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Yeah, you're right I guess. I had a dream today, where certain dudes did cosplay. I gave this dude a compliment, him always being the best cosplayer, if thats how you even call it. He really was good at it! Not that I cared much, but the act of the compliment functioned as a reminder of having made the mutual agreement to connect with this highly energetic and overly masculine guy. Since he was there in the dream to receive my compliment... So what happened next was shocking. He felt so glad, he just blurred out, "you should jack me off, it will be great fun!" with a big smile on his face like =D hahaha. I was making up every excuse(as if I was supose to feel excited about!) in the book not to jack him off, since I felt no attraction to him whatsoever, and this guy kept on insisting so determined that I jack him off. Eventually it kinda freaked me out, because his energies were getting to high, I could not keep up. So fears started to pop up which in turn lead me to discover that I held the believe of being physically incapable of defending myself from rape by this tall guy. Rofl. First I realize, I projected my own desperation onto this guy. Then he shares me the gift of his enthusiasm and I am able to see more clearly who I have chosen to be in the moment of interaction. I think it was a multi dimensional teacher or something You guys think that last one is also a projection? I certainly hope so

This whole problem of wording would quickly be solved if only those linguists would get enlightened themselves. From the point of view of the absolute, there is nobody -- no separate self -- to object to words liked "gained", like "achieved." Our seeming misunderstanding of ultimate reality is but a dream.

Seems to be a popular subject these days, but twice a week is not low frequency I couldn't be bothered typing it out again so here is my rant from another thread... I recomend stopping Ejaculation full stop. It is empty and depleting. Learn a bunch of circulation/transmutation and sublimation exercises. And when the energy builds up which it will, get a life. Find things to put that energy into. do shaking practices, go dancing, make love for 5 hours without ejaculating, work on your dream whatever... You will slowly also become 'horny tolerant', which means you will become comfortable and even start to enjoy the high level of energy you are carrying around. It changes the nervous system over time, and will begin to naturally {even without meditation} produce the higher states of consciousness and bliss. Your mind will become clear and stable. And you wont get sick nearly as often... The Danger here is ego inflation. people will be very attracted to you, and you tend to become more persuasive, than your flat post ejaculation self. Keep to honor and Integrity as the rule. How does it work? I'll describe the Tantric angle in a simple way. The 'agitation' of built up sexual energy, that most mundane men just want to relieve them selves of, or 'get it out' so to speak, is actually energy stimulating your nerves and chakra's. It first stimulates the base chakra, and the sexuality of the base chakra is procreation, ie ejaculatory sex. Keeps the human race what Tantra calls Pashu's or herd like, as nearly all men give in to this base chakra agitation as soon as they feel it, if not faster... lol. They are depleted flat beings. If a sincere practitioner resists this for longer, the energy is filling them up slowly, the stimulation effect the second chakra, which brings emotions, a more active dream life, a greater chance of wet dreams, and produces pleasurable and sensual feelings in the pelvic cradle. One will feel very sensuously aroused here. Dont Ejaculate! Next it reaches manipur or third chakra, fire! Here the mind becomes firm and stable, and concentration goes through the roof. Use it for your life, yes, but make sure spiritual aspirations are number one, because that is the reason to bother with any of this in the first place. Next comes the heart. Yum. It just gets better and better from here on up. Heart opening, Love! Amazing. Having some good heart practice for here is very good, like metta meditation or any love sending/radiating practice. Master Choi kok Sui's twin heart meditation is particularly good if i remember rightly... Thats all I am going to say on the progression as its better to go in open and unsuspecting to the higher center's... lol Any questions?

Morning Practice: 18-20x Bend the Bows (yess!) = 35 minutes. First 10 relatively quick and then each round progressively slower and slower. Followed by the 3 warmups from DVD2 = another 35 minutes. Basked in the enjoyable calm feeling with a few minutes of silent sitting Last night I had another Lucid dream. I decided to practice BTBs. First round with eyes open and without the breath sequence, because I thought that would wake me up, which it did when I tried that next :-) Congrats with your upgraded site Sifu Terry! Looks great.

