Miroku

Hi, I would like to aks if someone here has experience with both the prostrations as they are done in tibetan buddhism and qigong. I am quite interested in how you view the benefits of prostrations on the body and etc They seem like a quite good exercise and probably encourages flow of chi through the body, can anybody here support it from experience or from the teaching? Also if you have done prostration what did you notice that happened with your body? What about muscles that are used in prostrations, can doing them help me against my slowly growing beer belly? Any kind of opinion is welcomed.

Hi, yes hopefully it will. But you know how it goes. This is samsara. Without a job I had a problem of no job. And now I have a problem of having a job. Hopefully I will manage the stress it creates. Wow since 96! Wonderful. Since it hasn't done anything to your knees could you give some key points? I guess you for sure use some soft blanket/surface for your knees to not hit the hard ground and you first touch the ground with your hands right? What about a pace? I am trying to give it a go. Partially cause it is really profound and purifies a lot, but also because sedentary job and stress can easily take a toll on me. Best wishes and you too stay safe friend.

4 Years later and I remembered this thread. Do you still go on with your prostration habit @C T? I am struggling years later. Because I am lazy and only recently I found a job which allows some sort of routine to be created. Would you now after years have more to share? Also sorry for asking, but how are your knees?

It is enough to be born gay/queer to have a rainbow body. But yes, unfortunately unless we really devote ourselves to intensive practice in retreat or are just really lucky with being with a teacher and living a very simple life, then it is really out of reach. Anyone who spends time on forums is for sure not a rainbow body level of a yogi.

I wanted to make that joke!

You are actually quite correct. There are some other "evidence" to support your observations such as Amitabha being the buddha of padma family, which is connected to desire.

Yeah, it is a shame that very often the "magical" part of buddhism sometimes gets downplayed as a mere superstition of uneducated promitive easterners. It is especially a huge problem among so called "secular" buddhists who in my opinion gutted buddhism and created sth that looks like modern yoga. Nice postures, relaxes you a bit, helps with pooping, but nothing else. However. at the same time I would not downplay rational part of buddhism. One can easily approach dharma in this way and get many fantastic results and liberation for sure. I know many people who are not as keen on the magical aspects and mostly see them as symbolic, etc. and are actually decent practitioners who unlike me have at least some qualities. For me personally the best thing about dharma is that it allows me embrace both. The logical part where if I meditate on loving kidness my brain changes its structure and a new pattern of thinking gets introduced and developed which results in more loving persona called "Miroku". But also I as well can keep the magical part present as well, where I am certain that if I develop loving kindess, then buddhas and gods will protect me and no spirit can harm me if I take refuge in the triple gem. Why? Buddha said so and he does not lie. It is that in the west buddhism is often approached as an antidote to religion to a certain degree. One is not required to believe one is required to experience. And many people need this and it creates great connection for them. However, sometimes it robs buddhism of its ... magic.

In addition to my post here is an english translation of the 21 praises: Here is the tibetan one: And here is my dear master Garchen Rinpoche chanting mantra of White Tara:

Yes! Tara is really great. There are many stories with her and most of them have happened to ordinary humans like us. This is an experience of a poster on Dharmawheel: Not some great siddha, master or anything. Just a person that has connection to Tara. Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche used to tell a story how Tara freed his sister from chinese prison. She prayed to Tara every day and one day she was doing her work in the prison and just noticed that the entrance is not guarded and is actually opened wide. So she just walked out. Garchen Rinpoche has many stories about how Tara saved his life. He once even felt her caressing his head as he fell asleep. Ofc, it is best to be buddhist with having taken refuge and developing mahayana aspiration of bodhicitta as then one will really be like a child of a Tara but she is like a mother and has love/time for everyone. She has so many manifestations from the usuall 21 (there is a beautiful 21 verse praise to all of them and has so much blessing) to many others such as mother Mary in Christianity (word of Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche and Garchen Rinpoche, not mine). So, definitely great to connect with her as she leads from suffering to happiness and enlightenment.

Yeah same here, but at the same time there must be something to it, since there are so many old traditions right?

Yeah, honestly had the same experience (coming from my buddhist experience).

Any good free sources for them? I have been quite curious about them for a long time, but the courses are now closed and I don't have money anyway.

