Tibetan_Ice

There is much debate about siddhis or psychic powers when it comes to Buddhism and enlightenment. Every now and then I come across some writings that confirm the idea that you have to develop these powers in order to become enlightened, or at least to be able to understand the dharma. This is one of those writings: From http://www.buddhisttexts.org/uploads/6/3/3/1/6331706/_vajra_prajna_paramita_sutra.pdf#page208 Chapter 18 Here are some highlights...

Do you agree that in this video Jackson Peterson has concocted an oversimplified definition of rigpa that has missed the mark? Here are some statements found in this video: Peterson "Jax" claims that understanding that you are "knowing" liberates, "and it liberates you immediately". "That's rigpa. It is the empty knowing that is always present" "The knowing never goes away" There is nothing to do, no practice needed... In the book by John Myrdhin Reynolds called Golden Letters, it states Peterson states that recognizing the "knowing" is very simple. He says that it is very simple to recognize rigpa. John Myrdhin Reynolds is saying that it is not so simple to recognize rigpa. So who is right? From the same book: According to Garab Dorje, we must go beyond the mind. How is the recognition that the dualistic subject is "knowing" going beyond mind? If, as Jax states, the realization of rigpa is so simple, why then do most if not all books on Dzogchen stress preparation, ngondro practices, gazing at the white A, direct introduction, the Phat method and other specialized methods to produce and retain the non-state of rigpa? Who is right here?

Hi, I found this in the instructions on how to do the Microcosmic Orbit, which is an instructional except from two of Mantak Chia's students: 1) Why is the Gia Pe point not used? Is it dangerous? What will happen if you do? 2) Why is the Ta Chui point not used? Is that one dangerous too? What will happen if you do use it? 3) Why is the Hsuan Chi (throat chakra) not used in the beginning? What does it do when you do use it? Thank you TI

I guess he didn't like what I had discovered. Here it is again, in case you missed it: From Jax's book The Natural Bliss of Being... The other thing I noticed about Peterson's rendition of the term "rigpa" was discovered by accident. Again, from the same book, Peterson quotes Ponlop Rinpoche: Since there was no reference (footnote indicating he source of the quote) I did a search and found the text. Here it is, from https://www.amazon.com/Penetrating-Wisdom-Samantabhadra-Dzogchen-Ponlop/dp/1590304160 The first thing I noticed is that there is no "(Knowing Awarenss)" text in Ponlop's original text. Peterson has added his own text to the author's original text thus deceiving the reader to believe that Ponlop is saying that rigpa is "knowing awareness". Again, I found the exact same text on the net and there there is no (Knowing Awarenss)" text at the end of the sentence "Our mind is primordially in the state of rigpa. " See: http://www.dailyom.com/library/000/003/000003464.html Again, Ponlop never wrote the bolded text in his original source: "Our mind is primordially in the state of Rigpa (Knowing Awareness). " At this point I can only conclude that Peterson misrepresents quotes from original authors and adds his own edits into those quotes. Big loss of credibility here.

Therefore, the AYP deep meditation is also more like hypnosis, below the critical factor. Very interesting.. Comments start at 59:00 about TM but the whole presentation is a good introduction to basic theory..

Hi Jax, A few years ago you defended an erroneous position that Lonchenpa stated that there is no need for Direct Introduction on the Dharmawheel forum. HERE IS THE LINK: http://dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=7810&sid=e81d21561e5ad2da1f6a756de4a9c56a You said When corrected by the members of the forum, you persisted with your line of defense by reverting to a form of nihilistic no-self defense. You wrote: and What you and the members of the forum did not point out is that whether or not there is a self to recognize rigpa is irrelevant because rigpa is self-aware. RIGPA IS AWARE OF ITSELF. You don't need a self or lack of self because rigpa will recognize itself. You seem to maintain this no-self response as a form of defense. When asked if you were enlightened, you said that there is no self to become enlightened. (L Ron Gardner commentary on Amazon) Further, you have said elsewhere that direct introduction/transmission is the relaying of the pointing out instructions through methods like speech, text. You do not seem to acknowledge that the accomplished Dzogchen practitioner/master can remain in such a pure state of rigpa that can then be transmitted to the student by energetic contact. So my questions to you are these: Do you still believe that Lonchenpa says that there is no need for direct introduction? And Do you now have the ability to directly transmit a taste of pure rigpa energetically to someone as a direct introduction? Remember Garab Dorge's famous three statements?

Just be sure to wear protection before inserting...

If the information is inaccurate, then perhaps it wasn't about you? Or perhaps you could clarify what happened first hand so we aren't just pushing heresay?

Bad memory Jeff? It was 4 years ago.It has been Seven years now since I have been practicing 2 hours a day, every day. I supplement my practices with reading. When you say that you "attempted to explain in full detail all of the energetic happenings." perhaps you could explain to us what exactly you explain to a newbie when you ask them to feel the blonde's breasts and imagine having sexual intercourse with the blonde. Did you call it "consort practice"? (A highly advanced Buddhist practice which first requires the realization of emptiness)

Interestingly, I did not include you in "moderators". I can see that taking your advice and not responding to your assumption has caused a weed to grow. Further, my statement concerning getting what one deserves is not an ad hominem attack. It is a reference to karma. I sincerely hope I get what I deserve.

There is no such thing as free speech. Every thing that comes out of your mouth costs something.

..

The onus is on you to prove your statement.

How about you prove your statement that Max is "attackng people with snake beings." Did Max's snake being attack you?

Can you prove your statements? Otherwise it is known as slander. Why would Max attack people?

Well, I would have to disagree with David Chapman there. Many text sources have originated from before the last century, in a sense bypassing modern revisionism... Interesting link, by the way. David should really read Dipa Ma and the Visudhimagga before throwing them into his scholarly analysis. But it was amazing to read a very long discussion of most of my books.. What an interesting recent historical perspective.

