Sunya

so it happened by chance then? karma and rebirth have nothing to do with morality. its causality and interconnectedness. the universe is not sentient, theres no God that decides who suffers and who doesn't. and you don't have the omniscience to see these childrens' past lives to understand their causality... I understand that its a terrible situation, and being compassionate is wonderful. but people do a lot of evils, you cannot ignore that. there have been many murderers, rapists, and people who just did a lot of wrong. look at all the wars that have occured just in our recorded history. and this is just one planet! just because the effects are truly terrible does not mean that the causes cannot exist, simply because of the extreme nature of the effect. yes.. and not believing in reincarnation somehow liberates you? let's see if you feel the same on your deathbed.

to say that you exist is an extreme, to say that you don't exist is another extreme. both are concepts that you cannot prove. how can you prove your exist? where are you? what makes up 'you' ?

just because someone 'deserved it' because of karma does not mean one shouldn't have compassion. I think you should be more compassionate to these people because its their own doing, suffering is because of their own actions, and not just because of a random occurrence. the belief in karma allows people to get over tragic events much easier than believing in random chaos and spontaneity. take a woman who was raped, if she believes in chaos than she will never feel close to a man again, and always live in fear. but if that woman truly believed in karma than of course she would be traumatized for a while, but she would know that this was bound to happen because of her past actions and there was nothing she could've done. furthermore it is sort of a relief when bad things happen because you just knocked off some bad karma. this allows one to move on from a traumatic event or bad situation or circumstance and not get into a negative state. to get into a negative state of fear and anger only creates more bad karma because of the negative imprints in the mindstream. I know that its hard to believe, and I'm not a 100% believer. but i'm open minded. and I think its important to be open minded, because it makes more sense than materialistic chaos. but even if you believe in karma, you won't really know until you have true insight into karma, and that comes with meditation. so you won't really fully know karma until you have that insight.

Hi Rainbow, just so you know, my view is that of Tibetan Buddhism, primarily Dzogchen, so maybe this won't sound too Taoist.. I don't think this has anything to do with yin separating from yang, yin and yang are mutually interdependent energies and thus can never be separate. what you are experiencing is a deeper aspect of your being, as there are 3 interdependent levels: body, energy, and mind. when the body is asleep, you can experience the subtle energy body. this subtle energy body is comprised of 2 interdependent energies which Taoism calls yin and yang and Tibetans call lunar and solar energies. when they are in harmony then the body and mind are too in harmony. what bonds the energy body to the physical body is interdependence. the physical body is dependent upon the subtle energy (prana, or qi, or lung). this subtle energy body is not an immortal body as it is dependent upon the karmas in the mindstream. the mindstream, once enlightened, can manifest infinite amounts of illusory bodies in any dimension or level but only when all ignorance and karmic habituation is cleared from mind. the purpose of this manifestation is compassion, but this 'purpose' isn't so much a purpose just like the sun doesn't have a purpose when it shines light. its in its nature to shine light, likewise a mindstream in its enlightened state has in its nature to shine compassion in every direction. enlightenment is not achieved when the yin and yang energies are in harmony. this balance only provides a stepping stone to non-dual awareness. it takes work to have stable presence in primordial awareness.

Indeed. all is of the mind because all concepts are bound by minds limitations. therefore using terms such as Self to describe ultimate reality is a horrible idea. thats why all the teachings of emptiness barely give the mind any clue what the true nature of things are, apart from interdependence and negation of self-nature. true non-conceptual insight is beyond mind thats why having concepts is disastrous. its impossible to have true experience and recognition of non-duality if the mind is steeped in concepts

are you purposefully not thinking deeper into this? after you're doing having a temper tantrum...try to reconcile these with any Buddhist teaching, since you seemed to skip over what is truly essential to the point i'm making and only focused on a superficial element. "Mind is Brahman" and "Brahman is the immortal Soul, the one warp of the world and the individual souls, the self-luminous light of the worlds, full of bliss, omnipresent. It is in front, behind, above, below, to the right and to the left, and shines with all splendour in the heart of all." and can't forget about "Brahman is the cause of this world." can you find any Buddhist teaching, of the original Nikaya suttas of the physical Buddha, or the later 'warped and dogmatic' schools (as you like to say) that in any way, shape, or form point to the individuals mind being equal to the fundamental essence the permeates all of reality and being the cause of the world

i think they should unify with Scientology if thats true. they talk a lot about Aliens too

