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That is a most interesting subject. Yes, life is a dream,...but, does one dream it? Or are they being drempt? Suppose you dream of someone,...who are they? Are they dreaming a dream? Inside your dream? Is it really true that you're off to dream a dream within a dream. If the 5 skandhas are not real,...and the perception of dreaming arises from the 5 skandhas, ....what is true?
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off to dream a dream... that is the truth.
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Thanks PythagoreanFL! Interesting. I have other questions about how 'heart energy' can be dangerous to others. And what about directing it to its source (which is complicated, I think because where is the actual source?) The green light, yes 'seen' it (internally during pre-sleep or as part of a dream). It's definitely a visual experience. I have some subjective experiences of 'telepathy' that could be confused with just knowing what a given person tends to do. A 'hunch'. Not so clear cut.
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Therein lies your attachment to dukkha,...Gore's quote in the context of my post was quite valid,...but instead of addressing the quote, you attack Gore. IMO that qualifies as neurosis. I use collage. A collage uses various existing forms, and refigures them into a new picture, not in the same context as the originals were intended. I do this several reasons,...such as, to keep VMarco removed from the focus of the dialogue, which unfortunately only works with prudent posters,...to more readily observe neurotic posters, that is those who attack the character of the person who is attributed to the quote used in the collage,...and also to identify other neurotic folks who despise the use of quotes because to them they suggest the poster is not an accomplished individualist. As to the other part,...to me, all scientific explanations are just so much faith-based idiocy. First,...a truth cannot be realized through the 6 senses. To me, Buddhism, that is, the prajnaparamita Buddhism I practice, is very specific about that. Thus, I could type out many truths right here, and none will be realized as truth. The only way to realize a truth, is to see things as they are. That is the Noble Truth of Buddha,....Dukkha is a consequence of the desire for things to be other than they are. Everything seen with the 6 senses alone, are other than the way things are. So, people who see the world as other than it is, cling to various faiths to make their perceived lives appear more palatable. In Buddhism, the 6 senses are called the 6 Consciousness'. Buddhism discusses a 7th and 8th Consciousness. However, faith cannot cross the threshold to those higher consciousness', because they are beyond the attachment to the lower 6 consciousness', of which faith is part. When a truth is uncovered, there is a also a disrobing of that which had obscured the truth. It is the nature of bodhicitta. It isn't the same as faith-driven scientic theories that must be continually reviewed. For most, truth and reality have little value in everyday life. The majority merely desire dependable descriptions of an objective world that they consider intelligible. The wisdom and reality that arise from certainty would undermine the survival of their object-based beliefs and conceptual imagery. Few seem to realize that those considered priests of the scientific method have neither uncovered nor explained truth. That is not their job. Scientists have little interest in truth or reality, for their paychecks are derived from the pursuit of facts about objects. Science builds its theorems or working hypotheses upon previous beliefs, and therefore it often labels any discussion of absolute certainty as absurd. For example, to say that there is no "present in time" is antithetical to scientific established beliefs. Truth and reality confuse the priests of the scientific method. Their paradigm, or fixed set of beliefs, is founded on concepts of a materially existing world; that is, sciential theorems, not the sapiential truth or the reality beyond objects. Scientists, like most others who are uninterested in truth, are as characters within a dream who think that the dream is real. As truth and reality are taboo in the scientific groupthink, they cling to a faith in objects, to make the dream and their attachment to separateness more palatable. As the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Charles Townes said, "Many people don't realize that science basically involves assumptions and faith." ć
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Hehehe. Well, as Vmarco has stated, you are never living in the present because by the time you recognize what happened in the present it is already the past. And you can't live in the future cause it ain't here yet. The past is written in stone so you can't go back. Yeah, maybe we all are just someone's dream? If that be so, I think the dreamer has a psychological problem.
