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I hadn't considered that the dreams are a memory - maybe they are. It would be just like me to spend a lifetime pouring over scrolls and being happy as a pig in mud. But either way, I do have a sense of inputting into my psyche, and the words seem to be only about a foot from my eyes in the dreams. It feels like I'm in a cosmic library of sorts. Wish I consciously knew what all this stuff says. I'll bet it's in there subconsciously and that it's been retained from the dream or re-emerging from the past life memory. It's just odd.

Hello Mrs Manitou! Have you considered your dream to maybe be a memory? I dont know what is taoist stand on past lives and wherther you personally believe in them. But in my opinion there is a lot of remeberances in dreams(as well as posibillity of OBEs and learning in different dimesions ,as we are multidimensional beings ).This is more prone to happen or be noticed once most of lifes likes and dislikes are dissolved and some spaceoussness is reclaimed. I cant remeber ever dreaming scriptures but have had multidimensional expirience and OBE where I learnt something,gained deeper sort of understanding. Anyway I am growing to like and learning a lot about Taoisam through you guys on here.And like your Sage with three tresures"Never too much","Never be the first" and "Love".It seems very relaxed and non imposing.I like anything relaxing.

And what happens if, like martial arts, you do not seek them to show off or domineer over others, but so that, in situations like your dream president example, you can act and know that those who you want to protect will safely be protected? Just because someone might take powers, or martial arts ability, and abuse them, does not mean they are without merit in and of themselves, or that one should not seek them because they can be abused. I must again refer to a film that I find to be a powerful example of the point I'm trying to make, The Counte of Monte Cristo (2002 Film). The man's only crimes were that he was content with his life (he had always been poor), he met with recent success (was a trustworthy sailor and got promoted to captain over his first mate), and was loved by a childhood sweetheart. His colleagues and even best friends, wracked with jealousy, hatched a plot that he was powerless to stop. It was only after he became educated (gaining mental superiority), and learned to fight (gaining physical superiority) that he was able to win in the end. (the film takes a slightly different turn than the original novels did, but anyway) My point remains that humility is good. Non-violence is good. But what happens when you are targeted BECAUSE of that? I think there is nothing wrong with having "power" to protect yourself (and others) against that. Now you might choose to use it defensively or go off and seek revenge or use it to show off and gain social status and all sorts of other stuff, but that's up to you. The powers, in and of themselves, aren't inherently not worth it because of the actions individuals take to have it.

Otis- great thoughts, and nice example Now see that's a good way of looking at it, but in my humble opinion, that's only good if you're talking about theory. Let's say that you want to have a lucid dream, for instance, and you trust it to happen spontaneously and then.... it doesn't! What then? Let's take it a bit further, let's say you are practicing an IMA, let's say that you are giving into wu wei or however you want to phrase it, and you need to perform the right technique at the right time, trusting that it will spontaneously.... and then it doesn't? You might argue that finding a way of doing something takes away from its spontaneity, so why bother trying to find a way to do it? But I do not agree with that viewpoint. You can do something consciously, but also be able to do it spontaneously. So how do you, not only do something spontaneously, but have a way of finding out that you CAN do it should the circumstances arise in which you need to do it? And then, taking it further, subsequently practice so you know how it works, and know that it can work and in what ways in can work when you do so spontaneously?

Love- make love, love your neighbor, love yourself Harmonize- learn to communicate with others, make music, be at peace with yourself Have fun- what's the point of being alive if there's no passion and joy Enlightenment- get in touch with your spiritual self, dream, These are only a few of the reasons why we have decided to be alive

