doc benway

I would like to send my love to my friends on my favorite Daobums thread. May 2017 be filled with spaciousness, light, and warmth.

You can look at emptiness as escaping negative thoughts, positive thoughts, anything... But i try to be more focused on the who that is escaping - that's where the answers are. The beauty of space is that it has peculiar characteristics - it can accept anything, it hosts everything, it has no point of reference or limitation, it is boundless, it is indestructible, etc... And it cannot ever be separated from awareness, so one is never escaping from anything really. Emptiness is not escape, it is the source, the primordial purity from which all the enlightened characteristics arise. It is self knowing and clear. Even the negative thoughts are simply ornaments because the one who would be bothered has no point of reference... In terms of mind tricks, knowing if you are deluded, and genuine experience - I think some time spent on the cushion is important. You need to develop confidence and stability in the nature of mind as you dig deeper into the essence of experience. In Rinpoche's book, Awakening the Luminous Mind, the first half is spent teaching basic trekchod practice. Connecting with and resting in the nature of mind with stability. [edit: the second half of the book is the 5 Fold Teaching of Dawa Gyaltsen] Here is a practical method -

I really appreciate your support! _/\_

I've never seen a set of 16 Luohangong, I practice a set of 18. Do you practice a set of 16? Thanks

Next you'll be claiming that the USA is not the greatest country on earth...

I've recently added sleep yoga practices - connecting with the clear light during sleep. More challenging than dream practices but the results are also more direct and profound.

The Bön tradition takes exactly this approach. We acknowledge and fully experience what thoughts or emotions are present. In the context of resting in the correct view, they naturally liberate. There is a succinct and elegant method known as the Five-fold Teachings of Dawa Gyaltsen that offer a very direct way to cultivate this. Dawa Gyaltsen's teachings can be remembered in a simple poem - Vision is mind Mind is empty Emptiness is clear light Clear light is union Union is great bliss Here is a link to the first in a series of 8 free online teachings on this method - I hope it helps you.

Off topic perhaps, but... shrug I am reading Introduction to Tantra by Lama Yeshe (great book). He describes a wonderful and simple meditation intended to cultivate equanimity: - Visualize being together with one close friend, one serious enemy, and one stranger. Further imagine the four of you are arranged with your friend behind and the enemy and stranger in front of you. Surrounding this small group is a large group, perhaps all sentient beings. - Look deeply into why you consider your friend favorably. Is it related to blood relation, neighbor, a kind action,...? - Do the same for the enemy. - If you look deeply enough at the why's as well as all other interactions you've had with these people over time, the lines between friend, enemy, and stranger will begin to blur. - As we begin to feel more equilibrium and less bias with respect to these close individuals, we then extend this feeling out towards the larger group. We then begin to become familiar with and continuously rest in this feeling of balance and equilibrium. - If we practice this effectively, it will support the development of equanimity.

For sure, our lives play out in cycles at many levels. In artistic endeavors, I've always found that taking a break and coming back after some time is a very good thing for creativity and productivity. I think it applies in the spiritual world as well. Too much focus and effort over time leads to burnout, staleness, can even lead to bitterness. I think it's healthy to be able to read ourselves, know when we need a break, and act on that in a timely fashion.

Hi Rara, Nice to read such a lovely post. My primary practices these days are all about the spaces in life, the openness that makes room for everything to arise. Warm wishes, Steve

It seems like everything is so focused outside of yourself... the causes and conditions that are responsible for your problems, God... Perhaps it would be of value to look deeper inside yourself? It's very difficult to effectively help others if you are unable to first help yourself. Good luck

Right now my favorite is Ba Duan Jin 八 段 錦, my teacher calls our version Gu Chuan古 傳, it's a little different

