silent thunder

Powerful observations stimpy. The dream like quality of awareness in the aggregates of life has been with me since earliest childhood. My first conscious memory in this life was a dream so intense, that then led to an out of body experience. It forever imbued in me the dream like state of awareness as it interacts with the five aggregates and the indelible fact that my body is not the source of awareness... rather the body arises within awareness. Awareness is what is... all else arises and shifts within this... The nature of my experience in this waking life seems inextricably linked to the projections of mind, the conditioning and assumptions derived from conditioning. It is all so ephemeral, even the shared dream of waking life. One small insight can utterly transform my experience and interpretation of all that i encounter in 'the real world'. And my experiences in the dreamscapes have been at least equal to my awareness experiences in waking life in their ability to inform me about my own true nature due to how i react to stimuli and what this reveals about my nature. Due to this I have innately been predisposed to see the natural connection between the sleeping dream state and the waking dream that we all share as being layers of one overarching process, not seperate states. Even the manner in which we 'come online' in waking life is similar to how I become aware in the dream state. When i become lucid in dreams... the dream is ongoing, having already begun and i find myself in the midst of a process and then become aware of it. Similarly, the first few years of life are foggy but at some point in early childhood, our lucid awareness 'comes online' so to speak and we begin to form memory and the ability to have what we experience through awareness to inform and imprint upon us. The manner in which i awakened into reality mirrors exactly the manner in which i become lucid in the dream state nightly. Dzogchen was an immediate draw due to its deep, intimate exploration of the waking and sleep states of consciousness. The work of Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche in particular in his book Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep, has been a potent companion to my lucid dream work over the years. If you're not familiar, there is a fantastic film called Waking Life, that explores the dream like nature of waking and sleeping life. My son and i revisit it once a year or so and it never ceases to inspire some potent conversations and exploration. Thanks for sharing mate... this topic is near to my core.

Hey there Pai Mei. Welcome to the Bums! The thread you're interested in is part of someone's personal practice journal, so it is open to full members. Not sure what the current limits on new members are, but it used to be make a few posts and then the full site opens up. If it persists you can ask the mods to look into it. Hope you enjoy your time here.

Rest As Awareness. No method, no technique, no forgetting, no achieving and no process. Rest as awareness.

I hear you. But who is dancing?

Who is it who asks this?

I did not...

Dandan noodles. Bobo chicken Twice cooked pork or duck... the list is endless.

Sunrise at Rainbow Point in Bryce Canyon with my son. He'd never seen anything of it prior. Conditions were absolute perfection. North Campground still open year round. As we were driving up into the snowline in the sleet he turned and said... "well now I know where the other half of my heart has been waiting for me this life..."

For me, on a practical daily engaged level, the process is embodied by Chuangtzu's notion of walking two paths at once.

otherworldly...

We order Sichuan on Easter... and Christmas.

Such wonderful playfulness and sincerity/focus. The reaction of doggo in the first couple minutes pretty much mirrors mine.

If we keep spreading into the wilderness... when will we fill it and it will be city?

My first experience/conscious memory of this life was a dream that led to an out of body experience. I was three. I had no notion of what dreams or death was, nor even really my body or identity yet. I was just an awareness exploring life. It instilled in me the unshakable vajra experience that awareness is not body dependent, nor body originated or centered. It was a gift beyond anything I could envision or seek intentionally then or now. Before I had even a concept of body death, I had the indelible experience that the body is not the center of awareness or of life itself. In my late 40's I died on several occasions a few years apart. Two I have no active recall of, but returned in an enduring and intently blissful state of gratitude that abided for months. The other occasion resulted in two encounters of which there are memories and again a blissful abiding state of enduring devotional gratitude that returns unbidden on occasion since then...

Our cats get a mix of ground raw chicken and boiled chicken, also human turkey baby food (not the gerber shite) and a mix of various other raw proteins as they come through the house.

P'shaw!

I think young folks fresh out of mandatory school are rushed into trying to decide what they want to do for the rest of their lives. I've had three distinct phases of my 55 year life. Two full careers and much on the way for the next phase. You seem like a young man, don't hesitate to change gears and pursue something else... the knowledge you've gathered and achieved will be there for you if you wish to utilize it. Give yourself space to ponder and explore and don't hesitate if something grabs you with potency.... is my off the cuff advice.

Hear you mate. Well described.

Your thoughts are overlays on/within awareness... they are not awareness itself. Like a finger pointing to the moon, don't allow distraction by the finger.

Easter, London 60's style...

you are such a cool gal! so certain, yet your presence here carries the scents of desperation and begging for help... all while being an ass to everyone you encounter. nice hat.

My home lies inside me, it goes where I go. I am always home. ~ my Sami ancestors

When a cover utterly exceeds the original... What a transcendent rendition of this classic!