How do we "know"? How do we "know" what this moment is? That there is a me, or rather "thisness"? Or that this is now and there was a past, and that there will be a future? How do we see movement from one point to the next? How do we know that there is a person sitting in front of me, that it is a person and not a statue, a dream, an imitation? Where do we delineate between this moment then the next, from one thing to another? How do we know if there is or there isn't a universal consciousness, or whether if we are the only consciousness, or that there are separate mindstreams? How do we know whether or not the person in front me is a hallucination, or whether or not I am the butterfly and not the dreamer? Xabir, How is there the knowledge of dependent origination, of Maha? Of interconnectedness if in sitting there is JUST sitting, that in hearing there is JUST sound? If in thinking there is JUST thinking. Where do we draw the boundaries of that "just beingness? Where is the boundary of the experience of hearing and then to the experience of smelling? We can't draw any boundaries... Gold, what you seem to be saying is that we cannot know; there is never a certainty. We cannot know that we know, so we know that we don't know and then there is nothing established and nothing to be negated! Establish the unestablishment, negate negation! Empty the emptiness! Hence the right view takes us to the brink of collapsing everything into uncertainties...and even that view is unestablished...! The entire process of Thusness's stages is the stripping of establishments: the I Am deconstructs our materialist universe, the first stanza strips away an inherent dooer, the second stanza deconstructs everything down to momentary experience! But this is not enough, because even this very experience cannot be grasped because sound is never JUST sound, there is a potential to it, a context to it. Tarin can say all he wants about just feeling the senses..but does he not write about it? Doesn't he return with a perspective on it? It still leaves him imprints, tendencies...there is never JUST experiences of "sound"....to Tarin there is no such thing...there is still an establishment of a view or the real way to experience, and a false way... But, and I think this is very very important, this sense of interconnectedness does NOT arise from establishing a universe, a background, or anything. We do not think universe or a set of causes and conditions and say "A + B + C = D"...It comes from a sense of uncertainty, of ungraspable nature of things. Hence the word dependence is used. Dependent on WHAT? If this sound is not inherent, unestablished, it must arise from something, somewhere, from a cause, from a condition, but Xabir as you said, We don't know! There is no way of knowing because the new moment of "trying to know" arises. Dependence breeds dependence...so we say it is dependent, uncertain, unknownable! Thus the very presence is deconstructed to the uncertainty, uncertainty of this very moment itself! Where does it come from? Where does it go? But then it's GONE! Ungraspable, no boundaries...we are completely and totally OPEN to anything... BUT! the mind, no mind-phenomena-luminosity... still appears through delineation...it works through concepts...It draws the boundaries of "here" "now""sound", when stripped to its very bareness, the "non-dual" experience of things...and it MUST...it must because that is what experience is...we never really, truly experience movement, we experience an impression of a movement, we don't experience space...we experience the impression of space...a THIS...insight is into its ungraspability, D.O, emptiness, whatever else, unsubstantiated.. So they say the union of emptiness and luminosity..the uncertainty of certainty...viewless view.. So I get it! I get it now when Xabir, you asked me months ago what it meant that sound liberated sound, that touch liberated touch...just as the Buddha upon enlightenment touched the earth as a "witness" to his enlightenment, the arising and passing away fo experience certifies from moment to moment its own very uncertainty! Everything in a let go...let go..let goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo :lol: .

Im not trying retention. I just have a wet dream of twice every week. Thats my total ejaculation count every week. (No sex). Im 23. What is the count for having a health sexual life until I get very old?

fiveelementtao Thank you for all your commentaries. Im getting really good advices from some pleople in this forum. Im very glad that some people has sent sent me messages about my topic saying they also had problems with Chia's exercises and asking for help. Im trying to do my best in telling my history to him, and explain in a way that can help them. Of course Im not acting like a healer, what I can do is just tell what happened and have a sick person - to - sick personn talk. Im having talks about acupuntur and some other therapeutical methods of cure with some guys who have also get sick like me, very nice. The last months of my life has been a dark period and I dont intend to waste my energy in useless discussions. But I really intend to use at least a little of my time to try help people who are in the same situation as me and WARN the unwary new practicioners. So I will teel what I did for getting better: 1 - 20 sessions of acupuntur and moxa sealed my sphincter again. So now Im having 1 wet dream per week, wich seems to be normal in my age (23), and also considering the fact that Im single, have no sex, and no masturbation. 2 - Some walk/run can help to calm down the energy. I recomend to do it with a friend in case of something happens. Thats my opinion, a healer can discourage it, but it helped me. 3 - A budhist monk, (who recently reached the most advanced level in buddhist hierarchy) told me to STOP WITH all exercises including Chi Kung. I think what I need now is to calm down the energy and not to risk agitating it more and more. Of course having a master is a secure way to practice, depending of what he tells you to do. I dont have a master, so... 4 - Floral medicines can help calming down the energy. Im not talking about chinese herbs, its about Florals, like the Bach ones. 5 - Something I learned in these 2 last months. Our better, wiser and most friendly master is our own body. He knows everything, he will adjust the energy by itself, cure the wounds and bring thins to normality, like he always do when we get a wound by cutting the skin, you sleep, and in the next day the wound is closed. So listen to your body. Give him some time. If I had done it and had stopped when the first symptoms appeared I would not be sick now. People please, feel free to send me messages about that all. Best wishes for all.

