anshino23

I believe the spiritual group I was in was of the latter type. The worst part was that through gradual indoctrination and introduction - all your thoughts, all your ideas, and all your questions were essentially marked as "intelligences" leading you astray and destroying your path and merit. It was quite brilliant, to call them "intelligences" - and then saying they had to be discarded! The constant fear and the being in and out of a group like that was really stressful. Interestingly, as soon as I dropped out of said group, all kinds of backstories were made up to explain why - possession was a big one, another one was too poor merit. The teacher in question also made lots of alchemical potions and supplements and sold them for a lot of money, but they never arrived. Whenever you questioned him about it, it would always be a great response like, "Oh, we just moved to a new destination, but we're restocked now. I'll put in something really special for you for your wait " And you'd get your hopes up again. Then when you inquired months later you don't hear back. When asking the other members about something like this they say - "it's because it's not the right time for you". When on retreats the teacher was able to create an incredible atmosphere. He has a martial arts background so his movements are great, and he's also built lots of muscle so he's an intimidating character in person and quite intense. So wears all black and looks like a sort of samurai, and then comes two hours late to our "morning meditation" meeting. Then when asked why he was late, he deflects and says, "It was my impression that you guys wanted to relax a little before we got started. I'm not sure how much you guys can handle?" When at the same time all of us were essentially screaming for more time with him. Then the story between the "disciples" and practictioners in the group became that he was operating on a special time that was based on the Divine Mother - everything was happening perfectly and on Her time based directly on flowing with the Dao. And that we should be grateful to have Zifagong (sponteanous movements) initiated by him as it was a divine power entering our bodies and having us roll around on the floor and screaming at the top of our lungs for hours on end. Your last sentence really says it all to me. I nearly dropped out of medical school and may not have finished my degree if my inner discernment/prajna-eye didn't pry me away from all the glorious promises of quick enlightenment and stream-entry if only I could sacrifice my time for The Mission™.

How can you say that? Even when Bodhidharma realized his self-nature he had to sit for 9 years facing the wall to transform the nirmanakaya and sambhogakaya. Realizing the Dharmakaya is Awakening, but it's not the end. To transform all three bodies, you need to transform the physical nature too. Why is there such an attachment to being done? Is it not much more wondrous that there is a continuance path of continual refinement to higher and higher levels? So one can continue to learn more and more and master all dharmas thus being able to help sentient beings everywhere in the universe in higher and higher degrees?

