sillybearhappyhoneyeater Posted December 14, 2014 I think that one of the most positive things you could possibly do is learn to write in the academic style and organize your thoughts with footnotes or end notes to back up some of the science claims you have made about these phenomena. Otherwise, it will only appeal to beginner level people in the meditation community. If you can make a really concise study of how you went about doing this, I think that many more people could be reached. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
allinone Posted December 14, 2014 (edited) allinone I appreciate your concern, but it is obvious that your spiritual attainment is not high… and that you have no knowledge of the path I took to reach awakening… nor do you understand how consciousness or delusion works… When you speak, your ignorance shows and gives you away… I reached complete awakening when I destroyed my delusion… a person is either awake or not awake, you can not mistake it… there is no in between, and it is permanent… end of story… if you ever aspire to reach awakening, you will need to understand why I say what I say… Dawg Rich man coming to a slum. There will be two sides, admireres and jelous. Rich man does not belong to either group because he is not poor. The moment rich man understands he is different, ignorance has entered his mind and eventual downfall will happen. 1.Why awakened person is bulletproof? give right place and situation what awakened person hasn't yet experienced he will fall. 2.When ignorant person becomes awakened, his awakenment has risen from conditions and from awakenment eventually rises conditions. (as above so below). unless you are alone and refuse to play the game. Edited December 14, 2014 by allinone 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dawg Posted December 15, 2014 3Dominicus3, So what's your take on Intuition? It is also connected to Subconscious, but cannot be wrong? I've seen people on the path argue about who was right when they were both going by intuition, but choosing different. TELEPATHY… your subconscious mind is telepathic, and can communicate with all other subconscious minds… (this is the “collective subconscious” of the psychologist Carl Yung)… your subconscious mind can pick up ideas and information from other peoples subconscious minds… this is what your intuition is… and your spirit guides are with you 24 hours a day… they are telepathic… they work by planting thoughts, ideas, and actions in your mind that you think are your thoughts… this is what your “intuition” is… EQUANIMITY… there is no right or wrong, everything just is… everything is neutral… when two people argue about which one of them is right or wrong, they are both “wrong”… if they both agreed that the other was entitled to believe whatever they wanted to believe… both would be “right”… Why can't karma be transcended? The seeds completely uprooted and just transcend the whole karmic system so as to not play out what's left? It seems unfair that stuff done in ignorance, and because of it, then has to be tallied up after ignorance is snuffed out. Karma is just the spiritual equivalent of Sir Issac Newton’s “third law of motion” describing one of the laws of the physical universe which states that…”for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”… the universe is indifferent… what you sow, you reap… If you stick your hand in a fire, your hand gets burned… why can’t you un-burn our hand… ? 3. Can one navigate the spirit realms to get to the Highest heaven by whatever modes, stealth, love, thought-less awareness with intention, or even some mystics say you have to keep repeating that "you are from the first and highest pre-existent realm," and that it acts as a one way ticket, then Enlightenment can be gotten at that highest realm. No…, the highest you can get in the spirit realm by stealth is the ghost realm… and that is beneath the lowest heavenly realm… anyone who says otherwise is conning you… The longest continuous time you can spend in the spirit realms is seven or eight days, or your physical body will die… Many shamans extend their life as long as they can… (with rapidly declining quality of life) then go to the ghost realm leaving their physical body to die… they do this rather than die in their physical body… they do this to avoid going to a hell realm… (and the ghost realm is visually very much like the physical world)… but they are stuck in the ghost realm forever, unless they go to a hell realm and get rid of their bad karma… then they are reborn in the physical realm… 4. Can you speak on Absolute Beingness, it is the state on which Unity seems to rest on, yet is prior to it, unborn, unmanifest, and seems to be linked to the Lower Dan Tian as a doorway to it. The only context in which I have ever heard the term “Absolute Beingness” used, was in a religious context, to describe a god, or gods… it implies that the mind knows and contains everything… including the unborn and unmanifest… (but everyone in the spirit world still has delusion, even the gods… so only enlightened beings would be able to experience it)… Absolute Beingness is a unity, it is complete, it does not rest on anything... IF it exists as described, normal humans would be unable to experience it, because they still have delusion… raising the kundalini might give you a taste of it for a short time, but it would quickly fade… The lower Dan Tian is a door to many things… if it is a door to “Absolute Beingness, it is a metaphor to imply that using the Dan Tian to raise the Kundalini, will allow you to experience a taste of Absolute Beingness… but it will not be permanent… 5. Which brings up next question. 3 Dan Tian System, or Chakra system, or are they united? They are interconnected, but not the same… both are invisible body systems… that western medicine is not aware of… they are both controlled by the subconscious mind… 6. Also what about radiating Metta to all beings? Is this vital, as it is in a number of Buddhist branches? Think of “Metta” as having a good attitude, so that you are happy, and wish other people happiness… because without a good attitude, you have poisoned your awareness… and blocked spiritual attainment… so in that sense “Metta” is vital… 7. Also, it seems Adviata Vedanta can do the same as a mantra, by constantly detaching from and no longer identify with any thoughts/thinker/body, access to the source of Thought manifests, and in that source, there is no thought. So are there other legit Paths to manifest Enlightenment in the manner of what you have reached? All the gods including Brahman, were born and will die… and they suffer from delusion… the hindu path to awakening is based on raising the Kundalini… when you raise the Kundalini, it cleans out the six lower chakras, which includes the third eye (subconscious mind…) but it does not destroy the “delusion” in the subconscious mind, it just suppresses it… this is called a “Brahman Awakening”… but a Brahman Awakening is not permanent, it slowly fades, and the delusion takes over your subconscious mind again… and replaces all the blockages in your chakras that the kundalini removed… you are back where you started… you have to continuously raise the kundalini to maintain the awakening… even then you will not reach nirvana when you die, you will go to a Brahman Realm (a group of high heavenly realms) for a long time… then to a hell realm to burn up your bad karma, then be reborn again… Anything that PERMANENTLY destroys all delusion in your subconscious mind will make you awakened… but just temporarily detaching yourself from the delusion is just simple Samadhi (concentration)… it makes your mind temporarily peaceful ; but when your concentration ends you are right back where you started… it is not permanent… 8. What is left for you now? Any more cultivation of any additional aspects? Once you reach awakening, it is permanent… delusion is gone forever, you have finished the work… you are free to do whatever you want… life is effortless… nothing bothers you… you are never bored… your heart is at peace… you are permanently happy … you continue to have deep insights on whatever you focus your awareness on… so you can know whatever you need to know… your spirit guide protects you from harm, warns you of any danger, and helps you find whatever you need… Dawg 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ॐDominicusॐ Posted December 15, 2014 (edited) Hey Dawg, Just wanted to reply to a few points: Karma is just the spiritual equivalent of Sir Issac Newton’s “third law of motion” describing one of the laws of the physical universe which states that…”for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”… the universe is indifferent… what you sow, you reap… If you stick your hand in a fire, your hand gets burned… why can’t you un-burn our hand… ? The thing is, the laws of this physical universe has loopholes. You can cover your hand with a special fire-proof gel before putting it in a fire, and not get burned. Also, their is a high probability that there are other universes/dimensions that do not hold to the same rules that are in this one. There are some teachings out there that describe the place within the body where karmic seeds rest, and it is said that an awakened one who has taken Buddhas vows, can go in and pluck all the karmic seeds out, and is no longer accumulating any. So my question is, what if you haven't gotten or seen this within yourself yet? Cause it may be this way, but if one doesn't know, then they would just say that there is no way to transcend karma. IF it exists as described, normal humans would be unable to experience it, because they still have delusion… raising the kundalini might give you a taste of it for a short time, but it would quickly fade… There are Taoist, Buddhist, Sufi, Mystical branches of thought that say that Absolute Beingness Experience doesn't require kundalini. Others say if COnsciousness merges absolute, then subconscious is transcended, because it is entirely seen as "Not I" therefore there is nowhere for consciousness to "stick." So from what I read of your path, via through the Subconscious, some say this is the front door to Enlightenment, and that the back door is just to no longer identify with it, while merging conscious with Unity Consciousness permanently in heart, and then merging Unity with Absolute in the LDT, and this backdoor way will also purify and trasncend the subconscious resulting in it becoming very quiet. I know a Taoist master in India(also claims Enlightenment) who teaches that only by avoiding and no longer identifying with Subconscious, will the central channel and access to unity and absolute open, and that going through subconscious is something you can get stick in for lifetimes with no guarantee, and that it is the hardest path. I'm bringing this up, no offense to you, but to just to show that everybody, who is enlightened, is teaching only what they know themselves through direct experience, and there were only a few teachers (Osho) who spoke of a myriad of ways to get there, or at least 2 (front door/back door) Think of “Metta” as having a good attitude, so that you are happy, and wish other people happiness… because without a good attitude, you have poisoned your awareness… and blocked spiritual attainment… so in that sense “Metta” is vital… Don't some of these spirit realm gods feed off metta though? which would mean its better not to feed them with it? Anything that PERMANENTLY destroys all delusion in your subconscious mind will make you awakened… but just temporarily detaching yourself from the delusion is just simple Samadhi (concentration)… it makes your mind temporarily peaceful ; but when your concentration ends you are right back where you started… it is not permanent… Ramana Maharshi taught that to find the source of thought, or the thought 'I', would uproot the main taproot of the entire conscious/subconscious mind, and leave you in complete thoughtlessness permanently along with full awakening, subconscious purged, enlightenment, and so forth. So in that case, it would qualify as your: "Anything that PERMANENTLY destroys all delusion in your subconscious mind will make you awakened." Also, obviously it took years to get to this point, so would you agree entering a monastery full time would be the only legitimate choice to achieve this? Considering a monastic life is majority spent on practice without access to family, friends, tv, media, and other worldly distractions, it just sounds like your way there is impossible in the modern day world. Also 2 other questions I forgot to ask: 1. What's your take on Lust? It's connected also to the body/subconscious network yes? But there also stories of lust continuing in the spirit realms and some say lust is only part of the body, so I'm trying to figure out the whole Lust complex. Is it also transcended in your case or is there still some partaking in it? 2. Would someone meditating next to you gain any benefits from your own aura or state of Being? There are a lot of stories of monks gaining benefits from the auras of teachers who were enlightened Edited December 15, 2014 by ॐDominicusॐ 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kubba Posted December 19, 2014 (edited) Hey Dawg, From your perspective - is it true that arahants do not have sexual life or are impotents? They say in Buddhism the it is like that after full enlightenment. Ajahn Brahm said so, but some gurus and teachers have wifes so I don't understand this part Edited December 20, 2014 by Kubba Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dawg Posted January 5, 2015 (edited) Hey Dawg, Just wanted to reply to a few points: Hey Dominicus3 Sorry to be so long in replying, I was off line… Quote Karma is just the spiritual equivalent of Sir Issac Newton’s “third law of motion” describing one of the laws of the physical universe which states that…”for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”… the universe is indifferent… what you sow, you reap… If you stick your hand in a fire, your hand gets burned… why can’t you un-burn our hand… ? The thing is, the laws of this physical universe has loopholes. You can cover your hand with a special fire-proof gel before putting it in a fire, and not get burned. Also, their is a high probability that there are other universes/dimensions that do not hold to the same rules that are in this one. If you put gel on your hand, you are not sticking your hand in a fire, you are sticking your gel in the fire… You are bound by the laws of this physical universe and spiritual universe… you can’t escape them… Everything you have ever thought or done (all your karma… including your past lives) is recorded in the “Akashic Records” (which is not in your subconscious mind, but your subconscious mind can access it)… I have seen the akashic record myself when I awakened, so I know they are real… the record of your karma cannot be changed, it can only be added to… google “akashic records”, and check out several sites… There are some teachings