Songtsan

That's exactly what I am doing....basically applying the same formula...try systems, see what results; tweak the protocol, keep on truckin'

Are these Ten Thousand Things pulling our energy outwards away from our self? Are we wasting our vital essence? Of course...that's axiomatic... What I want to know is, does hanging out in the Mysterious Female allow one to absorb one's own life essence while seeing things from a distance? That's what I am experiencing now when I hold the intent...A feeling of being removed from reality slightly, and instead of being fully absorbed outwards, getting all excited and generating outward flowing bliss, we send it inwards.. This is a 'just checking' post...

The time has come for history to repeat itself again. At the end of this era, we have seen what pollution does to our planet, what the poverty and lust for greed does to our mother Gaia. What this means is that our ruling classes are polluted and they should be replaced. Methinks there is an interesting solution. We who are of immortal body status, having secured our status as Metta providers, knowing how to be reborn into new bodies as we will, should be born into the bodies of the children of the ruling classes. I say this to those who know how to do this, as I do. This is our time to take a chance, so-to-speak, and get off our asses and do something about this mess. This Earth is real and we do not own it, nor does it own us. We are a part of it and it stinks that these amazing feats of technology we are witnessing cost so much as far as pollution is concerned. Let's use our immortal Body powers to keep this place safe and secure, instead of seeking to selfishly seek safe covens of safety in the sky. We can build a better place here too, you know. Just saying.

But, if they are truly practicing non-attachment, then they should not be concerned that they lost this seat of power. I sympathize with their struggle, but it has happened a thousand thousand times to a thousand thousand cultures. Our very identity is like the Mandala made of sand. One day there will be no Tibetans, no Buddhists, no Muslims, and so forth. Yet we will all remain regardless. In practicing non-attachment, which is the highest seat of power available, I can easily diffuse and destroy my desire in the original post. My posts are almost always self limiting, like Mandalas.... Of course, in practicing non-attachment, one should also not be attached to doing nothing so we can take steps to create the reality we wish to see, as long as we remain detached from results. This equals bliss.

I can see my thoughts easily in my self-talk in my head, even to the point of noticing sublingual vocalizations..underneath the words are more subtle impulses which carry feeling urges which are wrapped around concepts of desire objectives..I think that underneath these are pure undiluted emotions which are pre-conceptual and not linked to objectives. So you don't hear your own voice in your head when you contemplate? If you sit there and hold the intention to observe those feelings wrapped with desire objectives, those are your thoughts...wordless (not having been capped by labels), yet containing the essence of the intended action-based desire to 'do something,' even if that 'doing something' is simply to make a statement to yourself in your head. I would also add that thoughts can occur anywhere in the nervous system. They are not just localized in the brain. In fact, if you believe that we have bodies beyond this one, such as astral body, causal body, etc...they can occur here too...when you start watching them, you will find them especially in the heart area, bubbling up from below...

A Actually, not true! I aim to be a Mahasiddha. And why not?

I question this to some degree, because we ourselves are spirit and can direct ourselves through free will. Perhaps this desire of mine is something that I will choose to do some lifetime.

I think I lost my way for a while. I forgot that beings of compassion can become too altruistic and begin to try to push an agenda, in which case they are no longer compassionate. As an example, Ghandi once encouraged his followers to destroy temples that were thousands of years old which depicted sexual imagery of the Tantric sort. So I would say that this is overcompensating...or leaving the nest of equanimity. Any act of proselytizing is this too. Trying to change someone to meet your own ideal, even if it seems that they will be better off, is unwarranted, if one wishes to be wise. What one does is offer the 'Change-help' that is requested at the appropriate moment, nothing more. This is a true being of compassion.

No, it's cool. I have often thought the same thing actually. I am kind of stuck though because I am on parole and can't travel. Also, I kind of lack faith in the more organized dogmas. This holds me back from attending. I am a free thinker as you know. I am sure I will some day end up applying myself to a tradition. I would hate to just jump into one out of some feeling of fear or anxiety that I will not 'make it.' I want to do it when I am ready and sure of myself - confident that it is the right decision for me. In the meantime I can iron out the wrinkles in my misconceptions to the best of my ability. Being a perennial student who is distanced from the religions and systems one is studying is like floating out in space, orbiting a bunch of spheres of knowledge and tradition. Sooner or later I will make the plunge and dive bomb into one of those spheres and then that's where things will really shake up...I am waiting for the opportune moment.

I really like the idea of thinking of others and not thinking about myself. I also like the shikantaza idea...I think all this thinking of myself and trying to get somewhere special for my own advancement is the problem. I am probably just adding more fuel to the fire as far as the reification process of the ego.

Just wanted to expand on this topic and say that there are way too many similarities between descriptions of interfering spirits, entities, etc. among all religions for it to be coincidence. Buddha had to deal with Mara and associated demons Alien abductees have to deal with reptiles, the greys, etc. who must have a hierarchy Muslims have to deal with Djinni and Shaytan, Iblis, Azazel, etc. Christians have to deal with various demons and Satan Whatever term you use, Asuras and Devas, terms like Shekinah, or whatever, the fact is that these things are out there and that they like to play games and deliver messages. They can appear as angels and stimulate bliss within you. Then they gain your trust and start to control you and begin to defile your original pure nature. They have the ability to insert thoughts, stimulate emotions and cravings, control moods, and move the bodies physically...talking in tongues, divination, all this stuff comes from a source that one can group into a certain category...what this category is is questionable. Those who think they know probably don't. You can say they are ascended masters, angels, thought constructs, archetypal manifestations of group mind creations, or anything else. I don't know what they are, but I aim to not feed them any of my energy any longer. They are amusing and know how to entice...they can stimulate glands to produce neuropeptides and other hormones... They seem to seek to create discord, to produce karmic cycles of aggression, sexual deviancy, hopelessness, religious zealotry, and all kinds of other foments.. You are born with free will. Use your own wisdom to decide what is best. Trust no human and no ethereal being as much as you trust yourself. Even if you aren't so wise, you will fare better to be true to your own nature. Do not let the natures of others' intents supersede your own. If they want to play games, let them...they are wasting their energy, and you can absorb their efforts into your own energy bodies as you create your own Divine Body...once you understand and apply these principles, they will leave you alone, because they know that they are now losing their own essence in fucking with you. In the end, this may all be a test of who you are. Those who pass through these gates can leave and never come back. It is to the advantage of the spirits to keep us here locked in karmic cycles, because we are the food they eat. When you escape the wheel here, you then get to be one them - top of the food chain.

