Psychic Powers

[Trash Filter]

There is nothing wrong with wanting to learn psychic powers. It's as much a part of our body, as the ability to walk.

I think it is kept under wraps due to its potential for destruction/money making with ill motivation, but largely because the people who have much of the old knowledge have selfish intent and are fiercely conservative. Hence the knowledge is dying out.

[zhoupeng]

There is nothing wrong with wanting to learn psychic powers. It's as much a part of our body, as the ability to walk.

I think it is kept under wraps due to its potential for destruction/money making with ill motivation, but largely because the people who have much of the old knowledge have selfish intent and are fiercely conservative. Hence the knowledge is dying out.

 

 

Excellent Point. Thank You.

[Taomeow]

 

Health is a SERIOUS super power.

 

AMEN.

 

And most of what an unhealthy person thinks of as mystical/supernatural powers are mundane abilities in a healthy one. It's just that our everyday concept of health is so un-ambitious -- people seem to be officially falling under only three categories -- healthy, sick, disabled -- and what "healthy" means doctors don't even learn in med school so they don't know and nobody knows -- if you haven't been officially diagnosed with any official illness, voila, you're healthy.

 

Being un-telepathic, un-intuitive, and un-attuned to the energies of the world in general is a shade of unhealth, nothing normal about it, it's just that the majority of the population spend much of their lives in this shade. (And of course they don't remember reading mom's mind at three months of age -- developmental amnesia is another glaring symptom of unhealth -- even though everybody did. Till it became too painful.)

 

Of course one natural ability overblown at the expense of others is also a form of unhealth. (I recently watched "Perfume" the movie -- spooky but recommended -- about a guy who had an incredible sense of smell -- and no other human senses properly developed...) If above-average abilities of a "part" aren't harmonized with other parts, they will be exploited... sometimes it's not a choice, it's more of a burden -- of un-harmonious genius -- I always think of Stephen Hawking and his flight into the nearest black hole -- as far away from his body as possible... and of all the powerful minds who didn't make it to 40, even 30, and hardly ever to 60... Be it the mind -- or the spirit -- shen, in other words -- used like that, to compensate for the unhealth of the body -- or vice versa, the body primed with above-average abilities while the mind and the spirit are arrested at the below-average developmental stage -- all of these are shades of unhealth.

 

So if I could do Zener cards but couldn't do the laundry, the lotus, or the logic... then I'd be worried... Matter of fact, someone who can do "everything" super-supernatural but not the mundane practicalities is also showing symptoms of serious disharmony... Health is the superpower to beat all superpowers -- real health, of course, not the "absence of diagnosed disease" kind...

[voidisyinyang]

What a twisted flick -- too bad it's not on google video:

 

http://blogcritics.org/video/article/movie-review-perfume-the-story-of/

 

AMEN.

 

And most of what an unhealthy person thinks of as mystical/supernatural powers are mundane abilities in a healthy one. It's just that our everyday concept of health is so un-ambitious -- people seem to be officially falling under only three categories -- healthy, sick, disabled -- and what "healthy" means doctors don't even learn in med school so they don't know and nobody knows -- if you haven't been officially diagnosed with any official illness, voila, you're healthy.

 

Being un-telepathic, un-intuitive, and un-attuned to the energies of the world in general is a shade of unhealth, nothing normal about it, it's just that the majority of the population spend much of their lives in this shade. (And of course they didn't remember reading mom's mind at three months of age... even though they did. Everybody did. Till it became too painful.)

 

Of course one natural ability overblown at the expense of others is also a form of unhealth. (I recently watched "Perfume" the movie -- spooky but recommended -- about a guy who had an incredible sense of smell -- and no other human senses properly developed...) If above-average abilities of a "part" aren't harmonized with other parts, they will be exploited... sometimes it's not a choice, it's more of a burden -- of un-harmonious genius -- I always think of Stephen Hawking and his flight into the nearest black hole -- as far away from his body as possible... and of all the powerful minds who didn't make it to 40, even 30, and hardly ever to 60... Be it the mind -- or the spirit -- shen, in other words -- used like that, to compensate for the unhealth of the body -- or vice versa, the body primed with above-average abilities while the mind and the spirit are arrested at the below-average developmental stage -- all of these are shades of unhealth.

