Sunya

Where to begin, I don't even know. For those unaware, Jenny Lamb teaches Yi Gong which is also known as Kunlun. She taught Max the Kunlun practice, minus the Red Phoenix practice which he got elsewhere. Some background: I practiced Kunlun from the book over a year ago. I did that every day for about 3 months and did not get very far. Legs shaking and that's about it, no bliss or spontaneous movements. I recently decided to travel to Colorado to meet Jenny for a seminar and give the practice another shot but this time under her direction. My rationale for this decision was that I heard great things about her and felt a very good vibe; I just really resonated with the purity of her approach. The goal being self-healing and the method is building a foundation. Her energy is very grounding and that's just what I needed. The seminar itself was held at her home which is very beautiful, adorned with Tibetan, Chinese, and Indian art. She also has an awesomely friendly young dog named Lucy that carried her own powerfully upbeat energy. The group was very small, only 6 of us, which was perfect as it allowed us all to become comfortable with each other and become close with Jenny, each receiving great personal guidance. She is a very down to earth, humble, and quite normal person. She has no quirks about her and if someone met her without knowing about her they would just perceive a very young looking, vibrant, yet wise person. My experience of her was extremely positive. She was very open and warm, usually taking a very long time to answer questions with the utmost detail and always encouraged us to talk about our experiences with extreme precision so that she could give us advice. We started off with the basics. Her lecture consisted of a very concise explanation of Chinese medicine, cosmology, all about blood, Qi, and channels, emotions, proper diet, herbal recommendations for Qi flow, the meridians and their organ counterparts, and an explanation of Spontaneous Qi Gong and its benefits. Day 1 consisted of learning practices that open channels, get blood and Qi moving, and remove stagnation, excess, and deficiencies of yin/yang. Basically these were exercises that compliment Yi Gong and are very good to do in the morning. There were 10 exercises and all of them integrated body, breath, and movement. We also learned a tapping along the meridians exercise and a practice of opening the back channels. In the 2nd session of the 1st day we learned even more exercise which were quite unique and sort of resemble Yoga asanas, though not as difficult physically. These exercises Jenny said she learned from her spontaneous practice. Day 2 was the day for Spontaneous practice, and the day I was looking forward to the most. Jenny said she doesn't give transmission, she wants people to be independent and not rely on others for their self-healing/awakening, but I can personally attest to the reality of practicing in her presence. She actually practiced with us. She did not walk around or observe; she just gave us some instructions, told us to fully let go and that was that. Prior to Yi Gong, we sat quietly for a little while. She then walked around the group and I felt like my hair was standing on ends, and had cool liquid-like energy going up my spine. We then began the practice and she did it with us. As she was fully in that state, it allowed others to let go too. Her presence was very powerful during our practice and everyone had some spontaneous movements, though everyone was doing something different according to their needs. One woman had her back bent forward unmoving, one guy was doing various mudras, and I was flailing around like a madman. I peeked a little toward Jenny, her movements were very beautiful. I was in awe. I've never seen anything like it. Towards the end of the session she was spontaneously singing a beautiful song which sounded like it was coming from a heavenly being. I had extremely powerful sensations during our practice that day and had movements for the first time. These were not simple movements, and I really couldn't believe what was happening at times. The movements correlated with sensations I felt in my body where there were blockages or injuries. The group dynamic was a very cool way to practice, especially with a powerful teacher. She's the real deal. As I said before, practicing alone for 3 months produced little fruit, but 2 days with Jenny allowed me to open up to my own self-healing process. I practiced today and it's still there, I'm not dependent on her. Some final thoughts: Jenny is a very low-key and serious teacher. She doesn't entertain fantasies and quickly shuts down people who yearn to latch onto her for comfort. She's extremely grounding, humble, and wise. She reminded me of old Taoist/Zen sages that could read your mind and tell you exactly what you needed to hear without you asking a question [yes she did that to me plenty of times during the seminar]. As for her thoughts on Kunlun and Max [i'm sure people are curious], yes she talked about it. She didn't want to talk ill of Max but she did not seem happy about all the people experiencing negative effects and Qi deviations from the practice. She said that she herself teaches a system that does not produce negative effects and she is always available to assist those who need help with their practice. The Yi Gong is pure and she teaches it as it was taught to her by her teacher, a master living in China. She is the only person that he taught the practice to. I asked her about the history of the practice and she said she doesn't know. After the Kunlun book came out, lots of people asked her if the history mentioned in the book was true, it's not; it's all made up. She asked her teacher about it and he said the practice is 1,860 years old and its Maoshan. That's all he said. She will find out more someday about it's history, but that isn't really a concern for her. She also mentioned many Kunlun students come to her to open their 'wisdom eye' thinking it's the third eye, but she has to correct them that the third eye is the 'celestial eye' and has nothing to do with enlightenment, which opens the 'wisdom eye' (or dharma eye). Opening the celestial eye is not important and can be a distraction (as it seems to be for many Kunluners obsessed with phenomena). No offense is meant to the Kunlun practice nor its teachers; I'm sure many have benefited from it. I'm merely sharing some information I've gathered which might be relevant to some here who are interested in learning more. Jenny is also doing 5 day all-day retreats for those who have done the seminar. All in all, I can say that the seminar was extremely beneficial and worthwhile. I recommend everyone to go

