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Dear Dao Bums, Background I saw a post on FB a couple of years ago, where someone shared they had learnt a secret Himalayan system composed entirely of a progressive series of tratak or open eye gazing meditation. It supposedly is a fast track to enlightenment as well as various psychic powers. As far as I remember it was taught in a Bön centre on Vancouver Island (Canada). I suddenly remembered it recently and felt a strong inner draw towards it. Wish I had saved the post back then. Request for your valuable expertise, experience and knowledge Is anyone here on the forum a bön practitioner? Does anyone here on the forum know about Sherab Chamma Ling on Vancouver Island (Canada)? Has anyone heard of this special Himalayan Tratak System? Further Background One of the most powerful practices that really took me by suprise in Simplified Kundalini Yoga (SKY) was gazing meditation. In SKY's 4 levels, on lvl 3 your learn dipa tratak (gazing meditation on a ghee lit, natural cotton wick, natural clay lamp). On lvl 4 you learn darpan tratak (done on a mirror). Both of these practices changed my life, it's so incredibly powerful at increasing your life force energy, meditation power and much more. I know Vethathiri Maharishi (founder of SKY) took these 2 simple practices from a larger tratak system given by Vallalar Ramalinga (a great saint). However, I was never able to get anyone to translate his treaties on tratak. It's supposedly incredibly detailed, describing different tratak objects (sun, moon, different stars, mirrors from different materials, lamps from different materials, trees, precious stones, and difference between number and material of wick(s)). Lastly I was blown away by the simplicity and power of a bön lucid dreaming practice many years ago. Those 2 above experiences put together made me notice this FB post several years ago. However back then I was quite spiritually content, so just took notice, didn't save it. Recently I felt a strong inner urge to pursue it further, hence this post. Look forward to hearing from you!