 

So if I could do Zener cards but couldn't do the laundry, the lotus, or the logic... then I'd be worried... Matter of fact, someone who can do "everything" super-supernatural but not the mundane practicalities is also showing symptoms of serious disharmony... Health is the superpower to beat all superpowers -- real health, of course, not the "absence of diagnosed disease" kind...

[Trash Filter]

I want to share a story. My Buddhist class teacher was asking his lama teacher about learning highest yoga tantra which is considered quite powerful in the Buddhist tradition. The lama just said to him, he is not ready and that he has a family to take care of, so he would not teach him.There are many masters who have large families and have accomplished much...

 

What is up with this Asian/Western culture of secrecy?

There really is this Asian protector of knowledge mentality when it comes to dealing with us "westerners."

I wish it would go away, because as time passes the world/ourselves degenerate, with the same worn paths. We can only make sustainable progress on this earth by taking our consciousness into a fully awaken state. Isn't it obvious?!

No amount of psychologically will help. How do we know? Look around, all these centuries.

 

Yes, it makes me feel angry, but really brings me a sadness for the sake of all sentient beings here. It's such a shame. I feel that I'm not the only one yearning this. Perhaps the knowledge is a part of us in more ways then we think?

 

Why whinge? I feel the first step for all of us, is be honest with ourselves, right now.

Us westerners are traditionally very skeptical, and know for a fact that some of these individuals are using omittance or "beating around the bush" so to speak. No more omittance, show leadership.

 

The truth is we have just as much capability as our eastern brothers and sisters, just as much compassionate and just as much wisdom.With the right teaching, we could take ourselves/this world in a new sustainable direction for the first time in many millennia.

 

Just keep wishing and pushing it, prayers

 

SHARE THE KNOWLEDGE

 

TF

[ShaktiMama]

I want to share a story. My Buddhist class teacher was asking his lama teacher about learning highest yoga tantra which is considered quite powerful in the Buddhist tradition. The lama just said to him, he is not ready and that he has a family to take care of, so he would not teach him.There are many masters who have large families and have accomplished much...

 

What is up with this Asian/Western culture of secrecy?

There really is this Asian protector of knowledge mentality when it comes to dealing with us "westerners."

I wish it would go away, because as time passes the world/ourselves degenerate, with the same worn paths. We can only make sustainable progress on this earth by taking our consciousness into a fully awaken state. Isn't it obvious?!

No amount of psychologically will help. How do we know? Look around, all these centuries.

 

Yes, it makes me feel angry, but really brings me a sadness for the sake of all sentient beings here. It's such a shame. I feel that I'm not the only one yearning this. Perhaps the knowledge is a part of us in more ways then we think?

 

Why whinge? I feel the first step for all of us, is be honest with ourselves, right now.

Us westerners are traditionally very skeptical, and know for a fact that some of these individuals are using omittance or "beating around the bush" so to speak. No more omittance, show leadership.

 

The truth is we have just as much capability as our eastern brothers and sisters, just as much compassionate and just as much wisdom.With the right teaching, we could take ourselves/this world in a new sustainable direction for the first time in many millennia.

 

Just keep wishing and pushing it, prayers

 

SHARE THE KNOWLEDGE

 

TF

 

Sometimes the secrecy is a cover for the teacher not knowing.

 

Sometimes the secrecy is because the answer or teaching is so simple and elegant people don't believe it can be true unless it comes wrapped in special robes, ritual codes, and conspiracy.

 

Much of the great secrets are laying out in the open for all to see.

 

Cultivating a cult of secrecy is a great way to make money.

 

Much of what people think are great secrets are not secrets. Its just common sense. The Inner Guru is present in all of us but we have forgotten how to listen.

 

Teachers can be killed or attacked for revealing secrets of the lineage. This is common.