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Well,....as infinity is merely a mathematically term conjured up to make beliefs more palatable, you should probably let go of that fear. As I mentioned before,...most people fail to recognize that the foundation of a mathematical statement is only true in relation to the assumptions of "set theory," the assumption that any collection of objects actually exists. All objects, without exception, are indeed mathematical. The reason for that lies in the multiplying/dividing nature of the optically organized universe. However, the modern cosmological understanding of the universe suggests that no objects exist, indicating that mathematics pivots on a misguided belief in materialism. The sciences usually expound on relative reality through the assumption that object-ive reality actually exists. However, objectivism is based on objects, and those objects are no more real than last nightās dream. Infinity is another voguish belief topic among the object-ive minded. Theories of infinite space, time, and quantity are just more object-ive math. Definitions of infinity are related or relative to the concept of immeasurability in space, time, or quantity. However, if there is no space, time, or quantity, as implied by quantum cosmology, then there is no infinity. In contrast, the word eternity points to that which is without beginning or end, timelessness beyond the perception of space, time, and quantity. Recognizing the difference between infinity and eternity is inevitable for those shifting towards an earnest spiritual viewpoint and subsequently a clearer understanding of consciousness. Time and eternity are contradictions. A belief in time perpetuates the dream as a dream. Eternity points to a timeless present in which the dream is just a dream and does not actually exist. Eternity is not a lie,...however, it lies only in the present. Wei Wu Wei said, "Phenomenally, we can know no present, as it must be in the āpastā before our senses can complete the process of recording it, leaving only a suppositional past and future; noumenally, there is no question of āpastā or āfuture,ā but only a presence that knows neither ātimeā nor āspace.ā " There is no Present in Time. There is no phenomena beyond time.
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Some thoughts on the effects of solitude and living more humbly
raimonio replied to skydog's topic in General Discussion
If I could meditate more than 1hour a day I would be doing this, if not now, then after my studies. It is my dream to go on a long lenght solitude and do nothing but meditate. I believe it would be a very powerful tool, like someone mentioned here. On the other hand I have had ages in my life, when I was really depressed and was all alone, in those kind of cases it destroys your psyche whether you like it or not. So I guess if it is planned and the person is ready, then it can be a bliss, but if not, then not -
I'd suggest that the Tao disagrees. Wholeness is beyond the sum of opposites,..beyond all the illusory building blocks. The sum total of all the building blocks, is the same as of positives added to all negative. As such,...there is no infinity. Infinity is another voguish belief topic among the object-ive minded. Theories of infinite space, time, and quantity are just more object-ive math. Definitions of infinity are related or relative to the concept of immeasurability in space, time, or quantity. However, if there is no space, time, or quantity, as implied by quantum cosmology, then there is no infinity. In contrast, the word eternity points to that which is without beginning or end, timelessness beyond the perception of space, time, and quantity. Recognizing the difference between infinity and eternity is inevitable for those shifting towards an earnest spiritual viewpoint and subsequently a clearer understanding of consciousness. Time and eternity are contradictions. A belief in time perpetuates the dream as a dream. Eternity points to a timeless present in which the dream is just a dream and does not actually exist. Scientists are persistent in their search for object-ive facts regarding the existence that they perceive. For example, they peer deeper and deeper into the universe, looking for the precise moment of some theoretical cataclysmic event that they call the Big Bang. Because of their object-ive viewpoint of cause and effect, there must have been a Big Bang. This search is like an attempt to remove the paint from my illustrations, thinking that if they could find the first brush stroke, this would somehow disclose the essence of the painter.
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Some thoughts on the effects of solitude and living more humbly
zanshin replied to skydog's topic in General Discussion
I think if I could be out in a beautiful natural setting and have a few things to putter around and maybe create art with, some extended simple time in solitude would be living a dream. -
I haven't done astral travel. I'd like to experience it. Isn't that part of reason why we're here: to experience? I did some lucid dream before. I wonder if atral travel is similar. In lucid dreams, you can change stuff at will. I wonder if astral travel is similar.
