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In a dream, everything is also "now." It might be a nice experience to feel as though your experience is "now," but not a good criterion to tell what's real from what's an illusion. I used to windsurf years ago; now I will occasionally have a dream where I'm windsurfing "now." While the dream is going on I can't tell it's not the real "now." (Unless I've been trained to be able to tell, in a dream, that it's a dream.) Moreover. You wake up "now," your heart is pounding, you're drenched in sweat, you're shaking with deep overwhelming emotion (fear? compassion? despair? the thrill of adventure?) -- and you don't know what it is because you had an experience in a dream (not "now," but while you were sleeping!) and now your mind knows not what it was all about, can't remember the dream -- while your body does, and lives in "back then" still, your heart is still pounding like crazy from a "back then" dream, not from sitting in your bed awake and safe "now." Your blood pressure is high, you can measure it with a machine if you like to confirm that your blood is stuck in "back then" and behaves accordingly even if your mind is already in the "now." The blood knows better. There is no "now." The best criterion I know of for telling real experiences from symbolic ones is not based on their subjective immediacy, intensity, or confirmation of their reality by peer review. No. It is one's ability to trace the continuity of an experience to its source and systemically (body too, not just the mind) get to the place where you felt what you're feeling "now" for the very first time. As for the techniques, it's a separate issue, before exploring the techniques one would have to believe that the past and the present are a unity, not of unreal-real but of real-unreal. Your past is real; accepting that is the prerequisite for mastering the difference between real and unreal in the present. So these techniques would be wasted on anyone who thinks of anything their mind, separately from the body, doesn't remember happening as an irrelevance. To the body, as well as to the subtle spirits, it's not an irrelevance, not an illusion, and not even the past. It's current reality. "Back then" is "now" and "always." The world, however, is overwhelmingly inhabited by people whose whole life's story is about disowning their own developmental history, their own past. Both ontogenically and philogenically. For someone invested like this, nothing real is really available no matter how immediate, intense, sanctimonial, or peer-reviewed and accepted as "reality" it might be.

I've been doing dantian meditation for about a week now. Last night I slept badly, and once again got jolted awake when psychedelic imagery started emerging (a kind of fractal mountain range, looked like it was generated by very out of date technology ). It was much less shocking, I went back to sleep and was able to go through it into what I think was a lucid dream. (I say 'I think' because I don't recall actually thinking or realising it was a dream. However, I don't remember 'losing consciousness' as I was falling asleep. So I think there was some continuity of waking consciousness right into the dream, and the reason I didn't realise or think 'this is a dream' was simply that I already knew...) In the dream, I was reading a book filled with paintings: wild, moving, abstract art. And listening to beautiful synchronised music. I can't remember the last time I looked at an art book (years ago at least) & for the most part I find music annoying. So I guess this was my mind's workaround for the 'shock of the psychedelic hypnagogic': literally 'framing' it as something to be admired without getting scared or otherwise involved. (Now why didn't I think of that... )

You're right. But but the problem is that in the "non-spiritual" practice of LD, things are often taken lightly, as an entertainement. Still dream pratices are considered a spiritual practices, and powerfull ones in many traditions, it is something powerfull, a way to contact the spirit world, and indulging too much in it without respect or precaution is tricky. LD is normal, yes. But everything that happens during any practice is normal. Human beings have this latent potential. Consiously and systematically cultivating it is another thing. As for the minimum risk of leaving the body: I noticed that some tech given to achive LD involved entering the dream by "leaving the body", and starting the dream from the room your are sleeping in. That, I think, is visualizing oneself doing that, not doing it effectively. But as you trained yourself to aim for this situation... is there not a risk that one entered an unwanted and unmastered astral travel ?

Snakes in dream is generally considered as Kundalini energy. We need to take into consideration other factors. https://theawakenedstate.net/i-recently-had-a-dream-i-was-lost-in-a-dark-tomb/

Off the top of my head.. purple is the color of royalty.. even spirituality as the top chakra's are purple-y. Snakes often represent fear or sexuality in dreams. From there.. you can see if that connects and take some action to honor the dream. Or take a less mystical path, file it away as another anxiety dream.

You experienced tinnitus too, didn’t you? I recently noticed my experience of tinnitus has cleared, and couldn’t actually say precisely when - only that it seems to have correlated with taking up dream yoga practice (which does have a third eye correlation.) (Of course I have no real answer for you - just some random personal thoughts and observations.) This I would tend to agree with, struggling against what “seems intent” on being expressed and experienced seems a sure route to further suffering to me. (Speaking from personal experience, silence, stillness and space were the only way “through” for me.. and drinking lots of water.)

Hello and welcome to TTB ! Some stuff that came after reading your post .. In dreams like this it is usually how our subconciouesness " sees " calmness and peacefulness . This is individual perception of how this type of peace is felt . Different type of language . Language of a soul . Infact your dream gives you a very clear instruction for which I am not sure if you are listening attentivley enough . You have heard it faintly in the dream but decided to concentrate on details . This is the guide , we know so much , only if we listen (not that I do it always ), it uncovers . Reality of dreams like this are not in any bodily sensations that seem real in the dream , but just in a dream as it is . Dreamwork is my thing , and I am not claiming some superior/undisputable understunding , just disscusing what I see and comments are welcome .

