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Of course I haven't experienced anything, because 'I' is an illusion. I am not even experiencing 2 eye-balls reading this thread of yours. Experience? What is that? If we are going to stoop to the lowest degree of judging who has experienced what based on what posts, then by all means I refrain and hand you the torch and crown in that category. If there is One thing I would never do, is a judge a book by its cover No pedestal necessary. They are friends with tremendous amounts of time on their ends to figure out, through various means, what exactly the Truth is. If there is a cavity, one goes to a dentist, car trouble, a mechanic, to find the truth, to those who have found it. Buddha & Tsu seem to be on your pedestal No difficulties at all. Instead, freedom, home, Truth, the Now. Just like everything I thought is meaningless, so are all of your posts here and what you think. Just an illusory subjective bias. No biggie. The beauty of it is, that if Esoteric Christianity is a valid path to the Unconditioned, that it does not rely on your take of it. Stands of its own accord Same with Sufism, Kabbalah, Grace, etc Time? What is this thing you call time? Dream? Energy? I don't know You spent much time and energy attempting to hold together a reality that is merely a dream. Isn't that what you're doing? To kill the paths you "believe" to be false? Based on your beliefs? You spent much time and energy attempting to hold together a reality that is merely a dream. You spent much time and energy attempting to hold together a reality that is merely a dream. You've become that which you despise, a dogmatic fundamentalist. The outright paradox and oxymoronism of this situation is rather entertaining. Just like an eyeball cannot see itself, you've failed to see what you've become. I still love you though!!! Good luck with all the labeling of who's right and who's wrong! Cheers!!!!

Dominicus,...your posts reveal that you have not had a direct experience with anything. Like the whole of Esoteric Christianity, you are claiming something that is impossible. Experience born of belief can only be experienced through the condition of that belief.. I understand that you place monks/hermits on pedestals of admiration for their inter-faith advocacy,...and as such, it is quite difficult for you to see that everything you thought is meaning is rather meaningless. You spent much time and energy attempting to hold together a reality that is merely a dream. Just reduce all you can gather about Buddhism and Taoism into a single idea: Lao Tzu said, "the Tao doesn't come and go." Buddha said, "the Tathagata does not come and go." That is the only Unconditionality. Esoteric Christianity is not even close. I can also understand dreamers like Paulno, who feel the need to strike out against, saying how hateful is VMarco. The truth is quite upsetting for believers,...and they typically set out to kill those who challenge their beliefs. What doesn't come and go? The Present. The Present, that is the absolute Present, cannot be revealed through any form of Christianity or Abrahamic religion. The Present is only revealed when delusions such as any form of Christianity or Abramhamic religion is let go. Buddhism says,...and is implied in Taoism,...without the direct realization of emptiness, absolute bodhichitta, the true practice of compassion is impossible. So I'm not in the least bit worried that you guys could laugh with compassion, because a safe bet would be that they haven't a clue what real compassion is. "Buddhist teachings on compassion are grounded in the direct realization of Emptiness; without which, compassion is impossible." Robert Thurman commentary on the Dalai Lama's The Four Noble Truth's There are not many paths to enlightenment,...there is but one,...and that begins with the recognition that all beliefs are false.