 

People ask me all the time "how can I do what you do?"

Practice what you are taught.

It's not brain surgery.

[Sloppy Zhang]

Sometimes the secrecy is because the answer or teaching is so simple and elegant people don't believe it can be true unless it comes wrapped in special robes, ritual codes, and conspiracy.

 

I don't like this.

 

I want people to tell it to me straight. I don't go into a situation with expectations. I may have my own goals, but I always see stuff for what it is.... or is not (try to anyway).

 

Much of the great secrets are laying out in the open for all to see.

 

I agree.

 

Cultivating a cult of secrecy is a great way to make money.

 

So true!

 

Much of what people think are great secrets are not secrets. Its just common sense. The Inner Guru is present in all of us but we have forgotten how to listen.

 

Yeah, I agree with this too. The past couple of days I've been reflecting on stuff, and I'm amazed how much of certain practices I have been doing my whole life- just intuitively or spontaneously doing, but "trying" to do them seems robotic and fake. What do ya know!

[3bob]

the most I've ever learned was from a teacher who without any secrecy didn't say a word.

 

Om

[sabretooth]

I want to share a story. My Buddhist class teacher was asking his lama teacher about learning highest yoga tantra which is considered quite powerful in the Buddhist tradition. The lama just said to him, he is not ready and that he has a family to take care of, so he would not teach him.There are many masters who have large families and have accomplished much...

 

What is up with this Asian/Western culture of secrecy?

There really is this Asian protector of knowledge mentality when it comes to dealing with us "westerners."

I wish it would go away, because as time passes the world/ourselves degenerate, with the same worn paths. We can only make sustainable progress on this earth by taking our consciousness into a fully awaken state. Isn't it obvious?!

No amount of psychologically will help. How do we know? Look around, all these centuries.

 

Yes, it makes me feel angry, but really brings me a sadness for the sake of all sentient beings here. It's such a shame. I feel that I'm not the only one yearning this. Perhaps the knowledge is a part of us in more ways then we think?

 

Why whinge? I feel the first step for all of us, is be honest with ourselves, right now.

Us westerners are traditionally very skeptical, and know for a fact that some of these individuals are using omittance or "beating around the bush" so to speak. No more omittance, show leadership.

 

The truth is we have just as much capability as our eastern brothers and sisters, just as much compassionate and just as much wisdom.With the right teaching, we could take ourselves/this world in a new sustainable direction for the first time in many millennia.

 

Just keep wishing and pushing it, prayers

 

SHARE THE KNOWLEDGE

 

TF

 

 

 

David Verdessi has opened the door's for us all.

 

 

sabretooth.

[ShaktiMama]

I don't like this.

 

I want people to tell it to me straight. I don't go into a situation with expectations. I may have my own goals, but I always see stuff for what it is.... or is not (try to anyway).

 

 

 

I agree.

 

 

 

So true!

 

 

 

Yeah, I agree with this too. The past couple of days I've been reflecting on stuff, and I'm amazed how much of certain practices I have been doing my whole life- just intuitively or spontaneously doing, but "trying" to do them seems robotic and fake. What do ya know!

 

 

I have some students, good senior students, that I have been telling them the same thing over and over and over....then one day the light goes on and they say, "i remember you saying this from the very beginning of our relationship. Now it is real!"

 

Someone can tell us something straight up but sometimes it just isn't the right time to stick. For example, there were books I used to read that the words were dry and felt like the words were all jumbled up. Then I would get a transmission of energy or my energy would hit another level of development and then "good grief, I never saw that before!"

 

Much of what is secret is really body wisdom moving in concert with All That Is whether one names that as the Tao, God, Source, Whatever. This is why internal cultivation can be so important. It teaches one to move in harmony with universal flow. Then when there is no resistance to Universal Flow there is much more clarity in one's life. The secrets are easier to perceive because the secrets are more about living in harmony as a responsible, accountable citizen of this planet and the Universe at large.

