Vajrahridaya

Ooo, that's a process we go through to the end, i.e. enlightenment. See, Vajrayana also has internal energy work practices. I understand this experience experientialy at least. Sometimes I would be crying out of intense bliss and realization of interdependence beyond concept, having epiphanies and visions while sitting or walking or talking and then... all of a sudden, feel an oncoming of tension from seemingly no-where; anger, extreme energy like I'm on coffee, or fatigue, like no other... as if my body was a ton of bricks for no reason. These are called Kriyas in the Shaiva Tantra tradition. Just the dispelling of latent karmic traces from the central channel.

Oh it does!! I had one teacher say that one should practice at the same time everyday. That way... the mind is habitually ready to go deep within and also to reserve a space specially for the practice so that the energy is regular in that area for that purpose. Also... to even wear the same clothes and sit on the same wool cloth as wool is absorbent. I've had the same meditation cloth for many years. I can literally feel it buzzing when I touch it. Oh.. also.. to never wash it.

Ah... now your getting deep. Point one is defined by the concept of Tathagatagarbha. Point two is defined by the 3 kayas. Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya. You can look those up, even Wiki them. Good questions though. I hope these answers help you in your research! Very good overall answer Michaelz! But here... you mean... also instead of "nor"... right? As in, there is no primal source to reality, no first cause?

Actually he's right... BSG is awesome!! So is Lost though... but not as awesome... But... I'm a Sci Fi looooover!

Well, that would seem so. But, he accumulated an endless positive reservoir from which to manifest from by flipping his ignorance into wisdom. So he manifests the opposite of the sense of lacks that keep an individual self together and instead manifests a body of offering through the Mahayana interpretation. As the Mahayana is mostly preached from his afterlife to very high level practitioners. But, not all of it. Plenty of it is from while he was alive. He also... according to the Pali left out of the 4th Jhana which is equal to the refined form realm in the higher dimensions while having realized the empty nature of all realms of experience so has realized the dharmakaya beyond proliferation. According to the 31 planes of existence of the Pali Suttas interpretation of what realms the different Jhanas are equal to, he would still be teaching the gods and influencing theists from higher realms. Take care.

Oooo, I love Carl Jung. An analytical mystery unraveler.

Can't remember which texts talk about gambling. But, in all my years having been around poker players and gamblers, I've never met a sweet and kind hearted one. I apologize if you are the exception to the rule. But, thus far you haven't really proven that you have much of a spiritual bone in your body. Other than stating that you've read some books and asked some questions here. You don't seem to have had any transcendent epiphanies that are the virtue of meditation. So for you to call my writings incoherent. Well... I guess I wasn't writing for you. So, why not just step off. Again... if you are actually kind and warm hearted but a poker player at the same time and not a shady character? Than... I apologize for holding this sense about you ever since you started kind of bragging to me about it. If you are, then that's fine... I have compassion for you. If not... then that's not fine, but I have even more compassion for you. But, I don't think we should really hang out anymore. Take care.

YAY!! I'm so happy!! "Another one bites the dust"... or another ego on it's way out...

Yes, it's the ego that recycles and part of the process to freeing oneself of the ego is seeing how endlessly it recycles... I mean seeing directly. You take care Mr. Songs... LOL! No, I don't think I did!! But maybe I should!!?? Kidding... Thank you for speaking kindly. It makes me blush a bit. I'm not used to that here. I'm using it as as fodder for my practice though. Praise and blame, it's all the same. While working on myself of course.

Ah... I do agree that once you get it going, it's very easy to keep it going. Once you stop, it's like you feel an aching and you need to stretch that muscle. So, you'll get that meditation while sitting on the bus spontaneously you'll just slide into a jhana state. Also, the same with doing yoga daily for years, if you skip a day all of a sudden, you can't help but start stretching while waiting in the line at the bank and people will be looking at you funny while your touching your toes or swiveling your spine and making a long yawn of tension release.

More than 3 years straight for me.

Sounds like your conditioned by the system. Oh well. Metaphysical debates have been going on in Eastern classrooms for millenniums. Buddha even had a few. He disagreed with Vedantin metaphysical conclusions and said so and he disagreed with Jain metaphysical conclusions and said so. Me Because I remember being sentient for longer. I don't care much about physical age. Except as one get's physically older I hear it's harder to make a paradigm shift in perception.

Only towards you am I sarcastic... otherwise I'm just sometimes facetious. But... one man's B.S. is another mans truth. So... to me... much of what you believe in, having to do with what you think is logical and limiting it to 5 sense detectable reality, is a bunch of B.S. But, that's your truth!

I would indeed like to speak the Buddhist side of things without people getting bent out of shape. My issue with ralis is between me and ralis. Other peoples personal vendettas against me are very strange though. Especially since ralis didn't really react like other people are reacting for him. I have a history seeing what gambling does, and that probably clouded my judgment of him, especially since he spouted it a few times to me directly. So, that's probably my personal hot button. Eh? But Tao99 really... LOL!! Your funny... pretty over the top actually. Almost a bit worse than Songs of Distant Earth and his constant following me around and throwing sarcastic remarks whenever he can. Yes, your right Scotty. Thank you for your kind words too.

