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This number has been bothering me. Why? I became aware of this number because I woke up from a dream in which I was in a public bathroom and about to take a shower. There was supposed to be a woman in there. When I checked, she was gone. Then, this man, an European man, put up his 4 fingers before me. Ever since that dream, I have been seeing this number everywhere, in my dreams and my work. The number usually associates with the color black (yin), homosexuality (I am not gay and have no problems with people being gay). I have done some work for a gay organization, which in hindsight I really enjoyed helping them. And this early morning, I have a dream in which I was in a subway. I then realized that I was on a number 4 train. In Chinese superstition, number 4 means death. What is death in Tao and the teaching of the Dharma? Just another impermanence.

Cool. Have you experimented with fully with it yet? I played around with it. It's very powerful and dangerous. I have a job that demand my brain power. I can't afford another mishap. I understand that you're retired. And you have access to this function all the time. If the "circuit" you have is similar to what I had, you're sitting on a gold mine. I believe this circuit can make prophecy come true. Well it's more like self-filling prophecy in some sense. For example, you feed this circuit a statment like "I'm a good person", and activate it. It'd gether all the information and make smart associatiion to convince you that you're a good person. It's like a "dream creation machine". It can alter your sensory. I got myself into trouble once I feed "I'm God" into the circuit. After serious interactions in a few days, I forgot that I started the chaine of thought. I was fooled by myself. Be careful and have fun.

Yeh interesting some strange things there haha... overall pretty gloomy. Hm my understanding so far..kinda like this.. > Earth > Lower astral (close to the earth vibration) > Middle astral > Higher astral ... surrounds the earth. > Spirit realm These beings only really function in the lower astral ("hell realms" - lowest energies and expressions// vices..greed, envy etc... things that bind people ) + negative thought form in the lower astral? These beings are parasitic ... no real higher capacity // some say they are "demonic" ... but an alien life form..not of this earth / different theories about that - generally seen as the grey or reptilian type. With the movers / shakers of the world being possessed or...of these creatures somehow. Appears they dictate from the lower astral down to earth... It appears they mostly feed off fear + try to create fear, chaos, confusion. ... humanity just has to step up. Humanity is "multidimensional" and can go beyond them... really similar to the matrix and Neos awakening. // It appears they can influence peoples thoughts etc... some people open themselves up to such things via a number of methods. So you decide ultimately ... though I guess a good number are unaware of the situation and are being taken advantage of. Apparently the astral is basically a reflection of the Earth... you have a scale between the good and the bad... though the majority are good / just trying to make a living + provide for family... the "common" folk. As with living on earth you don't walk around in a wonderland... depending on where you are etc sometimes you have to be on your guard, ready to defend yourself etc. So mentally equip yourself ...weapons + armour etc... the astral / dream world is really fluid things manifest fast with conscious intent... and humanity seems to be really powerful in this regard. Apparently gamers are really proficient at this, at controlling such states... as they spend a good amount of time in virtual / alternate worlds... so their world in much more flexible/ imaginative than most. So they can more actively defend themselves... like this guy said when he encountered them it was relatively easy to "blast them away" ... he says and a number have that these things are machine like... so they don't have the consciousness/ imagination / creative potential we do. ... they can only really manipulate what we create... kinda like in Harry Potter? and that creature that can transform into what you fear and traps you in fear... the solution was to make the thing look ridiculous / comedy / use your imagination to transform it... when you are in a state of fear you are accepting the conditions that this creature brings.... when you attack back (like a warrior you are also rejecting fear) it can't respond... you have rejected its conditions and are now transforming it to your will / or actively pursuing it... so the hunter now becomes the hunted. Also like in life you have allies + friends etc... in the other worlds it is similar.. just like on Earth upon meeting people you arnt sure about them or their intentions / who they are etc so it take time to figure out / understand. So I guess the solution is to be courageous + also work to mend the earth of evil workings... light a candle in the darkness and expose these things. IN the end it will make you a stronger/ wholesome person. the strongest steel is formed in the hottest fires?