How about creating your own pocket universe or Pure Abode? According to standard Mahayana theory, this is just what you're doing while cultivating toward Buddhahood. You're in charge of a certain chunk of the universe, a million galaxies or something, and you're responsible for teaching and saving all the beings there. This is your own buddha-kshetra. The deep-mahayana stuff goes far deeper than simply "liberation" which is the small-vehicle (Hinayana) approach for instance. The whole liberation/enlightenment thing is subtle. According to Mahayana, it helps to separate the two words in one's mind, liberation and enlightenment. Arhats are liberated, but not enlightened. They do get peace and nirvana and stuff, but it's not total and it's not forever. In the final analysis there's no "somewhere" to go in real liberation -- buddhas don't disappear off somewhere or go hide out somewhere. This place is it! Because it's not actually a place. An enlightened person's liberation isn't hindered by birth or death, coming or going. They don't have the need to get out of anything or get rid of anything. The issue with defining the capabilities of authentic enlightenment is that we have to define what we mean by the term. In my view, it comes down to one's view of Mind. In the Zen, Ch'an and Mahayana Buddhist traditions (but also Vajrayana, including Dzogchen) there is a reference to Mind-only. But if we do not know what Mind is, how can we begin to fathom it? From a wonderful book called The Mind Experiment by a student of the late master Nan Huai Chin, it is explained thus: "Enlightenment is called “great penetration and great awakening” because it realizes the wondrous Mind of the Absolute, the substance of the whole spiritual and material universe. The quest for enlightenment goes to the bottom of mind and things, self and the world. Thorough penetration means not only understanding “substance” but also knowing how to “function.” Awakening to the Way the universe works also reveals the “know-how” of creation. To realize the quintessence of creation also puts one at the helm of creation. When the mind penetrates to the source of being it acquires the power to control being, to be the master over life and death, thus effectively realizing that “emptiness is form/matter” and that “true emptiness creates wondrous being.” Enlightenment works as spiritual-physical emancipation. The end of spiritual cultivation, of realizing no-self and emptiness, means liberation and autonomy of existence. The capacity to take up existence at will is based on a mind-created body of one’s own, not on a body born from the sex of others but from a self-initiated mental act. Transcendental wisdom generates the same dhyana-concentration power that also creates the “pure light” bodies of those in the dhyana-heavens. When body and mind are concentrated in emptiness, then emptiness and creation merge and all will be empty when one wants it, and exist when one wants it. As theoretical doctrine, this is called the contemplation of the mean (Madhyamika), of emptiness that holds the middle between being and non-being. As practical truth it means “to be capable of true emptiness and capable of wondrous being.” The highest wisdom does not renounce the world or cast aside existence but reveals the wonder of emptiness, which is an infinite capacity for creation. The Buddha’s Triple body of truth/substance (dharma-kaya), enjoyment/retribution (sambhoga- kaya), and manifestation (nirmana-kaya) is based on this accomplishment. Such achievement, real supremacy of mind over matter, is very rare in human history. Only this “trinity-in-unity” realizes the full extent of the highest Buddhist doctrine of “Mind-only.” The substance of enlightenment is the one source of both matter and spirit, while its function is not only knowing Dharma but also the power to incarnate freely and to transform infinitely. To master this mind-science is the end of all theory and practice, of all spirituality and all science and technology. This highest empowerment is the result of the deepest humility, of utter selflessness. To actualize the “great Self” the little self has to die. Humility is the first precept of Buddhism, required in order to understand and practice the principle of no-self, and to eliminate the illusionary ego. Real self- actualization means self-annihilation. The deepest kenosis or self-negation ascends to the highest transcendence. “Extinction of body and mind” is the one and only door to the “self, Purity, Bliss, and Eternity” of Nirvana. “Though I preach Nirvana, there is no true extinction. All things from their origin are in themselves marked by quiet extinction.” Nirvana is not the ending of a Buddha or the end of the world. Buddha goes on, the world goes on, and life goes on. For the Buddhas, who are in full control, the power of creation opens up an inexhaustible range of existence. They become cosmic Buddhas and create inconceivable vast worlds and pure lands (that are not part of Samsara, unlike the heavens in the Triple Universe). The most popular trend of Buddhism in East Asia, Amithaba’s Pure Land of Bliss is based on such creation. Once reborn there, one is certain of future enlightenment and liberation from the birth-death cycle. Emptiness does not dissolve the universe but opens up its boundless potential. Emptiness is also not elsewhere, apart or different from the world. All creation is not different from its substance. Emptiness is the substance of both creation and extinction. There is no duality between the world and ultimate reality. “This Dharma abides in the dimension of Truth while the world always stays in it.” Buddhist Dharma is not outside the world but right in it. Truth is originally and always present, in accordance with the non-duality of the Absolute. What is universal, eternal, and transcendental is never in decline or out of fashion. Therefore “no form of livelihood is opposed to Reality.” Renouncing the world to work out personal salvation, or staying in the world to work for the benefit of others, it is all Buddha work. Theoretically there is no need to leave the world in order to realize the Truth that is never absent, but in practice a lot of time in seclusion is needed to delve inside and dissolve the ignorance and the bonds that have kept us from enlightenment “since beginningless time.”

From a favorite author of mine on chance/luck: "Chance ... is a word used to excuse oneself for not understanding, or to explain acts, objects and events that occur and which are not easily explained, as “games of chance,” or “chance happenings.” But there is no such thing as chance, in the sense that a happening could have happened in any other way than it did, independent of law and order. Every act of chance, such as the flipping of a coin, the turning of a card, the throwing of a die, happens according to certain laws and in order, whether they are according to laws of physics or laws of knavery and trickery. If what is called chance were independent of law, there would be no dependable laws of nature. Then there would be no certainty of the seasons, of day and night. These are laws which we more or less understand, just as are “chance” happenings, which we do not take enough trouble to understand."

I just want to express my deepest gratitude to everyone that have participated in this thread. It has been a great joy to see so many participate, and to read so many different experiences and understandings of this complex topic. Wishing you all a happy new year.

Very interesting, thank you. I'll have to contemplate this for a bit. If I'm understanding it correctly, the five spirits (Shen, Hun, Yi, Po, Zhi) comprise the acquired self, and if the five movements of these spirits were ever to become fully harmonised, they would reconverge, and the Yuan Shen would unify - leading to Wu, the Awakening. Is that your understanding too?

