Songtsan

Sorry I was being flippant when I wrote that...really I am allowing my emotions to lead me around as this is my path...it is like Shiva riding the snake...I do it on purpose and I like it this way. I am in no hurry, nor am I attached to some higher goal - I am simply being who I am and enjoying it all the way...its a thrilling ride to be unattached and mostly fearless. I am in direct opposition to trying to control/fabricate myself as an enlightened being. Instead I will find enlightenment through the path of persevering through the craziness and learning the nature of humanity and the Tao. It is through the eyes of the blind that one can see, said the tongueless man. You grok?

Really what it does is ritualize the event, which leaves a lasting mark in the mind for all time - this creates a great inner wheel which can create grand experiences. These experiences can be gained by oneself, just not as fast if one hasn't has the empowerment. It really does work, I've seen it happen before. Like I said, I'd be all into it, but just don't have the money/time/place/etc.

EAT SUSHI TAKAWAKI!

Follow your passion: steal a car, a boat, a plane! Go to India! Become the vice president of Japan! ~and eat sushi! There are so many options. Just don't choose the wrong path and end up in prison like us did.

will do.

I view it more like approaching a zenith...the closer you get, the less the mind is fabricating and it is just happening. I agree that it is pseudo until it is not...the practice is a mind fabrication, when the mind fabrication is dropped, then the pseudo is dropped. I believe we are in accord. What I find interesting is that yogis have analyzed prana and nowadays it is compared with the autonomic nervous system...the prana that controls breathing, the prana that controls digestion. These are all spontaneous. I think spontaneity has something to do with joining back with Taomind or Buddhamind. There is no chooser, the action just happens, and no karma is created. Spontaneous action is karma free as far as I know.

true and false - one must make efforts to become spontaneous unfortunately. Its a learned skill. Seek nondoing by doing. Seek actionless action through taking action. When the boat hits the shore, leave the boat behind. I have a practice of spontaneity in which I begin in standing post position, then allow movements to occur as they will, without seeking anything...when one allows oneself to melt to the ground, the body will protect itself by tightening the muscles...its like cats stretching - they don't think about it, it just happens. People, being more mind-centered planners, need to re-learn spontaneity...The more one practices, the more the practice becomes the self. Eventually you live in a permanent state of spontaneity and have achieved wu wei.

I am in extreme states of Yang energy most of the time. By brain is on fire. Its a kundalini/eastern thing. I allow this on purpose, and I also have predisposing mental conditions of course. I know it is not healthy in the long run, but I have learned to deal with the insanity in myriad ways. I am riding the avalanche of Yangness and funneling it out into my writing, but my physical body is suffering as a result. I know what I am doing health-wise, its a short term sacrifice which I am allowing myself to exact on my bodymind. Taoists always have complained that Kundalini yogic techniques are too hot. I agree, yet I am doing it this way anyways. Its based on impatience! lol I like the loco vida.

Life is ecstasy to those who know. Every moment is divine. Shakti is with us all the time. We always have being, we always have bliss, we always have consciousness. Those who bring this out into the waking world become living Buddhas, no matter what they are doing. I could be sitting on a pile of filth, and if i am a realized person, still be in great ecstasy and attainment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empowerment_(Vajrayana) They say that a practice is not as effective until you are empowered to do it...they do not say, or at least, it is generally believed that it is in any way wrong to practice something before you are empowered. Opinions are divided, but from what I have seen there aren't many real dangers in practicing something without an empowerment. As I said in that other thread, if you have Kundalini active, you will be extremely advantaged to say the least. Empowerments are for the tantras only - they aren't used in sutras. There are proponents who say that sutras and tantras can really be viewed on a continuum. I am of this school. As I stated before elsewheres, I am crazy-wisdom path/left hand Tantra. Kundalini herself initiated me.

I was a cashier for years...one fun thing I did during down time was to cut small pieces of the money off each dollar bill...and basically I eventually assembled a fully new dollar bill out of hundreds of dollar bills in small slices. I had some pretty chilled managers, so they didn't care. You can make everything a meditation - find the thing you find the most interesting to focus on and push your energy into it. Focus on movements, on tactile sensations - see if you can create a state of super-conscious ecstasy!

also there are many natural SSRIs (Serotonin re-uptake inhibitors) such as St. John's wort, SamE, etc. be careful when using them - they are powerful...probably at least as powerful as anti-depressants.

make it fun - see how fast you can count money - see how many people you can make smile. Make fun talky talk games with customers, use your space wisely...do standing qigong at your register...look for potential, be creative.

you can take 5-HTP - a supplement that is pretty cheap about 100mg a day...also, L-tryptophan is good and it helps you to sleep if you take it at night. I think taking melatonin at night helps to also regulate the serotonin cycle..I'd have to confirm this however.

