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Well, here's another passage which might help explain what Bodhidharma means by xing. "To find a Buddha all you have to do is see your nature. Your nature is the Buddha. And the Buddha is the person who’s free: free of plans, free of cares. If you don’t see your nature and run around all day looking somewhere else, you’ll never find a buddha. The truth is there’s nothing to find. But to reach such an understanding you need a teacher and you need to struggle to make yourself understand. Life and death are important. Don’t suffer them in vain. There’s no advantage in deceiving yourself. Even if you have mountains of jewels and as many servants as there are grains of sand along the Ganges, you see them when your eyes are open. But what about when your eyes are shut? You should realize then that everything you see is like a dream or illusion. If you don’t find a teacher soon, you’ll live this life in vain. It’s true, you have the buddha-nature. But the help of a teacher you’ll never know it. Only one person in a million becomes enlightened without a teacher’s help. If, though, by the conjunction of conditions, someone understands what the Buddha meant, that person doesn’t need a teacher. Such a person has a natural awareness superior to anything taught. But unless you’re so blessed, study hard, and by means of instruction you’ll understand." I can only surmise from my prior knowledge, and reading this, that "the truth is there's nothing to find" may be referring to "dependent origination/emptiness/form is emptiness, emptiness is form," and that seeing our original nature is seeing emptiness. However, I'm neither a Buddha nor a student of a Buddha, so, who knows (zen koan not intended...)?

all i really have to go on right now are things of the past i used to enjoy, past life interests. the main interest i used to have was writing- mostly poems/lyrics with the occasional short story. i decided to quit making music and writing some of my 'darker' stories because i saw how a few felt about my art, and i didn't want it to affect people negatively. but i found that regardless of the way i choose my wording, or what colors of the human experience i incorporate, people will interpret my art however they want. it really hurt a big part of me trying to do 'right', i quit doing much at all in fear of doing 'wrong'/'bad' to me it seems that through most of our mediums of expression, we chose to convey a suffering, a struggle, a sadness, a caricature of our pain. a vein of alienation runs through the majority of our works as a collective. it seems to me that we for the most part feel the need to express these pains not so much out of fear of loneliness/separation, but out of fear that someone else feels as we do- that we aren't alone in our suffering. for the better part of the last few years i've been suffering, sprinkled with peak perception shattering experiences(non-dual/non-judgemental). i have lost interest in so much, i find it very difficult if not just impossible to give you a solid answer as to what i enjoy doing. i don't really enjoy much anymore. its sad, but i've been kind of beyond sad for a while. people like asking me for advice, my input on various artistic endeavors. i don't like much about myself. i don't think i really like myself at all anymore, it's not like i dislike myself, i'm just indifferent to myself if that makes sense. nothing really intrigues me anymore, i've accepted a lot of things as being possible within the last few years than i probably have my entire life. being alive bores me. people tell me to let go of everything i used to be, well all it does is just leave me a sad/indifferent pile with no worth or meaning. restart life at 25. 25 year old existential crisis. i don't remember pretty much any of my dreams, i just fade to blackness, awake from blackness. the only dreams i recall a bit are nightmares. one a few months ago was the world flooding, it was really vivid. i was in some city i don't know of and it was flooding, apocalyptic. a dream i had a few weeks ago aliens came into my room and were ripping stuff out of my back, it was terrifying i screamed in my sleep and scared my mom. sleep paralysis. my back/body felt better the next day though. to the universe i want to say, why am i still here? i appreciate having a chance at life and i fully realize how beautiful it is and how amazing people are and the nature they inhabit, i just don't care for it anymore. i'm not interested in much of anything anymore. waiting to die to be honest. i am not suicidal, i'm just done with it. i love life, i just don't want one anymore.