OH NO, WE'VE BEEN MOVED TO THE OFF TOPIC AGAIN CURSE YOU, MOD SQUAD, YOU'VE FOILED MY PLANS AGAIN BUT I WILL BE BACK IN AUTUMN(I think) THE NEW SEASON OF PONY WILL RISE AND WE SHALL RULE AGAIN!!! and I expected it to be moved to off topic, I'm just goofing Actually know what, that's a good idea. Lot's of people like to review episodes but they give wishy-washy explanations for the morals of the story so something solid would be perfect. Celestia is a great teacher, she send Twilight to Ponyville at the start of the series to teach her the magic of friendship. The experiences Twilight had was like the egg in a bottle parable. Celestia could have sat Twilight down and explained everything about magic and friendship like you guys expect masters to act, but she send her to Ponyville to experience it. Kids don't listen to their parents when they explain stuff but they can live their own life and prevail over obstacles by themselves like a small chick that is strong enough to peck out of the egg. When it grows more it could peck out of the bottle. Celestia let Twilight go because she knew she could do it. I guess MLP gives education that spiritual community could never understand. If you look anywhere, literally, spiritual people are loners. They focus on greater things when nothing else distracts them. You could be eating delicious food now and watching a show or talk with somebody about somethings, instead there is a big focus on how these things are not important. Spirituality happens when detachment happens, money is meaningless, your possessions will be gone after you die or they get stolen, attachment causes suffering. Twilight is you, she wants to study magic and know how the world works. She doesn't care for friends and so Celestia sends her to Ponyville to make some. Enlightenment/Immortality/Golden Body is sought by ONE person. You can do it yourself, living on a mountain and being a hermit. Spiritual person sees beauty in nature and the ugly in society. Hates money, hates rules, hates authority. Sees deep meaning in nature but not in these things. Instead, it makes the spiritual person feel trapped in these things. There is freedom in nature and seeing empty fields where you can run. That's where paradise is, being one with nature but denying things that make one human and other humans. Spiritual person might not be human either, humans can do amazing things together and they stay together. Other five ponies almost represent these things that the spiritual person hates but actually needs. Rarity makes pretty dresses and likes to look good. Looks don't last and precious things like dresses don't either. Attachments cause suffering when you loose them. Spiritual person would not make attachments out of fear of getting hurt, that would be the worst possible thing. No special attachments to special things and not so special person. So many Buddhist monks look the same just with their heads shaved and they're all happy. Getting hurt is part of life and you can expect it for a long time but it might not come, it's just all in your head. Applejack has ties with her family. They are the closest people to you and link to other people. They are even more special then objects, even masters become special people but people are also an attachment. God forbid you meet someone nice and fall in love and get hurt. You have no control over people and that's even scarier, so many things could go wrong, you could even say the wrong thing to them and upset them. No need to be scared. Rainbow Dash has big dreams and she wants to join the Wonderbolts, to do that she needs to be the best flyer ever. This attachment will hurt her if she never accomplishes her dream. There are expectations that Wonderbolts have of her and the ones she has of them, she might not meet them and they might not, too. There are a bunch of old people whining about things they wish they did if they could be young again, they say to the young people to do that and that's a lot of pressure. But living is fun, so whatever she does, she will do more them these guys ever did. Fluttershy is shy, big whoop. Human interaction is scaaaaaaary, don't you wish you could read the mind of the other person talking? That would make things a lot easier and you won't ever offend anyone or say something wrong. Kinda scary when you imagine that everyone cares what you say and remember it. No one cares, and if you want someone to care, you have friends. PINKIEPIEEEEEEEEEEE!!! She likes to party, do funny stuff. and act goofy. Everyone likes her and if you think back to the school days, she might remind you of a class clown you had in your class. That kid who wants to be part of the crowd and so he tries to get everyone's attention. You won't want to be him and Pinkiepie is not like that. Everyone likes her and comes to her. She doesn't have to work hard like the class clown, she lives as hard as she can and has everyone. But you know what? Even if you want to be alone, hate money, and think that the man is bringing you down, you can still become friends with like minded people, it's not a club.

This will surely invite mischief,...but, I'm always in joy,...at least I don't recall not being so for several years. I haven't a soul-mate,...never had a partner that could engage in conscious love,...don't own a home,...my only vehicle has been in a transmission shop since Nov 27,...haven't lived to work live since 1974,...haven't been bored since 1972,...I find that the absolute bodhicitta lojong are absolutely true. Imagine stepping into someone's dream,...fully understanding that you stepped into someone's dream. No matter what was being drempt, you see it for what itis,...a dream,...and it's very amusing. The key, or what both Taoism and Buddhism are ultimately pointing to, is seeing things as they are. That is the punchline of prajnaparamita. The heart of the prajnaparamita is the Heart Sutra,...the best available commentary on the prajnaparamita is The Heart Attack Sutra. Most people can uncover reality through the Heart Sutra,...although the shortest prajnaparamita Sutra is just a one syllable word. Hui Neng (later to be the 6th Zen Patriarch) supposedly heard one sentence written by Hung Jen, and instantly was said to have realized Enlightenment,...which could translate to a somewhat state of enjoyment. What is enjoyment? Is it nirvana? What's nirvana,...except for the opposite of samsara,...both are impermanent. My impression is that neither Lao Tzu or Sakyamuni wanted people to stop at nirvana,...but go further. As for my response,...my enjoyment comes from observing the false.

Access February 2013's newsletter (with the free ebook code) from Phoenix Pick by clicking below: http://ArcManor.hosted.phplist.com/lists/lt.php?id=Zx8ACh4MAR9SVQUN It's Arc of the Dream, VERY enjoyable How did Attanasio get so wise about "this stuff" ?