 

I missed one of the biggest reasons that secrets are not revealed. If the seeker is a disrespectful ass who feels entitled and demands to know the secrets of the universe the teacher at best will ignore the seeker. At worst, the teacher will give the student wrong or incomplete info. This can be seen in some lineages and scholarly books if you know what you are looking at.

[orb]

 

People ask me all the time "how can I do what you do?"

 

 

What exactly can you do ?

[Pero]

I want to share a story. My Buddhist class teacher was asking his lama teacher about learning highest yoga tantra which is considered quite powerful in the Buddhist tradition. The lama just said to him, he is not ready and that he has a family to take care of, so he would not teach him.There are many masters who have large families and have accomplished much...

 

So he can go find another teacher, it's not forbidden. Unless if this is really his root teacher, in which case it still isn't forbidden, but would probably be better to follow his instructions.

However while your last sentence is true, we shouldn't compare ourselves to great masters. If they did, doesn't mean we could too. The fastest way is doing lots of personal retreats, if you have a family to take care of that is much more difficult.

[ShaktiMama]

What exactly can you do ?

 

It's not important.

 

Love the Self. Honor the Self. Then you will be able to do much.

[Sloppy Zhang]

Someone can tell us something straight up but sometimes it just isn't the right time to stick.

 

Yeah, I agree with this. I've had people tell me stuff before and I was like, "no way". Then I found out on my own and was like, "that's totally true!"

 

Still, even though I didn't understand it, I had still heard them and still learned in the end. So there has to be some kind of telling.

 

I missed one of the biggest reasons that secrets are not revealed. If the seeker is a disrespectful ass who feels entitled and demands to know the secrets of the universe the teacher at best will ignore the seeker. At worst, the teacher will give the student wrong or incomplete info. This can be seen in some lineages and scholarly books if you know what you are looking at.

 

Don't those teachers remember what it was like to be young?

[ShaktiMama]

Yeah, I agree with this. I've had people tell me stuff before and I was like, "no way". Then I found out on my own and was like, "that's totally true!"

 

Still, even though I didn't understand it, I had still heard them and still learned in the end. So there has to be some kind of telling.

 

 

Don't those teachers remember what it was like to be young?

 

Age is not a factor in disrepect.

 

The secret is there are no secrets.

 

Sometimes I wished there was secret knowledge so if I discovered it I would become good at what I thought I was supposed to be good at. Alas, there is no such secret. There is just do your practice, chop wood, carry water.

 

The fulfillment in spirit comes in the life lived daily in joy and gratitude. This is one of the greatest psychic powers and one of the greatest secrets.

[3bob]

Age is not a factor in disrepect.

 

The secret is there are no secrets.

 

Sometimes I wished there was secret knowledge so if I discovered it I would become good at what I thought I was supposed to be good at. Alas, there is no such secret. There is just do your practice, chop wood, carry water.

 

The fulfillment in spirit comes in the life lived daily in joy and gratitude. This is one of the greatest psychic powers and one of the greatest secrets.

 

"The fulfillment in spirit comes in the life lived daily in joy and gratitude. This is one of the greatest psychic powers and one of the greatest secrets" S.M.

 

Amen

[forestofclarity]

Sometimes there are secrets so that the student can figure it out for oneself. Too much openness can make some things banal and common place. There is sharing too little and sharing too much.

 

Koan practice, evidently, used to be done in public. But then people started copying responses, and instead of providing answers, they were parroting what they thought was right.

 

Don't throw your pearls before swine, and all that.

[3bob]

Yeah, I agree with this. I've had people tell me stuff before and I was like, "no way". Then I found out on my own and was like, "that's totally true!"

 

Still, even though I didn't understand it, I had still heard them and still learned in the end. So there has to be some kind of telling.

 

 

 

Don't those teachers remember what it was like to be young?

 

We can't knuckle our way in with force at any age, and there is also "the need to know aspect" that comes into play along with each step and its associated responsibilities. (and no matter how small that step is it has importance) Thus in trusting the wisdom of the keepers of the way, we to may someday be entrusted by them.

