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The Instructions on the Six Lamps translated by Jean Luc Achard The Jew in the Lotus - Rodger Kamenetz Cultivating the Empty Field - Hongzhi Zhengue Tibetan Dream Yoga - Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche Guidance for Living and Dying: Bardo Teaching from the Bön Mother Tantra - Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche And I just finished the first fiction I've read in a long time - The Martian by Andy Weir It was quite compelling and technical, a nice interlude.

Thank you. This is helpfull. Sometimes I follow the wrong ones, and they just last, but don't grow, other lead me to dream like state, and sometimes I did follow other sensations in my head like pulsation between my eyebrows, like she said it this quote. Today I noticed something new. After about 40 minutes of breath meditation I've started to have strong lights, tried to stabilize them and after a while my body and sense of will become paralyzed. Something like Sleep paralysis. I was aware of everything around but withouth moving or control of my body. There were even fireworks explosions near and it was like nothing. I could not move, and could not have will to move. But it was okay. The good nimittas just explode, I'm just not familliar with it yet, and I stop it cause of fear, but each time I go further. Funy thing - when I did not know what good nimita is I had more of them, now, when I know, they are harder to reach

"Either my life will improve or it will end" I'd say this is a misinformed idea: For instance if one's present physical life ends while having a hellish, unresolved like mindset then the energy of that will continue or arise in another and whatever resultant form per any self-destructive LoA actions - that is until work is done for resolution, for there is no checking out of one's state or place with threats to the "universe". (period) Further, a "not to be" part of an old saying is an impossible dream, for no one "slips out the back jack" without facing whatever needs to be faced - sooner or later... btw, a 'later' and unfortunate result that has fewer or lost opportunities makes for a tougher game and even harder work like crawling on one's belly over broken glass for miles while being pounded on with a sledge hammer just in order to reach a clean strip of dirt and grass and hopefully catch a break, for in that case when said strip of dirt and grass is finally reached it would give joy and rest for which one's heartfelt thanks would pour out to the previously hated and wrongly misjudged universe! (edit: some sentence clean up)

I wonder if this is similar to tha nazi mantauk experiments. They basically had a man who would go into a deep dream state and then would follow instructions that they gave him. It basically went, fly up to the sky, find an elevator, take the elevator down to the bottom-most floor. Then he would get out of the elevator and enter a "room." From this room he could do a lot of different things. He would lift weights, and also emerge himself into a hot tub-like bath to heal himself. His physical body on the outside would get stronger from the lifting and his body would also heal at an incredible rate from the hot bath.

Speaking of the latter, I dreamt this morning I was fvcking some chick. I don't remember if I came or not in my dream, but normally this would have resulted in a wet dream. But this time, I awoke before it was quite over with a hard-on, of course...but was surprisingly relieved to find no goo! Somehow, I had avoided dropping a load of jing in my shorts this time! This was a first, and now I'm curious to see why and if I can keep it up.. Has anyone else been able to retain during "wet dreams?"

Sr.Psicoplasma -- that's a very cool report back on DMT. Qigong master Chunyi Lin says it's always best to face water when meditating. From experience I realized that this really meant to face YIN ENERGY -- and the female is actually a stronger source of yin energy. haha. That's the source of the kundalini -- the electrochemical energy -- which powers the lift off of the pineal gland shen (light spirit). Last night I went to sleep pretty tired around 2:30 but without even trying the DMT kicked in again -- it was like a switch in my pineal gland -- and this electric current went through my body breaking through energy blockages with this orgasmic bliss. I thought -- wow this is so cool and finally I feel asleep. Again I had this really vivid dream which was as real as being awake. I was sitting with people and I was describing how my glasses were all bent -- they were wondering why. I couldn't remember -- I said I took something. They seem puzzled. I thought and thought and then I said -- oh yeah I took DMT. And then I woke up -- the thinking had produced self-awareness in my dream -- the DMT reality.