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edit>i do sincerely wish you luck and i hope that fate and destiny are kind to you. i respect your choice , whichever way you decide to go. i am only suggesting you dont have to give up your dream
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I just read The Attention Revolution, by Alan Wallace. It's a great book on the stages and practice of shamatha; how it ties into the path; the relation between shamatha and vipassanna; the basics of lucid dreaming or dream yoga, and also touches on things like the 4 immeasurables. It's mainly focused on 3 techniques: anapana, resting the mind in the natural state, and awareness of awareness. Wallace suggests moving through these increasingly subtle practices as you advance, and goes into detail on adjustments you can make along the way. But the information can be easily applied to any shamatha method, and in particular Wallace explains how to use anapana through all the stages by focusing on nimittas then counterpart signs as they appear. Highly recommended!
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Did the Dalai Lama use a Siddhi power on this scientist?
Tibetan_Ice replied to Jetsun's topic in Buddhist Discussion
"The other unusual experience I had was almost a hallucination" Ekman continued "We were in the conference room and there were other people waiting for their chance to talk to you. I had this visual impression that Eve and I and you were encapsulated. Looking out into the room was like looking at the world through the wrong end of binoculars. Although people were quite close, maybe four feet away, it appeared to me as if they were hundreds of feet away" "Sometimes you actually experience that kind of vision - distant vision" the Dalai Lama replied "As a scientist, I do not know how to explain it. But that does not mean it is not susceptible to scientific explanation. I just do not know where to start." Hi Jetsun, I'm very glad that you posted that story. I'm glad because I have had some experiences exactly like that and now I'm thinking that they are significant. Three or four years ago I had been meditating at work. I usually spent my morning 20 minute breaks in the enclosed phone booth. At that time I was also doing Kunlun and was having some extraordinay visions of the land of ocean, sun and sky. Anyway, the meditation session ended and I got up and started to walk back to my desk. I noticed that I was not where I usually was. Instead of being me in the center of my head, the point of awareness of me was about 4 feet behind my body. I was looking at my body, at the surroundings through a kind of large tunnel. I was in this kind of space and the 'world' was out there. It was like looking through the wrong end of binoculars all right.. The effect lasted for about 1/2 an hour. At the time I couldn't understand what was happening. I thought that I had fallen asleep and that I was really sleep walking. I remember sitting in my office, typing, being active, but just watching myself from behind my body. At the time I was very glad that the effect wore off after 1/2 hour. Last summer in the park where there are beautiful trails, I was practicing an Eckhart Tolle practice, that of changing your perceptual focal point every 1/2 second.. The teaching is that when you first look at a 'new' object, it takes the conceptual mind a second or two to analyze it and kick it. If you change the object of attention before the conceptual mind has a chance to kick in, then you are effectively remaining in non-conceptual awareness for as long as you keep moving your gaze. I was walking along the trail and I was moving my eyes every 1/2 second, looking at different points on the trees, on the ground, in the bushes. Not fixating, not giving the conceptual mind enough time to grasp... I did this for about 15 minutes on my walk back to the car. I remember that towards the end of the 15 minutes, the scenery seemed much clearer and brighter. I love the trees, the trails, the flowers, the greenery, so this practice was also opening my heart quite a bit. Then I went shopping. When I walked into the supermarket, all of a sudden the whole scene seemed like a dream. It is like I receded into this vast open space and the normal surroundings ( the grocery aisles, the produce etc) were appearing like I was looking at a dream from 50 feet away through a large tunnel. I thought that I was going crazy or had become mentally unglued.. I fought with myself for a while to get back into reality and the dream-like-haze went away after a few minutes. I had shopping to do, and then-and-there was not a good time to have some kind of mental haze attack or bout of conscious sleep walking.. It actually scared me quite a bit. Well, now I realize that by walking in the woods, not fixating on anything, changing my gaze every 1/2 second, I had succeeded in precipitating a state of rigpa/awareness which must be what manifested about 10 minutes later as I entered the supermarket.. I have had more than a handful of such experiences. I've always thought that they were some kind of halucination or mental state of conscious sleep.. I've never given them much attention.. Now I'm thinking that they are more significant than I originally thought. The story about the scientist has made me re-evaluate my experiences. Perhaps this is the realization of emptiness? That life is really just a dream? TI -
Yup--- textual glitch. "On" position is with the pinky "down".... think british tea-hands. Maintaining some tension in the pinkies is ideal --- not necessarily trying to fall asleep (unless your aim is a dream practice). Light awareness / transitional-state. Placing yourself in that slightly-upright position is supposed to encourage some wakefulness (but, in spite of my best intentions, I generally find myself just nodding off...... ). I prefer seated. best. balance.
