a matter of course, abuse their power in the past. The contradiction in modern secular democracies is that influential political parties can have the religious right as confidants and mentors. It would be interesting to determine the sources of these accumulating snippets to see if they come from concerned vajrayana whistle blowers who have discovered a hitherto hidden agenda or from uninformed outsiders with their own axe to grind. Personally I find Trimondi's writing sensationally alarmist. The tantric vows that vajrayana initiates take on bear absolutely no resemblance to a purported license to abuse. Best, Rex

Hi Cloud, Well this is interesting! Do you know of any other sources and the circles in which this seems to be a hot topic? Best, Rex

Came across these references to Buddhist practice that have a bearing on healing love/jing gong that's worth picking through to see similarities and differences. Clearly dual cultivation within the context of Buddhist tantric practice is a serious business. When serving a karmamudra, the pure awareness of bliss and emptiness will arise: Composed in a blessed union of insight and means, Slowly send down, retain and draw back up the bodhichitta, And conducting it to the source, saturate the entire body. But only if lust and attachment are absent will that awareness arise. (from: Tilopa's Mahamudra Instruction to Naropa) Also this from Yeshe Tsogyel's karamudra instructions: This community and future travellers on the zap-lam path, Must first find a teacher especially qualified, And from that teacher possessing every spiritual sign, You must request initiation and pledge fulfilment of your vows. Then train your energy flows until you gain self-control, And after receiving the three superior initiations, cultivate ensuing desire, To perfect the nature of the four levels of joy, For six months or until signs of achievement appear in the body. Unite male (solar) and female (lunar) energies, Developing the method of mixing higher and lower energies, Female assisting male and male assisting female, The principles of each being separately practised. Intensify and elevate your practice, broadening the horizons of your pleasure; But if pleasure and Emptiness are not identified, Profitlessly you stray from the path of Tantra: Apprehend the intrinsic unity of pleasure and Emptiness. Guard the samaya of Guru and Dakini like your eyes; In various skilful ways enjoy the five sacred substances; Practise to perfection the skill of retaining your seed-essence; Be attentive to obstacles and hostile powers; If the samaya is impaired strive to restore it. About the body: do not let it slip into old habits Or you will become like ordinary men and women; With the confidence of the deity, meditate charged with power And inform your focal points of energy as a principal and his circle of deities. About speech: concentrate upon mantra and energy flows - Without energy control your sexual activity is fornication; Properly execute the exercises of 'drawing up' and 'saturating' And with the nails of your imagination apply an hermetic seal. About mind: identify the conditioned mind with seed-essence itself; If seed-essence is lost in actuality The karma of slaying a Buddha is incurred; At all costs gain self-control. Absorb yourself intently in the experience of desire, For without it the mysteries have no meaning; Desire as pure pleasure is the goal fulfilled. Preserve constant cognition of the primal purity of experience; Protect the samaya like your body and life, For if it is broken there is no authority to restore it. The foregoing is advice upon meditation practice.

The Tibetans say do a hundred a day with good motivation, i.e wishing the best for everyone (e.g protection & liberation), and you won't take rebirth in the three lower realms.

Yes and no. Pontification by itself is myopic. Based on practice and experience it can be an expression of clarity. Of course another's clarity is another's hot air.