or maaaaybe, its not. we need to stop blaming our habitual tendencies on others. you know Robert Bruce? he's a pretty famous guy in the OBE world. I asked him for advice the other day. I've had really strong sexual desires ever since I could remember, and you know what he told me? he said i've been part of a child deprogramming attempt by entities who have been psychically controlling my mind in order to steal my energy. well he's creative, i'll give him that. what if its more simple? what if I just had strong desire in my past life and it carried over? sounds much more plausible than some mysterious beings controlling me. desire, and habitual actions, does not go away with death. it continues in various forms after death, this is what karma is.. and I think given this, we need to start owning our karma and take responsibility for our desires instead of putting the blame on Reptilians or Space men or some Astrological event in Deep space 9

the Three-Fold method of Recovery ---stop listening to David Icke ---go outside for a walk ---stop taking your thoughts so seriously

necromancing? what is this Everquest? aha so whats the point? to gain power? become immortal? or what? how does any of this help with your fundamental problem of ignorance of the true nature of reality? all this seems to do is bolster the sense of self, when in actuality belief in a self is the root of the problem.

Yeah. let's do that. Let's let the Upanishads speak for themselves.. Whoever sees all beings in the soul and the soul in all beings... What delusion or sorrow is there for one who sees unity? It has filled all. It is radiant, incorporeal, invulnerable... Wise, intelligent, encompassing, self-existent, It organizes objects throughout eternity. That subtle essence which you do not perceive in a tiny Nyagrodha (banyan) seed grows into the great Nyagrodha tree. Similarly, That which is the subtle essence of all, in That all that exists has its Being. That is the Truth. That is the Self. That Thou art. Mind is the world. Mind is the Self indeed. Mind is Brahman. Meditate on the Mind. He who meditates on the Mind as Brahman becomes independent as far as the Mind reaches. He who meditates on Will as Brahman, he being himself permanent, firm and undistressed, obtains the permanent, renowned and undistressed worlds appointed for him. He is independent as far as Will reaches. Just as a spider projects the web out of its body and then again withdraws it into itself, so also Brahman projects this world and then withdraws it into itself. Brahman is a target to be penetrated by meditation on Om. Brahman is the immortal Soul, the one warp of the world and the individual souls, the self-luminous light of the worlds, full of bliss, omnipresent. It is in front, behind, above, below, to the right and to the left, and shines with all splendour in the heart of all. Brahman is the cause of this world. By attaining the knowledge of Brahman, the effect, the world, is comprehended. As a spider sends forth and draws in its web, as herbs grow from the earth, as hair grows from living man, so this universe proceeds from the immortal (Brahman). Creation is not a real transformation (Parinama) but only a projection of a certain inscrutable, illusory power of Brahman. Just as seeds remain latent underground in winter and burst forth into herbs and plants in the rainy season, so also the Jivas remain latent in Pralaya with their different Karmas as their seeds, and come out at the time of creation as trees of different kinds, but with their roots always in Brahman. Yep. so please tell me, how does this at all resemble the Dharma of the Buddha? of course my 'exegeses' mean nothing to you. it's very comfortable sitting and not questioning your beliefs. ohhh yes.. all religions are the same, whatever you say is blah blah blah to me, as I sip on this fine nectar smoothie of ignorance. tra la la heh, i'm just insulting your unwillingness to probe deeper and in a joking manner really. You're one of those serious self-absorbed folks. I can tell.

I see I wasted typing my previous post to you since you didn't even read it or it went through you like water through a filter

I had no trouble accessing this site in China, I was there for 5 months.

naw, no need to apoligize. translation: I don't know how to respond to that, but I'll respond anyway because this ego needs to feel like he didn't lose this 'battle' that he himself created by not looking deeper into the matter.

for anyone questioning whether drugs' insights will leave you balanced or not can just search findley's posts, especially this one : http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?showto...mp;#entry129915 and i'm no different! i've done em all.. except heroine. I did mescaline (cactus), LSD, and mushrooms... smoked pot for years.. tried extasy, did amphetamines too. pot got me interested in interesting stuff, and psychedelics made me understand mental suffering. but as Alan Watts said: once you get the message, hang up. we all have different karma because of different past experiences, circumstances, personalities, etc. we all come to the path through different means. but I just want to make it clear that drugs will only take you so far... say your goal was to meet a nice girl, get to know her, learn about women and maybe even get married. so you meet a girl, and she takes you on a wild ride in her car.... you get to know her, have a really amazing time, learn a thing or two, but then she dumps you at the side of the road, throws her number written on a crumpled piece of napkin paper that falls into a puddle, and screeches away while singing along to 'Welcome to the Jungle'. you have to walk back to your car, in the rain, all while thinking 'wow.. that was amazing while it lasted,,, but here I am walking in the rain and this sucks. I did learn a thing or two but everything happened so fast that i'm forgetting what exactly happened..and I know theres more to learn......and now I have fucking Guns n Roses stuck in my head"

