Vmarco

Well,...I'd agree that your words are a pile of crap,...but wouldn't say all words strung together into sentences are of the crap variety. So, let's take a closer look at your excrement,....absolute truth is not a concept. In fact, if concept can be attached in any way, that's a pretty good indication that it is not an absolute truth. Your reasoning that if realizing absolute truth is effortless, that all, or even one, ignorant person would realize absolute truth. Of course, my above post actually said,...the absolute truth "often arises after much effort dedicated to recognizing the false as the false." The word "often" takes into account that much effort is not needed to recognize the false as the false,...but not necessary. Some can surrender their attachments to the false,...for example, theism,...without much effort, and thus be enough of an open vessel to recognize absolute truth. A well known purveyor of the spiritual process correctly said,...."we need to draw our attention to what is false in us, for unless we learn to recognize the false as the false, there can be no lasting transformation, and you will always be drawn back into illusion, for that is how the false perpetuates itself" Eckhart Tolle I really care who Eckhart Tolle is,...it is totally irrelevant,...but the message is correct. Until one learns to significantly recognize the false as the false, even a single absolute truth will be obscure. The quickest way is total surrender,...sort of like letting go of all hope. Hope is barrier to absolute truth. Christianity is founded on hope,...so it is of no surprise that it is impossible for a Christian to ever recognize an absolute truth. Religionists, like Christians, cling to many relative or conceptual truths,...but, to use your word,...they're all crap. "Relative and absolute, These the two truths are declared to be. The absolute is not within the reach of intellect, For the intellect is grounded in the relative." Shantideva

Until as person realizes one absolute truth,...there will be much so-called wasting of time. An absolute truth only appears effortlessly,...which often arises after much effort dedicated to recognizing the false as the false. If one cannot recognize the false as the false,...the possibility of truth will be obscured. As such, one can be fully assured, that no theist has ever realized a single absolute truth. Their belief in theist obscures it.

I don't know is an excellent Osho message,...for example,...In the book Tantric Transformation, Osho said, “Start knowing what you really know, and stop believing what you really don’t know. Somebody asks you. “Is there a God?” and you say, “Yes, God is.” Remember: Do you really know? If you don’t know, please don’t say that you do. Say, “I don’t know.”. . . False knowing is the enemy of true knowledge. All beliefs are false knowledge.” If one began with say, negative predispositions with the word Osho, such is not going with the flow of the message. The message should have nothing to do with Osho,...it is the content of the message that should be argued,...not the messenger. The most hideous aspect of the discusion of messages and messengers is when the groupthink have a positive image of the messenger,...and the message is received without debate,...such as when 89% of Americans supported GW Bush's illegal invasion of Iraq.

I do that on purpose,...because the most ignorant of people, read the messenger, and not the message. A noble person looks at the value of the message in the context it was given, regardless of the messenger. Tilopa said, a noble person doesn't not recall, does not imagine, does not think. Lao Tzu said, "Recognize that eveything you see and think is a falsehood, an illusion, a veil over the truth." You do make an important point,...the Westernized Buddha Lite that you retrieve info from, is much different than the Buddha of the sutras. In the Kalachakra sutra, Buddha even predicts a Holy War among theists, to rid the world of beluefs, so Shambhala can appear, and humanity can live in peace, love, and spiritual prosperity. But of course,...Westerners have reinterpreted that too,...already read them,...no need to link them.

Returning to the world of the 6 senses felt so phoney,...a prison of sorts,...and I began a quest to escape,...to escape that which is not real,...but the process did unveil nirvana, the opposite of samsara,...a pleasanter way to live in the illusion. If you really want to wake up,...go see Dolano,...but make certain you really want to wake up,...that is, kill your "me story." To know if you really want to wake up, check out this youtube:

Tilopa's Shoe The story of Tilopa's Shoe is one of my personal favorites, and has been an integral guide in my life's path since I read it at 19. It's a story of intrigue, magick, humor, and enlightenment. Much of the following was adapted from Alexandra David-Neel's 1929 'Mystiques et Magicens du Thibet' as told to her through the oral tradition. Madame David-Neel, who was fluent in Tibetan, spent fourteen years in the magical and mysterious Land of Snows. Tilopa was a Bengali, some say of noble caste, who lived during the 11th Century CE. He chose to leave his home and seek realization through meditation and study in a remote area near the Tibetan border. While seated in a cave reading a philosophic treatise, a beggar woman appeared behind him, read a few lines over his shoulder and asked abruptly, "do you understand what you are reading?" Tilopa was irked. What does this witch mean by such an unmannerly question, he thought. But before he could express his feelings, she spit on the book. Tilopa jumps up and shouts "how dare you spit on the Holy Scriptures". The woman then spits again on the book, utters a word Tilopa cannot understand, and disappears. Tilopa felt an uncomfortable sensation through his body. Doubt of his knowledge arose in his mind. After all he pondered, it may be true that he had not understood the doctrine expounded in the treatise, or any doctrine whatever, and that he may be an absolute dunce. What did that strange woman say, he thought. What was that word he did not comprehend? He felt he must know it. And so Tilopa started in search of the old woman. After much wandering, he found her at night in a solitary wood. She was seated along, her red eyes shining like live coals in the darkness. She was a Dakini, a kind of faery or 'sky-flyer' who played a great part in mystic Tibet as teachers of secret doctrines. They often appear in the shape of an aged woman, and one of their peculiar signs is that they have red or green eyes. In the course of the conversation, Tilopa was directed to go to the Dakini's land, in order to meet their queen and learn the Heart teachings of the Dakini. She told him that on the road, countless dangers awaited him, like abysses, roaring torrents, ferocious animals, delusive mirages. If he allowed himself to be overpowered by fear or missed the narrow, threadlike path winding across this terrible region, he would fall prey to monsters. If he drank at the clear springs or ate the fruits hanging at hand on the trees by the road, or yielded to fair maidens inviting him to sport with them in pleasant groves, he would become bewildered and incapable of finding his way. For his protection, the woman gave him a magic formula; a mantra. She said he must repeat it all along the road, keeping his mind entirely concentrated on it, uttering no word, listening to nothing. Tilopa saw the countless, frightful or alluring sights. He struggled across steep, rocky slopes and foaming rivers. He felt himself freezing amidst snows, scorched on burning sandy steppes, and never departed from his concentration on the magic words. At last, he reached the castle whose bronze walls were glowing with heat. Trees, with branches holding weapons, barred his way. Yet, he entered the enchanted palace. There, innumerable sumptuous rooms formed a maze. Tilopa winded his way through them and reached the queen's apartment. The beautiful faery sat on her throne adorned with precious jewels, and she smiled at the daring pilgrim as he crossed the threshold. But Tilopa was unmoved by her loveliness, ascended the steps of the throne and, still repeating the mantra, wrenched from her the glittering jewels, trampled under foot the flowery garlands, tore away her precious silk and golden robes, and as she lay naked on her wrecked throne, he violated her. Such conquests of a Dakini, either by sheer violence or by magic devices, are a popular theme in Tibetan mystic literature. They are an allegory referring to the realization of truth and process of self-spiritual development. Tilopa had thus reached the level of Avadhuta, a state of enlightenment where the distinctions between good and evil do not exist anymore. He, thus, returned to his cave in the north part of Bengal, and the old woman once again appeared. She said that he still had barriers to his full realization of Mahanirvana Tantra, and directed him to go to a particular town and enter the employ of the local prostitute there. Without hesitation, Tilopa found his way to the town and began working for the prostitute. In the day he would grind seed for her oils, and at night, he would pander her clients. One day, as he was grinding sesame seeds in a mortar on his lap, he realized and released his last barrier to the Light and Love he was and levitated to the height of a palm tree while still grinding sesame seeds in the mortar on his lap. When the prostitute saw Tilopa suspended in air, still making her oil, the harlot was overcome with shame for having given this task to such an enlightened being. She contemplated begging Tilopa for the privilege of being his disciple; and in that very moment he released a flower, which hit her on the head, and as if being struck by the diamond-thunderbolt of Vajra, the prostitute instantly attained enlightenment, and elevated to Tilopa's side. Tilopa, which means sesame-grinder, realized Mahanirvana Tantra when the seed he was grinding revealed to him the inverse flow of forward moving things, thereby actualizing liberation in one lifetime; the fourth stream of mastery. He called this Fourth Way, Kagyu, the Short Path of Vajra. And it was through the unbroken lineage of Tilopa, the Kagyudpas Red Hats, that the Twentieth Century mystic G. I. Gurdjieff received the foundation of his teachings through the Sarmoun Brotherhood. Tilopa himself had no human guru, having realized liberation through Vajra, the Light of Reality. His most famous student was a learned Kashmiri Brahmin named Naropa, who in turn was the master of Marpa, the Mahasiddha that brought the