The descent and ascent of the soul is a concept that goes back to Plato and to the Mithraic mysteries and later became a part of Hermetics and Neoplatonism. Among others, the Roman Macrobius explained it in his "Commentary on the Dream of Scipio" as the soul descending from the intersection of the Milky Way with the Zodiac. http://www.academia.edu/1536305/PLATOS_COSMIC_X_Heavenly_Gates_at_the_Celestial_Crossroads_Proceedings_of_SEAC_2012_Conference_Slovene_Anthropological_Society_Ljubljana_2013_" In Macrobius' description, prior to physical incarnation, the soul gradually acquires a "light body" along with human personality characteristics as it descends through the planetary spheres down to Earth. After a physical incarnation has ended, it ascends and sheds the different layers of this "light body" (which is synonymous with the astral vehicle) as it returns to the stellar/Divine world. I think that the shedding of the subtle body could be what is meant by the so-called "second death" - whereas the immortal essence, soul or monad goes on. A related belief is shared by various shamanistic cultures, where the ancestors are thought of as abiding in macrocosmic stellar regions whence they are able to bestow their beneficial influence on their living relatives via a good harvest etc. Interestingly, related concepts of the soul's astral sojourns can also be found in the works of modern metaphysicists like Edgar Cayce, Rudolf Steiner and E. H. Bailey. http://www.amazon.com/Prenatal-Epoch-E-H-Bailey/dp/1933303247/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418856361&sr=8-1&keywords=prenatal+epoch From my perspective, the question may really be how far that which we think of as our personality can follow on the soul's journey back to its source - which depends on how conscious the personality during its physical existence was or became of the extended landscape of its psyche and to what level the "light body" has been activated, respectively. Thus the endeavours to build up a "diamond body" in Tibetan Buddhism, or to construct "Solomon's Temple" internally in an Occidental esoteric tradition. Chinese Alchemists may employ methods of Qigong to this end which they also regard as a kind of immortality (albeit not physical).

