doc benway

Who is to judge if another is realized? One way to look at it is that all true creativity comes from a place of realization. By that I mean that creativity is a spontaneous expression of an aspect of ourselves that is beyond that which we identify with as self. We see this in all forms of creativity, be it artistic, scientific, expressions of love, genuine relationship, and so on. If you are ever in Baltimore, Maryland seek out the American Visionary Arts Museum. It is a museum dedicated to self-taught artists who have grown through vision rather than formal education and is filled with the art of self-realization. I ever in Italy, try to visit Damanhur in the Piedmont, a community of spiritual seekers and artists. Alex Grey Reverend Albert Lee Wagner Sermet Aslan Gerald Hawkes The spiritual, artistic community of Damanhur in Piedmont, Italy

People often lie, both to themselves and others. The lies are an expression of their own ignorance and insecurity. It is not about you. Women are naturally more intuitive and sensitive than men. That is what you are feeling. Be genuine and empathetic in your thoughts and feelings. The mind is good at noticing and attaching significance to things - numbers, associations, and so on... Whether or not there is significance is mainly a matter of projection, IMO. While it is good to notice and be open to your intuition, I think it is an unnecessary distraction to be too focused on such things. My connection is with crows. They sometimes teach me things but mostly we simply share a moment of connection here and there. Celibacy can be a useful tool for some at certain times in their lives. In and of itself, it is not of much value. It does not sound as if it is healthy for you at the moment. Marijuana can be a useful tool for some at certain times in their lives. While is can be a source of opening to deeper feelings and interrelationships, it can be very possessive and misleading. For me it is far more unbalancing and distracting than supportive or instructive. The problem seems to be that it emphasizes the illusory value and primacy of the thinker. That one is already far too strong and domineering, and needs no help. I agree with Michael that you would be better off abstaining at this point. Many of the things you describe suggest a disconnectedness to me. Celibacy and marijuana accentuate that powerfully, as does social media and anonymous interaction. Antidotes to that are real community and social interaction, mind-body practices, and sobriety. Good luck

Through awareness, openness, and persistence. Be aware, allow whatever arises to come, and allow it to go. Then simply continue to rest as you are. Labeling and making distinctions between patterns and forms that arise is grasping, it is not meditation. Labels and distinctions will arise and should be let go just like the patterns that are being labeled.

Yin and yang aspects define one another. Without one, there is no frame of reference to appreciate the other. If one is always subjected to cold, never heat, cold has no meaning. Ugliness defines beauty and vice versa. If you spend your life in the dark, dark has no meaning... it only has meaning in relation to light... and so forth. In this sense the two are inextricably related and also, in this sense, one is at the heart of the other as mentioned above.

I suspect it is because that they achieve that state naturally, through their commitment and full immersion in their activity. They may not think about identification but if the intellect creeps in, if they disconnect, they lose that edge. Zhuangzi's parable about the archer speaks to that quite well. When an archer is shooting for funHe has all his skill.If he shoots for a brass buckleHe is already nervous.If he shoots for a prize of goldHe goes blindOr sees two targets –He is out of his mind.His skill has not changed,But the prize divides him.He caresHe thinks more of winningThan of shooting –And the need to winDrains him of power.~Chuang Tzu I experienced it long before any meditative or spiritual training. It can happen in any number of circumstances, for me it was mostly in music (both playing and listening) and martial arts practice. I think the level of familiarity with the activity is one way to allow us to achieve that mental state. It can take the place of the spiritual perspective I referred to. However, one doesn't have to exhibit mastery of a skill to be in the zone. A child can be fully "in the zone" while playing with a toy. Of course, skill sets are needed to play Beethoven but one can be in the zone beating on a drum for the first time in their life in a drum circle. The zone is the internal connection, not the external product, IMO. The external product is a side effect.

