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Since the thread seems to have fallen asleep I guess its ok to tell my own dream from last night. Im walking up a street in Bklyn where I grew up, I get to an intersection about the width of a four lane road, to my right on either curb there was a row of 15 guys about three feet apart, each set up with a fishing rod cast out into the street which was filled with green shallow water about a foot deep. So I turned generally in that direction and asked what they were fishing for. Noone answered at first but an angry old dude turns round and says , they're fishing for Billyjacks, and only two of them had caught one , and they were both at the same level.

this one is really nice, makes me dream of flying away as a small naturespirit

Hi Michael, Yeah, you still talk more than I do. Hehehe Yes, my body is real. I just scratched my butt and it felt nice. Yes, the tree is real, I am real, and you are real too. That's just the way life is. It is called the Manifest. It is about 2 percent of the total mass/energy of the universe. But we are real none-the-less. Trees existed before there was man to perceive them. How could trees be a figment of our imagination if they existed before there were any man? Yes, you have always said the the manifest world is an illusion. But you, Michael, can go no further back in history that when you were born. The universe has been manifest for 13.7 billion years. You are not that old. The only illusion is that you think things don't exist. Damn! Stop thinking so much and just enjoy life and all the physical pleasures of living! You mind creates nothing except your illusions and delusions. (Well, I need give you more credit than that but not here. Hehehe.) And once again, I say to you that the tree exists whether you want it to exist or not. You play no role in the existence of the tree in my yard. None whatsoever. I don't need Michaels mind in order to think that I am scratching my butt. I'm a big boy; I can do that all my myself. Now don't you turn into Findley and start trying to knock my understanding of Nietzsche. Nietzsche was a realist. He also loved to dance. He never said he did not exist. What he said is that people had become herd animals by clinging to there unrealistic beliefs and that people needed to learn how to live again. One of his books expresses his thoughts very well "Ecce Homo" - "Behold The Man". He said "Look at me! I am man. And I live according to my free will, not according to some religious dogma." There's truely no such thing as Michael but I am going to hold to my delusion and pretend that you really exist and am going to continue to talk with you. My head exists. Yesterday it had a fair amount of hair on it but then I cut all the hair off and now I am a skin-head. And the computer desk exists else the computer (yeah, I know, the computer doesn't exist either) would be on the floor (yeah, I know, the floor doesn't exist either). I am glad you are making progress with your course. I'm glad you are also enjoying the professor. Oh, wait!!! Neither of you two exist. No room for interpretation? That would be boring. My first college course was English Composition. We had to read something and explain what we got from the reading. I stood up in class and presented my understanding and the instructor said, "No, you are wrong." How the heck could my understanding be wrong? The fact that it didn't agree with the instructor's understanding should have had nothing to do with it. Don't sell me short, okay? Like the good teacher, I teach you everything you know but I do not teach you everything I know. (Yes, Nietzsche said a few nice things about Buddhism.) No he did not!!!!! Nietzsche love life and love the physical things of life. Yes, he said that we ought give up our delusions, including our religions and live in the beautiful manifest as fully as possible. And he told us to dance too. Remember, the recall of the butterfly dream lasted only a couple minutes after he woke up. Immediately upon waking he could not determine if he was dreaming of being a butterfly or if he was a butterfly dreaming he was Chuang Tzu. But then he realized it was only a dream of being a butterfly. He never, ever, ever suggested that he did not exist. In fact, he spoke of himself quite often and everything was in reference to his physical reality. So intuition has lead you to believe that you do not exist. It is the conditioned intuition that applies here. You have convinced yourself that you do not exist even though you do. But logically, if you and I are having a conversation then you must exist because I would never imagine anyone like you. Hehehe. Now it is time to go feed my fish that really exist. Peace & Love!

Yes I'm sure it's something along that line... Not to turn this into a dream interpreting session or anything (unless anyone has a burning desire to share).. I just thought it was a solid example of dreams -- apparent fiction -- betraying reality. Is déjà vu relevant to this conversation, I wonder?

I'm growing impatient with this forum; feels like I'm talking to myself, so I'm going to shut up and let it go for a while. If anyone here has anything novel to add, please let me know what I'm missing. I do appreciate all the input so far and I don't want to necessarily make this thread all about me and my goal to fall in love. I will share one more thought. I've been doing the Taoist thing for about 15 years now. I've been to China twice, Europe a number of times as well as a few other spots in Asia seeking answers and trying to find some truth and answers to these questions of why we are here and who we are and what love is, what it really is. And studied very diligently in much of my time. What I found out is that there is nothing better than, stronger than love. All of these tools, meditation Chi Gong, Taoist practice are good for only one thing and that's love. All of my searching has been to find love. It's not about getting love. It's about realizing you are love. At some point, I was able to let a lot of these 'tools' go. My regular meditation practice and all the rest quite naturally drifted away and I found myself, for the first time since childhood. What I think we all are looking for with all of these devices and practices is love and certainly romantic love, if it's mature and not about getting something or possessing something or someone, can be a wonderful, powerful expression of that. Okay, I'll come back tomorrow and look forward to hearing more about Taoist love. Sweet Dreams lovers. When I'm alone in my room sometimes I stare at the wall and in the back of my mind I hear my conscience call Telling me I need a girl who's as sweet as a dove for the first time in my life, I see I need love There I was giggling about the games that I had played with many hearts, and I'm not saying no names Then the thought occured, tear drops made my eyes burn as I said to myself look what you've done to her I can feel it inside, I can't explain how it feels all I know is that I'll never dish another raw deal Playing make believe pretending that I'm true holding in my laugh as I say that I love you Saying amor kissing you on the ear whispering I love you and I'll always be here Although I often reminsce I can't believe that I found a desire for true love floating around Inside my soul because my soul is cold one half of me deserves to be this way till I'm old But the other half needs affection and joy and the warmth that is created by a girl and a boy I need love I need love Romance sheer delight how sweet I gotta find me a girl to make my life complete You can scratch my back, we'll get cozy and huddle I'll lay down my jacket so you can walk over a puddle I'll give you a rose, pull out your chair before we eat kiss you on the cheek and say ooh girl you're so sweet It's deja vu whenever I'm with you I could go on forever telling you what I do But where you at you're neither here or there I swear I can't find you anywhere Damn sure you ain't in my closet, or under my rug this love search is really making me bug And if you know who you are why don't you make yourself seen take the chance with my love and you'll find out what I mean Fantasy's can run but they can't hide and when I find you I'm gon' pour all my love inside I need love I need love I wanna kiss you hold you never scold you just love you suck on you neck, caress you and rub you Grind moan and never be alone if you're not standing next to me you're on the phone Can't you hear it in my voice, I need love bad I've got money but love's something I've never had I need your ruby red lips sweet face and all I love you more than a man who's 10 feet tall I'd watch the sunrise in your eyes we're so in love when we hug we become paralyzed Our bodies explode in ecstasy unreal you're as soft as a pillow and I'm as hard as steel It's like a dream land, I can't lie I never been there maybe this is an experience that me and you can share Clean and unsoiled yet sweaty and wet I swear to you this is something that I'll never forget I need love I need love See what I mean I've changed I'm no longer a play boy on the run I need something that's stronger Friendship, trust honor respect admiration this whole experience has been such a revelation It's taught me love and how to be a real man to always be considerate and do all I can Protect you you're my lady and you mean so much my body tingles all over from the slightest touch Of your hand and understand I'll be frozen in time till we meet face to face and you tell me you're mine If I find you girl I swear I'll be a good man I'm not gonna leave it in destiny's hands I can't sit and wait for my princess to arrive I gotta struggle and fight to keep my dream alive I'll search the whole world for that special girl when I finally find you watch our love unfurl I need love I need love Girl, listen to me When I be sittin in my room all alone, staring at the wall fantasies, they go through my mind And I've come to realize that I need true love and if you wanna give it to me girl make yourself seen I'll be waiting I love you

Initiation into Hermetics is like a gym workout. If you do it, you'll get stronger, but you won't know why you're getting stronger. In other words, it lacks the wisdom component and just tells you all the hands-on exercises but not the why behind them. Zen Buddhism is just standard Mahayana Buddhism, and as such, it has a wisdom component. This is what an understanding of the empty nature of phenomena is for. All phenomena are empty of inherent existence -- when you understand what this means and what it implies, you have at least some of the wisdom. One of the things this means is that once you understand emptiness your mind cannot be derailed by any phenomena. In other words, you will no longer be automatically buying into appearances as would be a normal thing to do without such contemplation and wisdom development. Normally when people see a car, they think, "it's a car" and that's it. This means their mind is running away with the appearances, taking them in only at their superficial value. So when it comes to Initiation into Hermetics, I think it has a lot of useful exercises, but if you don't have a wisdom aspect to supplement it with, what might happen is you might become more delusional than the normal deluded state. Normal state of human beings is deluded because when they see appearances they only understand that "something is out there." For example, if the rain is falling on their head, they run for cover. They don't understand that rain is just (there is a disclaimer here tho) an appearance in the mind. They think it's actually, honest to God raining. So appearances tend to take on unwarranted actuality and the mind becomes unimaginative and rigid in dealing with such appearances (hence, no magic, for example). So it's enough that we are deluded about day to day appearances. Now imagine you succeed with IIH and summon an entity. Without wisdom, you will think it's an actual honest to God entity there, and your immersion into the delusive quality of the dream will intensify, as you now have to contend with another added aspect in your dream as if it were real. So for example, this entity might not do what you want and might scare you. Without wisdom, you will definitely be scared, because you will think this entity has actuality behind it. Etc... and all hell might break loose from there on. As for BK Frantzis, I can't comment as well as I can on the other two things, because I haven't read much of BK Frantzis. But from what you are describing here, it seems to have the same flaw as IIH -- namely it appears to lack the wisdom aspect. So what will happen is that at some point some amazing experience will develop and you will think "Aha, this is the actual Universal Consciousness". In some sense, this kind of delusion is not as bad as taking various additional entities for real, but in the long term, it's still as bad because the trap hasn't been disarmed. It's like living on a stick of dynamite. All is fine as long as the fuse doesn't go off. Having wisdom is like having a mental immune system. It's a very good thing. So all these methods, in my opinion, will produce amazing results. In a way, as far as getting results, I think IIH and BK Frantzis are actually better than Buddhism. Buddhism has over-emphasis on the wisdom, but not enough work to teach you how reclaim your status as a mage. But if one has to err though, I think it's better to err on the side of too much wisdom and not enough creativity. If you err on the side of too much creativity and not enough wisdom, that can be a lot worse (at least in the short to medium term). As for the disclaimer above, saying "just an appearance" has a deceptive quality. In one sense it's true that all appearances are "just appearances" but on the other hand, this tends to allow people to underestimate the power behind some appearances. Some appearances have apparent inertia, and are not easy to change under certain conditions. So for example, if you are stuck in a fire, you can make it so that you don't burn and don't suffocate... and just because that ability is possible we can say "it's just an appearance." But because doing that is non-trivial under many conditions, we need to have a healthy doze of respect for appearances and not call them "just an appearance" without at least some caution. This respect for appearances should not translate into buying into those appearances though. So there is plenty of nuance here.