So deep

Greetings all! Check out this amazing online practice opportunity being offered by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche at DharmaSun.org. It starts at the basics, then goes into tantra/kundalini and purification, and culminates in Dzogchen. A gradual program which is great for both beginners and advanced. I'm going to do it probably. The program lasts for half a year. http://www.dharmasun.org/index.php?dharmasun=login&re=viewpp

I think this quote from Kyle is pretty clear on the meaning of space in Dzogchen, which like the term 'mirror is used as a symbol or metaphor, not as a literal description which would only lead to formless state.

This seems more like hinayana view, rather than mahayana. In mahayana it isn't understood that the mindstream ceases completely, ever, but that may be a goal in hinayana. Certainly is not a goal in mahayana, at least based on what I've read and heard From Walpola Rahula's What the Buddha Taught: "If there is no Self, no Atman, who realizes Nirvana? Before we go on to Nirvana, let us ask the question: Who thinks now, if there is no Self? We have seen earlier that it is the thought that thinks, that there is no thinker behind the thought. In the same way, it is wisdom (panna), realization, that realizes. There is no other self behind the realization."

TI, This is just a friendly discussion. There's no need to take things personally. Also, the quote you used does not say anything which supports what you say. You're reading too much into it based on your expectations and experiences, which is why I suggested a teacher, but of course it's your life and you don't have to listen to me. "To penetrate the light is not to realize the cause of the light." It says so in the footnotes of the pdf you linked to, since you do not believe me. Also from http://dharmafarer.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/19.7-Nimitta-piya.pdf "To penetrate the light means to actually submerge in the light " Nowhere is this suggested in the sutta. If you disagree, please show the exact sentence where this is implied. Vipassana is the practice of penetration, and in fact this language is used quite often by vipassana teachers, such as Mahasi Sayadaw. The goal is to penetrate the object, whether that's the nimitta or any other phenomena. To try to merge with the object is jhana meditation, but this in and of itself will not lead to liberation. Anyway, see this thread where Daniel Ingram talks about this http://www.dharmaoverground.org/web/guest/discussion/-/message_boards/message/283675 You're saying Venerable Bhikkhu Sona, abbot of the Birken Forest Monastery is a non-practitioner who is full of crap? And where is the radical interpretation? I did not say vipassana is a cause. I said " to penetrate the light (the nimitta) means to directly see, or realize the cause of, which is vipassana." Vipassana is the practice of seeing the cause, gaining knowledge of, clearly seeing, etc. phenomena. You see the light with great clarity, but that's jhana. If you see the light and penetrate it, that means you see that the light is impermanent (made up of smaller moments of light which cause the next moment of light) and lacks inherency, thus penetrating the object to see its true nature. This is vipassana. Yes, these are good books. If you're interested in vipassana, Shaila Catherine's Wisdom Wide and Deep is quite good. In both Ajan Brahm's and Shaila Catherine's books, the nimitta is used as an object to enter jhana, so if that's your goal, that's great and I do not mean to discourage you. I am only saying that the Buddha did not gain enlightenment by focusing on the nimitta and entering jhana. That's all.