They're just terms, labels upon which we can project our interpretations based on our conditioning and bias. All of them can represent that state, or none, depending on our perspective. Getting to that state requires that we drop our identification to thought, feeling, labels, ... to all transitory states and experience. It requires that we let go of all effort. No more following the past, anticipating the future, or changing the present moment. If we are able to do that successfully, we are able to connect to a much deeper and pervasive state of being which is the source of all creativity.

Haven't had time to read beyond the OP but will do so later as this is a wonderful topic. My initial reaction is: Daoist sages made no effort to act as a "Daoist" Sages have one thing in common - they open up and listen to a deeper and more subtle intelligence than intellect and rational thought. The rhythms they dance to are that of the natural universe, not the conditioned mind. So I would suggest trying to let go of wanting to do things as a Daoist would do things and see if it's possible to connect to something deeper and more subtle than your thoughts. The natural world works just fine without trying to be anything. Trying is the antithesis of Daoist action. Ways to do this are mind-body practices like qigong, taijiquan, yoga, meditation, or simply spending a lot of time in nature or with animals. The key is to not get stuck following the past, anticipating the future, or trying to change or analyze the present. Simply let yourself rest in what is, as it is. Settle into being connected to what is going on here and now, in the body, in your relationships, in your work, and in your environment. Planning and trying to be Daoist is far too contrived and inauthentic, I don't think you'll find the way in that direction.

In the Bön tradition of Tibet, there is a mantra known as the Great Mantra or the Ma Tri. It invokes the names of six emanations of the male and female deities of Bön, Tonpa Shenrab and Sherab Chamma. Each of the six emanations is an enlightened manifestation appearing in one of the six realms of samsaric existence to ease the suffering of sentient beings and help them to achieve a good rebirth.

Heart Essence of the Khandro is a precious teaching by His Eminence Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinoche on female masters of Bön, their realizations, and pith instructions. I've found this a wonderful resource for my practice and knowledge of Bön. I am posting this because I stumbled across an opportunity to acquire this beautiful book at a ridiculously low price, about half of what one would pay for a new copy through Amazon. Here is the link for anyone interested. I have no connection with the retailer. Heart Essence of the Khandro

Alejandro Jodorowsky is my favorite director. I've watched crappy prints of The Holy Mountain for years. It's recently been rereleased, remastered, and released with remastered copies of several other of his films (El Topo, Fando y Lis, and La Cravate (basically a filmed mime routine). I just bought and watched the whole series. This version of The Holy Mountain is a revelation to fans of the film (as is El Topo) and should be watched by anyone interested in an individual's spiritual quest documented in film. It even has a soundtrack of Jodorowsky talking you through the film's creation (in Espanol but English subtites are available). My single favorite movie - but it's definitely not for everyone. Anyone else like or hate it?

I practice and it is amazing, one of my favorite practices. It is empowering and liberating. Like Luke, I study with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. I’ve done dream and sleep yoga retreats with him, the Glidewing course, and read his book on the subject. The book is excellent but if you can afford the online workshop, it will be far more accessible and supportive. It is a 24 hour practice. The most important parts of the practice are exercises done upon awakening, throughout the day, and preparing for sleep. It takes most people a very long time to see tangible success so few stick with it long enough to benefit. It took me about 18 months before starting to have consistent lucidity but it is worth it to me. The idea is is that if we can become lucid in dream we can change and control the dream at will. We can travel, meet with spiritual masters, practice in our dream, ask questions, learn things, neutralize threatening situations, etc... Most importantly, it cultivates a sense of flexibility and liberation that carries into our waking life. As as my teacher says, we sleep 30% of our lives. That’s 25 - 30 years of our life asleep. Imagine what we can do with all of that time if we can harness it for spiritual growth. Another nice benefit is that it really leads to very nourishing and restful sleep. I never feel better than when waking up from lucid dreams, with one exception - sleep yoga, but that’s even more challenging. I’d start with dream yoga.

I’m on retreat at the moment and just woke up from having a lucid dream, felt compelled to visit this site, found this post and one I started 10 years ago! Fun stuff... No time right now but I will try to post a bit about dream yoga as soon as i have a bit more time.

