Vmarco

I find all "knowledge" to be insulting,...from a Tao perspective. Same with "wisdom"....which is an accumulation of knowledge. Thus,...perhaps more than 90% of the posts on TTB are insultive. Of course, for those who cling to knowledge (instead of the Tao) for their identity, only that which contradicts their knowledge (aka faith and beliefs) is insultive. As the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Charles Townes said, “Many people don’t realize that science basically involves assumptions and faith.”

Nice!

To begin,...it's not necessary to relate with what will never leave, in the sense of what will never leave you,...but be more and cognizant of what will leave, and cease relating to it. Truth isn't found within the false, but from what remains when the false realized. At some point, it will all click. For example, if the phrase, "there is no present in time," was understood clearly, you would recognize the "hole" as a Tathagata.

Nothing changing? I like using the analogy of visualizing a keyhole,...one of those slotted holes that can be peeped through, as in old Colonial and Victorian houses. Now, describe that hole. Some may say that it has the shape of a circle with a rectangle whose width is smaller than the diameter of the circle aligned on the bottom; others could respond that the hole is surrounded by a brass plate that is attached to the door, which is connected to the wall, etc. Perhaps the hole could be looked through, so one could remark about what is seen on the other side. However, none of that actually describes the hole; all of the preceding descriptions are narratives about what is around or can be seen through the hole. Nevertheless, that is how most persons, especially Westerners and scientists, perceive their own wholeness: by what is around it. Thus,...what is the change around the hole, while the Whole is being realized? As I mentioned,...There is meaning, just no meaning to life. To uncover meaning, relate with what will never leave you, and from which you can never leave. The Tao is empty of all form. However,..the Tao is not empty.

It is said that the Six Patriarch, Hui Neng, heard one sentence written by Hung Jen, and he instantly was said to have realized Enlightenment. If words were not helpful, why did Lao Tzu, Sakyamuni, Tilopa, etc.,...speak? Sure,...beliefs don't matter,...that is, unless one is pointing to the irrelevance of belief. Hope is certainly a barrier even to fundamental seriousness. Most words are indeed empty of pointing to anything of spiritual significance. However, some words, proverbs, and quotes can stimulate bodhicitta,...for example, the proverb,..."treat everything you perceive as a dream." Yes,...your monkey mind is quite cynical,...it may say,....look here, I've been treating everything I perceive as a dream for 10 years,...and I'm still the same monkey mind. Yet,...when you realize what "treat everything you perceive as a dream" points to,...the monkey mind is no longer the same monkey mind. The fact is this,...the monkey mind cannot ever understand reality,....thus, if one is attempting to view reality through the monkey mind, one can then be assured to never uncover understanding.

Yes,...you got it. To continue you point,....what would things look like,...from an imaginary perspective,...if Yin and Yang could go beyond their inherent Harmonic Balanced Interchange? If Yang could condense into something more dense than a black hole,...or Yin expanded beyond boundaries,....what if? The result would be an immediate end of Yin/Yang. Thus, as you implied,...the delusion of life does not exist without the other. In addition,...as a consequence of the dissolution of Yin/Yang, the One also ends. For there is no One without a Many, no Here without a There, no Center without a Boundary. There is no One in the Tao. Consider the still, causeless fulcrum,...Yin/Yang effects its motion upon it through the One lever,...but once "balanced," what need is there of the One lever? The One lever needs the Tao,...but the Tao needs not the One lever, nor Yin/Yang.

The truth is,...cerebral intelligence is never, and can never be, in the moment,....it's impossible. Like the other 5 senses, it can only observe that which is perceived in time,...which is motion,...and as every serious neophyte should understand, there is no Present, Moment, or Instant in time. Suggesting that the 6 Senses are "often not in the moment" is fully wrong,....the 5 Senses cannot ever be in the moment. Thus,...let's mention, as Lao Tzu and Buddha suggested,...that anything not in the Moment, is not real. Why cling to things that are not real for one's identity? "the ego is a monkey catapulting through the jungle; totally fascinated by the realm of the senses....if anyone threaten it, it actually fears for its life. Let this monkey go. Let the senses go.....the only way to understand [the Tao] is to directly experience it." Lao Tzu Let the 6 Senses go. It is impossible to have a direct experience through the 6 senses,...all experience born of the 6 senses can only be experienced through the conditions of the 6 senses. Buddhism says: "As soon as one sense-organ returns to the source, All the six are liberated." Avalokitesvara So,...one does not have to worry about all six,...just let go of one. This was once a question of science,...but then, scoence became sense-based. As I mentioned many times,...René Descartes, concerning the senses, articulated, “All that I have tried to understand to the present time has been affected by my senses; now I know these senses are deceivers, and it is prudent to be distrustful after one has been deceived once.” .