First off sree - Grandma was a lady not to be messed with! She may visit you and give you a little smack ! Nan was a strict Catholic in her life on this planet, and no one risked her wrath! When she visited me she filled my bedroom up with a beautiful golden light! Back to 1983!!! First off, I have been an abductee from the age of 5. Although it is a slow process of recovering my memories, in time I'll piece the story of my abductions together; patience is the key. My conscious interest in alien life and UFO's began when I was 11 or 12. I saw my first UFO at this time, and ruled out the usual suspects because of the hap hazard way this UFO was moving! No plane or helicopter could have done these twists and turns! We lived near an airport so I was well versed in flying machines in 1972! So a little background flavor there!!! In 1983. I was in bed and had awoken to visit the bathroom, before I got up a figure began to materialize right in front of me - like a Star Trek scene. Little specks of light began forming from the base upwards until it revealed a 6 or 7 foot figure. Sadly this is all I remember, I am working on trying to retrieve more; but what I do know is whoever is responsible for these abductions they can manipulate time! They also have the ability to give me what I call 'screen dreams' to cover up what is happening, and I know when this is happening - 'they' don't like this! What they have done to remedy my ability to suss them out is to block out my dreams when I am being abducted - so I am trying to figure a way around this. Through research I have read about MILABS, Military Abductions(Military Industrial Complex working with, say the greys), who I believe are responsible for my current abductions. I have military connection, and my Dad and brother also did. Again through research I discovered the screen dream phenomena, and spooked 'them' out in mid screen dream by telling 'them' I knew what they were up to! I wake up with strange markings on my body, one such occasion was when I had what appeared to be the outline of some kind of light bulb on my back! Now unless I levitated to the bedroom light during the night how on earth can that be explained? Other markings include bruises and needle marks - often in triangular shapes. Last year my wife and I saw a huge UFO with flashing lights just vanish right before our eyes! We have also seen 3 UFO's within 45 minutes. I have a photo of a UFO(frisby shaped) taken in October 2011 at around 4pm, when I took the photo I was not aware of the UFO! My reason for the photograph was chemtrails! I'll try and post the photo up if possible. Namaste, gentlewind

These are comforting words, even fighting words, to drum up courage to face death. I am not questioning the veracity of your near-death experience. I am quite convinced that near-death experiences are very real, as real as experiences of people on LSD. Such experiences are not like those we go through in our daily lives tending to practical matters. Dream states - during sleep - are real too. The reason why we put faith in near-death experiences and regard them as authentic evidence of an afterlife is to give continuity to ourselves when the body dies. This boils down to a need to go on living - not as before but in better conditions - after the death of the body.

Pure Dzogchen and Mahamudra involve Short Path literature that is fully unaccessible to Long Path inquirries. Ultimately, there are only two Paths,...and only one that uncovers the nature of spirituality. No one realizes nirvana from the Long Paths,...thus, all Long Paths lead to the Short Path. Until one realizes the Short Path, discussing pure Dzogchen and Mahamudra is futile. A Canadian said: "Waking up is not necessarily pleasant; you get to see why all this time, you chose to sleep. When you wake up the first thing you will see is Reality does not exist for you, you exist for it. Shocking as it is when you let it in, there is rest. You do not have to labor anymore to hold together a reality that does not exist; forcing something to be real that is not real. You and this life you have been living are not real ...In letting it in, even through the shock... pain... shattering, there is rest. Reality is when all you want to know is what is true ...just so that you can let it in and be true. Reality is not a safe place for you - the you that you have created. It is the only place where you would die; where there is no room for your hopes, your dreams. Once you have let it in, once you begin to re-awaken; to let Reality wake you up, nothing can get it out. That is the beginning of your end. Waking up can be much more painful than the agony of your dream, but waking up is real." What the Canadian is discussing is fully unavailable to one on the Long Path. One on the Long Path will not realize Truth Realization in this lifetime. I've found some quotes of Paul Brunton helpful regarding the differences between the Long Path and the Short Path,...nevertheless, unless one has a predisposition towards truth realization, those quotes will not be very clear. http://wisdomsgoldenrod.org/notebooks/23/5