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You think you're going, great. It is an anarchists dream. No money (cept for drinks in the main tent), no corporate logos, extreme self sufficiency in an extreme climate balanced by a gift economy and the ideal every one participates and everyone should find there art or passion. <mine was hanging out in bars and a defunct body outline project that failed early> Burning Man burn out. It hits a lot of people. For the Big Burn I came a day or two late and left a day early, still caught the big burn of course. But 2 of the 3 trailers that made up my impromptu group left earlier. You want to see it all, do it all, there so much energy in the place its very easy to melt down. People stay up 40 or 50 hours then collapse. Its the freakin desert 100 degrees w/ the wind blowing burning alkaline dust and all you want to do is see more and more. What saves you is slowing down, finding a bar or class, planting your feet and shooting the shit. Its okay not to see everything, try to get some rest, stay hydrated, always have a cup w/ you <I use a drinking horn>. Bring quality ear plugs, eye shades and very importantly a cheap bike; Black Rock City is just too big, hot and dusty to walk everywhere. It could be a 4 or 5 mile hike to get to The Man, The Temple, the Art sections, your favorite watering holes; you'll need wheels- a cheap expendable no speed. Sadly a tiny combo chain, its not that it'll be stolen, but it may be borrowed for a long periods. Burn out happens at the smaller regionals too. Camping isn't easy, I generally don't like it. Loud and exciting people cut both ways too. If you <or any bum> are going, let me know. We can set up some way to meet. M.
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if a bum goes to pp section and the topics are all locked, then where else would bum respond if saw fit? extreme poverty in the cities apparently really sucks but in the countryside of life , it aint so bad, really. it is a bit of a challenge some days but everyone else is also extremely poverty stricken and so the country folk have found ways to be resourceful and clever and mostly take great joy in helping others out. this sorta thing happens in my neck of the woods daily, nightly, in the morning too. and we never ever ever ever never ever never would ever ever dream of letting go of our dreams. never.
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Some Vedanta traps I've come across....
amoyaan replied to ą„Dominicusą„'s topic in Hindu Discussion
Hey D Yup I'd agree with that. Mind doesn't know how to process the nonlinear stuff. Yeah, in my post I wasn't specifically referring to you or anyone in particular. Just some general reflections. It seems to me that you have had or have genuine realisation of the Self. I just wanted to clarify some points on vedanta as there were a few misconceptions about vedanta. and I felt I could do this here as it is a vedanta forum. If it had been another I may not have said That's not really the point I wanted to make. On an absolute level that statement is correct but it's a neo advaita copout if that's basically all Sailor Bob tells us (I don't really know him, I think he's a neo though?). Obviously there are things you can do to purify the mind and enable yourself to 'gain' Self realisation...which isn't really a gain, but more of a change of our default settings I guess. True vedanta has an entire arsenal of tools to enable us to make this shift. Yes! Again the neos don't tell us this, because their satsangs might get a lot quieter, but in order to GET this, we need to be 'qualified'. Obviously the mind needs to be relatively stable and pure to be able to assimilate the teaching and make the shift. Shankara outlined the four main qualifications necessary for really assimilating Self knowledge: discrimination, dispassion, discipline and desire for Realisation. These are the qualities necessary for ripeness. i guess they are the difference between someone who seeks enlightenment for decades but can't seem to get it (must lack one or more of the four D's!) and those who can listen to a single talk and just 'click'! All true vedanta teachers emphasise the necessary for be fully prepared in order to assimilate the teaching. Yeah there are definitely things you need to do to 'ripen' yourself. Koans are good - zen is an amazing tradition and works amazingly for many people. Vedanta offers sadhana, spiritual practise to prepare the mind - karma yoga/letting go of the fruits of our actions, bkhati yoga/devotion, meditation, etc. These are not direct means to realisation, but indirect. They