eye_of_the_storm

My present understanding was that the OX represented the mind and the taming of the mind? My experience with the Ox story comes from Zen. I am unsure if they are the same story (:

Yeh, haha - hmm I am a new sprout here soo (positive + so far)... 14 years wow Hope to be dancing in the clouds by then myself haha (:

They are dancing among the clouds ... yet to catch one myself. This forum is a blessing + the people here... all on the same path, sharing their experiences / helping one another the best they know how even if misguided sometimes (: myself included All simply trying to understand

thanks for your input - very helpful

In terms of visualization also - what are peoples thoughts on - Tibetan Buddhist practices of imaging "golden Buddhas" etc to enter your body? I wouldn't do it... thinking maybe inviting unwanted entities. z I could see the benefit in imagining/ feeling oneself to be a Buddha though... hmm

Thank you for your reply (: (open eyes) I actually would like to go further into the "blank state" I am totally aware... I am not sure if its moving into a sleep state - its like "reality" dissolves and the mind turns in? I suppose it is kind of... when i lose the focus of... I see my surroundings again. I would like to maintain a practice such as yours, I am happy for you (: and excited at the prospect of maintaining a solid practice. because i am young first i have to establish myself - unless i join a monastery. peace

"something bad happened there." (Mars?) - nuclear war?

I have found trataka good also I do open, closed, half open/closed depending on how I feel at the time ... though my practice is inconsistent I find after staring for some time into space things go blank/"black" anyway?

Actually I am deluding myself I am seeking pleasure what else could freedom/ peace/ harmony etc be?

In my experience nothing has caused me more suffering than Buddhism. Though I think everything is a blessing in the "end". This could not be avoided though as even a child I wanted to "Know God" and transcend death/ understand life and my place in it. Anyway, can you love people, animals, the earth without hating those that pose a threat to them? The pain you feel when they are harmed is one thing. The hatred you feel towards those who harm them is another thing. It is more of egoic origin I think. Anger is a defense reaction, offensive defense if you will. You maybe get angry out of a fear of losing the things you love, because you think that you need them for your well-being. But is that anger constructive? Owledge I do not hate them, because I understand that their actions are a result of... I have no direct connection to these things (I am talking at a global/universal scale)... therefore I am not losing anything personally... These things span time / space etc If you can not relate to another human being or other sentient life forms (empathy)... you are not a human being or for that matter any form of conscious life... other animals feel empathy, emotion too. At present I believe in a refining of the emotions and developing a "Divine Personality / Immortal Being" Becoming devoid of emotional intelligence/ empathic understanding is evil So far my understanding of emptiness, non duality etc and reading peoples experience of such states... detaches them / hollows them out < into empty shells... good for nothing. Can an "enlightened" person create? music? art? poetry? are they capable of anything? ^ this relates to all creation... there is a creative force, look around at the majesty of our physical reality... the flowers, mountains, the human form (everything) etc If i was to define "emptiness" = Absolute creative potential. One needs emotion to be able to create The Tao is Absolute Desire (I feel)

Excellent thread and responses! For me in particular i enjoyed: Yeah, I'm going to waste ten years of my life, if not more, practicing to find out that none of it's real. Twinner While reading it, I thought about what is described in the book "Opening the Dragon Gate", about the experience of being detached from the world and seeing everything as pointless and then learning to 'return' to a meaningful life. The latter process is an interesting aspect of the whole spiritual journey.Owledge This was a good find for me as i believe i am at this point For them having sex with seventy two 18 year old virgins while stoned out of their gourd and winning the lottery would be no more appealing than being slowly ground into hamburger while alive. More_Pie_Guy goldisheavy all posts Similarly a human being's dharma is to do the right thing while he/she is in the dualistic world. So, by opposing the British rule, Gandhi was merely doing his dharma. He used to say "it is a great sin to commit crime, but a bigger sin to silently stand by while crime is being committed". Since the British colonial rule was a crime against humanity, Gandhi did what he could to live by his yamas and niyamas while at the same time doing by not doing (and encouraging millions to do the same) and broke the back of the British empire. dwai Also relevant for me at this time and what i have been discussing in part with Owledge on his Aya thread By right reflection of the liberating thought of love, the thought of love that frees the heart indeed, anger gets cast out. Right reflection has the same character throughout. When it occurs strong in the thought on love, anger is removed from the heart. C T I believe anger arises out of love... say for my LOVE of people, animals, the earth... if others cause needless harm to these..out of my love for them i am extremely angered... ^ as per the Ghandi post The most important thing we can do as individuals is not reach a state of awareness of non-duality, but rather understand the state of duality, how each of interacts and effects the lives of each other, how we are, at the most basic level simply one thing, the universe. Twinner Thank you all