I love this prose, written by a Canadian: "Waking up is not necessarily pleasant; you get to see why all this time, you chose to sleep. When you wake up the first thing you will see is Reality does not exist for you, you exist for it. Shocking as it is when you let it in, there is rest. You do not have to labor anymore to hold together a reality that does not exist; forcing something to be real that is not real. You and this life you have been living are not real ... In letting it in, even through the shock... pain... shattering, there is rest. Reality is when all you want to know is what is true ...just so that you can let it in and be true. Reality is not a safe place for you - the you that you have created. It is the only place where you would die; where there is no room for your hopes, your dreams. Once you have let it in, once you begin to re-awaken; to let Reality wake you up, nothing can get it out. That is the beginning of your end. Waking up can be much more painful than the agony of your dream, but waking up is real."

maybe youre confusing it with a post about the roots of buddhism. if you read it again, you'll see that it has nothing to say about the roots of vajrayana. I mentioned that jolan chang reports in The Tao of Love and Sex that the physical sexual practices were called the chinese practices in tibet, which might mean that vajrayana incorporated some chinese wisdom in the course of its history. Neither I, nor Chang, made any claims about the origins of vajrayana. I understand that you are a purist and think that vajrayana, or buddhism, is the root of daoism, but to me it is not inconceivable that the two have different origins, and that they cross pollinated during the course of their history. I wouldn't dream of talking to you about the origins of vajrayana, i am sure i would be wrong lol... it all came from the dharmakaya and samboghakaya anyway so its not like you know the origins of it either lol anyway moving on

The idea of "seek and you will find" is pretty much BS. Likewise, seek your hopes, and more and more and more hopes will be provided for you to seek. There are more millionaires still stuck in Maslow's Lowerarchy, than most would dare to imagine. From how I understand this question,,,,if you acquire all you hope for, will that end hope? No! For IMO, you cannot acquire all that you hope for,..acquiring all that you hope for is social and governmental propaganda,...work for the American dream and you'll be happy. You cannot seek hope, and wish for truth realization, at the same time. You see,...fantasy TV of bad guys having great spiritual power is nonsense,...great power arises from letting go of expectations,....expectation = hope. A positive desire or wish is greater than self,... it is an intentional invocation to allow Spirit to flow. Hope and the desire for things to be other than they are, arise from memory,ordinary knowledge, the Five Skandhas,... Memories or ordinary knowledge can not manifest truth,..they are nothing more than CONDITIONS repeating themselfs. A positive desire or wish arises from the Heart of ones Essence. The motive of one conscious of positive desire or wishing, is always that the subject arrive at its own harmonium. An old acquaintance, John Davies, use to say, the universe rearranges itself to accomodate our picture of reality. It, the universe, observes, through the Nature of Spirit, that is, the Law of Frequency, what we are fascinated with, and then brings us more of it. If we are fascinated with diversions, then Spirit will bring us more diversions. If we are fascinated with seeking, then Spirit will bring us more to seek. For the nature of the Law of Frequency is not "seek and you will find",...that's like saying joy is experienced through the need for joy,...seeking only precipatates more seeking, and the perception of lack precipitates more perceived lack. Suppose if we are fascinated with what we don't have, then Spirit will bring us more of what we perceive we don't have. However, if we are fascinated with the love that we are, then those beliefs which cloak that love will have to dissolve, for we cannot look in a mirror with a smile and get anything other then a smile reflected in return. The universe rearranges itself to bring us more of those things, on a frequency level, which we are fascinated with. Our frequency signature interaction works much the same on a complex levels as a simple ones. For example, if you have a single element and view it through a spectrograph, it has a particular frequency, its spectrographic signature. If we add several other various elements to the spectrographs field of vision, and continue to observe the original element, we will see that it attracts to itself, in quality and quanity, that which it is giving off. So, if we have a core emotional/belief issue in our lives, then on a subconscious level, we are broadcasting a "fascination", the core issue, and thus are attracting to ourselfs reflections/mirrors of that issue,...why,...so we can see it. And once we see it, it effortlessly dissolves and is no longer a belief/veil that obscures the real us; and our joy. 　

In dream yoga, you enter the clear light of sleep, and from there you enter a dream. Basically the same thing as wake initiated lucid dreaming, although its combined with transmission of course.

It would be a lucid dream.

What Buddha found, is that dukkha is a consequence of the desire for things to be other than then are,...the 6 senses cannot see things as they are,...and thus most people think the dream is real. To understand things as they really are, one must use a consciousness beyond sentient awareness.