nice response as always. have you actually read the Upanishads? what do you think 'Self' points to? the word. how can the word Self, which is regularly used to talk about Brahman, possibly point to the same truth as Emptiness, which is the utter lack of Self? one, 'Self', posits an ultimately existing identity, a Godhead, All that Is is One, is Self. While emptiness never ever talks about ultimate reality as an ultimate subject, and never ever identifies the small self with the big Self because of the commonality of a static essence. Non-duality is different here. the Upanishads say that 'I am That' because of the common denominator that is Brahman, that is Self. small self dissapears and Self is. this sort of non-duality is different in Buddhism because the common denominator is not an ultimate essence but rather the condition of all phenomena which is empty of self-nature. this condition cannot be called Self. small self (mindstream) does NOT disappear, it remains 'like' an illusion. nothing changes upon realizing Nirvana, there is just the insight of interdependence and emptiness of all phenomena. very subtle differences. but mountains apart. since some of the Upanishads existed during Buddhas time, he couldve easily embraced them, and taught people to take refuge in the Self, but he didn't.

that's bullshit. cannabis fucks up the subtle channels big time. I know from experience. on a physical level it fucks up the brains dopamine response, creates lethargy and lack of motivation. this is coming from a regular pot smoker of 5 years.. smoking, vaping, eating hash, cooking. i've done it all. vaping is by far the healthiest but pot is still pot. clouds the mind completely, pushes the Qi into the central channel very temporarily but then burns out very fast and the body goes into survival mode (munchies) because of the loss off energy. the reason people love doing it is because pot quiets the discursive mind slightly and gives a feeling of slight bliss (because of the qi in the central channel) but this is only temporary and one has much less clarity and insight. the after-effects are not worth it either.

pot dulls the mind and really screws up the channels. i had some really amazing insights on pot, i wrote them down.. when i came back to reality I looked at these insights and laughed my ass off. thats when I knew it was time to quit..

aww you guys live so close, you should make a play date

rofl nice sig

for 4 easy payments of $19.95 ?? lol jk just curious how your students are doing, based on your advertising [which you gotta admit is a bit over the top] your students should be all awakened masters by now

i'm confused.... he's enlightened because he physically reacts to your thoughts and gives you a warm fuzzy feeling inside?

if you have a really good TCM doctor near by, it shouldn't cost much to see him once for a diagnosis and once you have a diagnosis you can get an herbal formula from him,, or get it online (which might be cheaper, or not.) you don't have to keep going for acupuncture or other treatments. i think herbal formulas and dietary changes are really effective and could help you out. It does sound like something is up.. I would check my TCM book for you but it really is pretty mainstream so it doen't talk about more 'mystical symptoms' such as heat emanating from the palms. so you wouldn't find much info about this particular deficiency unless you ask someone who knows.

in Crystal and Way of Light, Namkhai Norbu says -- Body of Light (Jalu or Rainbow body) is different from the Illusory Body which is realized thigh the Higher Tantras (Illusory or Mayic Body can be equated to subtle/astral body [i think]). the Illusory Body is dependent on subtle prana of the individual, and since prana is considered to be of the relative dimension in Dzogchen, this body is not the goal. -- the Body of Light is the ultimate expression of the fruit of Dzogchen --"the realization of the body of light means that one is no longer in the condition of a person who is reflected in a mirror and who dualistically sees his or her own reflection in it, but one has become established in the essential condition of the mirror so that one's energy as a whole now manifests in the same way that the energy of a mirror does" and he goes on to talk about how the realization of Body of Light is so one can benefit beings in a dimension of pure light but also manifest in a material body to help all beings. Idk, sounds like a dualistic goal to me which shouldn't be taken too literally. imo the whole Mahayana bodhicitta ideal is meant to be method to stop self-grasping, having the wish to attain a body of light to help beings in all dimensions for eternity is wonderful if you're still stuck in a "self" mentality where you actually need to create merit and save beings that are ultimately empty and illusory anyway. who is it that is saving beings? and where are these beings?