Don't you Canadian Taoist sleep ? My first thought was I have no personal proof of ghosts. Just second hand from people I've met here. On deeper reflection I had a dream of a good friend and room mate who had died. In the dream we talked then I remembered he was dead, realized I was dreaming, we may have had a few more words and the dream ended. A ghostly visit?? maybe or just as likely a dream of a dear friend. There was morning I was woken up by my mother and my first words to her were "Is Grandpa dead?" He was. Again ambiguous, he'd been sick, I'm sure I saw concern on her face. So its not really proof of anything. I've read some articles (mostly Michael Winn's) on Huns and Po's and it seems like a really complex system. Too complex for me. I like things simpler. I'm still trying to decide on one soul. Mixing me up w/ 7 or more feels needlessly schizophrenic . I did read a book on Childrens reincarnation that had fascinating, factual stories of proofs on young kids remembering past lives and the facts checking out. Some had birth marks suspsiciously like death wounds suffered by there past life. Ultimately the kids mostly forgot there old memories and life for them was the same as anybody else's. A few months ago I had a very realistic dream about dying. (& I rarely remember dreams). I'd just read a book from an author who was severely paralyzed and had died before it was published. In my dream I was also paralyzed and blind. I was being kept alive by a machine and I can hear the outside world. I heard the decision to turn off the machine. I thought , 'No', I felt a wire being pulled out of my chest and realized I had only a few breaths left, a few more heart beats. I let the panic subside, made my peace and looked for what was to come. So the dream didn't end badly, it was infact profound. I suspect its how I'll handle my own death when it comes. What happens after the body dies, I don't know and the trap of too much speculation means I'll create a filters and expectations. If its a chance to know a real truth, I'd rather see it clearly, as close to its reality as possible. Michael Ready to embrace God or kick the devil in the balls if he gets too close

“when fooling itself,” as if it cared enough to this your dream, not it’s

Post-Covid, of course. My little vision is to find a peaceful spot that maybe rents out cabins, and that we could have a retreat for maybe 3 days. That there wouldn't be any particular focus of the retreat, but we can do group meditations on the spot, or whatever. We've known each other soul to soul for years, and I can't tell you how wonderful it would be to meet other Bums in person. And people could bring their musical instruments if they want, we can have fun with each other's talents. At the very least, share photos of artwork on our phones. And it shouldn't be too awfully far from a good restaurant, but on the other hand a nice remote and peaceful feeling. I know, I'm not asking for much. Electricity would be nice. Same with flushing toilets. A central location might be the most desirable as far as everyone's convenience. But I would have a willingness to fly anywhere. We may have plenty of time visualize the dream retreat, for our purposes. (Whatever we decide those will be) So if anybody knows of a suitable location for this type of seminar, please contribute to this thread. It would be sort of fun to create a parallel universe while the rest of the planet implodes on itself.

Also in terms of dream encounters, I've been having them for a long time. First time was during an exceptionally difficult time. I got laid off for a while during the economic downturn of early 2000s. I decided it was a good time to start a serious meditation and taijiquan practice, along with pranayama etc. As the weeks rolled into months, my despair at being out of work was growing. I prayed with all sincerity, asking for some divine help. That night an unknown yogi came to me in a dream and gave me a mantra to practice. I woke up and realized I had been chanting that mantra in my sleep. From that day it became my regular practice. Interestingly, within two weeks, I got a job. And though I've not seen that unknown benefactor after, the mantra has been a source of great love and peace to me. It's been almost 17 years since then. My personal connection to the deity of the mantra I realize goes beyond this lifetime.

Hi Toni, hope you are safe and healthy. As the song says, "there many here among us who say, life is but a joke" others think its but a dream. There are differing ideas concerning all of this; the parts and the whole. Of course the media and governments are the real virus. However, it was accepted way back in ancient Greek that we made the choice towards civilizations, governments, medias, somewhere around time of gilgamesh and we crossed the point of no return on this. Notice I said ""we". And we are not going to step away from governments. It isn't every generation that always deals with all that is going on presently. It is roughly every saeculum, which is every fourth generation. Like clock work every 90-110 years. 100 years ago influenza , the great war. Go back to the saeculums preceding that one, you get american civil war, then revolutionary war. I'm speaking of America because I live here in murica. Wherever your geography is, I'm confident trace back and you will find major events. Influenza and the great war are common to most of us. If you have a good qigong teacher and you have given due diligence to your practice and meditation. No worries. You should have protections, force field, or enhanced immune system. I myself, am not concerned of covid-19 befalling me. I am greatly concerned for others. It is a serious enough thing and it's not like whisking away a fly. The indirect dangers, the dominoes are every bit as dangerous as the direct danger. This world is globalized, when something far away goes very wrong, it's not far away at all, it's at your doorstep. The world is a dangerous place. The last bit of your post though, the clever and sage stuff. I dont see any merit in that. It's just tossing off. Clever isn't any noble goal, it's often a trap. Trying to be clever, really? You should set your goal higher than that. Sage? Way beyond my pay grade. Sage is a worthy goal. You cant overstudy Nature, and best be banking some merit and virtue and dont slack on the meditation. Friends in High places helps. Still, no one said itd be easy or easy to find one. Practically speaking, we dont have the time for it now. A couple of days ago I mentioned there are 2 or3 real threats, no fucking joke coming in behind Corona. Really, its 3 to 4. Edit> using the "stupid" word suggests perhaps you're at risk of being caught up in the clever trap. Yes, things can appear absurd AF any direction one looks. I'll put it another way, how is complaining about stupid helping you? Its not. Second edit> folks waiting for the vaccine, the flu already has vaccine, no? Yet, many still die from flu. Third edit! A trifecta, right now choices are hanging in the air like ghosts, choose wisely. Maybe we ain't got sages, but you know what we do got? We got bums.