Feeling is good. But getting the emotions involved is just stirring up winds. You don't need to develop the 'feeling of being'. It is buried underneath all the veils. One only has to learn to relax and drop the veils for the true presence of being to shine through. Love can sometimes do this very easily. The funny thing about layers of consciousness is that the deeper (or finer) you go, everything becomes visual. But it is not sight. It is it's own kind of knowing. There is not one method for realization that is better than the other. There is a method that is better for each individual person. The main thing is to understand this: The true you lives in the little point, the indestructible drop in the heart. That little drop manifests your being, your body, mind, and speech through the five lights, the five elements. You are creating yourself, and have been all along. The heart is sacred. It has unbelievable powers. It uses the five senses to manifest your world. You can use any of the five senses to collapse the structure. There are many methods. Inevitably it comes down to living from the heart, realizing that it's creation is a dream, and realizing that it has that power to create, over and over and over again. The only problem is that mind thinks it is the center and does things to maintain that focus. Don't believe the mind for a second. Hold firm in your heart, the magic, the sacredness, the power and the love that is the source of your being. Don't forget it for an instant. TI

i received an email from a friend and he asked if i would post this link here on TTB. it is my honor to do so. and it is great to see how some bums do indeed follow their dreams and their Taoist callings. this dream and Taoist calling has nestled into the Emerald mountains, closeby is the Valley of Longevity. http://www.tienshan.net/

I've always thought it was quite interesting how the "enlightened" west makes decisions regarding other cultures. We try to change the way they live and behave, because our society is supposedly superior, yet how can we justify this? Are american's really happy people? Are they any happier than Indians or Malays or even Hondurans? The irony is that in recent times a large portion of the illegal immigrants that come to America to take advantage of the American Dream, end up leaving after just a short time, seeing through much of it for what it is, a lifestyle of consumption and misery, compounded by a culture and economy that strives to consume, but not really create anything worthwhile. I'm wondering whether anyone ever bothered asking the women of these other countries whether they feel like they're taken advantage of, or have we decided that they are and hence we need to step in and convert them to a superior culture such as ours? I think its time that we stop trying to interfere in other cultures and start working on our own, because I think we can all agree we have a long way to go before we really offer happiness. There are far too many incidences to quote here, but suffice it to say, Iraq, Afghanistan, Central America, South America, and Vietnam come to mind. Anyways this is vastly off-topic. Neither Buddhist or Taoists would advocate interference in other customs, I guess only Westernized intellectuals feel the need. Aaron