Two things come to mind after reading the original post. First, reading between the lines I'm presuming that you're relatively young (20's). What did you want to do for a living growing up? What are your interests, hobbies? I'm probably old enough to be your father and my advice would be to make damn good and sure that you haven't given up on your dreams. The last thing you want is to wake up some day 30 years from now and regret not doing the thing you really wanted to do. Of course you have to be realistic, but take an honest, thorough look at your dream job/situation and break down what you need in terms of education etc. You owe it to yourself to give it a try if at all possible. Secondly, you mentioned some health issues. Take care of those before you do anything drastic like signing your life away to Uncle Sam. It's hard to make solid, rational decisions when you are feeling crappy. Get yourself feeling better and find time for stillness. Best of luck.

It really has nothing to do with Robert Bruce. I am just saying how come everyone is a kundalini master while claiming such minor things like "awareness" or some minor chakra activity?? Shit, according to the low bar set for kundalini, even my hamster has raised kundalini The kundalini concept is so watered down, it means nothing. The worst I have heard "Oh I had a dream about a snake, therefore I have raised kundalini" LOLLLLLLL

Biopiracy - the Plunder of Nature and Knowledge -- Vandana Shiva The Heart of Understanding - Thich Nhat Hanh Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick

agreed with all that has been said before, but if you wish to to retain you should be able to do it without having a wet dream every 4 days. Consider going to a chinese doctor to see if your yin is a bit weak. You might strengthen it with diet (fish, for example). Just little tweaks, no need to worry. Beside at your age is better not to take herbs, as this would take away their strengthen when you are older and really need them.

Just thought I would post this. It's from Raduga's ebook. I really don't get why he advertises through sexual marketing like that because with his writing style, he needs to advertise to much more intelligent people. I really enjoy his matter of fact writing style. This is from the beginning of the book and lays down the scheme of it. His writing appeals to an analytical mind like mine, so I'm enjoying it and looking forward to putting it into practice. ALGORITHM FOR MASTERING THE PHASE A novice practitioner must understand the procedure for learning and mastering phase entry. This procedure consists of several primary steps, each of which is a unique science unto itself. 1. The first and most important step addresses the techniques used to enter the phase state. It is not necessary to master every type of entrance technique (direct, indirect, dream consciousness). Learning and applying the easiest techniques provides the necessary prerequisites to more advanced methods. If so desired, it is possible to try more difficult entrance techniques in parallel with the moving on to the subsequent steps for mastering the phase. 2. Contrary to popular opinion, the need for conscious techniques does not cease upon phase entrance. It is absolutely necessary to learn and apply methods for deepening the phase to achieve a consistently hyper-realistic environment. Failing to apply deepening techniques almost guarantees that experiences will be dull, uninteresting, and subsequent practice short-lived. Practitioners should immediately learn and apply deepening techniques after mastering any one entrance method. 3. The third step involves mastering techniques for maintaining the phase, as without them the average person would have phase experiences of much shorter duration than is possible. When in the phase, the question of how to leave it almost never occurs. On the contrary, one is normally thrust from it in the course of several seconds if one simply does nothing. 4. After learning all the necessary techniques for mastering the phase state, it is time to learn and apply methods of control, which encompass the ability to translocate, find and interact with objects, influence surroundings, and so forth. 5. Once the previously noted steps have been accomplished, a practitioner may proceed to apply phase experiences to enhance everyday life. Over the course of this guidebook, we will examine dozens of these valuable applications in great detail.

For the most part I believe waking and sleeping is the same effort, so I confuse myself by asking about mixing sleeping and waking. Thought I was talking nonsense as I wrote it, and I still think so, but they were the words I wanted to write! As I reflect on this, I realize that maybe the same effort that's involved in waking and sleeping can be a part of dreaming. We realize the place as the place is what is, single-pointed yet inclusive past what can be known. If we see our hands, or travel out of body, the effort is still only this?- my guess, since I can't claim to have done either. Just the occasional lucid dream. Sweet dreams!

Snot runs. Zendo still. Ripples from a waking dream. Pile of stones at feet.