This begs the question - how then do you "die before you die"?

From my perspective, if there is fear, there is unknowing. If there is unknowing, there is darkness, and thus a lack of en-"light"-enment. Simile aside, I don't think an enlightened master would ever be afraid. If he or she was, I would not consider them enlightened. Maybe I just have very high standards?

But even if I was still present, the very presence of the fear made me reactive as a habitual response to fear, which was a submissive type response. Rather than simply being there and answering him plainly, I answered timidly and with fear. This is what I neither enjoy nor felt was wise or expressed from a higher more wise aspect of myself. On the other hand perhaps me responding submissively was what was needed to defuse the situation and as such the higher aspect did unfold exactly as it should. I just feel like there was a lesson here and I didn't face the situation with fearlessness when I could have, ultimately fear being a sign of distrust in the Dao. Anyway, maybe I'm just reading too much into it... Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Yikes. And they expect you're capable of doing that without having gone through the YJJ process and built the neigong body? Or does "through brute force alone" also count? Like I think I could sit that long, but doesn't mean I would be a good "sit" at all. May slouch, lose correct posture, etc.

So he sees it a lot in young men now? Is it all due to the psychological attachments surrounding sex, or is it also related to stress levels? And what were his treatments usually for those people? The lifestyle changes you recommended, or would he recommend specifically tailored solutions to each one based on the causal pattern? Yikes. In what way would that quality of life issue manifest for them, you mean in terms of the robustness of their health, or would they actually developmentally be stunted? Is jing deficiency also related to troubles conceiving?

“During the winter months all things in nature wither, hide, return home, and enter a resting period, just as lakes and rivers freeze and snow falls. This is a time when yin dominates yang. Therefore one should refrain from overusing the yang energy. Retire early and get up with the sunrise, which is later in winter. Desires and mental activity should be kept quiet and subdued. Sexual desires especially should be contained, as if keeping a happy secret. Stay warm, avoid the cold, and keep the pores closed. Avoid sweating. The philosophy of the winter season is one of conservation and storage. Without such practice the result will be injury to the kidney energy. This will cause wei jue, consisting of weakness, atrophy of muscles, and coldness in spring, manifesting as paralysis, wei/flaccid syndrome, arthritis, or degeneration of the bones and tendons. This is because the body has lost its ability to open and move in the spring.” ~ Maoshing Ni. “The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine”. Agreements or disagreements with the above? Open discussion.

Not really. If you're curious about the Western science point of view, I would recommend the book by Matthew Walker called Why We Sleep. There's a good podcast where he goes through the topic in detail here: https://peterattiamd.com/matthewwalker1/, https://peterattiamd.com/matthewwalker2/, https://peterattiamd.com/matthewwalker3/ No one in their right mind has ever recommended "sleep at 4am and just get all your hours of sleep" as something healthy. In fact, leading science shows that chronobiology is a hugely important part of overall health. And that night shift workers generally have worse health due to the disturbance of the natural biological cycle that is mediated through light entrainment. That said, I agree with you that naps are highly beneficial. I wouldn't call it biphasic however. But a 60-90 minute mid-day nap has been shown to improve all kinds of mental and cognitive performance in the studies I've seen.

I also want to bring up something called the Parable of the Poisoned Arrow shared by the Buddha as it may show to you that even knowing the exact reason why may not be what you need to know. It's just as if a man were wounded with an arrow thickly smeared with poison. His friends & companions, kinsmen & relatives would provide him with a surgeon, and the man would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know whether the man who wounded me was a noble warrior, a priest, a merchant, or a worker.' He would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know the given name & clan name of the man who wounded me... until I know whether he was tall, medium, or short... until I know whether he was dark, ruddy-brown, or golden-colored... until I know his home village, town, or city... until I know whether the bow with which I was wounded was a long bow or a crossbow... until I know whether the bowstring with which I was wounded was fiber, bamboo threads, sinew, hemp, or bark... until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was wild or cultivated... until I know whether the feathers of the shaft with which I was wounded were those of a vulture, a stork, a hawk, a peacock, or another bird... until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was bound with the sinew of an ox, a water buffalo, a langur, or a monkey.' He would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was that of a common arrow, a curved arrow, a barbed, a calf-toothed, or an oleander arrow.' The man would die and those things would still remain unknown to him. .... All of this not to tell you not to inquire into "why", but simply to perhaps change perspective and emphasis on things. Sometimes the more you focus on healing "from" something the more you actually worsen that blockage. Sometimes it's better to just focus on healing and regeneration in general, on becoming healthy in general, but without stressing about your kidneys, your jing, and the reasons behind it. This requires a lot of acceptance and a lot of dedication to changing one's way of living, and as someone who has struggled (and is still struggling with the same as yourself to a certain degree), I can completely and utterly relate to your situation.