According to Alan Wallace, the average person, with a toned down environment (no TV or activities which are too simulating), with diligent practice (3 to 4 hours a day) and by maintaining mindfulness between sessions, can achieve samatha in about 6 months. He also mentions the 'degree of ripeness' concept, where some people will achieve it sooner with not much effort, and others may take years to achieve, if ever.. Shamatha is a great help for visualization. The other thing that you can do is practice visualizations. Practice every chance you get. Imagine a tic-tac-toe board in your head. Play the game. Keep the visualization going. It is easier to visualize things in motion than static visualizations, because unbridled awareness jumps to moving objects first; imagine a colored disk moving up with the in-breath and moving down with the out-breath. It is much easier to maintain that than to imagine/visualize a colored disk that is not moving. Buddhism has many visualization meditation practices, as like meditation/visualization with the kasinas (colored circles), or guru yoga (visualizing a guru in front of you). Even tonglen, in which you visualize breathing in all the dark and suffering from humanity into your heart and then transmute it into love and sending it back out from your heart to all sentient beings is a form of visualization. Practice. Imagine, visualize, practice. Hone your concentration. Learn to relax the mind and focus on the task at hand. The more relaxed you are, the easier the visualizing becomes. But when the mind is producing many distracting thoughts which whisk away your attention, you will come to realize that taming the mind is a noble and rewarding endeavor. I've also read about taking a picture of a guru, gazing at it and 'memorizing' every detail and then closing the eyes and recalling the image as a bonified practice. You do that regularily for weeks until you can clearly see the whole picture in your mind's eye. Learn about the different components of attention, and the fact that you can control them, make them more intense or diminish them. For example, "interest" is something that you can control yourself. Most people let it move without volitional control; it flits about based on desires and motivations. You can learn how to increase your interest; it is something you can control. There is nothing more boring than watching the breath. The mind hates it. But if you augment your interest in it, by watching it intently, watching how long one in-breath is compared to the out-breath, watching the point where the in-breath switches to the out-breath, watching to see if you can see any light in the breath, etc etc.. you can trick your mind into becoming more interested. Gradually, you come to realize that "interest" is controllable and trainable. So is attention, will and vividness. The three components of shamatha that you work on are relaxation, stability and vividness. When the vividness comes, it is very neat. You need the relaxation part because the tension that is created during heavy concentration is detrimental. Relaxed and effortless is the goal. The stability part means that you can maintain relaxed focus on the object continually, without distraction, as a constant flow. Another method of developing visualization is through dream yoga, or becoming conscious in your dreams. That is another subject.. And, if you'd like, try this. Imagine an orange. Notice where it appears in the space of the mind. Keep the attention on the orange until it dissolves and then maintain your focus on the place where the orange was. Now, visualize an apple. Notice the location. Once you see where exactly the camera exists in the space in your mind, go up higher from that location. Move your attention higher up, above where the orange or apple appeared. Now imagine an orange again. If you do this right, you will see that the region above where the dull, lackluster orange appears, is much brighter, clearer and crisper. It is like there is a high definition TV which is sitting 'above' the low resolution tv that you normally use. It is in the space of the mind which is above or higher.. In other words, there is another cave in the space of the mind, which you will eventually find when you practice resting the mind, shamatha. In it, the visualizations are stupendous. TI

It is said that the Six Patriarch, Hui Neng, heard one sentence written by Hung Jen, and he instantly was said to have realized Enlightenment. If words were not helpful, why did Lao Tzu, Sakyamuni, Tilopa, etc.,...speak? Sure,...beliefs don't matter,...that is, unless one is pointing to the irrelevance of belief. Hope is certainly a barrier even to fundamental seriousness. Most words are indeed empty of pointing to anything of spiritual significance. However, some words, proverbs, and quotes can stimulate bodhicitta,...for example, the proverb,..."treat everything you perceive as a dream." Yes,...your monkey mind is quite cynical,...it may say,....look here, I've been treating everything I perceive as a dream for 10 years,...and I'm still the same monkey mind. Yet,...when you realize what "treat everything you perceive as a dream" points to,...the monkey mind is no longer the same monkey mind. The fact is this,...the monkey mind cannot ever understand reality,....thus, if one is attempting to view reality through the monkey mind, one can then be assured to never uncover understanding.

Hahaha! That's one hell of a demon. Most of this la la stuff I talk about is merely me observing what I indeed experience in my dream states and when my third eye is open and fully aware. I don't worry all that much about this sort of stuff these days, but I do feel it is good to inform others. Once you meet higher beings, you sort of can't go back from go, so to speak. Demons could care less about virtue, but there is something to be said when others of higher intelligence are watching over you.

