Maddie

My advice (because I've seen it actually work for myself and others time after time) is mindfulness. The idea is to see these things in the mind for what they are as we experience them and to know and understand them. When the mind truly understands what ever it is that is making us unhappy it lets go of it. The problem ultimately is delusion or ignorance. There are multiple ways to practice mindfulness but the way I have found to be very effective for me is the noting or labeling method Yuttadhamo Bhikkhu teaches. The way it is done is to mentally note what ever it is you are feeling or experiencing the most during the present moment. So for example if you are at a job and you find it boring then instead of thinking "oh I hate this damn job, this sucks, this job is the worst" rather just say to yourself in your mind "boring, boring, boring, boring" or "dislike, dislike, dislike" or what ever word you feel bests fits what you are feeling. As you are labeling it pay attention to how it actually feels to be bored or to dislike it, rather than getting caught up in the mental chatter of how much you don't like the job and such. What this does over time is brings understanding to the mind that this state of dislike is not making me happy, and when the mind begins to understand that it begins to let go. The only reason your mind dislikes what ever it dislikes (or likes) is because it mistakenly believes that what ever it is doing is the best way to deal with it in order to make you happy. When it realizes that the disliking in and of itself IS the unhappiness then it lets go and the suffering ends. I hope my explanation helps. Also be patient with it as it takes time, patience and persistence.

I realized that since much of this could be considered subjective there's a lot of opinion involved but in my personal opinion I do not think the heart chakra is very opened in most people. The reason I say this is because in my observation what most people consider love is usually a lower chakra attribute whether it's family familiarity attachment in the root chakra sensual attachment in the sacral chakra or ego attachment in the solar plexus chakra. True kindness and compassion metta if you will that just gives love and kindness without expectation or attachment seems to actually be very rare unfortunately and these were the qualities that are associated with the heart chakra. Not to say that there are not people out there who have these qualities I think two people that come to mind are Ellen Degeneres and Oprah Winfrey when I think of a very open heart chakra but I think percentage-wise it's not the majority.

Is it the five animal sports? Because that is a Qigong set that does that. I've dabbled with the version that Doctor Yang put out.

I think it is fascinating as well!

I wanted to respond to the OP by looking at a few points. The first point I would like to address is the title of the post asking is Enlightenment really desirable. When the Buddha is explaining to his friends his enlightenment experience he proclaims the Four Noble Truths. The first that in life there is suffering. Secondly that suffering's cause is ultimately not externally objective but internally subjective arising from the mind. Thirdly that this suffering can be ended. And lastly the eightfold path as the way to go about ending suffering. So at least from a Buddhist point of view the question as to whether or not enlightenment is desirable can be answered by asking if it is desirable to continue suffering or to end suffering. Now to the point of contentedness. According to the Buddha's second noble truth the root of suffering is desire or a lack of contentedness. The enlightened individual has let go of all desire and is therefore in a state of perfect contentedness and also perfectly happy. The poster makes a point that many people are very content with their lives and that they are not enlightened. This can be said from a conventional sense of the term in that people might have a nice job, house, family, relationship and can't really complain too much, but these things still can and do not bring contentedness in the true sense. When we think about what we want or have wanted there is always a sense of frustration until we get what we want, and obviously frustration is not contentedness and therefore not happiness. Once we have what we want (assuming we were able to get it in the first place) there is the fear of losing it, because sense nothing is permanent we realize that eventually we will loose it. Additionally once we do get what we want we realize that what ever it may be is never as satisfying as we had hoped it would be while we were seeking it. So I would say that most people are actually not content in the true sense of the meaning, and therefore not ultimately happy. In regards to the question asking if working towards enlightenment is harder than not one could answer both yes and no. Yes because as the Buddha himself said in the Eightfold Path "Right Effort" is a necessary condition to obtain Nirvana, so yes it does take effort so in this sense it is harder than no putting forth the effort. But on the other hand since Samsara is the endless cyclical existence in suffering doing nothing to escape Samsara could be said to be more difficult considering the endless suffering to be experienced. Now addressing the last question as to whether happiness is the only thing the poster should want. If we look at the alternative to happiness which is suffering it seems reasonable that one would choose happiness. The poster is concerned that by seeking happiness he will add uncertainty and meaninglessness to his life, but since uncertainty and meaninglessness are suffering by seeking happiness one would be letting go of these feelings as well. But to recap enlightenment is happiness, happiness is contentment, and it is fundamentally impossible for one to suffer while being happy.

