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No, man. That's the point. Some people only saying their believes. Somebody who is learning FPCK under GMDW said that he was said by GMDW that there are 18 levels with 18 meds in each. So it is only 1/18 has been published. Another point that levels 1 and 2 might be enough for everything good in life like walking on the sky and flying far galaxies in no dream that's another case!

Hello, Well where do I start!? I flew over to China at the end of Feb this year having watched the videos on youtube of Jiang Shifu and seeing Grady's advertisement for the seminar online. I've practiced Chinese martial arts on and off since my early teens (more offs than ons!) having done most of my training in Taiji forms. I've also done a tiny bit of breathing and meditation during that time but as I've gotten older my interest and personal understanding in energy has become a big influence on my way of life and thinking. Many people thought I was a nutter going to central China to meet someone I'd met on a forum online to pay a few thousand dollars to start learning something I'd seen in a video on youtube. Who knows if they are for real? What might happen to me? Well, an inspiring, life-affirming, thought-changing, true friend-making, health changing, "electric-like" () experience is what I brought home with me. I got what I went for and a hell of a lot more. The displays of "Fa Gong" were incredible. I can't add much more to what has already been said but it's not everyday you see/ feel this kind of power. The experiences I did not expect were the empowerment and a demonstration given by Jiang Shifu. These left me speechless to say the least. Another huge highlight of this trip was the medicine. Watching the diagnosis and the treatment of so many patients was unreal. The medicine I took seemed to have an incredible effect on my body. If you ever attend these seminars, I cannot stress how important it is that you take the medicine recommended if you need it. Expensive? Maybe, depending on your view. Personally I think nothing on this trip was expensive relative to what it is. It was such an honour to attend the opening of the hospital. I felt that I was witnessing the start of something truly special in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Along with my friends representing America and Canada. Jiang Shifu has got to be one of the most inspiring, incredible people in the world. Immense power driven by nothing but compassion. What a dream for him and this family to realize. I thank him for his kindness, his patience, and humility. A truly awe-inspiring master. I wish him all the best in the running of the hospital and hope to meet him and the family in the Yellow Mountains again soon. Of course, none of this was possible without the wonderful Grady. Reliable, straight forward, kind. Grady is an excellent teacher. The "risk" I took in going over to China is nothing compared to the sacrifice he has made to pursue this knowledge in a land so far from his home. In my opinion, you will not get this knowledge anywhere else in the English language, in a western format, for such a reasonable amount of money. You just won't. Thank you Grady for everything you have done and are continuing to do. I didn't think I would make such good friends during the trip and have so much banter. Grady and the boys have known each other for years but took me in and treated me like a younger brother. From Mangoes to medicine. I will never forget ten of the most amazing days of my life. And I hope to return again soon. I hope this helps with some insight into the China seminars. Much Love x

I've been here and I'm just on my way back out. Make of it what you will, but from what I've learnt, there is no time-frame for achieving Enlightenment and we all still have a duty on this planet! You can use medatative practice in everyday life...you can easliy follow your dream if it is for you and still work towards enlightenment. If you lose yourself, you will withdraw. Withdrawing from community is a misinterpretation of the non-self...it will lead to emptiness (the bad kind) ... lonliness. No one likes that

also try smiling from the heart too, you will feel less depression There many ways to "meditate" and work with what feels right for you, writing can be a great way to connect and see thoughts. Also in India I tried to look at creating some technique with shaking medicine so I would start dancing, and connect to feelings of desire/joy then move on to appreciation and love, then more "Who am I" "everything is a dream" or "emptiness" even playfulness or kindness, once the heart opens the other stuff is way more powerful, kind of like the tibetan buddhists who emphasise working with compassion, generating love, or in native cultures where they would emphasise working with the heart and soul, laughing, dancing, art, being in nature, sillyness, playfulness. Serious meditator syndrome is often ignored lol

Just remember, if one feels offended the first thing they should do is ask why they feel offended. So what would a non-offensive world look like? A dream. Because it ignores reality. If we do not consider reality we are just telling ourself lies. Much better, I think to understand reality than to ignore it. Ignoring the truth will bring many disappointments.

Last night Sifu Terry Dunn was in one of my dreams, don't remember well what appened in the dream.. this morning I've seen in my mail an invite, at 00:34, from Terry Dunn to connect via Linkedin :D Anyway, practice is going well, the muscle fatigue, from keeping arms up and fixed, in shoulder and back seems to very slowly diminish.. Next week I'll add #3 standing (I think is monk holding peach), and #3 sitting.. In days with more free time I plan to do entire DVD 1 and 2 probably in two separated sessions Good healing to everyone

