Jetsun

That is what I always thought, people here always bang on about the world being an illusion but my understanding of it was it was like an illusion, like a dream, which can mean something fundamentally different. There are some Sutras which talk about the world being an illusion but you have to wonder what meaning may be lost in translation, especially if the translator isn't a particularly enlightened person.

Probably half as rich and powerful but as long as you weren't dominated by a foreign power you would probably be a lot happier and more balanced.

Nice story, unfortunately this happens to just about every religion and lineage so I guess we shouldn't take too many of the rituals and teachings we are given too seriously.

I only have very limited experience and I think you probably need a long practice under the supervision of a Guru but I have been doing some meditations for generating Bodhicitta and compassion based on some of Atisha's teachings and I have found dealing with other people a bit easier and I found that I am more affectionate when drunk so I don't have the courage to be that open hearted without the assistance of beer yet but it does suggest that it is sewing more compassionate ground in my subconscious at least. Also I found getting into a wide open compassionate state through this meditation loosens some of the knots in my nervous system that many other practices couldn't help with, especially those blocks which are associated with aggression. But there is still a long way to go before I can say with any real confidence that these practises are going to bloom.

I read Cosmic Trigger and wasn't that impressed, perhaps when he first published his books there weren't many people talking about many of the ideas he was writing about so he make a name for himself in counter-culture. When I read it I was looking for more substance and depth teachings rather than entertainment which maybe was why I didn't like it that much.

I suppose it depends on which school you are in but I find Tibetan Buddhism less intellectually orientated or at least they place as much emphasis on emotional practices. For example if you read the Pali Suttas they are quite repetitive and more oriented around straightforward analysis of mind and mind meditation, then compare that to the Tibetan suttas like Shantideva's Bodhissatvas Way of Life text and the first half of it is full of very emotionally evocative scripture which really inspires you to try to work for all beings, but then the second half is pure wisdom for the mind to absorb, so it is not all head they equally target the heart from the beginning. Other teachers like Atisha seem to teach more emotional practises than anything else with meditations such as evoking the love you have for your mother then equalising it with all beings. So using Fourth Way terminology I think many Buddhist paths only target the one centre which is the mental centre, but then Tibetan Buddhism targets two centres at the same time, the mental and emotional, so even though it ends up in the same place as the other paths it provides a two pronged route to get there, which is why it can be a rapid path.

This feels pretty much spot on to be honest, I have a big problem with verbal expression as I have an energetic block in my neck which makes me stutter sometimes, I was trying to get into doing art and music for a while but I couldn't find anything which kept me interested, but I may start again as it makes so much sense if I am blocked there to do something like an arts practice. Yeah a nice woman would help me with so many of my problems, the problem is where to find one I have more or less given up on Qigong to be honest and I don't do any forced breathing any more, but I have been doing more emotional type Tibetan Buddhist practices which could be what the wind is about as the Tibetans call the movement of energies winds. I wonder if there is any way of asking whether it is these Bodhiciita practices which are benefiting me and building up the momentum? no worries if you are busy. To be honest I am very surprised with the accuracy of your recommendations putting them into practice is the hard part but it is pretty interesting how true they seem to be, I might dig out my own Iching books.

Thanks that is interesting and makes sense in many ways. I think the compassion teachings in Buddhism will always be my core no matter what ever other practices I do and it would be a mistake to ever loose those that foundation. I was wondering while reading it whether would I have enough faith in it to completely live my life through such divination and trust that it will guide me correctly in big decisions, which would more or less mean bypassing my rational mind. It would be a good experiment to try live your life completely through it for a short period of time to see how it serves you, I suspect that it would probably do a better job than my normal mind to be honest. If I rephrase the first question to "how can I heal the shock and blockages in my body?" it might be better. Numbers: 573.

Ok i'll give it a go, my question is "will I ever recover?" , the first three numbers which came up were 226 If that question is a bit boring I have another which isn't as much of a priority but it is: "should I pursue Buddhist or Fourth Way teachings as my main path?" numbers 759

My friend told me that he didn't really fear death until he had children and the thought that they might grow up without his protection terrified him, so some attachments are completely healthy and natural I think. I think it is natural not to want to die before your parents too as you do not want to inflict suffering upon them, there are many attachments which are so deep and ingrained that it is very difficult to remove them completely. I thought I wasn't too afraid of death until I took "the vine of death" Ayahuasca and when I was confronted with the experience that I actually might die I found I was scared, very scared, and I was forced to admit I wasn't prepared or ready to die at all but then I had to accept that it might happen just to get through the experience. I was watching this documentary on the Tibetan Book of the Dead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCHh8xqMWeo which is a really good documentary but it has actually got me worried, not so much for myself but for my family and friends because if they know nothing about letting go and not attaching to their death experience and realising it is mind or an opportunity to discover their essence then according to the Book of The Dead they are likely to struggle and become fearful and suffer, similar to the film Jacobs Ladder

You have a talent at hiding your hostility and aggression in a load of spiritual robes i'll give you that, i'd be surprised if there was anyone who can't see through it though for what it really is.