I sense that my continuing to add stories to this rather ad hoc collection may well be coming to end soon. I still wait until over a hundred people have read a new entry before I add another. But as soon as that reading stops, I stop as well. I simply notice that the interest is falling away, as anyone would normally expect once the novelty wears off. But for today anyway, there’s a new one. I’m actually still in the process of reading this particular book. It’s by an actress that I've seen a number of times on television, (but was never particularly impressed by one way or the other), called Rebecca Front. But her familiar face on the book’s cover attracted my curiosity, and aptly enough, it’s a collection of anecdotes of her life entitled, “Curious.” In the extract below she weaves together an intriguing television interview of Maggie Thatcher that she saw, (a Youtube link to which I've added after the end of this excerpt) – along with some unusual and insightful ideas on peer pressure,… plus a number of incidents from her own life. All these ingredients the author blends together with such finesse that in the end, I think the final result is absolutely irresistible. * * * The End of the Peer Show When Margaret Thatcher died, amid all the eulogising and demonising, a small curiosity began doing the rounds of the social networking sites. It was a video clip from an interview the Baroness had given, after her retirement from public office, to a Scandinavian broadcaster. The journalist conducting the interview, having come to the end of the serious stuff, was left with just the quirky, off-the-wall, ‘And finally … ' question, meant to lighten the mood and show a softer, more cuddly side to her subjects. ‘All the people that I interview,' she began in her nearly flawless English, 'I ask them to do something for me.' And you could tell from the awkward, beseeching lean towards Mrs Thatcher that she knew this was going to be a long shot. 'It's a kind of gimmick on my show and it's ... to make a jump ... just to stand up and make a jump up in the air.' Before she could elaborate any further on this concept, the Iron Lady was bringing down the shutter. 'I shouldn't dream of doing that,' she replied. The interviewer gamely pressed on, laughing an increasingly high-pitched, nervous laugh at every one of Mrs Thatcher's flat refusals, while admitting that they'd had a bet in the office beforehand and she'd told them this was never going to happen. The former Prime Minister was adamant, immoveable, true to her formidable reputation. She said it was silly, puerile. Why on earth would she do it ? 'Gorbachev did it,' the journalist ventured. It was a brave attempt, but a stupid one. Mrs Thatcher gave her a withering look. 'You amaze me,' she said, bristling with schoolmistressy disapproval. 'I wonder what he thought of the politics of a free society if that's what they ask you to do.' The interviewer gave it one last go, explaining that many people found it fun, a chance to show a different side of themselves. 'I'll tell you what it shows: it shows that you want to be thought to be normal or popular,' countered Mrs Thatcher. And that, unmistakeably, was that. I think the reason so many people liked this little snippet was that it reinforced the lack of humour they had long suspected of their erstwhile leader. A jump, a little jump. What possible harm could it do? Some people really need to lighten up. The problem for me watching it, as someone who resolutely disliked what Mrs Thatcher stood for, was that I couldn't help applauding what in this instance she wouldn't stand for, what she was never in a million years going to stand for - to leap around in an asinine manner on a chat show. The very intransigence that I'd always found so alarming, so mystifying, so unsympathetic, was in this instance something I could only respect. A jump is not a chance to show a different side to yourself; it's a chance for a TV producer to show that they've got one over on you. 'Even once-mighty people will jump when I tell them to,' the producer can declare, 'for I am Oz the great and powerful and nobody wants to look like a party pooper on camera.' When my children were small, I spent a great deal of time and energy warning them about peer pressure. It seemed to me that the roots of many of life's problems lay here – in the desire to fit in. So l would diligently explain to them that nobody could make you do a dare, for instance, or try a cigarette or take drugs, and that being different wasn't the same as being unpopular. In my own childhood, I had seen how the need to fit in had made people do things they were uncomfortable about, even ashamed of. It seemed to me then, and it still does, that you could place most of the ills that afflict young people (bullying, gangs, the sexualisation of young girls to name just a few) squarely at the door of our pathetic desire to be accepted. So surely, if we could tackle that at its source, if one of the first things we taught our kids was not just to say 'no’, but to say it forcefully and with a smile on their faces - 'no, that's a stupid idea, why on earth would anyone do that ?' - then perhaps a whole lot of misery could be avoided. But of course it's not that simple. Peer pressure is endemic in our culture. Take the Mexican wave, for example. Come on, indulge me a little. I know where I'm going with this. When my son was about seven, I took him to see his favourite band play at a huge arena. In the hiatus between the support group finishing and the main act arriving on stage, somebody on the other side of this cavernous space decided that we, the audience, should become one. We had to bond, we had to abandon our individuality, break down the invisible barriers between us, and become a cheering, stomping, amorphous, music-loving mass. One by one, then row by row, block by block, thousands of once-proud, inhibited, easily embarrassed English people leapt to their feet, arched their backs, threw up their arms in a near-orgasmic gesture of submission and shouted 'Woah'. I saw it coming towards us with a threatening and unstoppable momentum, and so did my son. 'Oh cool,' he exclaimed. 'Oh shit,' I muttered. 'Can we join in?' he asked, delightedly. 'We'll probably have to,' I replied, grimly, and then not wanting to sound like a killjoy, I added unconvincingly 'which is great.' For me, the Mexican wave was a symbol of oppression, a metaphor for the mindless subservience of the herd, the very definition of a futile gesture. Here was my chance to make a point, to put the case for individuality. Right here, right now, I could teach my son that we all speak with our own voice; that even if the rest of your gang are racist or sexist or homophobic or smoking crack, it's OK to go against the tide, to sit down and be counted. You are not just part of a greater 'Them', you are and always will be 'You', my son. He, however, was poised on the edge of his seat, desperate to join in with something greater than he had ever known. He wanted to be part of the machine, and worse, he badly wanted me to be too. The wave was, by now, hurtling towards us. What would I do ? I joined in. Of course I did. I'm not a total arse. It was, after all, a Mexican wave, not the Cultural Revolution. The only lesson my refusal would realistically have taught him was that his mother took herself too seriously. He was happy, I was momentarily embarrassed - neither of us lost our identity. But the Mexican wave was just the beginning. At the other side of the auditorium, the crowd had started doing the moves to 'YMCA’. People will do the most ludicrous things if they think it'll be more embarrassing not to. Go up to one person in that audience on their own and ask them to leap to their feet and shout 'Whoa', and I guarantee they wouldn't do it. We don't mind being a bit 'crazy' as long as everybody else is being 'crazy’, because then it doesn't seem ... well, crazy. In fact it would be crazier not to. A Mexican wave is as harmless as it is pointless, of course, but it is in its way a mass movement, and like all mass movements, to join in with it is an abdication of both responsibility and power. Because, there are only two ways you can have power in this scenario - if you're the one who starts the movement or if you're the one who stops it. Most people, as Mrs Thatcher said, will join in in order to be thought 'normal and popular'. Audience participation relies on just this sort of peer pressure, which is why I hate it so much. I've seen it from both sides: as a performer - demanding, expecting, relying on audience members to behave in a certain way - and as a punter desperately hoping not to be picked on. So I understand how the dynamic works. The performer is 99 per cent