[3bob]

It's not important.

 

Love the Self. Honor the Self. Then you will be able to do much.

 

Shaktimama,

"Love the Self. Honor the Self" ...This sounds very much along the lines of Vedanta/Upanishads and has been (in very similar terms) repeated many times by many fine Self-realized or enlightened beings in their teachings. Further, I have zero disagreement with the saying, but I'm wondering why you use it when on other hand you have also seemingly said in flippant sounding way that enlightenment is a cultural delusion - or something like that?

 

Bob

Edited January 29, 2010 by 3bob

[hajimesaito]

Ajahn Chah was an Arahat and probably the only one in the last century. He looked like any other simple old man. Nothing ordinary about him. Thats the sign of all Arahats and enlightened men. But what goes in his mind is so profound that normal people won't ever be able to have even the slightest idea. He had all the abilities of telepathy, mind reading etc. Everyone's minds were transparent to him. Many monks who went to study under him ended up leaving because they were embarrassed by the constant thoughts of their minds which Ajahn Chah was aware of.

[ShaktiMama]

Shaktimama,

"Love the Self. Honor the Self" ...This sounds very much along the lines of Vedanta/Upanishads and has been (in very similar terms) repeated many times by many fine Self-realized or enlightened beings in their teachings. Further, I have zero disagreement with the saying, but I'm wondering why you use it when on other hand you have also seemingly said in flippant sounding way that enlightenment is a cultural delusion - or something like that?

 

Bob

 

 

 

What I often say is "enlightenment is a cultural myth". Maybe it is better for me to say "Enlightenment is what you do in the privacy of your own living room when no one is watching." Often those who are recognized as great masters or enlightened live dual lives. There is the public life and then there is the personal life. I am, in my teaching, all about making it real in our everyday lives. I am fairly eclectic and pragmantic in my approach. There should not be a separation in the personal and the public life if one is authentic.

 

Much of what is written about enlightened people is based on hearsay, oral reports, documentation of story heard from someone passed onto someone passed to someone passed to someone passed on ad infinitum. People will live and create a whole personal mythos and attachment for their lives based on these reports without using anything but cursory self inquiry. One can also feel into the energy that permeates in these reports. Does one feel enlivened by reading them or does one feel stagnant and oppressed? Follow body wisdom when choosing.

 

So can we believe these reports of the past reports? I suppose if it serves you to do so, why not? People can choose to live the life they want, whatever gives them happiness.

 

So what is it one does? It is not in what one says.

 

"Love the Self, Honor the Self."

 

Simple, simple words. Easy to do? A lifetime of practice in those words.

 

Does it bring enlightenment? Don't know. I am not enlightened but the practice of these words is life changing.

[3bob]

 

What I often say is "enlightenment is a cultural myth". Maybe it is better for me to say "Enlightenment is what you do in the privacy of your own living room when no one is watching." Often those who are recognized as great masters or enlightened live dual lives. There is the public life and then there is the personal life. I am, in my teaching, all about making it real in our everyday lives. I am fairly eclectic and pragmantic in my approach. There should not be a separation in the personal and the public life if one is authentic.

 

Much of what is written about enlightened people is based on hearsay, oral reports, documentation of story heard from someone passed onto someone passed to someone passed to someone passed on ad infinitum. People will live and create a whole personal mythos and attachment for their lives based on these reports without using anything but cursory self inquiry. One can also feel into the energy that permeates in these reports. Does one feel enlivened by reading them or does one feel stagnant and oppressed? Follow body wisdom when choosing.

 

So can we believe these reports of the past reports? I suppose if it serves you to do so, why not? People can choose to live the life they want, whatever gives them happiness.

 

So what is it one does? It is not in what one says.

 

"Love the Self, Honor the Self."

 

Simple, simple words. Easy to do? A lifetime of practice in those words.

 

Does it bring enlightenment? Don't know. I am not enlightened but the practice of these words is life changing.