whip the mind into shape, into a suitably pure and receptive mode in which we can practise jnana/knowledge yoga/self inquiry and process our inquiry. Neo advaita generally ignores this necessary prerequisite and tells us no practises are necessary, trying to offer 'enlightenment for lazy people'. I've never met anyone that's worked for! The Neos are lazy. They don't have a complete teaching. They just cherry pick elements of jnana yoga and pass that off as all we need. Clearly it isn't, unless the person is already highly qualified and has a very pure, still, dispassionate and discriminating mind. That's very rare in our crazy culture. You say 'that's it' like it's nothing special at all. It's pretty fcking amazing! I haven't got to the state where Self knowledge is completely abiding, I dip in and out (still some vaasnas to work out!!), but when I'm grounded in t completely transforms everything...in that you are no longer bound by anything in this world. It's a sense of freedom and fearlessness. It's just the start of the journey. Of that I am certain... I guess it really depends what perspective we take, This whole topic is extremely subtle, expansive, multi-dimensional. It's hard to discuss also, because a statement that is true from one perspective may be untrue from another, but that doesn't negate the truth of it. I feel it's a contradiction saying there's the Absolute and 'not the Absolute' because that would mean the Absolute isn't absolute. Maybe it's wording and semantics. I think of it as the Absolute and the apparent reality/apparent separation/apparent world/maya/etc. It's not *not* the Absolute, but it appears to be lol Excellent. I've had periods of depression and whatnot...sensitive, emotional guy...through it all awareness shines. It outlasts everything. The mundaka upanishad astounds me with it's simple but mind-shattering realisation. The person we think we are with its problems and emotions and desires and fears doesn't even last a full 24 hours. It recedes into a dream self with entirely diff problems and emotions and circumstances. And then that self recedes into pure unconscious consciousness. Awareness (what I think you mean as the observer) ties together these ephemeral selves like the string connecting pearls. Only in this case the pearls are made out of the string, all one substance. It's crazy...beautiful... -
just finished reading this for the first time http://www.archives.gov/press/exhibits/dream-speech.pdf, and was reflecting on what we take for granted today.
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I said, "Those who point to the highest levels of compassion have already exceeded the limits of relative compassion." How you interpreted that as "Claiming that people who talk about the idea of "true compassion" are above common compassion" is incredible. If you read the context of why that reply was being giving, it may have afforded a better comprehension,...although unlikely. If there is no absolute truth (a common response by those who cling to their personal truth for their identity), then the absolute truth would be absolutely nothing, and thus an absolute truth. Factually speaking, truth is a frightening thing for most. After the realization of a single truth, a Canadian said: "Waking up is not necessarily pleasant; you get to see why all this time, you chose to sleep. When you wake up the first thing you will see is Reality does not exist for you, you exist for it. Shocking as it is when you let it in, there is rest. You do not have to labor anymore to hold together a reality that does not exist; forcing something to be real that is not real. You and this life you have been living are not real .. In letting it in, even through the shock... pain... shattering, there is rest. Reality is when all you want to know is what is true ...just so that you can let it in and be true. Reality is not a safe place for you - the you that you have created. It is the only place where you would die; where there is no room for your hopes, your dreams. Once you have let it in, once you begin to re-awaken; to let Reality wake you up, nothing can get it out. That is the beginning of your end. Waking up can be much more painful than the agony of your dream, but waking up is real." If you ever get to that level of uncovering, let me know. I'm not a teacher or guru,...I have no desire to help you along your path. As for compassion,...you can invent all the feelings you wish to make it more palatable for your beliefs,...however, if you ever wish to understand compassion as a Bodhisattva, I'd recommend the 'Heart Attack Sutra' by Karl Brunnholzl.
