doc benway

Serendipity...

No need for the 'vs' - it's not a contest. Visualization cultivates concentration. Is there anything more powerful than a human mind that has mastered concentration? Emptiness is all well and good as a concept. If one has the true insight of emptiness, that is one piece of the puzzle. To manifest the perfected qualities of liberation throughout one's life requires both mastery of concentration and the insight of emptiness together. The traditional way of teaching is to develop concentration first as this often leads to a direct insight into emptiness. However, simply having an insight into emptiness does not necessarily mean it will be stable or properly interpreted.

I suggest to take everything as your teacher. There is no difference between following the teachings of a guru and following the teachings of a plant. Both must be approached in a similar fashion - with an appropriate degree of caution and respect and a mind that questions from a place of openness and spaciousness. Ultimately the teacher is the same - our pristine condition, the nature of that mind that is asking. Only its manifestation changes based on our needs and proclivities.

---don't open that can (...of worms) I have been dreaming so cool and so damp

I've read your post a few times, manitou. And I haven't really known what to say. The word rigpa is quite charged and I hesitate to say anything that takes us down a path of trying to define it. I do want to acknowledge your willingness and ability to express such deep levels of self-experience and self-discovery. It is at times inspiring, and at times humbling, and I appreciate your connection with and approach to this community. Perhaps there is little more evocative of the concept of rigpa than just such a journey and expression. _/\_

My only insight is that it is invaluable to look into the one who feels they are losing energy... Look long and deep. That is also where you may find an uninterruptible source of energy, always fresh and clear.

Do you practice that Junko?

I can't really speak to any connection between kundalini and RBBB. Anything that affects the heart muscle can affect the tissue that generates and conducts electrical activity in the heart. The typical causes are heart attack, infection, hypertension, and pulmonary embolism in the Western paradigm.

It is also good to simply sit... or do the housework.

This is a wonderful teaching on Advaita Vedanta.

The Bonpos have a very similar teaching, though in 5 steps, attributed to the 8th century master Dawa Gyaltsen: Vision is mind. Mind is empty. Emptiness is clear light. Clear light is union. Union is great bliss. It's a wonderful practice!

I feel a bit of the following - the eye sees until it distinguishes itself from the color, in that distinction there is blindness... similar for the other senses and sense organs. We truly see the world when we look through the heart Leave it as it is As the clear sky... This is a dzogchen teaching...

Yes Not unsafe or unproductive. Mastering concentration is absolutely indispensable for more advanced practices, takes a very long time, and occurs on multiple levels. It can't hurt you. Of course, it will unmask things that you may struggle with - always use your common sense and if things get scary or dicey get support from a guide or teacher. He first describes the practice, then gets into experiences and signs, then on to integration where the connections can get subtle. Once you have some personal experience and start applying that to the context of your life, you will develop understanding and what he talks about will make more sense. It's easy to get affordable guidance in Bön practices lately from multiple, qualified lamas.

The Night Before

It's been very helpful to me to try and take my negative experiences as the path. It really makes a difference.

It's nice to see genuine connection and an appreciation for the value and rarity of these teachings expressed here. When we make that sort of connection, it is such an amazing thing, and one gets a sense of how fortunate we are. This life is incredibly rare and precious and what we do with it makes all the difference. It makes me sad to hear so much negative commentary about those who came before us and made it possible for us to receive these precious teachings. _/\_

One excellent technique for gaining control of the mind ( I prefer that terminology to suppression) is zhiné. Zhiné is the foundational shamatha practice used by the Bönpos after completing the preliminary practices (ngöndro). It is used to settle the mind and also to give an introduction to the nature of mind. We must first gain some degree of control before we can let go of that control - that is the principle. Here are two brief videos giving some introduction to the method and some discussion and explanation. http://oceanofwisdom.org/watch-video.php?video=195

Masters of the Zhang Zhung Nyengyud - Pith instructions of the 24 masters of the experiential transmission of the Zhang Zhung Nyengyud, all of whom are said to have manifested the jalus. Heart Essence of the Khandro - Similar book presenting pith instructions of female lineage masters of the Bön. Don't recall specifically if any of them were said to manifest the jalus but their instructions are very similar to the male masters. The Little Luminous Boy - Primarily historical description of Bönpo masters, some of whom manifested the jalus.

Hasa Diga Eebowai!

Hallelujah!

It's really not about belief, it's about experience. Some have a direct insight into oneness (which can also be looked at as emptiness). Some only have intellectual knowledge of it. If one has the experience, there is a taste of absolute truth to it. It is not a matter of debate, although interpretations may vary. On the other hand, in the absence of the direct taste, the idea and concept are on very shaky ground and may easily be refuted and dismissed. I'm not saying it's true or false, just that there is a difference between the taste of the food and the description of the menu.

I have not watched the official announcement. I still stand by my earlier post about media (this includes PR folks on laboratory payrolls) selling more than scientific information. It's the way things are - experimentation requires funding, funding benefits from dogma and exaggeration, as do readership and ratings (and politics). That part of the game I don't like either, but I don't let it get under my skin too much because I don't see it changing anytime soon. I'm not sure your conclusion "this is not good scientific method" is justified based on the information you've provided. The problem with much of modern physics is that we are looking at things at either ridiculously small or large scales so that the methods and results must be very carefully calibrated, analyzed, and interpreted. While you certainly may have the education and understanding of the method, equipment, raw data, data analysis, and interpretation necessary to pass such judgement on this particular experiment, I won't take your word for whether this is good science or not any more than you accept theirs.

MooNiNite said: MAJOR Discovery: Scientists announce finding Gravitational Waves confirming Einstein's theory It may be just that, and then again it may not be. There are all kinds of dogmatic headlines and statements in the newspaper. In general, I think those statements are more a reflection of media and political interests and efforts to generate profit and power by those interests. In my experience the folks actually doing the work tend to be enthusiastic and passionate while maintaining a healthy caution about the significance and longetivity of their findings. Scientists generally understand the tenuous and fragile nature of "discoveries" and their significance, much more so than lay folks and the opportunists (media, administrators, politicians, etc...). PS - I fully agree with your comment about correlation not necessarily implying causation - very important, although I'm not sure it applies in this specific case

No need to get so incensed and sarcastic. No one is asking you, or any of us, to accept anything as fact or believe anything. Scientists speak in theories and evidence to support those theories. As new evidence comes to light, theories are adjusted to account for it. Eventually, a big picture may arise which accommodates all of the evidence. I do think people who work hard should be acknowledged for their work, but that doesn't mean we need to interpret it in any particular way. Time will tell what it really means and that will change as we continue to progress. I think the significance has to do with the axioms upon which relativistic theory is built and the fixed speed of light but I really haven't looked at it closely yet. This finding was predicted long before we had the capability to measure the effect. It may turn out to support the postulate of gravitational waves and, then again, more study may prove it to be just a glitch. Either way, it's good to see smart people continuing to try and understand things through the scientific method, a very powerful tool for sure. Just like it's good to see sensitive people continuing to try and understand themselves through the spiritual methods, also very powerful. In my world, there is room for both.

split