Generally you should want to make it a ration of about 30-40% of Fu Ling to your chief and deputy tonic herbs. I would also recommend and equal amount of Gan Cao (licorice root) because it harmonizes the other herbs to work together well and it also strengthens the spleen as well.

Hello there, I wanted to give you a better answer than just an example, I've just not had time to do so until now. I am a licensed acupuncturist and traditional Chinese herbalist so thought I could help. So as to your original question, yes most jing and yin tonics tend to either be cloying in the intestines, weaken the spleen or both, either way they can tend to back things up. The general approach in most traditional Chinese herbal formulas is to have a four function approach of the chief, deputy, assistant, and envoy herbs to make the formula well balanced, effective, and to counter any negative side effects and/or interactions. In a jing or yin tonic the assistant herb(s) are generally the ones chosen to counteract the spleen weakening, intestine cloying effects of the chief and deputy tonic herbs. Generally these are either spleen strengthening and/or downward draining herbs depending on the tonic herbs used. So for example in Liu Wei Di Huang Wan the most common yin tonic formula, the main herb incorporated into the formula to offset the cloying nature of Shu Di Huang is Ze Xie. Fu Ling is also included to strengthen the spleen and thus the digestive system as a whole. In the formula Qi Bao Mei Ran Dan for example which the chief herb is He Shou Wu, the main herb to assist is again Fu Ling for its affects to strengthen the spleen, and counter the stagnating properties of the other tonic herbs. I had seen someone list ginger which is also a warming yang and spleen strengthening herb, and that would also be helpful. Ginseng also strengthens the digestive system (along with everything else) so could be useful as well. The key points to remember are downward draining, and spleen strengthening. Hope that helps.

Ok so for a little more background and explanation for my self and my experience personally.... Qigong was basically the first practice I got into and the reason was to help me deal with a lot of past trauma particularly childhood trauma but other trauma as well. In my study of qigong I did become aware of the inner smile and healing sounds from Chia, but a student of his (Gilles Marin) had written a book that took the practice to a much deeper level than what I had learned from Chia. In his book I learned to use these same techniques but to go much deeper into the organs, especially into their emotional and mental aspects. I might spend (at times) up to an hour looking deeply into a single organ, basically breathing in its associated color with the smile, and breathing out what ever was in there that no longer served me with the associated healing sound. The unexpected thing that happened was that I would uncover repressed emotions and forgotten memories that tended to relate to that organ. For example one time I spend an extended amount of time on my kidneys, breathing in blue, exhaling "dirty qi" with the "choo" sound. I reached a point where it was quite challenging, as totally repressed memories from childhood that terrified me came to the surface, as well as the same quality and sense of fear as at the time I was experiencing the event that caused the fear in the first place as though I were a child again. While that part was unpleasant, on the other hand long standing phobias and mental blocks that I had carried with me all my life up to that point began to fade away, so in that regard it was extremely beneficial. The same held true for the other organs, anger with the liver, sadness with the lungs, ect. I also experienced some other unexpected beneficially health benefits. Gilles includes in his organ meditations the other body parts associated with each organ as well. So for example with the liver meditation one breathes green qi into their eyeballs as well and I noticed an improvement in my eye sight as well. I was in college at this time and previously if I sat in the back had to use glasses to see the board clearly. After a little while of doing this meditation I no longer found my glasses to be necessary. Since then I have moved on and now primarily do Buddhist mindfulness meditation, but still have fond memories of the early days of meditation with the organs.