I think if someone used the Buddhadharma to try to belittle someone (like we have seen on this board a few times) in a monastery debate they would more or less be exposing to everyone they are lost and have completely misunderstood some of the fundamental aspects of Buddhism. It is basically a subtle form of spiritual materialism where you are using the Dharma to try to elevate yourself above others for the purposes of trying to raise your own self importance or out of your fear of being degraded yourself and only a really good teacher or psychotherapist will be able to pull you out of that hole quickly. I think this sort of spiritual ego creation is actually quite common though which is probably why Chogyam Trungpa wrote a book about it, it probably happens to most people to some degree at certain stages in their path.

The advice given in 'The Tibetan book of Living and Dying' by Sogyal Rimpoche says that it is normal for people to cycle through all sorts of emotions, even things like rage and jealousy towards people they love when they are on their death bed as they are trying to process the fact they are going to die. Sogyal Rinpoche says you should just be present and allow whatever happens to happen trying not to judge, do not preach or try to change anything, just try to be calm and open.

That's what traditional psychotherapists try to do, they try to create a "blank screen" so your own unconscious emotions can be reflected back to you, the problem is that very few of those psychotherapists cultivate far enough to clear all the dirt off their mirror so they still distort things.

Maybe just change your language so you don't identify the childs sense of self with the mistake as much, so saying something like "that is idiotic behaviour" is far less damaging to a child than saying "you are an idiot" when they make a mistake. edit: my example isn't a very good one but the gist is you separate out the value of the child from what they do and their behaviour with the language you use so they are free to make mistakes without it threatening their self worth.

Nearly all of the practises taught by Atisha who is considered one of the fathers of Tibetan Buddhism are all about contriving compassion, not intellectually but through your heart, when you expand that compassion wide enough it leads you to your essential nature. We all have to start with the contrived methods no matter who you are, all the regular meditation methods like shamatha and vipassana are contrived method too and on their own lead you nowhere just like the methods of contriving compassion. Tibetan Buddhism emphasises the two pillars of compassion and emptiness, not just the one pillar of emptiness on it's own, it's worth investigating why. The heart of a Bodhisattva who genuinely wants to save all beings is latent within you even if we dont really mean it in the beginning, it's about waking it up and discovering it within you because when it comes down to it benefitting others and focusing on helping them is the best method to avoid fixation on a self which doesn't even exist which causes all our problems, which is why many say the Bodhisattva method is the fastest route to Buddhahood.

That is true, one of the main lessons of Buddhism is that we cause more suffering for ourselves by trying to get away from suffering.

I wouldn't pay too much attention to what people here say about Buddhism, so i guess that means dont pay too much attention to me either, but personally I prefer the Tibetan approach more which focuses as much on Bodhicitta and compassion rather than the people here who bang on about emptiness and right view all the time. If you expand your heart and compassion wide enough it leads to the same place anyway, so you can take the cold scientific route which has more focus on the Pali Sutas or the more warm emotional route more along the Mahayana route. It depends on what resonates with you of course. If you don't have right view then have compassion for the suffering that causes yourself rather than feeling bad or beating yourself up, your heart will guide you far better in these matters rather than creating worry with the mind.

The way I see it a large proportion of the suffering in the world is completely pointless, I don't see how most of the atrocities and traumas which get committed to innocent people are a form of lesson from the universe, no doubt we can learn from our suffering but only if it is not overwhelming. Scientists have documented by monitoring brain changes and stress responses in traumatised and abused people that overwhelming stress actually makes you weaker not stronger.

My understanding was that Taoists believed that space or the universe above them was the heavens so when they looked at the sky at night they were looking at the heavens and one of the purposes of cultivation was to allow the heavenly energies to come down and meet the earth energies within the body. I could be very wrong though, I expect most people will have different views on what Taoists believed.

Wang Liping talks about "death meridians" in his book, I don't know if this is the same thing but he says you are better off leaving them alone.

Yeah, there are Shaman of the Amazon who can talk to plants to find the exact plant in the entire rain forest that a sick person needs for their cure, yet apparently science has only examined about 5% of the tropical forest plant species for their chemical compounds and medicinal value, so it still has a long way to catch up.

You feeling sad would reassure me that you hadn't become Borg, but I don't see what choice you can have over many emotions, when you witness suffering it is normal for sadness to arise from your emotional centre as natural reaction even if you have discovered emptiness. I once went to a Church service with some high level Tibetan Buddhist monks including one of the tutors of the Dalai Lama and the focus of the service was suffering in the world and the depth of pain and suffering I saw etched on the monks faces is something I doubt I will ever forget. Their Buddhist practice made them feel everything more deeply and intensely rather than feeling less, which includes negative emotion like suffering, but then I saw them an hour later and they were full of happiness and joy. I think it is a mistake to think that if you remove the self from the equation that there will be no negative emotion, rather you don't attach to them or push them away so they leave more easily and don't dominate your mind.

Not feeling things like sadness and negative emotion sounds like some sort of problem rather than spiritual evolution to me.

I guess if someone demonstrated superpowers under strict scientific observation at somewhere like Harvard and it was screened on tv around the world it could change the world by getting more people into spiritual pursuits, I saw one documentary about a Buddhist whose master told him to go to the West and demonstate powers to get people interested in the Dharma there. But then most will be getting involved for the wrong reasons and you will get frauds taking advantage of the situation so I don't know if much good would come of it.