Whoever ancestors helped last night, thanks! Woke up from a dream with a native american women and some kind of altar of sorts. I woke up understanding that others energy can be 'cursed' due to past lives, pacts, and karma. Things they have done to themselves due to stupidity, stubbornness, and greed. If one engages in any kind of ritual or transference of energy, one can tarnish their energy field with the karma of others. There are individuals, satanist, witches, who understand this energy phenomenon and chose to desecrate others due to their own indignation and lack of maturity. A dirty trick basically, where one comes with a dump truck full of 'spiritual garbage' and dumps it on one's front lawn. This energy can look like static energy or 'chaos' energy as well. The whole intention is to provoke anger, hatred, etc in the victim (this can also be viewed as a satanist/dark initiation if the victim is seeking a ticket to hell) . Essentially becoming infected with the aggressors very own problems. The energy will usually look black and clouded and absent of light, concerning the aggressor. Which is why purity is KEY concerning proper cultivation or light. In the Kabbalah, these individuals would be known as the dark brothers. Basically a life long power trip, until some one of equal caliber can set such a person in their place. These people are known as the goat keepers apparently. Needless to say, that was an interesting dream. I was basically told that I learned a very hard lesson and that I should not have native american curses in my blood/energy and they were taken and that these people's ancestors will be taken care of the rest of the problem. I literally felt the sensation of 'pride' being taken from my heart chakra. Interesting and this picture comes to mind.. Which brings up a great point. If one is ever to engage in any kind of energy work or magick with others, GO WITH YOUR GUT! It never seems to fail!

Unless the author clarified it for us ,, it will be speculative but I like to do that Did you notice the similarity of his tassels and beard to the horns and fringe of the dragon? If he defeated the dragon beneath his feet , and looks to the next dragon in the sky he is still drawn onward eternally (as his posture reflects) if he defeated the dragon which was above and now stands on it then he has become a dragon himself I suppose it also makes sense but his goal is in limbo. If he was drawn to the divine , though the divine was beneath his feet, he therefore becomes his own divine-dragon, by chasing a dream of the divine I guess we could use input on the traditional significance of the stuff in his hands, it looks like a coin and a thing of incense. power and humility the tools to his hearts desire? Imo the image is done wonderfully , and such like it are the possible content of many enwisening threads a blend of the intuitive and the derivative

I highly agree! I experience many dreams as well, but I have yet to help feed others it seems. I have only helped people cross over to other realms so they are not stuck here. What happens is a door opens with all white energy that I can see in my minds eye and you can see the outline of the ghost/person crossing over. You no longer feel this person's presence around you anymore as well. I have yet to look into cultivating with mantra's, but I agree with the dharma and may have to look into this because it seems the dharma is a great answer to help those who may be stuck on the path or are suffering from bad karma or choices that stem from witch craft and dark arts. Some thing needs to be done with the bad karma. Right? I once had a dream with a monk as well. Bald head. Huge smile. Dark red robe. Seemed Buddhist. Basically I went out of body in the dream and I watched him float over my body as he meditated over me. The next day I woke up with a force field around my head. It was serene and the thought of utter nothingness is what came to mind. I remember being at work, literally zoned out to... NOTHING. I was in utter bliss for no reason. After while though, the people around me brought me back down to hell and frustration ensued. It was a great experience though. I only saw this monk one last time in my dreams. Needless to say, there are some who are going a tremendous work on the other side to help those in need!

Hrmmm. What is this day 25 since my last nocturnal emission? I don't have a problemo with masturbation or porn. My focus/concentration is sharp and deep, which is something I've been wanting to cultivate. I could probably go longer if it wasn't for nocturnal emissions, but I have have been at this for over 100 days already and now I am able even resist ejaculation while i am lucid dreaming. I noticed that I am able to fight off entities/beings that subsist off of sexual fluids. Lately I have been having dreams where beings have been asking to me to jack off or I encounter some one who seeks to control my free will and my hand begins to masturbate in mid air. It's rather funny and stupid. I've even had dreams where I am imagining my self cumming in the dream, but when I wake up, I am dry down there and still have my energy intact.

Most can't even remember their dreams... or what happened last week... What did you dream of last night? Just because you don't remember doesnt mean it didn't happen... Sometimes during the day I'll have flashbacks to dreams... something triggers the memory.