Somewhat see your point,...however, what if there is no you,...what is this other half of nothing being perceived as something? Cannot agree more....to experience no boundary. That is summary of the Heart sutra. Buddha said that the most important thing is this: Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha! Regardless of the misinformation,...the correct interpretation is this: "To go, to come, beyond going and coming, into complete going and coming, where enlightenment is welcomed" In other words, to come back into yourself simultaneously as you go out,...the full understanding of the reverse flow of contracting energy. In the West, it is quite difficult to look at someone in the eyes,...in Thailand, everyone (except the Westerners) look,...and smile. It is one of the grandest "highs,"...to exchange smiles with nearly everyone you see. My little gimmick for the past 30 some years has been to greet every situation with an Absolute Bodhicitta aphorism,...such as, "look at everything you see as a dream"....or, there is no Present in time. In regards to the latter,...all perceived objects are in time, and thus, if I am seeing an object, I am not Present.

Hmm. Perhaps it would sound terrifying for one who might have to go through it. What I'd like to emphasise is the peace that comes after. To the question of maturity I'm not really sure. It just seemed that for me there was a physical process that I went through, and that any lethargy, disinterest or general dullness lifted, as if i'd been given a drug to clear a headache. (Also, as if I was going through an enlightening process). I don't hold that I did becomes enlightened: I hold that the buddha was talking of this process when he talked of enlightenment, that enlightenment, however glorious is not merely, but all the same just a part of growing... Buddha said: "I consider the positions of kings and rulers as that of dust motes. I observe treasures of gold and gems as so many bricks and pebbles. I look upon the finest silken robes as tattered rags. I see myriad worlds of the universe as small seeds of fruit, and the greatest lake in India as a drop of oil on my foot. I perceive the teachings of the world to be the illusion of magicians. I discern the highest conception of emancipation as a golden brocade in a dream, and view the holy path of the illuminated ones as flowers appearing in one's eyes. I see meditation as a pillar of a mountain, Nirvana as a nightmare of daytime. I look upon the judgment of right and wrong as the serpentine dance of a dragon, and the rise and fall of beliefs as but traces left by the four seasons."

It is so wonderful that this person has realized that she is no longer who she thought she was,...and for her (and Parsons) labeled it as liberation,...which sure,...at that level, one would believe that they are liberated from what they perceived themselves to have been before. When I use the term liberation however, it is synonymous with Avalokitesvara, who said, “As soon as one sense-organ returns to the source, All the six are liberated." Shurangama sutra So,...I could be a trapped female, who at 18 lands a great job, and moves out on my own,...celebrating my liberation. Or, realize that I am not the me that I thought I was,...another realization. However, the liberation that uncovers the realization of the Present,...and that is true enlightenment,...awareness of the Present,....is the term liberation as I use it. The dream, delusion, illusion, skandhas, 6 senses, etc., are all in the past. Time, energy, mass, matter,...are all in the past. Parsons speaks of energy, time, all things, etc,....these are all in the past. There is no perceived object in the phenomenal universe that is in the Present. There is no Present (instant, Now, etc) in time. The Present is beyond energy.