Quite often A lucid dream IS an OBE in a real time zone if one projects out with memory. There is very little difference within astral concepts. Point remains: survivability.

I understand what you are saying, but a real time zone OBE is totally different than a lucid dream. EDIT: Astral Dynamics covers both.

The point is Not: how to get there - we all do that each night in the dream state - the point is how to survive there, in the mentaly conscious mode, within the enviornment of your own mind. As a primer I would suggest you go to see the movie Inception so that you would at least have a small Idea of what the guardian of the Gates is... http://inceptionmovie.warnerbros.com/dvd/

I haven't actually read a book for a number of years, not a single book, and the last book I read was a fantasy book called Mipham, the first Tibetan novel and that was in 2007. Before that I read a number of Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche books, while practicing and having incredible awakening experiences while walking the streets of Manhattan after my transmission from him in 04'. Having various lucid dream experiences with him or other Tibetan Masters including the Dalai Lama who I never felt connected to before my transmission from Namkhai Norbu. These experiences were clarifying the view of Buddhism, as well as spontaneous occurrences of serendipity in all sorts of places around NYC, revealing the subtlety of dependent origination/emptiness. All the while I was learning how to do the various terma practices taught by Namkhai Norbu involving visualization, mantra and mudra, as I was used to just doing relatively easy bhakti chanting, in the traditional Namasankirtana style of Hinduism, as well as Swadyaya chanting of Hindu Gitas which is quite simple in comparison. The Buddhist Vajrayana and Dzogchen practices are more engaging, involving more focus from the individual who is doing the practice. The Yantra Yoga is also more refined than traditional forms of Hatha Yoga, both Iyangar derivatives and Ashtanga derivatives, as the postures are conjoined with particular breathing exercises as in pranayama is performed during the flow of yogic movements that is very specific as far as where to place the inbreath and outbreath as well as the different breath holds in line with particular postures and some involve particular visualizations for specific results. All in all the practices of Vajrayana and Dzogchen are very clean, not messy and very specific in intentionality and require more engaging energy from the practitioner than most forms of Indian Yogic practice derived from Vedic understanding. Of which I still enjoy doing though. Sometimes I still go to Hindu Kirtans and practice Hatha Yoga and enjoy it. During my first meeting with Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche in 04', I experienced so many visions and spontaneous surges of a variety of different levels of energy going through different rapture states and correlating realizations as well as visions of the 6 realms and 31 planes of existence and their meaning both mundane and super-mundane. These experiences re-contextualized my previous experiences doing heavy practice in a kundalini tantra tradition and brought a different kind of clarity to these experiences I had previous to my Dzogchen transmission. As well I was having clarity of vision with correlating psychic phenomena revealing information that contradicted my previous understanding based upon Eternalistic interpretations of reality and meditative experiences that supported the Eternalist view during my years as a Shaivite Yogi. Basically, all my previous assumptions based upon supposedly deep level Kundalini Yoga experiences were being contradicted and re-contextualized, and completely re-understood. My whole mind and brain was going through changes. So I read books by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, the person who gave me transmission. So, your truths that you seem to think are real, are really a figment of your imagination. I have ideas of why this happened for you, but I won't share these ideas as I think it's up to you to figure out why for yourself. If you were to sit in practice with me, during my Dzogchen "Tun" or in a group session, lets say a "Ganapuja" or "Chod"... you would change your mind. You think, much like ralis, that you are being intuitive, but your really showing how deep subjective thinking and feeling clouds intuition or actually is the experience of intuition, as there is no inherent "intuition" really, just causes and conditions within the many dimensions as mind. This is a good and humbling insight. I have friends that tell me, "you should be a psychic for hire and make money with it." Or... "You should read auras and tell people their past lives." Because these things spontaneously happen for me. I've read peoples minds, sure, and told them what I read and I'm not talking about general things, but specific things that these people said in their minds with reactions from these people, sometimes in shock, "that's exactly what I was thinking, word for word." But, I am not sure about the validity of any of these things because I understand how deep subjectivity goes within an individual, as well as inter-subjectivity within a group of karmically connected individuals. What people call intuition, is generally just deep subconscious conditioning based upon lifetimes of habit patterning both individually and in groups, as well as left overs from lives as an animal running in a pack. I hope this information was clear enough and not misunderstood. Life is actually pretty complicated in all it's expressions, and sometimes it takes some unpacking of detail to get to the heart of things. Theists say, "God is in the details." Well... for a Buddhist, "Buddhahood is in the details." p.s. I probably should apply more energy to my private practice at home than I do here. Even though I consider all things and every aspect of my day as part of the practice.