Great! twinners reply was perfect. Just stop watching porn. Become a fascist about it for a bit if that helps. A friend of mine talks about becoming an ejaculation Nazi. "No ejaculation for you!" Remember the soup nazi from seinfeld? "No soup for you!" become a porn Nazi - "No porn for you" And add Ejaculation in there. I fully fully support you in stopping both junk habits. They are both empty and depleting. Learn a bunch of circulation/transmutation and sublimation exercises. And when the energy builds up which it will, get a life. Find things to put that energy into. do shaking practices, go dancing, make love for 5 hours without ejaculating, work on your dream whatever... You will slowly also become 'horny tolerant', which means you will become comfortable and even start to enjoy the high level of energy you are carrying around. It changes the nervous system over time, and will begin to naturally {even without meditation} produce the higher states of consciousness and bliss. Your mind will become clear and stable. And you wont get sick nearly as often... The Danger here is ego inflation. people will be very attracted to you, and you tend to become more persuasive, than your flat post ejaculation self. Keep to honor and Integrity as the rule. How does it work? I'll describe the Tantric angle in a simple way. The 'agitation' of built up sexual energy, that most mundane men just want to relieve them selves of, or 'get it out' so to speak, is actually energy stimulating your nerves and chakra's. It first stimulates the base chakra, and the sexuality of the base chakra is procreation, ie ejaculatory sex. Keeps the human race what Tantra calls Pashu's or herd like, as nearly all men give in to this base chakra agitation as soon as they feel it, if not faster... lol. They are depleted flat beings. If a sincere practitioner resists this for longer, the energy is filling them up slowly, the stimulation effect the second chakra, which brings emotions, a more active dream life, a greater chance of wet dreams, and produces pleasurable and sensual feelings in the pelvic cradle. One will feel very sensuously aroused here. Dont Ejaculate! Next it reaches manipur or third chakra, fire! Here the mind becomes firm and stable, and concentration goes through the roof. Use it for your life, yes, but make sure spiritual aspirations are number one, because that is the reason to bother with any of this in the first place. Next comes the heart. Yum. It just gets better and better from here on up. Heart opening, Love! Amazing. Having some good heart practice for here is very good, like metta meditation or any love sending/radiating practice. Master Choi kok Sui's twin heart meditation is particularly good if i remember rightly... Thats all I am going to say on the progression as its better to go in open and unsuspecting to the higher center's... lol Any questions?

I hope I can contribute the other informations that you can't get from translation texts. Shuowen Jiezi said 悟，覺也 It means Enlightenment is awareness I know in English Enlightenment and awareness is different But in ancient china We can see from Shuowen Jiezi Enlightenment is awareness So Chinese use 覺悟 enlightenment and awareness as a phrase. Nei Jin said heart open eyes bright 心開目明 is 悟 enlightenment So you can see 開悟 The word 開 means 心開 heart open In 莊子，we also can see 其寢不夢 When he sleep, he doesn't dream Sleeping without dreams is the biggest characteristic of opening heart. We can see 覺悟 enlightenment and awareness the phrase was used before Buddhism came to China. 荀子．成相：「不覺悟，不知苦。」 Xun Kuang https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xun_Kuang If we don't enlightenment and awareness, we don't know what is pain.

Found this and it looks interesting: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Psychedelic-Experi...539&sr=8-14 Anybody read that book? EDIT: Sorry to be a boar but I'm on a role so please forgive me (and it's a full moon). Found this book about research into DMT and it looks fascinating. Take a look and read the reviews: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dmt-Molecule-Revol.../ref=pd_sim_b_4 The things that really tweaked my nipples (!) are the release of DMT in the foetal brain of a human 49 days after conception which corresponds to the 49 days of the Bardo states (see: Tibetan Book of the Dead) and this together with the release of DMT released by the brain at death is very interesting. Also we have H P Blavatsky (see: The Secret Doctrine) saying that in future rounds we will live on the upper astrals i.e. Dream planes. Not sure if I buy Blavatsky's view but I can see where she's coming from. As mankind becomes more enlightened we would all move to the next round (beyond our current ring-pass-not) and a more fluid state of conciousness. Of course we can't reach such a state currently because of our lack of clarity but we do understand that all is energy. So I can see why some of you might believe in magic etc but that's in a different round and is only possible on the dream planes in our current round. When we move the seat of conciousness to the dream planes in another round we will all have the same power but until then it's better to stay grounded. As Lao Tze says, move with the present.

"When your heart is in your dream no request is too extreme." ---Jiminy Cricket

I still see the polarization. "sigh" There is one party the Plutocrat party with two right wings the Republican and the Democratic wings. Trump does not belong in a straight jacket, he is not crazy. I am going to sit back and see what he does. My prediction is the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The perfect plutocrat dream.