confident that whoever they select will do what they want them to do, just for the sake of a quiet life and not falling foul of the herd. But trust me, if you decide not to join in, you are the one with the power. Now I admit, it sounds pathetic even to think of it in those terms, but when you sit in an audience, you very often don't want to be singled out. And yet when you are, it can feel like you have no choice but to go along with it. Picking on members of the audience - however amusingly and inventively done - is ultimately the recourse of someone short of ideas. I apologise to my comedian friends for saying that, especially since some of them are quite spectacularly good at this spontaneous interaction - and if the audience members involved are happy with that, then great. But the performers need you more than you need them, and if you refuse to join in, you expose this. It's a mean trick, sure, but then so is dragging some poor sucker up on stage and humiliating them. I discovered this during a comedy show at the Edinburgh Festival. I'd just come off stage from my own show and was tired and hungry, so not in the most receptive of moods. But I'd heard great things about this particular comedian, so I thought I should try to catch him. A short while into his act, he announced that for the next section he was going to need a member of the audience. I desperately didn't want to be picked - after all, I'd done my performing for the night, going back on stage would have been something of a busman's holiday. So I lowered my head and tried to avoid eye contact as the comedian went from table to table weighing up his prey. Finally, of course, he picked on me. 'You’ll do,' he said, and I knew I was supposed to give a weary look of resignation and follow him onto the stage. But I really didn't want to, so I smiled and shook my head. 'Come on, on your feet,' he said. It seemed a fait accompli. The audience was already applauding me. And that, I realised, is what makes people do it: your whole peer group, relieved that it's you and not them, is willing you to obey orders, partly so that the show can go on, but also to make damn sure he doesn't change his mind and pick on them. I knew it would be easier to play along, but the more pressurised I felt, the less inclined I was to do it. I'd come to watch a show not to be in one. With as charming a tone as I could muster, I said, ‘No thanks. You'd better ask someone else.' But he wouldn't move on. It had become a power struggle between us. I hadn't sought it, but I certainly wasn't going to cave in. He had one more tactic up his sleeve. My shoulder bag was strung over the back of my seat, and he suddenly grabbed it and ran up to the stage. He threw it towards the curtain at the back and then, returning to centre-stage, said triumphantly: 'That'll get her up here.’ It had an odd effect on the audience, some laughing and applauding, but others audibly gasping, tutting and siding with me. He was right, though. I had to go up on stage now. So I did. I walked past the comic, retrieved my bag and went to sit back down with it. But as I passed him he tried to get it off me again. We tussled in this undignified fashion for longer than we should have done. I think we'd sort of forgotten about the show; we were now just two strangers having a fight in public. Eventually, and without really knowing what I was doing, I whacked him hard on the arm with my bag. He looked genuinely stunned, let go of the strap and I walked back to my seat to a round of applause. It was a pyrrhic victory. I'd ended up part of the show after all, looking far more ridiculous than I would have done if I'd just played along. But his refusal to let me just sit and watch had become a kind of bullying, and my not giving way felt pathetically like a win. The odd thing about this whole episode is that I'm someone who obeys rules. I don't have a rebellious nature. But I have to believe that the rules are there for a purpose, that they've been imposed by someone who broadly has my best interests at heart. To do something I'm told to do purely because it will make me look like an idiot offends even my eagerness to comply. It's the Mexican wave problem all over again - a seemingly harmless bit of nonsense with faintly sinister overtones. I can't be the only who worries about these things, and it makes me wonder if we shouldn't all routinely refuse to do stuff that society tells us to do, just for the practice. I'm not suggesting we break laws; heaven forbid. Little acts of rebellion – wearing odd socks, red wine with fish, milky Earl Grey - might just be enough one day to save us from tyranny. Take it too far though, and you risk cutting off your nose to spite your face. I could give you a long list of things I have refused to experience - plays I've deliberately missed, films I've eschewed, books I've spurned and on and on - for no better reason than that everyone else was reading it, watching it, doing it, banging on about it, and I refused to bow to the pressure. It includes seeing Les Miserables, taking drugs, skiing, eating bacon sandwiches, buying a motorbike, having sex on a first date, reading The Lord of The Rings, listening to Van Morrison and squash (the game, not the fruit drink). It was this very resistance to peer pressure that stopped me getting my ears pierced as a teenager … well, that and a faint suspicion that making holes in bits of flesh that didn't originally have them was a flawed idea. For years and years, I proudly flaunted my unmutilated lobes, preferring instead to suffer all day from the unique dragging pain caused by clip-ons. But then, when my daughter - as a result of peer pressure, I might point out - got her ears pierced without any fuss at all, I decided to give it a go. I was forty-five and it made me feel young again. It's a toss-up now what I'll try next - sex on a first date is tricky when you're married, but more appealing than reading The Lord of The Rings. Maybe I'll opt for squash. Refusing to go with the majority for the sake of being different can be every bit as mindless as following with ovine conformity. Somewhere between Mrs Thatcher's refusal to be 'normal' and jumping off a cliff because your friends tell you to, there's probably a healthy attitude. In an ideal world, we would all take decisions for ourselves, based on the best available information, and without feeling the need either to join in or stand alone. This is not, alas, an ideal world. I recently went for a walk in the country with my family. It had been unseasonably rainy, so the route was muddy and, in places, impassable. I was following along at the back of the group, whistling a little tune to myself in the manner of Winnie-the-Pooh, when we reached a swamp where there had previously been a field. My son weighed up the situation and decided on the best place for us to cross. 'It's not too deep here, but I'd do it fast if I were you" he called over his shoulder, and bounded, gazelle-like across the deep mud. Phil followed, perhaps more stag-like than gazelle, but still pretty impressive. Then my daughter, dancing across like a young Leslie Caron. I stopped and looked around me. I had a feeling this might not be the best place. It looked pretty deep to me, and we'd passed somewhere further back that seemed altogether more sensible. But they'd all done it and I didn't want to seem like a wuss. I stepped gingerly across, too slowly, allowing my weight to settle into the bog, contrary to my son's advice. By the time I reached the other side, my boots were squelching with a thick internal coating of mud and my trousers were soaked to the thigh. We carried on a little further and this time had to cross a stream. I was quite some way behind by now, not least because I was carrying within my footwear copious quantities of turf, but since Phil and the kids were in the distance, I could please myself. I decided I wasn't going to succumb to peer pressure. I'd failed to follow my instincts first time around, and look where it had got me. I found a place where I would be comfortable crossing, and carefully picked my way across the stream, feeling the water seeping through into my mud-filled boots. True, my trousers got wet all over again, but I didn't fall in and I felt pretty pleased with myself. I'd chosen an independent course and followed it. I caught up with the others. My daughter turned round and looked at my sodden legs. 'What happened?' she asked. It was then that I noticed her trousers were completely dry. 'There was a bridge just up to the right,' she explained. A bridge ? Why didn't somebody tell me ?' 'We just assumed you'd do what we were doing,' she said. 'You know, like a normal person would.' * * * Link to Swedish Interview :

