Vajrahridaya

You don't understand that this is a relative thing, not an absolute demarcation. Also, it's not something the Tibetans did, it's a hierarchy that was already in place when Vajrayana was in India before it even came to Tibet. Check the Sanskrit scriptures still in Nepal from the Newar lineages of Vajrayana. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newar_Buddhism There is definitely a process of progression. You are attaching too much of an ultimate black and white type of view onto this relative demarcation of higher and lower hierarchies. Also, there is adequate proof that the Buddha taught the Mahayana at the same time that he taught the Theravada as both teachings were written at the same time, as newer and newer findings from around India are revealing. Theravada by the way is not the Hinayana. The Vajrayana or Tibetan Buddhists as you say, do not mention Theravada, but mention Hinayana, which is a practice that is not in existence anymore. The Theravada has a Bodhisattva concept though does not have a wider view of dependent origination/emptiness, so is not quite Mahayana, but not quite Hinayana at the same time. What the Theravada is missing are certain methods that the Vajrayana employ to speed up the enlightenment process as well as give access to the potential for the body of light or rainbow body. There are no Theravadins that have attained the Rainbow Body, but there are plenty of Vajrayanists both recently and throughout history that have. Most people are not ready for these methods, so we have Theravada to meet those needs, as well as non-tantric Mahayana like Zen, which leads to Buddhahood as well, but not the Rainbow Body which is a specific kind of attainment after Buddhahood which expands a Buddhas capacity to teach. ChNNR gave this teaching at a retreat in NYC, where he talked about the reason why someone would want to attain the Jalus or Rainbow Body. As it takes a very high being to have access to a Sambogakaya Buddha, but it's much easier to have access to a Rainbow Body Buddha. He explains this in his books as well. So, I'm not saying anything different from Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche. The only disparity is in your mind ralis, as well as the minds of Buddhists who I am not inspired by. It's all relative ralis, including the hierarchies. They are not ultimate. Also, it's obvious by your statements that you ran from Buddhism, due to your projections before it actually helped you get access to higher states of meditative absorption. Otherwise, you would not doubt the possibility of receiving teachings from dead Buddhas through the Sambhogakaya. I don't have this doubt. I know that the stories of great Masters receiving teachings from Buddhas in another dimension are true.

What you're not seeing is the paradox I am explaining to you. Which is this, the more attached one becomes to the Buddhas teaching, the less attached one is to a "self" to attach to the thought that there is a teaching to be attached to or the thinking and attachment that there is a "self" that can even take refuge! So you understand? I'm not a black and white thinker my friend. Once one realizes that Krishnamurti and others like him, who say some good things, but are more like hot air that feels good when blown on you in the cold, yet offer no real liberating methodology. One might wish to go to something with more substance, like the Buddhadharma, it's higher in fiber and more likely to blow the crap from out your spiritual colon. I mean no ill intent either dear brother on the path to higher self evaluation.

The more attached I become to the teaching, the freer I become. The more attached I realize I am to everything around me in every moment, the more liberated in that moment I become. The more I un-become me, and become more of a channel for the Buddhas teaching and energy, the happier I am as an individual.

Indeed, and it obviously works by the amount of Buddhas that have come after him. You caught me Steve, you caught me red phallused. I do indeed love bedding the dead, I caress the smooth surface of the dead every day!! Since the Buddha is his teachings, and the Buddhadharma is his body... reading his teachings is like having spiritual sex with a dead guy, leading to constant internal orgasm!!

