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Universal Messiah Hulagu Khan. The Tibetan schools of Sakya and Kagyu waged a muted, muffled political/religious war behind the scenes, in the shadows of the political vagaries of the Mongol onslaught upon the world. The Kagyu Drikung were caught in the midst of it all for the reason that the Drikung are the same school followed by the Mongol king Hulagu Khan, in the Middle East (and Hulagu wanted to remain faithful to his Drikung creed through thick and thin, but that was not to turn out exactly as he thought.) This is the hair-raising story of the Messiah, the triumphant king Hulagu, the lord of this world. about me: I'm Geir Smith, an American-Norwegian, a scion of the famous families of Norway, (that represent a profile of Modern Norway's builders). A second cousin to Pontine Paus, I'm related to Tolstoy, Ibsen, Wedel-Jarlsberg, Cappelen (great-great-grandmother Inga Sophie Cappelen), Løvenskiold, Munch etc... great-great-grandfather was Thomas Von Westen Engelhart who was Norwegian Minister of the Interior and State Counsel in Stockholm for several years. I'm an original trailblazer and visionary who's family tradition it is to continually forsee the trend and "anticipate the pattern". I am now announcing some hair-raising news. Coming from someone else, it would be totally incredible. But as I come from a very conservative family like mine but who are also innovative builders of the modern society, what I say resonates. I have mastered the Tibetan language through five years of university and thus can speak about the Tibetan Kalachakra and it's mention of Shambhala. I'm also bringing some astounding information too: the Illinois lottery drew #666, the same day as Obama's acceptance speech in Chicago. Being a scion of the famous families of Norway, I'm a ground-breaking force of intellectual prediction, on par with another relative of mine, Thor Heyerdahl, (who re-discovered Tahiti's discovery by the sea), for my part, I project myself instead into Asia and the world." My great-aunt Else Heyerdahl Werring, was the Royal Mistress of the Robes of the Norwegian Royal Palace, and her husband Nils Werring, my great-uncle was on the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group in the 50s. .... Hulagu Khan's brother Kublai Khan came to power in China and Hulagu then came under the influence of the Tibetan school which Kublai followed which was Sakya. Conflict erupted between Sakya and Drikung inside Tibet (between the followers of Hulagu and Kublai). Today China's under the Sakya rule, and the followers of Drikung and Hulagu have been absorbed into the empire of the Middle East, where there's a mix of Christians and Muslims that have drowned out the Buddhists of the founder Hulagu''s time. Buddhism's Apocalypse prophecy is in the Kalachakra text that's being propagated worldwide by the Tibetan lamas. And in that prophecy, is the mention of a mythical hidden land called Shambhala (which is situated to the West of Tibet i.e. exactly where Hulagu Khan's Middle Eastern Empire is.). So let's roll this back and sum it up quickly: there's a Buddhist Empire left behind in Tibet by Kublai Khan extending into China, but his brother Hulagu had his own private empire extending from Pakistan/Afghanistan and the Tibetan border areas, all the way to Baghdad/middle of Turkey, Konya etc...and Hulagu's empire was Drikung Kagyu. And bingo! Hulagu's empire of "Hulagid" Ilkhanids aka "The Ilkhanate" fits the description of Shambhala and the Savior of the world known as the King of Shambhala. It's fitting that Hulagu ruled over a puzzle of faiths, including Christians, Jews, Muslims and Hulagu's own Buddhists. He was thus the savior and god-like figure for all those assembled faiths. It's noteworthy that Hulagu's empire outlasted him by far, with an offspring of successors-descendants of his family lineage that lasted for 80 long years. We're thus in presence of the messianic King of Shambhala of the Kalchakra prophecy. What's remarkable is that he's Drikung Kagyu. Drikung was totally taken over by Sakya during their war, but 200 years after Hulagu's death, a Sakya lama (Kunga Zangpo) arose, who split from Sakya because he was independent and wanted to return to a stricter path than Sakya's own path. So, he totally revamped Sakya and asserted his school of Ngor as the primary force inside Sakya by far, as he actually dwarfed Sakya by his work. Then a split occurred because part of Sakya left it to found a new school the Gelugpas, and Kunga Zangpo couldn't agree with them because they adopted a way of practicing that excluded Tantrism until the latter part of the practice when the practitioners were already too old to do meditation, which "Ngorchen" Kunga Zangpo couldn't accept. He thus retreated to his monastery at Ngor and decided to carve out a niche region for his school far from the "roar and heat" of Tibetan politics. Pondering his isolation faced with this opposition that was rising against him, he sought to find a path outside of Tibet, (because neighboring tracts beyond the borders offered Buddhist regions, as well). That's when he traveled to and developed Buddhism in an abandoned stretch of land to the West of Ngor called Ngari which happened to be a traditional land of the Drikung Kagyus who had temples surrounding the Kailash sacred mountain and extending also to Ladakh. And this stretch of land was a dependency of Hulagu Khan's Empire (meaning: Hulagu raised taxes there). So when the Kalachakra speaks about Shambhala it's a mythical faraway land hidden from the view. But suddenly it comes into sharp focus at very close quarters, because the Ngari region is inside Tibet itself, but relies upon the empire of Hulagu who's headquarters are in Iranian Azerbaijan. Suddenly this monstrously extensive, megalithic empire rises out of the past and crushes everything on it's path. By Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo's strenuous efforts, the Ngari region became completely Ngorpa, of the Sakya school, but it's noteworthy to see that it was a traditionally Drikungpa land and one belonging to the Mongol Hulagu. Now nothing happens by chance, and it's good to note that the Kalachakra itself was written by a Sakya lama called Buton Rinchen Drub , just eighty years after Hulagu's death and was certainly a hidden hommage to Hulagu's protective action towards Tibet and Buddhism versus the devastations wreaked by Islam at that time. Therefore, Kunga Zangpo's decision to take over the Hulagu-Drikung part of Tibet called Ngari came once the Kalachakra had become vastly widespread in Tibet and thus Kunga Zangpo was taking an early investment into the Hulagu Empire which the Kalachakra prophecy announces. Kunga Zangpo was thus buying himself part of the dream and prophecy of the end of the world and inserting himself into the past as the rightful heir of the Kalachakra. In such, I think that the successions of reincarnations of Kings of Shambhala, (which was a lineage certainly written by the Sakya lama Buton), are made up of the Sakya school's founder Birwapa, followed by Hulagu (a combined Drikung/Sakya), then Buton Rinchen Drub and finally Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo (among the list of Kings of Shambhala). I see them all as clearly actors in the "Shambhala Saga" and having the status of "Kings of Shambhala". It's good to have proof of things, that's incontrovertible and proof that cannot be denied. I searched for Shambhala on Google and found the land of Bilad-al-Sham, corresponding to The Levant (Israel, Lebanon and Irak/Iran). Then I searched for people called Shambhala. I found two contemporaries of Hulagu which was troubling because I thought they could be allusions to Hulagu. Because indeed, "otherwise why should such people live exactly at the same places (Hulagu's capital was Maragha in Iranian Azerbaijan) and same time as Hulagu?" That's the rhetorical question, which any sleuth like me, researching history, should obviously want to ask themselves. Those two people were respectively called "Shams-e Tabrizi" and "Shams al-Din". They're Muslim luminaries and are rivaling candidates to be the Messiah respectively of the brotherly enemies: Sunnites and Shiites. Seeing the Mongols prospered for eighty years and converted to Islam during forty of those years, it's impossible to not think that Hulagu's heritage was progressively merged into the Muslim heritage. So concretely how did they merge a Buddhist king like Hulagu into Islam via these two "Shams" figures? The answer is perfectly self-evident: The Drikung Hulagu messianic founder of the Ilkhanate dynasty was the future Messiah of the Islamic Sunnites, but also the Shiites. His successors at the helm of the Ilkhanate couldn't let anyone take the role of Messiah from them. Therefore they jealously attributed the top religious role(s) to themselves by using their founder and grandfather Hulagu as their champion and "chosen one". But secretly, Hulagu was and remained Buddhist in their tradition. And in Tibet, many regions remained Drikungpa. Hulagu could thus be named openly as the Messiah in the Drikung regions and temples of Tibet. But that would not have been plausible at all, for one good reason which was that in Tibet also, Hulagu's role as BUDDHIST Messiah was hidden because Kublai's operatives were on guard there. No Mongol such as Kublai would have been ready to grant to his brother Hulagu the role of Messiah and world Savior. That goes against the Mongol grain of one-upmanship among Genghis Khan's offspring's siblings. But over the years, the Sakya realized that they had inherited this surprising, extraordinary and wonder-filled, miraculous war treasure, which was this messianic king Hulagu and they didn't want to let go of it. Thus, the rewriting of the secretive biography of Hulagu in the Kalachakra, left open the possibility for a future resurrection and returning to rule, of that historical hair-raising figure of Hulagu Khan, the Messiah (of all faiths... even sunni muslims, shiites... and jews...and christians of course. Hulagu's quoted in his writings, saying he loved christians. Christians had brought him up. His wife and mother were extremely fervent christians and he had saved the christians in Baghdad when he razed that in the greatest massacre of the whole History of Humanity. The christians in the East had hailed him as the messianic Savior of Christianity: the Messiah). I think I've summed up all the aspects of this multi-faceted Messianic leader, who left his mark upon... and molded all the modern faiths of today, be they Islam, Christianity, Buddhism or Judaism, exactly to his behest and so as for them to come under his boot, his total, rigid and absolute control. Nobody controlled the whole world like the Mongols did, they who are the sole world government that the world has ever seen nor will ever see again in all Eternity. No one put the world under their total and blind control, other than the Mongols/both in politics, war and faith and religion. They totally controlled and submitted the world both physically and in faith, declaring themselves as sole Savior, Lord and God among men for each and every faith inside their domain. (Hulagu's domain was immense, reaching from Turkey's Konya region, to Baghdad, to Afghanistan and as far as Ngari in Western Tibet, meaning a land of a total length of approx. 4500 km, an astounding empire of unheard-of expanse, rivaled only by his Mongol brothers' empires in Russia on one hand and in China on the other.)

