The answer lies in the India/Nepal/Tibet Himalaya Regions afterall.. and definitely NOT in china/taiwan..

[bodyoflight]

At one time I was involved in Tibetan Buddhism. My reason for leaving was due to the fact that the Lamaist hierarchy convinced the true believers that doing prostrations in front of their throne was necessary. Their karma was better than the peons sitting on the floor in front of them. These guys received special benefits only because their system was created to benefit them.

 

I pity you..

 

is that all the lamas teach you?

 

just to prostrate in front of their throne?..

 

so really.. even if you prostrate in front of anyone.. what's the big deal with that?

does your ego gets angry at prostrating to anyone?

 

you know ralis, someone in here told me not to waste my time with you but i wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt.. i do not want to say what he said about you because that would result in my ban..

 

but this post of yours really points out to me..

 

your human ego is still blowing the trumpets of victory!..

Edited May 19, 2011 by bodyoflight

[bodyoflight]

There is nothing wrong with spiritual sex in the unity of love of yang and yin. Buddhist are loners or are they not.

 

the highest form of bliss is the individual spiritual union with the creator..

 

so what's wrong with loneliness?

 

loneliness will always be part of the spiritual path..

 

accept it embrace it .. like a lover..

 

if you can't see through the loneliness.. then you will never reach enlightenment..

 

one has to be comfortable to accept loneliness totally before one can become a complete human being..

[bodyoflight]

I personally feel that it is an individual that leads them-self to liberation, but how they do it, and to what degree of speed depends upon the external conditions prevalent around that person, or what that person happens to find them-self around through their own efforts?

 

It's definitely easier in certain places and times to attain Buddhahood, simply due to influence. I mean, if you want to be a Buddha, you're going to want to be influenced by Buddhas. But, at the same time, not all traditions are even interested in Buddhahood. Some just want some sort of enlightenment as defined differently by different traditions, or elongation of their time in the body is considered an enlightened venture, or they want personal power and this is considered enlightening, etc.

 

So, one has to ask oneself what they themselves really wants, and why before choosing the particular path they trod upon to that end.

 

Ultimately the answers are within yourself, but again, it's true that certain environments are better for inner cultivation than others. This can change dependent upon a persons level of progression as well. Some may only need a monastery for a short period of time before it becomes a hindrance. Some need it their entire life and it's not a hindrance. Others need to be in the Urban life in order to integrate what they've learned in a monastery with regular people. Some monks need to drop their robes and get naked with a chick in order to go deeper within themselves or vice versa...

 

My 2 cents.

 

you are still applying the taoist methodologies of analyzing the monastic paths..

 

buddhahood is enlightenment.. enlightenment is buddhahood.. the differences in terminologies do not matter to the end-result of the true spiritual paths..

 

but.. even in tibetan buddhism itself.. there are people who practice tibetan buddhism for the sake of gaining a better job, a better spouse, more obedient kids, a better life... i know because i was one of them...

 

most people living in the cities do not want enlightenment.. as proven by the posts in this thread..

 

most only want sex, spouses, families, money, careers, good lives .. they want to be comfortable till the end of their lives and then die off..

 

this is why most turn to spirituality and the gods.. not for enlightenment.. but for gaining a more comfortable, better life!..

 

ask yourself, why do you practice taoism?

 

why do you practice qigong?

 

why do you practice meditation?

 

since the majority of the masses do not seek enlightenment but are in fact seeking a better life, then why would someone like me who is seeking enlightenment/buddhahood wanna stick around the mundane masses?

i will be sacrificing my own welfare, my own life and my own chances at enlightenment for every day every second i remain around the masses who are not seeking enlightenment..

Edited May 19, 2011 by bodyoflight

[bodyoflight]

You know were I am going? I am going to Tahiti. Seth Ananda, who I have a lot of faith in, says that his friend who has studied with Tahitian shamans says that he thought they had gotten further than any of the many indian, tibetan and chinese masters he had met. Ha said this was because when he loked in the eyes of the Tahitian shamans it looked as they were ambracing the whole universe whereas in teh eyes of the asian masters he did not see that. By the way tahiti is one of the worlds most sexually indulgent places. At least it used to be. Check out Seths posts to read about it.