DHARMA TALK ON ONE MIND by Bassui Tokusho Zenji If you would free yourself of the sufferings of the Six Realms, you must learn the direct way to become a Buddha. This way is no other than the realization of your own Mind. Now what is this Mind? It is the true nature of all sentient beings, that which existed before our parents were born and hence before our own birth, and which presently exists, unchangeable and eternal. So it is called one's Face before one's parents were born. This Mind is intrinsically pure. When we are born it is not newly created, and when we die it does not perish. It has no distinction of male or female, not has it any coloration of good or bad. It cannot be compared with anything, so it is called Buddha-nature. Yet countless thoughts issue from this Self-nature as waves arise in the ocean or as images are reflected in a mirror. If you want to realize your own Mind, you must first of all look into the source from which thoughts flow. Sleeping and working, standing and sitting, profoundly ask yourself, "What is my own Mind?" with an intense yearning to resolve this question. This is called "training" or "practice" or "desire for truth" or "thirst for realization." What is termed Zazen is no more than looking into one's own mind. It is better to search your own mind devotedly than to read and recite innumerable sutras and dharani every day for countless years. Such endeavors, which are but formalities, produce some merit, but this merit expires and again you must experience the suffering of the Three Evil Paths. Because searching one's own mind leads ultimately to enlightenment, this practice is a prerequisite to becoming a Buddha. No matter whether you have committed either the ten evil deeds or the five deadly sins, still if you turn back your mind and enlighten yourself, you are a Buddha instantly. But do not commit sins and expect to be saved by enlightenment [from the effects of your own actions. Neither enlightenment] nor a Buddha nor a Patriarch can save a person who, deluding himself, goes down evil ways. Imagine a child sleeping next to its parents and dreaming it is being beaten or is painfully sick. The parents cannot help the child no matter how much it suffers, for no one can enter the dreaming mind of another. If the child could awaken itself, it could be freed of this suffering automatically. In the same way, one who realizes that his own Mind is Buddha frees himself instantly from the sufferings arising from [ignorance of the law of] ceaseless change of birth-and-death. If a Buddha could prevent it, do you think he would allow even one sentient being to fall into hell? Without Self-Realization one cannot understand such things as these. What kind of master is it that this very moment sees colors with the eyes and hears voices with the ears, that now raises the hands and moves the feet? We know these are functions of our own mind, but no one knows precisely how they are performed. It may be asserted that behind these actions there is no entity, yet it is obvious they are being performed spontaneously. Conversely, it may be maintained that these are the acts of some entity; still the entity is invisible. If one regards this question as unfathomable, all attempts to reason [out an answer] will cease and one will be at a loss to know what to do. In this propitious state deepen and deepen the yearning, tirelessly, to the extreme. When the profound questioning penetrates to the very bottom, and that bottom is broken open, not the slightest doubt will remain that your own Mind is itself Buddha, the Void-universe. There will then be no anxiety about life or death, no truth to search for. In a dream you may stray and lose your way home. You ask someone to show you how to return or you pray to God or Buddhas to help you, but still you can't get home. Once you rouse yourself from your dream-state, however, you find that you are in your own bed and realize that the only way you could have gotten home was to awaken yourself. This (kind of spiritual awakening] is called "return to the origin" or "rebirth in paradise." It is the kind of inner realization that can be achieved with some training. Virtually all who like Zazen and make an effort in practice, be they laymen or monks, can experience to this degree. But even such [partial] awakening cannot be attained except through the practice of Zazen. You would be making a serious error, however, were you to assume that this was true enlightenment in which there is no doubt about the nature of reality. You would be like a man who having found copper gives up the desire for gold. Upon such realization question yourself even more intensely in this wise: "My body is like a phantom, like bubbles on a stream. My mind, looking into itself, is as formless as empty-space, yet somewhere within sounds are perceived. Who is hearing?" Should you question yourself in this wise with profound absorption, never slackening the intensity of your effort, your rational mind eventually will exhaust itself and only questioning at the deepest level will remain. Finally you will lose awareness of your own body. Your long-held conceptions and notions will perish, after absolute questioning, in the way that every drop of water vanishes from a tub broken open at the bottom, and perfect enlightenment will follow like flowers suddenly blooming on withered trees. With such realization you achieve true emancipation. But even now repeatedly cast off what has been realized, turning back to the subject that realizes, that is, to the root bottom, and resolutely go on. Your Self-nature will then grow brighter and more transparent as your delusive feelings perish, like a gem gaining luster under repeated polishing, until at last it positively illumines the entire universe. Don't doubt this! Should your yearning be too weak to lead you to this state in your present lifetime, you will undoubtedly gain Self-realization easily in the next, provided you are still engaged in this questioning at death, just as yesterday's work half done was finished easily today. While you are doing Zazen neither despise nor cherish the thoughts that arise; only search your own mind, the very source of these thoughts. You must understand that anything appearing in your consciousness or seen by your eyes is an illusion, of no enduring reality. Hence you should neither fear nor be fascinated by such phenomena. If you keep your mind as empty as space, unstained by extraneous matters, no evil spirits can disturb you even on your deathbed. While engaged in Zazen, however, keep none of this counsel in mind. You must only become the question "What is this Mind?" or "What is it that hears these sounds?" When you realize this Mind you will know that it is the very source of all Buddhas and sentient beings. The Bodhisattva Kannon is so called because he attained enlightenment by perceiving -i.e., grasping the source of the sounds of the world about him. At work, at rest, never stop trying to realize who it is that hears. Even though your questioning becomes almost unconscious, you won't find the one who hears, and all your efforts will come to naught. Yet sounds can be heard, so question yourself to an even profounder level. At last every vestige of self-awareness will disappear and you will feel like a cloudless sky. Within yourself you will find no "I," nor will you discover anyone who hears. This Mind is like the void, yet it hasn't a single spot that can be called empty. This state is often mistaken for Self-realization. But continue to ask yourself even more intensely, "Now who is it that hears?" If you bore and bore into this question, oblivious to anything else; even this feeling of voidness will vanish and you will be unaware of anything-total darkness will prevail. [Don't stop here, but] keep asking with all your strength, "What is it that hears?" Only when you have completely exhausted the questioning will the question burst; now you will feel like a man come back from the dead. This is true realization. You will see the Buddhas of all the universes face to face and the Patriarchs past and present. Test yourself with this koan: "A monk asked Joshu: 'What is the meaning of Bodhidharma's coming to China?' Joshu replied: 'The oak tree in the garden.' " Should this koan leave you with the slightest doubt, you need to resume questioning, "What is it that hears?" If you don't come to realization in this present life, when will you? Once you have died you won't be able to avoid a long period of suffering in the Three Evil Paths. What is obstructing realization? Nothing but your own half-hearted desire for truth. Think of this and exert yourself to the utmost. - Any Koan masters here know the meaning of this? "A monk asked Joshu: 'What is the meaning of Bodhidharma's coming to China?' Joshu replied: 'The oak tree in the garden.' "

yea well, as i said earlier, the ' reality' of the butterfly and the ' reality' of Zhuangzi are about the same as 'reality' Even MH seemed to agree with that. So i like the remark of Rara who said: <<Possibly, but rather than answering the questions,I actually thought it was more useful to just acknowledge the type of questions he is asking. They are rhetorical and also, he seems to have his answers.>> then we seemingly have a drunken taoist poet named Li po who gave us a verse about the end of the endless changes of things? <<Chuang Tzu in dream became a butterfly, And the butterfly became Chuang Tzu at waking. Which was the real—the butterfly or the man ? Who can tell the end of the endless changes of things? The water that flows into the depth of the distant sea Returns anon to the shallows of a transparent stream. The man, raising melons outside the green gate of the city, Was once the Prince of the East Hill. So must rank and riches vanish. You know it, still you toil and toil,—what for?>> then i see the post of darkstar: <<Laozi said, "I will now revert my spirit and return to Namelessness [Dao]. I will abandon separate personhood and end my existence; Yin Xi went into the courtyard, prostrated himself and said, "Please, spirit being, appear one more time. Yin Xi then looked up and saw Laozi's body . Laozi then spoke, >> But Taoist texts was not happy with the translation and gave us the following beautiful formulation: Now i will cut my connection to my physical body and extinguish my materiality" By Taoist texts: <<I was disappointed to see Komjaty to distort the bolded phrase. If LZ is not a separate person and does not exist anymore then who is addressed, who appears and who replies in the consequent dialogue? In fact, LZ in the original says: "Now i will cut my connection to my physical body and extinguish my materiality" 絕身滅有 nothing about abandoning separate personhood or ending existence here. Both continue in the immaterial realm.>> so Lao zi cuts his connection to his physical body and extinguishes his materiality, but to me it seems it follows from the text that he is still being/ existing as ( a) something not on the material plane. thereby giving substance to the story of the question whether the butterfly or zhuangzu is real, and the remark of the drunken poet who asks us whether there is an end to the endless change of things. thereby i bring the topic back again tho the metaphysical realm.... (Maybe i should read the drunken poet, the 8 immortal always look happy and drunk on pictures, might be a style i need to adopt , just play and be happy ) edit: fixed very strange layout

I don't know if this helps anyone? Chuang Tzu in dream became a butterfly, And the butterfly became Chuang Tzu at waking. Which was the real—the butterfly or the man ? Who can tell the end of the endless changes of things? The water that flows into the depth of the distant sea Returns anon to the shallows of a transparent stream. The man, raising melons outside the green gate of the city, Was once the Prince of the East Hill. So must rank and riches vanish. You know it, still you toil and toil,—what for? by Li Po Are people familiar with the drunken Taoist poet?