Dear Bums, I'm looking for a good biography or discussion of the Buddha's (Siddhartha Gotama) life and wonder which is your favorite or which have you found to be helpful. Thank you.

I had posted earlier in 2020. I have achieved a new power now. I can control rain and clouds. I can attract heat or cold with regards to my own practice. I have become the Rainmaker. But to achieve this power was not easy. It took me 8 years. I have some more powers but it should be kept hidden. I guess I have become a Buddha. Thank you for reading.

The following was written by a great friend of mine who learned from the late master Nan Huai Chin and an adept cultivator. May the story of the buddha be of inspiration and of benefit to all sentient beings. Namo Shakyamuni. --------------------------- Life of the Buddha Siddharta Shakya (the Gautama Buddha) was born in the pinnacle of the human world, a prince to the king of a small local state, Kapilavastu of north-central India. Having been born into the circumstances of comfort, wealth, prestige and honor, it shows that in his past lives, he had accumulated an extraordinary amount of merit. In such cases, one can spend his merit on huge amounts of wealth and fortune, but instead, Shakyamuni had given it all up and placed it on wisdom and enlightenment. It is said that Shakyamuni had lived in the Tushita Heaven (deva realms) and saw a ripe moment for his descent into the human world, ending up as the offspring of Maya and Suddhodana. It was said tht he rode on a white elephant with six tusks, sending his spirit into his mother’s womb. The father of Siddharta was King Suddhodana (50 plus of age) and his mother was the Queen Maya (45 years old). Spring was ending giving rise to Summer. On the eight day of the 4th lunar month, birds sang, flowers bloomed and while Queen Maya was in the Lumbini Garden reaching out towards an Ashoka tree, Shakyamuni sponteanously appeared on her right. All kinds of auspicious signs appeared. When he was seven days old, Queen Maya unfortunately passed away. Scholars speculate that he might have been born from a Caesarian section. Queen Mahaprajpati nurtered him as his aunt, in place of Queen Maya. Soon after he was born, he took seven steps and said, “This is my last birth. Among all the devas and humans, I am the most honorable and excellent. In this lifetime, I will benefit devas and humans, and vow to bring universal salvation to all sentient beings.” Do remember that while a person is still young, it is still possible that he or she retains some memories from a past-life. Also, when he said “I”, he did not mean Shakyamuni or that physical body he was in. He referred it to the inherently enlightened true self within all sentient beings. Knowing Shakyamuni was born, the wise man Asita Rshi who lived on the Fragrant Mountain, came to offer his greetings. He then divined: “I see that the prince has the thirty-two marks and eight good points of an enlightened sage. With these marks and good points, in a worldly life he will become a Wheel-Turning Sage King. If he leaves home, he will achieve omniscience and bring salvation on a wide scale to devas and humans. Your Majesty, I divine that your son will attain true enlightenment, turn the wheel of the Great Dharma and open the eyes of the world.” Upon hearing that, the King was worried as he hoped the son would inherit the throne. He used his full ability to give so much luxury to the prince that he would not even think of leaving home. Shakyamuni was able to talk from birth, developed quickly and mastered many teachings such as philosophy, mathematics, martial arts, astronomy, geography, the classics, commentaries, divining, philology, music, dance, contemporary arts, painting, literature, etc. You could probably even call him a prodigy child. Shakyamuni even made his tutors feel inferior because he had huge insights and could point out errors in books. At 14, he tamed a great elephant. At 15, he was made the heir to the throne, a Crown prince. IT was clear that Shakyamuni had a level of wisdom surpassing that iof normal people. Seeing some signs, he asked, “What is a human life for, why does such a cruel world exist? What is the ultimate meaning of life in the universe?” Feeling aversion to the world, he transcended into a deep contemplation state. At 17, the King gave him two beautiful girls, Yashodara and Gopika. However, Shakyamuni was not entranced at all by these two beauties, neither by the great palaces that the King had built for him. This even made the consorts suspect that Shakymuni was not a male at heart (of course, it was simply due to the case that he had already penetrated the truth of beauty). When he was 19 years old, he saw the signs of suffering outside the palace. He wanted to leave the royal palace, but the King grew desperate and prohibited him. Shakyamuni then considered the “annihilation/nihilistifc view”. If there is no ruler, then the meaning of life is worthless and purposeless. But then he thought, if a ruler had the power to control things, why make this world and human life so miserable a form? This was known as the “eternalist/theistic view”. He pondered these two views but could not get an answer, and hence became more desperate to leave the palace in search for the answer. The King tried to salvage the situation and told Shakyamuni that if he could have a son with Yashodhara, the consort, then he would reconsider it as he would then have a heir to the throne. According to the records, he simply pointed at Yashodhara’s belly and she immediatley became pregnant. This son was later known as Rahula, who was also enlightened. Having been able to bear a heir, Shakyamuni then left the palace, going into the mountains to study the path. Be very observant here: Shakyamuni did not forsake his duties as a filial son. He bore a son in order to rest his father’s worried mind about a heir to the country’s throne. To simply forsake the throne would be an utter irresponsibility that could throw the country into chaos. Having settled his affairs, while the wives and guards were sleeping, his groom Chandaka saddled a swift horse and Shakyamuni leaped over the north wall on his horse. This is an amazing feat: Would you have left a palace of riches and prosperity to seek the answer for enlightenment? Can you do it? This was how dedicated he was to seeking the Path. Shakyamuni then found the ascetic Bhargava. He made a vow at that point: “If I do not finish with birth and death, I will never return to the palace.” He removed his ornaments, necklace, swords, beard, hair and put on an ascetic robe, much to the dismay of Chandaka. Bhargava taught that by afflicting pai on oneself, one would receive the blessings of heaven. Shakyamuni did not agree, so he spent one night at Bhargava’s place and then departed after that. He then cultivated the Indian method of meditative concentration, known as “Samadhi without thought” (3 years). However, he realized that obliterating thought was not the answer. He realizxed that this kind of no-thought experiential