 

Or you can consider comming to Oslo. My teacher spent for years in Tibetan monestaries and studied with the two Dzogchen masters that were considered the most advanced in Dzogchen in tibetan buddhism at the time. However, the woman who is now his teacher and whom he thinks is the only Buddha he has ever met lives in Oslo and does not teach formally only those she encounters in her life. He says that her vibration was significantly higher than that of any tibetan master he met and her aura differently coloured. He has sent tens of thousands of hours talking with her. He said that sometimes they talked for 16 hours a day. At the end of such days he would be drained but she would have more energy than at the begining and her vibration would have gotten even higher. I don`t think she has much siddhis and I think she is utterly uninterested in them. However, my teacher says she is the only one he has met that truly does not seem to feel any sense of seperationa and truly feels the suffering of others as his own. Norway has a small poppulation but she lived in Oslo which is a fairly big city. She was and is also married. She puts a lot of emphasis on embracing life completely like Tahitian shamans and would find your views escapist and motivated by fear and I think she would say anything buildt on fear is moving you in the wrong direction.

 

I don`t think I have met any woman that holds similar views as you but many men. I think that fact that your views are so exclusively male and has none of the views of the feminine in them is a clear indication that they are wrong because a view based only on yang or only on yin is imbalanced and never right. It is a good rule of thumb to aply as a check to ones thinking.

 

I have known a number of female spiritual practitioners..

 

the most spiritually successful of them all are .. unmarried.. have no kids.. and who completely dedicate their lives to true spirituality.. some of these successful ones remain in the outside world working as spiritual counselors/advisors.. some of them serve in temples..

 

on the contrary.. those spiritual practitioners who are married and have kids.. are prone to emotional tantrums and imbalances.. which inhibit their path to enlightenment..

 

you clearly do not know what you are talking about..

 

the age of change has arrived.. and man must realize that he can never find happiness through marriages and children..

 

man can never ever find true happiness in their other half..

 

this is a true fact which almost none can accept .. almost no one dare face the truth because...

 

no one possess the necessary courage to face the enormity of The Tao/The Universe/The Creator all by themselves..

Edited May 19, 2011 by bodyoflight

[Vajrahridaya]

you are still applying the taoist methodologies of analyzing the monastic paths..

 

buddhahood is enlightenment.. enlightenment is buddhahood.. the differences in terminologies do not matter to the end-result of the true spiritual paths..

 

 

I thought my name made my path obvious? Well, anyway... I practice Vajrayana. This might change the way you read my post.

 

In Vajrayana there are many levels to Enlightenment, the glimpse, the integration, the full blown grounded realization of light hearted awareness. Different forms of Buddhism present these levels of enlightenment in different ways. I practice Dzogchen specifically. I wouldn't mind coming to the realization of the "body of light" or "jalus" known as the "rainbow body" at the time of my departure.

 

I wish you well on your journey.

[King Kabalabhati]

I have known a number of female spiritual practitioners..

 

the most spiritually successful of them all are .. unmarried.. have no kids.. and who completely dedicate their lives to true spirituality.. some of these successful ones remain in the outside world working as spiritual counselors/advisors.. some of them serve in temples..

 

on the contrary.. those spiritual practitioners who are married and have kids.. are prone to emotional tantrums and imbalances.. which inhibit their path to enlightenment..

 

you clearly do not know what you are talking about..

 

the age of change has arrived.. and man must realize that he can never find happiness through marriages and children..

 

man can never ever find true happiness in their other half..

 

this is a true fact which almost none can accept .. almost no one dare face the truth because...

 

no one possess the necessary courage to face the enormity of The Tao/The Universe/The Creator all by themselves..

 

I think you may be right. But then I have a brother who had no family, no girlfriend, not many friends either. He would do pranayama and yoga but most of the time he spent on the computer. Eventually he ended up marrying. Curiously enough he found his wife through the internet from Brazil. So yes family life will take a lot of your time but it's only one of the distractions that prevent you from being in stillness for prolonged periods. I think conquering loneliness through meditation can be the greatest challenge and maybe impossible for those that aren't "chosen" for it. But I wish you good luck on your path.

[Jetsun]

You may need to get a sponsor if you aim to go into a long retreat, Tsultrin Allione wrote a book about her spiritual retreat in the Himalayas but you can't expect to just turn up and be taken care of, she had a sponsor who paid for food to be taken to her remote retreat in the mountains to keep her alive and there is always the possibility of starvation if the weather turns bad for too long, unless you plan to live off grass until your skin turns green like Milarepa. Although each has to work out what is appropriate for themselves at the stage where they are at, for someone with a stable mature ego a long retreat in the Himalayas might be what is required, but for others it might drive them insane. Tsultrin Allione is generally praised for her bravery in going on such a retreat but personally when I see videos of her I see a haunted woman and don't see the radiance in her face and spark in her eyes that I have noticed in some other Buddhists, so I think honesty about where you are at may be more important than some dramatic extreme measure like spending half your life alone in a cave.