lineage and doctrine of the Short Path to Tibet. The biography of Naropa is both an amusing and illuminating description of the tests devised by a master of the Short Path to train and direct an initiate. Naropa, born around 1010, c.e., was considered a man of refinement, a learned doctor and deeply convinced of his superiority as a member of the Brahmin caste. Having been greatly offended by a rajah to whom he was chaplain, he resolved to kill the prince by an occult process. For this purpose, he shut himself up in an isolated house and began a magic rite to bring about death; the dragpoi dubhab. As he was performing the rite, a Dakini faery appeared at a corner of the magic diagram and asked Naropa if he deemed himself capable of sending the spirit of the rajah towards a happy place in another world, or of bring it back into the body which it had left and resuscitating it. The magician could only confess that his science did not extend so far. Then the faery assumed a stern presence and reproached him for his nefarious undertaking. She told him that no one had the right to destroy who could not build up again the being destroyed or establish it in a better condition. The consequence of his criminal thought, she added, would be his own rebirth in one of the purgatories. Terror-stricken, Naropa inquired how he could escape that terrible fate. The Dakini advised him to seek the Sage named Tilopa and beg from him initiation into the mystic doctrine of the Short Path which frees a man from the consequences of his actions, whatever they may be, by the revelation of their true nature, and ensures enlightenment in one single life. If he succeeded in grasping the meaning of that teaching and realize it, he would not be reborn again and consequently would escape a life of torment in the purgatories. Naropa stopped the performance of the rite and hastened towards Bengal where Tilopa lived. However, before Naropa would meet the Sage and receive the Ultimate Teaching, that is, Tilopa's Mahamudra, through which Enlightenment could be realized in one lifetime, he would first undergo twelve astonishments, followed by twelve ordeals. The Twelve Astonishments were challenges to Naropa's conditioning, that is, his ego and beliefs; whereas the Twelve Ordeals, or Hardships, were intended to encourage complete surrender. The first meeting of Naropa with Tilopa occurred in the courtyard of a Buddhist monastery. The cynic Sage, nearly naked, was seated on the ground eating fish. As the meal went on, he put down the fish's backbones beside him. However, in order not to defile his cast purity, Naropa was on the point of passing by at some little distance from the eater, when a monk started to reproach Tilopa for parading his lack of compassion for the animals, that is, killing and eating the fish, in the very premises of a Buddhist Monastery; and ordered him to leave at once. Tilopa did not even condescend to answer. He muttered some words, snapped his fingers and the fish bones were again covered with flesh. The fishes then moved as if living and swam away through the air as if it was water. No vestige remained of the cruel meal on the ground. Naropa was dazed, but suddenly thought that this strange wonder worker, no doubt, was the very Tilopa whom he was seeking. He hurriedly inquired about him, and the information given by the monks agreed with his own intuition. He ran after the Sage, but Tilopa was nowhere to be found. Then in his eagerness to learn the doctrine that could save him from the purgatories, Naropa wanders from town to town with the only result being that each time he reaches a place where Tilopa is said to be staying, the latter has, invariably just left it a little before his arrival. In the coming months, as if by chance on his way, Naropa would meet singular beings who were phantoms created by Tilopa. Once, knocking at the door of a house to beg food, a man comes out who offers him wine. To offer wine or spirit to a high caste Brahmin is an insult, so Naropa feels deeply offended and indignantly refuses the impure beverage. The house and its master vanish immediately. The proud Brahmin is left alone on the solitary road, while a mocking voice laughs that man was I, Tilopa. Again, the traveler sees a brutal husband who drags his wife buy her hair, and when he interferes, the cruel fellow tells him, you had better help me, I want to kill her. At least pass your way and let me do it. Naropa can hear no more. He knocks the man down on the ground, sets free the woman, and, lo!, once more the pantasmagoria disappears while the same voice repeats scornfully, I was there, I, Tilopa. The adventures continue in the same vein. Proficient magician though he may be, Naropa has never even conceived the idea of such display of supernormal powers. He stands on the brink of madness, the beliefs he clung to for his identity shaken to their core, but his fortitude to become Tilopa's disciple grew still stronger. He roamed at random across the country, calling Tilopa aloud and, knowing by experience that the Sage is capable of assuming any form, he bows down at the feet of any passer-by and even before any animal he happens to see on the road. One evening, after a long walk, he reaches a cemetary. A fire is smouldering in a corner; at times, a dark, reddish flame leaps from it showing shriveled- up, carbonized remains. The glimmer allows Naropa to vaguely discern a man laying beside the fire. He looks at him, and a mocking laugh answers his inspection. He falls prostrate on the ground at Tilopa's feet. This time the Sage does not disappear. The obscurations which inhibited Naropa from recognizing the Sage had waned. During the next several years, Naropa followed Tilopa without being treated as of any import, athough the Sage engages him in twelve ordeals, as mentioned above. Each Ordeal or Hardship, according to later Mahasiddhas of the lineage, contained one of twelve instructions of the Fourth Empowerment. As the first three empowerments encouraged the blossoming of the