Oh yes! So much like the Aboriginal viewpoint ! I agree. The underworld houses the peaceful dead, and others, until it fulminates again, regenerating the land and moving souls back into incarnation, where a new breath soul is bestowed to them. Their previous memories and learnings are stored deep in the recesses of its dreamlike nature... * " One day ... that big snake under the ground ... he gonna wake up ! His dream .... finished. All this < gestures out from the hill top to indicate the view .... thumps the rock we sit on ... points to himself ... leans over and touches me on the chest > ... finished ! " * I find that bit v.interesting. I read it somewhere, cant remember where .... Harpur ? ... someone like that. This concept about things being things being stored ... especially (in context of Aboriginal systems) ... " deep in the recesses of its dreamlike nature " ... or 'dreamtime' - the statement was that the traditions and mysteries cant be lost, they reside in this realm and can be reconnected to in the future. It is somewhat disheartening when great teachers die and no one follows on as their successor ... I felt very sad about that when Uncle Bill died "Me and Felix, only two left that know this stuff. The young ones, they arent really interested. We both be gone soon. Whose going to carry on?" So this gives me hope when I see the tradition and teachers dying all around me. But I have seen it in action. My last teacher knows so much, and I know it wasnt all taught to him by elders and in initiation ... I observe the difference and growth between visits .... I havent been able to ever ask him a question he didnt have a good , knowledgeable and insightful answer to ... right on the button .... I believe he is at a stage now where 'the earth itself' teaches him. ( years back, as a little girl, his mother didnt even know what a koala was, she saw one and thought it was a monkey escaped from a circus ... all that gained back in 1 generation ! That gives me some hope.