I get into a zone writing sometimes where I am attempting to steer my mind, and maybe my reader as well, into giving up for a split second and opening up to the clarity of the present moment. My words are also just another part of the dream though, probably best taken as a little melody you are overhearing me whistle. There are two components of my personal experience going into this post that I'd like to describe. First, is what I sublimely feel as a result of my meditation. This feeling does come and go (seems to prefer going at this stage ). Second, it's what I've come to realize that I already know and have always known on some level ... self-evident Truth, tacit knowledge, Big Mind, not sure what to call it. But it's incontrovertible. It makes more sense on the deepest level of my being than anything else I've encountered so I'm sticking with it for now. It's true I am not embodying this realization. In fact I keep forgetting who I Am constantly and get caught up in the illusion more often than not. So this knowledge has an element of faith to it. Because my "everything is perfect" frame is just words, it's a frame. So it drops away like everything manifest. This is where the next line in my post is crucial. "This perfection includes all of the ways we convince ourselves otherwise and play unpleasant games with our freedom." Enlightenment is so free it can pretend to be a separate human reading someone else's post on The Tao Bums. My faith is a kind of umbilical cord to Source, nourishing me no matter how lost I get. When I catch myself thinking "just this next book or this next technique will help me become free", my faith sets off a little light bulb and I can recognize that, even though I may not feel it strongly in the moment, or even believe it fully, I Am already That. My experience is "merely part of the endless creativity of a playful void", to borrow from a recent post by our Father Paul here. And I don't even have to put the book down though or stop my practice. Because what would be the alternative? Sometimes we find ourselves in situations where we must make choices as if we were only a separate self. How to wake up from this kind of dream willfully? It's a double bind. This is just what is arising in that moment. Seeking comes and goes on it's own. And even post-enlightenment we can still enjoy meditation and reading, I think you agree with that. They are natural activities, like eating and sleeping. This is such a wonderful meditation. I like to ponder Baker Roshi's quote that I indirectly referred to in that post, "Enlightenment is an accident. Meditation makes you accident prone". Sean

Hi Fox, Abandoning self is not an independent action, one cannot abandon self if one cannot see the self. Likewise, there's nothing wrong with writing but what you said is your attachment and earthly. Is it to do with more of what you see as the consequence of being a good renown writer? If you are not attach to that, then it is not earthly at all. It's not easy for one can find ones' dream an yet follow it. Writing can be a good meditative tools, a window into the inner world. Meditation is not a form; as long as one is mindful and absorbed in seeing and knowing one-selves anything could be a meditation. May you find your answers, and may you path be fill happiness and peace. XJ

Wow! where did this come from? Challenge the information but don't take a wild pot shot out of nowhere at a dream image. You studied 'all' his posts? You do realize you're railing away at dream images don't you? Let's get back to the moment and discuss what is being said. He put some information out there..maybe you don't like it or are uncomfortable with it..what is it that ticked you off about the post. T

Link now included. I am forgetful Pytha, so please forgive me ! The evidence has been shown to those involved within this area, fellow experiencers and abductees and other investigators within this field. As for this forum, sorry Pytha, not a chance. As to remembering my experiences, their is not set guidebook which is followed. I have been fortunate to remember - or not. I may be watching a documentary or reading a book, or having a conversation and something triggers a memory. At other times they may surface during the dream state. Chicken or egg - none, I'm a veggie. Scully or Mulder - neither. The evidence has been seen by those who count and understand. I am tired of the ridicule Pytha, its tiresome and a waste of energy. My MILAB experiences are not exactly something one can share during casual conversation, and definitely not by any 'official' body - medical for example. They can't help. Its outside their remit. Never said that. Ask away. If you watch the video it will reveal why many don't come out into the open. We are 'easy' targets for those wanting a cheap laugh. Cults - nope don't belong to any. Be cynical, fine by me. Better than ridiculing people who share their story, even if an edited version. Doesn't matter what my take is on ancient aliens. Nothing to do with me. The CIA uses whatever it can to further its agendas. No. It'll go on my 'to do' list. Mind you my pending tray is chocker at the moment ! Namaste, gentlewind

Yes, agree. FP is very subtle and sublime. It does something for me def. I would say I am more total. And somebody asking me few times in PM about sleep. I say just to add delta waves before sleep. This works VERY VERY cool for me, sometime go to bed at 1 a.m. and wake up at 6 - 7 am. Cant recall when I had bad dream, much less negative emotions. That's said let's practice and stop indulging! P.s. I am not sure yet about mixing SYG and FP. I continue stand for one method until it well established. They have diff alchemy. I would better practice the basics of vol.1 of FP than going for SYG and back and forth... But as you have huge experience in meditation might be it is good for you. FP is huge system. Even there loads of stuff to do.