LOL! Yes, I know... people have said worse things. I see you doing point B.

Actually it's not forbidden in Dzogchen. So, you are wrong. We actually use it at ceremonies and we open beers and wine during Dzogchen celebrations or when Rinpoche is around. But, he drinks one glass of wine and sips it slowly for hours. Most people have a couple of beers or a couple of glasses of wine. It feels different around him. I don't expect you to believe any of this. I'm just stating facts... you can take them or leave them. Gambling on the other hand. I know much more than you think. I know plenty about gambling and what it does to people first hand. So, maybe it's a personal thing. I also know lots and lots about shady people, having grown up going to Vegas every year with my father and also having spent a lot of my youth living in areas on the wrong side of the tracks.

Your right, it was the Art of War. I guess that makes it a little bit better. Tricking people out of their money is not merely a skill game. It's a drug. I agree. I really don't understand why people get so angry?? I really don't. I just process a different point of reference in my interpretation and state it here and there using textual context to back up the view. I don't actually attack anyones character. Except this one time with ralis. But... if you look at the history. My character has been attacked furiously like I was a sheep in a pack of wolves.

Gambling is a no-no in any form of Buddhism. Tiger Woods and playing a sport well enough to get paid is not gambling. Sure, poker takes skill, but it's a game that when going to the table is filled with nothing but shady people, no matter where you go. Unless your a kid playing innocently just for fun.

Anybody who learns spiritual techniques to further his no-limit gambling carrier is a fraud. ralis admitted to this. This is why I don't like him as a personality. Your projections Tao99 are really none of my concern though. I'll let you have them.

Your obviously not a student of Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche. Your probably an avid stand by or internet listener. He believes, has seen, and has done things that you think are mythical including manifesting a terma from a dream realm into the physical realm plus all his real visions and the science of his different practices that engender miraculous outcomes, well really there is a metaphysics to it. How can you be a student of someone who is a Buddhist and not hold to the basic tenets of the different schools of Buddhism? I actually took an example from his findings and put it into context, but you probably didn't read it. I won't repeat it for you because I think it's a waste of time. I think that your absurd, finding Taoist techniques to support your no-limit poker abilities is quite contrary to anything spiritual. I don't think you've sat for one minute and tried to meditate on the nature of your own mind. I had a friend that lived on Cole. I used to hang out there in the upper Haight for a while as a kid, and used to skateboard all over the city from the 9th ave run up the top of the Parnasus 6 line all the way to Embarcadero. San Francisco is a town to really enjoy! I remember when I was 15 I found 410 dollars in cash on Haight St. The next day I spent all of it, some pot, some tapes and a new tape player!! Wooo hooo!

LOL! I'm just saying... how can you call Buddha egotistical when he expounded the doctrine of anatta and fully realized anatta? He had a personality for sure, but that's different from ego clinging. So when you say things like Buddha had a big ego, you come off sounding full of crazy projections.

No, Buddha is not God and Buddha didn't die. Only his body fell away. He is still in a refined form body or Sambhogakaya and he has realized his Dharmakaya. He is not without intention, he is filled with the intentions of the 4 immeasurables. Infinite loving kindness, infinite compassion, infinite altruistic joy and infinite equanimity. He is filled with the limitless sense of offering and still manifests as various Buddhas in different realms. He did not create this universe, and he cannot liberate us, he can only influence us with his teachings and energy. Because Marblehead thinks there is nothing after the death of the body, doesn't mean he is right. Because his perception is limited to his 5 senses, he thinks everyone elses is. But this is not so.

Connected to what the Buddha actually said. Abhidhamma is basically what the Buddha taught in an elaborated form by beings who realized the truth of dependent origination as expounded by the Buddha and has no Greek influence. The Abhidamma was written in the 300's B.C. or earlier... The Buddha himself laid out the ground work for all the later turnings of the wheel by having a clear path to realization for both monks and lay disciples.

From this same thread in the E-Sangha board... "For me there are 2 things which particularly seperate Buddhism from other religions. The first is anatta, the denial of an enduring self or soul. The second is that Buddhism is empirical, it aims to see things as they really are instead of starting from a point of view laden with beliefs in God(s), souls, heaven etc etc." - Spiny Norman.

I'm a bit familiar and also there is not a complete general consensus to the time of the Buddhas birth. Anyway it was at least prior to the 500's B.C. with many considering even earlier than that. Also, Aristotle and Plato are from around the 300's B.C. The Herodotus was written after the Buddhas realization and many years after his work as a preacher of the Dharma. So, most likely it was the other way around. But most of the Greek philosophy still resolves around a true and self sustaining substance that is the platform from which the universe has life. The Hellenistic philosophers are still substantialists and don't see emptiness and dependent origination as the Buddha describes it. Sorry to burst your bubble. No... research past posts.