Please, let's not turn this thread into another Mopai crash and burn. (Not pointing at anyone, it's just that the word Mopai seems to be a grenade )

That is an interesting statement. The video is about where the potential for awakening exists with relation to brain wave activity levels. From your statement about Mopai, it would seem that Mopai is something else, not a tool for awakening... I know nothing about Mopai but I would guess from viewing the JC videos and the heated debates here on it (pun intended) that it is a form of energetic practice. I played in a band in my younger years that was a Hawaiian act which included a hypnotist show. The hypnotist would hypnotize people, put them between two chairs (one to support the head, the other to support the feet), tell them their bodies were stiff like steel and then he would sit on them! The hypnotist weighed about 200 lbs! After, most people were ok but in a few cases some complained about pain. The point is that it is possible to hypnotize people and have them perform superhuman feats so maybe Mopai is tapping into that aspect or some form of self hypnosis. Self hypnosis has its value as Roger attested to in his post, but it seems to be on the other end of the scale concerning placement in brain wave activity with regards to realization/awakening/enlightenment. Actually, according to Daskalos, the physical etheric double is super powerful and is capable of unimaginable feats. He supported learning how to manipulate it for the benefit of healing..

Wow, Karl. You have come close. But due to lack of instruction and direction, you turned back too soon. You focused on the content of conceptualization (thoughts) and even on the arising and passing of thoughts and you were very close. It is hard to realize that the content of thoughts is irrelevant at this point in the meditation. Did you notice that for each thought that was viewed it had its own witness (subject)? You have called your watching of thoughts introspection, which is sort of correct, except that introspection is turning your attention back around to the witness or subject that is watching the object (thoughts). Had you learned to view your thoughts dispassionately, like an old man watching someone else's children at play in the park, each thought and corresponding witness (subject) would have dissolved, leaving an open space of sheer luminous awareness. That space is not a subject, it is called rigpa in Dzogchen. If you train to remain in that space, you will attain buddhahood. Here is the same topic but in different words by the Dalai Lama.. From https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Meditation-Discovering-Innermost-Awareness/dp/1559394536 Oh, and thanks for the comments about AYP. I find that I agree with them.

Gatito, you deleted my post. You seem to think that only your opinion is valid. My opinion is just as valid as yours. A better book for beginners, one which Jon Kabat-Zinn (author of the book previously posted) calls a masterpiece is Mindfulness In Plain English https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Plain-English-20th-Anniversary-ebook/dp/B003XF1LKW

The main problem with web based apps is that they use a browser and you have no control over what companies do to their browsers. Case in point: Win 10's Edge browser written in HTML 5 does not work well with TDB posting...

Could you please elaborate on your statement?

Not all breath meditation is about breathing, breathing into something tan tien, or manipulating the breath. The reason the breath is used, as in Buddhist anapanasati, is because there is a connection between the breath and the movements in the mind (thought and thinking). When the breathing stops, the movements stop. When the movements stop, the breathing stops. So, the breath is a great feedback loop. The purpose of jhanic breath meditation is to become aware of these components of attention: 1) Directed attention 2) Sustained attention 3) That which watches whether or not the sustained attention has drifted off the target. The next step is to train those three components. Once you gain control over the three components of attention, that is when things start to happen. You might/will experience great bliss, better than sex You might see nimittas (mental mind objects or lights) You might see inwardly with the third eye with tremendous clarity. Two books which I have studied in depth are https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Bliss-Beyond-Meditators-Handbook/dp/0861712757 And https://www.amazon.com/Attention-Revolution-Unlocking-Power-Focused-ebook/dp/B003WJR60I The thing that I will say about controlled (not passive watching) breath meditation is that there is a natural built in function that if you do it for a few minutes, will help clear thoughts and emotions out from the mind. It is called the sighing exhale. If you've ever watched the tv show called BlueBloods, you would see that Tom Selleck, the chief of police, is a great practitioner of the sighing exhale. Whenever he hears of some disastrous event or some potentially frustrating situation, first he listens, then he takes a short inhale and then exhales. It is this exhale that clears the mind. If you don't believe me, just watch yourself and your behaviors for the sighing exhale. Or watch other people during a conversation. Watch for that sighing exhale. It is a natural method of releasing a mental or emotional buildup. Repeated over and over again for a few minutes will clear the mind. You will start to see white light in the mind's eye and a space will open up inside your head behind your eyes. Just recently I found mention of that technique in a book called "Roaring Silence" DISCOVERING THE MIND OF DZOGCHEN Ngakpa Chögyam & Khandro Déchen It is not identical to the "sighing exhale" but it is darn close...and uses the same principles... Here it is:

Hi Dawei, I had a quick look at the software and these would be my concerns: 0) the software does seem to be pretty slick and full of features.. 1) I don't know what software it is written in (.net, c++, Basic., etc ) nor what kind of database it uses, (sql, sybase , SQL anywhere, access etc ) so I don't have any idea how it performs under a load nor how reliable the backend is. Their price may not include database server licensing.. 2) the price is too cheap, 3) it seems that there is only one programmer, Kevin. What happens if he wins a lottery, gets hit by a bus or decides to find another job? 4) the release log seems to be that new releases are usually given every month, sometimes twice a month. Do you really want to patch TDB that often? 5) there is currently a bug with the snapons which they are trying to fix as well as some installation problems. I think they are short on beta testers and are using the public as Guinea pigs. I would recommend finding a larger company to deal with. My opinion after about 1/2 hr cursory exam..

I don't know how you can make statements like these and still be here at TDB. Mystics are evil? Are you here to save us Karl? Are you here to demolish TDB?