O.K. let's be clear. UFO does not meant E.T. alien. Care to share more details about your MILAB implant experience? Did you get the implant out? Any photo of it? For example a lot of the alien abduction stories are based on hypnosis using leading questions. So the hypnosis method for "revealing" alien abduction is not to be relied on for obvious reasons. Either the hypnotist is pushing an agenda or the person under hypnosis is influenced by their own agenda. Basically a person has "missing time" -- they think - and goes to see a hypnotist -- and everyone knows that the reason you go to see a hypnotist about missing time is to reveal your alien abduction experience. haha. Another issue is sleep paralysis. Also minor OBEs get confused for alien abduction. For example a person called into Coasttocoast saying that they felt this heavy being on top of them at night and then they could see themselves on the bed and then suddenly woke up. So I knew that the person had a minor OBE experience - the heavy being "on top of them" was their own spirit witnessing their sleeping body - just before self awareness kicks in. So then when I listened to that show I was in full lotus and then I fell asleep in full lotus and sure enough I suddenly witnessed this heavy being on my bed. Then I suddenly realized I was seeing myself from outside my body and then I got sucked back into my body. So the thing is that if you see a UFO and then you have a dream that little gray aliens are peering over you while in your bed -- does that mean the e.t. aliens were in the UFO? Nope - it means that your subconscious associates UFOs with little gray aliens. The whole Whitney Streiber thing is another issue - he's promoting his story but that's all it is -- his story - and people get into it because it's creepy and people like creepy stuff - like the SciFi channel is all creepy stuff - "disaster porn" as it's called - that's also what the MSM news is. People like to have their lower chakra activated by fear because it is the kidney energy so it also activates their sex energy. but this is a way the energy is stolen from people. So really as Stan Gooch argued - the aliens - the little grays - are literally are subconscious projections from the technological apocalypse further relying on projected energy. Actually Nandor Fodor argued this also. In other words the little grays are literally are cerebellum brain subconsciously projected. This is also why people see e.t. aliens when on DMT - my friend had this experience but it was right after I told him about interdimensional spirits from other planets that were tall -- and so that is what his DMT vision was - only it was interactive, alive, talking to him, etc.

It all boils down to circumstantial priorities. A single person has less responsibilities, whereas a family man or woman have more. Easy for a single person to say F*** it to everything and go off exploring yonder, not so for one who has dependents. Either way, contentment comes from having the right thoughts followed by right actions, in all areas of life. Its all interconnected. If your mind is settled, one will not feel so much flustered by externals. An unsettled mind means no matter where one is at, contentment will be a forlorn dream, or the desire for it can cause one to become so agitated that one becomes blinded to simple routes to happiness, and this in turn can cause one to make rash decisions. If most of the contents of one's mind are rough and harsh, others (bosses for eg) can seem harsher and this in turn builds the level of disdain. The good news is that the mind can be trained, and unfavorable traits can be transformed into favorable ones. The not-so-good news is that even this takes hard work, and is also another cycle, albeit one that leads to brighter things. Choices. Cant live with them, cant live without them...

actually I had a dream about jesus today, also about needing to go and find out about some alien group called "insectoids" lol. To me if people are actually going to worship a guru, or align with the energy of another, jesus seems pretty noble and all.

I'm not a fan of Flowing hands, and I have never spoken with him. You may not agree with how he has approached dealing with people on this thread, and neither do I. However, the essence of what he says is a truth that shouldn't be ignored. Like him or not. Many on this board want access to teachings, to powers, to spiritual experiences, or even to the deities and gods, and yet often there is little respect paid to these things, let alone the actual paths, lineages or teachers that can be gateways to them. There are larger things than the members of this board, and your conduct may be heard beyond the scope that you realise. Seriously, anything to do with spirits and deities should not be taken lightly. Just my experience. [edit] Many are taught guided meditation practices to meet 'guides' of one sort or another, and also teachers, sometimes even deities or gods. These are usually light trance states and not a whole lot more than exploring subconscious realities of your own. This is also how neo/core-shamanism works. When things really turn up, it is often quite a different kettle of fish. Entering into relationship with a diety is not the fantasy or dream many hancker after. Same with finding a good teacher! Whats the saying "look before you leap..."? Just a coupla penneth worth... Best,

completed acrylic-painting from a dream i had a month ago. called "92 empty pages", on a maxi skirt tonight- believe 92 will be the finishing touches within The Tao or ThyRocks chapter of it greatest novel ever thought an idea called Life, without an 'end' cover of course,,,life goes on,,,, Namaste

Thanks! Yeah I had a great feeling of love for qigong master Jim Nance -- and he actually called me again today as he healed my friend and his wife in Brazil - this cyber-friend of 10 years had set up a podcast website for qigong master Jim Nance but then there was miscommunication between our friend in Spain and me and then the friend in Brazil. haha. So then qigong master Jim Nance had me email the friend in Brazil to give him free qigong healing!! He said - well the friend in Brazil stil wants to pay but he doesn't realize that I do this all the time! haha. Anyway I said how he had a painting that the friend in Brazil did of Jim - and so I think that will be his payment. Ummm - so Jim is doing one more healing of them on Friday. There's another taobums person who PM'd me who is getting a Jim Nance healing on Weds. and the person said they would definitely share their experience for thetaobums. Ummm..... another person on thetaobums just got a group healing with Jim - felt some energy but not alot but they have two more one-to-one healings from Jim set up. So I'm sure will be hearing more about that also. Anyway I did not mention when Jim and I were hanging out on our deck -- then it seemed from the forest there was a bad smell that kept -- like when the wind picked up - all of a sudden we got a waft. My sister goes - smells like caca, is it from the baby? I smell the diapers. Nope. haha. Jim goes - yeah I smell it but you know with the woods you never know what's going on. haha. So then the next day I'm mowing the lawn with the push mower and I realize it was the bird bath! So embarrassing. We got tons of rain so I never checked the bird bath but this wild turkey had left a big one in the water. haha. No wonder we had not been getting many birds later. Oh well -- that stuff always happens to me - something really hilariously embarrassing. I'm used to it now. Jim didn't seem to be bothered - he can probably tune smells out like cats can do. But anyway he told me today I had "extraordinary potential" for the qigong training and that I just "gotta keep working at it." At first I said - when you say "you" - do you mean you like everyone you or... and he goes - no I mean you -- just you. haha. So yeah I am obligated to practice more now but I am also transcribing his qi-talks - that is slow work to get it right. So this is a dream come true for me -- Jim says he wants me to be able to meditate more and so this qi-talk project is part of that plan.