All teachers/teachings and traditions stemmed from someone originally taking the step to figure it out for themselves by using their own sense and wisdom faculties. I have the confidence that I can make it on my own eventually. My passion is in this obviously. I look and search, meditate sometimes hours a day formally, and all day long loosely. I am basically intensely studying the traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, Taoism, Vedanta, and others...I find the commonalities and create cross correlations as far as practice design. Still in progress. Practice is the path. Some would say that I am already where I want to be and don't know it.

I think that alot of beings who become fully achieved simply choose to leave this plane. I just wonder whether or not they think that it doesn't matter what goes on 'down here.' Who knows, maybe it doesn't and things are exactly fine the way they are. I have entertained and accepted this possibility.

I don't really know..I am just guestimating from bits and pieces of knowledge and I assume that once when gets to a certain level of cultivation, they can enter the astral plane at will, or other etheric planes, manifest as deities, see through other eyes, and choose bodies to be born in...

Sorry, I was in a manic state...still, the intent of the post is good...why don't the enlightened manifest as political leaders? It's a quandary I always wondered. Is suffering a good thing then?

or is there no 'you' in awareness? Who/what is it that executes functions?

We are all cool. I wasn't offended. It is just a learning experience.

Yeah, I am posting on this forum for mirroring. It helps so much. In response to what you said, half the time I ask the question, it is answered automatically within a short time period anyways..mainly what I need to do is isolate and refine my practice. I am a solo meditator working outside of traditions and with no teacher. I hear that this is foolish. When I have the money and am in the right place I will go find a school of some sort. Until then all I have is you guys and myself and books..I make progress slowly. It is what it is. I feel content with it.

It's a trade really...the beings of the lower plane generally trade knowledge for energy...the more you give, the more interesting knowledge you can gain...you must use your senses and be facile. Teaching can go both ways too. Spirits learn from people as well. It's all a game of energy exchange and exploitation. Higher level beings, having mastered their energy cycles and knowing how not to return to the land of their birth through conserving their energies and applying them at the right moments, can certainly come and offer guidance for free. This is not unexpected. Perhaps there is a truth to all of these things, yet I often wonder if the gift they give with the energy exchange is false all around. They seem to use a best fit model, using your own thought devices and whims and telling you what you wish to hear. On the whole I think that they are simply players. They like to go get stuff from people and use it for their own enjoyment. Kind of like people here on Earth. We are not so different than them actually, when you examine yourself. I am mainly speaking of beings such as Asuras and whatnot. Compassionate light beings like Padmapani for example, you can trust. The proof is in the pudding. You can tell by the energy and attitude of the spirits whether or not they are higher or lower beings. Some are gift givers, and receive the pleasure of giving. Some are gift receivers, and receive the pleasure of owning objects of power or worth. I particularly don't like fascination objects anymore as they tend to absorb ones energy in the seeking and holding of them. Honoring Asuras is like giving money to drug fiends; all you are doing is enabling them. They will never break out of their karmic cycles if you keep giving them your energy. Both sides then lose...you will lose vital essence, while they will continue to be trapped in the hidden misery disguised as pleasure of the lower realms.

I guess the way I was viewing it was from a combined western/eastern approach. I had viewed the awareness energies as emanating from a specific area, and then going out to the brain areas associated with the sense organs' incoming data...I assumed following the energies of awareness backwards was detaching from those areas (ten thousand things loci) and retreating back to the original seat of consciousness. At this point, I am adhering to the belief that that lies within the heart area....I will continue to look.

I enjoy the scatter-brained approach, which I view as randomized, multi-tasking, approaching the origin in a spiraling, snaky route- serpentine, never a straight route. It's always been my method. Straightforward approaches, while they may seem more efficient from the get-go, are not my style. Even if it takes me longer the way I go, I am both practicing non-attachment, and adhering to Saivic principles. Shiva as riding Shesh-naga, a giant snake, who carries him around while he meditates, eyes half-lidded, is the way I do things, following my guide, lover, and other half, Shakti. This has been my mainstay since 1997 or so, maybe earlier even though I didn't know it. It's a fun path, and enjoyable.

assume all guides as false, based on your desired perception...take any information with a grain of salt. Don't even assume that they are spirits - they could be anything from desire body manifestations to aliens to thought constructs to your higher self to etc etc...

hmmm...I must admit I still haven't gotten it then. I always assumed awareness had a central location or point of emanation and that turning the light around meant bringing it back there....

Yeah, I should have researched the term Desire Body before I made the thread...I get 'thought insertions' from some place and that was one of them and when I googled it, one of the first hits was that link I posted and I just went from there...basically pranic sheath composed of desire emanations/objects....