Words are funny things. Most make up their own meanings to attach to words,...I generally use a dictionary,...but at times, the majority seems to contradict those definitions. To me, being means to exist, existence. Exist means to stand alone. As no phemomena stands alone, I assume that no phenomena exists or has being. And, as there are no conditions in the Unconditional, there is no being in the Unconditional either. To me, the term human beings describes a dream state, where similiar drempt objects delusionally interact with each other,...sort of playing a game of separation, although such separation never occurred. But yes,...I do not understand how you see the term being,...nor why you believe it is not a condition.

My non-ego I, the Self beyond sentience, is fully uninterested in ego,...ego is only a problem for those soley attached to their sentience. To be only aware of sensory consciousness (seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, thinking), one cannot understand the world that surrounds them,...only the world that surrounded them. Way too much emphesis is put on ego. Just let it go. It's merely a by-product of the dream state. It cannot be killed,...because it doesn't really exist.

Being,...is a condition. Being is not Suchness, nor the way things are. Being arises from a dream. Of course, those enamoured by the dream, think (condition within sentient consciousness) that the dream is real. Neither Buddha nor Lao Tzu said the dream was real.

altered states are extremely influenced by semen retention for me. If i ejaculate before bed i just wont dream that night at all

What evidence is there to say Buddha / Siddhartha ever reached "enlightenment" Who ever said enlightenment actually exists haha May just be chasing another dream?

Gnosticism, the original form of Christianity, arose from a Greco-Egyptian philosophical fusion, as mentioned above. Gnosticism was an important part of the neo-Christian construct. Gnosis was not an outgrowth of neo-Christianity, as revisionists suggest. Today’s Christian persuasions are a product of Gnostic Christianity, not the other way around. We could say that Christianity was built on the DNA of Gnosticism. This neo-Christian fabrication from Gnosis and Krst, from gnowledge and the Anointed One, can also be substantiated through the Book of Enoch, from which over a hundred phrases were introduced into the New Testament. Enoch was written before 170 BCE, and several Aramaic copies were purportedly found among the Dead Sea fragments of the Gnostic gospels from Qumran. These Gnostics, from the time of the Julian clan of emperors, maintained that Christ was not a man in human form, as claimed in the gospels, but an individual goal of an initiate to realize a Christ Consciousness, the Logos. The word Christos, referring to an "awakened one," crept into Greek subculture during the fifth century BCE, and this word can be found in the works of classical writers, such as Aeschylus and Herodotus, the father of history. The Logos represents a mystical rebirth without sexual union, an awakening to a reality beyond duality, a palingenesis from the dream of perception. Duality is inherently a sexual reality, in which consciousness is fragmented. Christ Consciousness is an unfragmented consciousness, in which there is neither hope nor fear. The Jesus as defined in the gospels could not have been a Christ. Jesus the Nazarite (not of Nazareth or Galilee) is probably the same Jesus whose sayings were collected by Didymos Judas Thomas in the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas. This Gnostic or cardio-centric gospel of "secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke" appears to have been compiled in response to Paul’s new cerebro-centric religion. Both the Gospel of Thomas and the Epistles of Paul predate the canonical gospels by at least a generation. Christianity isn't a thing one can understand through sound-bites,...a quote here or a quote there,...but as the whole of all information, whose only rational conclusion is that Christianity is 95% fabrication. All the evidence, when considered as a whole, point to Christianity as a refashioning of Gnostic mythology into a religion that advocated slavery, dependency, ignorance, and submissive obedience. This new religion was never a threat to Rome, but rather, it was one through which its adherents, servants of Rome’s ruling class, were morally obligated to suffer meekly what Caesar wished or, as Titus 2:9 says, to please their masters in all things. Christianity is a pro-Roman religion. Did not Paul say that Roman magistrates were only a threat to evildoers or that the man who rebels against his master is opposing God’s will? What Roman would want to persecute the philosophy that said that tax collectors are God’s ministers (Romans 13:6)? It was the Jewish zealots and Gnostic Christians who threatened Rome, not the anti-Gnostic Paulines and neo-Christians.