sapiential mind, the Fourth liberated the sapiential mind. However, only a few of the ordeals will be given here to grasp the principle of Naropa's release from his belief barriers and surrender to the Sage, whereby he fully understood the acquenscence of who he thought he was, and realized who he actually was. One of Naropa's first hardships arose following a begging round. According to the custom of Indian ascetics can beg for food, or alms, once a day. Coming back to his master, he offered him the rice and curry which he had received as alms. The rule is that a disciple eats only after his guru is satisfied, but far from leaving something for his follower, Tilopa ate up the whole contents of the bowl, and even declared that the food was so much to his taste that he could have eaten another bowl full with pleasure. Without waiting for a more direct command, Naropa took the bowl and started again for the house where generous householders bestowed such tasty alms, even though he knew he could not beg again. When he arrived, he found the door closed. However, burning with zeal, the devoted disciple did not let himself be stopped for so little. He forced the door open, discovered some rice and various stews keeping warm on the stove in the kitchen and helped himself to more of what Tilopa had so much enjoyed. The masters of the house came back as he was plunging a spoon in their pots and gave him a harsh thrashing. Bruised from head to feet, Naropa returned to the Sage, who showed no compassion whatever for his suffering. What adventure has befallen you on my account, he said with a cynical calm. Do you not regret having become my disciple? With all the strength that his pitiful condition left at his disposal, Naropa protested that far from regretting having followed such a Sage, he deemed the privilege of being his disciple could never be paid for too dearly, even if one was to purchase it at the cost of one's life. Another ordeal took place while Sage and disciple lived in a hut near a forest. Once, returning from the village with Tilopa's meal, Naropa saw that during his absence, the latter had fabricated a number of long bamboo needles, and with covered with molten butter, hardened them in a fire. Inquisitively he inquired about the use Tilopa meant to make of these implements. The Sage responded with a queer smile. Could you, he asked, bear some pain if it pleased me? Naropa answered that he belonged entirely to him and that he would do whatever he liked with him. Well, replied Tilopa, stretch out your hand. And when Naropa had obeyed, he thrust one of the needles under each of the nails of one hand, did the same to the other, and finished with the toes. Then he pushed the tortured Naropa into the hut, commanded him to wait there till he returned, closed the door, and went away. Several days elapsed before he came back. He found Naropa seated on the ground, the bamboo needles still in his flesh. What did you think while alone?, inquired Tilopa. Have you not come to 'believe' that I am a cruel master and that you had better leave me? I have been thinking of the dreadful life of torments which will be mine in the purgatories if I do not succeed, by your grace, in becoming enlightened in the mystic doctrine, and so escaping a new rebirth and having to begin all over, answered Naropa. As the years went by, Naropa drank fowl water, a defiling thing according to religious law; crossed a blazing fire, nearly drowned in icy water, and performed other fantastic feats which often put his life in jeopardy. Once, Sage and disciple were strolling in the streets when they happened to meet a wedding procession accompanying a bride to her husband's house. I desire that woman, said Tilopa to Naropa. Go bring her to me. He had scarcely finished speaking before Naropa joined the cortege. Seeing that he was a Brahmin, the men of the wedding party allowed him to approach the bride, thinking that he meant to bless her. But when they saw that he took her in his arms and intended to carry her away, they seized on everything they could find and belabored poor Naropa so soundly that he fainted and was left for dead. Tilopa had not waited for the end of the performance to pass quietly on his way. When Naropa came to his senses again and had painfully dragged himself along until he overtook his whimsical guru, the latter, as welcome, asked him once more the usual question, Do you not regret?. And as usual, Naropa protested that a thousand deaths seemed to him but a trifle to purchase the privilege of being his disciple. By some accounts, Naropa's last ordeal was said to have occurred at the end of a day walking in a remote mountainous region. Stopping at a cliff, Tilopa asked, what if it would please me for you to jump off this cliff? Before the final word was finished, Naropa leaps off the cliff, breaking nearly every bone in his body. Tilopa made his way down the steep, rocky cliff and asked Naropa who was clearly in agony, How are you?. Naropa answered that the pain was unbearable. Then, in a calm voice, Tilopa commanded him to heal himself. Instantaneously Naropa healed himself, and his broken body was fully restored. That evening, while seated at a fire, quite unexpectedly Tilopa took off one of his shoes and soundly slapped Naropa on the head with it. In that instant Naropa saw the inverse flow of forward moving waves of Light, and would not again transgress into the sleep of samsara, the always changing and impermanent dream of Maya. The full meaning of the Short Path was then told to Naropa through Tilopa's twenty-eight verse Mahamudra, or Ultimate Teaching. The story of Tilopa's Shoe is considered a historic occurrence. Several variations of the story exist, some handed down by oral tradition, others written in the biographies of famous lamas. Yet, unlike other philosophies, the historical legitimacy of Kagyu makes no difference, for the essence of the Short Path, the realization of the sapiential Mind in a single lifetime, is contained within the story. VMarco