I didn't read this whole thread and only scanned over the last post. My first reply was humorous. But this reply may have some negativity in it. I don't know why, but I have been feeling dark, for lack of a better word, all day. It is in that feeling/way of being that I now post, so please be forewarned. I am sick and f-ing tired of people trying to sell me on ritual. I read a book by an authoress in the Magical path. It's called, "Magical Knowledge Book 1." Stuff like Astral Projection requires this big prepetory process - ritual. I read how thsi previous poster studied for 10 years with some Gnostic master. OK. Well Robert Monroe did neither of those things. And a lot of other people just up and leave their bodies as easily as probably the majority of them lucid dream. There is no spiritual growth or development requied. It is not some specicialed skill or talent. All that is going on here is some people "get it" a little faster. Unfortunately for me I am one of the slow ones, and I strongly desire to curse whatever agency or energy made me that way. I am f-ing sick and f-ing tired of having to be slow at these things that I want to experience so badly. It is a constant struggle to have even one lucid dream. The single time I managed to astral project all I remember is talking to somebody on a park bench, something about the light, and slamming into my body. I have no memory of leaving my body and what I do remember leaves doubts that I even projected in the first place. I just say I projected, for a positive mindset. I have learned enough that trying hard to do something will just make it harder to do, and you have to step out in faith as if you have already experienced that which you wish to experience. I read about these experiences others have. I do not seek enlightenment. But it would be really f-ing nice to have a lucid dream, for example, and ask to experience the truth about good/evil - light/dark, as is described in Wagonner's book. Or to, at the very least, leave my body, fully conscious, and explore where I live from that non-physical perspective. Is that realy too much to ask? I even changed my damn diet and went lacto ovo vegetarian so I would not have heavy foods holding me back. What do I get for all the effeort expended, reading and time spent? Vivid dreams - that's it. I am thankful for this. I know some people experience colorless dreams or lack of detail. So in this area I seem to be one of the ones to pick something up quickly - what appears to be a natural ability. But I do not believe anyone is more gifted in any area than anyone else. Like I said, some pick stuff up quicker, and maybe, if reincarnation is real, there is something from that contributing. I just wanted to vent about this, and also request, that you stop trying to sell folks on rituals. Magic doesn't have to be cast from the tip of a wand or staff. You don't need special words. All this crap serves only to train your mind that "Hey, he's swinging that wand around a certain way and saying those words so its time for magic to happen." I don't know how to explain this any better. The actions and words make what you are trying to do more real to you. But there is no need for a physical componant to non-physical explorations. When you hypnotize yourself, you don't have to light candles, draw symbols on the floor, utter certain words, have eaten a certain food at a certain time, yada, yada, yada. You sit back, close your eyes, and let your body fall asleep. Then you bore you consious mind to death so the subconsious takes over. THEN the magic of reprogramming yourself through self-hypnosis can happen. In other words, throw out all the physical, "real world" crap, including rituals, that get in between you and something like astral projection. These phsyical things may be of some service, like meditation. But cut as much of the fat away from the meat as possible. All this extraneous stuff is fat, and makes non-physical activities cumbersome and weighty. FYI, I give everyone here permission to find me and rip me out of my body if you are able and willing to. I am usually asleep between 4AM - 2PM Pacific Standard Time. I think that to ever develop the ability to leave my body and be consious, I will have to have some help. So I am asking for it. I am getting nowhere on my own, and it should be obvious I am frustrated. Anyone can learn anything. Anything is possible - all possibilities exist. There is nothing you can not do, but you have to believe it. Your beliefs, level of openess and receptivity will determine what you experience. The only boundaries that exist are the ones you have drawn yourself or adopted from others. Someday, I pray soon, all humanity will realize this. All humanity will wake up. And every child will expeirence the truth of endless possibility for themselves.

great silent thunder! "These can hold for some length of time as I don't chase them or fill them, just empty observation." You've clearly developed a great non-attachment. I've recently started practicing zhine' (part of tibetan dream and sleep yoga) - which is expanding this greatly. Yes, darkness practice. Quite by circumstance, I've been doing my meditation practice in the darkness of the morning hours. This came about due to wanting to keep a balance between practice and family/partner. I practice in the morning for 2 hours while my wife, dog and cat sleep in our bedroom. We had to black out the room a few months back because the halogen street light was so full-on and shining right in the window. So, I just go with the flow. The open eye bit I adopted to keep focused as I've been having trouble grounding with neigong work over the last 6 months (ET trouble). Then I get to the next level in my Kriya Yoga practice and am asked to work in a blacked out room, and then I get to my next level in Time Travel training (and dream yoga) and am asked to open eye meditate. So both are fantastic - JAJ states that open-eye meditation can/does cause "agitation", and i've since read that this is one of the first stages/obstacles in the zhine' practice - and a stage that is moved beyond - to the point of cultivating the "calm abiding" mind (which is taking the "empty observation" to the abiding in non-dual presence level, "rigpa". The dark room thing is very interesting. I've seen my wife's spirit come and go, and her hun coming and going, other spirit orbs darting around, i've seen through my bedroom walls with eyes closed a few times too. It all comes down to calm abiding mind, and the development of jing, qi, and shen transformations. But, in all of that I'm not sure what this shimmering silver/white light is. I've heard of a reference to the shimmering light which is the food for the golden fetus - and it resonates with that - but my neigong is only starting...