I'll look out for their presence bakeneko should they pay me a visit I once saw a shadow thing (kinda shapeless) on the wall as I awoke, I was having a dream and someone in my dream poked me between my clavicle and neck, as i awoke and looked to the wall on the side i felt poked this shadow was there, it then kinda whooshed behind the light on my wall. Was i seeing things? or could it be a feint sign of something like that in the mental plane? with your knowledge and the rest of the guys here can you comment on this experience? I would have liked to ask Rawn to give me a quick analysis or something, is he still around? I think I'm under control of emotions already though, well except 1 i guess Whats the magicians view on romantic love? I guess you're right, if it makes you happy why not do it. But why do some turn to the dark side though, why are they not happy with flowing with the tao?

I believe the concept of romantic love is a giant fallacy. When you are with some one you are attracted to on a core level the past and the future cease to exist and what you experience is the moment. Being in the moment is characterized as deep LOVE. But we as creatures of the mind link that the PERSON created that feeling of LOVE, but in truth it was simply being in the moment and its just one big misunderstanding. I've been heart broken, like everyone has here, enough times to realize that the sensation of heartbreak does not make sense which lead to my study of love. And honestly, I think its one big misunderstanding. Edited to add: A few years ago I woke up in the morning from a dream. It was delightful, in it there was a woman who I loved. I felt a deep core LOVE for her. It was unmistakable. And I thought, "Wow wouldn't it be great to have a girl who I can love like that." And it wasn't until later on in the day that I realized something huge.... Even though there was no one person to feel deep love towards I felt it towards that girl in my dream, unfortunately, (or fortunately) she does not exist! This means that LOVE comes from within! It has NOTHING to do with the other person. After realizing that I figured out how to live and feel in love without it being directed anywhere in particular, I could just feel it radiating within. At this time I came across something my mind was suddenly open to, "When purely in the moment you experience the sensation of love." Then it suddenly all made sense and this is why I live every day in overflowing love but do not particularly love some one directly. And when I meditate I feel an intensification of it as I sink into the present moment.

yes ... it is very interesting to hear things set out in this way, I can relate to a lot of it. I believe it becomes frustrated if not acknowledged and allowed some form of expression - it cant be shoved under the carpet, it will surface in anyway possible, for some as 'breakthroughs' in the material realm, or perhaps 'perceptions of' breakthroughs. I agree with Harpur on this point, the frustrated 'soul' will be source of all sorts of trouble; from depression, to 'loss of soul' (which a shaman may be able to 'find' and restore ) to .... well, you name it ! At risk of being pelted with fruit I feel to re-quote Liber Librae here: " strengthen and control the animal passions, discipline the emotions and the reason, nourish the Higher Aspirations." But I would suggest 'control' is best applied by subtle and agreeable techniques other than force or oppression. The breath soul, as you describe it , seems similar to my ; superego (morals, mores and taboos that are not present in 'dreamtime' ) feedback circuit ( by and from 'soul' - the imaginative desire function ) regulated by Mercury ( air, breath . pneuma ) . A lot of this has some correlations to the Australian Aboriginal stuff I have been learning and practicing. Some is quite different - mostly due to relationship with 'country' - one's born from, living in and dissolving back into environment (which is also the spirit world - no difference - knocks on table; 'spirit' ... not real ... 'dreaming' ) and the whole concept of 'dreaming / dreamtime ' ( they should never have translated this concept with this word 'dream' it is sorta close but misleading ) but I am seeing some interesting correlations here . .... sorry about the weird words and terminology ... one has to use them at times .... like 'fetch'

Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep by Tenzin Wangyai Ripoche Dream Yoga: The Practice of Lucid Dreaming as a Path to Enlightenment (Audio CD) by Tenzin Wangyai Ripoche Excellent!