Yes,...and he's mentioned in this youtube:

No,...Qi is not impermanent,...Qi perceived as and through phenomena is impermanent,...but perceived Qi is not Qi itself. Remember,...as Lao Tzu correctly said, "The Tao gives birth to One. One gives birth to yin and yang. Yin and yang give birth to all things....The Tao gives rise to all form, yet is has no form of its own." Form is impermanent,...the emptiness of form is impermanent,...however, there is an Empty beyond the empty of form,...what the Mountain Doctrine calls the Other Empty. Pay attention,.... Lao Tzu said, "the Tao doesn't come and go." Buddha said, "the Tathagata does not come and go." That which neither comes or goes has no energy. Qi is not Dark Energy, nor aniti-energy. Qi is not of form,...but only expressed through form. As I've said before on TTB,...Qi itself is a still silence that is similar to the eye of a hurricane or typhoon. The kihap or yell that martial artists use, when done correctly, is simply the exhale, or a place where the still eye of the hurricane meets the eye wall of the storm and manifests physical destruction. The greatest power arises through the greatest relaxation. The lower a hurricane’s pressure at its center, the more devastating the storm is at the eye wall. The more relaxed the martial artist, the more overwhelming the energy that extends from the Qi. The greatest (and only) power in the universe unfurls from a zero-point. Korean Hapkido Grand Master Jeong told me, “Ki is in the stop [or zero point before the kihap.” The power is not in the yell; the yell is simply an incidental byproduct of the Qi process. The kihap is just the exhale. A kihap uttered without connecting with the stop is mere posing or pretending. Instead of martial artists’ practicing a yell, they should be practicing the stop. When power comes from the stop, the kihap simply happens. Finding Qi is like finding the consciousness you had before you were born,...free of phenomenal attachment. Walter Russell correctly stated,... "Change is an illusion of the senses due to motion. There is no change whatsoever in the universe. There is only an illusion of change set up by the two interchanging lights (positive and negative) that divide and multiply within moving matter and mass." Qi does not arise from Divided Light. Dark energy, mass, anti-matter, etc., arises from Divided Light. All phenomena is Divided Light. All phenomena comes and goes. The Buddha said to Ananda, “It is your perception of false appearances based on external objects which deludes your true nature and has caused you from beginningless time to your present life to recognize a thief as your son, to lose your eternal source, and to undergo the wheel’s turning.” All Divided Light is a false appearance. Divided Light cannot observe the Present. To observe Qi itself, one must be in the Present. Wei Wu Wei said, “Phenomenally, we can know no present, as it must be in the ‘past’ before our senses can complete the process of recording it, leaving only a suppositional past and future; noumenally, there is no question of ‘past’ or ‘future,’ but only a presence that knows neither ‘time’ nor ‘space.’ ” Only those who have not realized the Tao, "don't really seem to know what it is or can explain it very well." Those who have observed the Tao can indeed explain the Tao,...and among themselves,...and as Taranatha said, "Contradictions in perspective among those Seeing the profound do not occur"