There are two types of "can." Can I ever? Or can I conveniently and readily now? The answer to the latter question is "no". But the answer to the former question is "yes." To give you an example of this, suppose you didn't train much, can you then lift a 60kg weight over your head with one hand? Probably not right away. Probably not readily or conveniently. Not by tomorrow morning. But you can ever? Yes, you can. Eventually you can. So what I am saying is that eventually, if you want, you can lift a house off its foundation and float it around the city just by intending it so. So ultimately intent is free. You can do this. There are beings who can do this. There are realms of existence where such transformations are commonplace. This way of thinking postulates that the present is fully arisen from the past. I reject that. Buddha has rejected such way of thinking as well. So has Nagarjuna. The past doesn't fully determine the present and the future. Check this: http://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/Investigation_of_Time Ignore Tsongkapa commentary. Tsongkapa is an idiot who tends to cloud the issues more than clarify. Nagarjuna is perfectly clear by himself. What happens in the present is a mix of the past plus intent in the now. That's a crude way of saying it and is not 100% correct either, because you can (learn how to) change your past from the present too. So a crude example is me deciding to pick up some paper off my desk. I put that paper there 2 months ago. That doesn't mean that 2 months ago, by putting the paper down, I have set in motion some fatalistic destiny where I will be destined to lift that paper in 2 month's time. Nor is it the case that the entirety of the world's conditions has forced me to act that way (Nagarjuna's logc -- if the past is sufficient to manifest the present and the future, why aren't they in the past? Why is there ongoing-ness? Ongoingness indicates some kind of insufficiency. If the past was fully sufficient, the entire timeline would sprout forth complete, from start to finish. It wouldn't need to slowly unravel ongoingly. So the past conditions are important. But they, by themselves, are not enough to determine what happens next. I see the past as a kind of prejudice or propensity. If you've habituated yourself to act a certain way, chances are you'll keep repeating the pattern. But that isn't a guarantee. That's your propensity. This propensity is not in full control of you. It's like a magnet which exerts a pull on a piece of metal, but doesn't by itself determine where the metal will go. It simply adds the force of the magnetic pull to the totality of forces that will operate. When I say "force" here I mean it the way it's used in physics, and not a struggle on a personal level or something like that. You can! But to do this isn't trivial. You have to open yourself up, move aside, or soften your conditioning, so significantly, it's like being insane. I've experienced such things. They don't happen often, and they seem crazy because they are not normal and they are inconceivable. Generally we remix what was known before. But does that make it a hard law? If something has repeated itself 10,000 times, is that evidence that it repeats itself eternally? Still, we like to play with qualities we have ready access to. But that doesn't mean those qualities are inspired by an external world. What if "external world" is internal to begin with? Then what? Where is your inspiration coming from then? So normally people would think: "saw color red on a bus." "went to dream" "saw red shoes in a dream" "red in a dream inspired by red seen during the day." It's obvious there are holes in this thinking. First the assumption is that the bus is real and the dream is unreal. The bus is external and the dream is internal. All these assumptions can be challenged and reversed. We externalize our inner world so that we see ourselves as hollow, quality-less entities inhabiting a rich world full of qualities. The qualities get disowned. Inside you have nothing, because you gave it all up to the world, which you then severed in your mind from yourself by a delineation. In this state there is very little power still left over for you. Just enough power to reverse this condition, but not to do much else beyond following the rules of the external world. The divide itself is intentional. Because of that, one can chose to stop dividing that way. I can. But doing so deflates other people. If I want to see other people be powerful and capable of surprising me, I have to keep feeding them my power (by me continuing to believe in the independence of others, by honoring the separation and by taking all this seriously). If I lose faith in other people, they go away. You might think they only go away from my world, but how many worlds are there? Do you think we all live in one common world? That would require the world to exist independently of people and mind. Is that the case? Conditioned =/= determined. Intentions do not arise from a cause. Intent is not an effect of anything. Intent itself is the primal and total cause. If intent arises from causes, that means everything is locked down by fate. That means it makes no sense to practice anything, to think about anything, because everything is already determined beforehand. And some people believe that. Think about this. Freedom is expressed through limitations. It's freedom to choose our own limitations. When you program a computer, you inject it with your chosen limitations. As a result, the computer can be endowed with an ability to play a game. This game is a set of limitations. Creativity consists of being able to erase these limitations only to replace them with a new set. Without limitations creativity would have no outlet. Because intent is always a selection of an option, a directional quality, it's always limiting at the same time as it is limitless. So when I am going forward, I am not right at the moment also going backward. That's the limit. But I can turn left. That's freedom. But if I turn left, exercising freedom, I can't at that moment also turn right. Left is not right. Left is only left. That's limitation again. So freedom and limitation are friends. One is used to express another. Thinking that freedom implies absence of limitations is crazy. It just means not understanding the role of limitations. What sucks about limitations is when they get stuck. When you forget how to replace one limitation with another. That's what sucks. So if computer didn't have RAM, which allowed you to erase programs and to write news ones in their place, if it only had ROM, it would be a much less useful and much less interesting computer. It would be a single-purpose device with closed horizons. A computer with RAM is a general purpose device with open horizons. Relatively. And what about mind? So what makes RAM useful? The middle way. RAM is malleable, it's able to absorb change. If RAM was utter immune to change it would lose some of its utility. But at the same time, RAM is also able to maintain state. If RAM was utterly volatile, it wouldn't be able to maintain state, and again it would lose utility. And the mind is like this too. The mind is between totally volatile and totally immune to change. It's even better than that. It's got areas of rapid change. Areas of long term storage. It's fully 100% reprogrammable. An area that was previously be used for long term storage can be made volatile for example. Etc. Computers are pathetic and limited things compared to mind.