This is a link to a formula that will be an example to answer your question. https://www.activeherb.com/shouwu/

The Buddha's first sermon was the middle way, to neither torture one's self nor totally indulge in sensual pleasures as the path to enlightenment.

The long one might seem awkward at first but give it some time and most likely you'll fall into a rhythm. ;-)

Weird, I had this same experience of the sense of overhead light as well.

Oh wow that's interesting, I had no idea this affected other people similarly.

Not multitasking, just straight mantra. My gf does not.

My experience with this mantra has been wonderful and horrible lol. A few years ago I was doing it extensively (like several hours every day). A few odd things I noticed was that I had to urinate in small amounts constantly after I got into the second hour. Also while doing this mantra I met my current girlfriend who is one of the nicest people I have ever met anywhere. On a less happy note it seemed like all sorts of crap in life was coming out of the woodwork as well.

Unfortunately I did not find the Buddhists community near me very helpful. The western monks actually seem to look at me like I'm nuts when I asked them about this. Being the pragmatist that I am I found Hindu mantras to be of some help.

One of the main herbs in TCM for food stagnation is Hawthorn

In reply to the OP, yes this happens to me as well, as in for years. I get all sorts of different answers depending on who I ask, monk or not. In my opinion what happens is the practice brings awareness to the unpleasant stuff that was hidden in the mind previously. While unpleasant it is still useful if we make being mindful of the depression or what ever other suffering we become aware of part of the practice of observation.

But what does that mean?

I'm going to answer the question that the title of this post raises. The ghost realm is with in Samsara and therefore impermanent and therefore not ultimate liberation which is Nirvana.

According to the Buddha's explanation of anatta there is no self due to the fact that what ever you call yourself... isn't. So perhaps the question is to know what yourself isn't?

CT, thanks for the thorough reply. I actually have tried to contact the local Sangha but I found them to be quite skeptical. This is led me to primarily then have to figure out how to deal with this on my own. Would you mind listing some specific devotional practices that you find to be useful?

Spotless, yes I agree the good vs evil view of the world is a problematic issue in and of itself. This is one reason as a Buddhist I posted in the Buddhist discussion area as opposed to another place. I have felt the confusion of this entity more than once when it was harassing me and I shared my merits with it and offered it loving kindness lol. I don't see it as intrinsically evil rather I see it as a being in Samsara suffering from delusion like the rest of us, but I do wish for it to leave me be in peace.

Vajra, interesting you should say that because though I'm mostly tend toward Theravada the one Mahayana Sutra and mantra I have found to be useful/tried was the Amitabha Sutra and the Amitofu mantra.

First I'll start off by saying that if you think about it a psychic attack from a human and an attack by a spirit are in many ways not really that different as both are just minds and one happens to have a physical body and the other does not. With that being said just based upon my personal experience the main way I determine if something is a psychic attack or a spirit attack is first if what ever I start feeling is "out of context". By out of context I mean I can think of no obvious stimuli for what ever I have started feeling. Now this alone is not enough for me to suspect a psychic/spirit attack as the mind is very complicated and thoughts and feelings can arise from the mind for no apparent reason. So another clue is if the out of context thought is very sudden and/or intense. So for example if I'm sitting in traffic and even though I have not seen or heard an advertisement for ice cream but I suddenly start thinking of ice cream this is not a psychic attack but simply the mind and craving being the mind and craving. But if on the other hand I am sitting in traffic and I suddenly start feeling angry or anxious even though there seems to be no obvious stimuli from the other drivers, and additionally if this seemingly random feeling is not just ordinary but very strong, and/or obsessive, then I start to get suspicious. Now to the specific issue of psychic attack, if a random feeling hits me, AND its intense, AND there is no obvious reason for it, the way I tend to differentiate it as a psychic attack from a spirit is if the feeling is accompanied by either the thoughts or the feeling of a person (usually whom I know, and more usually whom I suspect is upset with me). If I feel all of these same things but do not get the impression of a specific person then I usually suspect a spirit. That is how I distinguish.