A big dream She's seriously hot, AND she's a yogini... She has realization. She's deep...

Thanks GP, great question! "if it works"?: It works. I training in AP with a gnostic master about 10 years ago. It's as real as anything else pretends to be. But in that time frame, while I was projecting daily for about 12 months, I was getting a lot of attack, and my projections were hard to control. Now I know that it requires ones Shen to be well developed and stable so that qi follows shen and the mind can direct a synergistic control of energy through intention (Yi). One also wants to have a well developed energy body, and protective layers of "something" in order to prevent bringing back any attachments from non-desirables. There are different levels of astral plane, some vibrating close to the physical and others in non-local "spaces". "How come not on trip advisor?" Can't make money from it, the travel insurance would be too expensive, and the inflight meals are often you! The two Roberts are a good resource for AP study (Robert Monroe (The Monroe Institute does very comprehensive courses and products in binaural beat induction of AP & Robert Bruce (Astral Dynamics is a good text). But, you need to do the foundation work. But, AP is a distraction unless you use it for a particular purpose - the finer of which is being able to be lucid in Bardo when the time comes. The tibetans say if one is lucid in dream, then one can be lucid in bardo (after death). And if one is lucid in Bardo one can then take the path required for immortality. I don't AP deliberately now days - I'm working on developing astral vision first - bringing it all to you as opposed to going there. That in itself has enough pitfalls to keep you busy and learning to keep safe on the fringe of "other worlds" before jumping into the pool.

I like where you are going with this, Dream Bliss. Any enquiry to the functionings of mind driven by your own desire to understand will lead to mastery if you stick with it. Though, as we develop more we tend to see where we were "going "wrong"" at the outset. To avoid that my approach is to work with the "highest thing" for all. So substituting desire for "the highest thing" surrenders the personal will of it to the tao of it. ie unless this, or if it fits etc - becomes blah, blah if its the highest thing for the all.... I find that approach saves a lot of time wasting for me...

You obviously have freedom to dream, but this is not what Buddhism means by grasping.

I had a nearly identical experience once, where a care pulled into the exact position I was occupying without seeing me. It was rush hour on the interstate coming out of downtown Tampa. Packed... but we were actually going 50mph or so. No time to process, I simply trusted, and moved between two cars next to me... all happened in an instant... other car didn't even seem to notice. As far as time slowing down.... not so much in this case. But there have been other times. I believe we reach a compressed state of perception, similar to what some drugs induce, but with more clarity. People really do have their life flash before their eyes at critical life or death junctures. This is part of taoist attainment as well. Don't we slow time down as we dream? I've read of some taoists who might need to give a lecture the next day. They might intentionally dream for a 2 hours and have 5 hours worth of material for their lecture. Why not while awake?

Why can't I have dream experiences like that? In my dreams, I am never able to navigate from one place to the next and the humaniod creatures i encounter tell me: "Get a job"

Thanks for that - I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "lower" brain activity, however. Do you keep your eyes open when you meditate? Is there less vision, sound, tactile sensations, and smell? Are there any thoughts, feelings, fleeting images? Are you doing something with intent or focus? Not picking on you, just curious. I think that there may be an enormous variety of activity, inactivity, and experience for us during meditation that when we make claims, recommendations, and dogmatic statements, they may not be applicable across the board. Deep for some may mean a trance state, for others, a state of perfect attentiveness, yet others, absolute focus and control of the Yi through the orbit or at a particular point or points, alteration of time and spatial awareness, etc.. Also, as far as sleep is concerned, there is consciousness during dreams and for those who are skilled at dream and sleep yoga there is lucidity in dreams and consciousness during dreamless sleep as well.