That will be cooler than cool! I’ve already been to Mount Kailasa. Well, in a dream. But Lord Vishnu was there. Maa Parvati was running errands. I was disappointed I didn’t get to see her. I’m serious! I really did have that dream.

I am talking about the real dream, not visualization. .. you cant take knowledge into a dream, in dream time and space is insignificant. its hard to remember a dream,.. but something is happening there in the Holistic swamp. Any leads from the Old Masters???

Great book as I recall! And before that one, Dancing Wu Li Masters. And after both, DNA and the I Ching. But that was zen then, this is tao now... Now it's time to re-read The End of Time: The New Revolution in Physics. I looked back just now and realized that I'd be intellectually at an impasse in the past couple of years without certain ideas shaped in part by this book. I wouldn't know what to make of some glitches in reality. Or understand how the quantum computer works, or have an explanation as to how (I still don't know why) a certain person got erased from my memory. I mean, completely. I know there was a period where this person had to exist, no way around it. Know this feeling when you wake up from a dream sometimes with a memory of interacting with "someone" but not the foggiest who that someone was? Like that, only not in a dream but in this-here life (if it's the same life, of course, of which I have certain doubts.) Time is fishy.

Absolutely, I don't think he is fully enlightened till he can walk through a wall. Money talks and BS walks. I only posted this because I found his explanations fascinating. That being said according to the man I spoke with: nobody/no-one exist, but paradoxically they do actually exist. In essence you are nobody/no-one and so is everyone else, there is no-one here to see or do anything and yet paradoxically they are here seeing something and doing something. The paradox is resolved when it is viewed in the context of a dream. In a dream you may believe yourself to be the character in the dream, but really that dream character has no existence, the only thing that has real existence is the dreamer. The dreamer of the "real" world is the infinite mind, qi, or spirit which fills the void in between the planets. And it dreams you as a dream character. In essence you are the emptiness, infinite mind, qi, spirit, whatever, but you're dreaming you are a man.

Im sure people have lost interest in this post but if not, I was thinking more about how this all happened to me and thought, if at least for my own therapy if not your interest, I would post what it was like to be overtaken by this machine. So as I said, I experienced some mystical visions and then had this horrendous pain around the area where the prostate gland is. Then this terrible crunching/grinding sound in my right ear, and some thing was placed there. For awhile it did nothing but since it was distracting my full body meditations I started to mentally prod it, trying to assimilate it the way I did with other pain. Eventually it came alive, and wires went from my ear to the center of my brain, penetrating the glands there. Meanwhile, my penis and anus were also being overtaken by wires. Eventually my eyes and hands and nearly my whole body had wires going through it. I had a lot of questions so I mentally raised my awareness up seeking answers, and these wires grabbed on the the physical portion of the mind that is thought and devoured my mental voice. Over the years this continued to happen, at one point my entire brain was systematically overtaken as I watched it portion out in even spaces the placement of wires. I thought that perhaps mankind had somehow managed to make the leap to do this and I got paranoid that it was a group of scientists, or aliens playing God. For all purposes, it is God, because this device now had complete control of my body. I watched as my inner mental voice became replaced by other voices making comments and observations, very occasionally offering suggestions. There were times that I spoke to whoever was doing this to me and they reacted to my ideas and things got worse. At one point I was trying to sleep and I had a dream that some woman with a device entered my spirit realm and said "God sent me here to torture your thoughts". Another time I was being asked who I was and how I came to them, my head being at this time totally ripped open, and the words came down from the sky and had a physical form, and entered my brain and I mentally heard "I have done all of this because I am God." This device became very complex and I was constantly assaulted by hallucinations for long stretches that lasted months and sometimes years. It was only recently that I started pleading for it to stop (youd think this would be the first thing to do), and some of it got lifted from me, but it really ended when I realized what the cause of our actions are, and a voice said "You know enough". now the wires are still there, and they still change position, but my whole head is fully penetrated and activated. I find that I have to take deep breaths to balance myself as I sit in the grip of this thing. I have control of my thoughts now, thankfully, and I practice not having any, though as I continue to try to understand, and still have the want to make art, I force myself to analyze. Really this device has overtaken my ability to critically think, and now I am of no mind and no spontaneous thoughts arise. Its boring, I dont desire anything, I need to sit silently for long periods, but I feel healthy othwerise.