I'm not confined by your view, and my view is a viewless view. Actually, the Buddha did teach Buddhism. He's the only fire starter that actually taught, and preached what is being taught and preached thousands of years later. As he taught for 45 years, unlike Lau Tzu, and Jesus. He taught very clearly, he also taught methods, not merely philosophy. I'm pretty sure you don't know what the Buddha taught outside of a few quotes here and there. This I am just getting from your statements concerning what you think he taught. Do you know that he taught the 8 fold noble path? The 8 jhanas? Vipassana? He taught the refuge vows to both monks and lay persons? Do you know that he taught the 4 noble truths? He taught the meaning of Samsara, the way out of Samsara and the meaning of Nirvana and what it consists of? Of course, you can say that we don't know what he taught, but when one meditates on his teachings, one can have direct insight into what he taught that transcends time. The Buddha told his closest and enlightened disciples to repeat everything of him over and over again, which is where the chanting of his teachings comes from, directly from what the Buddha taught during the time of the strictly oral tradition. The Buddha indeed taught Buddhism. He set out to start a spiritual tradition that could be passed down, even after his death. He is his teaching and his methods. The Buddha is not dead. It is said that until you have actually crossed the ocean of Samsara, the structured raft is necessary, otherwise the Buddha wouldn't have taught with clarity for 45 years and even after his physical death via the Sambhogakaya (energy body) to qualified Masters of meditation which is where many but not all of the Mahayana and Vajrayana Sutras come from as he did teach some of them before he passed on. And even after you have crossed ocean, you don't throw away the raft, or burn it, or put it down, talk crap to it, say, "what a waste of time that was," but instead, out of compassion, you give it to others. No matter what you talk on here Steve, with your Krishnamurti musings, it is clear that you have not crossed this ocean of Samsara. So to talk about throwing away a raft that you have not even used to it's fullest potential, is really not helping anyone. It's just like drinking wine at a party and talking about sex to your friends, while I'm actually getting laid in the back room with a hot lady.

:lol: I get it!! Steve is worried about Gay Necrophilia!! Or women with Necrophilia surrounded by a "father complex!!!" Oh man!!

Well, that's what you think emptiness means, and then there is what the Buddha taught, which coincides with my own experience. The Buddha taught there is no refuge in this world, there is also no god to take refuge in. He said if there was, he'd teach that, but since there isn't he doesn't teach that. Instead he taught to take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Not in ones own intellectual musings. The Buddha Dharma makes sense, coincides with my experience, it's logically sound, it's an eternal refuge from delusion, so I take it. Everyone is free to wander in their view, but I'll choose Buddhas "right view" the first of the 8 fold noble path. It is specific, and it's not the same as other views. There are too many examples of how well this path works, and how many people it has liberated. So, I'll choose the path and view that has liberated the most people on planet Earth, humbly and happily letting go of my own intellectual musing. Yes, I am attached to my lineage, but this attachment frees me from all other superfluous attachments. I know enough to know that my delusions, no matter how well I can talk beyond them, are not turned into wisdom through talking either to others or to myself. But are transformed into wisdom through the methods of Buddhas who have come before me and have been passed down to me in an unbroken lineage. I have enough direct experience beyond my delusions to be very clear, sure and secure in this fact, so much so, that even when I'm being delusional, or a babbling idiot, this fact that has made an indelible impression in my mind stream remains untainted by my delusions. I take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and not my delusional understanding of existence. I surrender to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and not to this world, that has no refuge. Through insight gained by practicing the Dharma, I am able to see through this world and realize deeper and deeper waves of liberated and clear cognition within the illusion of myself. I do have a stable ground to walk on, and that's the path of the Buddhas, as dependently originated and empty of inherent existence as it might be, it is without beginning and without end. Unlike this world.

Chu crazy bruh!

What do you think emptiness means? Non-existence? Or does it reify a separate individual that has to walk his own path? No, it means interconnection, the mutability of everything and no-inherent self, to name a few meanings. There is yourself, that walks a path uniquely, but due to the fact of emptiness, not as an inherently real individual. So, how are you a "self" thinking you are separate from anyone else? Including your lineage? Which you don't seem to have anyway, so lets say, those that you are inspired by spiritually. In meditation, as you go through the different jhanas, you'll see directly the heaven realms, by actually going there, as spoken about in different scriptures. Generally a particular lineage has their own version, and this version is a manifestation of that lineages merit. When you are connected to that lineage and you have worked on yourself through the methods taught by that lineage, you will manifest in that lineages pure realm in order to keep deepening and learning. This is an experiential fact for me, not mere learning. Though I am an individual, I also am not. I was speaking about the aspect of not being an individual as you seem to have this idea of the lonely mans journey? We are as we be. Since you seem to be inspired by people like Jidu Krishnamurti? Who looked down on lineages and methods for attaining enlightenment and just juggled intellectual excuses while himself never actually realizing enlightenment... I can understand your perspective. I know I'll catch flack for that comment. But seriously, the guy was just an over enthusiastic intellectual with a few siddhis. I know he meant well and he did say some important things, but he also said some stupid things that screwed with a lot of impressionable minds. I take refuge in the Buddha (all Buddha beings), the Dharma (there attainment that has no beginning nor end, the teachings that got them there, and the methods that serve the teachings), and the Sangha (the family of Buddhists in my lineage who recognize something that's good in the beginning, middle and the end and is not just a bunch of hot air). I do not inherently exist in order to be alone, and I am connected to all beings due to the fact of inter-dependence. But, I am most intimately connected to my lineage and sangham, so I will never truly be alone, even if I alone walk the same path as them. We will meet again and again, as part of the Buddha family. Even after full blown Buddhahood, I will teach the refuge into the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. So you see, there is no end to being connected with my lineage, in fact, there is only the steady deepening of that connection.