out there that describe the place within the body where karmic seeds rest (your karma is your conditioning and it is in your subconscious mind… It is also called your delusion), and it is said that an awakened one who has taken Buddhas vows (there is no such thing as Buddha’s vows…! Unless you mean the vows of a Buddhist monk) , can go in and pluck all the karmic seeds out, and is no longer accumulating any (after you awaken, you no longer make any new karma, but your existing karma lasts until the death of your body..). So my question is, what if you haven't gotten or seen this within yourself yet? Cause it may be this way, but if one doesn't know, then they would just say that there is no way to transcend karma. (I know because I am awakened, and now have “knowing”)… “you pluck out the karmic seeds” to reach awakening, not after you reach awakening Quote If it exists as described, normal humans would be unable to experience it, because they still have delusion… raising the kundalini might give you a taste of it for a short time, but it would quickly fade… There are Taoist, Buddhist, Sufi, Mystical branches of thought that say that Absolute Beingness Experience doesn't require kundalini. Others say if consciousness merges absolute, then subconscious is transcended, because it is entirely seen as "Not I" therefore there is nowhere for consciousness to "stick." This makes no sense at all… either what you are reading is bullshit, or you don’t understand what you are reading… So from what I read of your path, via through the Subconscious , some say this is the front door to Enlightenment, and that the back door is just to no longer identify with it, while merging conscious with Unity Consciousness permanently in heart, and then merging Unity with Absolute in the LDT, and this backdoor way will also purify and trasncend the subconscious resulting in it becoming very quiet… You cannot transcend or deceive your subconscious mind… at best you can make it “quiet” temporarily… "Not I"… is only one of the many steps on the path to awakening… you also have to get rid of your hate, anger, greed, etc, etc, etc… and even then after attaining all the steps, you have to have the necessary strength of focus, to hold the focus long enough to break through and shatter your delusion (active karma)… Your subconscious mind IS your eternal spirit which you are trying to purify… it controls your conscious mind and your body… it is impossible to deceive it… it is what is deceiving you now… and there is no back door… I know a Taoist master in India (also claims Enlightenment) who teaches that only by avoiding and no longer identifying with Subconscious, will the central channel and access to unity and absolute open, and that going through subconscious is something you can get stick in for lifetimes with no guarantee, and that it is the hardest path… I repeat… your subconscious mind IS your eternal spirit which you are trying to purify… it controls everything else… there is no back door… it is the main event, you can’t avoid it or deceive it… but it deceives your conscious mind 24 hours a day… which is why you are deluded and cannot tell the difference between truth and fiction… you obviously don’t meditate, you just read about meditating… and unless you meditate, you are wasting your time reading about it… I'm bringing this up, no offense to you, (don’t worry about me, even if you tried to insult me, I would not take offense… ) but to just show that everybody, who (you think) is enlightened, is teaching only what they know themselves through direct experience, and there were only a few teachers (Osho) Osho was certainly not awakened, all of his teachings were run of the mill hindu “feel good meditations” presented by him with the flair of a good performer… who told people what they wanted to hear… you are too gullible (wishful thinking)… don’t believe anything you hear or read until you try it out (take it for a spin around the block) and prove it to yourself, that it is true… who spoke of a myriad of ways to get there, or at least 2 (front door/back door)… All ways lead to the subconscious mind, called the “citta” in the Pali language… Quote Think of “Metta” as having a good attitude, so that you are happy, and wish other people happiness… because without a good attitude, you have poisoned your awareness… and blocked spiritual attainment… so in that sense “Metta” is vital… Don't some of these spirit realm gods feed off metta though? which would mean its better not to feed them with it? “Metta” has nothing to do with the gods… it is simply having compassion and good feeling towards all other sentient beings… so that you don’t poison your own mind with any negative thoughts… Quote Anything that PERMANENTLY destroys all delusion in your subconscious mind will make you awakened… but just temporarily detaching yourself from the delusion is just simple Samadhi (concentration)… it makes your mind temporarily peaceful ; but when your concentration ends you are right back where you started… it is not permanent… Ramana Maharshi taught that to find the source of thought, or the thought 'I', would uproot the main taproot of the entire conscious/subconscious mind, and leave you in complete thoughtlessness permanently along with full awakening, subconscious purged, enlightenment, and so forth. So in that case, it would qualify as your: "Anything that PERMANENTLY destroys all delusion in your subconscious mind will make you awakened." You already know that the source of ‘thought”, and the thought “I” is in the subconscious mind… so are you awakened now…??? Also, obviously it took years to get to this point, so would you agree entering a monastery full time would be the only legitimate choice to achieve this? Considering a monastic life is majority spent on practice without access to family, friends, tv, media, and other worldly distractions, it just sounds like your way there is impossible in the modern day world… what you are saying here is that you don’t want to give up your delusion because you like it, and cling to it… that your delusion is more important to you, than spiritual development… that you are looking for a way to reach awakening, without having to let go of your delusion… I never ordained, I was what is called a “Dharma Guest”… I lived in a monk’s hut when I was at the monastery… ate food collected by the monks on their alms round (had one meal a day)… our group of Dharma guests (2 to 6 people)…were given Dharma talks 2 or 3 times a week, and our Dharma teacher would answer questions… we were supposed to spend most of our time meditating… I also had a house where I lived when I was not at the monastery… when I started meditating, I had the attitude that I would give it a try, to see if I made any progress, I came to Thailand and found the best monastery and teacher that I could find… and from the beginning I made steady progress… so I persevered and the path opened up before me… Also 2 other questions I forgot to ask: 1. What's your take on Lust? It's connected also to the body/subconscious network yes? But there also stories of lust continuing in the spirit realms and some say lust is only part of the body, so I'm trying to figure out the whole Lust complex. Is it also transcended in your case or is there still some partaking in it? The only place in the spirit world where there is physical sex similar to the physical realm are in the lower heavenly realms… the very lowest heavenly realms are here on earth… the inhabitants are the nymphs and satyrs of Greek mythology, so it can get wild… the feeling you get from just being in a realm gets better and better the higher you go… in the upper heavenly realms, just being there is far far better than physical sex… people there are usually married, and live together… sex there is staid, but when the two bodies meet, ZAP, you have a smile on your face for weeks… “I never ordained as a monk… but now that I am awakened, I am totally neutral and indifferent all the time… and open and honest… and I never try to pick up a woman… but women try to pick me up… and if I have sex, it is the best sex I ever had… because there is no voice in my mind to distract me, and I am totally in the present moment… but I don’t miss sex, or go looking for it… it is just a “spontaneous unplanned event”… bear in mind that sex is neither “good” nor “evil”, that it just “is”… if you don’t cling to it (consider it “good” or “evil”), there is no karma… I am now experiencing what it was like back in the mythicall “Garden of Eden” of Adam & Eve… before they ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of “good” and “evil”, and became deluded… delusion is the “original sin” of Christianity… I laughed my ass off (at the absurdity and simplicity of it) when I first realized this, after I awakened… it is so blatantly obvious to me now, that I can’t imagine how I could not have seen it before I awakened… but that is how powerful delusion is, we can’t see what is right in front of our faces… but when we destroy delusion, we regain our innocence, purity, and peace… and the whole world is a Garden of Eden… and our conscious and subconscious minds integrate themselves into this Eden, so that we are plugged into whatever we need… and life becomes fearless, painless, and effortless…” 2. Would someone meditating next to you gain any benefits from your own aura or state of Being? There are a lot of stories of monks gaining benefits from the auras of teachers who were enlightened It would depend on how receptive the person was… if their subconscious mind communicated with my subconscious mind, they could “intuitively” understand things that they did not know before… @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ SUMMARY… you want to reach awakening, but keep your delusion because you cling to it… you can’t scam or cheat your way into awakening… it has got to be an honest and sincere effort… and if you succeed, your delusion will be permanently swept away… but you will not miss it… Dawg Edited January 5, 2015 by dawg 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dawg Posted January 5, 2015 (edited) Hey Dawg, Hey Kubba, From your perspective - is it true that arahants do not have sexual life or are impotents? They say in Buddhism it is like that after full enlightenment. Ajahn Brahm said so, but some gurus and teachers have wifes so I don't understand this part… Buddhist monks have taken a vow of chastity… and unless they quit being monks (disrobe), it is forbidden for them to have sex… so they abstain from sex, because they rather stay as a monk… they may or may not be impotent, that depends on their age and heath… Ajahn Brahm abstained from sex for most of his adult life, so he didn’t miss it… __________________________________________ Quote from my reply above, “I never ordained as a monk… but now that I am awakened, I am totally neutral and indifferent all the time… and open and honest… and I never try to pick up a woman… but women try to pick me up… and if I have sex, it is the best sex I ever had… because there is no voice in my mind to distract me, and I am totally in the present moment… but I don’t miss sex, or go looking for it… it is just a “spontaneous unplanned event”… bear in mind that sex is neither “good” nor “evil”, that it just “is”… if you don’t cling to it (consider it “good” or “evil”), there is no karma… I am now experiencing what it was like back in the mythical “Garden of Eden” of Adam & Eve… before they ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of “good” and “evil”, and became deluded… delusion is the “original sin” of Christianity… I laughed my ass off (at the absurdity and simplicity of it) when I first realized this, after I awakened… it is so blatantly obvious to me now, that I can’t imagine how I could not have seen it before I awakened… but that is how powerful delusion is, we can’t see what is right in front of our faces… but when we destroy delusion, we regain our innocence, purity, and peace… and the whole world is a Garden of Eden… and our conscious and subconscious minds integrate themselves into this Eden, so that we are plugged into whatever we need… and life becomes fearless, painless, and effortless…” ______________________________________________ Arahants essentially all go through the same process of purifying their subconscious mind, so they are the same in that they have all destroyed the delusion in their subconscious mind… but as a random group of people, they are as different as any other random group of people… their skills and powers vary depending on what they were interested in and cultivated… But I don’t think it is possible for gurus and teachers who have wives, to be enlightened in the sense of being a Buddhist arahant… a married arahant would be like saying… “he has one of his feet nailed to the floor (he is attached to his wife), but he can go anywhere he wants to go with the other foot”… you cannot be tied down, and free at the same time… but the Hindu tradition considers raising the Kundalini using any method, as reaching enlightenment… in Buddhism raising the Kundalini is called a “Brahmin Awakening”, because it temporarily pushes aside your delusion and gives you a taste of awakening, but then the delusion reasserts itself, and returns and the awakening fades away… and you are right back where you started… but with the Buddhist awakening, you destroy the delusion, so it is permanently gone… Dawg Edited January 5, 2015 by dawg 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brian Posted January 5, 2015 Just wanted to say that I greatly appreciate your posts in this thread, Dawg. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gendao Posted January 5, 2015 I am posting this in hopes that it might be useful to someone who is actively trying to reach awakening … it is essentially a road map describing my own journey down the last section of the path to enlightenment… From the very beginning, my meditation was focused on one thing only… silencing the voice of my mind (delusion)… then destroying that voice completely… all of my meditation practice was insight meditation, and because I made steady progress from beginning to end, I never tried anything else… my insight meditation consisted of fixing my awareness on my nose, and passively observing my breath as it went in and out of my nose…while repeating “Buddho – Buddho – Buddho”… then when I became proficient in Samadhi (concentration), I started doing investigation of my mind… I first spent a few weeks at a Theravada Forest Monastery in the north of Thailand… I did this several times, but just when I started to get results, it would be time to leave… so I decided that the next time I would stay for as long as I got results… and I ended up staying for a full year, during which time I got rid of my anger and greed and reached equanimity… then I did solitary meditation at a house in the mountains (here in Thailand) for a year… then spent another year at the monastery primarily doing “body investigation”… then again I returned to a house in the mountains to do solitary meditation … after doing “body meditation” at the monastery I had reached a high level of attainment, but was unsure of what to do next…so I decided that I would attempt to reach awakening, or to at least scout out the territory… but I realized that I didn’t really have a clue where to start… so I decided that since the process of meditation and awakening takes place in the mind, knowledge of how the mind works would be extremely useful… so I surfed the internet looking for research and other information to update my knowledge about how the mind worked… after I digested it all, I wrote a short summary of it for my own use (conscious & subconscious mind… see below) which also includes my own observations and insights… with this information I could see how to proceed, and why… so I then wrote a step by step “road map for awakening” for myself that took me to awakening… see below)… then after my awakening, I wrote a description of what I experienced when I awakened… (awakening … see below)… later I wrote an epilogue describing how I felt 6 months after awakening… see below… Dawg CONSCIOUS MIND & SUBCONCIOUS MIND (Summary of my research and insights) The left hemisphere of your brain was generated from your father’s DNA, and contains your conscious mind, which is the male mind (Yang), and seventh chakra… the right hemisphere of your brain was generated from your mothers DNA, and contains your subconscious mind, which is the female mind (Yin), and sixth chakra (third eye)… the conscious mind is “father sky”, the subconscious mind is “mother earth”… …………………………………. THE CONSCIOUS MIND THE CONSCIOUS MIND IS A SERIAL PROCESSOR (with only one image or thought at a time, in a lineal sequence). The conscious mind can process 40 bits (nerve impulses) per second… the conscious mind understands “words” and “logic”, it is very “rational”… THE CONSCIOUS MIND IS THE MIND OF OUR PHYSICAL BODY AND ITS SENSES… “Consciousness” is usually defined as being aware of the physical senses… if a person cannot see, hear, smell, taste, or touch, they are said to be “unconscious”… NOTE... The “conscious mind” is used to survive in the physical world (world of the body’s senses)… The conscious mind is concerned with our personality and the survival of our body… when a person reincarnates, their past personality and conscious mind becomes a part of their subconscious mind, and a new conscious mind and personality is created… When a baby is born, it is taught (conditioned) how to survive in the physical world (physical survival), and how to survive within the context of the culture that it is born into (personality)… The conscious mind is just a temporary superficial interface that allows our spirit to reincarnate in a physical body, and experience the physical world… while our subconscious mind is the eternal spirit that we are, that is connected to, and is a part of the spirit universe …………………………………. THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND IS A PARALLEL PROCESSOR (with many images and thoughts arranged in many different complex patterns and structures simultaneously). The subconscious mind can process 40,000,000 bits (nerve impulses) per second, so it is 1,000,000 times more powerful, complex, bigger, or faster than the conscious mind… and can think hundreds or thousands of different thoughts simultaneously… the subconscious mind understands “visual images”, “emotions” and “feelings”; and is totally “irrational”… the subconscious mind controls our body… it keeps our heart beating, our lungs breathing, our stomach digesting our food, etc… it repairs and replaces the cells of our body… it creates our health or sickness… this is why the Buddha said that “every man is the author of his own sickness or health”… the subconscious mind is extremely powerful, but we seldom use more than a tiny fraction of its power, because we are unaware of it… If you see someone that you know; your subconscious mind “recognizes them” (visual image), and your conscious mind “remembers their name” (word)… this is how they work together… The conscious mind cannot cope with the simultaneous "multiple images and thoughts” in the subconscious mind, which is the reason why the subconscious mind is subconscious to the conscious mind. The conscious mind is simply unable to process and "be conscious" of the complexity of the "subconscious mind”… NOTE... If a “normal” mundane person were to unwittingly make their subconscious mind conscious, they would “think” (a logical lineal sequence of thoughts in their conscious mind) that they must be going “crazy”; because of the flood of conditioned multiple interacting reflex thoughts that would flood through their mind. Clinical insanity is when the subconscious mind of a mundane person becomes conscious, when he has tapped directly into his “spirit”, and neither the mundane person, nor the mundane world around him, understands what is happening… but this is also why some cultures consider “crazy people” to be “holy”, and why some “holy men” appear to be crazy… likewise a meditator who unwittingly makes his subconscious mind conscious, might “think” that meditating has made him crazy, and so be afraid to meditate any more… but if you recognize it as simply the natural state of the subconscious mind and are not afraid, it is no problem… it is fear of it that is the problem… if you ever fall into fear, simply start repeating “Buddho… Buddho… Buddho…” again and again until you feel safe… it will anchor you to something good, and protect you from fear… NOTE… When our subconscious mind becomes conscious, we have the potential to instantly and spontaneously “know” (with certainty) even the deepest and most complex universal knowledge and truths… NOTE… The subconscious mind simply collects information. It takes in every bit of input whether it is positive or negative. It does not make judgments about the information that it collects since that is the responsibility of the conscious mind. Every sight, sound, taste, smell, or anything we've experienced since the day that we were born (and what is carried over from past lives...karma) is stored in our subconscious mind for future retrieval…. Our subconscious mind is similar to a six-year-old child. It is innocent, naive, and wants to help us in any way it can, but has no idea how to help us. The subconscious mind wants to do the “right thing”, but it can only respond with what it has been conditioned to believe is the right thing (“mundane reality”, usually “ignorance”), so that it does not always make the best of choices… NOTE... The subconscious mind is “telepathic” and can hear the thoughts of other people, and communicate with the subconscious minds of other people, without our conscious mind being aware of it… this is what is called “intuition”… NOTE... Psychologists or behavioral change experts speak about writing goals or affirmations. Affirmations are positive, goal-directed phrases that are worded as if we have already achieved these goals… experts suggest we review our goals or repeat affirmations just before bed or just as we wake up… The reason is at these times our brainwaves are naturally in the correct state (the alpha frequency) for communicating with our subconscious mind. In alpha, the conscious mind is in abeyance, and we can speak directly to the subconscious mind… let's say you wrote the affirmation, "I love to exercise and have a compulsion to leap out of bed and exercise for 30 minutes every morning"… If you were in the alpha state, this message would go directly into the subconscious mind, unchallenged. But if you forgot to repeat affirmations just before bedtime, and repeated them while in the beta frequency (normal awake conscious mind) instead? Do you really think you could say this phrase without, at least, rolling your eyes? And most likely, that little voice in your conscious mind would be saying, "yeah, right"… …………………………………. Our subconscious mind is running our life! We have two separate minds that create our conscious mind’s controlling voice. There is the conscious mind that can think freely and create new ideas “outside of the box of our conditioning”. Then there is the subconscious mind, which is basically a super computer loaded with a database of programmed behaviors, that we carried with us from a past life (karma), or that we acquired before we reached the age of six or seven (when we were most gullible and impressionable) and were taught (programmed to believe) what the adults called “reality” (how to think and act)... The subconscious mind cannot move outside of its fixed programs… It automatically (reflex) reacts to situations with its previously “conditioned” behavior responses; it works without the knowledge or control of the conscious mind. We are usually not even aware that most of our actions are subconscious conditioned reflex responses. Studies from as far back as the 1970’s, show that our subconscious mind begins to prepare for action just over a third of a second before we consciously decide to act. In other words, even when we ‘think’ that we are consciously deciding to act, it is our subconscious mind that is actually making the decision for us...the subconscious mind is controlling us 95% of the time! Neuroscientists have shown that the conscious mind of a normal person provides 5% or less of their cognitive (conscious) activity during the day, and 5% they say is for the more aware people, many people operate at just 1% consciousness. It is the subconscious mind which shapes how we live our life… Note that the reason that an enlightened person is said to be “awake”, is because they are no longer in the “hypnotic trance” of conditioned behavior and sleepwalking through their life… they have awakened. Most of our decisions, actions, emotions and behavior depend on the 95% of brain activity that is usually beyond our conscious awareness, which means that at least 95% of our life is conditioned behavior that comes from our subconscious mind. Our life reflects our subconscious conditioning, because the job of the subconscious mind is to create a “reality” out of our subconscious conditioning. If our subconscious conditioning is negative (caused by negative experiences), our subconscious mind will recreate those negative experiences in our life, again and again. The voice of our thoughts, is not our voice… it is the voice of all the people who have conditioned us… our thoughts are all the “value judgments” and “control trips” that our family and our culture have programmed us with, to control our behavior… our awareness is clean and pure… the defilements in our mind are these conditioned “value judgment” and “control trip” thoughts that other people have filled our mind with. Whatever thoughts that our mind keeps returning to, are unresolved issues… If we have unresolved issues, it is usually because we have been conditioned with contradictory behavior… that is to say that we have been conditioned to do something (because it’s “good”), and also conditioned to not do the same thing (because it’s “bad”)… unresolved issues are usually a result of this situation… this situation produces conflict in our mind, so that we like to do something, but we feel guilty about it, and consider ourselves a bad person because we do it… it is a conflict of two conditioned value judgments… to resolve the issue we must make a choice of one or the other… either we don’t do “it”, or we do “it” and let go of our guilt about doing “”it” (assuming that we are not hurting anyone, including ourselves). “Guilt” is nothing but a control trip that someone has put in our mind to control us… we should not be deceived into thinking that it is a “natural response” to the “badness” of our actions. If we have negative conditioning (caused by negative experiences) in our subconscious mind, 95% of the time we will recreate those negative experiences in our life. Most of the conditioning in our subconscious mind is control trips based on negativity and fear that were put there to control and shape our behavior… we have been conditioned by our parents and other family members, school teachers, religious teachers, friends, enemies, books, newspapers, magazines, radio, television, movies, the internet, the government, etc… For example : if we are repeatedly told that we are “bad”, we are “stupid”, we are “worthless”, we are “incompetent”, we are a “failure”, or we fear what other people are thinking about us, or fear that we will not be accepted loved and respected as we are, fear that we are inferior to other people in some way, etc… these thoughts will keep popping into our mind, and this will cause us to have low self esteem, and a negative opinion of ourselves, and to believe that we are worthless. We then hate ourselves so are unable to accept and love ourselves as we are, and as a result we are unable to love others... Our subconscious mind is conditioned by a form of hypnosis that we call “education”… we are conditioned (hypnotized) when we voluntarily agree to believe what “respected authority” (parents & family, school teachers, religious teachers, government, media, friends, etc.) “suggest” to us… they suggest to us what things are good or bad, true or false… how we should behave, how we should think, what is “normal”… what is “reality”… so that the 95% of the time that we are controlled by our subconscious mind, we are in a hypnotic trance… simply reacting to stimulus with conditioned reflex behavior… our conscious mind’s “ego” thinks that it is making all of our decisions, that it is in control of our fate, but in reality it is just a puppet of the subconscious mind… We are taught to be greedy, and to want as much money as we can get… we are taught to chase pleasure and sex… we are taught to get angry when certain things happen to us… we are taught that what we believe is right… and anyone who disagrees with us is wrong… and so on. And as time passes we forget that we have learned these behaviors from other people, because they become automatic responses, so that we think that they are our natural and spontaneous reactions… and so that we become locked into a mundane hypnotic trance state that we consider to be “REALITY”… we are like “zombies”… THIS CONDITIONED MUNDANE REALITY IS THE IGNORANCE AND DELUSION THAT IS CALLED “AVIJJA”… this MUNDANE REALITY is the “DELUSION” that we must see through to liberate our mind… then it is as if we “awaken” from a long sleep, and see the true nature of our existence. But be warned that Avijja (mundane reality) has one last trick… it will try to convince you that you will “go crazy” if you let go of mundane reality… don’t believe it, you will “go sane”, and you will be free… forever and ever… MY ROAD MAP FOR AWAKENING (My strategy for attaining awakening) …………………………………. MY ANALYSIS (1) ………………MEDITATION……………… Meditation… The whole object of meditation from start to finish, is gaining control of, and silencing the voice of the mind… so that we can investigate the mind and purify it… then permanently destroy the voice of the mind by destroying “Avijja”, the delusion that is the source of that voice… when we have destroyed “Avijja”, all delusion falls away and we become awakened… and we clearly see the truth of our existence… (it does not matter what method we use to purify the mind, and destroy Avijja, that is of no importance… all that is important is that the method works)… Breathing during meditation… When meditating and observing our breath, we should not control our breath with our conscious mind, but instead let our subconscious mind do our (automatic) breathing for us, then we should be aware that by observing our (automatic) breath that we are observing our subconscious mind, and get in sync with it, and then simply let go, and let it “lead the way”… this helps to set up “investigation”, or set up “communication”, and/or “interaction” with the subconscious mind… Meditation in solitude…To reach awakening, it is very helpful (maybe necessary) to have days or weeks of uninterrupted and undisturbed meditation in solitude… away from the sights, sounds, and constant interruptions of the mundane world, away from all other people… to develop and sustain the necessary intensity of “concentration” and “determination”… the sights, sounds, smells, and feel of desolate unspoiled nature is the most ideal environment for meditating in solitude… (2) ……………NECESSARY SKILLS…………… It It is necessary to have concentration… The action or power of focusing one's attention or mental effort… dealing with one particular thing above all others… It is necessary to be deft… moving or acting in a quick, smooth, and skillful way; clever, showing good sense and skill in ... It is necessary to be cool… in a composed and unconcerned manner… It is necessary to be efficient… expending the least effort for maximum result… It is necessary to have determination… unshakable “intent”… (3) ………………STRATEGY……………… TO DESTROY “AVIJJA” (delusion) WE MUST UNDERSTAND : 1)… “WHERE IT IS” 2)… “WHAT IT IS” 3)… “WHAT IS ITS WEAKNESS” 4)… “HOW IT CAN BE DESTROYED” RESULTS OF MY ANALYSIS 1)… “where it is”… the first major insight on my path to “awakening”, was when I suddenly realized that my subconscious mind was my “Citta”… and since I knew that Avijja (delusion) and the Kelisas (defilements) were in my Citta, that meant they were in my subconscious mind… 2)… “what it is”… the second major insight was that a single conditioned reflex response in our subconscious mind is a “Kelisa”… and that the self reinforcing structure of interconnected conditioned reflex responses in our subconscious mind that we call “mundane reality”, is “Avijja”… 3)… “what is its weakness”… so how do we “fight” Avijja” (DELUSION) and destroy it… we can’t punch, kick, bite, stab, or shoot Avijja, nor beat it to death with a big stick… Avijja is not physical, nor is it even “alive”… so how do we fight something that is not physical or even alive… Avijja (delusion) has no awareness of its own, it is just a system of programmed reflex reactions stored in the subconscious mind that we call “mundane reality”… when we realize this, we have understood how the magician (Avijja) does its trick, (how we are deluded) so we are no longer fooled by it… we have discovered both the strength and the weakness of Avijja… and because we now understand its trick, we have already greatly diminished its strength (its ability to control and deceive us)… 4)… “how it can be destroyed”… It is not possible to “delete” anything from the subconscious mind, it remembers and records everything permanently… But we created Avijja (“mundane reality”) in our subconscious mind by accepting and believing mundane information and ideas, that we were taught were “true” (real, reality)... We were taught how we should respond to every possible situation, what we should like and dislike, etc… so that, 95% of our cognitive thoughts and actions are really just “programmed reflex reactions” dictated by our subconscious mind… this is “Avijja”, the “mundane reality” or “delusion” that we want to destroy… But consider that if we created Avijja (“mundane reality”) in our subconscious mind by accepting and believing mundane information and ideas, that we were taught were “true” (real, reality)... it is possible to reprogram our subconscious mind with a stronger new “awakened reality” based on the “truth of our existence”, that supersedes mundane reality, replacing it as the new default reality… This I now realize, is why the monk who taught me, had me do body investigation… body investigation is just a way to reprogram the subconscious mind to see the truth of our body… the truth of our existence… So it is possible for me to use whatever knowledge and skills that I have, and my understanding of the conscious and subconscious mind to reprogram a new awakened default reality… so starting now, the “middle path” of the Buddha IS my new default reality… I will do this by using “concentration”, “deftness”, “coolness”, “efficiency”, and “determination”… by continuously reaffirming to my subconscious mind that “reality” is the “truth of the middle path”… and by “intently” believing ( having my mind and will focused on this one specific purpose) and acting as if it already was the new default reality” (this is important), and I will even “intently” thank my subconscious mind for making it so (this is important too, remember that our subconscious mind is not only aware, but it has more awareness than our conscious mind)… and by continuously reinforcing the truth of the middle path as the existing new awakened default reality, while continuously reinforcing the idea that mundane reality was just childish ignorance… I can make the new “awakened reality” stronger and stronger, as I make the “mundane reality of delusion” weaker and weaker… then when the new “awakened reality” becomes stronger than the “childish ignorance” of mundane reality (Avijja)”, delusion will break up and be permanently destroyed… that will be the moment of “awakening”… AWAKENING (Written days after I awakened) I had been doing intense solitary meditation for many weeks trying many different strategies to get into and reprogram my subconscious mind, and/or trying to establish better communication with my subconscious mind, without any noticeable results… then one day without warning, and when I least expected it, I awakened… One minute I was listening to a bird chirping, and the wind rustling the leaves on the trees, the next minute I was inside my subconscious mind and could visually see Avijja (mundane reality) like it was a huge dam breaking up, making deep rumbling loud sounds, and also “zinging” high pitched sounds, that seemed oddly musical… It was like a musical earthquake… This was accompanied by blinding flashes of light, like flash bulbs on a camera going off in my face… And then the sea of information and thoughts (my subconscious mind) that had been held back by the dam (of mundane reality) swept out over me, carrying me away... I could hear the devas (heavenly beings, my spirit guides) excitedly cheering me on, laughing and clapping like fans at a football match… So I felt very reassured that I was “safe”, and that whatever was happening was a very positive development, so I had no fear… Instead of trying to get out of this sea of thoughts which was my subconscious mind (remember I had just spent weeks trying to get into my subconscious mind), I kept pushing deeper and deeper into it… I was like a scuba diver systematically descending into the depths of the ocean... I would go deeper into this sea of thoughts (exploring), and then pause for a while observing what was going on and acclimate myself to the intensity, then go deeper exploring again and pausing to observe and acclimate myself again so that my awareness always remained clear and lucid… I did this for about a day and a half, until I reached “the bottom”... I then spent more than a week, day and night, submersed in this sea of thoughts, feelings, and images exploring and observing, and all the while I was in a state of extreme bliss... I laughed a lot, not because anything was humorous (although many things were), but because a zillion volts of pure joy was shooting up my spine (kundalini ?)… Both my conscious mind and my subconscious mind were conscious to me, and I was in both the physical world and the spirit world at the same time. My third eye was wide open… My two minds (two lobes of my brain) talked to one another as if they were two different people, while I was both of them. At one point I could see multiple copies of myself everywhere doing different things, and each of them could see all the other copies, and I could see all the other copies they were seeing, etc… it was like being in a hall of mirrors… My subconscious mind seemed to have no limitations... It could fragment into a multitude of many minds, all thinking different things, and I could keep up with all of them… the subconscious mind “thinks” with moving images (eyeball movies) like the dreams we have when asleep, or drug hallucinations, both of which occur in the subconscious mind… and with words, feelings, and emotions… It is impossible to describe with words, the many different things that I saw and experienced… There are no words to describe it, and even if there were, no one would understand the words, unless they had personally experienced what the words described… It seemed that the whole universe was available, but most of it didn’t interest me any more… I saw the “Akashic Record”, but things like “’past lives” seemed totally irrelevant and uninteresting, and the only thing that interested me was what my subconscious mind was doing NOW in this moment, in this life… I don’t remember sleeping, but one or both of my minds could have gone in and out of one pointedness (total concentration) without me having any awareness of time passing, without me even noticing… or I could have been “asleep” & “awake” at the same time (asleep in the physical world and awake in the spirit world, or asleep in the spirit world and awake in the physical world), a state that I have experienced many times before... My only awareness that time was passing, was that the sun kept coming up and going down, I was always in the “now” (and still am)… I fasted most of the time, not because I decided to fast, but because I never got hungry and my body didn’t seem to mind, but I drank a lot of water... The devas stayed with me the whole time, which made me feel very safe and protected… It took me two full days to come completely out of my subconscious mind, and totally back into my conscious mind again exploring and observing, pausing and acclimating as I did so… The weirdest and most unexpected part of it all, is that with the destruction of delusion, my subconscious mind which now contained my new “awakened reality”, fused with my conscious mind, and now it is a “soul mate” (??? union of yin and yang ???)…whereas before I never thought much about my subconscious mind, I now love my subconscious mind, and I can feel its love for me… in any case it is my spiritual partner and best friend, who will help me in any way that it can… at first my conscious mind felt that it was really very very very strange having this “other person” (other conscious mind) in my body with it (“what now ? who the hell is this ?”)… until it realized that it was the same subconscious mind... (“is that you Dawg ? I didn’t recognize you”)… “Dawg” is the name of my subconscious mind… my subconscious mind adopted the name “Dawg” several years ago, so that it would “know” for sure when I was talking directly to it… I can say “hey Dawg ! listen up, I want to talk to you”… and Dawg listens… Dawg dictates to me what to write, then edits it after I type it… my conscious mind is just the typist)… my new awakened subconscious mind now makes me feel “whole” and “complete”, so that I love everybody now… (even if I don’t even like them !!!)… “you must love yourself, before you can love anyone else”, comes to mind… although my communication with my subconscious mind (Dawg) is now very much improved, it can still be difficult sometimes because the subconscious mind is so unlike the conscious mind… I have to use the right key words, mental images, and keep it simple… for all of its power and complexity; my subconscious mind (Dawg) is like a small child in some ways... or like a very gentle and brilliant simple minded giant with magic powers who knows absolutely everything… and because Dawg is now enlightened, whatever Dwag tells me is totally trustworthy… the absurdity of it all, still makes me laugh with joy whenever I think about it… Every meditation method that I tried in the weeks before I awakened produced results, not only did I awaken, but I raised the Kundalini and opened my third eye, and also unified the yin and the yang… a grand slam… it was awesome… the smile on my face is still five miles wide… EPILOGUE (Written months later) I can say without any doubt that “I am awake”… because if you are awake there is absolutely no way you could not know that you are awake… even if you were dead, you would still know that you were awake… it is impossible not to “KNOW”… if you wonder “IF” you are awake, you are not awake’’… The extreme out pouring of bliss and love has subsided… I feel so different since I have awakened, but in the best possible way… and so many unnecessary things have dropped away that I feel as if my life before awakening is a “past life”… “I feel as if I have been reborn”… The change is permanent… and it seems that there is no longer any “need” to meditate, because my mind is totally empty, and because there is nothing in it to investigate or meditate about… but I can still call up a thought, observe it, and instantly gain insights, then let it go… although my mind is usually totally “empty”, I see and hear everything, it is just that my mind does not respond to anything…nothing arises in my mind unless I make an effort to cause it to arise, and it disappears as soon as I cease making the effort … I’m never bored, or aware of the time passing, it is always “now”… the normal state of my mind is for it to be filled with silence, which I now realize is “the sound of one hand clapping”… My awareness lives in the present moment, the NOW !... my personality and my body are not “me”, they are just masks that I can put on and take off (as and when necessary)… the only thing remaining that I could call “me”, is pure awareness that is simply aware of being aware… and even that is just a part of a larger universal awareness… but I have never in my life felt so totally “normal”… this is obviously the way physical human existence is supposed to be… When I was a small child I saw the world as a very “magical place” where everything that I saw or heard was “real” and “existed”… George Washington, Mickey Mouse, Dinosaurs, Spiderman, Grandpa and Grandma, Uncle Sam, Santa Claus, angels and devils, bed time stories, movies, etc, etc… were all equally real… when I learned what the adults called (mundane) “reality”, bit by bit the world lost all of its “magic”… but now that I am “awakened” I find