The idea of reduction is seductive to the mind. You /it can see the simplicity in the idea - it gives it process - a feeling of direction and holes in the dam to plug up. Or dams to remove. A map for success. Every apple polishers dream. You do not quit smoking by mind - at some point you are done with it and at that point it is quite easy to drop. You will not quit the addiction to future and past by reduction and these are truly illusion. No portion of the you that you associate with yourself is interested in winging it in present time - and you have rarely listened to the horse that moves you along. This cheap sellout that steers your course in life - whether you are a doctor or a king or a waiter or a cop - reduction is not practice in living with no future. Reduction is a tool for understanding that you can and cannot do as you intend. The driver (you)is a lunatic with glimpses of sanity and just enough intermittent positive reinforcement to pull the wool over your eyes.

Since starting my practices some 4 years ago, I have come to realise that the left side of my body is more sensitive to energy and more relaxed than my right side. My left testicle has been tingling since starting, and the duct leading from it seems to act as a kind of antenna - picking up energy at various times and tingling immensly in doing so. The right testicle seems lifeless in comparison. I had an experience about two years ago now where I was lying in bed sleeping. I was on my back and my vertebrae were in good alignment. An experience occured that was not a dream and not what I would call a awaking experience either... A snake shot up my spine and went to the left eye, where an androgynous figure floated before me and as the snake reached my eye the figure and snake met and become one. There was much beauty and colour, and the whites of this androgenous figure's eyes were whiter than any white I have seen. Another experience I had was around this time last year. I was given a symbol after losing all knowledge of my body and being confronted with a brilliant light. The symbol was that of a trishula, and I had yet another experience within the left channel. My understanding is that I was given this symbol to tell me that I needed all three spinal channels to be clear: the left, right and centre. Also, judging from my experiences I think I may've succeeded in clearing the left to some degree. Why is my right side so lifeless in comparison? Well, something taiji has taught me is that I have trouble rooting with my right foot. Also, I hold plenty of tension in my right shoulder as well as the neck. When belly breathing the right side of my abdomen has difficulty in expanding into the hip... although, this has started to loosen dramatically of late. On top of this my right eye is also my lazy eye, and there is tension held in the muscles that control its movement. AND I regularly suffer from foot cramp... but guess what, it only happens in the right foot. One interesting consquence is that I find it very difficult to do visualisation from the centre or from the right - I always appear to be observing from the left side. So whether my visual experiences are looking within the body from within or from without it's generally the left that I see. So far I have just been focussing on my practices in the anticipation that it will one day sort itself out. I attempt to be mindful of it, and not forceful. Intuition has brought me to this forum to raise the question about practices that exercise the right channel. There are many practitioners here with vast amounts of cumulative knowledge in esoteric fields, and I would appreciate input from you all Yours in humble request, James

The way I understand deities in Indo-Tibetan Vajrayana is that an accomplished siddha/terton's own wisdom manifests as deities in a lucid dream etc. The deities are primordial manifestations of a siddha's own wisdom. Then when a regular person practices that same deity, its like a shortcut.

Dear Ones, the dream of every pracitioneer: Being able to meditate in the middle of a city, during day... Okay maybe half-extreme for "the beginning"... Any tips on getting in a deep meditation in an unsupportive environment? No, I do not want to suffer, but I want to meditate where I want to meditate and this is currently in my home. I can also go into the woods if I want to do so, but that is not part of this question. I live in a rather large village on the country side, in an environment with lots of families and their kids. Cars drive by my house every 10-15mins. Children play occasionally in the afternoon, which can get quite loud but doesnt really disturb me since they broadcast "joy"most of the time Is anyone in a similar environment and mastered how to deal with such noisy circumstances? I am asking this particularly because when I get into deep meditations at night, where no one is outside, every crack of a doorframe, bed, whatever gets So loud like a bang of a thunder or an explosion! And the triggered soundwave is felt in me like being temporarily in the beginning a dimensional shift. Hard to describe. Like a mind-shift ...becoming... that sound. Maybe you know what I mean... Any idea? Seeking the emptiness, the void in all those sounds? Being sensitive in such an environment is tough sometimes, but it works itself out somehow... no baby-monk tears haha! Kind regards

In Madhyamaka, D.O. is merely a device that gets you to nonarising. In Dzogchen, there is a different device that gets you to nonarising, since there is no dependent origination there. Instead of worrying about all the philosophy, you can just learn the 8 examples of illusion: dream, mirage, reflection etc.