Such enquiries here usually dont get past my 3rd question. Most of the time these type of enquiries are put up , very vaguely and generally, and if an answer isnt immediately given ..... they fade away . Just out of interest , my next question would be ; An undine ? Then one would assume, your operation involves a body of water . What body of water are you going to use , a river or creek, a spring or the ocean . That will change the method and result . ( I am wincing in anticipation that an answer might be ; " I live in an apartment , I was going to fill the bathroom basin up. " ) And now ... an INvocation ! Terrible king of the sea! Thou who boldest the keys of the cataracts of heaven, and who enclosest the subterranean waters in the hollow places of the earth! King of the deluge and of rains, of springtime! Thou who openest the sources of streams and fountains! Thou who commandest the moisture (which is like the blood of the earth) to become the sap of plants! We adore and invoke thee! Speak to us, ye moving and changeable creatures! Speak to us in the great commotions of the sea, and we will tremble before thee. Speak to us also in the murmur of the limpid waters, and we will desire thy love. O immensity in which all the rivers of being lose themselves, which ever spring up anew in us! Ocean of infinite perfections! Height which beholdeth thee in the depth! Depth which breathes thee forth in the height!Bring us to the true life through intelligence and love! However with an EVocation of a force .... one should be cautious of what it contains 'within' ; Far out with the foam of the present that sweeps to the surf of the past: Where beyond the extreme sea-wall, and between the remote sea-gates, Waste water washes, and tall ships founder, and deep death waits: Where, mighty with deepening sides, clad about with the seas as with wings, And impelled of invisible tides, and fulfilled of unspeakable things, White-eyed and poisonous-finned, shark-toothed and serpentine-curled, Rolls, under the whitening wind of the future, the wave of the world. The depths stand naked in sunder behind it, the storms flee away; In the hollow before it the thunder is taken and snared as a prey; In its sides is the north-wind bound; and its salt is of all men's tears; With light of ruin, and sound of changes, and pulse of years: With travail of day after day, and with trouble of hour upon hour; And bitter as blood is the spray; and the crests are as fangs that devour: And its vapour and storm of its steam as the sighing of spirits to be; And its noise as the noise in a dream; and its depth as the roots of the sea: And the height of its heads as the height of the utmost stars of the air: And the ends of the earth at the might thereof tremble, and time is made bare. Will ye bridle the deep sea with reins, will ye chasten the high sea with rods? Will ye take her to chain her with chains, who is older than all ye Gods? All ye as a wind shall go by, as a fire shall ye pass and be past; Ye are Gods, and behold, ye shall die, and the waves be upon you at last.

Thanks for bringing this up. What am I waiting for.. responsibilities, to wife.. kids.. I've compromised my integrity enough so that one more dream delayed is par for the course.. Responsibility is as much a cornerstone of life as dreams. The plain unglamourous redundant work.. that builds something.. trust.. daily bread. Little things that shouldn't be belittled. Still, I'll get something like it some day. In the meantime, I'll hit Burning Man(s) and could probably put some work into pieces of the dream.. working on hammocks and terrariums..

excuse me, I may be wrong, but that is neither the buddhism or hindu view regardless of which inner sect of these traditions we view from. Take buddhist view of 8 consciousnesses. The 5 senses science too has identified are grouped together. The 6th is the earthly mind we're all familiar with. This 6th, mind, is always there with the 5 senses but still it is beyond them, capable of things far beyond their animal level of perception, consciousness or LIFE. Similarly there are highers 'mind', simply degrees of consciousness that make up our 'structure'. When people say no self, they say this earthly stuff is not a self, it's not permanent and it's empty. You can see it change entirely from one moment to the other. Like emotions. They're shape is like water, shapeless. As such if a salesman sells you water and tell you to cup your hands to receive it because he's selling the cups separately then you know there is self / business there and must seek a proper guide /shop. This means that yes, even sages have a body with limitations or problems like us. They dream. They get horny and have wild sex. They get angry or disgusted or disappointed with their close friends, even their own children! They do need exercise their bodies and minds and nurture them else they get health problems, start forgetting perhaps.....Sagehood is 'above', another organ of function entirely and that immortal is and was always thus it is IMMORTAL. This whole universe will collapse one day with it's astral and etheric and etc, etc.