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Some Vedanta traps I've come across....
Tibetan_Ice replied to ą„Dominicusą„'s topic in Hindu Discussion
Hi DLF It sounds like you have had some interesting experiences too. I see no distinction between experiences and knowledge. Knowledge is gained through experience. Insight. In my opinion, you cannot know something without experiencing it. It sounds to me that Swartz has told you not to seek the experiences, but seek the knowledge? Isn't that the neo-advaita trap? Just intellectually understanding that we are one doesn't cut it. Just understanding that there is nothing wrong with right now unless we think about it, as Sailor Bob says, is only part of the equation. You have to experience it to know it. Perhaps you could explain how Swartz supports the acquisition of knowledge, if not through experience.. Perhaps you could try this little experiment. Construct a simple thought in your head and then look squarely at it, into it's essence. Notice that you 'know' the thought. Follow that aspect of "knowing" the thought back into the part of you that knows. Do not assess the thought by using other thoughts. As you examine the thought, you might see a golden kind of light, a clarity and luminosity. Follow that light.. Follow it down, down.. You will see, it goes directly to the heart space. This practice is not so easy to do. It had taken me weeks of meditation/investigation and clearing of that particular pathway to the heart in order to ascertain a direct link between "knowing" and the heart space.. The problem with the term 'enlightenment' is that everyone has their own definition of it. Whenever I've read most neo-advaitan writing, I've always thought the term enlightenment had been redefined, watered down to the point where enlightenment was just a state of awareness, easily obtained by anyone who could simply 'let go'. First, most neo-advaitans separate the siddhis away from our natural state as something that is not desirable, nor any indication of achievement. Most Neo_advaitans never talk about healing others, reading minds, walking through walls etc.. To them, enlightenment is simply understanding that they are awareness, or so it would seem. Granted, siddhis can be developed on their own and have been for hundreds of years by hundreds/thousands of people. However, the powers or siddhis, which are part of the enlightenment process in my definition of the term 'enlightenment' arise because of the true understanding of reality. In my own words, it goes like this. In a dream, you can do anything you want. You can fly, walk through walls, shapeshift into a horse, manifest objects,, you can do anything you'd like. Normal life is also a dream, it is not real, just like a dream. If you truly understood that, had real knowledge of that, then the same extraordinary things you can do in a dream can also be done in this reality. However, I am not alone in my beliefs and definitions. Have you ever studied any of the Buddhist teachings? Ever hear of rainbow body?, Milerepa, Naropa, etc.. Dzogchen, Mahamudra teachings? link: http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhism/A%20-%20Tibetan%20Buddhism/Authors/Gampopa/Mahamudra%20-%20The%20Very%20Essence%20of%20Mind/Mahamudra%20-%20The%20Very%20Essence%20Of%20Mind%20-%20By%20Gampopa.htm So, if you don't want to believe all that and stay with your definition of enlightenment, that is fine with me. It's just not for me. If someone volunteers themselves to be a teacher, to claim to be enlightened and to be able to show others how to become enlightened, then I have the right to assess the person, his/her teachings and gather as much information as I possibly can in order to help me with my decision. It is my right to judge, assess, examine critically, sense, evaluate and form opinions. I know it is hard when somebody else says that the person you idolize, whom you have been following and looking up to as the "real thing" is not the real thing, or has their doubts. Let me ask you these questions: How much money have you spent during your communications with Swartz? Has he ever visited you in the astral planes (like Ramana did for several people)? Has he ever given you shaktipat or sent you energy/bliss remotely? What exactly has he shown you that brought you a step closer to enlightenment? Buddha is said to have 'awoken' some people in the span of one or two weeks. How long have you been associating with Swartz? If you don't want to answer these questions, that is fine with me. I'm not interested in arguing or belabouring these points much. All the best.. TI -
Blockages between the Third Eye point and the Throat point
CrunchyChocolate555 posted a topic in General Discussion