Love the name "SkyDog"....I love Dakini's, Guruda's, Butterfies, Phonices, all metaphors of sky goddesses (Nut, Isis, Inanna, Ishtar, Shekhina, Lilith, Vajrayogini, Yeshe Tsogyel ) and the Prajna underlying all Means. To 4bsolute....get a copy of The Heart Attack Sutra, by Karl Brunnholzl,...and disregard all the above posts. Second,...Is attaining emptiness a form of constant reduction? Let's break it down. Emptiness is not attained, it is unveiled from the barriers you have built against it. The perception of constant reduction is how ego sees the unlearning process. True Emptiness is actually realized through the simultaneous cancellation of opposites. Yang cannot be separated from Yin. Wholeness is beyond the sum of all opposites. SkyDog,...yes, perceived life is as inherently empty as last nights dream. Although I don't care for the term "empty mind"...because neither empty nor mind has a clear meaning among caterpillars attempting to discuss butterfies,...I do recognize your point,...at least partially. An enlightened person once gave 6 words of advice: Let go of what has passed. Let go of what may come. Let go of what is happening now. Don’t try to figure anything out. Don’t try to make anything happen. Relax, right now, and rest. Contrary to Jeff's New Age opinions above, one does not uncover emptiness through the senses, thoughts, or feelings,...as if those skandhas can actually observe the Present. Senses, thoughts, and feeling can NEVER observe the Present,...and thus will NEVER realize True Emptiness. Senses, Thoughts, Feelings...come and go,...that's what they do,....they witness the illusion of change in motion. To realize the nature, so to say, of emptiness,...we must let go of attachment to senses, thoughts, feelings,...which includes the cerebro-centric mind,...whether empty or not.

Hi everyone, I've reached a breaking point. I can't do this anymore. Today I start a new life again. I have a few questions, When I was practicing celibacy still, I felt like I was literally operating in a higher plane, so now that I no longer have that 'clean streak' my mind feels 'lower' to the ground. I don't know, I had these 'rolling epiphanies' throughout every day but now they seem to almost never happen now that I am not celibate again. My vocabulary and general understanding of some things also seem to 'constrict' at times while at others overflowing. Does celibacy have that much influence over brain function? I know everyone has to walk their own path. I've fought this K experience so much. The only time when I can really 'feel good' or content is when I'm helping someone. I think I went through a bit of ego death at a point, more than I realized at the time, so now I feel odd a lot of the time during conversation. I just can't seem to rejuvenate that interest in material things, or even making music (the only thing I cared about). This hurts me a lot. I don't know exactly when it got bad, but at some point I really started wanting out of life. I still don't care at all about television programming, buying new things, clothes, having money, eating, my hygiene(myself), video games, reading, making a living 'american dream'. I've become so dissatisfied with so many facets of my life, that I really don't want to be alive anymore. I don't want any of this. It's really hard to speak to people sometimes, sometimes I'll just go completely blank. Like I care for them but not for anything that they're talking about- a lot of people I've felt take offense to it, It's just so trivial. This is not good. I'll be 25 at the end of the year and society expects things of me, goals that I am fairly far away from- I don't really have any of them accomplished, and all of this 'reflects on my character' every day, and I'm a felon. I don't care about this place. So now I find myself completely at odds with this new life I've started, I can't be 'normal' and I can't even be/do what I really want to, music. I just feel really unmotivated and empty all the time, I don't know if its the same emptiness everyone rants about but it sucks. It's so hard to care about anything 'material' or 'selfish'. This is what scares me more than anything else has, I don't want to feel like I'm so separate from everything and everyone/like nothing matters- for the rest of my natural life. So I'll just throw my life away and help others, my life fell apart somewhere these last months and I don't think it'll ever be anything like I wanted/want. At a point towards the beginning of this whole spiritual experience, my main drive was to help others/be 'saintly'. That didn't end well, although it started off rather nicely. Since nothing is the same, I think I'm going to go for the 'saintly' direction again, that was when i felt the best this past year. I think it'd be good for me and I might as well be of use to someone if I can't even get my own life together, I want the little balance I did have in life, back. I lost all faith. I've gotten my sleep schedule back on, improved my diet and am slowly easing back into some of my previous practices. I'm thinking of incorporating some things from this system. Does anyone have any experience with chrism? http://www.kundaliniawakeningsystems1.com/index.html#.UbiYjZyUdUY I'd also really like to work on my empathic abilities, not only strengthening them but gaining control over it so I can do better about keeping a lid on it in certain situations. I know you can only help people that want to be helped, and I feel like there's times where you can try to help someone and still end up hurting them. I don't know what to do. I don't know. I don't want to give up on life. I don't want superpowers. I just want a life that I enjoy living. **I think a lot of the people who've experienced kundalini that I read about online were liars.