Yes! A very exiting game indeed You are very generous to allow full viewing of your book. Ill be reading it the next few days. I dont think Dillard is into Carl Jung though. Carl Jung is more into archetypes and the like, isnt he? Dillards method is just dialogueing with the dream elements. This way there is no need for interpretation, remebering symbol meanings or anything like that. The dreamer knows allready why the dream is the way it is, and by dialogueing with the dream elements we learn to listen. So we learn more and more to listen to the consciousness behind the illusion we are presented.

I have been saying since the 1980's this country needs a business man as a president, to run this country like a business. A business that has the sake of it own populaces best interest at heart. I never thought the personality would be Donald Trump! Never! To me he is still in the catagory of an anomaly like the great Mike Tyson was to the boxing world. Well President Trump,does not need anything financially in this world having achieved it all. If that scoundrel Obama were 1/256th as good as you, he would not accept any payment from the American people after the disaster he is leaving behind. He does not deserve any paycheck after leaving office, protection yes, an income no! I respect the Office of the President of the United States of America not the outgoing person who has made a mockery of it at every turn and done everything in his power to set race relationships back to Pre-Martin Luther King Junior days as a vindictive racist. This outgoing President Obama has wrecked the dream of the great Martin Luther King Junior. I was not alive in a time before the Great Martin Luther King Junior, I came up in a time of White Shame where we greatly regretted the evils of the past, even though I had never known those days nor had the fellow Black Children, I grew up with, went to school with. Believe it or not I was raised singing slave songs in grade school, like , jump down turn around pick a bail of cotton, there was no choice sing it or fail. My first black predjuice teacher was in second grade her name was Mrs. Benjamin she was evil and hated white children. My first love was my third grade teacher a black woman named Mrs. Harris. From her I learned not all black women hated what they thought were White Children. I am Native American, Hindu, German, English, Irish, Russian by lineage and American by birth this time. Whose shall I hate? I chose to love Mrs. Harris daughter Denise for her spirit in her eyes. Oh she was pissed at me but she was the first girl I ever got a kiss from. Mrs. Harris said to me afterwards "young man what are your intentions towards my daughter?'' Scared the hell out of me, thought I would have to get married after kissing her to avoid upsetting Mrs Harris who I cherished so much for her loving heart and great compassion she showed an undeserving me. I would have married Denise on the spot you know. I replied Mrs. Harris I was raised to never hit a girl no matter what! So after saying mean things, Denise got mad and tried to slap me, we wound up wrestling but I did not want to hurt her, I wanted to kiss her because she was so beautiful to me, so I did. That was the end of it. She did not like my kiss and ran away. Mrs. Harris with a chuckle said young man the ones who act like they like you the least are often the ones who like you the most, just be respectful from here on out okay? You know what that means right? I replied yes mam. To me that meant do not upset the tearchers daughter. Later I learned my Family which is a historical Civil War Family actually divided over the issue of slavery my Forefathers choosing freedom for all men regardless of cast creed or religious belief. This Obama occupying the Whitehouse these past 8 years has been a hate monger and is on par with the KKK only in reverse. The horrible race riots and police killings are part of his true legacy. Trump is not a likable person, I personally detest him, but atleast we are not paying him, he unlike the outgoing elected official refuses a paycheck, says allot! Yes he will likely gain that which the wealthy cherish more than wealth, which is power, but he should be very careful. Some of the people may be fooled all of the time but very seldom are all of the people fooled all of the time. I want America to do well, not at the expense of other Nations but in conjunction with. There is no good reason for Detroit and Chicago in this day and age, we do have the ability to extinguish the madness, the want and the suffering. I am an American, I love my Country, it has given me a place to incarnate and live without undo pains and do my chosen spiritual practices. This is precious, thus the love for America. I do not like nor love anyone, nor anything that impunes my religious freedom nor that which my forefathers fought so hard to achieve. Truth, Justice & the American Way.