So I had a near dream experience of meeting a humanoid cat person. I asked the cat what was needed. The cat replied, 'Be the One'.

How does one take off the parking brake? I don't know where the parking brake even is to take it off. I have had some success with dream recall, vivid dreams, but physically experiencing going out of body and travelling somewhere, no luck thus far.

OK to start there are some things you need to be aware of... I want to keep this "open ended", and I want to avoid giving power to something by saying it exists. Also I do not believe in destiny, fate, karma or sin. I think there may be a purpose to one's life, that maybe that came into life with the purpose, and that there may be a dream someone has about something they want to do that ties in with that purpose. Essentially I think there is a sort of True Path or Best Path or The Most Correct Path or something like that, and we need to be able to release and let go of anything that would interfere with our walking that path. One's purpose and possible one's dream is found in walking that path as freely and unobstructively as possible. One's truest happiness and joy comes from walking that path. You do not need to believe these things as I do to help me. Only to understand the concept I am trying to express here. So these are some statements: My desire... To do the things... I am interested in doing... Is protected... As long as it's compatible... With my path (pause.) My desire... To do the things... I am interested in doing... Is strong... As long as it fits... With my path (pause.) My desire... To do the things... I am interested in doing... Is retained... As long as it fits... With my path (pause.) I have the desire... To do the things... I am interested in doing... Until I need... To let it go (pause.) Unless I need... To let it go... I keep the desire... To do the things... I am interested in doing (pause.) Unless I should let it go... I retain the desire... To to the things... I am interested in doing (pause.) If it fits... With my path... I have a strong desire... To do the things... I am interetsed in doing (pause.) If it fits... With my path... My desire... To do the things... I am interested in doing... Is protected (pause.) If it fits... With my path... My desire... To do the things... I am interested in doing... Is retained (pause.) I hope you can see what I am trying to do here. This is for a second version of my latest self-hypnosis script entitled, "DRIVE." I have the sense of a possible agency, energy or force that, not being able to keep me from doing the things I am interested in doing, because of the new programming, is now attacking the desires itself. Without assuming such an agency, energy or force exists, and while using the admit, allow and accept process, I want to stop any such possible attacks. I know the script works, that the new programming does work. I started up modeling and exercising again, among other things. I wanted to do these things I am interested in doing again. But today it felt like desire was waning. The conscious mind and the ego are amazing constructs. Trying to work against these mechanisms, to interfere with their interference, is not an easy task. I just want to ensure that they didn't find another way to stop me here. Just want to make a simple statement along the lines of the ones I have posted here. One sentence, as clear and open-ended as possible. Any ideas or suggestions? Please post.

QUOTATIONS For Your Entertainment "It was the experience of mystery -- even if mixed with fear -- that engendered religion." - Albert Einstein (1879-1955) "I do not consider it an insult, but rather a compliment to be called an agnostic. I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure -- that is all that agnosticism means." - Clarence Darrow, Scopes trial, 1925. "I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Sir Stephen Henry Roberts (1901-1971) "God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." - Voltaire (1694-1778) "God, please save me from your followers!" - Bumper Sticker "I would have made a good Pope." - Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994) "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." - Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) "Maybe this world is another planet's Hell." - Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) ****************************************** "Everything that can be invented has been invented." - Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899 "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." - Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) “Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" - H. M. Warner (1881-1958), founder of Warner Brothers, in 1927 "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." - Thomas Watson (1874-1956), Chairman of IBM, 1943 "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." - Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962 "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." - Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977 "If you were plowing a field, which would you rather use? Two strong oxen, or 1024 chickens?" - Seymour Cray (1925-1996), father of supercomputing "Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing." - Wernher Von Braun (1912-1977) ****************************************** "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt." - Mark Twain (1835-1910) "He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know." - Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) "Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something." - last words of Pancho Villa (1877-1923) "I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don't need." - Francois-Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), when asked how he managed to make his remarkable statues "His ignorance is encyclopedic" - Abba Eban (1915-2002) "I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." - Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) "Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right." - Henry Ford (1863-1947) "Do, or do not. There is no 'try'." - Yoda ('The Empire Strikes Back') "I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters." - Frank Lloyd Wright (1868-1959) “Suppose you were an idiot, and also suppose you were a member of Congress… But I repeat myself”. - Mark Twain ****************************************** “Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing.” - Lao Tzu “you are not a drop in the ocean, you are the entire ocean in a drop”. - Anon “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy is when men are afraid of the light.” - Plato “Looking for consciousness in the brain, is like looking inside a radio for the announcer.” -Nissim Haramein "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sail. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain ****************************************** "Women might be able to fake orgasms. But men can fake a whole relationship." - Sharon Stone "God gave men both a penis and a brain, but unfortunately not enough blood supply to run both at the same time." - Robin Williams