This is an interesting question. One of the first things Bardon teaches is to bless a meal and eat consciously, using it as a symbol for fortifying yourself with a virtue. In other words his idea is to use it for transformation. A book recently came out called 'Self-Hypnosis Revolution' by a man named Forbes Robbins Blair -- who is also a practitioner. This expands the idea to include eating, drinking, walking, and any of about a hundred other daily activities. These can act as symbols for seeding your subconscious with self change. I mention that book because it really got results for me in terms of self-change, quick results. I've used it constantly over the last couple of months and I will probably do so for the rest of my life. The principle comes from the author's experience in dream interpretation. If taking a shower in a dream can represent cleansing negativity, then taking a physical shower can represent the same thing in a conscious manner. This is what Bardonists use meals for -- it's a kind of 'prayer' to fortify oneself. I was very surprised how well this worked as I'd played in that area for ages. This skyrocketted the results. http://www.amazon.com/Self-Hypnosis-Revolu...4008&sr=1-1 (Not a normal 'self-hypnosis' book since no trance is involved BTW). All best wishes, ~NeutralWire~

Well in some places I've read, they said that one ways to have an OBE is to start flying in a lucid dream, then fly up and up and up as high as you can go. So that to me sounds like lucid dreams are mostly you in your mind, but you can leave if you want. Set up a sign for yourself to kinda give you that "'ahh I m dreaming" message. What works for me is that as I go to "sleep" I'm aware that I am in bed, so if I find myself somewhere other than in bed it clicks " I m in bed, this isnt my bed so I must be dreaming" Another thing is to keep a journal of your dreams (or if you have good dream recall, you might not need this) and to familiarize yourself with common elements in your dreams. Like maybe buildings take on a physically impossible shape, you are unable to move when you want (or need) to, etc. As you notice these, the next time it happens you can use that as a hint, thinking, "oh yeah, I always have trouble walking in my dreams.... hey!"

Yes I have had it once.I falled asleep after a deep mantra meditation.It was unfortunatly very short.So much I would like to do,haha.It was like a dream but I was "awake " and could control the dream.Felt Like real time.I started doing anapanasati meditation right after and havent had it since

I imagine you would have to have a fairly calm mind to be able to lucid dream effectively. I sometimes wonder if I would freak out or not if I ever became lucid in a dream. I'm interested in the responses... it's a very fascinating topic!

Sifu Terry, Thanks for both replies. I tried the 2nd warm up ( 50-30-10) and then did " the sleeper" ever so slowly..the results were that the rest was better, the lucidity/control of my dreams was clearer. I was also aware of my surroundings to some degree, I believe. Everything is so subjective when I am like this it is impossible to be sure. I could be dreaming that I am aware of my surroundings while in the dream. (kind of like a hall of mirrors)....hard to put this kind of thing in words. I do have realizations and solve problems in this state, but unfortunately I am way to self centered to be able to solve any one else's. Plus they probably wouldn't want to hear it anyway. As far as the sense of heat request....hard to say. I tend to feel as if " intent" is the only thing moving during the form. ( I remember in the first warm up of the seated forms you alluding to something like this...so I try). Mostly lately, I feel calm, relaxed, and as if there is a blue flame around me. (after the meditations are complete) All for now...Please keep coming with the suggestions and the experiences. they are all very inspiring. the fool

Reconciling life and death, How do you do it? Be around it. In all that it is. As much as you can handle. Takes practice, you know, what one can handle? Life and death (which is the same. just as rain is ocean is tears is water. The same.) It's strange how so many people are so far removed from both? To hold a baby, to sit with a grandmother, be it a baby puppy or a cranky old man sitting an a bench, I think these things are important? Evan an hour a week, would bring so many folks into closer contact with Life. Take the time to be around it. See life coming into the world. Plant a garden and watch it grow, pull the weeds, enjoy the fruits, compost! lol feel the dirt under your fingernails! It's good you know? To be alive? To be a part of the cycles of life. How many people never have held a baby, fed it or changed a diaper. ... or pet the forehead of someone who may not see another sunrise. Become a volunteer at hospice. It's always so needed, there are so many who don't have anyone to sit with them. Life is dirty, we try to keep it clean and sterile, we buy our chicken wrapped in plastic and never see the life it was or bother to give thanks in any way? Find a farmer tell him you are interested in helping out if you could come "time". Get your hands dirty with life. Know it as intimately as your soul is able. As for folks that don't dream I know some who don't dream?(or so they say) They are as troubled by the questions of life as much as anyone else. I have some strange beliefs. I believe anyone who drives should be able to build a car (yet, i can't!) I also believe anyone who alive should know what it is that goes into keeping them alive. If you eat a chicken you should be able to know well the egg that was laid and hatched the chick that grew into this chicken and you should also know how it feels to break it's neck. This is your food it was alive. Grow lettuce. Or an apple tree. or make bread. Know what's involved for you to keep breathing. Don't be so disconnected that you think You are the only living thing on this planet Like so many seem to think or at least how they act. (my "you" in all this is a generic you and not intended to be directed at any individual by the way!) Enjoy life! Don't worry, It's a sure thing. We are going to be dead all to soon. Me. You. Every friend. Any enemy. Cat Dog and Bird. Mother, father, stranger, cousin. No matter how long, in the scheme of things, it's not so far away. Lot's a choices to be made within every moment. Chose wisely if you can, and love it as best as able. enjoy life while we can keep breathing. Such a complex simplicity? Thank you for asking and reminding Shonton Ga