How about an Armadillo? I was thinking also perhaps it is the combination of Thoth (Ibis) + Anubis (Jackal)? what would this indicate? wow flash back to a dream / after seeing this image The dream was quite vivid I have met similar beings ^ haha A man similar to above was watering his lawn haha His kids were running around playing on the grass only folks around I walked up and said // Hello my name is __________ I am from Earth I am sure he said something to me but I forget now! kind of like the in-depth conversation I had with this Green Cyclops Cat (emphasis due to feeling this Green Cyclops Cat deserves as much respect as I can give it at present knowing) in a park at night under a street light and tree - the cat was sitting on a brick retaining wall... going onto a nice oval field - I don't remember the conversation unfortunately... I think it was important though hahah damn The Cats eye was totally awesome it was like looking into a galaxy / star systems etc... I think at the end of the conversation this vision of the star systems expanded into my vision and I was like floating in space (consciousness - no body) observing... haha anyhow

Dear Tao Bums, I appreciate your interest in Qi Dao and the lively discussion unfolding on these pages. I actually have to agree with Patrick that most attempts to initiate anyone via an audio recording prove to be ludicrous at best. That is why my album mostly consists of preliminary practices including a spontaneous meditation, standing meditation, dynamic meditation, as well as a guided Shamanic Journey. The latter can also serve as the first stage of the Qi Dao initiation that usually consists of two stages: the guided meditation that can and should be practiced for as long as it takes you to establish a reasonably strong sense of connection with the Tao, or Dream Being, as I often refer to it. The second stage of the initiation has to be experienced in person, usually at the conclusion of the basic level of Qi Dao training (this CD is a part of the Basic Qi Dao Home Study Course), which normally takes at least three months filled with doing the preliminary practices. In this way, my students living across the globe from me still can develop a decent level of basic knowledge and experience all the preliminary practices before attending a live event, where they may receive the complete initiation. Perhaps, entitling my album Qi Dao Initiation created some confusion, because it is designed to provide only the initial impetus for embarking on this incredible journey of self-realization. If you are familiar with such site as rhapsody.com, I believe you can listen to the tracks on my album, quite literally, for pennies. Give yourself an opportunity to experience something before judging it. I am glad you found a way to peruse my book for free using Google book search. Unlike most of the contemporary authors, who tend to tease you by giving access to just a few pages, I made the entire text available for those of you who are sincerely interested in Qi Dao. I have nothing to hide, at least, at the basic level, which my book covers quite thoroughly. As to the question from apepch7, I believe I shared enough information about my lineage in this book. I really do not like dragging my personal history around, that is probably why I never felt inspired to memorize the names of my predecessors. Besides, there is a great difference between me and my Grandfather: while I talk and even write a lot, he was not a talkative man at all, probably due to his involvement with the KGB during the Soviet regime. He did not like to talk about himself or other people at all. I am sure he had a great many stories to tell, which I can only guess about. I continue learning from him in my dreams, so some of his stories may eventually be revealed through my practice of Dream Yoga. By the way, if you are interested in Dream Yoga, you may find some basic practices in the Qi Dao Initiation album too, so have fun experimenting with them. Let me know if you need any help. Aloha P.S. Please do not sniff any glue or take any ketone (whatever it is) Patrick is talking about. There are much safer and more effective ways to explore the bardo states associated with near-death experiences and beyond death.

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche has started a regular schedule of brief, free internet teachings. To date they have been extracts and discussion from books he has published. They are presented on most weekdays utilizing Facebook Live through his Facebook page. Here is the schedule for the upcoming week: Healing with Form, Energy, and Light Part I - Monday Jan 9 Part II - Tuesday Jan 10 Part III - Wednesday Jan 11 All broadcasts start at 12pm EST and can be viewed after the fact through his page. Previous broadcasts remain available and include Dream/Sleep Yoga and Soul Retrieval topics.

I think I might have been abducted, or had a lucid dream about beings coming into my room at night and taking me outside through the walls. I remember levitating over my bed and floating through the walls until I was in the front yard. Then I was just sort of laying there, staring up into the night sky. A woman's voice spoke to me. It was a strange voice. Alien. Robotic. It had a buzz to it. I can't remember what she told me. When I was little I think I could still remember . . . but I've since forgotten. I would have let it be a childhood dream, but I was talking with my mom about my childhood and she brought up an incident she remembered pretty clearly from when I was about three or four years old. She said she was feeding my baby brother in the kitchen and I was cowering behind her--wouldn't leave her side. She wanted to know what was causing me such terror and I said, "Someone's coming to get me." She assured me that all of the windows and doors were locked and I told her, "That doesn't matter, they can come through the walls." She told me about another time when I was even younger when I had wandered off during a party. No one could find me and she was really concerned because some strangers had been spotted driving around our small town. Eventually they found me. When they asked me where I had been I said that I had found a kitten and was trying to ask it where it was from. I don't know why, but when she told me that second story, my initial reaction was, "That was NOT a kitten." I also remember watching a Woody Woodpecker cartoon when I was a little kid. Woody's forest was being invaded by little green men. For whatever reason, that cartoon stuck with me and I've had dreams about it in adulthood. I have no idea what any of the UFO/alien stuff means, but I think it's noteworthy that Terrence McKenna saw something in his DMT trips he called self-transforming machine elves. If I remember correctly, when we sleep, our bodies secrete DMT. Could it be that the aliens encountered in lucid dreaming are the same self-transforming machine elves McKenna encountered in the DMT space?