What you seek is not of the mind. Arriving where you desire is the problem. The path has no danger - the danger is in the shortcuts. Magic is not a path towards what you seek - it is a jail - a very sad detour - a disease/virus. Much of what is to be found here is valuable - many here have fallen to magic and the advice is tainted with idiocity cloaked in certainty. Begin with the traditional methods and find one that fits you. The great sight is not purchased - you do not maneuver to it. You can force a square peg into a round hole - the result will be quite mangled. When you achieve great sight all magic will appear as folly - and as weak is jelly. What he seeks is not of the brain, or other 5 senses,....it is such a shame that the "lower mind", that which preceeds from the brain, is called mind at all. As ACIM says: "The ego [sciential conscious] uses the body to conspire against your mind [sapiential conscious], and because the ego realizes that its “enemy” [the sapiential mind] can end them both [ego and body] merely by recognizing that they are not part of you [the sapiential mind]; they join in the attack together. This is perhaps the strangest perception of all, if you consider what it really involves. The ego, which is not real, attempts to persuade the mind, which is real, that the mind is ego’s learning device, and further, that the body is more real than the mind is. No one in [his or her] right mind could possibly believe this, and no one in [his or her] right mind does believe it." A Course In Miracles 6 IV 5.

When Yin and Yang are in balance, yin and yang no longer are perceived to exist. Balance ends the delusion,...just as when a positive is added to a negative,...it equals zero. Imagine a seesaw,....yin and yang is as positions of the One lever. The lever is in motion, and exhibits an Harmonic Balanced Interchange. Not balance,...but an Harmonic Balanced Interchange which perpetuates the perceived motion. The still fulcrum upon which the One Lever effects the motion of Yin and Yang, is synonymous with the Tao. The Tao is neither the One Lever, nor the Harmonic Balanced Interchange of the perceived motion f the Yin and Yang. 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." Whatever is perceived as form or phenomena outside yourself, is not the Tao. The Tao is not "One." The Tao is not "Yin and Yang." Yin and Yang is the scene on the theater screen,...the Tao is the light, still in the projector. The Tao is not the projector, the celluloid, nor the projection. In tantric practices, yang is described as descending from above (compression, converging, imploding) and manifests the outward shape of the penis. Yin ascends from below (dissolution, diverging, exploding) and manifests the inward shape of the vagina. Dark yin initiates the compression process from cold, thus multiplying cold to create illumination through yang’s heat. The compressed heat expands, thus dividing crystallized light and yang’s heat back to dark, cold yin. That is the pulse of duality. The reality of duality is this: yin is feminine, spiral-out, diverging, radiative, expansive, disintegrating, explosive, discharging, centrifugal, cooling, dissipating, exhaling, and ascending (notice how these are all complimentary terms). Yang is masculine, spiral-in, converging, generative, contractive, integrating, implosive, charged, centripetal, heating, accumulating, inhaling, and descending (again, all complimentary terms). Intermixing or attributing yin characteristics to yang or vice versa because someone feels that feminine energy should be structuring and masculine energy destructuring is disingenuous. Because most of our society is asleep, everything is viewed upside down and inside out. For example, they display the T’ai chi T’u symbol arbitrarily. The T’ai chi T’u, or yin-yang, is a well-known symbol that shows dualities’ two primal forces that is simultaneously opposing and complimentary. Although this symbol represents the rhythm of duality within the universe and thus can be viewed in motion, there is a correct, meaningful way to display it statically,...a way that honors The Tao. Within the realm of form, the yin, or dark, feminine energy should be located on the left, with its bright eye upward at the top, whereas yang, the bright, masculine energy, should be on the right, downward with its dark eye at the bottom of the pattern. Viewing or displaying the T’ai chi T’u any other way obscures the correct nature of duality. Duality’s reality is not a personal reality. A correctly presented T’ai chi T’u can unfold the totality of Who's Who in Duality. Before the appearance of the material universe the Tao was "still". Wu Chi is the term used to describe the state of the universe before it came into manifestation. It is the Tao in stillness. Wu Chi exhibits no polarity or differential. Then something happened and the Tao "moved". When that happened it separated into two forms of energy, yin and yang. This state is called Tai Chi and with separation the senses had something to grasp. Once black and white separated it became possible to see the black dot because it could now be put onto a white background. The concept of T'ai Chi, as I understand it, did not originate until the 11th century, where the neo-Confucist Chou Tun-yi (1017-1073) created a diagram that changed the name of Wu Chi to T'ai Chi as well as changing the interpretation