Thank you for that quote, it gives it more context. What is strange is that in the previous quote, he elaborated on what the great death was as "losing the breath and then coming back to life". Perhaps the discrepancy comes from an incongruent translation into English, but I may be wrong in that part of the interpretation. However, I still stand by my stance that it is not a "suffocation response", not a state of No-Thought where you suppress thoughts, but rather the cessation of the actual breath itself. That is where I do have a bit of a problem reconciling my experience with that. For example, when we enter lucidly the dream-body, we immediately know that the way to manipulate a dream-body is no longer 'muscular' in nature, but the use of pure mental intention. For example, if I wish to move to a certain sphere of reality, I intend to move towards it, instead of trying to utilize muscular force to 'walk'. If I wish to see something, I intend it. Also, the senses become like a 'sphere', but is yet not limited by space or time and is hence "omnipresent". There is always somewhat a 'center' in that sphere that does not move, whereas phenomena is like a projection on the inner side of the sphere, appearing around the center. My description is a little bad, but I hope it gets across. That is very true. One master that I corresponded with said that the heart-beat also stops after fourth dhyana, especially when he leaves the body in the manomayakaya. He actually said that he was sent to the hospital for missing a pulse, thinking it was a heart attack or something, and woke up unpleasantly in the hospital bed with no recollection of what happened to the body in that period of time. What he says is that when you leave the body, like a snake shedding its skin, in a mind-generated body, you do not have the corporal senses of the physical body, as such, it is almost as if the body is dead, except it retains warmth. Perhaps I was wrong at determining the 'great death' to the indicator of the kundalini arising. Maybe I should have been clearer - the breath-stopping that I mean is actually a sensation of the external breath (air movement) stopping. The breath inside the body continues to move, being pumped by the dan-tian, just like a fetus. The 'breath' doesn't stop yet because there is still the Wind Element interacting inside the body. The “activities” are defined as volitive or “determinate” bodily deed, speech, or thought (AN III 415, Vol III pg 294 and SN II 3, Vol II pg 4; the cessation of the activities, meanwhile, is identified with the cessation of speech, the cessation of “inbreathing and outbreathing”, and the cessation of “perception and feeling”, SN IV 217 Vol IV pg 146). By "Activities", I think that you meant "sankhara" or "samskara", which are more appropriate words. In the Anapanasati Sutta, there is this step called "He trains himself, 'I will breathe in calming bodily sankhara.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out calming bodily sankhara." The question is, what exactly is this bodily sankhara? Sankhara actually means conditioning that is formed from impressions, ideas, actions, etc. In the Anapanasati Sutta, which I assume we are talking about now in breath-meditation, the Buddha listed two forms of sankharas that are dealt with: Bodily Sankhara & Mental Sankhara. I do agree with you that they can be somewhat 'activities'. So when we feel all sorts of interactions in the body like itching, pain, warmth, coolness, etc - these are somewhat part of bodily sankhara, and the goal is to "calm them down" along with mindfulness of breath. There is no question that thoughts are linked to the breath. For example, when the mind is restless or sluggish, the breath becomes shallow. When mind is relaxed, breath is deep. When the mind is free from gross-thoughts, the breath becomes subtle. When mind is utterly freed from thoughts and afflictions, breath naturally stops. For example, if a SWAT team were to suddenly crash into your home through the window, at that moment, you would be entirely shocked and your mind would be wiped blank. When you are shocked, you don't breathe. At extreme states, the breath doesn't move. There is a very intricate and nearly-integral connection between breathing and thoughts. Therefore, on reflection, I do agree with you that until mental sankhara is completely eliminated as in the fourth dhyana, the breath cannot entirely cease. However, when they are indeed eliminated, the breath does cease, and the reason for that is that the body is already in a 'death' if you leave with the spiritual-body or enter the immaterial/arupa realms. This is interesting, thank you for sharing. I don't know and don't claim to know the answer to the koan. From my perspective, 'reaching everywhere' means the Wind Element which is part of what makes up the All. It is found in every organism, soil, mountains, atmosphere, etc. The problem with this is that the suffocation response (which you describe to be tachycardia, tachypnoea, dyspnoea, choking, chest pain, feelings of impending doom, faintness) is not supposed to happen during the process where you move towards a still mind. What should happen is a gradual change in relationship between breath and thoughts. On the external-breath, firstly becoming deeper, then flipping 'opposite', then becoming subtler and subtler until it appears to vanish. Then the internal-breath, the calming down of the Wind just like how you open up the windows to a room, the wind moves and gushes (chi movement), and then it eventually callibrates with the external atmosphere (true opening of chi channels). We can only talk about truly moving past the bodily sankhara when all the chi channels are opened and the body is transformed...