I'm in a firm, Don't Know state when it comes to death & afterlife. I'm open to possibilities, with Protector's death as an off switch as likely as any. Working with dreams I've had some, one especially powerful dream where I was dying, realized I'd taken my last breath, realized I was experiencing my last heart beats. A very lucid and realistic dream, I panicked a bit, then decided to relax into the phenomena. I got to re-experience that a bit 2 months ago. I'd gone into my doctors office complaining of chest pain. He did an ekg, it came out normal diagnosed it as indigestion. Next day I went the emergency room for more chest pain, ekg was mostly normal, blood test came back normal, due to pain that morphine didn't fix I was allowed to stay in the hospital over night, which I did at my wife's insistence. Much pain and no sleep that night, in the morning EKG very bad and blood test showed bits of heart protein floating in blood- not good. Bad news, bit of my heart closing down, good news surgery was available in 45 minutes. Not open heart, angioplasty with tubes, cameras, wires and equipment going in through large arteries. They could go in through groin or arm. Since I have 2 arms, I told'em use them. Your drugged but kept awake during the process. Not unlike my dream I heard the doctor say 'This isn't going well'. That was not welcome, its not that far from 'what's the time? let's call it.' I certainly felt, 'this sucks' but I was pretty calm. It could have been the drugs but I quickly fell into a state of thankful for what I'd had and lets see what's next. Often my preamble before meditation is 'I'm not my body, that's what I inhabit, I'm not my thoughts, they're like clouds passing, I'm not my emotions, possessions, past, present etc. etc. ...' I've repeated that hundreds if not a thousand times. When push comes to shove, maybe it was effective. (oh and it was just one clogged artery, others were clear, thus after stint I'm quite healthy, thank you) Anyway I'm still here. Got a hole in the upper thigh. The surgeon had to pull the apparatus's from the hole in my arm and restring it through there. More importantly in life, I faced death calmly and with gratitude. That's something.. no matter what happens, or where you go. I've always felt we meditate to gain enough silence/emptiness to glimpse the unfiltered truth. Certain masters before have, and often reported vastly different experiences. How much do our preconceptions play? What do I think about the afterlife? Dunno. Open minded. Let the universe decide and keep the faith, a measure of hope too, because there's an off chance, you get .. what you expect. And I prefer experienced woman to virgins, but most of all my paradise is a beach on Hawaii with a camp fire, wife and kids, friends, dancing, drinks..

Thanks so much for posting this Dawg. I'm in this process, but haven't finished yet. It's a bit slower then with you, or maybe not. Sometimes my subconscious, my Animus, tells me what to do, for instance in a dream. But I have to pay great attention, because he talks in symbols and metaphors. The other day he showed me he had a window in his head and I had to study what was inside. But besides this holy marriage you talked about, I was also shown a marriage of three. I do not understand yet. Or maybe I do, it may be just real simple. You have given me confidence to continue on my path.

