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Practices that lead to the gradual dissolution of solidly fixated thought streams is what leads to the cultivation of Right View, and study is simply one aspect of said practices, and not exactly a prerequisite. To prove the point, there are enough realised practitioners who've not done a lot of study. Sky gazing will do more to cause Right View to stabilise than studying the many sutras.

One could always ask Google how to understand the various meanings of the different sutras. Or listen to the many teachings and/or commentaries from numerous online Buddhist resources, for example, Lotsawa House, Buddhistdoor, Lion's Roar, Shambala, FPMT, and so on.

If all we have is a belief or trust in the realm of appearances and imaginings, and no real insight beyond that, then of course we will eventually be disappointed. ~ Paramito Ladakh ~

~.~

Wonderful read, The Prophet.

~ Tsarchen Losel Gyatso ~ In mistaken perception of a rope as a snake, terror can make you flee. For a person with belief and devotion, it’s said, the tooth of a dog became a heap of relics. In what’s only been given just a name, just a label, not even an atom is established by own-essence. The nature of amazing, profound interdependence, nothing appearing as anything, is realized there. Small-minded persons, who accept as true the baseless gossip people speak at crossroads, risk revealing their own and many other people’s faults with a song of groundless, nervous alarm.

~ Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche ~ Emotional obscurations are just extraneous veils that never penetrate or spoil the primordially perfect and unchanging buddha-nature. It simply rests naturally as it is. When we look without dualistic clinging at the buddha-nature, we will be liberated.

~ Thinley Norbu Rinpoche ~ Good practitioners can purify their gross internal and external earth elements. When they do this, the internal earth elements of the gross nerve channels and veins become lighter and lighter, purer and purer, and as they become insubstantial, indestructible, and luminous, the distinction between the conceptions of external and internal earth elements diminishes until they have become purified into the same substanceless light essence. Padmasambhava attained this state. Because it has an indestructible vajra nature and cannot be penetrated by any circumstances, according to the Vajrayana system, this is called Vajra Wisdom Body. Good practitioners can purify their gross internal and external air elements. When they do this, the internal air elements become lighter and lighter, purer and purer, and as they become unobstructed and clear, the distinction between the conceptions of external and internal air elements diminishes until they have become purified into the same enchanting sound. Some great saints in ancient times attained this state. The pure clarity of their sound was not impaired by the cracks and scratching of gross elements’ vibrations and nothing could obstruct its tone, which pervades everywhere. This is called Vajra Wisdom Song. Good practitioners can diminish the dualism of their inner subject substance mind and outer object substance phenomena. When they do this, the subtle elements become more and more vast, more and more limitless, and as they become boundless and profound, the distinction between the dualistic conception of outer and inner space elements diminishes until they have become purified into the same infinite expanse. Then everything is without beginning and without end. This is Samantabhadra, whose wisdom heart is the source of measureless and limitless knowledge, unconquered and undeceived by the illusion of dualism. This is called Vajra Wisdom Heart.

Yeah, it'd be great to post up some examples. Cheers! No rush....

Interesting. Where in the suttas is that alluded to, I wonder.

She sat quite alone Silent for twenty three years Wide awake and bright

21 Praises to Tara in full

Will it sound silly if I say that stress over this will exacerbate the condition? I don't know what you do 'spiritually', but I know that if you've made progress spiritually, its only normal that metabolism slows, and with that, so will the frequency of needing clearance. I know of mature & seasoned practitioners who only need clearance once a week, and are in perfect health. Not just one, but a good few of them. But since you've had this for that length of time, the odds of it being related to cultivation practice slims. From the little I gleaned from your post, and just feeling it on an intuitive level : I sensed that the issue is sleep-related. Insomnia, sleep apnea, snoring, teeth grinding, restless legs, habitual worrier... ? A general feeling of loneliness, despair at times even. This puts pressure on your abdomen, and causes it to contract without you having control over it. You could try to increase awareness to this area as often as you can remember, and noticing whats the feeling there each time you direct attention to it. I'm not sure how helpful TCM will be for this case - perhaps what will really help is to do regular colon cleansing, like maybe once every 3 months or so. If you are able to work with a nutritionist at the same time, I think it will be beneficial. Regular yogurt hurts more than it helps. Try switching to goat's milk yogurt. Do an allergy test if you haven't already done one recently. It may surprise you. RobB mentioned prunes.... they're great if you can get organic ones. Medjool dates are as good, if not better. Fresh figs... expensive, hard to procure, but if available, they're extremely efficient for the job. Damn nutritious too. You mentioned lemon juice in the morning? Hopefully you're not drinking that neat. Combining Warm water, a tablespoon of lemon juice + a teaspoon of manuka honey will be much kinder to your system. Its already in shock, and you don't want to make it worse. Ever tried kombucha? Kimchi? Sauerkraut? Easy to make at home (avoid commercial produce). Extremely good for gut health. Don't add ice to anything you drink, please. Try to sleep before 11pm. 10, if possible. This link could be useful? https://www.nigms.nih.gov/education/fact-sheets/Pages/circadian-rhythms.aspx

Mantras are sublime sounds. Deities, bodhisattvas and buddhas are sublime beings. The vibrational connection is glaringly obvious, yet there are those who, for reasons known only to them, choose to work with one and reject the other. For this reason, stable progress will be obscured.