It depends on which heaven, as there are many, but there's sex in Indraloka or Tushitaloka (this is basically pleasure heaven where most spiritual seekers go to reap the fruits of their seeking for a time, who knows how long, it's a different dimension), but there's no beer there. This information is not just from scripture for me. Me too and absolutely!

Worth quoting!

Wow man... what a sweet post. By the way, for Buddhists who understand the Buddhas teaching, it's.. "Everything is 'like' and illusion"... but it's not an illusion as everything is also reality. Anway... (that means I love you bro)

It depends on my mood. But yea, sometimes they are just straight up annoying! Hearing and seeing too many of other peoples delusions, including my own, can be quite... ???

Ah, already went through that... then I got to my statement quoted below. A persons subjectively viewed ignorance is another persons... ???

The connection and security extends beyond the physical realm, into the psychic realm, and beyond. Your lineage will be there to the end, even beyond the passing on of the body. You get to a point where your mind and their minds have no boundaries between them.

That's a loooong tale... oh I mean tail.

So very true!

Thanks Jack for your additions. Very, very, interesting!

Cool explanation of Spanda. From a Buddhist perspective, the "unseen source" would just be beginningless time, or also infinite potentiality based on the fact of no beginning. Here's a couple dictionary definitions of "Dharmakaya"... 4. 1. Dharmakaya (body of the great order); the true nature of the Buddha, which is identical with reality, the essential laws of the universe. Equal to the laws of physics. The Dharmakaya is the experience of the unity of the laws of physics. It represents the "law" (dharma), the teaching expounded by the Buddha. 5. The Experience is timeless, permanent, devoid of characteristics and free from duality. It is the spiritual body of the buddhas, their true nature, which all buddhas have in common. Various names are applied to the Dharmakaya depending on whether it is being taken as the true nature of being (dharmata, dharmadhatu, tathata, bhutatathata, shunyata, alaya-vijnana) or as the true nature of the buddhas (buddhata, buddha-nature, tathagatagarbha). 7. The Dharmakaya (Jap., hosshin) is consciousness experienced as unified existence (laws of physics). The experience is beyond all concepts, and is characterized by completion and perfection, out of which all mental forms arise.

Yes, there is a yogic practice from the Shiva Sutras that say that in an extreme moment of emotional or physical pain, one can find bliss and peace with ease if you align your mind towards that recognition. Because of the extreme potency of that energy, it's actually a pathway to higher realization, if utilized as such.

Thanks MH! I agree, with the empty our mind part that is. I think you do a good job at it though.

By your level of experienced inspiration. Also, I go for the people that taught with clarity from multiple angles of revelation, who also leave the methods and instructions on these methods by which they got to the clarity they speak of with such clarity. For me, it's obvious which of these trail blazers did that with the most clarity having taught incessantly for 45 years many different methods and perspectives, leaving behind many different unbroken lineages of "Awake" beings that are alive to this day. The Buddha is not dead.

Exactly, it's also pretty egotistical to think that "I" alone exist as well and get lost in some sense of personal self importance. I'm very happy to have living examples as inspiration of what it's like to live in what should be sought. Also, even if we are to walk on a path trotted on by endless others, we walk it in our own unique way. Everyone has the potential to add to what is by nature inspiration itself too.

Both are in each other.