 

Ok, sounds like you are saying faith and caution at the same time, which is not cynical but also doesn't end up (as an example) in a commune in Oregon like some did in the 80's with the wool pulled over their eyes. (because of that cult-ture)

 

Btw, do you study the Upanishads?

 

Om

[Sloppy Zhang]

Shaktimama,

"Love the Self. Honor the Self" ...This sounds very much along the lines of Vedanta/Upanishads and has been (in very similar terms) repeated many times by many fine Self-realized or enlightened beings in their teachings. Further, I have zero disagreement with the saying, but I'm wondering why you use it when on other hand you have also seemingly said in flippant sounding way that enlightenment is a cultural delusion - or something like that?

 

Bob

 

Again, I didn't start this thread to find enlightenment, I started this thread as a means of finding a method to get psychic powers.

 

To make stuff happen. To do stuff. Stuff that may or may not liberate you from attachment, or may or may not tempt you to do stuff.

 

Sometimes it's like someone makes a thread asking, "how can I learn to fight to defend myself?" and everyone responding, "fighting is not the answer, learn to leave peacefully." Well if the guy is in a situation in which physical force is necessary.... that's not the proper answer

 

Think of it as a reverse koan, except this time it's the teacher that must supply the necessary response

Edited January 29, 2010 by Sloppy Zhang

[OneSeeker]

Every tradition I've studied, from the Pythagoreans to the Orthodox monks to the Sufis to Tibetan Buddhism, Taoism and Zen begins with a lengthy, even tedious, instruction in ethics. We don't always see that in the modern West because we're setting our own syllabus by using books and the Internet and stuff, but the traditional course starts with rigorous training -- years of it, in most cases -- in cultivating ordinary virtue.

 

A main reason for that long intro is just so the masters can screen out the students who are likely to become obssessed with worldly profit or power. The ones who are allowed to remain are then taught repeatedly that if they experience unusual states or miraculous powers, they should disregard them. The consequences of ignoring this instruction can range from merely stagnating in one's spiritual advancement right up to psychotic breakdown.

 

I haven't seen it myself, but there's an impressive unanimity of opinion on this subject that ranges over a wide variety of schools and centuries of time, and I'm inclined to respect that.

[Sloppy Zhang]

Every tradition I've studied, from the Pythagoreans to the Orthodox monks to the Sufis to Tibetan Buddhism, Taoism and Zen begins with a lengthy, even tedious, instruction in ethics. We don't always see that in the modern West because we're setting our own syllabus by using books and the Internet and stuff, but the traditional course starts with rigorous training -- years of it, in most cases -- in cultivating ordinary virtue.

 

A main reason for that long intro is just so the masters can screen out the students who are likely to become obssessed with worldly profit or power. The ones who are allowed to remain are then taught repeatedly that if they experience unusual states or miraculous powers, they should disregard them. The consequences of ignoring this instruction can range from merely stagnating in one's spiritual advancement right up to psychotic breakdown.

 

I haven't seen it myself, but there's an impressive unanimity of opinion on this subject that ranges over a wide variety of schools and centuries of time, and I'm inclined to respect that.

 

It's not like I just started my search with Taoism. And it's not like I haven't been learning morals my whole life.

 

Some of us aren't blessed with these master guru senseis that monitor our progress and carefully observe us as they instill the proper morals into us before they teach us stuff.

 

Some of us go through life learning as we go, learning from where we can learn. Unfortunately it seems that as soon as you ask a question that you don't have access to, it's suddenly like everything you've ever done goes out the window.

 

It's like as soon as someone asks, "how do you get psychic powers?" people are like, "well obviously this person needs to build a moral foundation." It's like... whoa, wow, thanks for the vote of confidence. Just because I'm interested in power doesn't mean I'm a bad person, it doesn't mean I don't have dozens of life experiences that have taught me to know better.

 

Now obviously not everyone who asks about this stuff or starts searching for this stuff does so for a morally good purpose, or is a morally good person. But it is kind of annoying to be lumped into that category and that goes the same for everyone else who is in my boat.... it SUCKS (yes I just used judgment!!!)