Tilopa's Shoe The story of Tilopa's Shoe is one of my personal favorites, and has been an integral guide in my life's path since I read it at 19. It's a story of intrigue, magick, humor, and enlightenment. Much of the following was adapted from Alexandra David-Neel's 1929 'Mystiques et Magicens du Thibet' as told to her through the oral tradition. Madame David-Neel, who was fluent in Tibetan, spent fourteen years in the magical and mysterious Land of Snows. Tilopa was a Bengali, some say of noble caste, who lived during the 11th Century CE. He chose to leave his home and seek realization through meditation and study in a remote area near the Tibetan border. While seated in a cave reading a philosophic treatise, a beggar woman appeared behind him, read a few lines over his shoulder and asked abruptly, "do you understand what you are reading?" Tilopa was irked. What does this witch mean by such an unmannerly question, he thought. But before he could express his feelings, she spit on the book. Tilopa jumps up and shouts "how dare you spit on the Holy Scriptures". The woman then spits again on the book, utters a word Tilopa cannot understand, and disappears. Tilopa felt an uncomfortable sensation through his body. Doubt of his knowledge arose in his mind. After all he pondered, it may be true that he had not understood the doctrine expounded in the treatise, or any doctrine whatever, and that he may be an absolute dunce. What did that strange woman say, he thought. What was that word he did not comprehend? He felt he must know it. And so Tilopa started in search of the old woman. After much wandering, he found her at night in a solitary wood. She was seated along, her red eyes shining like live coals in the darkness. She was a Dakini, a kind of faery or 'sky-flyer' who played a great part in mystic Tibet as teachers of secret doctrines. They often appear in the shape of an aged woman, and one of their peculiar signs is that they have red or green eyes. In the course of the conversation, Tilopa was directed to go to the Dakini's land, in order to meet their queen and learn the Heart teachings of the Dakini. She told him that on the road, countless dangers awaited him, like abysses, roaring torrents, ferocious animals, delusive mirages. If he allowed himself to be overpowered by fear or missed the narrow, threadlike path winding across this terrible region, he would fall prey to monsters. If he drank at the clear springs or ate the fruits hanging at hand on the trees by the road, or yielded to fair maidens inviting him to sport with them in pleasant groves, he would become bewildered and incapable of finding his way. For his protection, the woman gave him a magic formula; a mantra. She said he must repeat it all along the road, keeping his mind entirely concentrated on it, uttering no word, listening to nothing. Tilopa saw the countless, frightful or alluring sights. He struggled across steep, rocky slopes and foaming rivers. He felt himself freezing amidst snows, scorched on burning sandy steppes, and never departed from his concentration on the magic words. At last, he reached the castle whose bronze walls were glowing with heat. Trees, with branches holding weapons, barred his way. Yet, he entered the enchanted palace. There, innumerable sumptuous rooms formed a maze. Tilopa winded his way through them and reached the queen's apartment. The beautiful faery sat on her throne adorned with precious jewels, and she smiled at the daring pilgrim as he crossed the threshold. But Tilopa was unmoved by her loveliness, ascended the steps of the throne and, still repeating the mantra, wrenched from her the glittering jewels, trampled under foot the flowery garlands, tore away her precious silk and golden robes, and as she lay naked on her wrecked throne, he violated her. Such conquests of a Dakini, either by sheer violence or by magic devices, are a popular theme in Tibetan mystic literature. They are an allegory referring to the realization of truth and process of self-spiritual development. Tilopa had thus reached the level of Avadhuta, a state of enlightenment where the distinctions between good and evil do not exist anymore. He, thus, returned to his cave in the north part of Bengal, and the old woman once again appeared. She said that he still had barriers to his full realization of Mahanirvana Tantra, and directed him to go to a particular town and enter the employ of the local prostitute there. Without hesitation, Tilopa found his way to the town and began working for the prostitute. In the day he would grind seed for her oils, and at night, he would pander her clients. One day, as he was grinding sesame seeds in a mortar on his lap, he realized and released his last barrier to the Light and Love he was and levitated to the height of a palm tree while still grinding sesame seeds in the mortar on his lap. When the prostitute saw Tilopa suspended in air, still making her oil, the harlot was overcome with shame for having given this task to such an enlightened being. She contemplated begging Tilopa for the privilege of being his disciple; and in that very moment he released a flower, which hit her on the head, and as if being struck by the diamond-thunderbolt of Vajra, the prostitute instantly attained enlightenment, and elevated to Tilopa's side. Tilopa, which means sesame-grinder, realized Mahanirvana Tantra when the seed he was grinding revealed to him the inverse flow of forward moving things, thereby actualizing liberation in one lifetime; the fourth stream of mastery. He called this Fourth Way, Kagyu, the Short Path of Vajra. And it was through the unbroken lineage of Tilopa, the Kagyudpas Red Hats, that the Twentieth Century mystic G. I. Gurdjieff received the foundation of his teachings through the Sarmoun Brotherhood. Tilopa himself had no human guru, having realized liberation through Vajra, the Light of Reality. His most famous student was a learned Kashmiri Brahmin named Naropa, who in turn was the master of Marpa, the Mahasiddha that brought the