realm was still within the confines of one’s mind. He still wanted to find the root of the mind. He then went to Aratakalama, and mastered the “Samadhi of Neither Thought Nor No-Thought” (3 years). This means that on one-hand, he has ceased ordinary mental activity but on the other hand, he was still able to be aware or everything happening. He then wondered, “Is there a self or is there no-self? If there is a self, then this samadhi is not liberated. If one cannot abandon the form of self and the concept of self, how can one reach genuine liberation?” Hence, he also abandoned this practice. He then realized that no teacher was genuinely enlightened. At this point, the King Suddhodana was worried and sent five officials to try and persuade Shakyamuni to go back to the palace. Funnily, these five officials became the five great disciples of Shakyamuni. Shakyamuni practiced quiet sitting and contemplation, cultivating austerities where he would only eat a single sesame seed or grain of rice for his meal. He did not get up to walk, his eyes were unblinking and his mind was free of fear. However he was so emaciated he started to look like a skeleton. His body was so feeble and weak it looked like he was about to die. After six years, he suddenly realized that this practice was no different from the previous austerities and abandoned it. He was about 30 years old right now. He then left the forest of ascetics and then accepted an offering of rice gruel from a herd girl, Nadapala. When the five others heard of it, they thought Shakyamuni had broken and did not sustain the austerieties, hence they left him to go and practice on their own. The strangest thing was that after the rice gruel, he recovered his physical strength and he felt that his body and mind was extraordinarily happy. He then sat down under the pipala tree (also known as the Bodhi tree). He swore, “I will not get up until I experience inherent true enlightenment.” After 48 days, due to his previous meditative cultivation, he entered a realm of meditative contemplation. On the 7th day of the 12th lunar month, all sorts of demonic realms of delusion appeared before him: Desires for wealth and sensory pleasures arose, as well as the fear of birth and death. Mara did everything in his power, but in the end, even the very-beautiful female demons were vanquished by his concentration power. He then acquired the Siddhis that were born vanquishing the realm of Mara. Reaching the realm of the 6 spiritual powers, his body and mind emitted a great light. When he saw the bright star (the Sun) appear on the morning of the next day, he emptied completely and experienced perfect, supreme enlightenment. He excalimed, “How strange! All sentient beings are equipped with the characteristics of the wisdom of the Tathagatas (Thus-Gone-Ones), but because of the clingings to false thought, they cannot realize them.” At this point, he wanted to enter nirvana immediately. However, the devas came in great numbers and pleaded him to remain and teach. Shakyamuni said, “Stop. My Dharma is so wondrous that it is inconceivable.” Do realize that it is a figure of speech, so it is not actually “non-understandable”, just that we really need to work our body and minds to be able to understand it, not through logical concepts. Since he was begged by the devas, he then disseminated the teachings to the world. He started with the ffive ascetics, and preached the Four Noble Truths. In his first stay of 3 months, he acquired 56 faithful disciples. The three brothers of orthodox brahmanism brought thousands of disciples to take refuge. Shariputra and Maudgalyayana then brought along a hundred disciples. Shakyamuni then assembled the 1250 home-leavers to be his basic disciples (also known in suttas as the 1250 Bhiksus) - the original Sangha. Mahakashyapa, the First Patriarch of Zen, later also became a follower of the Buddha. There were four divisions: 1. Male home-leavers (Bhiksus) 2. Female home-leavers (Bhikhunis) 3. Male householders (Upsasakas) 4. Female householders (Upaasikas) Soon after converting a few others, he then taught his father, his aunt, his spouse Yashodhara, Ananda, Devadatta, Ahorudra and Rahula. There were 10 great disciples, known for their respective abilities: 1. Shariputra - Knowledge 2. Maudgalyayana - Siddhis 3. Mahakashyapa - Asceticism 4. Aniruddha - Clairvoyance 5. Subhuti - Wisdom of Emptiness 6. Purna - Preaching of Dharma 7. Katyayana - Discouring on meanings 8. Upali - Upholding the precepts 9 Rahula (son) - Esoteric practices 10. Ananda (cousin) - Listening and remembering Shakyamuni made no distinctions between monks and nuns, monastics and laypeople, high-rankers and low-rankers, rich and poor, male and female, young and old, smart or dumb. While there are certainly more than 1250 as mentioned in the suttas each time, there is no way to count the numerous people who took refuge. Spending 49 years teaching the Dharma, he had lived to 80 years. He then lay on his right side and entered final nirvana under the twin pala trees. This great teacher passed away at 490-480BC. Strangely, while Buddha was placed in the golden coffin, he extended his foot to lay Mahakashyapa’s mind at rest, then entered back into profound stillness. Ananda once grieved and asked, “What should we do if you are no longer here to teach?” The Buddha replied that when he was gone, the precepts of discipline will remain the teacher. After the Buddha’s passing, there were 500 Arhattas. Mahakashyapa was then elected as the chief of the assembly. The 10 great disciples then coordinated their efforts to produce the Vinaya (modernly known as the code of conduct.) After this, Ananda recited the Dharma teachings from his perfect memory. With Vaspa (one of the first five disciples of the Buddha), the others not in this group held one of their own and made their own collection of Buddhist scriptures. What is important to note is that Shakyamuni Buddha has never taught by writing, but only by wpoken words, according to the situation of the individual. When King Kanishka too over, 500 arhats, 500 bodhisattvas and 500 savants were called to the Jandhara Temple to resemble the Tripitaka (sutras, vinaya, shashtras). After the Buddha passed away, sects and divisions started to surface due to the differences in doctrines and things what they have learned differnetly from the Buddha. When you’ve read Buddha’s life, you realize that he was an ordinary man, albeit exception since he was a high deva before - but he eventually transcended humanity and beame a Buddha. He also had experiences of the hassles of ordinary life, having a child, spouse problems, family problems, etc. BUt despite all this, he repaid the benevolence of the parents, the nation, sentient beings and the enlightened ones. King Ashoka was a protector of the Dharma and sent Buddhist teachers out to Syria, Egypt, Macedonia and Central Asia. The two Dharma-teachers, Kahsyapa-Matanga and Dharmaraksha were invited into the Han imperial capital of China, introducing Buddhism to China formally.