If you find a skilled Chinese medicine specialist they should be able to ascertain what the background for your tinnitus is. Sometimes it's not even related to the kidneys and is actually related to the liver. You would need a proper diagnosis to know for sure. There are many options. One is that many people are deeply sick, but they mask their sickness using all kinds of other things. Some stimulate themselves to death with all kinds of things in escaping their internal suffering. Those are the types where you think they're doing okay, but if you're sensitive enough, you can feel they're really not healthy at all. Two is that some of those "people" have enough good habits to offset any negative effects accrued from having smoked throughout their lives. Thirdly, it could be that they simply have better and more robust bodies (prenatal jing) making them able to withstand such injuries better than others. There are far more factors than just these three however, as it also comes down to things like karma and the timing of injuries. One could say that in a hundred lifetimes from now, even though you couldn't see it from where you are now, having this illness was the best thing that ever happened to you. It forced you to change your entire life, take up spiritual practice, move toward something "higher" and change the overall trajectory of your Ming (destiny); or rather align yourself with it bringing you closer to Dao. In the Ch'an Chinese wisdom tradition it is said that some of the masters made the most progress when they were the most sick. There are many things to ponder here... I would recommend keeping with the treatment protocol as prescribed. If it's a good practictioner and a good treatment, you should notice changes within the next 3-6 months from the herbal therapy alone. If you combine it with the advice in this thread, major improvements will occur, though it will take time and there are always major setbacks and sufferings. In the words of the Buddhist and Daoist master Bodhidharma, Many roads lead to the Path, but basically there are only two: reason and practice. To enter by reason means to realise the essence through instruction and to believe that all things share the same true nature, which isn't apparent because it shrouded by sensation and delusion. Those who turn from delusion back to reality, who meditate on walls, the absence of self and the other, the oneness of mortal and sage, and who remain unmoved even by scriptures are in complete and unspoken agreement with reason. Without moving, without effort, they enter, we say, by reason. To enter by practice refers to four all inclusive practices: suffering injustice, adapting to conditions, seeking nothing and practising the Dharma. First, suffering injustice. When those who search for the path encounter adversity, they should think to themselves, "In countless ages gone by, I have turned from the essential to the trivial and wandered through all manner of existence, often angry without cause and guilty of numberless transgressions. Now, though I do no wrong, I'm punished by my past... ... This is a frustrating part of a life of discipline. It's painful. You want to run back to your bad habits because at least they provided you with temporary joys that blunted the pain you felt. But now that you're no longer running, all this stuff comes up to face you. Simple, not easy. Don't make the same mistake I did and become attached to the idea of semen retention. Even "semen retention" is a misnomer and it places a completely wrong emphasis in the mind. The emphasis is not on "retaining semen", the emphasis is on changing your psychology and the attachments surrounding sex and learning to consolidate your essence to a higher degree. So instead of thinking, "I need to BUILD my jing, I need to create more!", think... How can I change the quality and efficiency of the jing that I already have? For a very long time (until high-levels of alchemy where you can actually begin to replenish jing, or bring out the cream of the crop of jing, called the Jing Hua) this is all done through the Yang Sheng Fa principles covered in this thread along with consolidating the Jing. You can read more about this concept in Damo's latest book the Comphrensive Guide to Daoist Neigong. The idea is that you still your essence by, to use a modern term that freeform just shared, "dopamine fasting". My general impression is that those that have a tendency toward anxiety are more likely to develop these issues. The second thing is that it's often people that are very sensitive and also people that are interested in spirituality that tend to develop these types of issues. I cannot tell you why exactly as it involves extremely complex causal chains that are simply not visible to anyone without the Wisdom Eye opened. Hope this helps.

No worries! Completely understand.

Same here. In Scandinavia, it's lights out at 4pm, and sunrise at 8.46am. Would be pretty crazy to sleep that long.