About 30 years ago I heard a Research Physician say that the human body can produce any drug made in a lab,...years later I heard Deepak Chopra making the same claims. Thus, my argument above is quite valid,....if you uncover where Eddie was going, your body can manufacture what is needed to arrive. "Be the Change," as Gandhi said,...and the universe within yourself will rearrange itself to accomodated that picture of reality,...which for some reason, is harder for ego to accept, than finding some NZT-48 or going multidimensional in an "egg."

If the Tao caanot be told, why did Lao Tzu speak of it? If the Tao is unnameable, why did Lao Tzu name it? I disagree not, with any of the 7 above,...although I disagree with the cerebral-centric interpretations. All 7 of the above are 100% compatible with What is Light. Through the nature of Light, we can discuss the nature of the Tao. http://thetaobums.com/topic/19803-what-is-light/?hl=%22what+is+light%22

From my obsevations, Taoist Traditions are quite contrary to Buddhist Traditions,....however,...what Lao Tzu and Sakyamuni spoke of, are the same thing. Lao Tzu said, "the Tao doesn't come and go." Sakyamuni said "the Tathagata doesn't come and go." That which comes and goes is neither the Tao, nor the Tathagata. Relate only with what doesn't come and go,...everything else is a diversion. Most,...that is to say, perhaps 99.9% of all who profess to be Daoists or Buddhists,....have little propensity to relate with what doesn't come and go. This is because the 6 senses can only observe what comes and goes. Although many follow Taoism and Buddhism as religions,...and some follow as a philosophy,....what Lao Tzu and Sakyamuni spoke of, is neither a religion or philosophy,...if you need a word, it could be called an ontosophy,...that is, the wisdom of real being,....yet even that is incorrect,....because what Lao Tzu and Sakyamuni spoke of, is beyond wisdom,...which translates to prajna. If you want a fast track to understand Taoism and Buddhism,...The Heart Attack Sutra, by Karl Brunnhölzl is a good start,...IMO

Quite an entertaining film,...reminded me a little with The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936). I've generally considered brain development a hinderance to spirituality,...but in Limitless,...from my perspective,... Eddie Morra was evolving the abilities for transcendant purposes, not for egomaniac pleasure. How many, statistically speaking, would have progressed as Eddie? Enlightenment is fundamentally simple,...it is a consequence of observing things as they are. For the most part,....IMO, smarts can be a diversion from that realization,...the realization of observing things as they are. For me, the film Limitless showed a possibility beyond the drug. Eventually, he no longer needed the drug. Sort of like in the Onge's Hat story,...the "Egg" was no longer needed once they understood the crutch of the "egg." But,...was an "egg" ever really needed to begin with? http://deoxy.org/inc2.htm Does one need NZT-48, if one realizes where it can take you? Does one need the "egg," if one realizes where it can take you? “The mind cannot comprehend an entirely new idea until a corresponding vibratory brain cell has been prepared to receive it.” Charles F. Haanel Does one need NZT-48 or an "egg" to prepare a corresponding vibratory brain cell? Did Sakyamuni have access to NZT-48 or an "egg"?

That is like saying that everything Lao Tzu or a Tathagata said, only led people to deeper blindness.