More numerous than who would expect? You? Or what you assume others think? Yes more numerous than I would expect and I assume others to assume is both dangerous and life saving (I assume as with everything else written) materialized thought forms... no novel thought interesting indeed Understanding nourishes compassion. Fear keeps the perception superficial. I agree There is that funny saying: When you hit a buddhist, they will bear it and not hit back. When you hit a taoist, there's no telling what will happen. That embodies so much the all-embracing philosophy of taoism. cool - I have to look deeper into Taoism - I have read the TTC a couple of times... the first time I was like wow! this is perfect no conflict arose, i was at ease with it and felt it to be the closest thing to truth i had ever read. Other things I have aversion to instantly < conflicting with my inner sense? ^ is this the flow of the Tao? easy when it is in alignment with - conflict when not... it is biased by personal belief/ understanding and so on. Or something else? ^ would this be considered judging things? I think we need to understand the "shadow" just as much as the "light" Well, duh! Are we in a taoist forum? hahah yeh... Just to be clear, On a global scale I have seen a lot of harm done to no apparent help/ benefit that I can see - If one has studied say the Chinese "Cultural Revolution" or the Bolshevik "Revolution" ... or corruption rampant in governments/ military, corporations etc ... i believe it would be negligent to suggest paradoxes? Though they are internally (entirely - I thought to write but internally came out haha) valid So we move from a centered place - like the mushin no shin (mind of no mind) that the Zen/ Japanese Samurai moved from? Fear isn't my concern really in what i am trying to address here in terms of "evil" - i suppose i am addressing "evil" in terms of the anger that arises from injustice / conscious malicious intent and the want to protect, save etc (compassion, empathy?) and what is the best way to respond to it, or as some would suggest not responding and being consumed by it... but I suppose it all has to do with spontaneous arising and how one feels at the time... unlike Buddhism, Taoism allows a natural response to the moment rather than conditioned response / Perhaps one can have too much compassion? In Tibetan Buddhism there is a story of a Buddha who shattered into 1000 "pieces" because he couldn't help everyone. I believe one can maintain peace and anger(not anger, something that has the fire of anger but... ignited will power?) at the same time Perhaps the anger arises too from a feeling/ perception of being powerless to do anything about it I would like to interact with the plant world at some stage