How are you getting all this from that passage? Nowhere does it say that the Buddha 'gradually learned how to make the light and the visions remain' This is the complete opposite of what the passage suggests. The light described is also not the light you're talking about. It's the nimitta, or sign, which precedes jhana or one pointed concentration. It is a mental phenomena correlated with the breath. If you want to learn more about nimitta, see this http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma/nimitta.html and this http://simplesuttas.wordpress.com/2013/05/27/jhana-wars-pt-6-the-great-nimitta-debate/ Also, you seem to be obsessing about visions and such, when the passage is clear that the Buddha realized the cause of the nimitta and visions by analyzing his experience. When it says "the knowledge and vision arose in me:" it does not mean that the knowledge and vision of forms arose. Vision in this context means seeing clearly. See this sutta: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.than.html Also, to penetrate the light (the nimitta) means to directly see, or realize the cause of, which is vipassana. IMO you would really benefit from finding a teacher to guide you since you are mixing too many different ideas which are not very useful. If you are interested in jhana/vipassana meditation, a Theravada teacher can be of use. You can also contact Daniel Ingram directly for guidance on the Dharma Overground forum. He's an expert in both jhana and vipassana and is an authorizd teacher in the Mahasi Sayadaw lineage. If you're interested in Dzogchen, then it's best to find a teacher in a Dzogchen lineage. But learning from various passages and books and creating your own interpretations will only cause confusion.

What's with the hostility GrandmasterP? Thusness is not a guru and isn't selling anything. You're making baseless assumptions. The lingo here is standard dharma talk. If there's something you don't understand, you can simply ask. But coming in here and acting this way is pretty disrespectful

All Buddhist paths lead at least to realization of clarity. What makes Buddhist paths unique is the emptiness aspect (kadag)

That's xabirs site, and he does post stuff about Malcolm sometimes :-P

Unless you've tried Tapatalk, you won't know just how good it is on a mobile device. The interface is really good and preferable to the mobile version of this forum. Every other forum that I frequent supports it so I can access them all using the Tapatalk app. I really like its features where you can easily see all threads you've participated in and see updates, so it saves a lot of time when browsing. Anyway, it should only take 5 minutes to install the plugin and it's free, so there isn't any downside to installing it. Here is the link to installing it on IP Board. Very simple. http://tapatalk.com/activate_tapatalk.php?plugin=ipb

Bump. Sean, please enable Tapatalk plugin on here

I loved this anime, season 1 much more than season 2. Really fun watch!

Any word back? This would be awesome. I use my Android phone more often than my computer these days and would love to browse this forum on Tapatalk.

I recommend getting this book - A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night: A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life by Dalai Lama -- It's not just a translation (although the text is included) but also a commentary by one of the greatest Buddhist masters of our time.

Can't wait. I love Baraka. Simply wonderful.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spotlightsix.zentimer&hl=en I was looking for a meditation timer and came upon Insight Timer. There's a free version, but I got the paid version to support the developers. It includes some nice sounds of tibetan singing bowls which go off after the alotted time. You can also create interval bells too, like a 5 minute warning bell to tell you that time is almost up. It's not only a timer, but it keeps track of your meditation history and gives you statistics. You can also see who is meditating at the same time as you, which is nice... kind of like a virtual sangha

good post Steve

I do not feel anything or think about my ethnicity, nationality, religion. The particular religion I was born into, well the members consider the religion to be an ethnicity, so even if you do not believe in the religion, "you're always one of us." I greatly dislike this thinking. It's very tribal. I just don't understand it. I also do not feel any pride in being American. I'm sure I would be just as happy and free being Swiss, Canadian, or Portuguese.

There's no dharma secrets that aren't written down in a sutra. It's all there. If you can't find it, it's not part of Buddhism. You can believe your revelatory hallucinations if you wish, but don't ascribe them to be dharma.

There is no such "sin" in Buddhism. Please quote a sutra which says that gods control our lives.

No, Buddhism says nothing about gods pulling the strings. Our karma is what's pulling the strings. You're making Buddhism out to be some primitive shamanistic polytheistic religion.

So where are these invisible gods that control the fate of our world? Have you actually experienced one of them outside of your imagination? Why talk about these hypothetical gods and how great they are, yet downplaying your own existence as a human?

Because we create our own karma, so not even the Buddha with his infinite compassion could save everyone. We have to create the causes for liberation ourselves. The Buddha can only show us the way. By "Eastern saint" do you mean Taoist? This is certainly not true for a Buddhist saint.

Actually there is a way to live without suffering, and that's what the Buddhadharma is all about. Compassion is not a concept. It is a naturally arising motivating force which is there once the sentient being realizes they are not separate from other beings.