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Meditation is not like progressing through stage after stage after stage. Rather, meditation is more like the process of growing up and ageing. Although you may celebrate your birthday on a particular day, that doesn’t mean that, when you blow your candle out at your party, you suddenly go from being two years old to being three. In growing up, there is a process of evolution, a process of development. That is precisely the issue as far as meditation practice is concerned. Meditation is not based on stages, but it is a process that takes place in you. Such a process takes place in accordance with your life situation. There are many disciplines that talk in terms of stages and landmarks of spirituality. You take a certain vow, you take on a discipline, and from that point onward you are a different person. For example, in the Jewish tradition you have your bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah; you enter manhood or womanhood. There are many things like that. It’s deceptive if we see the process as a sudden one: once you get your title and the deed that goes with your title, you think you have become a slightly advanced and different person. From the point of view of true spirituality, we have to face this misunderstanding. There is nothing that should be regarded as a sudden jump at all. Rather, there is a gradual process, an actual process that takes place constantly. ~ Chogyam Trungpa ~

The pleasure orientation is very important, very powerful, and very basic. If you are not pleasure-oriented, you can’t understand tantra. You have to be pleasure-oriented, because otherwise you are pain- and misery-oriented. But this is not a psychological trick of convincing yourself through positive thinking. It is an obvious, reasonable, and real thing. When you treat yourself well, you feel good. When you feel good, you dress yourself in good clothes and adorn yourself with beautiful ornaments. It is a very natural and basic way of relating to oneself. The main qualities of tantra that come out here are basic trust and basic elegance. Elegance here means appreciating things as they are. Things as you are and things as they are. There is a sense of delight and of fearlessness. You are not fearful of dark corners. If there are any dark, mysterious corners, black and confusing, you override them with your glory, your sense of beauty, your sense of cleanness, your feeling of being regal. Because you can override fearfulness in this way, tantra is known as the king of all the yanas. You take an attitude of having perfectly complete and very rich basic sanity. ~ Chogyam Trungpa ~

On some level you are right. Yet, this is all part of the evolutionary process of connection, the most primordial of human desires which began literally when fire was first discovered, and warmth became the universal antidote for alleviating feelings of fragmentation, coldness and malnourishment. Life was simpler then, and on some level, it still is, if.... in the midst of heightened awakening, there comes a realisation that ultimately, the seeming mass of humanity and their current state is predicated on how we choose to think of seeming realities. It gets clearer, and perhaps less harsh where spaciousness is allowed to permeate this awakening process. The good thing is, even when there is that lack of distance and space, it does not mean that one is separated from being a part of that awakening. Probably one's experiences get a little less pleasant and more time & energy consuming, but awakening, nonetheless.

Without language, who would you be? The idea of who we are is developed with language just as a fictional character is developed with words. But fictional characters are only fiction, they don’t actually exist except as an idea. Any feelings produced by reading their plot are felt, not by the character in the book, but by the one reading. Though they are truly felt, they are based on the fictional plot of an imagined character. Likewise, the person believed to be you, is also a fictional character, existing only as an idea. It’s been developed over time through the use of words. Reading this character’s story likely stirs many sincere feelings, and is very touching. However, it’s not the character who feels any such thing, but the reader who is touched by the story of this imagined character. Don’t be troubled by what’s only imagined, nor try to rid yourself of the fictional character that’s believed to be you, that’s just more fiction for a fictional character. There’s no need to fight an imaginary battle for the freedom you already have, but only imagine that you don’t. This character developed in thought, see it for what it is, a story which you’ve been reading. What you truly are, no story can tell. ~ a kind soul ~ "The cause of our discontent is our mistaken feeling of separateness. This isn’t based on anything tangible. It’s based on beliefs and concepts. The duality of subject and object, self and other, is an illusion imputed by the mind.” ~ Pema Chodron

Joyful hugs and smiles to you, dear Ilumairen, and to all my friends here. Trust that everyone is well, and is working diligently towards a kinder, more peaceful world. Its so needed right now. I pray for blessings of wisdom & love for all of you always.