Music is the literature of the heart; it commences where speech ends. ~ Alphonse de Lamartine

Syllables of the Kalachakra Mantra The Tantra of Kalachakra (Tib: dus-kyi ‘khor-lo) – ‘the wheel of time’ – is an extremely esoteric Buddhist system of teachings, which deals with the outer cosmology of the universe, the inner cosmology of the ‘subtle body’, and the ‘alternative’ practice of the deity Kalachakra. The ten interlocking and stacked syllables of Kalachakra’s mantra (Om-Ham-Ksha-Ma-La-Va-Ra-Ya-Sva-Ha) are commonly known as the ‘all powerful ten’, and are written in an early Indian script known as Lantsa. The ten syllables stand upon four planetary discs, which rest upon a multicoloured lotus. The lowest of these four discs is the white disc of the moon. Above this is the red disc of the sun, then the blue-black disc of the eclipse planet Rahu, and at the top is the golden-orange disc of Kalagni – ‘the great fire at the end of time’. The main interlocking syllables are composed of the mantra’s seven consonant syllables, which arise from vertical staves or ‘legs’ in seven different colours. The lowest Ya syllable is black (air), then ascend the red Ra (fire), white Va (water), and yellow La (earth). The fifth red stave of the Ma syllable terminates in an oval four-colour sequence, which represents Mt Meru – the cosmic mountain at the centre of our universe. The sixth green Ksha syllable represents the great lotus at the summit of Mt Meru and the heavens of the form gods. The crowning blue Ham syllable represents the four formless god realms. Above the seven stacked consonants are the symbols of a crescent moon, a solar disc, and a dissolving point of flame – symbolising the three main median nerves (nadi) of the subtle body, and the three component sounds of the syllables Ham and Om. To the left and right of the seven stacked consonants are the blue syllable E and the golden syllable Vam. Their combined sound, Evam – meaning ‘thus it is’ – represent the union of blue Kalachakra with his yellow consort Vishvamata.

Might it be more apt to substitute 'existence' with 'space'? Just wondering

“Old layman, your actions and behavior are in subtle accord with the Path, but you have not been able to get the burst of power. If in your daily activities responding to circumstances you do not stray from your past footsteps, though you haven’t gotten the burst of power, still, on the last day of your life, the King of Death will have to fold his hands and submit.” ~ Master Ta Hui, in a letter to Chang Yang-shu ~

If all the great works of art were dependent on the artists being fully functional before they could 'flow and create' there'd be very little masterpieces for the world to marvel at. A lot of these artists are really screwed up, dysfunctional & neurotic - therein lies their greatest, most brilliant inspirations. The thing that sets them apart, really, is simply that they do not confuse dysfunction with finding meaning. Very often, their creative juices peak at the height of utter meaninglessness. Nevertheless, most of these artists, and many really talented performers as well, they don't hang around for too long - they burn bright but the brightness consumes them, like shooting stars. They were unable to turn that brilliance within. Spiritually, they were not able to glow from the inside out. They knew, from the 'trips' they often took, that there's something infinitely more profound and permanent waiting to be discovered and integrated that will lift them up out of the shadows, but they were afraid of the light. In the shadows, they found comfort in familiarity.

@dmattwads There could be a couple of nuggets in here that may be of use to you.. http://buddhism.lib.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-EPT/simm.htm

The nightmare begins... Today's news: Asian govts could require travellers to be vaccinated against Covid-19, says AirAsia CEO Despite this sentiment from WHO: WHO against making coronavirus vaccine mandatory (South China Morning Post) https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/3112958/who-against-making-coronavirus-vaccine-mandatory

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Brunei.... “The reason why we are allowing visitors from Brunei is simply because they have not had any new cases or infections for the last 215 days" ~ spokesman for the East Malaysian govt. Brunei covid free for 7 months. No panic there, I'd say.

Definitely YES for Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. I'm guessing its the same for the other countries as well. I do wonder about the stats though. How many purported covid deaths actually perished with covid as the primary (sole?) cause? Since there is no cure, and the recovery numbers are not small by any means, one wonders. Most healthy covid patients (here in Malaysia) recover within a few days where the virus did not exacerbate or expose previously undetected physical ailments/maladies. One does not even need to have a particularly strong immune system.