I'm less of a dipshit than I used to be, but that could just be age creeping up on me. My teacher told me the most beautiful story: when he was in his early thirties, he experienced a serious tragedy and began to look inward and withdraw. He had studied previously with Cao Zhenyang at white cloud temple and had done a great deal of research about Nei Dan. When he encountered a major loss in his life, he decided to follow through with his childhood dream of becoming a sage. For several years he practiced assiduously, gave free medicinal help to people in need, and lived like an urban hermit. He told me that eventually he realized that his personality was prone to judgement and that he was probably not going to become a saint, but that during his training he had managed to change some important aspects of his personality. He had gone from being an extreme introvert to being able to socialize freely with others, and he had gained a sense of common feeling for other people, which I personally believe was the beginning of compassion. He said even though he never became a saint, his big hope was that he could at least become a good person. Now he shares his learning with many people and helps people in many different areas of life. He is my hero and I very much look up to him (incidentally, his heroes are Nelson Mandela and Ghandi). I think that is one of the better results that I've heard of people acquiring through Daoist practice

A deer is less susceptible to illusion, or perhaps susceptible to fewer types of illusion, because it can't be tricked by language.. ..but you can spray deer piss on yourself and whistle a doe's mating call and a buck will be tricked into thinking he's about to get lucky (or so I've heard) And dogs dream (though probably just of being dogs) And we humans do have language, of course, which is how our conscious thought is constructed, and it tricks us daily without most of us ever realizing. And we are fooled constantly by our sight and hearing, and by the people around us and on the television, and by our plans for the future and by our memories... No, in my opinion the human life is very much illusory. Not 'fake' or 'imaginary', but certainly not entirely what we see it as, either.