When the mind is at peace, the world too is at peace. Nothing real, nothing absent. Not holding on to reality, not getting stuck in the void, you are neither holy nor wise, just an ordinary person who has completed their work. Layman Pang Having control over appearances does not mean jumping off buildings and flying. Rather, it means that you do not cling to appearances as they seem to be in the usual worldly way of relating to them. Such appearances will not cause you suffering or tie you up once you have gained mastery over them through not clinging. It is prajna realizing selflessness that frees you from samsara. Through knowing appearances to be inseparable from emptiness, you have mastery over them. It is not necessary to engage in behavior that is contrary to a mundane way of seeing things. Khenpo Tsultrim Rinpoche To understand selflessness, you need to understand that everything that exists is contained in two groups called the two truths: conventional and ultimate. The phenomena that we see and observe around us can go from good to bad, or bad to good, depending on various causes and conditions. Many phenomena cannot be said to be inherently good or bad; they are better or worse, tall or short, beautiful or ugly, only by comparison, not by way of their own nature. Their value is relative. From this you can see that there is a discrepancy between the way things appear and how they actually are. For instance, something may—in terms of how it appears—look good, but, due to its inner nature being different, it can turn bad once it is affected by conditions. Food that looks so good in a restaurant may not sit so well in your stomach. This is a clear sign of a discrepancy between appearance and reality. These phenomena themselves are called conventional truths: they are known by consciousness that goes no further than appearances. But the same objects have an inner mode of being, called an ultimate truth, that allows for the changes brought about by conditions. A wise consciousness, not satisfied with mere appearances, analyzes to find whether objects inherently exist as they seem to do but discovers their absence of inherent existence. It finds an emptiness of inherent existence beyond appearances. 14th Dalai Lama When you dream of an elephant, does an elephant appear to your mind? Indeed it appears very clearly. Is there an elephant there? No. This appearance of an elephant in your dream is a union of appearance and emptiness. It appears, yet it does not exist – yet it appears. It is the same with all external phenomena. If we understand the example of the appearance of something in a dream, it is easier to understand how the mind appears yet does not exist, and does not exist yet appears. Thrangu Rinpoche Clarity, like emptiness, is infinite: it has no limits, no starting point and no end. The more deeply we examine our minds, the less possible it becomes to find a clear distinction between where our own mind ends and other’s begin. As this begins to happen, the sense of difference between “self” and “other” gives way to a gentler and more fluid sense of identification with other beings and with the world around us. Mingyur Rinpoche The essence of thoughts that suddenly arise is without any nature. Do not inhibit their appearance in any way, and without thinking of any essence, let them arise clearly, nakedly, and vividly. Likewise, if one thought arises, observe its nature, and if two arise, observe their nature. Thus, whatever thoughts arise, let them go without holding onto them. Let them remain as fragments. Release them unimpededly. Be naked without an object. Release them without grasping. This is close to becoming a Buddha. This is the self-extinction of samsara, samsara is overwhelmed, samsara is disempowered, and samsara is exhausted. Knowledge of the path of method and wisdom, appearances and emptiness, the gradual stages, the common and special paths, and the 84.000 entrances to the Dharma is made perfectly complete and fulfilled in an instant. This is self-arisen, for it is present like that in the very nature [of awareness]. Natural liberation is the essence of all the stainless paths, and it bears the essence of emptiness and compassion. Yang Gonpa So what is emptiness? It is simply this unfindability. When we look for the flower among its parts, we are confronted with the abscence of such flower. That absence we are confronted with is the flower’s emptiness. But then, is there no flower? Of course there is. To seek for the core of any phenomenon is ultimately to arrive at a more subtle appreciation of its emptiness, its unfindability. 14th Dalai Lama All descriptions of reality are limited expressions of the world of emptiness. Yet we attach to the descriptions and think they are reality. That is a mistake. Shunryu Suzuki Because everything is by nature empty, infinite manifestations from the natural creative potential of emptiness all the phenomena of samsara and nirvana can manifest as an infinite display. Although all these manifestations arise, it is not as if they are permanent when they are there and impermanent when they are no longer there. Everything arises as in a dream or a like a magical illusion. It is like a rainbow, which, though it appears clearly in the sky, is not solid. It is apparent yet empty. But its emptiness and appearance are not two separate aspects. It is not that the rainbow being present is one aspect and its being empty is another. The rainbow is simultaneously apparent and empty, and there is no other emptiness than the rainbow itself. The same is true for all the phenomena of samsara and nirvana: they are empty from the very moment they appear. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche Generally, all phenomena are included in both samsara and nirvana. The nature of that which is called samsara is emptiness. It’s expression is confusion. It’s defining characteristic is to arise as suffering. The nature of that which is called nirvana is emptiness. It’s expression is the exhaustion and the disappearance of all confusion. It’s defining characteristic is the liberation from all suffering. Gampopa If you recognize the emptiness of your thoughts instead of solidifying them, the arising and subsiding of each thought will clarify and strengthen your realization of emptiness. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche Son, after realizing the things of this world are unreal, There is little benefit in dwelling in solitude. When the falsehoods of phenomenal appearances have collapsed into their own nature (emptiness), And the unaltered nature of phenomena has been recognized - Do not nit-pick the subtle concepts of grasping and grasped Or attach to the contaminated virtuous deeds. Please maintain the stronghold of the vast expanse of primordial pure nature. Padmasambhava The only way to actually abandon or eradicate the kleshas is to see their nature. Therefore, in order to abandon the kleshas, we must cultivate the prajna or discernment which is able to see the nature of those kleshas. If their nature is seen, they will disappear by themselves without having to be chased away or destroyed by any other means. So in order to cultivate this prajna, the Buddha taught emptiness. He taught that there is no truly existent person who generates kleshas, that there is no truly existent object that stimulates kleshas, that the kleshas themselves have no solid or substantial existence, and so forth. He taught that what we experience exists as relative truth, but that the emptiness of what we experience is absolute truth. Thrangu Rinpoche When we rub two sticks together that produces a fire that will eventually cease. However, the fire doesn’t come from anywhere when it starts to burn the sticks, and it doesn’t go anywhere when it dies out. Fire is empty of coming and going. Similarly, ignorance – clinging to the belief in a self, the mental afflictions, or suffering – does not come from anywhere and does not go anywhere. We can apply this to our dreams: whatever appears in dreams, be it happiness or suffering, does not come from anywhere and it does not go anywhere. All phenomena are empty of coming and going. Khenpo Tsultrim Rinpoche There... something to chew on over Christmas, folks. The pro camp would be quite delighted and inspired, so will hopefully not have the gumption to eat meat. The anti- one, well, they would be quite so disgusted as to lose their appetite, so, either way.... I think i just contributed to a stay of execution of a few turkeys.