Thank you so much,...the best laugh I had today.

The name Willing To Listen and your Christian icon, are in direct opposition. While you start this new life, perhaps you should consider,...are you WillingToListen or are you a Christian? What is a Christian? John C. Green, director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron in Ohio, said that despite many variations, Christians generally adhere to four core beliefs: the Bible is without error, salvation comes through faith in Jesus and not good deeds, individuals must accept Jesus as adults and all Christians must evangelize. As for the Abrahamic religions and Taoism, the contrast is clear,...they do not mix. Taoism begins when religion and theism ends.

A Buddhist correctly said,...“Start knowing what you really know, and stop believing what you really don’t know. Somebody asks you. “Is there a God?” and you say, “Yes, God is.” Remember: Do you really know? If you don’t know, please don’t say that you do. Say, “I don’t know.”. . . False knowing is the enemy of true knowledge. All beliefs are false knowledge.” Another fellow said:

I don't understand the question in the context of Taoism and Buddhism. Lao-Tzu said, "...the world's religions serve only to strengthen attachments to false concepts such as self and other, life and death, heaven and earth, and so on. Those who become entangled in these false ideas are prevented from perceiving the Integral Oneness…. "Do not go about worshipping deities and religious institutions as the source of the subtle truth. To do so is to place intermediaries between yourself and source, and to make yourself a beggar who looks outside for a treasure that is hidden inside his own breast. If you want to worship the Tao, first discover it in your own heart." Shakyamuni Buddha may have been the first to define freethought when he said in the Kalama Sutra, “Do not accept anything by mere tradition. . . Do not accept anything just because it accords with your scriptures. . . Do not accept anything merely because it agrees with your preconceived notions.” Buddha taught irreligion; that is, to not accept any "sets of belief."

Your post reminded me of Red (conservatives) and Blue (progessive) political constituents,...in other words, I just made it up. But think about it,...LOL

Why would an enlightened person want to manipulate the illusion? Enlightenment in a nutshell is this,...the ability to see things as they are,...if you could see things as they are, why go back (as if it were even possible) to manipulate things that are not. LOL

Yes,...the life that you thought was you, is over. I'd say that the illusion of life gets more interesting,..so it isn't that life is over,...the filters you once observed life through drop away.

In most of the West, the population that breathes in (and tries to hold it) are Red Minded, while those who breath out are Blue Minded,...and never the two wish to meet.

Sure,...but it's really funny. For example,...in the above youtube he says, I'm not awake, but I'm so glad to discuss the process after awaking. Even before he says that he's not awake, one can clearly hear that he's not awake,...at least 30 times,...and contradict himself another 30 times,...and that is only 25 minutes into it. For example,...as soon as someone starts talking about awakening to spirit, that's an easy "tell" that they are BS. Spirit is the in-breath/out-breath of duality,...attachment to spirit is attachment to duality. Once you label something a "spiritual experience," you should instantly realize that you did not have an authentic, direct experience. He also speaks about Oneness as if he understood what he's talking about. Someone should quote this to him: “Start knowing what you really know, and stop believing what you really don’t know. Somebody asks you. “Is there a God?” and you say, “Yes, God is.” Remember: Do you really know? If you don’t know, please don’t say that you do. Say, “I don’t know.”. . . False knowing is the enemy of true knowledge. All beliefs are false knowledge.”