[markern]

i don't really care what you think..

 

i am following a system of spirituality where there is an established record of practitioners turning into bodies of light..

 

do the tahiti or taoist or osho or new mexican or even the rest of the hindu traditions have as luminous a record as the dzogchen, sakya, nyingma and other tibetan monks?

 

there are successful cases of enlightenment in every tradition but none as numerous or as significant as the tibetans..

 

connect the dots and you will find no traditions as successful as the tibetans..

 

how big are they? how many successful practitioners are there?

 

how well do the different lineages cooperate with each other?

 

the different lineages do not compete with each other.. this proves that there is no ego within the tibetans as compared to the taoists who are always trying to compete with each other..

 

why are the tibetans located in the himalayas initially?

 

connect the dots.. and you will see the truth..

 

You are ignoring hte fact that my teacher has spent for years inspecting the energyboddies of the highest tibetan teachers you can hope to find annd tens of thousands of hours inspecting the energy body of the lady he thinks is a buddha and he found hers to be of a significantly higher vibration.

[bodyoflight]

You may need to get a sponsor if you aim to go into a long retreat, Tsultrin Allione wrote a book about her spiritual retreat in the Himalayas but you can't expect to just turn up and be taken care of, she had a sponsor who paid for food to be taken to her remote retreat in the mountains to keep her alive and there is always the possibility of starvation if the weather turns bad for too long, unless you plan to live off grass until your skin turns green like Milarepa. Although each has to work out what is appropriate for themselves at the stage where they are at, for someone with a stable mature ego a long retreat in the Himalayas might be what is required, but for others it might drive them insane. Tsultrin Allione is generally praised for her bravery in going on such a retreat but personally when I see videos of her I see a haunted woman and don't see the radiance in her face and spark in her eyes that I have noticed in some other Buddhists, so I think honesty about where you are at may be more important than some dramatic extreme measure like spending half your life alone in a cave.

 

it is practicing in solitude.. not just spending half your life.. and it doesn't have to be in a cave .. as long as it is somewhere remote..

[bodyoflight]

You are ignoring hte fact that my teacher has spent for years inspecting the energyboddies of the highest tibetan teachers you can hope to find annd tens of thousands of hours inspecting the energy body of the lady he thinks is a buddha and he found hers to be of a significantly higher vibration.

 

i do not know who your teacher is?

 

i do know who the tibetan teachers are though and i am unlikely to change my point of view based on just some heresay from a stranger on the net..

[bodyoflight]

You may need to get a sponsor if you aim to go into a long retreat, Tsultrin Allione wrote a book about her spiritual retreat in the Himalayas but you can't expect to just turn up and be taken care of, she had a sponsor who paid for food to be taken to her remote retreat in the mountains to keep her alive and there is always the possibility of starvation if the weather turns bad for too long, unless you plan to live off grass until your skin turns green like Milarepa. Although each has to work out what is appropriate for themselves at the stage where they are at, for someone with a stable mature ego a long retreat in the Himalayas might be what is required, but for others it might drive them insane. Tsultrin Allione is generally praised for her bravery in going on such a retreat but personally when I see videos of her I see a haunted woman and don't see the radiance in her face and spark in her eyes that I have noticed in some other Buddhists, so I think honesty about where you are at may be more important than some dramatic extreme measure like spending half your life alone in a cave.

 

i am going for the basics first.. the foundations of stabilizing one's mind to fend off spiritual attacks .. then we talk about the long-term retreat next..

 

the town where i am going to be in is extremely small.. so that will qualify for remoteness..

[bodyoflight]

I think you may be right. But then I have a brother who had no family, no girlfriend, not many friends either. He would do pranayama and yoga but most of the time he spent on the computer. Eventually he ended up marrying. Curiously enough he found his wife through the internet from Brazil. So yes family life will take a lot of your time but it's only one of the distractions that prevent you from being in stillness for prolonged periods. I think conquering loneliness through meditation can be the greatest challenge and maybe impossible for those that aren't "chosen" for it. But I wish you good luck on your path.

 

you have to conquer loneliness.. it is part of the path..

 

i have tried to run away from loneliness from many years..

 

in the end.. it is the loneliness which i seek to protect myself from those around me..

 

the message is.. go conquer loneliness or be destroyed..

 

a strong message from the universe indeed....... too strong.. too powerful..