Buddha has a hump on the top of his head Why? It is because The energy enters the body from top to bottom. The scalp was transformed into the hump neidan training allows your skin to breathe. It may deform the body from top to bottom(百會穴). The above information is very important in Taoist practice. Teachers in Taoism around the world don't teach us anything like this. This is a very wrong practice. This is a common phenomenon when you practice Taoism for a year or so, although experience varies from person to person. It's a sign of an open on the top of head(百會穴). But it would close soon. It's because bad energy comes into your body. 百會穴 is also called 天門穴(sky door). The 天門穴(sky door) must be open to communicate in four-dimensions, and it depends on the success and failure of the Taoist. 百會穴 is linked directly to 湧泉穴. It's also linked to 勞宮穴 in both hands. Most of the space energy enters the 百會穴 and exits each mother point(cell). After decades of activity state, you may notice a distortion in the area of the crown[top] of the head. It is particularly important when the crown[top] of the a deformed head is included in the drawing

A key takeaway is towards the end -- "One doesn't become Brahman...One always is that..."

I came across this article from 12 years ago by coincidence. I noted that the Nepali government closed two offices associated with the Dalai Lama. According to the article, these two offices took care of 20,000 refugees. Does anybody have an insight about the impact of this closure to the growth of Buddhism? Nepal closes Dalai Lama's office in Kathmandu Kathmandu - Nepal has closed two offices in Kathmandu associated with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, Tibetan and foreign ministry sources said Thursday.The government has closed the office of the Dalai Lama's representative and the Tibetan Refugee Welfare Office, a Tibetan source said."Following an official notification of the home ministry, we have shut down all the offices relating to the Tibetan refugees from this week," a senior welfare office staffer told AFP.The welfare office looks after more than 20,000 Tibetan refugees who left their homeland after the Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 amid a failed uprising against Chinese rule.The Chinese embassy has frequently lodged strong protests with the Nepalese government for permitting the Tibetan office to operate in Nepal in the name of the Dalai Lama.Nepal, which is careful not to antagonise its giant neighbour, recognises Beijing's rule over Tibet. A senior foreign ministry official said the Tibetan offices had not registered as required under Nepalese law.The Tibetan Refugee Welfare Office (TRWO) had been helping several hundred destitute Tibetans who fled from Tibet across Himalayan passes to head to the northern Indian hill resort of Dharamsala where the Dalai Lama lives in exile.After crossing into Nepal, the Tibetans are provided with travel documents by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) to help them to travel to Dharamsala."The closing of the TRWO may be a big problem for the Tibetan refugees fleeing from the roof of the world for their political freedom," a diplomatic source said. http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=8923

Hello Bums, I've been coming to this forum on and off for several years. I've had an interest in Taoism for about 5 years and have been reading the Tao Te Ching each morning for about that long. I also read about Buddhism and practice meditation. I've never had a teacher. Someone said I might have some luck finding one if I post about it here. Best wishes to everyone on the path. forest-turtle

