Siddhis and Powers are essential for Enlightenment

[Sahaj Nath]

I don't think we will ever convince each other

 

My view is that Siddhis are an attachment, just (as BodyofLight pointed out) like women and money. (Thanks for making that point for me). Until one is unattached to anything, one is not free.

 

Because Siddhi threads are popular means only that siddhis are fascinating for many people and sexy. They are the Sirens which one must get past by lashing oneself to the mast until their lure is past. Siddhis may or may not occur on the spiritual path...so what? If you pay attention to them you can become attched to them.

 

You guys make some huge assumptions. Siddhis can be lost once gained. Tiger Woods lost his golf siddhis. Then what? Are you unenlightened? I think siddhi-seekers are strongly attached to power (thats what siddhis are), and this reinforces the ego. Lets then skip to the essential point of our discussion:

 

What is the role of the ego in awakening?

 

I believe that one must 'become as nothing' in order to reach awakening...where the 'little self' becomes a mere artifact of reaching the bigger Self. The taobums forum is heavily weighed with Siddhi seekers, not enlightenment seekers.I realize that there are many who are much too attached to their pursuit of powers that it will take several more lifetimes to get beyond this attachment. It is attachment that causes suffering. You are back where you have started from.

 

 

FINALLY, a solid articulation of the dilemma. i was getting worried for a while there.

 

i've posted this quote before. twice, i think. but it bears repeating here:

 

The clairvoyant may see forms which are elsewhere, but he cannot see the formless. The telepathic may communicate directly with the mind of another, but he cannot communicate with one who has achieved no-mind. The telekinetic may move an object without touching it, but he cannot move the intangible. Such abilities have meaning only in the realm of duality. Therefore, they are meaningless. Within the Great Oneness, though there is no such thing as clairvoyance, telepathy, or telekinesis, all things are seen, all things understood, all things forever in their proper places.

 

--Hua Hu Ching

 

 

http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/6749-for-those-of-you-still-chasing-abilities/

[Ya Mu]

In my experience, when discussing the natural talents one develops when practicing valid energetic practices it doesn't really matter whether one desires them or not. They either manifest or not depending on the efficiency of the energetic practice and the natural latent talent in the individual - and these talents differ from person to person. On the other hand, in what I practice and teach total understanding and enhancement of the particular talent comes from the practice of virtue; the talent CAN go away without this practice.

[d'avid]

I do think desire matters. buddhists sometimes forget that all manifested life was brought in existence by a kind of universal longing.

 

However siddhis are not so desirable / so helpful to remove one's pain from not being one's true self.

 

If one's hidden agenda is to re-unify with one's origine,

 

there needs to be a bait for the fish, but it's the fisherman that enjoys the meal.