I don't think any credible scholar would say Jesus did not exist,...although all stories of his divinity have been shown to be fiction. Like most fiction, it arises for a reason. For example, the fanciful story of Mason Weems, invented after the death of George Washington, about George Washington and the cherry tree. Weems fabricated this story to broaden the character of America’s first president and to make him seem more appealing. The Jesus Christ myth was interwoven from many sources, including the Egypto-Greek Sarapis, whose devotees, according to Hadrian, called themselves Christians and bishops of Christ. Sarapians had temples in most of the major cities of the time, including Alexandria, Rome, and even Bithynia, where Pliny the Younger was governor at the beginning of the second century CE. Under Trajan (who was married to Pompeia Piso), Hadrian was governor of Syria. As every Bible hobbyist should know, as per Matthew 4:24, Jesus’ fame was said to reach throughout all of Syria, yet the evidence shows that no one there knew Jesus’ followers as Christians until well into the second century. Why was that? Gnosticism, the original form of Christianity, arose from a Greco-Egyptian philosophical fusion, as mentioned above. Gnosticism was an important part of the neo-Christian construct. Gnosis was not an outgrowth of neo-Christianity, as revisionists suggest. Today’s Christian persuasions are a product of Gnostic Christianity, not the other way around. We could say that Christianity was built on the DNA of Gnosticism. This neo-Christian fabrication from Gnosis and Krst, from gnowledge and the Anointed One, can also be substantiated through the Book of Enoch, from which over a hundred phrases were introduced into the New Testament. Enoch was written before 170 BCE, and several Aramaic copies were purportedly found among the Dead Sea fragments of the Gnostic gospels from Qumran. These Gnostics, from the time of the Julian clan of emperors, maintained that Christ was not a man in human form, as claimed in the gospels, but an individual goal of an initiate to realize a Christ Consciousness, the Logos. The Logos represents a mystical rebirth without sexual union, an awakening to a reality beyond duality, a palingenesis from the dream of perception. Duality is inherently a sexual reality, in which consciousness is fragmented. Christ Consciousness is an unfragmented consciousness, in which there is neither hope nor fear. The Jesus as defined in the gospels could not have been a Christ. Neither Paul nor his followers could grasp gnosis, that is, to gnow themselves through the heart of essence. Like many today, frozen in their conceptual experiences, Paul needed a more physical, hope-driven, fear-based path. The ignorant respond to hope and fear. Thus, from the expectations infused through the Pauline church, the concept of a personified Christ grew and entered the groupthink of the anti-Gnostic Paulines and those, like the Roman aristocrats, who wished to exploit it. Before 95 CE, when history suggests that Apollonius died and rose from the dead, there is no mention of a personified Christ or the four gospels. There is no known contemporary scriptural record of the life and times of Jesus/Yeshua. For neo-Christians, so fond of quoting Bible babble, what wasn’t said in the first century that which is curiously missing, is as interesting as the fabrications and contradictions of what was said then. For example, in the writings of Clement Romanus, the Pauline bishop of Rome circa 95 CE, there is not even a tinge of gospel references. Yet Luke 1:1–2 specifically implies that many eyewitness followers had already been writing. Adding to the intrigue, Clement, whom Tertullian and Jerome suggest was the direct successor of Peter, was also said to be a Flavian, that is, a relative of the men who were then the emperors of the Rome. Sciolistic Christians vaunt that the historian Josephus, in two remarks that have been taken out of context, verifies that Jesus/Yeshua existed. Today, however, even conservative scholars agree that those quotations from chapters 18 and 20 of the Jewish Antiquities, a history of the Jews, were later Christian interpolations. Such conclusions are consistent with Origen, an ante-Nicene father, who in the third century CE indicated that such a declaration from Josephus of a Jesus Christ did not exist in his copy of the Jewish Antiquities. Furthermore, no one else before the fourth century CE ever mentioned such an important reference from this often-cited source. Another claim by neo-Christians as to Jesus Christ’s historicity comes fromTacitus’ Annals 15.44, the comment of how Emperor Nero persecuted Christians after Rome’s fire of 64 CE was actually about Gnostic Christians, worshipers of Sarapis, not followers of Jesus or Paul. It was these Christians, the original Christians, whom the author of the second-century Gospel of Matthew called false Christians. Neo-Christians appropriated the name Christianity, as they lifted terms from most of the cultures that they absorbed. In his letter to the Consul Servianus, Hadrian (71–138 CE), who was the governor of Syria under Trajan, called the Sarapian leaders "bishops of Christ." Up until the beginning of the Second Century, the Egypto-Greek Sarapians, including those in Syria, called themselves Christians and bishops of Christ. As you will read, there was no reason for Rome to kill the followers of Paul and the Gospels which arose from Mark. Considering a set of all knowledge for that period, not a single Jewish, Roman, or Greek historian, scribe, or writer mentions before 95 CE the Jesus Christ depicted in the gospels. There are no artifacts, no works of carpentry, and no physical evidence that a Jesus Christ ever existed. For such a famous person, professed to have been known far and wide, it is notable that there is not a single word of him from Pliny the Elder, Seneca, Gaius Petronius, the Syrian Mara, Philo Judaeus, Pausanias (who traveled throughout Syria), Theon of Smyrna, Thallus of Samaria, Silius (Consul of Asia Minor), or the Syrian-born Lucianus. However, the word scribe(s) is mentioned at least sixty-six times in the New Testament. Thus, repeatedly, what was not mentioned says much regarding the history of the invention of present-day Christianity. For instance, why was the capital of Galilee, Sepphoris, known as the ornament of Galilee, just four miles down the hill from the archeological site of Nazareth, not alluded to in the Gospels, although they all mention Nazareth? Could it be that the authors of the gospels were unaware that the city existed because Rome leveled it during the Jewish Revolt of 66–71 CE, some forty years after the Talmud’s Jesus was hanged for sedition? It is unlikely that Nazarites lived in Galilee, but were instead Jerusalemites. V

