Tibetan_Ice

Have you ever looked or gazed for power spots, or energetic phenomenon occurring in various landscapes?

Well, I had the most wonderful meditation this afternoon. I decided to give gazing a rest and really investigate the normal awareness, the regular conscious mind. I started the meditation and focused on a thought. I tried to trace the awareness of the thought back to that which perceived the thought. The tracing led me back to the area around my heart. It seemed to open up that channel a bit. Then I grabbed the thought and made it bigger, expanding it until it filled as much of the surrounding space as possible. Then, the thought dissolved leaving in its wake a blissful type of energy, a vacuous space and some luminescence. I stayed in that state for a few seconds. Another thought appeared so again, I examined it closely the grabbed it and surrounded myself with it. I made it larger and larger until there was nothing left to grab onto. Again, much bliss and fine energetic sensations remained. I started to really like the sensations, just sitting there, wide open, not grasping anything, enjoying the state. I wondered if this was the natural state... Of course, it was! Then a major thought, one that was very complex and laden with emotion appeared. I tried to grab it but it would not come loose. I put some effort into pulling on it and finally it broke loose. I then expanded it and it disintegrated into a shower of bright rainbow lights. When the lights faded out, there was very much bliss. For the rest of the meditation I just stayed in that state of bliss, which lasted longer and longer. What a joy to indulge for a whole session! I was so happy at the end of the hour that it made me feel like I had actually accomplished something. What joy, what happiness..!

Not really. By stars I assume that you mean the little darting stars or white balls that move in arcs and leave a trail that quickly disappears. Sometimes the emergence of a star repeats itself two or three times in exactly the same location, along the same rounded trail, but then does not reappear in that location. Floaters have strands that connect the irregular shaped blobs, but floaters are the lowest on the totem pole as far as my personal interest goes.. Why, do you see strings connecting the stars?

My guru is the love within my heart. It is by far the most powerful mind blowing thing. It has revealed endless realities, planes and beings. It has revealed wonderful and magical phenomenon. It cuts through the mind like a knife through warm butter. That watery pool that is filled with love, silence, great bliss and the feeling of me, an endless me, I wish I could share that with all sentient beings so they could taste it too.

Sorry, I'm not interested in blanket statements and generalizations based on conjecture.. I can only speak for myself. You are also missing the point that there are different levels and meanings of the term "bodhicitta".

They are the same key. Either way, you activate the highest boddhicitta in the heart. This is not a master slave relationship, but the the activation of deep sacred love.

Never said you said "looking through the eyes" leads to rainbow body. I can't speak for everybody. I've never taken a survey, I wouldn't even know how to accumulate such information without having to resort to conjecture. I'm not interested in floaters. They are just protein strings in the fluid of the eyes. Typically those protein strings settle down and I don't focus on them. It's the little white sparkling balls/stars that I'm more interested in. According to the book "Naked Seeing", the visions are a sort of backwash or effect from various sources. I believe the thogal visions manifest directly from awareness, and there is a large pool of Boddhicitta around the heart region. When you gaze through the eyes from a deep meditational still state with love, that pool of awareness in the heart comes up to the eyes through the kati channel. When it first comes out, it looks like a gusher of water in slow motion. After the initial surge, it fills your whole visual field so that it no longer looks like a stream of water. I agree. It depends where you see them. Some visions are dreams. Some visions are memory. The mind also has a function that presents pictures to the subject. Sometimes I can take visual snap shots of external scenes, then close my eyes and see them perfectly with the same detail as looking through the eyes. Occaisionally I have a photographic memory. I think the visual cortex also retains external visual imprints for a while so that it can patch together a coherent scene. There are also what I've heard referred to as pranic visions. There are also visions which you perceive which are from other minds.. Women are probably closer to being enlightened for that reason than men.. Boddhicitta is key. If you have resistance to developing love/compassion/selfless empathy, then you will have no possibility of being enlightened.

There is more to it than just looking through the eyes. For if it was just by looking through the eyes, then everyone would go rainbow body because everyone uses the eyes. Further, the floaters and blue field entoptic visual phenomenon are always moving so they do not promote stillness until one takes the peripheral field as the object of attention. Yes, there is a component of concentration, that is why it is said that thogal without trecko is useless. The purpose of thogal is to realize that all visions, which are projected out from the heart are ephemeral, and eventually it is to realize that this reality is also a projection from the heart. So don't grasp at the visions. Just let them dissolve away and realize that they are projections from the source. Actually, anyone who stays in complete darkness will eventually see visions. They are nothing special. The fuel of projection is bodhicitta, so unless you cultivate true selfless love from the heart, the kati crystal channel will never reveal its secrets.

Kabuki, Well, thank you for taking the time to respond. I have my opinions and am a stickler for detail. But in this case, I will reserve my comments about Ramaji and neo-advaita as perhaps the existence of such has been precipitated by the need for some people to go through that?..