Here's a good overview of the current vaccines: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html?pageType=LegacyCollection&collectionName=Maps+and+Trackers&label=Maps+and+Trackers&module=hub_Band&region=inline&template=storyline_band_recirc

Anyone's thoughts on the vaccine? I think the safest one would be the inactivated one they have used in China. I'm not sure I trust the process of mRNA vaccines that have never been tested before, the technology initially developed as "cancer vaccines" as immunological target treatments. The reason I'm concerned is because we don't know if the mRNA vaccines cause long-term epigenetic changes that affect the immune system, causing autoimmune illnesses and reactions being my main concern. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on this @Taomeow

Kidneys TCM ≠ kidneys in Western medicine. That's why there is no evidence. Also, take into account that most of the research done is short-term. There's no controlled studies follow-up after 5-10 or more years. As for kidneys, we're talking about energetic effects pertaining to the "kidney system" in Chinese medicine view. More accurately it would translate to something like the HPTA-axis in a Western view, but even that is not accurate as we're talking about subtle energy flows and how the organ systems govern magnetic and electric fields within the body.

teaspoon

"TO KNOW, TO DARE, TO WILL, TO KEEP SILENCE–such are the four words of the Magus, inscribed upon the four symbolical forms of the sphinx.” ~ Eliphas Lévi

In my understanding Wim Hof burns the energy reserves of one's kidneys to strenghten the Wei Qi... The concern being that you'll deplete your kidneys and the damage will then show up later in life. There's also some talk about the "heat" being generated through the method is subdued by using the cold water immersion - so doing the breathing method by itself will also be more harmful than including the cold immersion as I understand it.