just finished dream yoga by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche and have had deepening dream experiences based on the practices. They take time to exact their full effect, but lately i have been having more vivid dreams which are easily memorable. Also of note, dreams within dreams which yielded insight into what i was dreaming about, and last nights dream of a weeklong meditation retreat (all 7 days of it). The exercises are very simple and work with the energy of A and thigle and the unconditioned mind, so if you practice with those energies or with guruyoga to Samantabhadra or any dzogchen practice, its just a matter of incorporating your practice into your bedtime routine. just received and now reading: The Cycle of Day and Night, also by Norbu RInpoche

Although I think I described the created world of 3 dimension + time as being like a bubble in the infinite waters of the Nun, more correctly I should have pointed out that even this world is permeated by those waters. If you tear aside the veil of appearance, of perceived form beyond this you will see voidity (= Nun). Just as if you dig in ground you will find water so the Egyptians understood that existence was permeated by non-existence. The Duat is like a way into, through and back from the waters which are inside normally perceived reality. It is like a hidden dimension inside everything. Nowadays we are taught to dismiss inner experience (like a dream or vision) as 'subjective' somehow not real. But to the Egyptians dreams , visions and so on were access to the hidden realm. So not just on death but in dreams and so on this was access to the Duat in varying degrees. For instance you could say a dream is uncontrolled access, lucid dreaming more controlled access, shamanic ecstatic states would be a kind of bodily access, after death the same, even meditation is like a very small and very controlled movement into the duat dimension if you like. To the Egyptians just as the earth (gross level) is real, the sky (subtle level) is real so to is the Duat. Different rules may apply but they are all real. In any tradition which talks of an underworld or other world ... this is the same thing as the Duat. Actually if I had to make an equation it would be more like astral body (literally star body) = ba, etheric body = ka. However I don't like doing this because I find the terms like astral body to be inexact and not properly defined. The ba is a specific term which can be properly defined and used ... with a bit of work you can say exactly what it is. While the astral body is not as far as I am aware and is just a loose functional term which means different things to different people. I think it may have been Crowley who deliberately cut the silver chord to show that it was just a mental projection ... it was there because people believed it should be, or had been told it was there ... it wasn't essential or 'real'in that sense. If you want a proper explanation of the shade I have to do it in context of the body, ba, ka and so on so I'll try to write a bit more. By the way there are also a few more parts of being like the name "Ren" which I haven't mentioned yet. Set is an interesting god. In early times he was seen as an equal but opposite equivalent to Horus .. rather yin/yang int heir duality. But in later times because of his role in the murder of Osiris he became vilified as a kind of politically correct thinking crept into Egyptian ideas. So he became kind of unmentionable ... almost like a Satan. This is unfortunate because the earlier understanding is 'better'. Set performed an essential role in the overthrow of Apep. This is because his attribute is the 'blind' application of power or energy. Like when you stop worrying about the do's and don'ts and niceties and think I'm just going to do this thing. Pushing through obstacles to get where you need to go. Horus on the other hand, like an overseeing eye sees all the aspects of situation holistically, all the pro and cons of action, the possible results and so on ... you can see that this might be inhibiting to spontaneous action sometimes. So sometimes you have to just say damn the consequences I'm going to do it. Close your eyes and pray I'm not saying this is what those gods are in the sense of a definition I am just pointing to the worldly consequences of their 'existence'. Set is an advantage at certain times. So when faced with overwhelming odds for instance, Set is your man (god). But the by-product of the application fo Setian power is ... random ... is unpredictable ... confusion ... like a storm. Thus Set is the god of desert storms. So a lot of the time you would favour Horus which allows you to see each situation holistically but then at other times Set is needed. An example would be a situation which is dominated by an established hierarchy ... one which worked in the past but is now defunct. It would be appropriate in this circumstance to be iconoclastically Setian tearing down the old order .. but there would be a need to recognise that the resulting chaos would have to be addressed.