Edited May 19, 2011 by bodyoflight

[bodyoflight]

I thought my name made my path obvious? Well, anyway... I practice Vajrayana. This might change the way you read my post.

 

In Vajrayana there are many levels to Enlightenment, the glimpse, the integration, the full blown grounded realization of light hearted awareness. Different forms of Buddhism present these levels of enlightenment in different ways. I practice Dzogchen specifically. I wouldn't mind coming to the realization of the "body of light" or "jalus" known as the "rainbow body" at the time of my departure.

 

I wish you well on your journey.

 

in taoism, there is a certain path called the self-recluse path..

 

it is the part where by the taoist practitioner gives up everything in search of enlightenment..

 

"Reclusive Training: This type of Daoist training is sometimes regarded as the higher path of the Daoist Right-Hand school of training. It requires the mystic to remove him or herself from society becoming a lone sage. After recognizing the flaws of ritualistic forms of worship and giving up the politically ingrained patterns of religious dogma, the mystic generally retreats to a cave for internal introspection. Although ritualistic forms of worship are essential for purifying the mind, any form of external oriented action can also keep the mind bound to the external world. Therefore, in the highest stages of Daoist mystical training, the individual releases all attachments to material objects (people, places and things) and spiritual powers (controlling the Elements, the Six Transportations of Shen, etc.) and strives only to attain "oneness" with the eternal Dao through self-introspection. "

 

this is what i meant by the difference in terminologies do not matter when it comes to true spiritual paths..

 

buddhahood to the buddhists mean enlightenment by self-introspection by the taoists..

 

mantak chia refer it as the dark room retreats when you seal off all light and other sensory information to find the inner light within..

 

the sufis do it as well.. spending time in solitary retreats to find the inner god..

 

http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Lord-Power-Manual-Retreat/dp/0892810181/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305806980&sr=1-1

 

all mystical traditions possess such solitary meditation methods..

 

you were differentiating between buddhahood and enlightenment by your phrase "not all traditions are even interested in Buddhahood"

 

all traditions ultimately lead to buddhahood and enlightenment..

 

but what you meant was maybe ... not all people practicing mystical paths are interested in buddhahood and enlightenment..

 

you practice dzogchen..

 

i am envious..

 

i have not even started yet.. you are real lucky..

[三江源]

Do you believe it is a privilege to be allowed to reply to you? Often it is a matter of attitude why people shun participating in a discussion; if it is a setup for derision, why join with the evidence you have?

 

If the purpose of each thread becomes win-vs-loose, and some guys take special pride in the defeat of others, many people will just stay out.

 

Mandrake

 

This!

[ralis]

I pity you..

 

is that all the lamas teach you?

 

just to prostrate in front of their throne?..

 

so really.. even if you prostrate in front of anyone.. what's the big deal with that?

does your ego gets angry at prostrating to anyone?

 

you know ralis, someone in here told me not to waste my time with you but i wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt.. i do not want to say what he said about you because that would result in my ban..

 

but this post of yours really points out to me..

 

your human ego is still blowing the trumpets of victory!..

 

 

It is your ego that is the problem. Why not reread your entire rant here and be honest with yourself when looking in the mirror, you might just learn something about yourself. At least I am able to question authority. That questioning has given me much freedom and insight.

 

Exactly what are you angry about?

 

I suppose Vajraji has been telling you how much of a heretic I am.

 

BTW, I would really like to see at least one of the Buddhist's precepts practiced here by one's that consider themselves Buddhist. 'Right speech' would be nice. So far I don't see it.

[C T]

At least I am able to question authority. That questioning has given me much freedom and insight.

 

Really? That's great.

[ralis]

Really? That's great.

 

Of course I can and still do. I was born that way. Not exactly a novel idea, although for some it may be.

[Mandrake]

i do know who the tibetan teachers are though and i am unlikely to change my point of view based on just some heresay from a stranger on the net..

 

 

In that case, why are you spreading heresay on the net yourself?

 

 

Mandrake

[markern]

I found this in another thread. My guess is it aplies to you:

 

I used to hide behind Buddhism to deny my own needs, I was 26 (a bit too late) when I called bullshit on my own spirituality and just look for happiness like everyone else does. Took over a year before I'm comfortable with the person in the mirror and another year to really have a social life. Had a few very close platonic friends (platonic because they're not attracted to me) from the same social circle as my other guy friends, learned how to banter from them (important skill) and learned how to talk over the phone for hours (important skill #2). Once you're comfortable around women, everything just falls into place. I'm 29 now and have never been happier, also meditation is a lot easier now that my head is not as full of fuck as it did.