myself once again living in a “magical” world where the “magic” is not only real, it is reality… It is the subconscious mind that experiences awakening (a new reality), not the conscious mind… upon awakening, the conscious mind becomes empty with no mundane thoughts to distract it, so it lives in the NOW (present moment), the only place in the physical world that is real… which is the world of the body’s senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch)… NOTE… As a child you believed that santa claus was a reality who brought you Christmas presents… then one day you realized he was not real (you awakened) and realized that your presents were put there by your parents… so you no longer believed in the reality of santa claus … but you still remembered who he was… you can’t just delete him from your memory… the memory remains, but you no longer believe he is a realityl… in the same way you can destroy avijja as a reality, but the memory of it remains… when you destroy the reality of Avijja (delusion), you no longer create any new karma… but your past karma is the memory of avijja, so it remains active until you die (even if you are enlightened)… then it drops away because you go to the highest heavenly realm, and no longer reincarnate… NOTE… You have spirit guides that want to help and protect you, but they can’t help or protect you unless you ask them to help you and protect you, because they would be interfering… talk to them as friends and allies, and ask them to help you, and tell them “how” if you can (they can lead things to you, and you to things, without you even realizing that they are involved)… and don’t forget to thank them… NOTE… Anyone dear to you who has died (parents, siblings, children, grandparents, spouses, friends) can hear you if you talk to them, most of them can come to you in an instant… call them to come… tell them that you love them and miss them, and pour out your heart to them… they are not “dead” (it is impossible to die, even if you wanted to), they are just someplace else… NOTE… Learn to talk to your subconscious mind, ask it to help you… remember that it is more conscious than your conscious mind… and if you let it, it will love you unconditionally, just the way you are… tell it your dreams and aspirations… it can help you in ways that you cannot even imagine… it has complete control of your body…24 hours a day, it keeps your heart beating, your lungs breathing, etc, etc… your subconscious mind is always aware, it never sleeps, it is always taking care of you, every second of your life… and it is always listening to the thoughts in your conscious mind, and those thoughts create your health or disease… Anoesjka, The sixth chakra is our subconscious mind (and our third eye)… the sixth chakra controls the five chakras below it… but our subconscious mind has been programmed with “mundane reality” which is “delusion”. So it is controlled by “delusion”, so it does not make good decisions… and it creates blockages in our lower five chakras… when we raise the kundalini, it sweeps away the blockages in the lower five chakras, and the sixth chakra, opening the third eye… but it does not permanently destroy the delusion in the subconscious mind, it just temporarily suppresses the delusion… so the delusion creeps back in, and recreates all the blockages to the lower five chakras, that the kundalini swept away… so that raising the kundalini gives you a temporary taste of awakening, but is not permanent… Dawg WOW...AMAZING EXPERIENCE & POST!!! THANK YOU!!! Just curious though, anatomically, are you sure that our left brains are from our father and right brains from our mother? And that left is conscious and right subconscious - as well as the 6th chakra? If that were true, wouldn't most of us consciously think like our fathers and only carry the subconscious baggage of our mothers? Yet, I don't think that is always true? Iain, If you do Sandhya at dawn and dusk, it puts your mind in a good spiritual place for the day, and a good spiritual place for evening and night… it will help you to make good karma most of the time… the feeling it gives you is like a tiny taste of the heavenly realms… When you die you will go to a heavenly realm, but still have samsara… What is Sandhya? if you wish to reach awakening, you must systematically destroy the delusion that now controls your subconscious mind, which controls your conscious mind… that is the one and only way to reach awakening… (and raising the Kundalini will not do it, I have been there and done that… I know)… because it took the destruction of my delusion to reach permanent awakening… I destroyed my delusion and reached awakening in August 2011… and it really is like awakening from a long dream that you thought was real… I now Iive permanently in bliss, it was worth all the effort it took to reach it… it is forever… The key to restoring your self esteem is to accept yourself and love yourself (compassionate love) just the way you are… and know that you are no better or worse than anyone else… and realize that if you can’t love yourself, you can’t love others… and if you can’t love others, they can’t love you… And get rid of the big ego… it blocks your spiritual development… and makes you sound like a fool… Also get rid of your negativity, it poisons your mind… and again blocks your spiritual development… Don’t worry about me, I have reached permanent nirvana… but you should be worrying about yourself… and doing something about it… 4)… The “alpha mind”… The mind that was once called the “subconscious mind”, is now properly called the “unconscious mind”... but considering that abundant research has shown it to be the dominate mind, controlling the “conscious mind” at least 95 percent of the time… and that it is an immortal mind that survives the death of our body… and that it is our awareness (consciousness) in the spirit world… and that it is the mind that reincarnates in a new body… and that it is the mind that attains awakening (enlightenment)… calling it the “unconscious mind” is a gross misnomer… I call it the “alpha mind” because it is the “dominate mind”… and because it is us, the eternal spirit that we are... Edward, The subconscious mind is your sixth chakra (and third eye) which controls your five lower chakras… so when you “release dense energy blockages” in the lower chakras, you feel it in your subconscious mind… But to purify the subconscious mind, you must destroy the delusion in your subconscious mind…because it is the delusion in your subconscious mind, that is causing the dense energy blockages… If you raise the kundalini , it will temporarily purify your chakas and open your third eye, and it will temporarily push your delusion aside but not destroy it… your delusion will still control your subconscious mind, and will create the same chakra blockages as before… ………………………………………………………………………….. The only way to permanently purify the subconscious mind (6th chakra) is to destroy the delusion that controls the subconscious mind… and only the conscious mind (7th chakra) can do that by systematically turning the delusion into neutral awareness… First by learning to control the conscious mind, and turning off the voice of the subconscious mind…. Then by investigating, understanding, and letting go of anger and greed… and we never get angry again… (and righteous indignation is anger too) Then by reaching equanimity, and accepting other people and their beliefs just the way they are… their business is their business, and our business is our business… and we never have another argument Then by realizing that we are a “spirit (subconscious mind) with a body”, not a “body with a spirit”, and realizing that our “body” and “personality” (conscious mind) are not “us”, they are temporary just for this life… that our spirit (subconscious mind) is the eternal ‘us”… Then we hold our conscious mind in a state of “neutral awareness” (the middle path) until our subconscious mind accepts it as reality… and when we least expect it, delusion suddenly shatters amid loud rumbling noises, and flashing lights… and we feel as if we have just awakened from a long hypnotic dream… and the delusion now seems so obvious, that we wonder how it could have fooled us…We have purified our subconscious mind (sixth chakra) permanently and destroyed delusion, so there is no longer a voice of delusion… so now our conscious mind (seventh chakra) is blissfully empty, and all we can hear is silence…the sound of one hand clapping… Dawg Dmattwads, No matter what anyone "claims"... you can never reach enlightenment by reciting a mantra... all it will do is make good karma for you... to reach enlightenment you must destroy the delusion in your subconscious mind... otherwise you are still creating karma, and if you are still creating karma, you will continue to be born and die Dawg Tibetan Ice, Note…your subconscious mind is in the spirit world… ordinary dreams take place in your subconscious mind.. lucid dreams take place in the spirit world, so can be used as portals into the spirit world… you go into the lucid dream, then don’t follow the flow of the lucid dream, and walk out of the lucid dream into the spirit world… Note... it is the delusion in your subconscious mind, that creates blockages in your chakras... Is the point of this Buddho practice to purify the subconscious? You use the bhuddo practice, observing the breath as a way to strengthen your concentration…The point of this buddho practice is to keep your concentration strong enough to systematically destroy delusion… (1)… to silence the voice and gain control of the conscious mind… (2)… to then use the conscious mind to purify the subconscious mind starting with “anger”… (3)… then to reach equanimity… (4)… doing body investigation to understand that there is no “us” except the subconscious mind… (5)… destroying the delusion that controls our subconscious mind… and attaining awakening and nirvana… The only way to permanently purify the subconscious mind (6th chakra) is to destroy the delusion that controls the subconscious mind… and only the conscious mind (7th chakra) can do that by systematically turning the delusion into neutral awareness… 1)… First by “learning to control the “voice of delusion” in the conscious mind, and developing the strength of concentration so that we can turn off the voice” so that our mind is quiet and empty… allowing us to rest our mind… this is simple concentration (Samadhi)… One pointedness is total concentration… the first time I reached one pointedness, I was staying in a Buddhist monastery, living in a monks hut and meditating… I sat down with a clock in front of me, the time was 8:30 AM and I closed my eyes and started meditating… a few minutes later I heard loud noises outside my open window and opened my eyes to see what was going on… it was some workmen throwing some boards in a pickup truck to haul them away…I glanced at the clock, and the clock said 11:15 AM… I thought the clock must be broken, so a got up and got my watch… when I looked at my watch, it said 11:15AM… nothing made any sense… I couldn’t have been meditating for two hours and forty five minutes… I had only been meditating for five or ten minutes at most… then I started looking around, and was amazed at how beautiful everything was… and how peaceful and rested my body felt, and how much energy I had… I went outside and started walking around, gawking at everything because it was all so beautiful… the next morning after breakfast, I went to do some walking meditation on a walking path that was about seventy feet long, and shaded by trees … it had rained all night. so the leaves of the trees were wet and dripping drops of water… I stepped onto the beginning of the path, and paused to empty my mind, and the tree I was standing under dropped all of its water on me… then as I slowly walked down the path, each tree dropped its water on me as I passed under it… by the time I go to the end of the path, I was soaking wet, but laughing with my heart full of joy… the monk that was my teacher said it was the “devas” (heavenly spirits) congratulating me on reaching one pointedness…for the next two weeks, it was like I was walking around in a Walt Disney movie where everything has little sparkles on it… then came the ceremony to mark the midpoint of the “rains retreat”… it started at dusk in the sala (big open air hall) and lasted for about 2 hours… I was not going to go, but everybody said that I should go, so I went… I got there when it was supposed to start and there were not many people, so I sat in the middle of the hall… but people kept coming and coming, so the hall filled up… but people kept coming, so it got crowded… and more people came so the sala was jammed with people… you could not even see the floor…it was so jammed that to leave, I would have had to walk on peoples bodies… I could hear every little sound in the sala… I could smell every little smelI in the sala…I was sitting in a meditation position… and could feel the knees of the people behind me… there were three fat women sitting in front of me who kept wiggling around and trying to scoot back, pushing against my legs (I could smell that one of them was having her period)… to the right of me two women kept talking in wispers… to my left was a mother who kept trying to silence her petulant child… and the abbot’s very large english bulldog was walking around “on” the sea of bodies, drooling on people and trying to sit in their lap… while some woman in the front was offering 5 gold bars to the abbot who was sitting up front…this is when my concentration crashed and burned… I spent the whole night in my kuti sitting with my back against one wall, facing the abbot who was sitting against the opposite wall with the woman offering the five gold bars over and over again… with the two whispering women on my right… and the mother trying to silence her petulant child on the left… while the abbots english bulldog ran about the kuti… I finally got rid of them and regained my concentration just before dawn… and it has been solid ever since… but I learned a lesson… I had not allowed my own delusion to talk me into going to the rains retreat ceremony… but I had allowed other peoples delusion to talk me into going…never again…! 