Through my understanding of it, God is represented in Buddhism when you look at the definiton of the Buddha. The Buddha being the man himself, the teachings (dharma), and that which we awake to. That which we awake to is that we are all the the Buddha. To explore the concept a little more one can look at the form of thought that comes up time and time again in the stories of peoples' near death experiences. It is said that the Buddha smiles upon us in our time of death and relieves us of our suffering. Christian beliefs reflect this as it is believed one meets their maker after death. Some Buddhist schools believe that there are thirty two levels of consciousness. The categorization of the layers go as following: the world of five sense, the world of pure form, the formless world (infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, neither consciousness nor unconciousness) and finally the world/realm. To explore the god concept and lack thereof, one must look to the world of pure form. In this layer, one is only able to see, hear, and think. Like in a dream, you are not able to see yourself as if you were simply a central point from which the world is percieved. I don't know whether this is at the uppermost layer of pure form before crossing into the next, but regardless, one sees the "Buddha". The German philosopher Max Weber, says that God is man's need for a father figure. I agree but would respond to Weber that, if one is in need of a motherly figure or a friend, the buddha becomes just that. Your mother, your father, your closest friend, someone you look up to or your relatives; whoever you need comfort from in that space of pure light or whoever you wish to comfort. Many will still be caught up in some wrong doing or another form of unworthiness of self. Through the accute understanding of the bad situations we are put into or born, innocence in ignorance, and forgiveness from the Buddha and the persons "he" becomes, one finds solace in the feeling of being forgiven/worthy. The buddha comforts you by becoming that figure in your life (sight) that you trust to help ground you and build trust. The Buddha comforts you with words through that familiar voice (sound), and basically the Buddha's prescence "who" also uses non-verbal communication/understanding (thought). God, in a way, is a comforting medium between jumping into the scary thought of being all alone at the end of it. So you see, God/Buddha is a reflection of your own self mimicking and reacting to your own thoughts and needs producing the image that you create. There are two ways of practice in Buddhism. Devotionalism (similar to Christianity) where the Buddha is prayed to and the focus of your devotion, and the second where the goal is to become the Buddha. There is a direct correlation between the process of ones suffering lessening as the need for comfort through familiar faces and voices calms into contentment as one learns of the true nature of oneself. Through the help of your own inner ability to come to the truth on your own along with the confirmation of thought by the Buddha before you (the same thing), the visuals and sounds subside and you can move on to a higher/inner level of consciousness through realizing the truth of one's self being that you are the Buddha. This is why Buddhists are fine with saying that there is and isn't a god, and the reason for why there is a diversity of answers to that question depending on who you talk to and where you are at in your own consciousness. Many Buddhist scholars (with an absence of holding them above) would say no, there is no God. I personally agree that this is ultimately true since the Buddha's prescence is in a middle layer of consciousness (world of pure form) both beneath the ultimate destination and above the world of the five senses we are so use to. For the sake of diversity with the help of an understanding of the layer concept, I think that the answer varies throughout the process of the raising of ones consciousness. I hold this belief of both God and no god because I believe what you hold only gets in the way of fulfilling this process of moving on in consciousness to the formless world nearer to nirvana/Tai Chi.