[thelerner]

 

i do know who the tibetan teachers are though and i am unlikely to change my point of view ...

 

The question is do you? Do you have the names of reputable tibetan teachers or organizations?

 

I take it you don't speak the language. Have you done any work at tibetan yoga practices? Do you have any contacts here who can guide in the right direction?

 

If you're not spending a couple hours at it now, methinks your an intellect overshadows your practice. And in the real world practice is all.

[Wells]

i still need lots of work.. i have never denied that..

 

but only words filled with hot air?...

 

when i move to india, i will send you a report..

Do you live in the USA? Then fly to Chicago and become a student of Waysun Liao. He is a true Tao Master and can lead you to enlightenment, immortality... you name it. No need to go to Asia...

[ShaktiMama]

by death or by turning into a body of light..

 

i WILL be out of here..

 

i have done enough spiritual work to guarantee myself a ticket..

 

i think your spiritual ticket got stamped VOID with that statement.

[C T]

Of course I can and still do. I was born that way. Not exactly a novel idea, although for some it may be.

As long as you are not creating or imagining 'authority figures'(inner demons?) on an on-going basis to do battle with (im sure you are aware that many of us do this unconsciously?) just so you get to feel as if you are making progress somehow, then i guess you are doing okay.

 

This suspicion arose from your admission that you were born to do battle with authoritative figures. I see a pattern, no?

 

I have practiced Vajrayana for a good few years but have never encountered a situation where a demand was made to prostrate before my teachers, or visiting lamas, and lineage holders of the various traditions. But then, pride has never been one of my tendencies. I can see though why some Western students are averse to doing prostrations. Without fully synthesizing the deeper and subtler benefits associated with this practice, which could be due to seeing and taking what is superficial(at face value) as excuses for not wanting to adopt the practice, it could be hard to convince oneself that prostrations do more than merely putting on an external show of yielding/surrendering to imaginary forces deemed higher than oneself.

 

But if you feel uneasy to try, to delve further and in greater depth, because maybe you were also born to get bored easily with formalities (of which most worthwhile practices contain), then by all means refrain from changing your stance.

[ralis]

As long as you are not creating or imagining 'authority figures'(inner demons?) on an on-going basis to do battle with (im sure you are aware that many of us do this unconsciously?) just so you get to feel as if you are making progress somehow, then i guess you are doing okay.

 

This suspicion arose from your admission that you were born to do battle with authoritative figures. I see a pattern, no?

 

I have practiced Vajrayana for a good few years but have never encountered a situation where a demand was made to prostrate before my teachers, or visiting lamas, and lineage holders of the various traditions. But then, pride has never been one of my tendencies. I can see though why some Western students are averse to doing prostrations. Without fully synthesizing the deeper and subtler benefits associated with this practice, which could be due to seeing and taking what is superficial(at face value) as excuses for not wanting to adopt the practice, it could be hard to convince oneself that prostrations do more than merely putting on an external show of yielding/surrendering to imaginary forces deemed higher than oneself.

 

But if you feel uneasy to try, to delve further and in greater depth, because maybe you were also born to get bored easily with formalities (of which most worthwhile practices contain), then by all means refrain from changing your stance.

 

 

Prostration to some dude sitting on his throne has nothing to do with so called spiritual advancement. The Lamas claim that one is prostrating to the teachings. Why doesn't the Lama prostrate at the same time with everyone else? He does his first and then everyone else to him! The Lama's are treated like royalty!

[doc benway]

the only reason why i wanna remove myself from the masses is to prevent the masses from pulling me down with them..

 

in more ways than one..

 

i will rather kill myself than to let the masses pull me down with their depravity..

 

i am sure more than one in here knows what i am talking about..

No one can pull you down unless you permit it.

Pay attention to how you feel when interacting with others.

Why does the behavior of others threaten you?

Do you have so little control? So little choice?

 

By focusing so much on practicing something else, somewhere else, at some time in the future, you are wasting so much valuable and precious time and opportunity.

You can be starting your practice right here, right now.

The future doesn't exist, it's your mind playing games.

The nature of the mind is that here and now are never enough, there is always this need for something else, something more. We always need to become something we are not. That's why we have come to dominate the planet - it is a very effective tool.

 

But when it comes to true insight into reality, it is a distraction. If you bother to take the time to look at this very carefully. Look at your thought process, this constant need for something else, something better. See if you can have an insight into this. This is where you will find your answers, whether in a cave in Tibet or at the peak of Hua Shan. The path leads inward, not away.