2)… Then by investigating, understanding, and “letting go of anger and greed”… so we never get angry again… (righteous indignation is also anger)… If you get angry, it is your fault you are angry… because you decided to get angry… no one can make you angry but yourself… it is the conditioning in your subconscious mind that causes you to get angry… because you have been taught (conditioned) as a small child that if people say this or that, or do this or that, you should get angry… your subconscious is already preparing your body to get angry, before you even decide to get angry… there is a split second just before you get angry, when you can decide NOT to get angry… in other words, you can turn off your anger by simply letting go of it when it starts to arise… if someone is angry and being rude to you trying to make you angry, and you get angry, they have stolen your energy… if instead, you calmly look at them and say something like; .”whoa man, how long have you had this problem”.. (making it their problem, not yours)… then look at your watch and say “i gotta go now or I will be late, see you later” as you walk off… as they shout, “I don’t have a problem”…!!! You have simply refused to get angry… and if you have to deal with this person, you do so later when they are not angry…anger is a negative emotion… it is a defilement that blocks your spiritual development… and when you get rid of anger, greed falls away too because it is the other side of the coin that is anger… 3)… Then by “reaching equanimity”, and accepting other people and their beliefs just the way they are… their business is their business, and our business is our business… and we never have another argument… we are all the same… it does not matter who we are… it does not matter if we are a man or woman, rich or poor, smart or dumb, beautiful or ugly, young or old, etc., etc., etc…. we are all the same…we are no better, and no worse than anyone else… so we should respect other people as much as we respect ourselves…thinking you are better or worse than others, blocks your spiritual development… that means having respect for other people’s beliefs and way of living, because it is none of your business… if you mind your own business, you will not have the time and energy to mind other people’s business… you must accept other people and their beliefs, just the way they are… and if someone tries to bait you and argue with you that they are right and you are wrong… just tell them that “neither opinion is right or wrong… they are just different… and if you were minding your own business, you would not have the time and energy to try to mind my business”…if they still try to argue with you, just say “you are wasting my time”, and just walk away… it takes two people to have an argument, don’t be one of them… 4)… Then doing “body investigation”… and realize that we are a “spirit (subconscious mind) with a body”, not a “body with a spirit”, and realizing that our “body” and “personality” are not “us”, they are temporary just for this life… that our spirit (subconscious mind) is the main event… because it is the eternal “us”… Most people think of themselves as being a body and a personality… and they think of their awareness as being a part of their body… they consider that their body and personality is their self…so they think that when their body dies, their awareness dies with it…they are scared of death, and want to live forever, but don’t realize that their subconscious mind does live forever… that the subconscious mind is the self… the body investigation is a process of analyzing the physical body looking for a self… you can only realize and conclude that the body is a non self that will die and rot away… that your mind is the self… and since your conscious mind can’t remember your past life, but your subconscious mind can… that your subconscious mind is your “eternal self”… and that it is full of delusion, and needs to be purified… 5)… Then by “holding our conscious mind in “neutral awareness” (the middle path) until our subconscious mind accepts it as reality… causing our delusion to shatter amid loud rumbling noises, and flashing lights… and we feel as if we have just awakened from a long hypnotic dream… and now the delusion seems so obvious, that we wonder how it could have fooled us… Delusion is entirely a result of the concept of “good” and “evil” (bad)… labeling everything as good or bad is delusion, because the only thing that is good or bad is the intention of our actions…everything else just is, and is neutral in itself… the world must be seen entirely as neutral cause and effect… our intention (good or bad) is the “cause” and “karma” (good or bad) is the effect… if our intentions are neutral, we make no karma… this is why an awakened person makes no karma… and this is why we need to hold this mind set in our conscious mind until our subconscious mind accepts it as reality… in order to reach awakening… 6)… We have purified our subconscious mind (sixth chakra) permanently and destroyed the delusion in it, so there is no longer a voice of delusion… so now our conscious mind (seventh chakra) is blissfully empty, serenely peaceful, and all we can hear is silence…the sound of one hand clapping… Once you destroy delusion, your subconscious mind is permanently purified… Dawg I know what jhanas are but was strongly discouraged from doing jhanas… and the few mediators that passed through the monastery where I was , who did do jhanas did not seem to have much attainment… they still had all the defilements in their subconscious mind that would prevent them from reaching awakening… the whole point of the meditation I was doing, was to get rid of the defilements in my “Citta” (subconscious mind) step by step by sitting in Samahdi” (concentration)… so I could reach awakening… I see the jhanas as high states of concentration that are useless unless you have already reached awakening… and even then useless if you are living in the mundane world… YES! I've come to the same conclusion that purifying our subconscious of all beliefs, to allow our true Divine Dao Nature to flow unimpeded, is the key to health and a happy life. It's as if there are no inherently true beliefs...we simply perceive/manifest/manufacture the "evidence" to "prove" whatever we subconsciously believe to be true - thereby making them "true" in our conscious minds. But, the belief precedes the "evidence," not vice-versa... Therefore, clearing all subconscious beliefs clears all limitations & resistance to our spontaneous Divine Nature - which in reality needs NO "HELP!". Even with good intentions, it would be like a chipmunk "helping" a rocket scientist build a spaceship, yes? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maddie Posted January 7, 2015 Hey Dawg I was interested to get your take on something. You had mentioned that the lower chakra's are all controlled by the subconscious mind. I recently graduated from Acupuncture school and therefore assume that the meridians are also controlled by the subconscious? I first got into meditation via the qigong route where I would do meditations for my meridians to resolve emotions in them. This seemed to have an effect for a while but eventually seemed to take me only so far, so I then began to focus on chakras with the same eventual conclusion. My huntch was that the meridians operate on a more gross level than the chakras and thus the chakras are more subtle? Again when I felt that working on the chakras only got me so far I moved on to Buddhist meditation but still wonder about the subtle mechanics of the energy body. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Infinity Posted January 8, 2015 (edited) . Edited January 8, 2015 by Infinity 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
allinone Posted January 8, 2015 (edited) What is subconsciousness in Buddhadharma terminology? Edited January 8, 2015 by allinone 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Infinity Posted January 8, 2015 What is subconsciousness in Buddhadharma terminology? Brother your on the right track... but... why not do TaoMasters little name game? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dawg Posted January 13, 2015 (edited) What is subconsciousness in Buddhadharma terminology? Allinone, Buddhist terminology uses the Pali language, which was the language of the common people at the time of the Buddha… Pali is a corrupted version of the Sanskrit language which was brought to India by the indo-europeans who swept down from the north about 1800 years before the time of the Buddha and conquered India… who then set themselves up as the ruling class, and founded Hinduism… the Buddha was an indo-european… The subconscious mind is in what is called “the Citta” (pronounced as Chitta)… which is usually translated as “mind” or “heart”… “mind” is the conscious mind, “heart” is the subconscious mind… the subconscious mind is called the “heart” because it feels and controls our emotions… the purified Chitta is radiant and bright, and is a state of “knowingness”… a Citta that is not purified is under the power of “Avijja” (delusion)… as long as there is “Avijja”, there is “intention”… “intention” creates “Kamma” (Karma) that attaches itself to the Citta… everything that we think or do, originates in the Citta (conscious mind and subconscious mind)… Dawg Edited January 13, 2015 by dawg 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
allinone Posted January 13, 2015 ok thanks for being patient and kind, i kind of reached and opened throat or the mouth, i hope i will reach and purify heart soon. I think i can see avijja, since i sometimes see how my opinion about things is forming accordance with how the thing is changing. Like when bucket becomes full and i needed little more room, i saw how my view formed into negative tone since there wheren't enough room. Interesting is that my "self"(citta) is innocent, the change just happens like a wave overwhelms and takes over me. Is that "avijja" what i described above? i assume that there is automated responses in heart what will be purified with pure citta then that will be enlightenment. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Infinity Posted January 16, 2015 (edited) Hi Dawg, A few more questions if you have time. 1) Does positive energy attract positive energy and does negative energy attract negative energy? 2) Is negative energy just the absence of positive energy and in reality just an illusion. Is there in reality only just positive energy? 3) Are you just overflowing positive energy and when you share it do you get more? 4) How do you wake someone that is pretending to sleep? And should we bother? 5) Is it true that if you talk sense to fool they will think your foolish and is there any way around this? :-) Sincerely Dawg you have helped me on my path. All my very best, Peter S Edited January 16, 2015 by Infinity Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blue eyed snake Posted January 17, 2015 for Dawg, interesting, among a lot of other things you write: " but the Hindu tradition considers raising the Kundalini using any method, as reaching enlightenment… in Buddhism raising the Kundalini is called a “Brahmin Awakening”, because it temporarily pushes aside your delusion and gives you a taste of awakening, but then the delusion reasserts itself, and returns and the awakening fades away… and you are right back where you started… but with the Buddhist awakening, you destroy the delusion, so it is permanently gone… " Yes, it does indeed temporarily push aside the worldview/illusions you had before that time. But I would venture to say that it does change something permanently. I'll never forget it and since that time I feel I'm more open in meditation. Also , when I come really ensnared in the illusion there comes a moment that I realize that it is an illusion, just me, making problems for myself. And that is a feeling, not a cognition, feels like an improvement in dealing with daily shit. anyway, thanks for writing this, clears something up for me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ॐDominicusॐ Posted January 17, 2015 You are bound by the laws of this physical universe and spiritual universe… you can’t escape them… Everything you have ever thought or done (all your karma… including your past lives) is recorded in the “Akashic Records” (which is not in your subconscious mind, but your subconscious mind can access it)… I have seen the akashic record myself when I awakened, so I know they are real… the record of your karma cannot be changed, it can only be added to… google “akashic records”, and check out several sites… Yes, I understand and have accessed portions of this within myself, however Zen Buddhism does not believe in or appropriate any identifications with a self which has karma, or causality. You seem to be implying there is still identity to which karma is attached to. There are Taoist, Buddhist, Sufi, Mystical branches of thought that say that Absolute Beingness Experience doesn't require kundalini. Others say if consciousness merges absolute, then subconscious is transcended, because it is entirely seen as "Not I" therefore there is nowhere for consciousness to "stick." This makes no sense at all… either what you are reading is bullshit, or you don’t understand what you are reading… Makes perfect sense to me, I experience, or have experienced, a number of these things off and on You cannot transcend or deceive your subconscious mind… at best you can make it “quiet” temporarily… "Not I"… is only one of the many steps on the path to awakening… you also have to get rid of your hate, anger, greed, etc, etc, etc… and even then after attaining all the steps, you have to have the necessary strength of focus, to hold the focus long enough to break through and shatter your delusion (active karma)… But you are not the subconscious, the anger, the greed, etc, etc...there is a "you" that is aware of these things, hence the subject which see's these, is not the object (seen). So by investigating what is this seer/subject/awareness, everything is transcended, body, ego, subconscious, and the Awareness/consciousness enters and merges with the source of Consciousness in the heart, and then eventually into the unborn/unmanifest beingness in the Belly. I'm speaking from direct experience of these things. When these things are accessed, the grace that comes from accessing them get rid of and pluck out greed, anger, etc......everything dies and falls away like being a newborn baby and having to relearn to function in the world again. Your subconscious mind IS your eternal spirit which you are trying to purify… it controls your conscious mind and your body… it is impossible to deceive it… it is what is deceiving you now… and there is no back door… There are 2 ways that I know of from direct experience. !.) Find the source of all thought, two inches to the right of the heart is a nadi/channel, that the mind/subconscious uses to arise from when the body awakens in the morning, and descends into when the body goes to sleep. If your focus and concentration skills are sharpened, you can access this "source of thought" and basically pull out the taproot of the the entire subconscious structure, and by the way, it doesn't take years of mantra to do so, there are quicker ways like just being aware of the mind and no longer identifying with any of it as "I" will reveal its source. The second way, is to enter the Central channel Susuhumna/Chong Mai, and into Heart/Source, or Beingness. it controls everything else… there is no back door… it is the main event, you can’t avoid it or deceive it… but it deceives your conscious mind 24 hours a day… which is why you are deluded and cannot tell the difference between truth and fiction… you obviously don’t meditate, you just read about meditating… and unless you