Dream Yoga and sleep yoga leads to enlightenment in bardo. You have no basics in buddhist so please either learn more with our talks and discussion or be less authoritative so it will be make discussion more wholesome. Yeah, it may sound like I mean all Bon teachings but what I mean this kind of internet retreats which are limited to basic methods.

I practiced a lot of methods from Bon yungdrung lineage, from basic to more advanced practices like rushen etc. the dream yoga and sleep yoga are very good as you can practice 24/7. Of course radical compassion teachings and stuff like this as basic of buddhist teaching are superb as always. It's not personal opinion of course - it's based as always on experience. The best if you can learn Yang-Ti practice and do it really, if you do then it's life changing for sure.

Besides Dream/Sleep yoga teachings bon methods are generally not worth much practice.

Well, with a little good fortune there won't even be a wall. See? I can dream too.

I remembered the thread on Dharmawheel titled 'Turiya vs. Dzogchen' My link mr.marigpa [i think this sn is pretty funny, lol] Turiya or Turya: The fourth state of consciousness beyond the states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep and stringing together all the states; the Metaphysical Consciousness distinct from the psychological or empirical self; the Saksi or witnessing consciousness; the transcendental Self. "The fourth (i.e. Turiya) is NOT a state. It is the background on which dream and wake arises and disappears. Turiya is just another term to describe pure awareness. It is also called the Nirvikalpa." From:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turiya 1. How does Dzoghcen account for Turiya? 2. How is Turiya different from Dharmakaya and Rigpa? 3. If a practitioner manages to sleep in Turiya, how is this different from clear light sleep in Dzogchen? Malcolm [formerly Namdrol:] mr.marigpa wrote: 1. How does Dzoghcen account for Turiya? Turiya is equivalent to the ālaya, a state of ignorance. 2. How is Turiya different from Dharmakaya and Rigpa? The ālaya is not the dharmakāya: the nature of dharmakāya is rigpa, the nature of the ālaya is marigpa. 3. If a practitioner manages to sleep in Turiya, how is this different from clear light sleep in Dzogchen? The former is resting the ālaya; the latter in dharmakāya. 4. There are Transcendental Meditation practitioners who claim to be aware in dreamless sleep....is this not a case of sleeping in the clear light? No. mr.marigpa wrote:How is the alaya described in Dzogchen teachings? The all basis is described in various ways, but fundamentally it is consciousness. Isn't emptiness the nature of the dharmakaya? Yes, that too. If we are not resting in rigpa, then are we resting in the alaya? Yes. Some TM practitioners claim a stable witnessing in waking, dream, and dreamless sleep. According to Dzogchen, is this just good mindfulness? How is this witnessing capacity (that includes ability to not be distracted by daytime activity and dreams) different from rigpa? If there is a subject and object, it is mind, not rigpa. N asunthatneversets: The state or position of being firmly established in "the witness" is merely being stabilized in the ālaya(kun gzhi). The term "witnessing" in and of itself suggests observing phenomena from a particular standpoint. Stable witnessing is a state of detachment, In being firmly established in the "witness" phenomena appear as they normally do except there's no feeling of it being "me" or "I". The "me"(or 'that' which witnesses) is posited to be something other. So in witnessing, the body and other phenomena appear detached from the "knower". And 'that'(pure knowingness) which is disconnected is then posited to be beyond anything "knowable" because it is that which knows. 'That' which knows(pure knowingness/awareness) is considered to be a substantiated and localized substratum(even though it is considered to be formless) and for that reason it is the ālaya. To describe this state, an analogy of a movie patron viewing images on a theater screen is sometimes used. The witnessing state is equivalent to stabilized śamatha (shiné), once śamatha is stabilized one is essentially proficient in "really good dualistic mindfulness" (as you said). After stabilized shiné, next step is released shiné and once released shiné is achieved and stabilized, one is said to be officially practicing dzogchen. "When you have achieved released shiné and remain in the continuation of this state, you have finally become a dzogchen practitioner." - Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Malcolm: The dharmakāya is endowed with light in conformity with it’s essence, emptiness and it’s nature, clarity. mzaur: I think it would be very useful if you defined emptiness.... I take you do not mean a thought-free state of mind as emptiness is sometimes used. Malcolm: Here emptiness refers to freedom from extremes. asunthatneversets wrote: Rigpa(vidyā) is of a different flavor, in rigpa the localized substratum(or abiding background) is empty and for this reason it(rigpa) is primordially unstained by any distinctive notions or characteristics. Though rigpa(vidyā) can't be accurately described (for purposes of allowing one to get an idea of it's nature) it is sometimes said to be akin to