The following was written by a great friend of mine who learned from the late master Nan Huai Chin and an adept cultivator. May the story of the buddha be of inspiration and of benefit to all sentient beings. Namo Shakyamuni. --------------------------- Life of the Buddha Siddharta Shakya (the Gautama Buddha) was born in the pinnacle of the human world, a prince to the king of a small local state, Kapilavastu of north-central India. Having been born into the circumstances of comfort, wealth, prestige and honor, it shows that in his past lives, he had accumulated an extraordinary amount of merit. In such cases, one can spend his merit on huge amounts of wealth and fortune, but instead, Shakyamuni had given it all up and placed it on wisdom and enlightenment. It is said that Shakyamuni had lived in the Tushita Heaven (deva realms) and saw a ripe moment for his descent into the human world, ending up as the offspring of Maya and Suddhodana. It was said tht he rode on a white elephant with six tusks, sending his spirit into his mother’s womb. The father of Siddharta was King Suddhodana (50 plus of age) and his mother was the Queen Maya (45 years old). Spring was ending giving rise to Summer. On the eight day of the 4th lunar month, birds sang, flowers bloomed and while Queen Maya was in the Lumbini Garden reaching out towards an Ashoka tree, Shakyamuni sponteanously appeared on her right. All kinds of auspicious signs appeared. When he was seven days old, Queen Maya unfortunately passed away. Scholars speculate that he might have been born from a Caesarian section. Queen Mahaprajpati nurtered him as his aunt, in place of Queen Maya. Soon after he was born, he took seven steps and said, “This is my last birth. Among all the devas and humans, I am the most honorable and excellent. In this lifetime, I will benefit devas and humans, and vow to bring universal salvation to all sentient beings.” Do remember that while a person is still young, it is still possible that he or she retains some memories from a past-life. Also, when he said “I”, he did not mean Shakyamuni or that physical body he was in. He referred it to the inherently enlightened true self within all sentient beings. Knowing Shakyamuni was born, the wise man Asita Rshi who lived on the Fragrant Mountain, came to offer his greetings. He then divined: “I see that the prince has the thirty-two marks and eight good points of an enlightened sage. With these marks and good points, in a worldly life he will become a Wheel-Turning Sage King. If he leaves home, he will achieve omniscience and bring salvation on a wide scale to devas and humans. Your Majesty, I divine that your son will attain true enlightenment, turn the wheel of the Great Dharma and open the eyes of the world.” Upon hearing that, the King was worried as he hoped the son would inherit the throne. He used his full ability to give so much luxury to the prince that he would not even think of leaving home. Shakyamuni was able to talk from birth, developed quickly and mastered many teachings such as philosophy, mathematics, martial arts, astronomy, geography, the classics, commentaries, divining, philology, music, dance, contemporary arts, painting, literature, etc. You could probably even call him a prodigy child. Shakyamuni even made his tutors feel inferior because he had huge insights and could point out errors in books. At 14, he tamed a great elephant. At 15, he was made the heir to the throne, a Crown prince. IT was clear that Shakyamuni had a level of wisdom surpassing that iof normal people. Seeing some signs, he asked, “What is a human life for, why does such a cruel world exist? What is the ultimate meaning of life in the universe?” Feeling aversion to the world, he transcended into a deep contemplation state. At 17, the King gave him two beautiful girls, Yashodara and Gopika. However, Shakyamuni was not entranced at all by these two beauties, neither by the great palaces that the King had built for him. This even made the consorts suspect that Shakymuni was not a male at heart (of course, it was simply due to the case that he had already penetrated the truth of beauty). When he was 19 years old, he saw the signs of suffering outside the palace. He wanted to leave the royal palace, but the King grew desperate and prohibited him. Shakyamuni then considered the “annihilation/nihilistifc view”. If there is no ruler, then the meaning of life is worthless and purposeless. But then he thought, if a ruler had the power to control things, why make this world and human life so miserable a form? This was known as the “eternalist/theistic view”. He pondered these two views but could not get an answer, and hence became more desperate to leave the palace in search for the answer. The King tried to salvage the situation and told Shakyamuni that if he could have a son with Yashodhara, the consort, then he would reconsider it as he would then have a heir to the throne. According to the records, he simply pointed at Yashodhara’s belly and she immediatley became pregnant. This son was later known as Rahula, who was also enlightened. Having been able to bear a heir, Shakyamuni then left the palace, going into the mountains to study the path. Be very observant here: Shakyamuni did not forsake his duties as a filial son. He bore a son in order to rest his father’s worried mind about a heir to the country’s throne. To simply forsake the throne would be an utter irresponsibility that could throw the country into chaos. Having settled his affairs, while the wives and guards were sleeping, his groom Chandaka saddled a swift horse and Shakyamuni leaped over the north wall on his horse. This is an amazing feat: Would you have left a palace of riches and prosperity to seek the answer for enlightenment? Can you do it? This was how dedicated he was to seeking the Path. Shakyamuni then found the ascetic Bhargava. He made a vow at that point: “If I do not finish with birth and death, I will never return to the palace.” He removed his ornaments, necklace, swords, beard, hair and put on an ascetic robe, much to the dismay of Chandaka. Bhargava taught that by afflicting pai on oneself, one would receive the blessings of heaven. Shakyamuni did not agree, so he spent one night at Bhargava’s place and then departed after that. He then cultivated the Indian method of meditative concentration, known as “Samadhi without thought” (3 years). However, he realized that obliterating thought was not the answer. He realizxed that this kind of no-thought experiential realm was still within the confines of one’s mind. He still wanted to find the root of the mind. He then went to Aratakalama, and mastered the “Samadhi of Neither Thought Nor No-Thought” (3 years). This means that on one-hand, he has ceased