In Bön and Buddhism it is what is meant by the word wisdom.

My practice is rooted in releasing all effort. Ultimately this leads to a place of unmatched power, the power of space, the power of openness, the power of emptiness. There is nothing more powerful than open space, it is indestructible, it is able to host anything at all, it has infinite potential. Of course, there are many types of power and we all need something unique based on who and where we are in our lives. This is just one approach but I've never found a more powerful one in terms of its effects in my life.

Some thoughts, FWTW: Vaping is better for the lungs than smoking but not without negative effects. Nearly anything we breath into our lungs other than clean air can create issues. Vapor contains fewer irritants and carcinogens than smoke but still can be very irritating and potentially harmful. The temperature, any vaporized particles and chemicals all can have an effect on the lining of the lung tissues not to mention on other tissues once absorbed into the blood. This can lead to asthma, bronchitis, cancer, etc... Whatever you are vaping can be either quite pure or heavily contaminated with a variety of solvents, additives, contaminants, etc... It is important to know what you are inhaling, where it came from, was it analyzed for purity, etc... There is some good info online about different vape products and their purities. I was a smoker as a teen and young man. Despite quitting in my 20's, I developed asthma at age 40. Part of that is smoking, part related to where I live (poor air quality), and probably part related to genetics and other factors. Vaping is far less irritating for me than smoking but consistent use will lead to asthma and bronchitis issues for me. The safest way to ingest cannabis from a health perspective is edibles. They can also be contaminated but they can be easily made at home with minimal expense from organic flowers. The only caveat is that you need to take it very slow, know what dose you are ingesting and what your tolerance is, and be prepared for a much longer high and potentially much more intense experience. If interested, check out the excellent e-book, Wake and Bake: a cookbook by Corinne Tobias - www.wakeandbake.co. I'm not sure of your intention regarding what you are vaping and what you are using it for but I'll add this unsolicited opinion. From a practitioner's perspective, while some intoxicants, like cannabis, can have a limited, favorable effect on consciousness for the purposes of practice for some, I think it is far more likely to become a distraction or obstacle for most of us. Intention and balance are the key. Once such substances have helped us to loosen our conditioned frame of mind, it is far more important to explore our nature with the utmost possible clarity. At this point of development, I think any and all aids will eventually need to be let go. This includes intoxicants but also tools like visualization, mantra, seed syllables, and so on. Once a certain degree of certainty and stability are achieved, one can then work with entheogens and related drugs with more control but at that point they're hardly necessary... at that point they are more of an intentional obstacle to help strengthen our practice. Edited to add: I just noticed the OP's screen name - mindtooloud For me personally, cannabis intoxication makes it much more challenging to rest in an open, meditative state than a perfectly clear mind. I more easily get caught on the thought train and it tends to take me farther afield for longer periods. The resting is also very different with far more stimulation from the effects of the drug that obscure the openness and clarity of pure presence. While that may be entertaining, and a part of the enjoyment of being high, it is not conducive to lowering the internal volume... And while we can still rest deeper into pure presence even in states of fairly extreme intoxication, it is far more challenging until we have a very solid root in our practice. Food for thought if your screen name is a clue to your goals in your practice. Good luck on your journey! _/\_

caught in a spring breeze Celestrina neglecta rests in perfect peace

I'm stuck on page 48

whack

Stillness in motion Is light particle or wave? Must we make a choice?

Not me

Nevertheless, that is the world we live in. Unless we spend the rest of our lives in isolation or leave our practice on the cushion, that is where our growth lies.

This depends on where one is along the path. When the outer forms are realized as a display of the base, they can be used to exercise with and actually reinforce, deepen, and strengthen wisdom.

The Daoist sages are in our heads - they are our expectations, our projections, and our interpretation of the classics. The sages are in our hearts - they are our own untapped potential, our direct connection to the Truth and the Way, they are the opportunity presented in every challenge we face. They are in our future to whatever degree we are able to manifest their qualities in our lives.