I have been practising gazing as my regular meditation, two to three times a day, for about a week. My sessions are performed with eyes closed while maintaining the intent to keep looking through the eyes, as if they were open. During those sessions I watch the little white balls/stars as they dart around. They are very hard to see and it requires lots of concentration accompanied with an effort to maintain a relaxed state. I also gaze at the sky during my breaks at work and when I get the chance. What has been happening is that it is becoming very easy to see the blue field entoptic stars darting about. I can see them while gazing at a bright cement sidewalk, when there is no blue. I can see them over the black background of the tv screen as well as the white of the bathtub. During my meditation sessions, I have seen many visions, including one very large red face with a dark red eye looking at me. I think that those visions must be pranic visions similar to dreams and although they are a good sign, they are not thogal visions. I'm not interested in floaters. Floaters are protein strings in the fluid of the eyeball that will eventually dissolve. The blue field entoptic little darting stars are also a physical phenomenon. As I have been progressing during my gazing meditations I have realized two other types of structures. The first is what resembles a series of red lines, tightly packed. They remind me of a fingerprint of sorts. The ability to see them seems to coordinate to the in-breath so perhaps this is still a physical phenomenon. The other structure that appears is a darkish circle surrounded by dark concentric circles that looks kind of like a tunnel or hole in the dark background. I don't believe any of those sights are thogal visions, as they do not resemble any thogal drawings that I have seen. However, last night, while lying in bed, I saw my first thogal vision. I was lying on my right side in the dark bedroom with my eyes closed. Suddenly, a perfectly round bright white light appeared directly in the area my eyes were focusing on. The white light was very intense but I watched without too much excitement. The white light sphere became larger and its sides transformed into rainbow light. Quite beautiful. A single sphere.. Then something interesting happened. From the inside of the side of the sphere or circle, another sphere emerged and presented itself at the center of the first sphere. Much to my amazement, there appeared to be a little being sitting inside the second sphere, sitting in full lotus. The detail was kind of hazy, like the little being had been drawn with pastels. Then the second sphere moved over to the side of the larger sphere that contained it and melted into the side. Then, another sphere emerged and it looked like the one that had just disappeared. This progression occurred three times, over what seemed to be two minutes. Then the whole picture show disappeared. Who would have thought that a daily practice could precipitate thogal visions as one lies in bed, not even intending to have the experience. Must be that the conditioning throughout the day by gazing regularily is having a beneficial effect.. It sure is amazing anyway...

Since you claim to be writing from experience, perhaps you could explain what you mean when you say that "there is no world for you". You have said that when the I thought dissolves in the heart, it is permanent and when this occurs there is no world for you. Therefore, if there is no world for you, how can you participate in the world? Perhaps you could read this link before you respond. http://www.srichinmoy.org/spirituality/concentration_meditation_contemplation/samadhi

When the I thought disappears in the waking state there is no more world for the I thought, but the world still exists because you are the world. You are the sky, the trees, the grass, the people walking by. There is great bliss, silence and the feeling and knowledge that you are everything. If you are lucky, it would last forever. Otherwise, eventually the thoughts come back, including the I thought, like demons in the night...

From Natural Liberation, http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Liberation-Padmasambhavas-Teachings-Bardos/dp/0861711319

Well that is too weird... During this afternoon's gazing meditation I saw many interesting visions, but one vision lasted a bit longer than the rest and kind of pulled me in. It was an image of a middle aged bald male with dark eyes. I knew there was some significance and I wodered who it could be... Tonight I decided to do a search for Jerry Alan Johnson on Google and lo and behold, that very same image came up in the images section. I will have to check him out now...

I thought that anyone could see them if you know where to look. Even, the little white balls become much clearer and look like diamonds when you cross your eyes and pull your focus in as close as possible. Do you see them?

So Jax is out to lunch when he says this: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/DzogchenCourses/conversations/topics/1298 First he is saying that these thigles are produced directly by the dharmakaya and the sambhogakaya directly. They are, as science has proven, a result of biology. Next, Jax states that "None of this develops until your trekchod and therefore Rigpa is stable." False. The thigles he describes, which are the preliminary experience require no meditative or Buddhist background. Anyone can see them regardless. I find that Jax is misleading his readership by his statements. He failed to distinguish between biological phenomenon and the more advanced thogal visions and in doing so, appears not to know what he is talking about.