A relative truth could be that a Lie cannot understand the Truth. Of course, all relative truths are ultimately lies. Anything that changes cannot be true, in the absolute sense. Very, very few people are interested in the truth. From my observations, the estimate of .4% of humanity with any interest in truth seems quite accurate. What does an absolute truth look like? Like this: Undivided Light has not moved millimeter in all eternity. Here's another truth: It is impossible for the 6 senses to recognize Undivided Light.

On a related note: A Buddhist story tells of a student who wished to make an offering to Siddhartha Gautama and so brought a flowering branch to a gathering. As the pupil approached, Siddhartha said to him, “Throw it away.” Quickly, thinking he was supposed to discard the branch, the pupil threw it away. Yet Siddhartha again said, “Throw it away.” The student could not comprehend what he was supposed to do. Siddhartha then said, “Throw yourself away.” And the novice stood there confounded, pondering how he could throw himself away. If the student had his “I am” before his “i think,” there would not have been a reason to “throw it away.” For those not from the culture of the Indian subcontinent, it can be rather difficult to grasp the pupil’s situation. Buddhists traditionally have a more cardio-centric, heart-centered society, in contrast to the Western cerebro-centric, brain-centered social conditioning. Even so, few on any continent seem willing to let go of who they think they are to realize who they actually are. People fear their light. The Buddha Siddhartha reportedly said, “Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own thoughts.”

Yes,...I understand that the 12 Steps move people from one belief to another,...the other usually being acceptable to society-at-large. It is an awesome idea that the 12 Steps "start oa onion peeling process"...but will do nothing of real value until one peels away the 12 Steps. The 12 Steps could be said to be Positive,...yet are simultaneously Negative, in that very few can peel away the opiate that 12 Steppers now cling to for their identity,...every Step is based on a lie. Many may believe that following enough lies leads to truth,...but the reality of truth realization is that truth cannot be known until the lies are dissolved. What does this mean? Until a 12 Stepper can see that every Step is a lie, they will NEVER get to the end of the onion. As Osho said in the Youtube above,..."consolation is not the right thing"

If you have any desire to wake up,...to be truth realized,...to understand the Tao,...cease seeking "balance." There is no balance. For example, the sum of all positives and negatives is their dissolution. The inquiry is: harmonic balanced interchange. That is how Yin/Yang is realized,...and from which, the Tao is uncovered. Ultimately, harmonic balanced interchange does not exist within the Tao,...however, realizing the illusory nature of harmonic balanced interchange, is the Way to the Tao. 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." Are you your parents? Your parents are not even One. They are Yin/Yang, as you believe you are. However, the you that you are is not Yin/Yang. The you that you are is not One. Those are concepts to make the illusory projection palatable. Remember,....the ascension is simply the reverse of the descension. How do you reverse what is projected on a theaters screen? Are you the film in the projector? Are you the illusory projector itself? You are the Still, Undivided Light,...the Tao. Undivided Light does not project. Sounds to me as if you could tweak your "object-ive."

Why VMarcoian,...why not Buddhoian or Toaoian? Does VMarco ever contradict Buddhism or the Tao? The Lojong says, "Find the consciousness you had before you were born" to uncover bodhicitta and enlightenment. Why? In “The Art of Dreaming,” Carlos Castaneda mentions that while in another space-time, if one so much as puts on the clothing of the other dimension, conscious can quickly become trapped in that dimension. If we attach ourselves to the other space-time, we can quickly forget the one that we really live in, just as we swiftly forget our dream upon waking. Another example of this topic, although not interdimensional, is the tale of the abbot, Sri Sankaracharya. Following the death of a young prince, Sri Sankaracharya separated his subtle self and entered into the deceased prince to tend to his unfinished last will and testament. The prince’s Last Will and Testament was supposed to stipulate his intent to support Sankaracharya’s monastery, where the young prince enjoyed retreats and philosophical conversations. Sri Sankaracharya gathered the monks and told them of his plan. Then, as the prince’s funeral procession was carrying his corpse to the crematorium, the abbot entered the deceased’s body, thus reanimating the young royal. Everyone was happy to see the prince rise from the dead, especially his many wives, and a long celebration began. The abbot, as he forewarned the monks, quickly forgot who he was, just as a newborn obscures itself from itself through the sensory attachment to blankets, diapers, and endearing baby talk. After a week, the monks became worried and sought an audience with the prince to persuade the abbot to come back into his own body, which by now was quickly deteriorating. The prince, however, would not receive them, as he was busy tending to his many wives. Therefore, the monks gathered outside the palace’s living quarters and began to sing a song that the abbot had composed. Upon hearing the melody, Sankaracharya remembered himself, immediately took care of the prince’s will, and reintegrated with his own body at the monastery. The prince’s body was discovered in the morning and once again carried away, with the funeral party undoubtedly watching for him to rise again. However, back to Stosh's paradigm,...which is interpreting the world through the lie, the delusion, the dishonesty of the 6 senses. Why did René Descartes, concerning the senses, articulate that, “All that I have tried to understand to the present time has been affected by my senses; now I know these senses are deceivers, and it is prudent to be distrustful after one has been deceived once.” That's the simple leap which must be made before the Heart of Essense is realized,...that EVERYTHING of the 5 skandhas is a lie,....EVERYTHING filtered through the 5 skandhas is designed to sustain the lie. HOWEVER,...this cancer (meaning, a striving towards individualism, separation, and veiling of coherent light), can be dissolved,...instantly dissolved, by uncovering Consciousness of the Present. There is no present in time.

