doc benway

Yes Translations are limited by vocabulary but understanding of meaning is unique and personal and as varied as human minds. When you are able to experience my experience of bliss, or contentment, I will agree with you that there is an objective thing called bliss or contentment that is independent of the one describing it. PS If it’s not already clear, I do not think contentment is any better than bliss as a label to point at whatever it is we are trying to indicate

It’s funny to discuss these experiences as if there is a right or wrong answer. There are as many experiences of bliss, or contentment for that matter, as there are experiencers.

Texas

In Bön dzogchen language, the natural state, the unspeakable state. Both The techniques themselves are actions performed by a practitioner. When the practitioner is no longer present, no longer engaged, there is realization. At this point there is no need for techniques as the obscurations are gone.

there is no boatman but the oars are so thirsty who will water them?

Do you feel this applies to spiritual practices that require specific breathing patterns like tsa lung, trul khor, tummo, and so on? My experience is that controlledbreathing patterns, including breath holding, combined with awareness, and sometimes also body movement can be very effective tools for clearing the channels and chakras of obscurations.

too much meat is bad unless, of course, you are a power-lifter all is relative!

Some life experiences are wonderful and some are horrible but they are all good because they are my teacher. ~ me

How long are you going to wait to be happy? ~ Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

When they give Teachings, many teachers say that as you do practice, then gradually your thoughts start to diminish until finally there are no thoughts. This is Sutra style, it is not Dzogchen. If you are really in your Real Nature, thoughts are continually arising, but you do not follow them. You know what you are thinking about and how thoughts are manifesting, but you are not a slave to that. In general, when we follow after our thoughts we have problems. When we have contact with objects, just that moment is liberating. We dont need any kind of antidote or effort. Just being in that state is called Dzogchen, is called self-liberation. Why is it called self-liberation? Because we dont need something like an antidote or a method for liberating because there is nothing to liberate. Chögyal Namkhai Norbu The Melong - vol 64 Norbu Rinpoche with Tenzin Wangyal RInpoche circa 1988

Apparently s/he was reacting to the shutter noise of the remote camera.

In the tradition I follow the closest thing to what you describe would be to transcend or release all notions of one’s self - all ideas, conditioning, habits, patterns, concepts, emotion, expectations, and so on, and to abide in what remains. It is clear, spacious, and ever-present, and cannot be named without being polluted. It can be called many things, none of which capture it, but is most often referred to as sems nyid, literally mind’s nature or essence. It’s also often referred to as Buddha nature. https://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/sems_nyid

Good to hear all the positive things. I’ve said enough negative things and really know little to nothing about Sadhguru. I pray he benefits everyone he touches! 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

My introduction to meditation came from my kung fu teacher. He would only teach those who had studied external or internal martial arts or qigong for a minimum of 2 years. Like others, martial arts and qigong have benefited me in so many ways. One of which was to serve as a foundation for deeper mental, energetic, and physical cultivation.

Lot's of good lessons to be learned here. My wife sometimes says she learned parenting from doing the opposite of her parents...

At the risk of sounding defensive, I’ll share that I feel a very deep connection with Jiddu Krishnamurti and Anthony Demello, both masters from India that form a large part of my spiritual foundation. Another important teacher with whom I’m very close is Chinese and my root guru was born in India of Tibetan descent. I’m visiting with him today, yay! I live and work in a town that is 60% African, 20% European, 7% Asian, and 7% Latinx. While they may bother some people, the skin color and turban of Sadhguru do not disturb me. His $25 million estate, obscenely large and unnecessary palace, his fleet of expensive cars, and claims of divine birth and enlightenment, along with his cheesy and smarmy manner do. His vibe for me is a bit like Osho minus the drug addiction although Osho’s wisdom for me seemed to run a bit deeper. Full disclosure, I learned a lot from Osho’s talks. Racism and xenophobia exist. I’m not afraid to admit I’ve experienced it from both sides. Something I have looked at and worked with in myself over time. Christian nationalism, fundamentalism and prosthelytization are a real threat, especially now in the US. None of that is the basis for my feelings about Sadhguru.

I can’t say I dislike him and I agree that he usually says the right things but I do get a weird, phony vibe from him. I trust my intuition when it comes to teachers and it usually guides me well…

I think it can work temporarily but, depending on your objectives, may give a false sense of progress and confidence. Things we ignore generally do not go away, they often gain power in our subconscious and return with a vengeance. When something. wants our attention, it will get it eventually. Meditation gives us an opportunity to work with this stuff. At least that’s my approach.

I've read some interesting stuff suggesting that black holes could represent the birth of new universes. It's a bit speculative and depends on string theory which is not too widely accepted but interesting. https://interestingengineering.com/black-holes-might-lead-to-the-birth-of-new-universes#:~:text=In other words%2C the study,unify all forces in nature.

Along those lines is contradiction - https://lesliehershberger.com/beinspired/embrace-your-inner-contradictions/

Do you think there is a need to believe in any particular truth?

I definitely do not doubt that reality is real but that is little more than a tautology, I meant it as a play on words. As for the nitty gritty details as worked out by philosophers and scientists, I don't put too much time or effort into understanding and adopting conceptual models for reality. I do resonate strongly with Carlo Rovelli's relational interpretation of quantum mechanics. I have enough of a grasp of the science to be excited about how close QM can come to agreeing with my own personal experiences and with the teachings of the wisdom traditions, particularly regarding non-duality. I will admit a strong bias there. I can't say much about the article you linked as it was really over my head, the "explanation" given didn't really tell me much so I don't have a good enough grasp or appreciation for its veracity or implications. There are so many papers that come out making this or that claim about QM and other physics topics, way too much for an amateur like me to try and sift through and collate in any meaningful way. For me it is enough to do my practice and read the occasional pop physics book (Rovelli's book Helgoland is wonderful). I am also very excited about seeing what the Webb telescope has to teach us... won't be long to begin seeing some data and images, I think early July.

Over my head but I have little doubt reality is real. 😁

I didn’t mean to imply that all dualistic philosophies are somehow gratuitous… Good arguments can no doubt be made in their favor. Nevertheless the foundation of materialism is slowly losing support among the sciences and long ago lost the support of many spiritual traditions.