I have the same impression....the first few books I looked at of his were very theistic,...but perhaps teaching is his process,...maybe he'll experience some of what he teaches. Many New Age purveyors play to there audience,...like Pema Chodron. I attended a workshop of hers, where instead of connecting the audience to Vajrayana (as it was billed), she tried to connect with the audience,...which most enjoyed. Teachers today are mostly pimps,...feeding comfort foods to their students,...and in return, their students provide them with a livelihood. A real teacher is an assassin,...showing you how to obliterate one's notion of separate self.

I loved the comment that a mystical experience is the highest form of a "me" experience,...LOL

No,...(you're going to hate this)...the threshold of being Present is Non-Meditation. "The practice of meditation is represented by the three monkeys, who cover their eyes, ears and mouths so as to avoid the phenomenal world. The practice of non-meditation is ceasing to be the see-er, hearer or speaker while eyes, ears and mouths are fulfilling their function in daily life." - Wei Wu Wei Lao Tzu said, "Do you think you can clear your mind by sitting constantly in silent meditation? This makes your mind narrow, not clear." "The state of non-meditation is born in the heart...." Jigme Lingpa "We teach meditation, or quieting the mind, because it is really easier to teach you to have no thoughts, than to teach you to have pure, positive thought. We would rather you be in a state of appreciation, than in a state of meditation, because in appreciation you uncover Source." Esther Hicks

No,...there is consciousness in the Present,...but a consciousness beyond the lower 6. We all have this consciousness,...this 7th and 8th consciousness,...but for most, that level of consciousness is obscured by the senses and thinking. Remember,...Buddha walked around for some 40 years at a level of consciousness beyond the 6 senses (seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting, touching, and thinking).

If you are sensing or thinking,...I guarantee, you are not in the Present, the Now, or Instant. There is no energy, thus no flow, in the Present. There is no Present in time. If you are in time, you are not in the Present. Honestly,...attempt to sense or think that you are in the Present,...if you're honest enough, you will realize how impossible it is. Unfortunately...."Human kind cannot bear very much reality" T. S. Eliot

That's so funny,...thanks for the morning laugh. A Truth Realized person would put it another way,...like this fellow from Canada: "Waking up is not necessarily pleasant; you get to see why all this time, you chose to sleep. When you wake up the first thing you will see is Reality does not exist for you, you exist for it. Shocking as it is when you let it in, there is rest You do not have to labor anymore to hold together a reality that does not exist; forcing something to be real that is not real. You and this life you have been living are not real .. In letting it in, even through the shock... pain... shattering, there is rest. Reality is when all you want to know is what is true ...just so that you can let it in and be true. Reality is not a safe place for you - the you that you have created. It is the only place where you would die; where there is no room for your hopes, your dreams. Once you have let it in, once you begin to re-awaken; to let Reality wake you up, nothing can get it out. That is the beginning of your end. Waking up can be much more painful than the agony of your dream, but waking up is real."

Although I can see an important sociological aspect of Daoism, I don't see Lao Tzu as a sociologist. When I discuss the present, I discuss it (as it were) from the point of view of Tao,...that is, the absolute present. Both Lao Tzu and Sakyamuni, and well as others (before the 13th century) were quite clear (to me) on the subject. As Wei Wu Wei said, “Phenomenally, we can know no present, as it must be in the ‘past’ before our senses can complete the process of recording it, leaving only a suppositional past and future; noumenally, there is no question of ‘past’ or ‘future,’ but only a presence that knows neither ‘time’ nor ‘space.’ ” Although I use the term "opinion", it is out of courtesy,...not because it is my opinion,...it is the way it is,...and anyone who can observe the way things are, understand it as such. My "opinion" on the present is not actually an opinion. Anyone who has observed the present, understands the present. "Contradictions in perspective among those Seeing the profound do not occur" Taranatha Learning to understand the delusion of the phenomenal self is nobel,....but even nobeler is letting go of the attachment to learning to understand the delusion of the phenomenal self. Why did Lao Tzu say, "Recognize that eveything you see and think is a falsehood, an illusion, a veil over the truth." Perhaps Walter Russell gave a clue when he wrote,... "Change is an illusion of the senses due to motion. There is no change whatsoever in the universe. There is only an illusion of change set up by the two interchanging lights (positive and negative) that divide and multiply within moving matter and mass." That's pure Daoism....and Russell never mention to Daoism,...go figure!