Pretty tough getting beyond the Positive-Negativism of the 12 Steps. If gravity, or any aspect of the 5 skandhas, is delegated as a power greater than the Heart of our Essence, then the Tao will not be understood. All perceived powers greater than ourself's, are manifestations of ego. Where there is Undivided Light,...there is no ego, no gravity, no time, no mass, no speed, no Yin/Yang, no 5 skandha's, and surely, no 12 Step concept. As Osho correctly said,..."consolation is not the right thing."

No,...to gnow, one must unknow. All knowledge is false. All gnowledge is true. All knowledge arise from the 5 skandhas. Gnowledge is that when knowing is uncovered. "As long as your shallow worldly ambitions exist (ie, hopes, beliefs, attachments to traditions) the door will not open." Lao Tzu Lao Tzu said, "the only way to understand [the Tao] is to directly experience it." It is impossible to have a direct experience through the 6 senses,...all experience born of the 6 senses can only be experienced through the conditions of the 6 senses. The 6 senses are: seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, and thinking,...each arising from its associative sense organ. The Liberation of Sentient Beings, begins with uncovering oneself to the point before the indoctrination that clings to the 6 senses began. Thus, the second most important Buddhist proverb says, "Find the consciousness you had before you were born." One does not surrender to "oneself",...one surrenders the delusion of oneself. Yes,...one's self thinks it is "god," that it is divine,...and that thinking is a barrier to Gnowledge. Surrender is letting go of all the concepts that one thinks they are,...which is why Buddhists do not believe in god. As long as one believes in "god," in any form, no surrender has occurred. "The biggest crux to the evolution of humanity is breaking through your own indoctrination. It is very, very difficult to overcome emotional elements that have become so engrained in you, that you have an immediate reaction, an immediate suffering and pain, if something interfers with [your idea of the status quo]. It's a very, very complex problem. We have to learn how to identify and break our own indoctrination if we expect to move forward at all as a civilization" PJ Merola

Before which, a Garuda will eat you for dinner. If you seek a beginning in time, look to the end. VMarco

There is a huge difference between gnothi seauton, to Gnow Thyself,...and know thyself. Let's speculate that there is a Self beyond the delusions of the 5 skandhas,....knowing the skandha self will not expose the Self that is beyond the 5 skandhas. Thus, Eckhart Tolle was quite correct in saying that, "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"

Sounds like a good metaphor. Is there anything more pernicious than ambition, hope, expectation? People who regularly buy lotto tickets, maintain barriers to waking up. Only caterpillars hope,...butterfly's see things the way they are.

Such Thusness is contrary to the accepted definition of wisdom,...although quite compatible with prajnaparamita. Wisdom is not Prajna. Prajna is the Consciousness beyond the Five Aggregates,...whereas wisdom is what the Five Aggregates feel is best about themselves. Most are indoctrinated to believe that wisdom is something special,...to seek out wisdom,...to be wise ourselves. Wisdom is what caterpillars think butterfly's attain,...however, butterfly's do not attain,...they simply let go of all the nonsense that wisdom imposes.