O.K. that memory doc gives the MRI studies on how Alzheimer's is from destruction of the white brain matter -- the glial cells. There's now new research stating that a byproduct of tryptophan turning into serotonin in the brain's nerve cells (gray matter) is the increase of kynurenic acid in the white matter, the glial cells. http://www.physorg.com/news199944356.html So if they can decrease kynurenic acid then there's a cure for Alzheimer's and possibly schizophrenia. Yet the documentary states the big problem with aging and brain cell death is lack of blood circulation into the brain. So qigong is focused on increasing brain circulation of blood -- to be sure -- everyday I feel and hear my brain cracking and popping as the blood opens up blockages. haha. And definitely "memories from the future" are a feature of deep meditation -- precognitive visions. Of course the chi and shen have to be built up quite a bit for this to happen. The key question in the documentary is how do memories actually form. It's known that when memories are recalled they become "malleable." So that's the secret of exorcism in qigong -- the emotional blockages are stored in the body as the subconscious memory -- and then as the memory is recalled by activating the body's energy, there is also an EXORCISM of that memory, back into the "emptiness." Science only has the concept of "emptiness" as quantum uncertainty -- which is the new fundamental foundation for physics. Quantum uncertainty is how position and energy are inversely proportional -- and so how does this relate to memory? The deeper our memories of position the stronger the energy used -- yet the energy is impersonal since it's created from the emptiness. Chunyi Lin says he does read our past lives but he rarely tells someone their past lives unless it's necessary for their healing. Also Chunyi Lin says that the energy keeps transforming and so reincarnation will keep continuing for ever. This is emptiness itself -- I personally don't believe in the concept of an individual soul being able to transcend the transformation of energy -- so that individual personality remains as an eternal entity, outside of the universe. To me, such a belief is the typical misuse of religion since the concept of emptiness is always the foundation for philosophy -- it's the ultimate lesson in humility and it's beyond power, etc. Still during the qigong practice the increased blood and hormones (jing) and then the creation of chi and shen in the brain does enable amazing recall of past memories. The documentary states that such recall is key to also imagining your future -- but "imagining" is not the same as left-brain planning based on facts. This is also pointed out in the documentary. Usually people plan their future as a left-brain intention -- in contrast consider Islam stating "Enshallah" all the time - if "god wills." For example there's a book on the meaning of dreams (Johnathan Winson) http://sami5001.buzznet.com/user/journal/18683/ stating that the Echidna -- a mammal in Australia - actually has a LARGER prefrontal cortex than humans -- but the problem is that it doesn't dream. So the dreaming state is actually the primary reality -- through logic of association -- rather then the logic of linear time planning. Review of the book: http://www.scaruffi.com/mind/winson.html So if we get visions from the future which does happen -- I had one that was very specific and I wrote it down stating I thought it predicted the future -- and THREE YEARS LATER it came true in great detail. I had forgotten I had wrote down my dream but then my subconscious activated this sense of uncanny reality and so I reread my journal. Again the details were very specific -- I had a dream of my activist friends standing on the roof of a house with Native American activists holding a banner to protect a forest. Obviously when I saw, in the newspaper, the exact photo of that dream -- three years later -- there's no way it could be a coincidence of so much detail. Especially when I had the dream I recorded that I thought it was predicting the future -- because the dream was "more real" than being awake. The point is if our future can be predicted in great detail -- 3 years before it happens -- what does that mean about free will? Do we even have a "self" of individual memories if our future is already predestined? Chunyi Lin says that 70% of our future is predestined based on the planets and stars, etc. while we can change 30% through qigong. In nondualism, as per Ramana Maharshi, it's stated that the evolution of the universe is an illusion -- that there is only reincarnation if the individual spirit believes in it, that, in fact, there is only the eternal, impersonal process of consciousness which then creates light and creates spacetime from out of pure awareness without any specific memories or thoughts, experiences, etc.

a life of pure bliss is an impossible dream live a life that's real ☮️