space itself. mzaur wrote: Abiding background is pure awareness separate from phenomena, right? Brahman or Self. Could you clarify what the bold means? Advaita defines Brahman as empty of attributes, but I surmise you are using empty in a different way. I think I know what you mean. It's just that I bet some people read these forums and think empty means something different, like how Advaita uses it. asunthatneversets: The abiding background can either be (i)awareness separate from phenomena or (ii)awareness merged with phenomena. In either case there is the faculty of awareness which is assumed to be existent. Advaita defines Brahman as being empty of attributes because it is 'that' which knows(the knower). The "knower" is attributeless because through investigation it is unaccounted for in anything perceivable or knowable. In advaita the term neti-neti is implemented (to discover this faculty) which means "not this, not that". So using this negative approach one disavows every conceivable aspect of one's experience until the "knower"(awareness) itself is all that remains. The process is much like; "I am not the body, because I am aware of the body - I am not my thoughts, because I am aware of my thoughts, etc...", so the process retracts into the realm of the formless observer. Since this formless awareness is posited to be unstained by any phenomenal appearance (or designation), it is said to be empty of attributes, unassailable and eternal. Awareness (then still assumed to be embodied) is the ātman, and upon actualizing the differentiation between the ātman and characteristics which allegedly compose the personal self(jīvātman), and external world, the next step is to merge the ātman with the brahman(universal self). anjali wrote: How is this essentially different than thought-free wakefulness as discussed by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche? Paul wrote: The state of rigpa is the recognition of the empty essence, the natural cognisance, and the union of these - the compassionate energy; the total transparency. Resting in a refined state of awareness, as in the first description, is not the same as it does not have the empty nature. It is not completely open. In fact it blocks thoughts and other kinds of experience. It's frozen. This is the defining aspect of the alaya vijnana. Also, the awareness is thought to be something real and ultimate. The notion of 'thought free' in Dzogchen is something that needs to be understood clearly. There can be mental events in rigpa. There are thoughts, but there is no grasping at them at all. They self liberate. Normal, dualistic thoughts are termed namtok, and in rigpa they are absent by definition. Ungrasped, self liberating mental events are nangwa. Nangwa are allowed by rigpa's openness. But they don't become concepts. You can see that the description of turya states that thoughts are not present, and a state of stillness is the aim. It's also somewhat dull and frozen. Also, there is some effort needed. Rigpa is not still or moving - it's also totally open and unfrozen. And it's not reached by effort. asunthatneversets wrote: Yeah the mirror can be mistaken as representing an abiding background which has the capacity to reflect. But that is only if one focuses on the mirror as an object beholding reflections (which I'm sure is a common error but isn't what Rinpoche was suggesting). It's important to carefully investigate how the analogy is presented... it's not the mind is like the mirror, but the nature of mind is like the nature of the mirror, in that, the void nature of mind is empty yet luminous. So the essential quality (or nature) of the mirror is that it reflects, but is that essential quality or characteristic a tangible thing or suchness? Can you roll or bounce the mirror's capacity to reflect? Is that essence or capacity located anywhere? Is it blue or green? Or any color or shape? No, it isn't, it cannot be identified as 'this or that' yet it is known clear as day. And much like the mirror this innate, empty, luminous, natural essence and capacity of mind, reflects yet does not hold and remains unscathed. The reflections are not inherently part of the mirror's nature, but are product of it and inseparable from it... and "it"(the nature) is an indistinguishable quality which cannot be pigeonholed. mazaur wrote: Thanks for your response. Would it be accurate then to say that there is no mirror apart from the arising reflections, that indeed there actually is no mirror at all, only reflections? asunthatneversets wrote: "All that arises is essentially no more real than a reflection, transparently pure and clear, beyond all definition or logical explanation. Yet the seeds of past action, karma, continue to cause further arising. Even so-know all that exists is ultimately void of self-nature utterly non-dual!" - Nirmānakāya Buddha "All dharmas are like reflected images, clear and pure without turbulence, ungraspable, inexpressible, truly arisen from cause and from action." - (Different translation of the above quote) (And when I say indistinguishable quality I don't mean to imply that it's a qualitative suchness or that the quality belongs to an implied connotative suchness, it's not established or unestablished in any way... being primordially unborn it evades even itself).