Dear Dao Bums, I've already detailed my "journey" with lucid dreaming since I was a teenager here: Part 1: https://www.thedaobums.com/topic/53847-sleeping-qigong-and-lucid-dreaming/ Part 2: https://www.thedaobums.com/topic/55610-my-experience-with-tulku-lobsang-medicine-buddha-dream-yoga/ Today I want to share some more recent experiences and insights especially pertaining to the importance of the match between you as an individual and the particular practices, teacher and lineage you learn from. Since my last update this is what I've done lucid dreaming wise: 6 months of daily medicine buddha, tummo meditation and nightly lucid dreaming as taught by Tulku Lobsang Rinpoche. 6 months of "golden light dream travel skill" as taught in Maoshan. Buddhist Practice: Here my progress was very linear. I started with about 1-2 lucid dreams a week with low control, then it just slowly increased to 3-4 dreams with more control, then ending with about 5 dreams a week with some pretty good control and interesting insights. Daoist Practice: I got a formal initiation quite some time ago, and it had been about 1 year of daily recitation of the "golden light mantra" alongside its meditation, before I stopped everything else in order to go "all in" with Maoshan. I first intended to try just one 49 day cycle and see how it matched up against my former buddhist dreaming practice. In the entire 49 days I think I had only 1 lucid dream. I was quite surprised - I had formal initiation (something I didn't have at all with the buddhist practice), on top of that I had cultivated the mantra, meditation and talisman used for more than 1 year before starting the dream practice associated with it. After the 49 day cycle, I felt an inner kind of "discipline" arising, like I wouldn't quit before I reached success. So I went on for 6 months with continous daily golden light mantra recitation and meditation, and nightly golden light dream skill. However, in the entire 6 months, while I did feel the power of the golden light mantra recitation and meditation increasing, I never had any lucid dreams. In the entire 6 months I had only 3. Personal Insights Looking back I tried to understand what happened. Looking even further back, I saw that even though trying different dream practices for 12 months (6 months buddhist, 6 month daoist) I never reached the same success as I did with a Bön method I did for just 1-2 months. With the Bön practice, I just read it in a book. I never even met the teacher face to face, nor got a formal transmission or initiation. Just reading the book was the only "transmission". Yet to this day, it's the one thing that just works for me. This inspired me to do a kind of meta analysis of all the spiritual practices I've done. I've tried a lot of things, something I've also been critiqued for both publically here on the forum in threads as well as in personal messages here. I saw that of all the practices I've gone through since 2013 (when I made the commitment to daily dedicated spiritual practice for the rest of my life - before that I had been practicing a few things sporadically since about 2003), there was a really small "greatest hits" list that just "worked" for me. 1) Simplified Kundalini Yoga (SKY) First one was Simplified Kundalini Yoga (SKY) I started in 2017. Since the very first day, I just hit home, I found personal satisfaction, and felt like I found "what I had been looking for" spiritually all my life. Since then, this has been my main daily practice which I never stopped. 2) Talisman Healing Qigong Second was "talisman healing qigong" with Master Zhongxian Wu in 2018. I was super sceptical about healing, actually didn't believe in it, but just by chance there was a chance to attend a workshop. On the workshop I was quite surprised that it seemed to work. However, when I did the 49 day cycle at home, I practiced on family and friends, and to my great surprise - it just worked! The word spread, and random people started calling me for healing. After this first 49 day cycle (this was just 1 talisman), I've since learnt and practiced 5 talismans (one for each element). It feels like a solid, reliable support for me - it's just there, it just works, and it was from day one. Just the whole surprise and power of it has also made it a mainstay in my practice - use it daily to bless and energize food, drink, sometimes if I'm with family and friends and they ask. 3) Bön Lucid Dreaming Method Just by chance, I read a book on lucid dreaming in 2021. I tried the usual "red syllable" in the throat method, I tried since I was a teenager, it never worked for me. As I read on in the book, there was a very simple Bön method where you visualise a crystal. To my great surprise, it just worked! And it stabilised, I predictably had lucid dreams every single night from that day. I was blown away! It was huge for me, decades of reasearch, reading, studying, workshops and failed practice was a thing of the past, it just clicked. However, I felt I got progressively more tired during the daytime as the days went on, this made me fearful, as I remember Master Zhongxian Wu critiquing buddhist sleeping and dreaming practices during one of his retreats, saying night time is for rest. So I stopped the practice, and my energy returned. 4) Becoming a SKY Master This was in the late fall into early winter of 2021. I went to the temple in India to get my last initiation of activating all chakras and learning as well as blessing and training to become a master myself, to help others progressively open their chakras in the SKY way. Similarly, it just clicked. Since that day I've initiated about 70 people, about 30 family and friends and 40 strangers on workshops. Every single one felt the power of Vethathiri and SKY, it just works. I'm amazed each time, the power just generates and flows through me (I'm just a vessel). I cannot even imagine how powerful Vethathiri must have been while in the physical body. 5) Bodily Pleasure of the Goddess, Sri Vidya This was more of a surprise, I gave it a shot on the recommendation of a close family member. With Raja Shyamala I felt a bodily pleasure in meditation I had never felt before, it was so incredible. Then I reached the Sri Meru Navavarana Puja (worshipping the golden 3D pyramid version of the more commonly known 2D Sri Yantra), and was blown away. I was so blissed out I could barely lift my arm. It was however incredibly time-consuming (2 hours daily), so haven't done it since completing my first 41 day mandala. But it's nice to know it's there and available. 6) Maoshan Black Magic Very recently some parts of the "black book" of Southern Maoshan has been posted as an online class. I've tried a few of the methods (even though I must admit I was quite scared and of course directly opposed to all forms of black magic), but realised it honestly wasn't that different from all the mantras, talismans and qigong methods I've tried before. It just depends on your intention: if you wish to help alleviate the suffering of yourself and others, while avoiding hurting yourself and others, there's not really anything to oppose (from my usual religious/spiritual perspective that's against black magic) about the method. Usually black magic is done using "impermissible" means (e.g. filthy and blasphemous objects and despicable acts with the intention of selfish gain to the detriment of "the greater good" (other living beings, nature, the universe, your fellow man)). However none of these are in the methods I've tried. There's been 1 particular practice in there (using mantra and talisman) that's honestly blown my socks off. This has also been a game changer for me, and opened up my mind and perspective about what magic is and what it can do, instead of just being "against it" in a very black/white way. Conclusion After these 12 years of daily comitted spiritual practice, there are just 6 items on my list. These are things that are reliable, secure, available and just works. When I compare that to ALL the teachers, teachings, practices, workshops and lineages I've been through, my God, those particular practices are simply precious pearls, so hard to find, so hard to come by and exceptionally rare. The list with all the things I've tried that just flat out doesn't work, or didn't work for me, or didn't really impact me or my life in any way - it would have a LOT on it. When I philosophize over the reason behind it, the only thing I feel arise in my heart is just the feeling of the importance of "the personal connection". Your soul is very particular and unique, just like a custom made lock. Only a very specific key can unlock it. You can insert 1000s and 1000s of keys, but no one will fit and open your soul, UNLESS it's one of these rare and precious pearls, gems hidden across this Earth for your soul to search out, earn through effort and ethical living, and finally receive to transform yourself and your life forever. I needed to roam, to explore, to cultivate adventure, to sample, but having now sampled so much, I feel that I now value these few practices much more. I think I will shift my focus to going further and deeper with these few precious pearls at least 80% of the time, then staying 20% open for new practices. If I had just "shut down" shop when I found SKY, I wouldn't have found these other precious gemstones, but on the other hand I can also see how over the past 4 years I've probably divided my attention 40/60% in favor of adventure and trying new things. With what I've learnt now, I feel it will be better to go to 80/20. I feel like I need to stay open, because you never know when a new blessing will emerge and change your life for ever, but on the other hand, the depth and power you get from cultivating just a few things ALL the way is incredible. That's the whole basis of gong fu - master just ONE thing, and everyone will bow their heads in honor of your achievement and you will use it to better lives of yourself, your family, your loved ones and society, alleviating the suffering of others while being a blessing to all living beings. So I guess my invitation to you now is: 1) What's the best thing you tried spiritually, that just clicked, that just worked? Did you stay with it? 2) Why do you think it matched you so well? How is it nourishing your unique soul in incredible ways? 3) Are you holding on to practices "just to stay disciplined, loyal and comitted", even though they're not really doing it for you? What stops you from letting go and trying new things? I pray all our souls will enjoy their adventure to the full, sampling, enjoying and adventuring, while also staying true to our unique course on the long term, and that we all may find the precious pearl of our personal soul, journeying in the mystery of the all-encompassing Absolute God bless you

