Buddhist & Taoist Cultivation

[ChiForce]

Here is an interesting question. Can you obtain enlightenment and to liberate the consciousness WITHOUT a body??? That is, a consciousness energy or an entity like spirit or ghost can still cultivate their mind without having a body? Funny enough, death and rebirth in our physical realm are often needed to liberate the consciousness.

[林愛偉]

Here is an interesting question. Can you obtain enlightenment and to liberate the consciousness WITHOUT a body??? That is, a consciousness energy or an entity like spirit or ghost can still cultivate their mind without having a body? Funny enough, death and rebirth in our physical realm are often needed to liberate the consciousness.

 

 

Yes, it can happen indeed. Though a human body, or a physical one, is very good for cultivation, some do not need it. It is dependent on the cultivator and their state of realization.

[Maddie]

Here is an interesting question. Can you obtain enlightenment and to liberate the consciousness WITHOUT a body??? That is, a consciousness energy or an entity like spirit or ghost can still cultivate their mind without having a body? Funny enough, death and rebirth in our physical realm are often needed to liberate the consciousness.

From what I understand being human is one of the best positions to cultivate from because if your in a higher realm you feel so good you lack the motivation to cultivate, and if your in a lower realm you either lack the intelligence or are too distracted by suffering.

[Jetsun]

Here is an interesting question. Can you obtain enlightenment and to liberate the consciousness WITHOUT a body??? That is, a consciousness energy or an entity like spirit or ghost can still cultivate their mind without having a body? Funny enough, death and rebirth in our physical realm are often needed to liberate the consciousness.

 

Nagarjuna introduced some ways of liberation in the bardo state after death, it is said that this is best time to obtain enlightenment because without a body you have far fewer attachments so it is easier to finally let go of everything. Many Tibetan Buddhists are taught these so if they can't gain enlightenment in their lifetime they have the opportunity after death, I heard the Dalai Lama say he looks forward to this as a challenge for when he dies.

[ChiForce]

Nagarjuna introduced some ways of liberation in the bardo state after death, it is said that this is best time to obtain enlightenment because without a body you have far fewer attachments so it is easier to finally let go of everything. Many Tibetan Buddhists are taught these so if they can't gain enlightenment in their lifetime they have the opportunity after death, I heard the Dalai Lama say he looks forward to this as a challenge for when he dies.

From what I have read and understood so far, you can be reborn in the form realm or the desire realm's heaven as devas as soon as you have achieved certain degree of merit and cultivation levels. I guess in this heaven of the desire realm, you become a god but with still human and emotional attachments. Again, not much I can really speak of from experiences... Still, these devas can be reborn again as humans for whatever the reasons.

[Maddie]

Nagarjuna introduced some ways of liberation in the bardo state after death, it is said that this is best time to obtain enlightenment because without a body you have far fewer attachments so it is easier to finally let go of everything. Many Tibetan Buddhists are taught these so if they can't gain enlightenment in their lifetime they have the opportunity after death, I heard the Dalai Lama say he looks forward to this as a challenge for when he dies.

Is the Dalai Lama not enlightened already?!

 

 

From what I have read and understood so far, you can be reborn in the form realm or the desire realm's heaven as devas as soon as you have achieved certain degree of merit and cultivation levels. I guess in this heaven of the desire realm, you become a god but with still human and emotional attachments. Again, not much I can really speak of from experiences... Still, these devas can be reborn again as humans for whatever the reasons.

The reason would be that they use up all their good karma and merit as a deva and drop down.

[Jetsun]

Is the Dalai Lama not enlightened already?!

 

I know he is a very high level Bodhisattva who exemplifies all the qualities that the Buddha set out as a teacher to follow such as indefatigability and universal compassion, he is a master of the highest forms of Tibetan Buddhism so when he is in meditation he is enlightened, I don't know if he is enlightened all of the time though. I wouldn't be surprised if he attained the rainbow body at death though and didn't need the bardo teachings. Although I don't really know what enlightenment is to be honest

[Maddie]

I know he is a very high level Bodhisattva who exemplifies all the qualities that the Buddha set out as a teacher to follow such as indefatigability and universal compassion, he is a master of the highest forms of Tibetan Buddhism so when he is in meditation he is enlightened, I don't know if he is enlightened all of the time though. I wouldn't be surprised if he attained the rainbow body at death though and didn't need the bardo teachings. Although I don't really know what enlightenment is to be honest

When I speak of enlightenment I do so from the Buddhist point of view that you have eliminated all desires, craving, and clinging and thus are free from Samsara and have attained Nirvana.

[ChiForce]

I know he is a very high level Bodhisattva who exemplifies all the qualities that the Buddha set out as a teacher to follow such as indefatigability and universal compassion, he is a master of the highest forms of Tibetan Buddhism so when he is in meditation he is enlightened, I don't know if he is enlightened all of the time though. I wouldn't be surprised if he attained the rainbow body at death though and didn't need the bardo teachings. Although I don't really know what enlightenment is to be honest

I think when we talk about enlightenment, we have to look at it from the standpoint of life times, birth, death and rebirth. And how an arhat has to undergo several life times of cultivations to finally accomplish enlightenment. He may have been enlightened to some degree but not the final liberation.

[ChiForce]

When I speak of enlightenment I do so from the Buddhist point of view that you have eliminated all desires, craving, and clinging and thus are free from Samsara and have attained Nirvana.

Yeah but that's usually more complicated than that. For one thing, enlightenment does not usually happen in one life time, as far as what I have been reading and experienced (I became a stream-enterer at 18 when I, "like a blind cat bumped in dead rats," underwent the first 2 levels of the 4 intensified practice to realize enlightenment known as the "Path"). Yeah, I am reading Master Nan's To Realized Enlightenment, chapter 9, I am blown away from his discourse and the precision of it describing my experiential manifestations.

[ssmith7]

Effilang,

 

I just feel like the notion of doing "good" may be a bit overplayed at times. All events are vibrational and you do not create any good without some measure of bad as well. There are people who do not have a really complicated internal practice, yet their power is phenomenal. If one Buddhist you met became enlightened, I just cannot imagine that enlightened one being upset at not having done something differently. And, to be honest, if a person achieves enlightenment this lifetime around, I don't think they will care how much martial and healing power they have or how powerful their chi flow and body is.

 

I hope you find what you are seeking. The topic of this post is something I have been thinking about for a long time. Thank You.

 

Shawn