Well, that is an interesting concept. Worthy of research... Hmm. I don't think erythrocytes answers that question.. well, perhaps in a related way... From "Naked Seeing" by Christopher Hatchell: http://www.amazon.com/Naked-Seeing-Perfection-Visionary-Renaissance-ebook/dp/B00NHWZ5M6/ref=la_B00E613Y48_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413155209&sr=1-1 Now, Hatchell sites "Investigation of the source of the blue field entoptic phenomenon" http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2703307 where it says: Pretty fancy.. "blue field entoptic particle motion" Woa.. wait a minute.. here is a picture - worth a thousand words.. Yup. That is what they look like: So it would appear that this is no longer a mystery. It only stands to reason though, that the significance of the "blue field entoptic particle motion" is not a religious or meditative phenonmenon, that is, it has nothing to do with secret channels or stilling the gaze other than it is the introductory phenomenon that one percieves when first commencing sky-gazing. A long time ago, back in the 70's, a book on yoga mentioned this phenomenon and claimed that it was prana in motion. I thought it was easy to see the moving dots.. Later, someone said it was orgone. I guess, now we know.. Mystery solved.. This discovery, should not be construed as a denouncement of thogal, sky-gazing or Dzogchen practices. Although it explains the preliminary visions, and what are described in Buddhist terminolgy as Varjra-strands, it does not explain the intermediate visions (like the moon and the sun), nor visions of deities in yabyum..

Anderson, you missed it. Bodhicitta is all. Guru yoga is just a method for Buddhists to develop immense sacred love for something, because there is no God to love. Bodhicitta is mind. I'm not talking about relative bodhicitta, that is just a dress rehearsal. The mind follows from the luminous silent all-loving brilliant watery vapor that resides in the heart. You can coax it out through the practice of thogal... It will actually reveal itself through the eyes. Then you realize what is really looking out from the eyes. There is no person there because you are all, you are eveyone and all things. And there is immense, great, undeniable all-encompassing LOVE.! But don't take my word or my experiences for it.. Even CN Norbu tells you that.. From "The Supreme Source":

You guys say that remote viewing is effortless. I disagree. Clairvoyance is effortless. You focus on something and an image appears in the space of your mind. But, it is hard to tell if you are imagining what you are seeing, recalling the image from memory and you don't know for sure if it is accurate. I'm very familiar with the process. Usually this type of clairvoyance has a 50/50 chance of being accurate. You can tell when someone has developed this (dare I say skill) because they will not prove or demonstrate their ability. Usually they will say that they don't perform like circus animals or give some other kind of excuse. Most of the time this type of clairvoyance is fiction. The hallmark of this type of clairvoyance is that the substance of the vision is unprovable, like something about a past life, or something far away which is not verifiable etc.. And, yes, it is effortless. If you think you are clairvoyant, then tell me what I look like. After a while, when you have verified many clairvoyant episodes, you learn the difference between imagination, visualization and the real thing. The first thing you learn is that you really can't control it, it just happens. But it does contain a feeling of certainty. When you do see a true vision, you know that it is true. Remote viewing is a different story. It is a function of the lasso lamp. Within the space of the head, located about 4 inches horizontally from the brow is where the "eye" appears. For me, it is golden yellow and orange in color and resembles a peacock's feather. With effort and concentration and by focusing intent, the center of he eye opens up revealing the desired object or scene. It looks like you are looking through a telescope. You can see through this eye so well that you can walk around or drive with your eyes closed. You can see far distances through this eye, just as if you are right there. But it takes effort. Further, after years of meditation and after having had many many visions and psychic experiences, it was Kunlun that opened this eye. Quite unexpectedly ...

Ralis, have you never heard of Kriya yoga and the breathless state? Yogananda? Nirvikalpa samadhi? Stories of yogis buried underground for days, months years?

And what kind of meditation are you talking about here? There is mantra meditation, TM (ok some believe it is meditation), shamatha meditation, vispassana meditation, gazing meditation, tummo meditation, kundalini meditation, visualization meditation, awareness of awareness meditation, self inquiry meditation, useless meditation, contrived meditation, meditation with an object, meditation without an object, loving kindness meditation and there is even non-meditation. As if meditation is one state... And then, emptiness is not empty, it is full of appearances. So probably a good place to start would be to define what you mean by meditation, define emptiness and define grasping..

From the book called Natural Liberation http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Liberation-Padmasambhavas-Teachings-Bardos/dp/0861711319 And this..

There is a great difference between remote viewing and "seeing someone two feet away". If you are using the lasso water lamp it looks like you are peering through a telescope. And it does not matter if you are lying down, standing up, walking or even driving. And it requires love, technique and concentration to activate it.

You say it is all breathing and stillness in one thread and then you post this in another thread... http://thetaobums.com/topic/16504-internal-vision-and-remote-viewing/?p=583872 Kind of contradictory, don't you think? Let me spell it out for you. On one hand you give a tremendously watered down renditition of "meditation" and then on the other hand you seem to know specialized techniques and can illuminate a few of the lamps. Maybe there is hope for you yet... LOL And now you claim that the Buddha is incarnate here today on earth. What is your proof? You do know that you create your own visions and you shouldn't mistake them for non-relational reality, don't you?

So now you speak for Buddha and claim to know his conclusions? While it may seem to be hateful to you to dispute your oversimplified ignorant statements, to others with a more discerning intellect the conclusions are far different. Don't we all have the seed of the Buddha in us? Now you have implied that Buddha didn't need any technique. Right... And that's exactly what Buddha taught for over 40 years... No technique... I can tell you have it all figured out by the compassion in your response.