One of the reasons for much of the suffering that we go through in life is taking life too seriously. It is not uncommon though; almost everyone is so serious about the drama of life. So, everyone has assumed that there is no way out of it. But, there is a potential for a change in your attitude towards life which will make you to treat life as the lifelong movie in which we all are just characters. There is also a potential to remove all the unwanted suffering that we have imposed on ourselves by removing the serious identification with the character called ‘you’ and your story.. I went through a journey myself that helped me to realize this potential and make it possible. (You can read more about my journey here: The Journey of a Seeker). I will call that whole process as ‘Awakening Through Mindfulness (ATM)’. If you believe in God, you can use the belief itself as an aid towards changing your attitude. Many people consider themselves as a puppet of the God’s hands. That helps them change the way they react to the situations and stop taking everything personal. But it is just a coping mechanism; No one is actually sitting up there and directing your life. Life and the force of the life itself is a deep and interesting mystery. If you want to call that force God, you can. That is a beautiful personification. Warning! For many people, beliefs have actually been a hindrance in the whole process. There is a way to really experience life as a movie and to be not affected by your self-image. You can completely detach yourself from the identification you have with the self image. .. Changing the attitude is the first step to ending the self created suffering and experience the life impersonally.. Your personality and your ego that projects the personality are just a part of the mask that you, as the character of this movie, are wearing. What hurts the mask doesn’t hurt you anymore, once you start experiencing life this way. Not only your ego and personality, but every thought, emotion, experience and knowledge that you witness in your consciousness is a part of that mask. Remembering this analogy of the mask and contemplating on it can help you to change your attitude to be favorable in the process of awakening. As you proceed with this journey, you will eventually have to drop a lot of your beliefs and directly choose to know what you believed is true or false. Then, either you know or you don’t know. There is no need in believing something. The sense of security that we get from beliefs will not at all be needed anymore once you start experiencing the life devoid of self-created suffering. You don’t need any solace from the beliefs anymore. That life experience which stands apart and independent from your identity is what I call as an ‘awakened life’. What you Call as Self is an Illusion! The next step is just to realize and remember always that there is no self; I am not kidding! It is a scientific fact. What you perceive, think and experience every moment is the result of millions of neurons in your brain communicating with the neighboring neurons through electrochemical signals. This constant perceptual activity gives an illusion that there is a static self. This self which is experienced as being the one who inhabits the body, being the one who is thinking the thoughts, being the one experiencing emotions, being the agent of actions and having free will is an illusion. Also, every person you see is a complex network of forces communicating with each other in cell level, chemical level and atomic level. 2500 years ago, a man called Gautama Buddha revealed the truth of the no-self for the first time. Seeing this in neuroscientific perspective, what you experience as you and your story is just a result of activity happens in a combination of brain structures called Default Mode Network DMN). This network is active when you are mind-wandering,thinking about others, thinking about yourself, remembering the past, and planning for the future. Hyperconnectivity of the default network has been linked to rumination in depression. Studies have shown that meditators and people who claim spiritual awakening have less or almost no activity in DMN. This illusory self is not consistent and static; it is ever changing. But the only thing which is consistent and constant throughout your life is your existence; the conscious, moment to moment experience that you are alive. Three Aspects of the Absolute Reality There are three aspects to what that is consistent: Existence, Consciousness and experiencing. Existence can be defined as whatever that exists in the ultimate, absolute level. You perceive and know that objects exist because of this. It is the sense of being alive.The objects may keep changing but the existence itself is something that is constant. It is not a ‘thing’ though. It is the basis of anything that is subjective. Consciousness is like a light that shines up everything in the existence. It can be compared to the light in a movie screen using which your thoughts, emotions, perceptions and experiences are constantly being played. The movie screen is static all the time. It also exists in sleep, but there is nothing to show. Since consciousness is completely dark and since voluntary functions of the mind are shut off, there is actually nothing much is happening that is worth to be recorded in the brain and stored in long term memory. Experiencing is not about various experiences that you go through every moment. It is the base of all experience, which is naturally peaceful. Peace is always the first and last experience of the lifetime. Even in death, the final moment is peace; a lot of scientists believe that a neurotransmitter called Dimethyltryptamine or DMT released in the brain during the last moment of death which gives peace and bliss. You are so peaceful during the birth too. You can obviously see that in the new born babies. Even throughout the life, you go through a lot of peaceful moments where you are ultimately content, all drives seem to be temporarily satisfied and you experience the ultimate peace and contentment. That peace is not really something that comes and goes. It is the subtle backdrop of all the noisy perceptions happening in the mind and never changes too. It is the base experience of all the experiences. An awakened person may often go through peak experiences (rare, exciting, oceanic, deeply moving, exhilarating, elevating experiences that generate an advanced form of perceiving reality, and are even mystic and magical in their effect upon the experimenter – Abraham Maslow) when they touch the ultimate level of peace. During peak experiences, the boundaries of experiencer, experiencing and the experience dissolve and they all become one. The same happens with the knowledge as well. The knower, knowing and the known become