Dzogchen: Thodgal (Leap-Over) Instructions by Dudjom Lingpa Now as for the stages of the main practice, at first you determine the ground by way of the Breakthrough, then the initial moment of impure consciousness emerges in the aspect of an object, a subsequent conceptualization fastens onto it, and delusion sets in. Now, in contrast, in the Leap-over, the initial moment of consciousness is transformed into an appearance of clear light, and by experiencing the very nature of consciousness, all impure appearances dissolve into the absolute nature and vanish. Knowing how that occurs is the indispensable, sublime point of the Leap-over, so recognize it! If you do not recognize this vital point, however much you meditate, you will go astray on the path of dualistic grasping, and you will not progress along the grounds and paths of liberation. Thus, once you have truly realized the manner in which the whole of samsara and nirvana is none other than your own appearances, finally all mental states and appearances of the impure cycle of existence will forcefully be transformed into displays of the clear light, reality itself. So this is the practical guidance on the great transference. By truly recognizing the entrance to this path with the wisdom of realizing identitylessness, originally pure reality-itself, beyond mental investigation, the absolute nature free of conceptual elaboration, will be experienced with the eye of expansive wisdom. Unlike nebulous, obscure meditations and intellectual fabrications, with the eye of wisdom you directly see the precious, spontaneously present absolute nature, the reality-itself of the expanse of clear light. To practice these instructions, at the outset you must firm up your posture, for if this is not done, the absolute nature, bindus, and the vital energies will be dispersed in all the channels and elements of the body, and they will not manifest. As an analogy, if a snake is not squeezed, its limbs will not become evident, but if it is, they appear. The posture is accordingly of tremendous importance. First, the lion's posture is as follows. Join the soles of your feet in front of you. Plant your vajra-fists on the ground between your legs, and look up into the sky. That is the dharmakaya posture and gaze. For the sambhogakaya posture, plant your knees and elbows on the ground and support your cheeks with your palms. Point the soles of your feet outward, and gaze directly in front of you. However, if appearances of the clear light do not manifest, alternately run your gaze to the left and right and up and down. Rest your gaze wherever those appearances are most clear. For the nirmanakaya posture plant the soles of your feet on the ground, press your chest against your knees and clasp your knees with both hands while interlacing your fingers. Straighten your spine, and gaze downwards. Here is the significance of those postures. With the dharmakaya posture, the soles of the feet are joined in order to constrain the afflictive vital energies in their own place. The vajra-fists are placed on the ground to cut off the pathways of the afflictions. The gaze is directed upwards to open the vision of primordial wisdom. With the sambhogakaya posture, pointing the soles outward causes the vital energies to flow easily. Pressing your knees against your chest balances the heat and cold elements of the body. Pointing your knees and elbows at the ground blocks the impure apertures. Supporting your cheeks with your palms balances bliss and emptiness. By directing your gaze straight in front of you, primordial wisdom settles in its own luminosity. With the nirmanakaya posture, the soles of your feet press on the air mandala in order to suppress the power of the karmic vital energies. By pressing together the fire mandala of the thighs and the fire mandala of the belly, the impure vital energies of samsara are extinguished right where they are. By pressing together the water mandala of the knees and the fire mandala of the palms, the heat and cold elements of the body are balanced. By pressing together the fire mandala of the palms and the fire mandala of the armpits, cold disorders are dispelled. By pressing together the water mandala of the backs of the hands and the water mandala of the throat, heat disorders are dispelled. By gazing downwards, the eye of omniscience is opened. Even if you look straight ahead or turn your gaze upwards, the eye of omniscience is still opened, so there is no difference. You may direct your gaze wherever you find the greatest clarity. Moreover, it is not necessary to use all three postures. Rather, you may stay in any of the postures that facilitates the arising of the clear light and that you find comfortable and suitable. If you like variety, you may shift from one posture to the other and from time to time apply yourself to other spiritual practices. If you want nothing complicated, strive in meditation continuously throughout the day and night. Those who can meditate only during the day and not through the night should constantly practice throughout the day. The practice is to have three special sessions during the night and to intermittently train in the dying process. (1) The important thing for the senses is that you look with eyes partially open and that you do not suddenly open them wide, for that will dull your vision, and it will prevent the appearances of the clear light from manifesting; so do not rigidly fix your gaze. The important thing for the vital energies is that you practice breathing gently through your mouth through a little opening between your lips and teeth; and pause for a moment with the breath exhaled. As for the object of your gaze, in the beginning for about one month, during the daytime direct your gaze one cubit(2) from the sun; then the [practice during the] night will clear away any problems of heat increasing in the eyes due to the sun.(3) In order to achieve stability in the clear light, gaze at the moon in the same way. At night if you gaze at a flame, by looking above it with your eyes half open, at first you will see nothing more than something like an orange bale of hay. After awhile, the absolute nature will appear and bindus will arise in the form of quivering lines. Finally, beautiful, limpid visions of the absolute nature and bindus will appear clearly and extensively. Remain with your body unmoving like a corpse in a charnel ground; keep your voice silent, avoiding all articulation; and do not exhale through your nose but slowly breathe through your mouth without impeding or forcing it. That is the reliance upon the crucial point of letting the channels and vital energies be, without retention or manipulation. Remain without moving from the state in which consciousness experientially emerges as the clear light, without the mind being modified in any way. Wherever you are, by keeping the body straight, all the channels and vital energies will be straight, and once the mind has dissolved into empty awareness, you will be stabilized in that state. The explanation of the channels and bindus of the path according to this yana is called Ati-anu, so you should come to know them correctly. The mouth is the aperture through which coarse, impure mental afflictions, vital energies, and mental states manifest, and the nose is the subtle aperture for subtle afflictions, vital energies, and mental states. Here is the way they move. In the lungs, channels having the width of a straw of wheat are filled with that which is called the exhaled and inhaled breaths. If they increase, heat disorders arise, if they decrease, cold disorders occur, and if the breath flows smoothly, there is a balance of the heat and cold elements of the body. In one day, there are 21,600 breaths, which are like mounts for mental ideation. Therefore, even though there are profound methods for forcefully constraining the vital energies and mind by retaining and manipulating the channels and breath, they may be enormously obstructive and misleading. The six kinds of lamps(4) of the ground of the nature of existence are the avenues by which primordial wisdom arises, and the eyes are the evident apertures of primordial wisdom. The ears are the hidden apertures of subtle primordial wisdom, and they are the pathways by which consciousness apprehends appearances, so you train in their sounds. Through the evident apertures of primordial wisdom, you train in the clear light that illuminates the darkness. Dream appearances are the avenues to the manifestation of stainless vision, and by familiarizing yourself with the clear light, emanation, and transformation, the appearances in the transitional process of becoming can be emanated and transformed. From that you can emanate a pristine nirmanakaya buddha-field and accustom yourself to transforming the appearances of the intermediate state. Here in order to experience the visions of the embodiments and primordial wisdoms there are three kinds of lamps of the vessel. The quintessence of the body is the citta lamp of the flesh at the heart, the inside of which is soft white. This is called the lamp of the channels, the quintessence of the channels, and hollow crystal kati channel. It is a single channel, one-eighth the width of a hair of a horse's tail, with two branches that penetrate inside the heart like the horns of a wild ox. They curve around the back of the ears and come to the pupils of the eyes. Their root is the heart, their trunk is the channels, and their fruit is the eyes. The quintessence of the apertures is called the fluid Lasso lamp. That consists of three kinds of lamps of the vessel. Although the three kinds of lamps of the vessel are given three names, in reality they refer to the same thing, like a root, trunk, and fruit. Thus, in the context of the path, they are simply called the fluid lasso lamp. As for the three kinds of lamps of the vital essence, the lamp of the pristine absolute nature is the quintessence of the five outer elements. The transformation of impurities into the five-colored lights of the empty essential nature of the quintessence is called the absolute nature, and because of the purification of the reification of impurities, it is called pristine. The element appearing as space, transformed into the quintessence, is blue and light blue. The element appearing as water, transformed into the quintessence, is white and gray. The element appearing as fire, transformed into the quintessence, is red and brown. The element appearing as earth, transformed into the quintessence, is yellow, pale yellow, and dark yellow. The element of air, transformed into the quintessence, appears as green, tan, and light green. At first, in whatever color the impure visions appear, when they are transformed into the absolute nature, they still appear in that same color. As for the visions of the absolute nature, at first they are of the nature of such things as the sun, moon, and a flame, bearing all five colors, filled with rainbow patterns of the absolute nature, like brilliant brocade. This rainbow weave arises as horizontal images. Beginners may achieve stability in this by gazing for a month at the sun and a crystal during the daytime, at the moon during the nighttime, and by gazing at a flame while indoors. At the beginning, shimmering images arise, after awhile they become more stable, and finally they remain motionless. At that time, look at a clear window, dispense with the flaws of enjoying or not enjoying the beauty or lack of beauty of the light images. Then a whitish blue emerges which is not that of the external sky, but know that it is important to rest in a state without attraction or aversion to its qualities. To transform the five inner elements into quintessences, the element of the quintessence of the mind is transformed into blue and it appears as such; the element of the quintessence of the blood transforms into the color white and appears as such; the element of the quintessence of the flesh transforms into the color yellow and appears as such; the element of the quintessence of warmth transforms into the color red and appears as such; and the element of the quintessence of the breath transforms into the color green, and appears as such. As for the lamp of the empty bindu, the five quintessences appear in circular forms, so they are called bindus. Although they are spherical, without corners, in your vision they appear like concentric circles due to throwing a stone in a pond. The interior of the so-called hollow crystal kati channel is filled with the lights of the five quintessences, and a form of an indestructible bindu is present in that space. By gazing at that with the eye of wisdom, the interior of that channel becomes evident and arises in the form of outer appearances. Without grasping onto them, your own channels will illuminate themselves. If you grasp onto the visions of the absolute nature as being external and onto awareness as being internal, you will fall into the error of dualistic grasping. In the domain of that pristine, absolute nature, the lusters of awareness called vajra-strands appear like moving, floating threads of gold. That is the initial phase. After awhile they appear like pearls threaded on a string, and finally they emerge in the form of full and half-lattices. They are the basis from which the two kinds of lamps of vital essence arise, called the lamp of self-arisen wisdom and the self-knowing sugatagarbha. The four lamps of the path of appearances are the fluid lasso lamp, the lamp of the pristine absolute nature, the lamp of the empty bindu, and the lamp of self-arisen wisdom. The four lamps of the contemplative path are combined in one. Know that synthesizing them, then applying yourself to practice is of the utmost importance. If you practice in that way, unlike the mentally constructed, vague meditation as in the Breakthrough--the reality-itself of the clear light will directly appear to your senses, so they are called the direct visions of reality-itself. This is not like meditating on substantial, human- like deities that are strenuously conjured up by the mind, as in the stage of generation. This alone is the practical instruction for achieving stability in the great experiential displays of the embodiments and primordial wisdoms, thereby liberating the actual three embodiments within yourself. This is superior to the ordinary kinds of transference involving the three recognitions, (5) a path by which you visualize shapes and colors and propel yourself aloft, as it were. This has the distinction of the great transference by which you transform all appearances and mental states of samsara and nirvana into the absolute nature of reality-itself. Due to continuously practicing single-pointedly in that way, the potency of the vase empowerment strikes the materiality of your body, so that you have no wish to move your body; due to the potency of the secret empowerment permeating your speech patterns, you have no wish to speak; and due to the potency of the wisdom empowerment striking your mental continuum, your attention remains wherever you place it. This is real quiescence that is devoid of signs. Thus, since all coarse and subtle ideation is calmed in the ocean of the original ground, it is quiescent; and since awareness remains without fluctuation in its own state, it is still.(6) By transforming appearances and mental states into displays of the embodiments and primordial wisdoms, there is an exceptional vision of the clear-light appearances of reality-itself, so this is called insight. From the impure state of samsara, since you truly know the reality-itself of the Breakthrough, the nature of existence of suchness, you see the truth of reality-itself. Due to achieving a great, unprecedented vision of reality-itself, this is the Very Joyful [ground]. With the first visions of the Leap-over, you come to the confidence of never returning to samsara, so you implicitly achieve the first ground of the sutra path. On the mantra path, all delusive appearances and mental states come to maturation in the nature of the clear light, reality-itself; ignorance is transformed into awareness, and you implicitly achieve the ground in which awareness holds its own ground. At this time, even if you die and are interrupted [in your practice], you will be reborn as a tulku, and you will have embarked on the path of liberation. The outer signs are that the appearances of the absolute nature are majestic and stable, as if the curtain on them had been opened; and bindus appear, ranging from the size of fish eyes to thumb rings. This is the way the experiential visions progress. Initially, vital energy fills you inside from your heart up to your throat, or various sorts of illnesses or disagreeable pains may occur. Randomly moving throughout the exterior and interior of your body, staying in no one place for long, these disturbances arise due to the potency of the vital energy of primordial wisdom striking the ascending wind. After awhile, they increase and your throat may become sore and blocked so that food is obstructed and coughed out. You may lose your appetite, have trouble breathing, and lose your voice. Then they increase yet further, and disturbances arise due to the potency of the vital energy of primordial wisdom striking the life-sustaining wind. Then you may experience mood swings from joy to sorrow and from desire to hatred. Due to the potency of the vital energy of primordial wisdom striking the descending wind, when the disturbances increase, urine and excrement are blocked and cannot be excreted, and when the disturbances subside, they are expelled constantly. Due to the potency of the vital energy of primordial wisdom striking the pervasive wind, when those disturbances increase, the body becomes swollen, and when they decrease, all the flesh of your body withers as if it were becoming a corpse. Due to the potency of the vital energy of primordial wisdom striking the fire accompanying wind, when the disturbances increase, sweat emerges from the body and great heat arises; and when they subside, you get goose bumps, your complexion deteriorates, and you shiver with cold. Finally, all the winds combine and enter the channels and elements of the body, and sharp pains arise in all the channels. Movements of the winds permeate your whole body, inside and outside, giving rise to various illnesses such as combined heat and cold disorders. The body becomes swollen, boils and sores appear, dire illnesses arise, medications and divinations go awry, bad omens appear, and individual channels and joints become painful. Gout, rheumatoid arthritis, and lymph disorders may arise, and you may become lame, blind, deaf, or mute, and may pass out. Know that various random kinds of pains may arise in the body. You may engage in various kinds of behavior, acting coquettishly or shamelessly, like someone afflicted with a disease. In short, know fully well that due to the functions of the channels, winds, and elements, these bodily pains will not be the same for everyone, so there is no one criterion for recognizing them. As for your speech, you may find yourself singing various songs and melodies, babbling, speaking offensively, having your behavior not conform to your speech, not living in accord with your words and acting contrary to them, and speaking uncontrollably as if your words were uttered by an insane person. Such speech is nonsensical and random, So recognize this! Like the noises made by a madman, your mind may ramble aimlessly, without being able to remedy or alter it in any way. Due to the disorders in your heart and life force channel, at times you may weep, groan, sigh, exhale forcefully, or constantly want to be on the move, without being able to remain in one place. Your environment may seem so miserable that you do not want to stay where you are, and you may constantly experience a wide range of confused emotions. So recognize this! You may have various sorts of visions of gods and demons or random sensations of hunger, thirst, heat, cold, and so on. These are the outer signs of the appearances of the clear light. At the beginning stage, remain motionlessly with your face completely covered, and bindus from the size of the dots on dice up to the size of thumb rings will appear. At times, the visions of the absolute nature, together with the bindus, will not be evident, but the luster of awareness will appear in forms called vajra-strands. At times the bindus of the absolute nature will not arise, then they will fluctuate in size, and they will become unclear, no matter how much you try. On occasion, the visions of the absolute nature will repeatedly appear in the expanse of clear light in spherical forms of five-colored lights. Those are the criteria of familiarity with the practice. At this time, even if your life comes to an end, you will go straight to a nirmanakaya buddha-field, with no intermediate state. By gaining greater familiarity with this practice, the visions of the absolute nature will appear resplendently like loosely woven cloth, and they will appear in the sky in the form of dangling lattices and half-lattices. In the midst of the visions of the absolute nature, all sorts of images may appear, such as stupas, lotuses, white conches, wheels, vajras, jewels, swastikas, swords, spear-tips, images like stacks of books, and various forms of letters and animals. Whatever appears, those are visions of the absolute nature, so know that it is important not to mistake them for bindus. Bindus will appear in round shapes, gradually growing from the size of thumb rings to the size of cups and on to the size of round shields. At the beginning stage, the lights of awareness, called vajra-strands, no broader than a hair's width, radiant like the sheen of gold, appear to move to and fro, never at rest, like hairs moving in the breeze. Even as they stabilize a little bit, they become clear and lustrous, temporarily wavy, and they slow down somewhat, appearing like deer running across a mountainside. Then as you become somewhat more accustomed to the practice, they appear like strung pearls, and they slowly circle around the peripheries of the bindus of the absolute nature, like bees circling flowers. Their clear and lustrous appearance is an indication of the manifestation of awareness. Their fine, wavy shapes indicate liberation due to the channels, and their moving to and fro indicates liberation due to the vital energies. Due to the qualities of purifying the bindus, the presence of bindus on curves [of the strands] indicates that one will be liberated. By the power of meditation, they appear in the forms of lattices and half-lattices, transparent like crystal, radiant like gold, and like necklaces of medium-sized strung crystals. The criterion of having thoroughly familiarized oneself with the practice is that they appear indeterminately, but they remain stable, without moving or vibrating. In this case, the name of the cause is also given to the result, and that is the vajra-strand luster of awareness. They are the luster of awareness, so they gradually become as stable as awareness itself. They are not the real, self-arisen lamps of awareness and wisdom. Once the beginner's phase has passed, the visions of the absolute nature become beautiful, clear, and stable, and they take on various divine forms. Although they may increase and decrease, before a single inner sign has arisen, the appearances of such outer signs are premature, like a dzaki flower that blooms out of season. So that does not constitute progress in terms of experiential realization. Even when the inner signs occur, the outer bindus of the absolute nature may become indistinct. That happens to some people who have a dominant water element, and the elements of their channels are such that the development of their experiential realizations proceed like a slow foot race. If that is mistakenly identified as progress in meditative experience and as reaching consummate awareness, even if visions occur that would seemingly indicate the extinction into reality-itself, in fact one has in no way gone beyond ordinary consciousness. Indeed, one is proceeding in the opposite direction, contrary to the tantras, so this is an enormous error. It is important to know this. Even if muddled outer signs and vivid images are present, recognize the importance of the emergence of the inner signs. Although experiential visions may appear to your inner consciousness, if the outer signs are unclear, that indicates that you will not be able to gaze at the clear light for sustained periods, and there will be obstacles. Know this as well. When experiential visions homogeneously arise inwardly, the visions of the Breakthrough are aroused, causing the meditative experiences of the Leap-over to be disrupted. However, when the visions have not matured into the clear light, the potency of the clear light has not been perfected. If they stop, the visions of light will not develop, and that indicates that the eye of primordial wisdom has not entered the eye of wisdom.(7) Therefore, you should constantly strive in the practice. When encountering that situation, some people develop their minds with meditative experiences, then travel to many regions and finally succumb to adversities. Consequently, they get stuck there and do not achieve liberation. Some people encounter images of the bodies, speech, and minds of buddhas which are actually apparitions of maras, gods, and demons--and due to visions from the power [of progress in meditative experience], words of Dharma appear to them as written letters, and they are consumed by the desire to write them down. Out of lust, they consort with women, and consequently claim to be treasure-revealers. There are many such people who bring ruin to themselves and others. Due to extrasensory perception and visions in dreams, some people perceive good and bad things in themselves and others, and they leave such things as hand-prints in rock and other objects. Signs may manifest due to the apparitions of gods and demons, causing them to declare themselves to be siddhas. They then take a consort and take control of those around them. Laying the foundations for prestige and great deeds, they spend their whole lives in constant, relentless striving. Those who spend their lives tricking others with magic rituals to dispel obstacles and wander around begging and seeking wealth without satiation are possessed by maras and demons. Even if they become renunciates and gurus with great followings, they are deludedly involved in the eight mundane concerns and the negative conduct of maras. Some people take meditative experiences to be illnesses and regard conducive circumstances as demonic. When they receive medical treatment and perform rituals, they become confused by all kinds of divinations and diagnoses, and they become overwhelmed by speculations. Upon noting bad dreams and evil omens, fantasies arise even more forcefully, and those outer manifestations are apparitions of gods and demons. Any of the 404 kinds of illnesses in the body, including disorders of the wind, bile, phlegm, and combinations of them, are inner manifestations as bodily pain. If you regard them as being truly existent, you fall into error, and you will either die or deludedly fall under the influence of objective adversities. Some people go through various kinds of unbearable miseries and ecstatic experiences, all of them arising as secret manifestations called joys and sorrows. If you cling to them and reify them, you will stray into error, and you will not attain liberation. Due to misery and discomfort and pain in the life force in the heart, people sigh and feel like weeping, and everything they see and feel seems to be of the nature of suffering. Then they restlessly yearn to escape somewhere where there will be no human intruders, and when they come to such a place of solitude, they yearn for companionship and moving around. Overcome by desires and cravings, they find they cannot remain in solitude, and they scramble after anything that will bring them pleasure. That is falling into error, so recognize this! Frightened by suffering, your body, speech, and mind become agitated, impelling you to become active, and that is a great mistake. Some people become depressed at the miserable pain in the life force in their hearts, and out of despair when they wander from one village to another, this seems to help. Then when they come around to their own homeland and so on, before many days have passed, uneasiness arises again just as it did before, and they wish to be on the move again. Such people wind up squandering their whole lives. Some people's minds are filled with doubt and vacillation, doubting that they can ever come to certainty , and they waste their lives by repeatedly traveling to many lands. Some are carried away by viewing their teacher's counsel as being wrong, and they fall into false views. Others take their own meditative practice to be harmful, and they constantly feel regret and wonder what to do. They think that if they were to go to some other famous spiritual teacher, that might help. Nowadays there is not a single spiritual teacher who is well versed in the nature of this path, the manner in which meditative experiences arise, and so forth. Thus, fearing that their reputation will decline, they cannot admit they do not know and are not familiar with those things. Some of them teach things that are their own mental fabrications, then tell others that their meditation is wrong. Others say, "Your guru doesn't know how to teach, so you have been proceeding on a false path. Do this instead..." Teaching that their own level of instruction is all you need, they heap praise upon it. There are a great many who pompously declare that they can transfer their realization to others, saying, "I shall grant you my realization, our minds will merge, and you will simultaneously perfect all grounds and paths." If that were possible, the buddhas would have transferred their state of realization to sentient beings, and samsara would already be empty. Specifically, if the minds of all the buddhas' sravaka and pratyekabuddha disciples received the buddhas' realizations by having their minds merged with the buddhas', why would they be drawn far beyond the Hinayana? Do not place credence in pretentious assertions about transferring one's realization. Some people think they have no craving for the eight mundane concerns. Others who have not developed their minds in the slightest become obsessed with various visions they experience. Those spiritually blind people never critically examine the way they wander about in delusion, then claim they have reached the state of the extinction into reality-itself and think their own delusions have vanished. Accomplished scholars scorn such attitudes and demolish them with their weapons of scriptural authority and logic. So individuals who enter this path should be careful in this regard. Even if you succeed in other Dharma practices, you will not achieve the highest state of liberation in this very lifetime. Consequently, maras will not be jealous or angry, so they will not create obstacles for you. If you do come to the culmination of this path, you may achieve liberation in one lifetime and with one body. In this case the might of the terrifying Lord of Maras is dredged up, the maras are aroused to jealousy and aggression toward those advancing towards the state of spiritual awakening, and they are sent out to create obstacles. They then create problems and manifest objective apparitions to lead people astray. By practicing single-pointedly, without succumbing to such obstacles, the appearances of light increase, and as soon as you settle in meditative equipoise, all appearances become totally pervaded by light and bindus, with