Hey everyone! I have been having a lot of fun opening up my microcosmic orbit, which has helped immensely with dealing with some kundalini stuff that flared up recently. I've been having a particularly bothersome area that I am finding it difficult to deal with, as there don't seem to be any "points" located here. I am talking about the area directly above your top palate, where the tongue touches, reaching up to the brain. Also, the tongue itself, the tendon beneth the tongue, the salivary glands, as well as the entire area extending from the tongue to the throat point (if you put your index underneath your tongue, and your thumb under your chin and squeeze, this is the worst area for me). The blockages I have here are so intense, that I have been having vivid dreams about them being removed. One involving myself somehow breaking my teeth and pulling my brain out through my mouth, and being unable to place it back in, and another dream involving me making out with this super cute girl, and her "sucking out" the stuck energy. Yeah, it's that bad! I noticed that this particular area, especially the tongue and below, is shock full of lymph nodes, so I've been just generally massaging the heck out of it as much as I can. I've also been seeing an acupuncturist to help out, but it's still not improving much. But I post here to know if you guys have any other suggestions! Any ideas are most welcome. Thank you. -
The field effect and the burden of responsibility for our thoughts and emotions
Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan replied to Audiohealing's topic in Daoist Discussion
Never easy to let go of fear and simply observe; nightmare, dream, bliss or terror.... Never easy. -
Times are different, it isn't easy to just go off and dedicate your life to cultivation like it once was. I was just reading about a guy who was just about to go into a traditional Buddhist three year retreat and had a freak out about his life how he was giving up a good career and some of the best years of his life to sit and do nothing, but the reality is on the Buddhist path at least there has to be a giving up of mundane life and renunciation of trying to attain happiness or fulfilment through it, so if you want to attain meditative realisations to match the conceptual understandings you have gained you will most probably have to do a number of long retreats in your life,or at least one three year retreat to get to the depth in your meditation. Those who say otherwise haven't studied the lives of previous masters, there are exceptions but the majority of masters go on long retreats sometimes 10-15 years or more. But that is the Buddhist path, there are other paths, the Fourth Way for example is meant to be conducted in mundane life and around people as your fuel, which is what attracted it to me because I have always known it will be very difficult for me to take many years out of my life to go into retreat so I was looking for another way and it is meant to be possible to walk it while satisfying your duties as a householder. And according to Liu I Ming there are Taoist paths which can be walked within cities and within normal mundane life. But another method someone else mentioned is to develop your dreaming ability and become highly developed in dream Yoga, then including waking meditation time you could be practising over ten hours a day while still going to work, which is probably more than many people in retreat practice.
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That won't work for me, I am not interested in arguing or debating why this is the case. My dream will remain a hobby, and career will have front seat. This is currently the case anyway, so there will be no net change. My other option is taking a part time job, and being homeless living out of a vehicle. However I don't think this is such a smart move.
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Looking for Neverland (me too) > I have nothing to say... except this of course... One way... Ive found to..gain more time for practice and study is to have a super green/fruit water diet... not eat too much... sleep much less. What I am working on is... OBE to gain even more time during that sleep... so maybe I can turn 6 odd hours into a week... or a year...or a lifetime... I have read accounts of such... who knows? ... well I have noticed ... some dreams seem to feel like..maybe a day has passed... but only 1/2 hr or so... I think the dream state is powerful place to work if you can get control of it... which I have at times (its possible) I have willfully meditated in a lucid dream before I can't see why you wouldn't be able to practice cultivation while dreaming? ... another way is to find a way to study + work at the same time maybe audio books etc? if the job allows. or music/ mantras you find... I have read accounts of (i'll try find them later)... working people reaching enlightenment (whatever that is)... one of a kitchen hand in a monastry (who wasn't allowed to become a monk) another of a stone worker carving mantras/+ other temple things. hmmm Best of Luck