one. Note that, when I say experiencing, I am talking about the ‘experiencing’ aspect of your existence; not about an independent experience. Any experience, including the peak experience com and go. But the ‘experiencing’ part of that which is consistent never changes. It would be better to use a different word than experiencing but I can’t think of anything that comes closer right now. So, whatever that is consistent which has the aspects of existence, consciousness and experiencing can be called with any name you want to use. You can call it XYZ if you want! Some words that have been used in eastern traditions are absolute, Om, brahman, Sat-Chit-Ananda etc… Some call it as your ‘true self’. The problem with all these labels is that you start to see this XYZ as some object, a thing; Something that can be either perceived, experienced or known. But it is actually like the space or the field in which everything is perceived, experienced or known. So, it is very important to not to get too attached to the word. Seeing the illusory self for what it is and completely removing the identification with it lets you to relax yourself in the truth of being alive and conscious. It will eventually let you free from hedonic treadmill and the pursuit of subjective self worth. You will feel liberated from the prison of this illusory self. This will give you a tremendous acceptance of what is; You will see life as a game with its own rules and challenges. But seeing that as just a game which will eventually end, makes you to play it with enjoyment and a great sense of peace. Many practices have been suggested which help you to go through this process of awakening; self-inquiry, contemplation of the truth and so on. The practice that I can suggest for you is the one which worked for me.. It is called Sati in buddhism, Shikantaza in Zen, Shakshi bhav in Upanishads and mindfulness by buddhists as well as modern psychologists. Mindfulness is used not only as a path to awakening, but also in modern therapies as a means to decrease depression and stress, increase well being, control addictions, slow down emotional reactivity etc. What is Mindfulness and How to Practice it? Mindfulness can be defined as focused nonjudgmental attention to experiences of thoughts, emotions, and body sensation in the present moment that is practiced by simply observing them as they arise and pass away. The paper ‘Mindfulness: A Proposed Operational Definition’ which was published by University of Toronto in 2014 suggests a two-component model of mindfulness: 1) Regulation of attention in order to maintain it on the immediate experience 2) Approaching one’s experiences with an orientation of curiosity,openness, and acceptance, regardless of their valence and desirability. When you try to observe your thought process, you may lose your attention many times. Once you notice that the mind has wandered, you just bring it back to the awareness of thought process or body sensations again. No matter how many times the mind wanders away, you must take it easy and accept it. You can do this while doing whatever you are doing, like walking, eating, working out, waiting in a queue etc. Notice the flow of thoughts as if you are watching a stream flowing or traffic moving. Eventually you can extend the time that you practice mindfulness to most of the waking hours of the day. This may take years and years of practice. When practicing mindfulness, don’t approach it as if you are working towards a goal. That would simply mean that you are enhancing the self-concept and strengthening the identification with it .Awakening is not an achievement. It is getting rid of the craving for any achievement that increases your self-worth or enhances your self-concept. Seeing mindfulness as a means for something to be achieved itself is a trap which may slow down the process of awakening. In a couple of months of practice you may start noticing gaps in your thought process.You may also notice reduction in the number of thoughts. Also, a lot of unconscious patterns and repressed thoughts may start to come up and appear in the light of your conscious observation. It is quite normal. Just pay attention to whatever that comes up without reacting to it. But if you do react to it, that’s ok. Just notice that and wait to see what comes up next. As you do it more and more, the gaps will be more frequent and you may even start to wait for the next thought or feeling to arise. In a few months, you will start to feel more peaceful and relaxed. Your emotional regulation would also have improved. While practicing, become aware of the defense mechanisms of the ego whenever you notice them. Notice the repeated thought patterns and your attempts to maintain and protect your self-esteem. Reading the authentic sources of Zen and Advaita can help you a lot in moving through the process. Personally for me, reading the transcribed talks of Osho and J.Krishnamurti were helpful in understanding how mindfulness works and how to go about practicing it. Osho called it ‘witnessing’ and J.Krishnamurti called it as ‘Choiceless awareness’. The names are different but the meaning is exactly the same. Once you have practiced mindfulness for long term for a year or two, you may go through a crisis at times, usually called ‘Spiritual Crisis,’ a form of identity crisis where you experience drastic changes to your meaning system (your unique purposes, goals, values, attitude and beliefs, identity, and focus). It may cause a lot of disturbance, but don’t be alarmed. It happens to everyone but it will pass. The fruits of mindfulness always outweighs the disturbances caused by spiritual crisis. Benefits of Mindfulness I came across an interesting paper ‘How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective’ published in 2011 by Association For Psychological Science. It lists 5 major benefits of mindfulness and also lists the details of studies which support them. Here are those five benefits: Attention regulation Body awareness Emotion regulation, including a. Reappraisal b. Exposure, extinction, and reconsolidation Change in perspective on the self. The fourth one, ‘Change in perspective on the self’ is very important, which explains in detail about a lot of what we discussed about ‘Self’ in this post. You can search for this paper in ‘Academia’ and download it for free. There have been many other studies done on mindfulness which show that mindfulness decreases suffering and increases subjective well being. Buddha prescribed mindfulness as the path to spiritual enlightenment. Whether you are looking for spiritual enlightenment or just improved well being, there is no doubt that mindfulness is the way to go. Also published in my blog: https://nellaishanmugam.wordpress.com/2017/05/26/awakening-through-mindfulness-bridging-science-and-spirituality/