Cool information SZ I respect and enjoy the works of Rawn Clark. At one time in a Q & A on his website, now erased, he mentioned he'd set up an astral meeting place for himself and a few high level hermetic practitioners. They'd discuss things there and occasionally talk afterwards on the phone to double check there notes. Do I believe it? Yeah, I do, cause I highly respect Mr. Clark. Is that in any way evidence? No, not at all. Its anecdote. Michael Winn talks about setting up a dream school flying classes. Probably did too, still it'd be nice to have the phenomena so well proved and documented that it causes a paradigm shift in societies views of consciousness.

How I do it is... walk there, fly there, or will myself there. I find it similar to a lucid dream actually. You know how you sort of "wake up" in the dream and start to be in "control" of the dream and can do things consciously? With AP, you can also "wake up" and decide how it is going to go. The other option is to go a bit less deep in the altered state that you use with your AP practice.

I am pretty sure he experienced something however to properly digest the wisdom of this experience would take years if not a decade. I am always intrigued that westerners or Christians experiencing the Kundalini energy would talk about the universe and knowing the universe. With me, I dream about my immediate past life. After I resolved my current life karma, I went on to deal with my past life karma, which is 100x fold more sticky and painful. I didn't see God. I never associated with my kundalini energy rising as love. Is probably left over from his Christian upbringing. I think his experience is genuine but as we all know, you don't just enter into a samadhi once. It should occur to you every time you are meditating. I think he has found his Dharma gate, not enlightened yet. However, his path has been shown to him.

Hey , so to start off with I should say that I am a complete novice in meditation, but I had some experiences that I would like to hear your opinions on. The other day I was sitting in meditation. It was the fourth time I had ever attempted meditation. I was sitting in the half lotus form and breathing deeply whilst focusing on my lower Dantien. I started feeling a weight, like someone had placed a stone in my stomach and there was this tingling sensation all around the weight. Does anyone know what this is? Is this an indication of doing something right or wrong? Or was it merely my stomach muscles reacting to the breathing or something? Okay so how does this tie in with Lucid dreaming or OBE? I am no stranger to lucid dreaming and experience lucid dreams often, but there are two scenarios that I experienced that I think could have been outer body experiences. To be clear they could have been normal lucid dreams but felt so much different. The same tingling sensation was present during both these experiences. Case 1: I was taking an afternoon nap when I had a dream of me waking up on my bed in the position I was when I fell asleep. The only reason I knew I was dreaming was because I looked at my door and saw that it was open. I never sleep with an open door, so that's when I knew I was dreaming. I walked through my house and went outside. There were dark figures standing everywhere in the streets and on the lawn. This freaked me out a bit and I woke up. Throughout this experience and for a little while after waking I felt that same tingling sensation in my head. Case 2: I was in my brothers flat taking a nap between classes when I had a dream that I had woken up and was getting out of bed and walking around In the flat. I knew something was strange and I experienced the same tingling sensation in my head again. I thought "Its happening again!" and then woke up with the tingling still in my head. Does anyone know what this tingling sensation is and if the sensation experienced whilst meditating and those of the lucid dreams/OBE's are related?

Hey everyone. I am from South Africa. Any other South Africans here? It has been a long journey that brought me to this place, so I guess I will give you guys a quick overview of what lead me here. When I was younger I wanted to be good at meeting girls and getting them to like me, so I studied a lot about the topic of attraction and the psychology about why we do the things we do and how the human mind works. That lead me to study about what makes successful people successful and how to be financially successful. By this time I had long forgotten about girls and was struggling with questions like: What does it mean to be successful or happy? Why do we want the things we want? Why do we even get up in the morning? What really drives us and Why are we being driven? I realized that I was not in control of my own life. That this control was just an illusion, like a dream I am trying to escape. Still today I struggle. Everyone around me seems to still be stuck in the dream. I decided that I will find out how to get control over my life and to do that I would need to get full control over my mind. That has lead me to yoga and meditation and ultimately to this site. I hope to meet others who have also "woken up" and perhaps together we can make sense of what we as humans are capable of and what is really important and worth pursuing in life.