Maybe it's a delusion to think of yourself as trapped as if there are malicious forces at work. This is the perception of a threat, and that is fear-based, and fear-based behavior is unwise. I was referring to trapping ourselves, like in the loops you mentioned? But also there may be malicious intent at work on the part of others to a degree in terms of entrapment... depending how susceptible one is. It is proven malicious intent exists - psychopaths... which are more numerous than one would expect - termed an intraspecies predator. I suppose all are aware of black magicians and source energy being neutral (true or not i don't know)?... one can use it for "good" or "evil" ^ I am not sure if such ideas exist in Taoist thought... I have read Taoist texts referring to demons but in regard to what is the nature of evil? its purpose etc of said demons < maybe arise through ignorance / misunderstanding etc. One could refer to say the ancient western world (or eastern) and the burning of knowledge and the slaughter of wise ones... there seems to be intent from somewhere to destroy consciousness / awareness... as much as there is an intent to become conscious / aware. I would be interested say if 1000 Taoist monks had word of 1000 soldiers coming to destroy them and their knowledge, what action they would take. Would they except their "fate" and decide this is the work of the Tao and should yield to it... or perhaps the Tao is forcing them into action... and bringing the "mundane" world to them... what is the use of a "liberated" man/woman if his brothers/sisters are starving to death. I heard a story of a Taoist monk who had been cultivating energy for 4000 years in the mountains but couldn't transcend... Or another of a Buddhist monk who believed he had finally attained peace(in the mountains) came "down" to the "mundane" world and completely lost it. Perhaps "evil" is to strengthen the resolve of the seeker... I once was trying to escape this world by means of enlightenment believing that this world is MAYA, illusion and everything here was completely worthless, full of suffering etc Or perhaps evil is "when good men do nothing" I think we need to understand the "shadow" just as much as the "light" Say a monk will refuse to kill (fear of creating karma for his/herself)and in the process his entire village + himself are killed... which is the greater "evil" ^ I suppose this could be another thread ... but still applies I agree with you statements

responded on link

Hello thanks for directing me here I liked the part about giving energy to the past = anchor You also mentioned more less? that you were the author/ creator of your own reality? your experience ... so maybe the plant is not separate from you... maybe the effect of the plant is to simply allow you to experience yourself? hence why everyone's experience is "tailor made" The awe etc that you experienced for the plant... maybe the awe of you/ your "true self" The prison was this I self or ego / identity = your prison warden. I believe there are different levels of ego / identity - maybe we have trapped / limited ourselves somehow to this present image...forgetting our Divine Self / Personality... maybe you are worried about realizing your Awesomeness... but also this could be from conditioning or the idea of "no-self" the damn buddhist idea of being extinguished completely... a lot of things (extreme/ misleading) lead one astray in buddhism i feel - you said you saw the outline of a buddha? buddha is just another projection? Slow realization or instant the end result will be the same? I believe in the One and the Many. For the sake of complexity / novelty / eternal arising, expansion, evolution the best solution would be for the One (ground of being?) to divide into the infinite... and allow the infinite to evolve as individuals into the infinite - mutual interdependent arising ^ for that to take place the One and the Many need consciousness / memory (infinite) / Self Knowing. Say the human for example it is only through self knowing even at a mundane level that we are able to function/ progress/ understand. Like the Fibonacci sequence 0,1,1,2,3,5 etc How did the 0 become 1 though is the interesting part or the Great Mystery Seem folks are trying to get back to 0? I think to understand 0 is important to progressing forward to 144 and so on... but reaching 0 is not the end goal Would it be like us trying to climb back into our mothers womb? to the primordial state? and becoming unborn hm

My belief/ Experience: Lucid dreaming has helped in the awakening to the dream of this here/now. To the point some days it feel as though I am dreaming awake... I would like to know more of Owledge and his experience of falling through the cracks? / out of the matrix? I havn't - that i know of. You learn things more to be of a liquid state... Once you are LUCID < Awakened within - reality becomes like potters clay... and you can manifest/create instantly (depending on focus/ concentration / imagination. Who has seen the movie - what dreams may come? ^ This is in the dream state (what is and isnt dream state?) I think it is good to face the fear of the unknown < you may be happily surprised..or not. I am a novice < No vice? I think if you can master the unconscious / dream state? totally - death no longer. So one never sleeps/ becomes unconscious. Do we project/ shift conscious attention inside or outside ourselves?

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Excellent

May the force be with you too

Hello! Welcome Fist of the Buddha - I am new also... The Tao brought us here around the same time - I wonder if there is anything in it

I am new as - White Wolf Running On Air I am an Immortal, I just forget... here to remember! ARRRHUUUU!! Thank you for having me here