I did read that post. It didn't help much. We know what dreams are - our mind playing games. When we wake up we are supposed to put the dreams aside and get on with our life. I have never wondered if I am a butterfly dreaming that I am Marblehead. One give-away is that butterflies don't smoke. What butterfly would dream of doing such a thing? The point I am trying to make, and it really is the only point I want to make regarding this section is that we must be able to discern between our dreams, illusions, and delusions and recognize what is really important in our life. Dreams are dreams. That's all. They are normally a very jumbled mess, just chemicals energizing various areas of our brain. To wonder if I am anything other than what I am is simply a waste of time and energy.

While that is true, it was only his dream, not the butterfly's. Nor would it have been true for anyone observing him while he was dreaming. Chuang Tzu never was a butterfly nor could he ever have been a butterfly.

Oh, no... No reincarnation in my Taoism, thanks! The ZZ is full of (seeming) contradictions. That should come as no surprise...? But it's not really a contradiction. To be different and to be the same -- this is the underlying reality. There must be a difference between me and a butterfly. But I don't know what it is. I know I'm me, because people tell me I am, and because I feel that I am. But when I dream about being a butterfly, I feel that I'm a butterfly. How do I know which is real? How do I know I'm not both? Maybe the difference isn't as clear as I thought it was. When we realize that we and the world around us are essentially the same, this is a realization of an aspect of Dao. This is the merging of one's 'reality' and 'other' -- not a literal physical merge, but a sense that one can't always differentiate. In Analects 论语, Xunzi 荀子, Liji 礼记, and others, 分 refers to "different" or "separate" or there being a difference. I haven't found an instance, in ctext or my other sources, of it meaning 缘分 http://ctext.org/pre-qin-and-han?searchu=%E6%9C%89%E5%88%86 Xunzi 人之生不能無群，群而無分則爭，爭則亂，亂則窮矣 Man cannot live without a group; to group and not separate (roles) causes conflict; conflict causes disorder, disorder causes exhaustion/poverty 故無分者，人之大害也；有分者，天下之本利也 So to not separate (roles) is of great harm; to separate is of benefit to all Not very Taoist, but that's hardly the point. Also, if he were talking of reincarnation, why talk of dreaming about being a butterfly? Why not more explicitly state that he thinks he was a butterfly in a past life? And, again, but with my translation this time: 知天樂者，其生也天行，其死也物化 "Those who know the joy of Heaven, in life they move with Heaven, and in death they merge (with all other things)" 化 originally meant death. Another form of returning to the root. It means that we merge with the earth. We fully realize the ultimate inseparability between us and the rest of existence. edit: by the way, you know.. I'm not set on it being 'merging', but am trying to defend the position as much as I can. I am pretty set on it not being about reincarnation, but if there's strong evidence to the contrary, I'll witness it...

I'd suggest to read 此之謂物化 more as "this speaks of the transformation of things" rather than "this is called transformation of things." If Zhuangzi can dream of being a butterfly and not even know that he isn't, then it shows how the mind can be in any body and experience life. Zhuangzi's mind can experience life from the perspective of a butterfly. This points to the essence of mind, imo, which exists in all things, everywhere, and so enables "transformation" as all things have essence of mind in no matter what form. They can transform from this to that, but the essence of mind does not change, and this is why they can be the same yet transformed. The water trigram (yang surrounded by yin) speaks of this, and perhaps was even being subtly referenced. Water can take any shape without losing its essential nature. The internal yang line is solid, while the external yin lines are flexible.

Interesting... I have met a dog headed man and his children in a lucid dream watering his front lawn... I said hello, my name is.... I am from Earth... I don't remember much else...

Dream bliss, I just wanted to say I love you.