They are exactly like initiations/transmissions as far as I know...generally you learn secret knowledge/techniques which are not to be passed to non-initiates. I was initiated into Kriya Yoga myself...which from their point of view is non-denominational - you do whatever the Kundalini has you do. They mix many religions...they use Hong Sau mantra, Neti neti (which are two sides of a single coin)...spontaneous yoga/mudras, and something very much like the Microcosmic orbit. An empowerment is a powerful thing. I wouldn't mind getting one, but they usually aren't offered where I am at, and they cost money most of the time. I am very interested in Chod powha myself, as well as Vajrasattva and a few others...one day when I am in better financial condition, I will pursue all of my dreams. Until then I practice what I can find out or figure out on my own.

didn't say you had to be...just that if you have vivid dreams all the time, your serotonin levels might get low...its just a theory anyways: http://dreamstudies.org/2009/09/15/depression-ssri-and-dreams/

Disclaimer: There are a few lines here that are by necessity explicit. If you are bothered by frank sexual imagery and discussion, please hit your back button. Here is my newest practice which is generating more bliss/energy in me than ever before: This works both with a partner, and by oneself, visualizing an ideal divine dakini/daka construct. 1) If you are with a real-life partner, it is recommended to be in either yab-yum or maithuna position. 2) If you are solo, simply visualize your divine construct that you are paired with in the appropriate sexual position. 3) Keep attention either equally divided between sex, heart, and mind areas (chakras, etc.), or else polarize into up/down locations during the appropriate point in the cycle, without closing your energy channels 4) Keep eye contact, or with eyes closed, touch third eye areas 5) synchronize breathing so that when one person exhales, the other inhales, etc. This step may be omitted, and just breath naturally - try both ways 6) exchange energy with your partner through crown chakra, or another option is to consider doing it as part of breath exchange - when one breathes out, send energy out, as other breathes in, absorb energy from partner 7) During your Yang channel rising stage, visualize ejaculating endlessly into your partners yoni, causing divine conception. If you are a man flex your penis muscles over and over as if you are coming. If you are a woman, flex your vaginal muscles over and over as if you are orgasming. Do this in tandem. Women should visualize becoming implanted/conceiving with divine manly essence at this time. Visualize orgasm, but do not allow yourself to come. 8) When you choose to send energy down Yin channel to cycle it in microcosmic orbit, change your genital identity to female. Men visualize having a vagina. Women are in opposite stage at this time (Yang stage), and visualize themselves as having a penis. Still flexing genitals (basically you never stop flexing), men now visualize themselves as conceiving, woman visualize themselves as impregnating and ejaculating. (thanks to Flofolil for this idea). So basically, you decide on a rhythm to use before initiating practice - it could be a cycle of breathing based on counts, perhaps even to some music that has a steady easily countable beat. You alternate Yin/Yang...so that couples remain polarized. If you are same sex partnered, still do this same thing. You never stop visualizing orgasm/conception, you simply switch polarities depending on your point in the cycle. Always orgasming, always coming, always either impregnating or being impregnated, forming the divine conception, genitals changing from yoni to lingam over and over. Keep energy channels open and energy flowing up Yang, down Yin, do not focus on any one area for too long, keep linkage between body (especially sex center), heart, and mind open at all times. I haven't decided yet on any particular breath count or timing between Yin/Yang polarities...still working on that. I think it would be best to make it at least a few breath cycles to allow time for the energy to build before switching polarities. For an extra added boost of yumminess, during Yang times, create a feeling of dominance/ownership, and during Yin times create a feeling of submission/being owned. At end of practice, send energy into dantien elixir field and circle it to store it here. Another thing is to visualize your real-life partner as divine in all aspects. It also would be a good idea to have a sacred area set up which has a divine atmosphere. See my post in Ralis' art thread about setting up a divine space.

sorry that I don't meet your expectations...good thing I don't have to please everybody, or else I would never get any sleep.

You want me to cut a piece of my heart out? Listen, I am not interested in arguing something like this. My spiritual beliefs are my own. Vajrasattva stays.

I don't practice traditional Vajrasattva, just the essence of it, which is man/woman mergence, i.e. yab yum. The idea is out there, I absorbed the idea, and I am it. So I would say no I do not do karmamudra, but yes I am/aim to be Vajrasattva. Or Avolakitesvara. No group of people in the world, no matter how old their tradition, hold any monopoly on anything spiritual whatsoever, in my opinion. Anything that is out there, I can attain. This is my firm belief.

and why not? Do you truly believe that no one can experience enlightenment without a teacher? Do we not all have Buddha nature at some level? Also, if you believe in reincarnation, then how do you know that we haven't all had thousands of teachers since time memorial? I intend to set myself up as a teacher some day, and I belong to no tradition now, although I have before.

there is a reason many churches have spent tons of money on frescoes, murals, stained glass windows, etc. The power of art, music, and scent to evoke a spiritual attitude has been noted since caveman days when they painted stuff in caves, used ocher to decorate their dead, and burned specific plants for their aroma. It also may be based on needing to connect divinity to something tangible. If God cannot be seen, felt, etc. it is hard to experience the sense of sacred, or divine essence. This is why idols appeared.

Empowerments are great and useful, I don't disagree, but they are not always necessary in my opinion. If one has an awakened Kundalini especially, you automatically have all empowerments to practice anything, as in my experience, the Kundalini is the highest authority, beyond any lama. Systems which use visualizations are very similar in nature to self-hypnosis. I am and will always be, a nontraditionalist. Holding to a belief system that one needs empowerments is self-limiting in my view. I will never think anything other than this, even if Buddha himself appeared before me and disagreed with me.

I don't know - I haven't done it in a while...it takes time to figure out.

Absorption...samadhi...Nirvana (when seed object is dropped and one maintains this absorption no matter what one does)...union...one-pointed focus brings these things to a state of absorption where observer, the object that is being observed, and the act of observing become one thing. Then there are no dualities (once the construction of the observer disappears)...when one enters formless bliss, there is nothing but bliss.