100 days Foundation: have chi If One who know how to deal with Shen and chi We can call him have the foundation 3 years lactation: stillness, chi go inside the 玄關 If one who know how to deal with 玄關竅 We can call him now how to lactation 9 years facing the wall: starting opening the emptiness When one start the process of opening the emptiness He won't have dream. His middle Mai is open. He start the evolution process of golden Dan We can say his is in the process of 9 years facing the wall There is still one more 10 months conceive The first stage of 玄關 The first stage of light When one can see the first stage of light Look like tai jii We can say he is in 10 months conceive

I don't have dreams since I opened the emptiness many years ago. If I receive too much bad chi, I will have a lot of noise in my sleep, but still no dream. Before I opened the emptiness, I had a lot of dreams. These dreams were getting more clear when I was opening the emptiness. They were very strange, very similar to illusion, just like I was there, very real. These dreams were not long, only a short moment and disappeared very soon.

I wasn't deliberately directing my awareness at all - both times I was just nodding off. I was jolted back awake, thought "WTF was that all about? What was THAT doing THERE?". I'd never seen things like those (in that state) before, and just wasn't expecting them. But I didn't dwell on it too much & was able to go back to sleep. If I was directing my attention inadvertently, it was likely at the point on the upper lip just under my nose. I've spent several hundred hours focussing on that point & there's sensation there more or less continuously, so my attention may rest there out of sheer habit. This seemed to contrast quite clearly with the other two types hypnagogic experiences I've had* - which seem to be relatively commonplace - and that was why I was wondering if the 'incongruity experience' was familiar to anyone. Fortunately all these experience have been rare and generally not unsettling. (*The entity experience was VERY scary. I'd read about building psychic barriers somewhere, and spent quite a while throwing one up, & couldn't sleep for a couple of hours. (Funnily enough, around the time of this experience I was woken up by a huge cockroach gnawing on - or possibly doing something unmentionable to - my finger.) Dropping into lucid dreams I'd either just wake up inside the dream (sometimes repeatedly) or sometimes stay conscious as contact with my senses shut down. I mistook this for dying the first time it happened, so I did have a sense of not wanting to 'go there'. But my breathing and pulse were both imperceptible by the time I realised what was happening, so I thought my death was well underway, & there was nothing I could do. It was quite a relief waking up in the dream.)

Thanks for sharing, I find his work to be very compelling. I bet Mr Hoffman would find a very receptive and understanding audience among those of achievement and realization in both Buddhist and Taoist cultivation and I was just saying in the shared dreaming thread yesterday, that for me, the waking state is another dream state. The first time I encountered him, he made an appearance in a documentary and I was reminded of the many potent similarities Fritjof Capra unveiled between the then cutting edge realizations about the nature of quantum physics and the canon and nature of taoist cosmology. Potent stuff. Go Mr Hoffman!

I'm interested. Pacific time zone, america. "Myths are public dreams and dreams are private myths." ~Joseph Campbell This statement resonates with me on a foundational level. I find, imagination, dreaming, wonder and the surface of the mind-pond to all be in a relationship. We have so much more in common than we do in distinction. I became a playwright and actor in my early life due largely to my experiences in dreamscapes and my love of consciousness exploration and a desire to enter the shared realms of imagination with the audience. Many potent realizations have crystallized for me through experiences in dreamscapes, so as a disclaimer... dreams are as real to me as sitting here typing is for most folks... and that to me, in a very literal sense, I consider the 'waking or conscious state' to be a shared dreaming state. So for me, going to the store, or the beach, or sitting here typing a conversation, is a form of shared dream work. I would sincerely value the opportunity to meet up with anyone else who is willing to invest the intent.