no intervals between them. Ordinary phenomena that appear due to looking at impure phenomena with the eyes, are seen with the eyes of the flesh. The appearances of the absolute nature, of bindus, or of [[[vajra]]-] strands arise simply by attending to the visions of light. They are derivative of the manifestation of wisdom, so they are said to be seen with the eye of wisdom. During meditative equipoise, the displays of the absolute nature and of bindus increase, stabilize, and become continuous, and they are said to be illuminated by the eye of primordial wisdom. The consciousness that manifests the visions of the clear light during the initial phase is called the eye of wisdom. Wherever the eye of primordial wisdom, free of dust, is directed, it illuminates whatever it sees until the visions of the absolute nature, the bindus, clear light, and divine embodiments are seen. Then due to the sharp pinnacle of primordial wisdom, free of fluctuations in the clarity of the eye of wisdom, all appearance, both while in meditative equipoise and otherwise, transform into displays of light and rainbow bindus with ever increasing clarity. In the end, appearances of earth and rock vanish and dissolve into continuous, omnipresent displays of visions of light. That is the criterion for have acquainted oneself with this practice. Impurities have been transformed into the vital core, and the vital core has been transformed into the five lights, and they become manifest. That is the criterion for perfecting the power of progress in meditative experience. At this juncture, the larger bindus cover the sky and earth, while the smaller ones variously appear as small as grains of mustard, and they appear in aggregates of five. Within the visions of the absolute nature appear the doors, roof, Dharma wheel, crowning parasol, strings of bells, and silk hangings of a palace. Individuals who embark on such a profound, swift path, who have the fortune of combining their karma and prayers, will experience the spherical images of the first phase even at the time of death. At that time, they will expire in the nature of nirmanakayas. Finally, once the power [of their progress] has been perfected and nothing appears other than the fivefold aggregates of bindus, they will be liberated as sambhogakayas, without experiencing the intermediate state. To present this in terms of the grounds and paths, when you come to the state called progress in meditative experience on the path of the Leap-Over, that is identified with the fifth ground of the sutra path called Difficult to Practice. These meditative experiences are unbearably painful, and under their influence one experiences craving and confusion. Therefore, when one comes to this stage, since it is very difficult to follow the path to its culmination, this is called Difficult to Practice. On the mantra path all the appearances of birth and death in samsara are cut off, and one does not perish. This is the achievement of the state of a vidyadhara who has mastery over life itself. Then the appearances of reaching consummate awareness, in which awareness matures into its vital essence, are as follows. The upper portions of the divine embodiments appear in the midst of all the fivefold aggregates of bindus, while the lower portions of their bodies appear in forms of clouds of light. One half of their bodies appears as if it were separated. At that time, by practicing continuously, eventually entire divine embodiments will appear. The white, solitary embodiment, replete with the ornaments of a sambhogakaya is Vairocana; the blue embodiment is Vajrasattva; the yellow embodiment is Ratnasambhava; the red embodiment is Amitabha; and the green embodiment is Amoghasiddhi. By continuing in constant practice, the embodiments eventually appear in the form of male and female deities in union; and they arise together with their entourages of the four male and female bodhisattvas. As a result of further, continuous practice, assemblies of the five buddha classes appear in spacious, vast palaces, beautifully adorned with all manner of ornaments, clothed in various silks, blazing with rays of light, and adorned with bindus and minute spheres. By familiarizing oneself with that more and more, volcanic mansions appear that are inwardly constructed of three tiers of skulls, while outwardly appearing as palaces. In their midst are mandalas of ferocious blood-drinkers. The deities and consorts are embraced in union, and single male deities appear dressed in fresh elephant skins, tied with belts of human skin, with lower garments of tiger skins, each bearing weapons. They appear in all sizes from the larger ones as vast as the sky, and the smaller ones as tiny as peas. The entire universe appears to be filled and totally pervaded with rainbow light and blazing fire. Objects as small as the head of a pin are filled and illuminated with divine embodiments with all their ornaments. That marks the perfection of the potency of reaching consummate awareness. The mark of one's speech at this point is that one's voice is soothing and enchanting, like songs sung by the children of kumbhandhas. In addition, various words of Dharma, legends, and knowledge of linguistics, poetry, and composition naturally emerge. Appearances arise as symbols and as scriptures, and the meaning of all oral transmissions and practical instructions flows forth like the current of a river. Words of melodious songs and so on inspire others' perceptions of the world, and their minds are blessed. The bodily signs are that your body vividly appears as mudras of the five buddha-classes, like the appearance of a reflection in a space of limpidity and luminosity, like a mirror-image. The body appears as a variety of reflections, as light as cotton, with no sense of materiality. As an indication that bodily parasites have been released into the clear light, it becomes free of lice and nits. White hair turns dark, bright white new teeth grow in, and your muscles become youthfully strong, and wrinkles clear away. The perceptions of others shift simply by laying eyes on you, and they experience faith and reverence. With the blazing forth of the warmth of primordial wisdom, all thoughts of clothing are discarded, there is no longer any sense of being cold, and you experience continual blissful warmth. Casting off all thoughts of food, you can live for months and years on the food of samadhi, the power of bliss and emptiness. In each pore of your body are displayed unimaginable kinds of abodes of sentient beings as well as buddha-fields. That indicates the achievement of mastery of miraculous emanations. With your mastery of incarnation and emanation, you manifest an inconceivable number of emanations in an unimaginable range of abodes of sentient beings, and in a single instant you guide an inconceivable number of sentient beings. You manifest an inconceivable number of emanations in an unimaginable number of buddha-fieds, where you make myriads of offerings, receive empowerments, and open up an inconceivable number of avenues of samadhi. Such transformations are displayed in your own and others' fields of experience, and you send forth and disclose unimaginable emanations and miraculous displays. Due to your pristine perception, appearances arise as displays of buddha-fields, and due to the pristine purity of the mind-itself, the universe arises as a display of divine embodiments. Due to the pristine purity of your voice, sounds arise as wheels of Dharma. Pure appearances pervasively arise as displays of those three pristine purities, without even a speck of impure appearances. Once the union has been mastered, the many avenues of the impure cycle of existence are purified, and can be united with the great bliss of the absolute nature. Once liberation has been mastered, simply by focusing your awareness you can bring to a state of liberation even someone who has committed the five deeds of immediate retribution. Once you reach mastery over the elements, you can transform all things into gold, silver, and so on; and phenomena are mastered such that you can transform water into fire, fire into water, and so forth. Once you have mastered the ayatanas(8) of the five generic emblems, you can transform your body into the five elements, have your body take on the shape of other creatures, and manifest yourself in various emanated forms. Once you have mastered all stages of birth, dying, and aging, when you want to transcend the three worlds, you will become awakened in the absolute nature of the dharmakaya, Samantabhadra. This occasion is called awakening in the great openness above, without reliance upon any of the virtues, vices, causes, or effects of all your lifetimes. Without reliance upon the qualities of your karma or the appearances of the intermediate state, all mental states and appearance naturally awaken by themselves, like the dawn breaking in the sky, and there is no death. Reaching the state of consummate awareness on the path of the Great Perfection means that you implicitly attain what is called the eighth ground on the sutra path, and you also implicitly achieve the state of what is called a Mahamudra vidyadhara on the path of generation. Moreover, due to the inconceivable differences among people's metabolisms and faculties, there is a corresponding, inconceivable array of meditative experiences. Thus, they are not uniform and there are no definite criteria for them. The foregoing descriptions are simply metaphorical and symbolic. You must examine this with awareness and ascertain that all appearances are of the nature of meditative experience. So recognize this! O Vidyavajra, by practicing in that way, enthusiastic, courageous individuals do not need to be concerned with such issues as the acuity of their faculties, the quality of their karma, or their age, as is the case on other paths. They are said to be of superior faculties solely due to their enthusiasm and courage. Therefore, when those who integrate Dharma with their lives, without becoming frustrated in their meditative practice, experience the outer and inner appearances of reaching consummate awareness, without confusing one for the other, all phenomena will appear only as lustrous light, and no ordinary appearances will ever arise again. Finally, like a full moon, the appearances of all embodiments and bindus gradually decrease in number. From your brain(9) a white mass of light, like a billowing cloud emerges in the space in front of you. In its midst appears an aggregate of five bindus, in the center of which appears Vairocana with his consort, adorned with sambhogakaya ornaments, and surrounded by four similar deities in union. Above, below, and all around those divine embodiments, vajra strands arise in the forms of dangling lattices and half-lattices, like rosaries of clear crystals. Then blankets of light, white like the moon, emerge from the hearts of those embodiments and penetrate down into the point between your eyebrows. For seven or five days those blankets of light appear as ornamental bindus stacked up like upside-down conch bowls. Finally, they dissolve into the point between your eyebrows, transforming your body into a mass of light. You thereby receive the immutable body-vajra empowerment. At this point, even if you die, with no intermediate state, you will experience the central buddha-field called Ghanavyuha and achieve stability. There the entire ground is composed of precious crystals. It is so vast and all-pervasively immense that it rivals the dimensions of space itself. Its surface is smooth and even, like the face of a mirror. When you step down, it gives way, and when you lift up, it rebounds. As the soles of your feet touch the surface of the ground, the primordial wisdom of bliss and emptiness blazes forth. Clouds of delicious aromas spread forth from hills covered with medicinal plants, and the whole ground is completely covered with brilliant lotuses of various colors. The sky is criss-crossed with lattice patterns of rainbow-colored light, and forms of rainbow canopies, parasols, victory banners, and pennants appear in it. It is surrounded all around by a great moat of water bearing the eight excellent qualities, and on its shores are pebbles of various precious substances, turquoise meadows, and golden sand. All around inside them are immense, majestic, lightly filled forests of wish-fulfilling trees. In the groves around its ponds are flocks of birds that are emanations of buddhas, white like the color of conch, yellow like gold, red like coral, green like emerald, and blue like lapis-lazuli, as well as other colors such as black, tan, and variegated. Their beautiful forms are pleasing to behold, and their lovely voices proclaim words of the sublime Dharma, as they circle around the ocean and alight on the wish-fulfilling trees. In the rivers are innumerable, lovely, enchantingly beautiful goddesses emanated by daughters of the devas, nagas, gandharvas, and kinnaras, who are constantly making clouds of offerings and rendering service. In the center of that buddha-field is a square palace with doors on each of its four sides, produced by the natural appearance of primordial wisdom. Its east side is composed of crystal, its south side is composed of gold, its west side is composed of ruby, and its north side is composed of emerald. Its roof is of lapis lazuli, and its exterior and interior are spacious and luminous. Its whole floor inside is made of precious rainbow crystals. When the light of the sun and moon streams through its windows, the floor becomes covered with rainbow light and bindus. Jewel lattices and half-lattices hang from its walls, and parasols, victory banners, pennants, and silk ribbons flutter in the wind, giving rise to words of the sublime Dharma, which are heard by herds of lovely deer. This vast, spacious palace is beautifully adorned with thresholds, Dharma wheels, and top ornaments of the sun and moon. It is exquisitely designed and is replete with all ornaments. In its center, adorned with rainbows and a mass of light is a broad, high, jeweled throne supported by eight lions. On its lotus, sun, and moon seat is the Bhagavan Vairocana, adorned with all the sambhogakaya ornaments, of the nature of the purified aggregate of form, the embodiment of the primordial wisdom of the absolute nature of reality. He is surrounded by an immeasurable assembly of bodhisattvas on the tenth ground, and he is constantly turning the wheel of Dharma. Recognize the importance of occasionally bringing that buddha-field to mind even while you are still on the path. O Vidyavajra, when you who are following this path finally go beyond that stage, red-colored light emerges from your throat spreading into the sky in front of you. In the midst of that light a fivefold aggregate of bindus arises, in the center of which appears Amitabha with his consort surrounded by the four male and female bodhisattvas. Between them are red vajra-strands in patterns of lattices and half-lattices, like rubies strung together. From the hearts of those divine embodiments rays of red light appear which strike your throat in the form of a string of bindus, like inverted ruby bowls, and stack there. They appear to dissolve into your throat for twenty-one, seven, or five days. You thereby receive the secret vajra empowerment of unceasing speech, and you achieve confidence. At this time, there is a discontinuity, a shift of appearances, and in an instant the entire ground, vast and spacious, is composed of rubies. When you step down, it gives way, and when you lift up, it rebounds. The whole ground is completely covered with brilliant lotuses with blossoms of various colors. The whole environment in all directions is completely surrounded by inconceivable buddha-fields. There are naturally arising ambrosial ponds with jewel pebbles, golden sands, turquoise meadows, wish-fulfilling trees, ambrosial springs, rainbow canopies, and various parasols, victory banners, and pennants. Unimaginable offering goddesses are constantly making offerings and rendering service, and in the center of all this is a palace composed of rubies. Its inner walls are white on the east, yellow on the south, red on the west, and green on the north. Its roof is blue and blazes with blue light, and it is adorned with all ornaments and fine attributes. In its center, is a lotus, sun, and moon seat upon a jeweled throne supported by eight peacocks. On it sits the Bhagavan Amitabha, red in color, adorned with all the sambhogakaya ornaments and garments, of the nature of the purified aggregate of recognition, the embodiment of the primordial wisdom of discernment. He is turning the wheel of Dharma for an immeasurable congregation of bodhisattvas on the tenth ground. You are instantly transported into their midst, you stabilize there, and achieve confidence in this state. Then when you move beyond that point, blue light emerges from your heart into the space in front of you like a billowing cloud, and in its midst arises a five-fold aggregate of vast, spacious blue bindus. In their center is the principal deity Aksobhya with his consort surrounded by the four male and female bodhisattvas. Adorned with all manner of ornaments, lattices and half- lattices of blue vajra-strands arise in the spaces between them like garlands of vairata. From the hearts of those divine embodiments blue light billows forth, penetrating down into your own heart, where bindus stack up in a column like inverted lapis-lazuli bowls. They appear to dissolve into your heart for ten days or longer. You thereby receive the wisdom-gnosis empowerment of the undeluded enlightened mind, and you achieve confidence. Even if there is an interruption at this time, with no intermediate state, your appearances will shift, and you will experience the southern buddha-field of Abhirati, as vast as the absolute nature itself. Its surface is smooth and limpid, like the face of a mirror. Its color is blue like lapis-lazuli and it is criss-crossed with lattice patterns of rainbow light. Verdant hills of medicinal plants are beautifully adorned with various flowers, wish-fulfilling trees, lakes of water bearing the eight fine attributes, golden sands, turquoise meadows, jewel pebbles, and unimaginable goddesses making offerings, singing praise, and rendering service. In the midst of the sky and intervening space adorned with all manner of lovely ornaments is a square palace with four doors. Its exterior is blue in color like lapis-lazuli and blazes with light. Its interior is radiant and luminous with the colors of the five primordial wisdoms. In its center is a jeweled throne supported by eight elephants. Upon it is a lotus, sun, and moon seat on which sits the dark blue Bhagavan Aksobhya, adorned with all the sambhogakaya ornaments, of the nature of the purified aggregate of consciousness, the embodiment of mirror like primordial wisdom. One hand touches the earth, while the other is in the mudra of meditative equipoise. Around him is assembled an innumerable Sangha of bodhisattvas, who are listening to the Dharma from the Teacher while bowing their heads in respect. As your appearances shift to this, you will attain liberation. When you move beyond that point, yellow light emerges from your navel into the space in front of you like a billowing cloud. Immediately, the whole ground becomes luminous with yellow light like the color of gold, and all other phenomena arise as displays of yellow light. In the midst of that mass of light a five-fold aggregate of large bindus arises like a round shield, and in its center is Ratnasambhava with his consort, surrounded by the four male and female bodhisattvas. Lattices and half-lattices of blue vajra-strands arise in the spaces between them like garlands of amber. From the hearts of those divine embodiments yellow light billows forth, penetrating down into your own navel. In that continuum of light bindus appear to stack up in a column like inverted golden bowls for five or seven days; and finally, they dissolve into you. You thereby receive the primordial wisdom vajra empowerment, free of signs and words, in which all excellent qualities are perfected. Even if there is an interruption at this time, with no intermediate state, your appearances will shift, and you will experience the precious buddha- field of Srimat, as vast as the absolute nature itself, in which the whole ground is like the color of refined gold. Its surface is smooth and even. It is filled with grassy hills of medicinal plants blanketed with various flowers, ambrosial ponds, purifying springs, and a myriad of clouds of offerings of such things as wish fulfilling trees. In its center is a palace emanated by primordial wisdom. Its exterior is like the color of precious gold, and its interior bears the colors of the four kinds of activities from the natural potency of the five primordial wisdoms. In its center is a jeweled throne supported by eight supreme horses. Upon it is a lotus, sun, and moon seat on which sits the Bhagavan Ratnasambhava, whose body is adorned with the signs and symbols of enlightenment and with all the sambhogakaya ornaments, of the nature of the purified aggregate of feeling, the embodiment of the primordial wisdom of equality. He is surrounded by an immeasurable Sangha of bodhisattvas to whom he is constantly revealing the Dharma. With the emergence of these appearances, you will achieve liberation. When you move beyond that point, your body appears as five lights, and from it emerges a mass of dark green light into the space in front of you. In its midst appears a five-fold aggregate of five-colored bindus of light, like a rhinoceros-skin shield. In it is the principal deity Amoghasiddhi with his consort, surrounded by the four male and female bodhisattvas. The images of their bodies are limpid, they are replete with all manner of ornaments, and blaze with a magnificent mass of light. Everywhere above and below them vajra-strands appear in the forms of lattices and half-lattices, like turquoise garlands. As for the upward and downward extensions, from the hearts of those divine embodiments green light billows forth, like the color of emerald, penetrating your genital region. In that continuum of light bindus appear to form in a column like inverted turquoise bowls for ten days or so; and when they are complete, they appear to dissolve into you. You thereby receive an empowerment that grants you mastery over the spontaneously present divine embodiments and displays of primordial wisdom. At this time, even if your appearances shift, you will experience the buddha-field of Karmaprapurana, in which the whole ground blazes like the color of emerald. The entire environment is replete with all manner of ornaments and fine characteristics, and in its center is a palace, bearing all wonderful qualities. Its exterior is green like the color of emerald, and its interior is of the clear, luminous colors of the four kinds of activities from the natural potency of the five primordial wisdoms. In its center is a jeweled throne supported by eight pheasants. Upon it is a lotus, sun, and moon seat on which sits the Bhagavan Amoghasiddhi, whose body, green in color, is adorned with all the sambhogakaya ornaments, of the nature of the purified aggregate of compositional factors, the embodiment of the primordial wisdom of accomplishment. He is surrounded by an immeasurable assembly of bodhisattvas on the tenth ground for whom he is constantly turning the wheel of Dharma. As your appearances shift to this, you will achieve liberation. When you receive the vajra-empowerment of spontaneous, original perfection and you go beyond the final purification of the visions of meditative experience, all the mandalas of the blood-drinking deities in the skull mansions appear to you. Rising up into the sky above, you let out a terrifying roar and appear to dance in various ways, causing all realms of the universe to tremble and shake, the great earth quakes with a great roar. Consequently, the entire animate and inanimate universe dissolves into the nature of light, and, with a wave of your hand, your own body disappears into the realm of light. At this time, you will achieve the four great confidences of fearlessness. What are those four? Due to arriving at the ground of your own being, the dharmakaya, the nature of the original protector, the primordial buddha, even if you have a vision of buddhas filling the whole of space, you achieve the great confidence in which there is not the slightest bit of faith or reverence for them. By coming to spiritual awakening within yourself, in which you can be neither benefited or harmed by any other causes or effects, you achieve the great confidence in which there are no hopes for the ripening of effects from their causes. By coming to the ground of your own being, which is originally free of birth, cessation, and abiding, even if you are surrounded by a thousand assassins bent on murdering you, you achieve the great confidence that is devoid of even the slightest trace of fear. By experiencing the state of the originally pure, primordial protector, and coming to the state that is originally free of delusion, you achieve the great confidence in which there is no anxiety concerning samsara or the miserable states of existence. Then the appearances of the absolute nature, the bindus, the divine embodiments, and the buddha-fields gradually vanish like the full moon waning to the point that it disappears into the moonless sky. Finally, awareness is awakened as the ground, and you come to the nature of the dharmakaya. The fundamental root of self-grasping is destroyed, and the mind of grasping is extinguished. The ray of dualistic grasping is severed, thereby extinguishing apprehended objects. Conceptualization involving dualistic appearances is extinguished, so you expand into the even, pervasive nature of the equal purity of samsara and nirvana. Your body becomes like a corpse left on a charnel ground, so no fear arises even if you are surrounded by a thousand assassins. Your speech becomes like an echo, reverberating back all the sounds of others. Like a rainbow dissolving into the sky, your mind expands into reality-itself, free of conceptual elaboration, a great, all-pervasive state beyond all dimensions. O Vidyavajra, an individual who has extinguished the appearances of all phenomena into the absolute nature of reality-itself has far exceeded the tenth ground of the sutra path known as the Cloud of Dharma. Such a one has implicitly reached the supreme ground of a spontaneously present vidyadhara on the mantra path. Still the most subtle of latent cognitive obscurations arise, and like the illumination from a flash of lightning in the sky, on occasion your body appears, for just the duration of a hand-wave, as a body of light in an expanse of light. Recognize that appearances and the mind occassionally separate, and speech and words of Dharma are sometimes uttered as they were previously. When this phase is completed from ten days to ten months, the most subtle of cognitive obscurations vanish into the absolute nature. This perfects the power of primordial wisdom of knowing reality as it is, and you gain mastery of the originally pure ground, the primordial dharmakaya. By perfecting the power of the primordial wisdom of seeing the full range of reality, you gain mastery over the spontaneously present divine embodiments and the displays of primordial wisdom. As the originally pure youthful vase body, you are transformed into a totally perfected buddha, and you become all-pervasive. Those having superior faculties are liberated as a great transference embodiment, extending infinitely into the all-pervasive dharmakaya, like water merging with water, or space merging with space. Those having medium faculties attain buddhahood as a great rainbow body, like a rainbow vanishing into the sky. When the ground clear light arises, for those having inferior faculties the colors of the rainbow spread forth from the absolute nature, and their material bodies decrease in size until finally they vanish as rainbow bodies, leaving not even a trace of their aggregates behind. That is called the small rainbow body. When the ground clear light arises, the material bodies of some people decrease in size for up to seven days, then finally only the residue of their hair and nails is left behind. The dissolution of the body into minute particles is called the small transference. For those of superior faculties this dissolution of the body into minute particles may occur even during the Breakthrough. O Vidyavajra and the rest of you assembled disciples, listen and consider this. 
These are the superior qualities of the spontaneously present youthful vase body. 
The obscurations of ignorance are dispelled in the absolute nature; ascending to the dharmakaya, beyond the total-ground, lustrous primordial wisdom manifests, and it transcends lustrous clarity. 
The primordial wisdom of seeing the full range of reality manifests, and primordial wisdom transcends the mind. 
Natural spiritual awakening within yourself surpasses traveling to buddha-fields. 
Free of all the extremes of conceptual elaboration, it transcends causality of dependent origination.
Imbued with the eight freedoms,(10) it transcends all actions and their effects. 
The absolute nature and primordial wisdom are equally pervasive, transcending mundane existence. 
Perfectly complete buddhahood, imbued with nine surpassing greatnesses is praised by all the jinas." Notes (1). This refers to the preceding practice of imagining the dying process as a preparation to the main practice of the Leap-over. (2). To protect your eyes, it may be better to direct the gaze about six feet away from the sun. (3). Although the daytime practice of gazing near the sun may impair one's vision, it is said that the nighttime practice of gazing at the moon may actually enhance one's vision. Most important is that one carefully examine whether one's practice is damaging one's eyesight and to alter the practice if that occurs. (4). The use of the term lamp (Tib. sgron me) is, of course, a metaphor, for the essential nature of these lamps is luminosity. (5). The three recognitions (Tib. 'du shes gsum) are recognizing the channels as the path, one's own consciousness as the traveler on the path, and a buddha-field as one's destination. (6). This sentence gives an etymology of the Tibetan term zhi gnas (Skt. samatha), translated here as meditative quiescence. (7). The eye of wisdom sees appearances of the absolute nature, of bindus, and vajra-strands that arise simply by attending to visions of light, whereas during meditative equipoise the eye of primordial wisdom sees the displays of the absolute nature and of bindus as they increase, stabilize, and become continuous. (8). These ayatanas presumably refer to the five 'signs,' (Tib. mtshan ma, Skt. nimitta) that eventually arise due to meditating on the generic emblems of the five elements of earth, water, fire, air, and space. These practices are discussed in B. Alan Wallace, The Bridge of Quiescence: Experiencing Tibetan Buddhist Meditation (Chicago: Open Court, 1998) in the chapter "Quiescence in Theravada Buddhism." (9). The Tibetan term here (dung khang) literally means "conch abode," but it refers to the brain. (10). (1) The freedom of the formed observation of form, (2) the freedom of the formless observation of form, (3) the freedom of beauty, (4) the freedom of limitless space, (5) the freedom of limitless consciousness, (6) the freedom of nothingness, (7) the freedom of the peak of mundane existence, and (8) the freedom of cessation. (Tsepak Rigzin, Tibetan-English Dictionary of Buddhist |Terminology (Dharamsala, India: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1986) p. 236. Source theopendoorway.org