lineage and doctrine of the Short Path to Tibet. The biography of Naropa is both an amusing and illuminating description of the tests devised by a master of the Short Path to train and direct an initiate. Naropa, born around 1010, c.e., was considered a man of refinement, a learned doctor and deeply convinced of his superiority as a member of the Brahmin caste. Having been greatly offended by a rajah to whom he was chaplain, he resolved to kill the prince by an occult process. For this purpose, he shut himself up in an isolated house and began a magic rite to bring about death; the dragpoi dubhab. As he was performing the rite, a Dakini faery appeared at a corner of the magic diagram and asked Naropa if he deemed himself capable of sending the spirit of the rajah towards a happy place in another world, or of bring it back into the body which it had left and resuscitating it. The magician could only confess that his science did not extend so far. Then the faery assumed a stern presence and reproached him for his nefarious undertaking. She told him that no one had the right to destroy who could not build up again the being destroyed or establish it in a better condition. The consequence of his criminal thought, she added, would be his own rebirth in one of the purgatories. Terror-stricken, Naropa inquired how he could escape that terrible fate. The Dakini advised him to seek the Sage named Tilopa and beg from him initiation into the mystic doctrine of the Short Path which frees a man from the consequences of his actions, whatever they may be, by the revelation of their true nature, and ensures enlightenment in one single life. If he succeeded in grasping the meaning of that teaching and realize it, he would not be reborn again and consequently would escape a life of torment in the purgatories. Naropa stopped the performance of the rite and hastened towards Bengal where Tilopa lived. However, before Naropa would meet the Sage and receive the Ultimate Teaching, that is, Tilopa's Mahamudra, through which Enlightenment could be realized in one lifetime, he would first undergo twelve astonishments, followed by twelve ordeals. The Twelve Astonishments were challenges to Naropa's conditioning, that is, his ego and beliefs; whereas the Twelve Ordeals, or Hardships, were intended to encourage complete surrender. The first meeting of Naropa with Tilopa occurred in the courtyard of a Buddhist monastery. The cynic Sage, nearly naked, was seated on the ground eating fish. As the meal went on, he put down the fish's backbones beside him. However, in order not to defile his cast purity, Naropa was on the point of passing by at some little distance from the eater, when a monk started to reproach Tilopa for parading his lack of compassion for the animals, that is, killing and eating the fish, in the very premises of a Buddhist Monastery; and ordered him to leave at once. Tilopa did not even condescend to answer. He muttered some words, snapped his fingers and the fish bones were again covered with flesh. The fishes then moved as if living and swam away through the air as if it was water. No vestige remained of the cruel meal on the ground. Naropa was dazed, but suddenly thought that this strange wonder worker, no doubt, was the very Tilopa whom he was seeking. He hurriedly inquired about him, and the information given by the monks agreed with his own intuition. He ran after the Sage, but Tilopa was nowhere to be found. Then in his eagerness to learn the doctrine that could save him from the purgatories, Naropa wanders from town to town with the only result being that each time he reaches a place where Tilopa is said to be staying, the latter has, invariably just left it a little before his arrival. In the coming months, as if by chance on his way, Naropa would meet singular beings who were phantoms created by Tilopa. Once, knocking at the door of a house to beg food, a man comes out who offers him wine. To offer wine or spirit to a high caste Brahmin is an insult, so Naropa feels deeply offended and indignantly refuses the impure beverage. The house and its master vanish immediately. The proud Brahmin is left alone on the solitary road, while a mocking voice laughs that man was I, Tilopa. Again, the traveler sees a brutal husband who drags his wife buy her hair, and when he interferes, the cruel fellow tells him, you had better help me, I want to kill her. At least pass your way and let me do it. Naropa can hear no more. He knocks the man down on the ground, sets free the woman, and, lo!, once more the pantasmagoria disappears while the same voice repeats scornfully, I was there, I, Tilopa. The adventures continue in the same vein. Proficient magician though he may be, Naropa has never even conceived the idea of such display of supernormal powers. He stands on the brink of madness, the beliefs he clung to for his identity shaken to their core, but his fortitude to become Tilopa's disciple grew still stronger. He roamed at random across the country, calling Tilopa aloud and, knowing by experience that the Sage is capable of assuming any form, he bows down at the feet of any passer-by and even before any animal he happens to see on the road. One evening, after a long walk, he reaches a cemetary. A fire is smouldering in a corner; at times, a dark, reddish flame leaps from it showing shriveled- up, carbonized remains. The glimmer allows Naropa to vaguely discern a man laying beside the fire. He looks at him, and a mocking laugh answers his inspection. He falls prostrate on the ground at Tilopa's feet. This time the Sage does not disappear. The obscurations which inhibited Naropa from recognizing the Sage had waned. During the next several years, Naropa followed Tilopa without being treated as of any import, athough the Sage engages him in twelve ordeals, as mentioned above. Each Ordeal or Hardship, according to later Mahasiddhas of the lineage, contained one of twelve instructions of the Fourth Empowerment. As the first three empowerments encouraged the blossoming of