I think the board might appreciate this video.

So I was watching a Youtube vid about the Prophecy of Maitreya's Future Buddhahood when there was a line translated in the vid that talked about cultivating the Four Dharmas of Attraction. For some reason that line popped out at me tonight like it never had before ( I really like that video as it always makes me feel so happy and delightful when I watch it - especially when Maitreya Buddha honors Mahakasyapa and is honored in return by Mahakasyapa). Anyway...I wondered what that meant - the Four Dharmas of Attraction as I'd never noticed them before so I ran a search on it and found some commentary by Master Hsuan Hua translated into English from the Avatamsaka Sutra (isn't that the same as the Flower Ornament Sutra?). There was a transcription of a small bit of the sutra followed by Master Hua's commentary and I noticed it was giving an exacting description of precisely the things one needs to put into practice daily to attain to the 4 Dharmas of Attraction. Those being 1. Attracting living beings 2. The power to use kind and loving words to inspire them and inspire joy 3. Beneficial Conduct 4. Similarity in Deeds Master Hua states the first two are the beginning practices on the path to being a Bodhisattva and it all starts with the daily mental practice of seeing yourself giving offerings to all the Buddhas of all the time periods and all directions. Then you immediately imagine any reciprocal benefit coming to you from the first step - you then turn around and imagine yourself giving that benefit to the ground of all-wisdom. I presume the all-wisdom is prajna wisdom, yes? the article never really states what is meant by "all-wisdom" I assume it means 'prajna' wisdom. To my great surprise I noticed this document was a description of some things I like to do. I did them just because it's to a point that envisioning such is simply expressing a true desire I have. I was not aware it is actually considered a real cultivation method for the mind but apparently it is. I just do it because I want to at that particular moment when it pops up. Was not aware there is any particular kind of fruit from that practice but it seems to be that there is. Now where I am somewhat perplexed is with the final 2 "practices". Beneficial Conduct and Similarity in Deeds. Master Hua says these are not quite the same as practicing the paramita of giving (ie generosity). Practicing giving is a practice of the first two but not completely of the last two. That is...it shows this person is a beginner, a white belt, a greenhorn on the path to becoming a Bodhisattva. Which made me laugh because now I can definitely state I am a noob - Mind-wise - on the path even according to other Buddhists. Back to the last 2 dharmas. They seem obvious at first glance. Until I really started to wonder what those 2 practices must actually consist of as a daily routine. And that I confess I don't know for sure. Beneficial Conduct seems kind of happenstance...maybe that day you'll be lucky enough to practice it if you're around enough people but if you live alone or for whatever reason don't have much daily contact with other people it might not pop up as an opportunity at all. Or perhaps it involves some kind of practice I'm not aware of. Nor did the article extract mention one. Similarity in Deeds is even more puzzling. About the only thing I can think of is that old saw some religious people ask themselves, "what would Jesus do in this situation?" or "what would the Buddha do in this situation?" and then hopefully intuit the answer (Buddha-dharma-compliant of course). I want to practice the other 2 dharmas as well. Does anyone know if the Avatamsaka Sutra itself explains those last two and gives examples? I don't own a copy so unfortunately can not read the source document. Is there anyone here who practices along these lines daily to cultivate the four dharmas of attraction? If so what do you do and what has been your experience of such? Here is the extract I found: http://www.drbachinese.org/vbs/1_100/vbs93/93_3.html The original Youtube vid I watched:

The bud in the lotus is the jewel of the lotus also known as the dragon's pearl that grants all wishes. In egypt the lotus is known as the rebirth. also watch buddha reborn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW98rii_MJ0 Buddha beat the power of 6 and defeated mara please understand

Recently been reading through some of the medicine Buddha sutras. Medicine Buddhas appear as two types--the Lapis Lazuli Buddha of the eastern land and the healer bodhisvattas. The dharani of Lapis Lazuli Buddha is beautiful, esp. as performed thusly: Now, Lapis Lazuli Buddha has his pure land now in this era, while the healing bodhisvatas will become Buddhas in some far distant future. However, the benefits of recitation (of their respective mantras) is very similar. I particularly like that the healing bodhisvattas came to enlightenment throught the sense of taste, and are essentially supreme herbalists. Anyone have experience with these mantras? Insights into medicine Buddhas? 8)

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http://www.tricycle.com/what-buddha-never-said/there-no-self "When Vacchagotta the wanderer asked him point-blank whether or not there is a self, the Buddha remained silent, which means that the question has no helpful answer. As he later explained to Ananda, to respond either yes or no to this question would be to side with opposite extremes of wrong view (Samyutta Nikaya 44.10). Some have argued that the Buddha didn’t answer with “no” because Vacchagotta wouldn’t have understood the answer. But there’s another passage where the Buddha advises all the monks to avoid getting involved in questions such as “What am I?” “Do I exist?” “Do I not exist?” because they lead to answers like “I have a self” and “I have no self,” both of which are a “thicket of views, a writhing of views, a contortion of views” that get in the way of awakening (Majjhima Nikaya 2)."