Right, but only if you are aware of it. One can become aware of things that one was not aware of. Like dreams still happen even if when we awake our consciousness is unaware of the fact of the activity. One can train consciousness to be aware as the impressions are still accessible. Because the habit of identifying is unconscious, the experience is still accessible. The experience was clung to on an unconscious level so is stored in the mind stream. As when you were dreaming, you were clinging to this as I and mine, even though when you awoke, because the identity with physicality is so strong, the paradigm shift broke the awareness. So, one doesn't remember the dream experience because of a lack of awareness, not a lack of consciousness. It's that dream consciousness and waking consciousness identities are too separated by a sense of duality. Ok... I'm really tired, I only got a few hours sleep today due to typing and work. I'm going to step off. Whew. Eh ok... maybe semantics. p.s. Nice debating with you Lucky.

God bless people who find there nitch and live simply. It can be done. If thats your dream, then I hope you find it. I've read about a great 'bum' who lived in California, a mild climate who lived happily in a shack, did odd jobs when he needed money and mostly enjoyed himself and lived for the Tao. Again, god bless, that great. Couple years ago I picked up a hitch hiker, classic vagrant; looked like something out of Mad Max, skilled at out door living, walking a couple hundred miles to over winter in Southern California. Freedom, but its a hard life, he was walking with 30 or more pounds of gear. He had my total respect and I learned a lot from him. He was a very tough guy and led a tough life but it was his own terms and he didn't complain about it. At least not to me.