So I came across a post in another thread which I found rather interesting: I was wondering if anyone knows anything about this method, what it entails, or how the mechanisms behind it work. Is it akin to learning lucid dreaming, in which you distinguish between reality and the dream state, so you know your dreaming, except in this case you can distinguish between things that are real and things that are not when you meditate? Something else? Anyone who has any insights, it'd be great to hear from you!

In yogic path it is said that in dreams it is important to be able to hold values as in waking reality.Not doing anything you wouldnt do awake. That is one of the basic levels to be mastered .This also includes working on your personality and developing more understanding and forgiving and loving personality on a very deep level too. Get over self-sabotaging mechanisams. Than mind becomes clear and other dimensions than this earthly one start reveleaing naturally and it is possible to see what is imagined and what not.And here is where a lot of more esoteric teaching from teacher begins becouse the ground is prepared. As I was on yogic path for over 10 years in past that is what I have heard and no I havent been thought by a earthly teacher how to dream. Some Sufi schools deal with dreamwork a lot and will teach in a very specific way.Becouse it is similar with Yogis about turning sleep into being aware non stop.

I think what hurts us is not so much the focus on karma, but a really simplistic and wishful-thinking revenge-fantasies based karma. But, what's easier: to get people to develop a more realistic view, or to get people to drop the whole issue altogether? It may be easier to drop the issue of karma altogether as an expedient means. However, people still want to have a sense that their practice and life is not wasted, that in the next life, they'll be less stupid and better off than in this one. How can we support this narrative of improvement and continuation? Also, many people are uncomfortable that evil people get away with their evil without punishment. That's where the transcendent karma concept comes from. So if you want to get rid of the transcendent karma concept, you have to speak to all those concerns satisfactorily. The key word is "satisfactorily" as opposed to say, dismissively. In my opinion, the easier option in this case is not a better option. I think our ideas about karma are idiotic for the most part, especially when we think of concrete ways of how karma might manifest. But the idea of a mood is not a bad one I think. If you don't like the idea of a mood, why don't you like it? Can you explain it? I notice that there is definitely continuation between my day awareness and my dream awareness. If I am agitated during the day, my dreams can become agitated too. If I am peaceful during the day, my dreams tend to be peaceful. I notice that the mood has a continuation. To me that's a beneficial knowledge. I don't consider myself to be chained to my past. No way. All of my being is ready to change at any moment. But if I don't actively intend to change, what happens? Inertia. Inertia is intentional and meaningful too. So there is no bondage and neither myself nor Buddha believed in permanent accumulations of any kind. Buddha believed that karma was flexible and fluid and you could alter it significantly in one life. Karma is intent and the only limit to altering intent is one's beliefs. So I think for people with enlightened and examined beliefs, there is a possibility of fast change. For people with dogmatic and inflexible beliefs which result from lack of examination, there is a lesser possibility of change. But all in all the possibility for change is huge.

Yes, they are revealing deviations. But most people have these deviations, including me, though less and less over the years! So, this type of stuff will happen at first, but when you do the training in yantra yoga, dream yoga, deepen meditation, mudra, mantra, visualization, etc. the energy will integrate and start to travel clearly through the channels, and the experience will be that of a calm and integrated bliss, rather than a powerful rush of alien seeming energy through the system.

Ralis has a point. Being a monk does not equal renunciation. Some people become monks just for the easy life. People overestimate the cultivation accomplishments of monks. I've seen enough. There are people who are serious and devoted in monasteries, but you can also find renunciates who are living in society. When adults, who through their experiences and contemplations reach renunciation, enter into monk-hood, you have good candidates, but again - how many children are able to do this? For the former, adults, monasteries can provide a splendid environment, not for renunciation - since it is a mental aspect(you can dream of lavish buffets, sex, drugs... while living in a cave) - but for dedicated cultivation. Mandrake

Whatever you want to use to justify it. But, he didn't lucid dream it, he actually just made it all up, in the sense of like lets say, Harry Potter, but instead of referencing Celtic Lore or whatever, it references American Shamanism.