yabyum24

Interesting book. I've just located a free pdf. Right on page 7 he says: Very well said.

Seriously not even worth answering that. As of now, you're on ignore.

Some distracting background noise but it can't destroy the beauty of the music... Rabenballade

Take up residence in a massive, artificial hollowed out volcano, recruit a vast army of obedient drones and acquire a white cat to stroke, in preparation for taking over the world. And relish that moment as a certain suited Englishman falls prisoner. "Ah Mieeester Bond! A pleasure to meet you at last - shame you must now die!" Only John Chang or Obi Wan could stop me.

I can relate to that. Most people can see how certain situations engender certain responses but what also happens though is - in the absence of any external triggers - the mind still throws stuff up. It's like the mind can't deal with the "sensory deprivation" of desire/aversion. It's the mind's MSG and it always needs more. It's the affirmation, contraction and solidifying of a "self" within these responses which seems to provide the 'kick'. That's what brought us here in the first place, so I guess we shouldn't be so surprised.

Yeah, we're on thin ice there

I very much agree with this. There are different ways of explaining it - different words but I've often considered god = paramashiva = tao = dharmakaya. The further the light falls from that point, the more it refracts as diverse lights and colours in the multiple lenses of world religions and ultimately in each one of us.

I'll second that steve.

Well, that's an big assumption regarding the OP. I would say that any unified experience is only possible when clinging and views are discarded. The extent may vary from case to case but how can anyone be sure that a non-Buddhist can't attain liberation? If you are using Buddhist views to counter views you impute on others, then you are still clinging to views.

Well, Buddhists themselves can have a range of experiences too. There is no definitive check list we can hold up and evaluate people off against. The attempt is doomed from the outset as we have the inadequate medium of language with which to define it. I would think that many Buddhists would count themselves lucky to have gone as far as she has.

And which of the two was the lady allegedly positing? I don't know what the point was of trying to prove that she wasn't "enlightened" from a Buddhist POV.

Well, that's pretty clear.

And you have evidently decided that I do not engage in the view of Buddhadharma (your definition) and am therefore a "non-practitioner".

It's not self-evident at all. You have already accused me of such things too - that I am a "non-practitioner", "Realist" and other such stuff, when I took refuge and have been a Buddhist practitioner for over 25 years. You are very quick to accuse people in this way, without even bothering to establish the facts.

Aye, that's true.

Interesting lady and obviously some very deep insight.

A Shugdenite?

The only way I've found to get around that is to use an external image hoster like tumblr.com. Get an account and put some piccies onto it. Then copy the image location and paste it into your post. Best done in HTML view (top left hand switch) to see if the code is correct. There may be other (more direct) ways but I'm not aware of them.

They arise habitually for your entertainment, nutriment and continuation. If you want freedom from servitude to them, you will need to actually witness their true nature which is the stress of self-grasping. At the same time as this discovery occurs, the way of their release will manifest to you, as will the fact that you do not own them - they are not-self (anatta). Being aware of them is a good first step. It may be depressing to acknowledge them, but at least you are not just reacting, like a puppet whose strings are being pulled.

Elves and Clint Eastwood both rock (but in different ways)

Looks like it works! Thanks Stosh. Until now I only thought it was possible by using an external URL.

Well, I'd never heard of John Chang before I came here. There's a ton of stuff on energy cultivation which I still don't understand, so perhaps over time (by osmosis) it'll seep in

Looks like some needless nit-picking has derailed this thread.

Nicely said CT.

Or: "Very good, Anuradha. Very good. Both formerly & now, it is only stress that I describe, and the cessation of stress." Perhaps my favourite sentence in the whole cannon. With it, a myriad of extraneous stuff is washed away - it cuts to the core of experiential release - as also described in Mahamudra and Spanda Shaivism. It's essentially the same process, as there is only your own subjective mind which can taste release when all is said and done. The depth and profundity varies, but the essence of unbinding is captured in that very sentence. P.S. I also covered this topic in my PPF thread.