I have my worthless college degree, a 4 year one. With my first college I went to while I was on my path (the path leading to the Kundalini energy awakening--you know it is going to be earth shattering and mind blowing revolution), I attended there for 2 years and left. I felt so ashamed of my experiences there (demeaning experiences while receiving tons of negative Karmas from the professors), I did not even want people to know I went there. In fact, when I transfered to my third college, I didn't even want to transfer my college credits I had there. Heheheh....Third college? What happened to the second college? That was when I had my full blown Kundalini energy awakening experience. I felt so out of place and my past life Karma dominated my experience in that place and further re-enforced by people surrounding me, co-incidentatlly. I guess that's what it means by past karma is ripened in one's life timeframe. Events in one's life is slowly beginning to unfold and the fruit of one's past life karma is beginning to ripen. The experience there in my second college...took me years to come to term with it and to fully understand my past life karma. All of this was happening while I was in my third college. It took me 6 years maybe total to get my college degree and to finish it. Then what? I didn't even pickup my dilopmat that was how much I cared about it. Is a shame but is the reality. I was majoring in Liberal Arts in a technical college. Don't ask why. Maybe because of my kundalini energy awakening, I didn't really think my education was important. It was like my life has another path. After I was done with college, I had a management position in retail, for 7 years. Met some good people, helped many others, and made lots of people happy in my job. When I left there, all seem to disappear and it was like a dream. Now, I have been into photography and pretty good at it in both film and digital. However, it isn't sustaining. On my cultivation side, I had my huge progress early on as indicated in my Kundalini energy awakening in my late teen. I had to wait for another 15 years before I could realize my own potential further. To advance enough to receive visitations and spiritual guidance from other Sambhogakaya immortals. Here you go, my worthless college degree.