Some patients suck energy, even our professors warned us about this, but basically its the same awareness to stop it. Fortunately patients don't follow you home, so its easier to exert that force of will to stop energy drain in the clinic. Yea I'll be interested to see how I solve this puzzle too haha. Um yea Drew's observations and insights have actually proven to be very useful. In regards to sitting in full lotus for 6 hours I don't cause my legs won't let me get in full lotus. Though I do sit in half lotus between 3-4 hours on average a day, and if I have extra free time then longer. Here is the crux of the issue. The more I do sitting meditaion for long periods of time like Drew for example, the more I see exactely what he has been talking about from a first hand experience point of view. It's clear to me now that he did not simply dream up this stuff out of thin air, but rather from first hand experience as I can attest since I am experiencing similar things now.

Going off grid is something I'd love to do, alas due to my physical carriage being barely road worthy I'd have to be part of a bigger group. The 18 yr old model would have had no hesitations! Fit and strong, unlike now broken and so wrong! Unable to move, sorry sight of a groove who you'll see me sitting on a creaking wooden stool!!! Other options would be to join an established commune, and that would take serious research. So, for now I'll dream! Namaste, gentlewind

When I bought my dog, I had to drive downstate Illinois to Decatur where that strong smell of Archer Daniels Midland's soybean processing permeated the air. The breeder has her own four-acre farm where she has her dogs in the middle of vast tracts of corporate farmlands growing corn and other stuff. The place, in the middle of nowhere, had a wonderful feel but I did wonder if life there could be good on account of the massive crop-dusting of pesticides and insecticides in the area. Did that bother you growing up on the farm? Hippie retirement farm is good. A place in the country is the dream of all city-dwellers. What about safety? Are you not afraid to live on a farm? Have you seen the movie "Deliverance"? I sure hate to have to keep guns and shoot mountain men barging in and knocking down the front door in the midst of dinner.

My understanding is that you just do whatever you practice during the day in the lucid dream state.

I've seen two immortals who looked like wizards with robes and hure fore heads, in my dreams mid-sleep. They looked like cartoon characters in the dream or avatars so to speak. They had white beards as well. Twas an interesting experience. They laughed a lot and said they're heads were so big from storing up knowledge.

Yea. Tis what I figured. Hrmmm. I am curious to know what kind of abilities are also needed to interface with them. Clairvoyance and clairvoyance? I can only 'interface' with the unseen when I am sleeping or right before I wake up. I have seen other things like angels and other beings as well in my dream state or in my minds eye before I wake up. So I guess the question is, how does a magus learn how to use elementals... hrmm.

Yup, that's why I am trying to do all my stuff during wake initiated lucid dreams. Practices are supposed to be more effective there as well. Dudjom Rinpoche also said "We need to gain proficiency in this, because if we succeed, we will be able to mingle our daytime perceptions with our dream perceptions without drawing a distinction between them, and our practice will be greatly enhanced. "

Holy crap I had the weirdest night last night. Ok so after class and my roommate I was tired the whole rest of the night but at the same time mentally wired so that I could not go to sleep till about 1am. Then I finally go to sleep but have one of the weirdest dreams ever. So in this dream I'm now roommates with this one woman in my school who recently broke up with her bf. So to make a long story short she tries to seduce me but I don't find her all that attractive so I don't really want to, so she leaves the room to go look for a condom I think. At this time that scene from "Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia" pops into my mind about Denis' new German roommate talking about what a mistake it is to sleep with a roommate cause she always nagged him afterwards. So I think (this is still a dream lol) I need to distract myself so I see this random doughnut hole on the floor and eat it and it tastes so so good. Then she returns and right before she starts to get busy I wake up (which is what I always do with these sorts of dreams). When I wake up its morning and I'm really tired, not refreshed at all. So now I'm pondering my dilemma again about how to go to school, be in class, talk to my roommate and friends and not get so drained from it all. So all the things people had been saying on here and other musings all ran through my head and I began to wondering if it might be beneficial to increase my ratio of standing exercises to sitting meditation a bit more. I remember Drew saying or quoting Chunyi Lin about how it was good to have something like a 3-1 ratio of standing dynamic forms to sitting meditation to build up jing, if I understood correctly. Well now I'm wondering (this is just theory to me as I have not tried it yet) if since being around people makes my body tired if doing more standing exercises for my body would help with that problem?