the sapiential mind, the Fourth liberated the sapiential mind. However, only a few of the ordeals will be given here to grasp the principle of Naropa's release from his belief barriers and surrender to the Sage, whereby he fully understood the acquenscence of who he thought he was, and realized who he actually was. One of Naropa's first hardships arose following a begging round. According to the custom of Indian ascetics can beg for food, or alms, once a day. Coming back to his master, he offered him the rice and curry which he had received as alms. The rule is that a disciple eats only after his guru is satisfied, but far from leaving something for his follower, Tilopa ate up the whole contents of the bowl, and even declared that the food was so much to his taste that he could have eaten another bowl full with pleasure. Without waiting for a more direct command, Naropa took the bowl and started again for the house where generous householders bestowed such tasty alms, even though he knew he could not beg again. When he arrived, he found the door closed. However, burning with zeal, the devoted disciple did not let himself be stopped for so little. He forced the door open, discovered some rice and various stews keeping warm on the stove in the kitchen and helped himself to more of what Tilopa had so much enjoyed. The masters of the house came back as he was plunging a spoon in their pots and gave him a harsh thrashing. Bruised from head to feet, Naropa returned to the Sage, who showed no compassion whatever for his suffering. What adventure has befallen you on my account, he said with a cynical calm. Do you not regret having become my disciple? With all the strength that his pitiful condition left at his disposal, Naropa protested that far from regretting having followed such a Sage, he deemed the privilege of being his disciple could never be paid for too dearly, even if one was to purchase it at the cost of one's life. Another ordeal took place while Sage and disciple lived in a hut near a forest. Once, returning from the village with Tilopa's meal, Naropa saw that during his absence, the latter had fabricated a number of long bamboo needles, and with covered with molten butter, hardened them in a fire. Inquisitively he inquired about the use Tilopa meant to make of these implements. The Sage responded with a queer smile. Could you, he asked, bear some pain if it pleased me? Naropa answered that he belonged entirely to him and that he would do whatever he liked with him. Well, replied Tilopa, stretch out your hand. And when Naropa had obeyed, he thrust one of the needles under each of the nails of one hand, did the same to the other, and finished with the toes. Then he pushed the tortured Naropa into the hut, commanded him to wait there till he returned, closed the door, and went away. Several days elapsed before he came back. He found Naropa seated on the ground, the bamboo needles still in his flesh. What did you think while alone?, inquired Tilopa. Have you not come to 'believe' that I am a cruel master and that you had better leave me? I have been thinking of the dreadful life of torments which will be mine in the purgatories if I do not succeed, by your grace, in becoming enlightened in the mystic doctrine, and so escaping a new rebirth and having to begin all over, answered Naropa. As the years went by, Naropa drank fowl water, a defiling thing according to religious law; crossed a blazing fire, nearly drowned in icy water, and performed other fantastic feats which often put his life in jeopardy. Once, Sage and disciple were strolling in the streets when they happened to meet a wedding procession accompanying a bride to her husband's house. I desire that woman, said Tilopa to Naropa. Go bring her to me. He had scarcely finished speaking before Naropa joined the cortege. Seeing that he was a Brahmin, the men of the wedding party allowed him to approach the bride, thinking that he meant to bless her. But when they saw that he took her in his arms and intended to carry her away, they seized on everything they could find and belabored poor Naropa so soundly that he fainted and was left for dead. Tilopa had not waited for the end of the performance to pass quietly on his way. When Naropa came to his senses again and had painfully dragged himself along until he overtook his whimsical guru, the latter, as welcome, asked him once more the usual question, Do you not regret?. And as usual, Naropa protested that a thousand deaths seemed to him but a trifle to purchase the privilege of being his disciple. By some accounts, Naropa's last ordeal was said to have occurred at the end of a day walking in a remote mountainous region. Stopping at a cliff, Tilopa asked, what if it would please me for you to jump off this cliff? Before the final word was finished, Naropa leaps off the cliff, breaking nearly every bone in his body. Tilopa made his way down the steep, rocky cliff and asked Naropa who was clearly in agony, How are you?. Naropa answered that the pain was unbearable. Then, in a calm voice, Tilopa commanded him to heal himself. Instantaneously Naropa healed himself, and his broken body was fully restored. That evening, while seated at a fire, quite unexpectedly Tilopa took off one of his shoes and soundly slapped Naropa on the head with it. In that instant Naropa saw the inverse flow of forward moving waves of Light, and would not again transgress into the sleep of samsara, the always changing and impermanent dream of Maya. The full meaning of the Short Path was then told to Naropa through Tilopa's twenty-eight verse Mahamudra, or Ultimate Teaching. The story of Tilopa's Shoe is considered a historic occurrence. Several variations of the story exist, some handed down by oral tradition, others written in the biographies of famous lamas. Yet, unlike other philosophies, the historical legitimacy of Kagyu makes no difference, for the essence of the Short Path, the realization of the sapiential Mind in a single lifetime, is contained within the story. VMarco