Well, I just thought I would mention that I do not agree with what y'all are saying here. I am not a dream. Reality is not a dream. Reality existed before I was born so there is no way reality is a figment of my imagination. Now, I realize that y'all don't care that I disagree with you but for me that doesn't matter either. If one has just a little reliance on science we must agree that this physical universe is approximately 13.7 billion years old. I am no where near that age nor is anyone else on this planet. Our species goes back only 4 million years. I suggest that if we are unable to distinguish between our physical reality and our illusions and delusions we are going to always have a very complicated life. KISS! (Keep it simply stupid.) Peace & Love!

Hi Dream, This book features two qigong sets that I've practiced almost every day for years, the standing 8 Section Brocade and Shibashi (18 movements of Taiji Qigong). These are fairly easy to learn and would be a good starting place for a beginner. http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Life-Volume-1/dp/0975048090 There is also a companion DVD: http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-of-Life/dp/B00JD2QYEW Good luck, and remember that the positive effects of qigong practice come about as the result of regular practice over time.

Hi Kate, Hehehe. Don't give me too much credit here. Most of what I say has already been said by others - I am just using my own selection of words. The scientific method includes varifiability and repeatability. Varifying means that we look at the answer in detail to insure that it exactly answers the question (theory). (Of course, the question needs to have been valid.) Repeatability means that the process can be conducted by others and the same answers result. We can never prove that something does not exist. All we can say is that we have found no evidence that it does exist. Science is currently working on the theory of Dark Energy. They have not yet found proof the it exists because they have yet to find a means of detecting and measuring it. They have found evidence that it should exist because its existence is the only answer to explain events that happen in the universe. So for now it is still a theory - not a fact. Last night I was conscious of dreaming. (My long distance telephone service, of all things. Hehehe.) I normally sleep dreamless. That is to say, none of my unconcsious brain activity was strong enough to transfer into my conscious mind. That I have no recall doesn't mean I didn't dream, it just means that I was never conscious of the event. Therefore I cannot prove that I dreamed but at the same time I cannot prove that I did not dream. I have experienced deja vu once in my life. This is the only way I have to explain the experience. But that doesn't mean I had a prior life. It could have been the recall of unconscious memory that came to fore and I had and have no conscious knowledge of the information. (Maybe something I had heard or read or seen and consciously forgotten.) The thing is, any proof of life before birth or life after death should stand up to the scientific method if there is such a thing. At this moment in time, to the best of my knowledge, there has never been even one study that could be used to prove its existence. Of course, on the other hand, it has never been proven to not exist. I therefore suggest that the probability of its existence is extremely small. I have chose to not believe in the concept. I am therefore right. Others have chose to believe in the concept. Therefore they are right. But this is only on a personal level. And as I have said before, if it helps a person live a fuller life then I suppose that they should continue to believe. It is just taht we should not confuse our delusions with our reality. They have a tendency toward getting us in trouble when interacting with others. Enough for now. Hehehe. Peace & Love!

Wow thats cool. Many years ago I had a dream where I was circle walking and my feet started to leave the ground and I told my sifu at the time about that and he said that is one way to get the lightness skill. Years later I learned a lightness skill that deals with cloud energy and works alot with the middle dantian.

In my personal experience, I saw a red cap (which I understand to be my Kundalini cap), and my mother saw a red blinking eye waking up (root chakra), after I had converted my jing energy and brought it up to the MDT, and not before. I believe the MDT is associated with Qi, so experientially, for myself, I do equate awakening kundalini energy with Qi, very specifically. And in another personal experience, I had a dream of a snake forcefully striking the back of my neck where it joins the head, it kept striking without venom until I realised that it was just physically obstructed there and wanted to pass, and that I just needed to drop my head forward to allow it to pass. This is clearly kundalini symbolism, which in Daoist terms I believe would be referred to as the Jade pillow, and to allow Qi to pass the head needs to come forward, and also the neck can be tapped at this point to allow the energy to pass through. So again, there seems to be a strong similarity between Daoism and kundalini terminology in my experience. I would find it hard to not notice these similarities, and once noticed, I would find it even harder to ignore them. The similarities are interesting to me.

“If you prefer smoke over fire then get up now and leave. For I do not intend to perfume your mind's clothing with more sooty knowledge. No, I have something else in mind. Today I hold a flame in my left hand and a sword in my right. There will be no damage control today. For God is in a mood to plunder your riches and fling you nakedly into such breathtaking poverty that all that will be left of you will be a tendency to shine. So don't just sit around this flame choking on your mind. For this is no campfire song to mindlessly mantra yourself to sleep with. Jump now into the space between thoughts and exit this dream before I burn the damn place down.” Adyashanti

The problem that Kirkland and others like him will have is that they cannot eliminate Zhuangzi from Taoist ethnography (or there a better word? spiritualography? philosography? or philosophigraphy?). And Zhungzi is very uncompromising and very clear in his approach. He attacks dogmatism of any kind, questions rituals and norms and so on. And he's considered the most important person in Taoism right after Laozi himself. You just can't sweep that shit under any rug. In reality we cannot know what happened long time ago. What we have is our recent past and all the thoughts and records and legends and myths that our recent past grants us. That's it! What's important is this. Instead of establishing what happened or didn't happen back then, what is most useful right now? And right now the most useful thing is something like Zhuangzi's contemplation of phenomena. Religious Taoism is a lot less useful or maybe even harmful. It might be one of the things that Zhuangzi would be horrified of if he saw it develop. It would be a perversion of his thinking. The same thing is mirrored in Lieh Tzu. In Lieh Tzu there is a very good description of an enlightened society. I think it was some emperor who put everything aside and started meditating and contemplating 24/7 when he had a dream. In his dream he saw people who were like cats. No one followed anyone else. No one could be said to be wiser than the other. No one argued with each other and tried to prove anything. And yet any member of this society could perform any phenomenal feat whatsoever. These people had limitless abilities and there were not organized in any way. There was no goverment and no bureaucracy and yet there was spontaneous harmony. I am probably screwing this up somewhat, so if you want a perfect description of this, try to read any translations or originals of Lieh Tzu (pinyin Liezi) you can get your hands on. So if you take 2 of the 3 topmost Taoists, you can get all kinds of hints against religion and against formalities, against bureaucracies and so forth. And almost the entirety of Tao Te Ching is a testament against religion. I was going to pick a quote but then I realized I'd have to pick too many. It's just incompatible with religion from top to bottom.

I agree with what you're saying here about understanding Zhuangzi's message as correctly as possible. However there's a lot to what that implies. My comments about illusion / reality were on my mind from as yet unexpressed thoughts about 'The Dream of the Butterfly' allegory. Have you been following that topic? In retrospect, I should have left that part of my comment out; those thoughts could best be explored on the 'Butterfly' thread, and that's exactly what I plan to do at some future date. However I can't agree with your observation that Zhuangzi is shaking his head at religious Taoism. For a start religious Daoism (aka organised Daoism) did not come into existence for many centuries after Zhuang Zhou's death. And even so, I don't share the disdain for religion so popular amongst the intelligentsia of our countries. There's much wisdom in all the great religious traditions of the world outside of dogma, blind faith, and obedience to hierarchies.

Hi Carson, Nice post. Interesting point you brought up. Yes, I think it is a given that ego is a component of our conscious mind. But what about our unconscious mind? The only good representations of our unconscious mind, I think, can be found in our dreams. I think that ego can be seen in many of our dreams. If we are the pivot of the dream then I think that the ego is expressing itself. However, in dreams where we are on the outside viewing ourself in that dream I think that the viewing is being done with an egoless mind. And in line with this thought, when we are in deep meditation I think that once we have become mindless (that is, egoless) we are open to realizations beyond the limits and controls of the ego. These are all new thoughts for me so I am fully open for alternate views. Peace & Love!

I was kind of hoping when I came back to this topic that the conversation would have moved on. Instead I now feel obliged to reply to Stosh as well as Rara. Whole books have been written on these subjects and my words can only be meagre in comparison. Also these Dao Bums threads tend to move fast. Sometimes that’s appropriate but I like to explore in depth topics I’m interested in. For instance, I still plan on returning to ‘The Dream of the Butterfly’ thread. To my mind, our conceptual reality is an ever evolving web of myths created to fill the needs of our human psyche for meaning. At the core of our consciousness we are mythical beings; hence philosopher John Gray suggests the best a thinking person can do is to recognize the myths (illusions) he or she cannot live without. (Or perhaps, more modestly, I can only expect to recognise myths I can live without. By necessity those myths I truly depend on must remain hidden beyond the fringes of my awareness. ) It’s morning where I live and I have things to do outside. I’ve just made some sourdough bread dough and it will have risen by this afternoon and be ready for baking. And hopefully by then my replies will also be ready for ‘baking’ in this alchemical cauldron of Dao Bums discussion. Really, I get too caught up in heaviness of ideas and therefore like these words of François Jullien from Vital Nourishment . “Life can escape whatever confines it and regain its freedom, allowing it to remain open to unfiltered transformation. Based on deliberate de-ontologisation (and de-theologisation), this release from meaning (from dogma, belief, truth) results in a depressurisation of existence, which ceases to be episodic or forced. The homeostasis whereby life maintains itself is restored, replacing the tension of existence (projecting toward a goal, akin to meaning).”