Hi, I came across this web page the other day. It is a comparison of the types of siddhis or powers achieved by Buddhists and Hindus. Is there any truth to the idea that Buddhism is superior to Hinduism because the achievements are greater? Is Yogi C. M. Chen authentic? He seems to have advanced knowledge of many things.. He is claiming that Brahma was converted by Buddha... http://www.yogichen.org/cw/cw28/bk029.html Comments? TI

Falun Dafa- Turning the Great Law Wheel Introduction Video- The Nature of the Universe is Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yfY6YlBJBAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qoXgKjMguE It is totally free. Everything to get started can be got free off the internet. You can start learning this practice right here and right now! Detailed Video Instructions of the Falun Gong Exercises- Instruction on the Falun Gong Meditation- Video of the lectures and teachings of Falun Dafa Falun Dafa - 9-Day Lectures in Guangzhou Here are the main study books of Falun Dafa Falun Dafa - The Falun Dafa Books Turning the Law wheel, Great Law book ZHUAN FALUN-INDEX Mr. Li Hongzhi on Buddha Law-

Buddha kept silent about God. This means that God is beyond words, mind and logic as said in the Veda. Buddha means the Buddhi or Jnana yoga that speaks about the absolute God. Thus He is the greatest incarnation of God. If one thinks Him as atheist, there can be no better fool. Mohammed showed the formless medium in which God exists, which is energy and this is presented by Shankara, because basically energy and awareness are one and the same. The prophet itself means human incarnation. Prophet is carrying on the message of God. The divine knowledge is in Him. Is He not greater than other human beings? Message of divine knowledge is the characteristic of God (Satyam Jnanam – the Veda) and so we say God is in Him. Why do you deny it, when God is omnipresent? Then every human being should give the same message of God, since God is omnipresent. But why Mohammed alone gave it? Because the power of God or knowledge of God is in him only. Then the power of God, in the form of knowledge is not omnipresent. In any case, you have to accept that either God or His Power is only in Prophet Mohammed. That is what human incarnation is. You are fighting with us, without analysing the concept of human incarnation. Thus Buddha, Mohammed and Shankara have made the single phase, which was essential to the level of the followers at that time. The concept of human incarnation was well established by Krishna and Jesus. You can find all three branches of Hinduism (Advaita, Visishta Advaita, Dvaita) in Christianity because Jesus told that He and God are one and the same (Advaita), that He is the son of God (Visishta Advaita) and that He is the messenger of God (Dvaita). The stage of philosophy was expressed according to the required stage of the people of that time.

Boddhidharma & Shaolin 18 Lohan Hands Info on Boddhidharma (also known as Damo, Tamo, or Tatmo), the first Patriarch and founder of Zen Buddhism who traveled from India to China where he taught Yoga and the 18 Lohan Hands exercises, to the Shaolin Monks. These exercises became blended with many fighting arts over time. However, Bodhidharma did not agree with the Chinese Emperor's philosophy, because the Emperor thought he should build great temples in worship of Buddha and that was the best way to get to heaven and gain merits. But Boddhidharma knew it was only a person's heart that mattered and whether you are a good person. The Emperor and Boddhidharma did not agree, so Bodhidharma went to the Shaolin Temple and taught there. When he arrived he found the buddhist monks had poor concentration and their bodies were weak, so he taught them the 18 Lohan Hands routine. The 18 Lohan exercises http://www.shaolin.org/chikung/lohan.html Shaolin temple Videos Chinese sub-titled documentary about Shaolin Temple- Hai Teng and Shaolin- Shaolin Temple - Shi DeYang and Shi Suxi National Geographic, Myths & Logic of Shaolin Kung-Fu Music Video- Cool Shaolin Kungfu demonstration videos Videos with a monk named Shi Yan Ming Shaolin Kung Fu Shi Yan Ming in People and Arts Channel Si Fu Shi Yan Ming permormance in NBC Channel Shi Yan Ming Monje Shaolin visita Mexico Shaolin Childhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zgp48SidH8&NR this video has close ups of the indented floors, made from years of monks stomping down on them- Training- shaolin entrainement 1 Shaolin taizu changquan YouTube - Shaolin taizu changquan

An excellent documentary I found explaining the traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism is considered by many to be the most authentic form of Buddhism still in existence today. Included in this documentary is video footage of Yoga practices called Tummo and Trulkor- [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOk0tZHwCs4[/media ]

Here is a cool BBC Documentary entitled "The Life of the Buddha"- [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFbjDcz_CbU[/media ]

The Aquarian Gospel- Jesus Christ's Lost Years in India and Tibet Uncanny similarities between the Teachings of Jesus Christ and the Teachings of the Buddha. Really they are not as geographically as far from each other as people often realize- Jesus in the Himalayas- The Aquarian Gospel- http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/agjc/index.htm The Aquarian Gospel based on Archaeological and Historical finds covers the "Lost Years" of Jesus Christ's life. The time from when he was 12-30 years old. The bible does not say anything about him or what he did during those years. Now modern Archaeologists are determining that Jesus went to the East during those years, to India and Tibet. He even had people coming to him from the east when he was born, the 3 wise men came a long ways to see him when he was born Hollywood takes action hero Jesus to India | World news | The Guardian From Elaine Paegels, academic and scholar- http://www.essene.com/EarlyChurch/OrthodoxFromGnostic/pagels.html How far and how deep does it actually go?- http://www.atlantisrising.com/backissues/issue3/ar3dsscroll.html