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Maddie
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Everything posted by Maddie
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After Self-realization, what else needs to be done?
Maddie replied to dwai's topic in General Discussion
The illusion of a self can be and is frequently developed.- 211 replies
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After Self-realization, what else needs to be done?
Maddie replied to dwai's topic in General Discussion
Probably within the last year or so I've been very much questioning my tendency to buy the party line so to speak. I used to be Christian of the hardcore fundamentalist type until I realized that their Bible wasn't literally true and it all fell apart from me. Fast forward several years and when I became Buddhist I pretty much brought the same mentality into it with me but lately have begun to think that the Buddhists also tend to embellish their stories a bit and also have somewhat of an agenda. Not to say I don't value it but I'm definitely rethinking my approach to any system as it's packaged to the public.- 211 replies
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After Self-realization, what else needs to be done?
Maddie replied to dwai's topic in General Discussion
I would do week-long retreats at monasteries with the monks where we would spend the vast majority of the day meditating. Additionally back when I was in Acupuncture school we used to have two week breaks in between semesters and I would take what I learned from the monastery and basically spend those two weeks doing nothing but meditating all day everyday.- 211 replies
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This is a topic that I personally found confusing. it seems in general westerners think that Taoism one thing and Asians think it is another. In the end it was the lack of clarity that caused me to move on to Buddhism. In general most westerners are more interested in the internal spiritual cultivation aspects, and again being very general most Asians are more interested in the ritualistic religion side of it. A while back I began doing Qigong and just assumed that made me a Taoist lol. When I first began to consider myself a Taoist I assumed that everything I had done previously in my charismatic Evangelical Christian cult was all poo poo but as time has gone by and I reflect on the hours spent in silent prayer and contemplative Bible study I can recognize the cultivation that took place within me back then as well even though I wouldn't recommend it due to its ironic lack of compassion in spite of what Jesus taught and relative lack of wisdom in that it doesn't consider anything outside of its paradigm legitimate, yet I can look back and still recognize that cultivation did take place. I saw some pretty amazing things happen that at the time I saw her miracles but now I just see as a result of my internal cultivation efforts. But my general advice is if you like guidelines and structure that was a bit ambiguous but if you enjoy bracing the chaos then it's probably a good fit.
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After Self-realization, what else needs to be done?
Maddie replied to dwai's topic in General Discussion
Yes I agree and that's why I was following Orthodox Buddhism very rigorously. When I began to first experience side effects I was repeatedly told that there were none so I continued. Experience has shown me otherwise though. -
Yes that was one of the first things I ever got started with when it came to meditation. I found it to be effective but was also surprised by the trauma in each organ that it unlocked that I was unaware of and not expecting.
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After Self-realization, what else needs to be done?
Maddie replied to dwai's topic in General Discussion
Recently I have scaled back a lot as I felt like meditation was driving me crazy. I think I might have been trying to level myself up too soon. Now I mainly chant mantras and rely more on external cultivation methods such as herbs acupuncture and crystals. Is it doing as much as before? I don't know but I don't feel like I'm on the verge of losing my mind so it would seem to be worth it. -
Yes some video is not evidence at all since there's no way to differentiate that between a stage trick.
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After Self-realization, what else needs to be done?
Maddie replied to dwai's topic in General Discussion
Not that I claim to be enlightened at all but it is the goal for me and I have noticed that as I continue on the path that I feel more and more checked out from the whole thing like it seems small and petty and irrelevant, yet at the same time things like kindness and compassion seem to become more important.- 211 replies
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I guess technically I still practice semen retention but from the celibate Buddhist perspective where there is no stimulation. This works much better for me or as instead of becoming sex crazed I have very little interest anymore.
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After Self-realization, what else needs to be done?
Maddie replied to dwai's topic in General Discussion
I think if you accomplish the first the other two come matter of fact. So the question is what is true nature? Is there true nature? The Buddha said there was atman, no self. So what does that mean for true nature?- 211 replies
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After Self-realization, what else needs to be done?
Maddie replied to dwai's topic in General Discussion
I suppose you did then.- 211 replies
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After Self-realization, what else needs to be done?
Maddie replied to dwai's topic in General Discussion
I think a very helpful thing in this case would to be to define terms more precisely. What is meant by ones definition of enlightenment? From a Classic Buddhist point of view it's rather straight forward it seems. Gain wisdom to see through delusion to let go of attachment to free one's self from rebirth in Samsara. As to other definitions I can not say much as I mainly know Buddhism.- 211 replies
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And how does one do this?
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What does that mean?
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Yes I was struck by the irony as well.
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Agreed. Noteworthy perhaps, but not evidence.
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I didn't say I wasn't interested in that.
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I was reluctant to chime in as the Chia/Semen retention topic gets discussed A LOT on here, but with that being said and having tried Chia's system in the past all it did for me was to turn me into a sex craved maniac. I read the books, and tried it for years. Once I got into Acupuncture school I learned it was a really bad idea. Personally I think its because the stimulation builds up testosterone but with out the usual loss that ejaculation results in. So it just builds up to very high levels, i.e. extreme Yang excess in relation to Yin.
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That's true, but not usually only directly over one's head and no where else, and usually not only for the duration for which it was intended, and not usually is this repeatable more than once in order to rule out mere coincidence.
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Interesting that you say that because previously he had been a Zen priest for 10 years.
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You can imagine my disappointment the first time I went to my local Buddhist monastery to do a meditation retreat and the main monk that I spoke to was a western Monk with a PhD in science and technology from a major university he flat out told me there was an absolutely no such thing as magic and that the Asian monks belief in such things was just superstition. I wasn't even sure if he believed in enlightenment and Nirvana or even reincarnation so I began to wonder why he was even a monk in the first place. Though he was very big on insisting that I bow to him frequently.
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While I realize that my examples technically don't count as evidence to me the fact that there were witnesses that saw the clouds part and then come back together based on the timing of my intention is at least objective as far as observation goes and can be observed by more than one person is probably as close to evidence as one can get for these types of things. And people have shared some stories that again while not evidence are very interesting and compelling. So for me this thread has been worth it.
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Actually that's a bit of a straw man argument in and of itself because nowhere did I state in any of this that I did not believe that the supernatural exists nor did I state I was trying to disprove it. What I did state was that I was interested in evidence for it.
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I'd still like to hear about it anyway if you don't mind sharing