I have been doing this for years. email correspondence with various cultivators. First time actually displaying it publicly though. I do like the idea that "The Learner", Michael, has, so in respect to him and his compassion in opening such a forum, here I go ***I wont take on this project for only one month. Once you start with me, I am made available any time. Consider my doors open till I am done with this lifetime. i will generally post the categories of practice, and then who ever feels a connection, just pm me a question (email me: [email protected]) a specific thing you wish to practice, and I will be more than happy to offer anything I can. Just know that somethings have specific requirements, and I will not teach the method if those requirements honestly can not be kept. Unless I am given the ok by the bearers of the method...hahahahahahahahaha Buddhist Educational Cultivation: Sutras, Chan, Pure Land, Mantras, 42 hands and Eyes (But have a requirement, as a safeguard ) Visualizations, Dream Practices, Ghost/Spirit/Demon subduing (this will require lots of specific responsibilities, so if one is really ready for that, be my guest, but don't feel frustrated if the requirements are too much to handle. There is a reason for such things ), Rebirth in Pure Land methods for helping living beings move on, and or transferring merit and virtue to assist them in their lives. Standing, sitting, lying and walking practices (In the exact ideas of QIgong, except not too focused on the progression but the application of mind. Oh, and very much needing the body. ) Daoist Spiritual Practices: Standing, sitting, lying, and walking practices. Meditation, "Energy Work" (just a coined term, nothing new-agey) Qigong practices (just ask what you seek, and I will conjure up the teachings ) "Shen-Gong" (not spirit or ghost, or demonic, or even godly possession) This means that one will be given practices which enable them to go deeper into their mind, utilizing movement and stillness of body and mind practices, focused on learning from wholesome sources, and awakening to their inherent wisdom. These wholesome sources are either Dharma-Protectors, Wholesome and Pure Minded Immortals, Gods, Bodhisattva and or Buddhas (which would be very hardcore high level stuff). You would not be possessed by anything, only guided in mind according to what you can understand, and conceive of that is possible. And NO, you will not be walking on water, flying or burning things with your mind, energy or whatnots...hahahaha (God knows I have been asked that question millions of times. Hey, if you end up learning how to do it, hahaha be my guest.) various practices in both Buddhist and Daoist schools (for I don't see their difference ) : This means practices both in "sealing" a room, or expanse of land, for protection from various ghosts, spirits and demons, clearing a space, recognizing ghost, spirit and demonic influences in and around oneself; or in others. How to clear away such "negative" influences, utilizing the character 佛 for sealing, and clearing. Also in the above categories, methods on healing utlizing Qigong methods for both you and on the sick and dying. Basically a method of Hands on Healing, not Reiki, not the new-agey fluffy stuff either. Just simple practices to get one started in this manner of lifestyle, and practice. I know it seems a lot, but its not. I just feel that going into detail may not only clear up the ideas of what I do, but also help those who are interested, get an idea of what they may be looking for. Who knows what else I have in my bag 'o tricks here. Peace and Blessings! Enjoy! Lin

No no no. In these cases, one's own wisdom takes the form of deities, Pure Lands etc., especially in a lucid dream environment where clarity is 7 times higher.

I'm never really sure what New Age is, quite a few of the things people call New Age practices are actually very old and traditional. For what works I read recently about some Dairy farms which were not performing very well so they brought in what would be called a New Age healer who did a number of adjustments including things like strengthening Ley Lines in the farm, psychic clearing, earth acupuncture etc and apparently by the end of the Summer their milk contained its highest ever protein content and the milk fat was so rich that could include butter in their line of products for a first time. Even if a lot of this stuff is just using the power of basic intent it can be quite powerful I think, or maybe it can allow you to dream a better dream even if it doesn't lead you to escaping from the dream altogether like some other paths try to achieve.

Hi again, I have painstakingly refrained from ejaculation for the last two weeks in an effort to accumulate vast quantities of body heat so I can study its effects on different bodily areas. I am frankly disappointed at the results thus far. Sending heat to the neck, chest, abdomen, and limbs produces no effects whatsoever, and heat to the pelvis possibly increases erection quality but it's probably placebo. I don't need to mention again the negtive effects of heat in the head. I don't think it's because I can't produce enough heat, in fact I managed to create so much that it almost burns, and there is a swirling vortex wherever I concentrate the most. Most of the heat I produce within the torso is along what you might call the front and back channels that are the constituents of the so called microcosmic orbit. There is one important area that I have not explored however, and that is the central channel which runs from the bottom in the perineam to the very top of the head. So my question for today is, what is the easiest way for me to enter the central channel so that I can formally investigate its functions? Is there a way to use the heat that I create as a portal to entry? I've already tried heating up the perineum and then sending heat upward from there, but that doesn't work. Now before anyone says that's way too advanced for a one trick pony like me who doesn't even know how to meditate or do any yoga poses, I will say that I have actually entered this channel several times before, but never consciously and intentionally. It always occurs randomly every few weeks within the context of a lucid dream. One moment I am in the middle of a dream, the next I feel an electrical steam starting from the perineum going upward, and I see lots of bright multi-coloured lights and swirls, and when it gets high enough I get a strange and difficult to describe whole-body-trembling-electrical-tunnel cloud effect. So I know that I can enter the central channel somehow; the switch is somewhere, but I don't know how to consciously pull it off when I'm actually awake. Any ideas? Thanks again.