I hate to enter daoist discussion with anything buddhist, but just to "correct" some views. Buddhist do not believe that plants themselves are sentient. However, some schools (especially chinese buddhists it seems) are convinced that spirits live in plants, trees, vegetables and so on. So the plant is like a home. The relationship between the spirit and the material plant is waaaaay looser than in case of us humans. So, like that. I heard one chinese master claim that the plant spirits do not mind if their house is used for food. I think it can be bit different in case of trees as the spirits usually live there for a long time. So it might anger those. Anyway, the question of veggies vs meats in buddhism is a hard one and impossible to close, as it depends on many factors. So this was the buddhist window. Now sorry I disturbed.

Depends on the practice, mantra etc. Some mantras should not be chanted, especially wrathful ones, but for those you need transmission for sure. Otherwise both is good. I like to sing mani mantra when I do dishes for example. My teachers say that chanting mantras can be 100 times more effective than just reciting. Why? Well, the melody is often important part of the practice. In some cases the mantra was received with that particular melody from the buddhas, so the melody is very tied to the mantra. Also when sung with pleasant melody the mantras can then be an offering to local gods, guardians, spirits and also to the buddhas as everybody likes a pleasing sound. So chanting is good. Silent recitation is also good and works better when one has to accumulate huge numbers of mantras.

This mantra. I think it is okay to recite it without any lung or teachings. I actually think I got my amazing boyfriend in part thanks to this mantra.

Yes, as far as I know yes. Ofc it is mostly seen among tantrikas, however I would not rule out followers of sutra being able to reach it too. However I doubt there are modern cases. I only know about followers of pure land buddhism dying while standing or sitting and praying and keeping the position. If there is warmth around the heart I do not know. But other signs as their body lasting "fresh" are there sometimes. As of rainbow body (the shrinking and ideally disappearance after death leaving only nails and hair and clothes) it is possible through Highest Yoga tantra and Dzogchen practices such as thogal. And actually appears still quite regularly. I think earlier this year one yogi shrinked. It is a fascinating thing and "proof" of effectivity of said practices. However, while it is a nice aspiration we have to start where we are.

All buddhist practices lead to it. It is a sign of realization.

Yeah, it can be problematic. I think more than meditation loving kindness would work better (as I already said), or just some simple method of relaxing tensions and bringing the awerness to us. To self-reflect bit more or just simply connect with the body. That is all. It can do quite wonders. We did simple stretching exercises at our drama class at HS and simple act of bringing yourself to your body can do a big difference.

@zerostao Yeah, people can argue against many things. People can skip many steps, when their meditation sends them flying into polstered white room, wellp. What can be done then. And you are right loving kindness is extremely powerful. That is why Buddha prescribed it for nightmares, demon attacks, etc. People want to push and make others fly across the room, or astral project, or scan people for energy or any sort of nonsense. That is all fine it just seems silly to me when simple smile and affection towards others are the best siddhi. Ah, my inner hippie got out again! Darn it! @steve Yeah, many of this comes from folks misunderstanding what meditation does. It is less about finding happiness in our lovely cesspool of suffering and more about facing the fact we are swimming in a sewage water. This misunderstanding then often draws in people who would do better with some small amount of therapy.

It is quite well known to be honest. This is why many if not most traditions start with some sort of preparation for the meditation. What people are experiencing comes from wrong technique, instruction and/or wrong mindset. Such things as meditator's disease are quite well known in buddhism. It is easy for people to increase their nervousness and spin themselves into depression and sometimes even to madness through simply being too uptight. It is one of the reasons why i think people should not do mindfulness but focus more on mettá loving kindness meditation. You don't have to focus that much, you don't have ot face yourself that much and you mostly reprogram your setting to accepting yourself and others with love and care. It is known to prevent mental health issues and even reduce PTSD. But ... loving each other is not profitable and doesn't create space for creating mindless workers in offices.

Hey, not gonna lie I have spent basically entire corona virus lock down watching ghost hunting channels on youtube (g team paranormal and omargosh thank you). And a question came to my mind. It seems to me that the US is more haunted than many places. Or people are more open to it? Which is weird because basically every single place where I live is waaay older than most of those homes in the US. Plus an actuall history went through this place, from nazis to communists. There must have been a plenty of suffering and death and yet ... no ghosts. Why do you think it is that some places are more prone to ghosts? What do you think causes one to become a ghost? Do you have a ghost story/experience?

This is my new musical addiction.

Seems appropriate.

Okay to put things into context, while the situation was awkward and stupid it wasn't an assault. The dude could have easy beaten me up, it happened during a game of strip poker and after two weeks or so we well got to "know" each other.

Yup, people do stupid things when young and drunk.