The 3rd eye chakra is also used in dream practices in a slightly different way. There are 4 categories of dream experiences - peaceful, expanding, powerful, and wrathful (notice the same characterizations are used to describe deities). The 3rd eye chakra is used to help induce dreams of expansiveness and growth. Practices with chakras are a tool to peak inward; each chakra reflects an important energetic aspect of our experience. They all connect to the central channel. Residing in the central channel is a good "tech" skill to work on. Visualizing, then feeling, then being the fundamental inseparability space and awareness that resides there. "The center of the victorious mandala, one's own body. The source of all positive qualities without exception! Is the expanse within the three channels and the five chakras. I take refuge in this body of emptiness..." - Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche Prayer of the first refuge, the Body of Emptiness Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche makes the highest level tantric and dzogchen teachings accessible to the Western student. Everything is there, for free, online, if you are fortunate enough to be karmically connected. I think you are right in your other thread, karma is the key - simply seeing the truth in that could make your experience with thodgal worthwhile I should think. There is no greater truth than karma. And you can influence your karma; in fact every action we take is our karma. Showing an understanding of that in our lives through our conduct, that is the next step after seeing the truth of it. Then we actually bring those qualities to life - peace, growth, power, wrath. We manifest the perfected aspects of ourselves. This is the manifestation of the 3 bodies... It's not rainbow body yet but I think it's a start... You may want to look more into sleep yoga. It is a direct method to recognize and connect with the clear light. The clear light is the key to all bardo practices which is fundamentally related to the rainbow body.

It is the kali yuga and America voted to destroy the status quo. There is deep seated distrust and disdain for the federal government, for good reason. Their choice will not rebuild but lead to further decay and destruction is my prediction. Perhaps it is exactly what we need to move forward towards rebirth and awakening.

Qi can be applied to anything. In learning to cultivate it, there must be patience, awareness, sensitivity, flexibility, and peacefulness. This is why practices used to cultivate qi are so often slow moving - qigong, taijiquan, zhan zhuang. Once understanding and knowledge of application is there, it can be applied to anything. If you are interested in learning, I would highly recommend that you start with an art that is rooted in it's cultivation, like yiquan, taijiuan, or qigong. If you are interested in boxing, xingyiquan will be the closest in quality of movement.

I think it's all a matter of how we define our terms... The truth is love, if one is actually more awake, they will always be more loving and less bitter. One can be happy whether right or wrong... I am speaking in absolutes, when we speak in relative terms it gets all twisted.

Here is one way I like to think about the many merging into one. It's not so much about merging, it's about losing the characteristics that permit discrimination. Like water is the nature of individual waves or bodies of water, the mind has a nature that can perhaps be said to be indistinguishable from individual to individual. When all is allowed to settle into the base, undifferentiated space and awareness, how would one distinguish one from another. That no longer has meaning. Anyway, cool article and thanks for listening.

Ouch Here is the only public teaching I've seen. The exercise using the 3rd eye is described starting around 47 minutes in. The whole talk is worth a listen. Meow!

There are such teachings in the Bönpo lineage as well.

You can time yourself doing one round of the mala, then all you need is a watch or clock.

I can't speak for all "Buddhists" but I have experience with Daoist and Bön Buddhist practices. There are some deep similarities between Daoist neigong practices and tantric and dzogchen practices. Bönpos do sound work (5 Warrior Syllables). There are inner practices very similar to Inner Smile... Lot's of overlap between Daoist practices and the Vajrayana and Dzogchen schools.

"When you have found the Nature of Mind, that is the root of the mind. When you have realized this Nature, maintain it without delusion. This is perfect Buddha-Mind or meditation, the Nature of Buddha. When you have found this state seek neither to alter nor monitor it; doing nothing to it, simply leave it as it is. This is Great Perfection. Since there is nothing which can be said to exist, there is no particular way to focus your mind or anything on which to meditate. Once you have realized this Nature, simply remain there." - heart teaching of Darma Sherab, 7th Master of the Zhang Zhung Nyengyud

I would suggest this be moved to the Daoist forum if the OP wants a focused discussion on cultivating jing, qi, and shen...

This is beautiful - thank you Prasanna. Can you tell me if there are practices of connecting with conscious awareness in dreams and sleep in your tradition? Thanks _/\_

This is analogous to the Bönpo approach to problem solving. They would say that one allows the mind to settle into it's nature. My teacher uses a method he calls taking 3 precious pills - connect with the stillness of the body, the silence of the speech, and the spaciousness of the mind. That is the source of rest and nourishment and also the source of creativity and enlightened activity. It is also considered the true source of healing. From the Bönpo scripture, The 21 Nails: Its positive qualities are inconceivable, Like the revelation of a king's treasure. The one who rests in its true meaning Enjoys the inexhaustible wealth of its fruition.