One of the qualities that you can develop, particularly in your older years, is a sense of great compassion for yourself. When you visit the wounds within the temple of memory, you should not blame yourself for making bad mistakes that you greatly regret. Sometimes you have grown unexpectedly through these mistakes. Frequently, in a journey of the soul, the most precious moments are the mistakes. They have brought you to a place that you would otherwise have always avoided. You should bring a compassionate mindfulness to your mistakes and wounds. Endeavor to inhabit the rhythm you were in at that time. If you visit this configuration of your soul with forgiveness in your heart, it will fall into place itself. When you forgive yourself, the inner wounds begin to heal. You come in out of the exile of hurt into the joy of inner belonging. ~ John O'Donohue ~

The basic ground of awareness, which both empowers and liberates experience, is neither a condition of karma nor conditioned by karma. Therefore, while this primordial foundation of unchanging wakefulness may be revealed by means of the Noble Eightfold Path, it is neither created by adopting it nor destroyed by abandoning it. ~ Paramito Ladakh ~

As they draw near to the nature of things The words of the learned become mute. All phenomena, subtle by their very nature, Are said to be beyond expression in words or thoughts. The mind arises in the nature of the emptiness of all things. In this samsara, thick with the mirages of appearance That even the Tathagata’s hands cannot stop, Who can let go of belief in existence and non-existence. ~ Gendun Chopel ~

Its been a while, Rex How have you been, my friend? Trust you & all dear friends here are in great happiness always! Wishing you & everyone here a truly blessed new year _/\_ May all enjoy the causes of great liberation and peace, today and always!

There are forms, and there is that which is aware of forms;There are feelings, and there is that which is aware of feelings;There are perceptions, and there is that which is aware of perceptions;There are thought formations, and there is that which is aware of thought formations;There are sense impressions, and there is that which is aware of sense impressions: That which is aware has always been, is now, and will always be, awakened! ~ Paramito Ladakh ~

To understand selflessness, you need to understand that everything that exists is contained in two groups called the two truths: conventional and ultimate. The phenomena that we see and observe around us can go from good to bad, or bad to good, depending on various causes and conditions. Many phenomena cannot be said to be inherently good or bad; they are better or worse, tall or short, beautiful or ugly, only by comparison, not by way of their own nature. Their value is relative. From this you can see that there is a discrepancy between the way things appear and how they actually are. For instance, something may—in terms of how it appears—look good, but, due to its inner nature being different, it can turn bad once it is affected by conditions. Food that looks so good in a restaurant may not sit so well in your stomach. This is a clear sign of a discrepancy between appearance and reality. These phenomena themselves are called conventional truths: they are known by consciousness that goes no further than appearances. But the same objects have an inner mode of being, called an ultimate truth, that allows for the changes brought about by conditions. A wise consciousness, not satisfied with mere appearances, analyzes to find whether objects inherently exist as they seem to do but discovers their absence of inherent existence. It finds an emptiness of inherent existence beyond appearances. ~ HH 14th Dalai Lama ~

"Ego" is merely consciousness coalescing around an intrinsically insubstantial form, feeling, perception, thought formation or sense impression, and mistakenly claiming it as “self”. ~ Paramito Ladakh ~

“The nature of mind has to be recognized by the nature of mind. It is not 'you' recognizing your nature of mind; it is your spontaneous, effortless nature of mind that recognizes itself, timelessly. It is so easy therefore it is so difficult. It is there all the time, and is without beginning or end. Our mind recognizes our nature of mind all the time. We are never separate. But somehow, as it is said in the Mahamudra prayer, “self awareness, under the power of ignorance, is confused into a 'self'”. So, because of ignorance, the nature of mind that we recognize every moment, every moment we tend to mistake it as 'I'”. ~ Tai Situ Rinpoche ~

Taoist practitioners and followers... Enjoy!

Thank you, Steve. I took a lot out of the above talk, and simply wanted to pass it on that others may benefit too. I have only recently found this teacher, and felt quite an immediate connection.