meditate, you are wasting your time reading about it… the whole "you obviously don't meditate" thing, is a projection of your own mind. I've been at it for quite some time, and that phrase alone reveals some things about you, though I will try not to project and stay neutral. The fact is, Awareness is aware of the subconscious, and can literally sit there all day and not buy into any of it, even going days weeks without eating, thinking, talking, or identifying with it. you are too gullible (wishful thinking)… don’t believe anything you hear or read until you try it out (take it for a spin around the block) and prove it to yourself, that it is true… who spoke of a myriad of ways to get there, or at least 2 (front door/back door)… All ways lead to the subconscious mind, called the “citta” in the Pali language… That's the beauty of it. I've tried these "other ways" that don't have to do with mantra, and have experienced the same and similar things to you, remembering stuff from akashic, free access out of the body, peace, transcendence, no identity, I mean the list goes on for pages of the attributes and they are permanent. There is also a universal existential angst that only becomes unhinged when identification with the physical body ceases. Anything that PERMANENTLY destroys all delusion in your subconscious mind will make you awakened… but just temporarily detaching yourself from the delusion is just simple Samadhi (concentration)… it makes your mind temporarily peaceful ; but when your concentration ends you are right back where you started… it is not permanent… WHen you no longer identify with the conscious/subconscious minds, there comes a period where the mind/complex-construct keeps trying to arise to find a place to "stick" to awareness, like it once did as a filter, but because there is no longer identification with it, it simply falls away and no longer returns, permanently. It is just clarity, like a cloudless thoughtless sky. You already know that the source of ‘thought”, and the thought “I” is in the subconscious mind… so are you awakened now…??? To a variety of degrees yes, however it is not static, but completely dynamic, so what permanent states there were 3-7 years ago, are absolutely so much more, richer, clearer, more profound than ever, and the changes don't stop coming. There are even channels getting purged within the body, via light, which brings me to my next point. Many of the Taoists say, what's the use of cultivating conscious enlightenment if the body hasn't been cultivated, or cultivating the body if consciousness hasn't been. Are your channels opening and becoming purged/emptied? Also, obviously it took years to get to this point, so would you agree entering a monastery full time would be the only legitimate choice to achieve this? Considering a monastic life is majority spent on practice without access to family, friends, tv, media, and other worldly distractions, it just sounds like your way there is impossible in the modern day world… what you are saying here is that you don’t want to give up your delusion because you like it, and cling to it… that your delusion is more important to you, than spiritual development… that you are looking for a way to reach awakening, without having to let go of your delusion… that's not what I'm saying. A monastery lifestyle, away from everything/everyone is probably the best way to go about the "mantra method". Doing so with a 40 hour work week, a gf/wife, responsibilities, yard work, distraction, etc you're lucky if you get 2-4 hours a day for practice. That's why some of the other approaches, like no longer identifying with ego/mind/subconscious/body is better for actice folks because they can apply that to ever activity of cultivating the sense that there is no "doer" in any action. when I started meditating, I had the attitude that I would give it a try, to see if I made any progress, I came to Thailand and found the best monastery and teacher that I could find… and from the beginning I made steady progress… so I persevered and the path opened up before me… “I never ordained as a monk… but now that I am awakened, I am totally neutral and indifferent all the time… and open and honest… and I never try to pick up a woman… but women try to pick me up… and if I have sex, it is the best sex I ever had… because there is no voice in my mind to distract me, and I am totally in the present moment… but I don’t miss sex, or go looking for it… it is just a “spontaneous unplanned event”… bear in mind that sex is neither “good” nor “evil”, that it just “is”… if you don’t cling to it (consider it “good” or “evil”), there is no karma… I have this now too, "neutral and indifferent, no voice in the mind, complete silent mind, and only in the present moment," but without using the mantra method. Hmmmmmm, makes one think It would depend on how receptive the person was… if their subconscious mind communicated with my subconscious mind, they could “intuitively” understand things that they did not know before… I've been around enlightened folks who give you a transmission, and afterwords you become illuminated by the light of consciousness, or your central channel opens, or all identification collapses which opens the doors to lower dan tians and chakras, some transmissions remain with you permanently for the rest of life, there's no going back. you want to reach awakening, but keep your delusion because you cling to it… you can’t scam or cheat your way into awakening… it has got to be an honest and sincere effort… and if you succeed, your delusion will be permanently swept away… but you will not miss it… Mostly, I'm playing the devil's advocate, to get your take on things via different angles. I'm equating Zen enlightenment, with access and merging into the absence of consciousness when entering into the void of the absolute beingness, the portal to which is via the central channel and then lower dan tian. Honestly, for me, if you do not have access to the Absolute state, then your enlightenment is partial, and biased via a particular teaching that belongs to a particular sect of buddhism. Of the teachings I have studied, various, there are situations where one can merge with their subconscious(and have it spring cleaned), reach the source of the subconscious, visit the afterlife realms, etc, but still not be fully enlightened to the Absolute State, and yet they think that this is the end and they are Enlightened. The Absolute also has a specific color light to it, as does the Ocean of consciousness in the heart, and the Absolute is pure unborn/unmanifest potentiality that is sitting in absence, or yet to manifest. If you experienced this, you would know what I am referring to and can describe the colors. But that's neither here nor there, totally your thread so keep it how you want it. If it sparks even one person to gain enlightenment, or aspects of it, then thumbs up!!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
seekingbuddha Posted January 25, 2015 (edited) Venerable Dawg, I came across this thread (and forum), while searching the net for an online pdf file on Abi Dhamma, which is on my todo list now. (Last time i read a translation, i got bored and ditched the book half way through). Now, I want to start by saying a heartfelt thank you to you, for sharing your experiences, in a manner that is easy to understand. It is good kamma to hear the words from people like you (and some others in this thread) who are far more advanced and liberated than my house holder's practice. I know nothing about Tao. But i read few things about Hinduism and Buddhism, since i was born and raised in the land of these two. Spirituality is woven into the social fabric, and it was easy to spend the summer in the local library, reading tons of books written by liberated beings of that land. While spending several months in a meditation center in 2007, i started reading the buddhist canons. But, my practice and growth was cut short due to family difficulties and bad karma. Again in the last couple of years, i have strengthened my practice and made an earnest committment to spend my golden years in the path of dhamma. During last year, i completed reading Digha Nikaya and it strengthened my meditation practice. I hope i can read all buddhist canons before i die. So, all the quotes i have highlighted below are from Digha Nikaya (Long discourses of the Buddha). I found this forum less than 48 hrs ago - it took me nearly 24 hrs to read all posts in this thread. I was shocked as well as excited to find many liberated people online here. In order to clarify things in my mind, i have the following questions and comments: (i also request other liberated beings, like Dominicus etc, to feel free to comment on these). Terminology....Words such as liberation, arhantship, enlightenment are often interchangably used, these days. So, i request all who are posting in this thread to clarify their level of liberation using the terminology of the Buddha, the Supremely Enlightened One whose is the teacher of teachers :'There are, Ananda, these eight liberations. What are they? (I) Possessing form, one sees forms. That is the first liberation. (2) Not perceiving material forms in oneself, one sees them outside. That is the second liberation. (3) Thinking: "It is beautiful", one becomes intent on it. That is the third. (4) By completely transcending all perception of matter, by the vanishing of the perception of sense-reactions and by nonattention to the perception of variety, thinking: "Space is infinite", one enters and abides in the Sphere of Infinite Space. That is the fourth. (5) By transcending the Sphere of Infinite Space, thinking: "Consciousness is infinite", one enters and abides in the Sphere of Infinite Consciousness. That is the fifth. (6) By transcending the Sphere of Infinite Consciousness, thinking: "There is no thing", one enters and abides in the Sphere of No-Thingness. That is the sixth. (7) By transcending the Sphere of No-Thingness, one reaches and abides in the Sphere of Neither-Perception-Nor-Non-Perception. That is the seventh. (8) By transcending the Sphere of Neither-Perception-Nor-Non-Perception one enters and abides in the Cessation of Perception and Feeling. That is the eighth liberation. 'Ananda, when once a monk attains these eight liberations in forward order, in reverse order, and in forward-and-reverse order, entering them and emerging from them, as and when, and for as long as he wishes, and has gained by his own super-knowledge here and now, both the destruction of the corruptions, and the uncorrupted liberation of heart and liberation by wisdom, that monk is called "both-ways-liberated, and Ananda, there is no other way of "both-ways- liberation" that is more excellent or perfect than this.' ....................(Mahanidana Sutta) Since it would be nice to hear from someone who speaks from direct experience, could you expound on the experience of reaching each one of these liberation stations ? You have expounded on your experiences of visiting other worlds. Some in this thread have mentioned numerous worlds that exist beyond earth. So, why is it that Digha Nikaya mentions only 31 abodes (worlds), including the fine-material Bramha/Deva worlds ? (I don't think is this of much use to me, as i focus more on my development, here and now. But, my curiosity is curious). While i spent many months at the meditation center, i encountered several visitors who would engage me in spiritual talk. And some of these people spoke about their use of psychedellic drugs to attain to the experience of reaching other realms and beings. I still remember one guy who said he had attained Nibbana !!! Some of these people were very happy, healthy, highly educated and successful. So, i neither credited nor dis-credited them, while speaking. But, i started wondering if the use of drugs plays tricks with brain chemistry and if it is easier for drug users (past or present), to reach advances in liberation. If this is possible, I wonder how many in this thread are using (OR have used) drugs to reach their attainments. The power of subconcious could be the influence for the "visions" people get during dreams ? While you have talked about the distinction between visions and ordinary dreams, i wonder how one can be sure that the visions are not the projections of the subconcious (during deep sleep). Morality: While discussing the numerous reasons why other people praise him, Buddha says "Abandoning unchastity, the ascetic Gotama lives far from it, aloof from the village-practice of sex"......."Abandoning harsh speech, he refrains from it. He speaks whatever is blameless, pleasing to the ear, agreeable, reaching the heart, urbane, pleasing and attractive to the multitude." I can not question your decisions, but i wonder why you chose a different path, post liberation/arhantship ? Buddha has spoken about how liberated beings lose the strength of their mindfulness and equanimity, due to indulgence. Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread. My metta is sent to all beings that are part of the Sangha. Edited January 25, 2015 by seekingbuddha 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dawg Posted January 25, 2015 ok thanks for being patient and kind, i kind of reached and opened throat or the mouth, i hope i will reach and purify heart soon. I think i can see avijja, since i sometimes see how my opinion about things is forming accordance with how the thing is changing. Like when bucket becomes full and i needed little more room, i saw how my view formed into negative tone since there wheren't enough room. Interesting is that my "self"(citta) is innocent, the change just happens like a wave overwhelms and takes over me. Is that "avijja" what i described above? i assume that there is automated responses in heart what will be purified with pure citta then that will be enlightenment. Allinone, Yes, what you described above is “Avijja”… when we are little children we learn how to act like the adults around us by watching them, and doing what they do… we also watch children older than us and learn from them… we want to act like adults so we mimic their actions… even when we “play”, we play by pretending we are acting like adults…if adults get angry, we learn to get angry… if adults lie to each other, we learn lie to each other… if adults hit each other, we learn to hit each other… whatever we see and experience around us, we consider to be normal behavior… and our actions and reactions, and the emotions that they generate become automatic… our actions and reactions, and emotions that they generate are no longer controlled by our conscious mind, they are now controlled by the subconscious mind (our Citta)…we then forget that we learned these actions and reactions, and think that they are our “gut reaction” to the world around us…we no longer control what we have learned, it controls us… we have been brainwashed, and don’t even know it… this is what Avijja (delusion) is, and how it controls our conscious mind…this is why we need to purify the Citta (subconscious mind)… before we can reach “awakening”, and why enlightenment is called “awakening”… it is like awakening from a dream…that seemed so real that it deluded us… Dawg 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dawg Posted January 25, 2015 3Dominicus3, you asked me for my opinion... and I gave it to you... you can accept it, or reject it... it does not matter to me... I will not respond to your post point by point, because you are not serious... instead I will give you my opinion again... When you said that you were playing the devil’s advocate, you were admitting that you were not telling the truth of what you believe, but were trying to bait me… in short, you were lying, and by lying you destroyed the credibility of everything else that you said… What you say and imply about your level of attainment, also shows you were lying about that too… it is all “book knowledge that you don’t understand properly, so that you cannot describe it properly, it is not your personal experience… but you think you understand it… I will not describe the things that give you away, because I don’t want to help you make your lies more credible… A person who tells lies, is a person with low self esteem… why do you have low self esteem…? It is usually because your father conditioned you that way… he criticized every little thing you did wrong, but never praised you for the things you did right… so all of your conditioning is negative, which is why you have low self esteem, and a negative attitude… then to cover up your low self esteem, you built up a superiority complex, which is your bloated ego… now you have turned into your father… and you criticize everybody else, to prove to yourself that you are superior… that is why you waste your time being an internet troll, trying to bait people, then criticizing them… Your low self esteem prevents you from being able to “love” yourself… and if you cannot love yourself, you cannot love anyone else… and if you cannot love anyone else, they cannot love you… The first step in breaking out of your negative attitude, is to accept yourself just the way you are, and know that you are no better or worse than anyone else… love yourself and accept yourself… once you can do that, you can destroy both your low self esteem and superiority complex… until you can do that, you are wasting your time, if you are meditating… you need a positive attitude if you expect to make any positive progress… a negative attitude poisons your mind and blocks any positive attainment… only you can make that choice… if you flip your attitude from negative to positive, everything else will fall into place… if you don’t flip your negative attitude, your negative emotions will poison your life and be the source of more problems… you create your fate with your thoughts and actions… Dawg Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ॐDominicusॐ Posted January 28, 2015 dawg, okay friend, you win. theres more to it than meets the eye, and its never how one thinks it is, so theres no point in saying anymore when a persons mind is made up via assumptions and the lack of openness to deeper possibility. Sending Love Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
taichistudent Posted January 29, 2015 CLASSIC!! Someone believes eh attained enlightenment and has to go talk in a forum all about it and then gets slightly agitated when someone gives him a little shit. Even better: people actually believing him and asking him questions like he is some God. Hilarious Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
C T Posted January 29, 2015 CLASSIC!! Someone believes eh attained enlightenment and has to go talk in a forum all about it and then gets slightly agitated when someone gives him a little shit. Even better: people actually believing him and asking him questions like he is some God. Hilarious Whats even more hilarious is this unproductive comment, dont you think so? Fair enough if some feeble attempt was made to back up your comment with a reasonable explanation, but no, you'd rather go for a messy kill. Believe me, most of the members here are in a position to determine for themselves what is useful and what is not and do not need such irrelevant, almost dismissive, feedback to assist them in this regard. Members of the community have a right to ask questions without that right being ridiculed. I would suggest that you rethink what you wrote and perhaps edit your post in such a way as to make it more substantial and less novicey. Btw, this is not an indication of support for the OP's claims. I dont know if he is enlightened or not, and frankly, it does not bother me either way, but i do care that new (and old) members abide by a certain decorum here on this forum, and would encourage that we all check our posting style and intent before hitting the send button. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dawg Posted January 29, 2015 seekingBuddha, Please edit your post, and delete “Venerable Dawg”, and change it to simply “Dawg’… then I will delete this request from my post… I am not offended, it just made me smile at the absurdity of it… I am not a “holy man” preaching religion… I am just an ordinary guy who wanted to know the “truth” of our existence… so I followed the path of the Buddha, and found it… 1… Terminology Terminology....Words such as liberation, arhantship, enlightenment are often interchangably used, these days. So, i request all who are posting in this thread to clarify their level of liberation using the terminology of the Buddha, the Supremely Enlightened One whose is the teacher of teachers. The Buddha used the Pali language which was the language of the common people in his day, so that everyone could easily understand what he said… but today, no one speaks the Pali language, and glossaries of Pali words frequently contradict one another and give you different translations… so that you are still unsure of the meaning… now that I have reached awakening and realized the simple meaning of the Pali words, I use simple English language words in their place, so that anyone who speaks English can easily understand what I write… 2… 'There are, Ananda, these eight liberations. What are they?(I) Possessing form, one sees forms. That is the first liberation.(2) Not perceiving material forms in oneself, one sees them outside. That is the second liberation. (3) Thinking: "It is beautiful", one becomes intent on it. That is the third.(4) By completely transcending all perception of matter, by the vanishing of the perception of sense-reactions and by nonattention to the perception of variety, thinking: "Space is infinite",one enters and abides in the Sphere of Infinite Space. That is the fourth.(5) By transcending the Sphere of Infinite Space, thinking: "Consciousness is infinite", one enters andabides in the Sphere of Infinite Consciousness. That is the fifth.(6) By transcending the Sphere of Infinite Consciousness, thinking: "There is no thing", one enters and abides in the Sphere of No-Thingness. That is the sixth.(7) By transcending the Sphere of No-Thingness, one reaches and abides in theSphere of Neither-Perception-Nor-Non-Perception. That is the seventh.(8) By transcending the Sphere of Neither-Perception-Nor-Non-Perception one enters and abides in the Cessation of Perception and Feeling. That is the eighth liberation.'Ananda, when once a monk attains these eight liberationsin forward order, in reverse order, and in forward-and-reverseorder, entering them and emerging from them, as andwhen, and for as long as he wishes, and has gained by hisown super-knowledge here and now, both the destruction ofthe corruptions, and the uncorrupted liberation of heart andliberation by wisdom, that monk is called "both-ways-liberated, andAnanda, there is no other way of "both-ways-liberation" that is more excellent or perfect than this.' ....................(Mahanidana Sutta) Since it would be nice to hear from someone who speaks from direct experience, could you expound on the experience of reaching each one of these liberation stations ? The eight liberations… These are not “liberation stations” on the path to awakening… they are a super sure test to see if you are awakened… Ananda did not reach awakening until after the Buddha’s death… The Buddha is talking to his cousin Ananda, who in spite of high attainment had been unable to reach awakening… and Ananda wanted to know how he could test himself and know beyond any doubt that he was awakened… the Buddha is explaining to him how he would know for sure that he had awakened… Ananda reached awakening after the Buddha died… The eight liberations are the rejection of the physical world and the seven types of higher and higher heavenly worlds… the Buddha is saying to Ananda that if he can visit these 8 types of realms without wanting to stay in any of them, he is enlightened… bear in mind that the inhabitants of all of the heavenly realms, even the highest, suffer from delusion (karma), and when they die will reincarnate again in the physical realm… but if he does not choose any of them, he will rise above the heavenly realms and not reincarnate because he has no delusion (karma)… he is free… There is not just one path, there are many… the Buddha mentioned that there are tens of thousands of possible paths, but I don’t remember the exact number he said… 3… You have expounded on your experiences of visiting other worlds. Some in this thread have mentioned numerous worlds that exist beyond earth. So, why is it that Digha Nikaya mentions only 31 abodes (worlds), including the fine-material Bramha/Deva worlds ? (I don't think is this of much use to me, as i focus more on my development, here and now. But, my curiosity is curious). There is an endless multitude of inhabited planets, and their spirit realms in the universe… plus there are spirit realms for animals and all other life… but humans will go to one of the 31 realms mentioned in the Digha Nikaya … so the Buddha only mentioned the realms that concerned us… 4… While i spent many months at the meditation center, i encountered several visitors who would engage me in spiritual talk. And some of these people spoke about their use of psychedelic drugs to attain to the experience of reaching other realms and beings. I still remember one guy who said he had attained Nibbana Some of these people were very happy, healthy, highly educated and successful. So, i neither credited nor dis-credited them, while speaking. But, i started wondering if the use of drugs plays tricks with brain chemistry and if it is easier for drug users (past or present), to reach advances in liberation. If this is possible, I wonder how many in this thread are using (OR have used) drugs to reach their attainments. The ancient Indo-Europeans who swept down off the Eurasian Steppe, conquered India, and founded Hinduism… they built sweat lodges filled with marijuana smoke to purify themselves…and then they drank “Soma” (a psychedelic drug they called the “drink of the of the gods”) which allowed them to see and communicate with the gods… psychedelic drugs were used in almost every tribal religion in the world… it is a tradition that goes back thousands of years… psychedelic drugs strip away “mundane reality” which is “Avijja” or “delusion”… which allows a person to temporarily see and know that mundane reality is not real, that it is an illusion, a deception, a delusion… that there is a higher reality… the effect of the psychedelic drug is temporary, but the memory of it permanently alters a person’s perception of “reality” …but it does not do the work of purifying the mind, a person still has to meditate to destroy mundane reality, but now they know what and why… 5… The power of subconcious could be the influence for the "visions" people get during dreams ? While you have talked about the distinction between visions and ordinary dreams, i wonder how one can be sure that thevisions are not the projections of the subconcious (during deep sleep). Your subconscious mind is your spirit… so it is always in, and connected telepathically to the spirit world… and it communicates with spirits and the subconscious minds of other people, without you being aware of it… your subconscious mind creates “visions”, “normal dreams”, and “lucid dreams… all three are created by your subconscious mind…“visions” are called “Nimitta” and happen when you are wide awake and meditating… normal dreams occur in your subconscious mind while you are sleeping… “lucid dreams” take place outside of your subconscious mind in the spirit world, and are usually generated by one or more spirits (your spirit guides) trying to teach or test you… 6.. Morality: While discussing the numerous reasons why other people praise him, Buddha says "Abandoning unchastity, the ascetic Gotamalives far from it, aloof from the village-practice of sex"......."Abandoning harsh speech, he refrains from it. He speaks whatever is blameless, pleasing to the ear,agreeable, reaching the heart, urbane, pleasing and attractive to the multitude." I can not question your decisions, but i wonder why you chose a different path, post liberation/arhantship ? Buddha has spoken about how liberated beings lose the strength of their mindfulness and equanimity, due to indulgence… The Buddha is talking about the awakened monks, who have taken a vow of chastity… so he is not warning them about sex… but because I am awakened, you think I should take a vow of chastity… because you think sex is “dirty”… your delusion is showing… Indulgence is anything that you do in excess… you can eat in excess, that is indulgence … but that does not mean that eating food is bad and that you should not eat… there is nothing wrong with eating food… you can spend all your money buying trendy clothes, that is indulgence… but that does not mean you should not buy clothes… you can spend fourteen hours a day reading books, that is indulgence… but that does not mean you should not read books… you can have two hundred pet dogs, that is indulgence… but that does not mean you should not have a pet dog… you can have sex with dozens of women, that is indulgence… but that does not mean you should not have sex with one woman… You said … “Buddha has spoken about how liberated beings lose the strength of their mindfulness and equanimity, due to indulgence”… the Buddha was cautioning about any form of excess, he is not prohibiting sex… Once you reach awakening, you have finished, it is permanent… now if you are not a monk, you can continue the life you had before you started to meditate, and now it is effortless and full of joy… I am not a monk… nor have I ever taken a vow of chastity… and you forget that you reach awakening by accepting the Buddha’s middle path as your new reality… sex is neither good or bad, it is neutral of itself… it just is… only intention can make it good or bad… if you are neutral, and neither seek it, or reject it… there is no attachment or karma… if you are married, it is a duty you owe your wife… Dawg Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