Hello, There are already some topics similar to this one, and I have read them, but still I felt that my questions weren't answered, so I decided to register on the forum and ask them myself. Originally I planned to send it as a DM to @steve, but I decided to post it openly, so anyone else that has experience with both systems can contribute if they wish to do so. That being said, I'd really appreciate your input @steve. I'm a Yungdrung Bon practitioner. My practice, at least when it comes to working with channels and energy, consists of tsa lung exercises from Magyud, Zhang Zhung Nyengyud trul khor and tummo from Ku Sum Rang Shar (for now the general and special preliminaries only). Recently I have begun to dabble a bit in qigong, with some local instructor and their teacher that visits us from time to time. We seem to do mostly alignment stuff for now, opening the kua, wall squats and the like, as well as some basic forms. Even at that really basic level my qigong practice really enhanced my body, my energy levels and general well-being, in a way that my Tibetan yoga practice didn't seem to address. I get many benefits from doing yoga of course, but it just has a different feel and effect upon my mind and body. I'd describe it like using different sets of muscles, metaphorically speaking. I want to continue my qigong practice, as I found it rewarding and complementary to my other endeavours, but I'm worried it can cause some problems down the line. I've read the injunctions against mixing systems from both traditions, so understandably that is concerning to me, as of course I will continue on the path of Tibetan yoga. From your point of view - practitioners that have practiced in both traditions - can they be mixed safely or not? (by mixing I don't mean doing them in one session, but for example qigong one day, yoga the other, or qigong in the evening and yoga in the morning etc.) If so - what is the qigong system that you would recommend for someone like me? I was thinking about the Zhineng Qigong (simply because of the availability of online teachings), but I read that the teacher advised against mixing it with other qigong system, not to mention other traditions. Secondly, do you think that the Tibetan approach is lacking in certain respects? I don't mean to offend anyone, or the teachings. I consider myself a dedicated practitioner, I've taken refuge vows, but I can't help but wonder that the Tibetan systems are forceful and fiery to the extreme, pure yang, while the Daoist systems seem more balanced. At least that is my limited, entry-level understanding, as I am an expert in neither. I'd appraciate any guidance I can get, and thanks for getting through this long post _/\_

I am from Germany. I am very pleased to be here with all of you. My background is Bon and Nyingmapa Buddhism which I studied for some years at two different monasteries in Khatmandu, Nepal. In connection with that, I also studied some of the traditional Tibetan arts like herbology and astrology. This is the first time that I join a forum. I am not quite sure how everything works. Maybe some of you could kindly show me around a bit... Please be patient with me if I make some silly mistakes at first. I am very much looking forward to talking with you about various subjects... Or just to 'sit' with you for a little while. Yours truly Armando

Heart Essence of the Khandro is a precious teaching by His Eminence Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinoche on female masters of Bön, their realizations, and pith instructions. I've found this a wonderful resource for my practice and knowledge of Bön. I am posting this because I stumbled across an opportunity to acquire this beautiful book at a ridiculously low price, about half of what one would pay for a new copy through Amazon. Here is the link for anyone interested. I have no connection with the retailer. Heart Essence of the Khandro

Here is a fascinating little book which actually contains instructions on the Bon practice of Dzogchen. The Stages of A-Khrid Meditation It is a fascinating read, especially when you realize the purpose of the gazing and dissolving the mind, and how to stay in the natural state. It also contains some interesting instructions on why Bon followers sometimes act like crazy people... it just a method of incorporating realization into every day activities.. Nice recap of the progression of practice.. TI