An insightful talk on Chod Practice by Lopon Chandra Easton

Useful website for the study and practice of Buddhadharma http://www.three-vajras.com/

Not only is money a vivid form of energy, it usually takes on a prevalently wrathful appearance. Hard to subjugate, thats why so much challenges stubbornly exist around it.

the coiled serpent is also small at the bottom. the uncoiling challenges all manner of conventional self-views, just as ascending Mt. Meru does. Thats why the path requires sure-footedness as opposed to foolhardiness. Getting the foundation right has to be a priority, but hardly anyone takes this encouragement seriously. There is so much hang-up over the term 'foundation' due to misunderstanding what it actually means. That very foundation is the safe passage that ensures one does not meet the 'shakti' unprepared. Its a blueprint of precise steps and calculated formulas that guarantee results, without the kickbacks.

As noted above, its really quite intricate and complex. Taking on these practices is a serious commitment, not something to be done on a trial and error basis - but many still do. Its quite baffling. Then they come to TDB looking for help, and get even more screwed (usually) Like some newbie will google 'Pliowa' and get taken to a Polish website for a dumpling to be found in some obscure part of Poland, for example

Vajrayana practitioners who listen to the advise of their teachers and duly apply the recommended practices of ngondro for a good length of time, then attend at least one long retreat (1 year or 3 years) will benefit from having all the stored trauma neutralised, so that when they move on to candali, tummo etc ('secret' practices) they wont experience the kind of negative kick-backs so often heard about from those who either dont have a proper system to follow, or who have one, but decide to do it their own way for whatever reason (lack of patience comes to mind). Its silly to try and manage/instill K awakening without proper foundation.

Those are really useful points to ponder over. In Tibetan culture, it is believed that some of our thought forms, especially those that are driven by habit tendencies, can condense into entities (tulpas) that at the embryonic stages feeds off the energy of that/those habit(s) that gave birth to it, thru a kind of psychic umbilical cord, and over time, as it matures, it can break free, depending on how concentrated the energetic substance was and how embedded the particular habits were. In its independence, it can travel astrally and sometimes get up to mischief, but will always return and hover close to its 'life giver'. For example, a person thinks ill of his relative living a distance away, and if the thoughts reaches neurotic levels, it is not uncommon for the relative to actually sense some kind of negative vibe, but might not be entirely sure of the source. Some believe this is the work of tulpas. This also explains how some masters can see people's energetic imprints - the power of their third eye enables them to see these tulpas quite clearly. Following the same principle, generally speaking, those who practice the Dharma diligently, with some sustained level of kindness, compassion, joy, equanimity, generosity and insight, will also give birth to similar tulpas, but of a benevolent nature. Some yogis, those who possess well-developed psychic abilities, can exert mastery over these tulpas and have the power to subdue the mischievous ones and also power to strengthen the benevolent ones. It is also believed that groups, large or small, can also collectively create tulpas that share similar attributes to the ones mentioned above. Their actions would largely be dependent on the collective general states of mind of either a particular group, culture or even a nation. The Ghostbusters (part 1) theme was largely developed from this premise. Its an interesting idea.

"Is Buddhist nirvana equivalent to the Garden of Eden described in the Bible?"

I think in some of the cases the tendency for avoidance - the formational period where this habit took shape in a person's psyche - would have been there even before the embarkation on a spiritual journey. If there is a refusal to acknowledge the issue, then persisting with the journey could well throw up more obstacles than if the issue was addressed either prior to or at the beginning of the transitional phase.

If an individual uses a spiritual path to bypass real-life human issues, is that path the cause of the bypassing? A person who has a fractured leg needs a crutch to aid the recovery process. The responsibility for using the crutch in an integrated fashion, and the abidance by certain basic rules of usage lies not with the crutch certainly. This is not to say 'spiritual bypassing' is not an issue - it is, and it happens across the board, not just Buddhism. John Welwood must have his reasons for implying an association between Buddhism and this psychological malady, but I think the association is not entirely accurate.