ordinary mental activity but on the other hand, he was still able to be aware or everything happening. He then wondered, “Is there a self or is there no-self? If there is a self, then this samadhi is not liberated. If one cannot abandon the form of self and the concept of self, how can one reach genuine liberation?” Hence, he also abandoned this practice. He then realized that no teacher was genuinely enlightened. At this point, the King Suddhodana was worried and sent five officials to try and persuade Shakyamuni to go back to the palace. Funnily, these five officials became the five great disciples of Shakyamuni. Shakyamuni practiced quiet sitting and contemplation, cultivating austerities where he would only eat a single sesame seed or grain of rice for his meal. He did not get up to walk, his eyes were unblinking and his mind was free of fear. However he was so emaciated he started to look like a skeleton. His body was so feeble and weak it looked like he was about to die. After six years, he suddenly realized that this practice was no different from the previous austerities and abandoned it. He was about 30 years old right now. He then left the forest of ascetics and then accepted an offering of rice gruel from a herd girl, Nadapala. When the five others heard of it, they thought Shakyamuni had broken and did not sustain the austerieties, hence they left him to go and practice on their own. The strangest thing was that after the rice gruel, he recovered his physical strength and he felt that his body and mind was extraordinarily happy. He then sat down under the pipala tree (also known as the Bodhi tree). He swore, “I will not get up until I experience inherent true enlightenment.” After 48 days, due to his previous meditative cultivation, he entered a realm of meditative contemplation. On the 7th day of the 12th lunar month, all sorts of demonic realms of delusion appeared before him: Desires for wealth and sensory pleasures arose, as well as the fear of birth and death. Mara did everything in his power, but in the end, even the very-beautiful female demons were vanquished by his concentration power. He then acquired the Siddhis that were born vanquishing the realm of Mara. Reaching the realm of the 6 spiritual powers, his body and mind emitted a great light. When he saw the bright star (the Sun) appear on the morning of the next day, he emptied completely and experienced perfect, supreme enlightenment. He excalimed, “How strange! All sentient beings are equipped with the characteristics of the wisdom of the Tathagatas (Thus-Gone-Ones), but because of the clingings to false thought, they cannot realize them.” At this point, he wanted to enter nirvana immediately. However, the devas came in great numbers and pleaded him to remain and teach. Shakyamuni said, “Stop. My Dharma is so wondrous that it is inconceivable.” Do realize that it is a figure of speech, so it is not actually “non-understandable”, just that we really need to work our body and minds to be able to understand it, not through logical concepts. Since he was begged by the devas, he then disseminated the teachings to the world. He started with the ffive ascetics, and preached the Four Noble Truths. In his first stay of 3 months, he acquired 56 faithful disciples. The three brothers of orthodox brahmanism brought thousands of disciples to take refuge. Shariputra and Maudgalyayana then brought along a hundred disciples. Shakyamuni then assembled the 1250 home-leavers to be his basic disciples (also known in suttas as the 1250 Bhiksus) - the original Sangha. Mahakashyapa, the First Patriarch of Zen, later also became a follower of the Buddha. There were four divisions: 1. Male home-leavers (Bhiksus) 2. Female home-leavers (Bhikhunis) 3. Male householders (Upsasakas) 4. Female householders (Upaasikas) Soon after converting a few others, he then taught his father, his aunt, his spouse Yashodhara, Ananda, Devadatta, Ahorudra and Rahula. There were 10 great disciples, known for their respective abilities: 1. Shariputra - Knowledge 2. Maudgalyayana - Siddhis 3. Mahakashyapa - Asceticism 4. Aniruddha - Clairvoyance 5. Subhuti - Wisdom of Emptiness 6. Purna - Preaching of Dharma 7. Katyayana - Discouring on meanings 8. Upali - Upholding the precepts 9 Rahula (son) - Esoteric practices 10. Ananda (cousin) - Listening and remembering Shakyamuni made no distinctions between monks and nuns, monastics and laypeople, high-rankers and low-rankers, rich and poor, male and female, young and old, smart or dumb. While there are certainly more than 1250 as mentioned in the suttas each time, there is no way to count the numerous people who took refuge. Spending 49 years teaching the Dharma, he had lived to 80 years. He then lay on his right side and entered final nirvana under the twin pala trees. This great teacher passed away at 490-480BC. Strangely, while Buddha was placed in the golden coffin, he extended his foot to lay Mahakashyapa’s mind at rest, then entered back into profound stillness. Ananda once grieved and asked, “What should we do if you are no longer here to teach?” The Buddha replied that when he was gone, the precepts of discipline will remain the teacher. After the Buddha’s passing, there were 500 Arhattas. Mahakashyapa was then elected as the chief of the assembly. The 10 great disciples then coordinated their efforts to produce the Vinaya (modernly known as the code of conduct.) After this, Ananda recited the Dharma teachings from his perfect memory. With Vaspa (one of the first five disciples of the Buddha), the others not in this group held one of their own and made their own collection of Buddhist scriptures. What is important to note is that Shakyamuni Buddha has never taught by writing, but only by wpoken words, according to the situation of the individual. When King Kanishka too over, 500 arhats, 500 bodhisattvas and 500 savants were called to the Jandhara Temple to resemble the Tripitaka (sutras, vinaya, shashtras). After the Buddha passed away, sects and divisions started to surface due to the differences in doctrines and things what they have learned differnetly from the Buddha. When you’ve read Buddha’s life, you realize that he was an ordinary man, albeit exception since he was a high deva before - but he eventually transcended humanity and beame a Buddha. He also had experiences of the hassles of ordinary life, having a child, spouse problems, family problems, etc. BUt despite all this, he repaid the benevolence of the parents, the nation, sentient beings and the enlightened ones. King Ashoka was a protector of the Dharma and sent Buddhist teachers out to Syria, Egypt, Macedonia and Central Asia. The two Dharma-teachers, Kahsyapa-Matanga and Dharmaraksha were invited into the Han imperial capital of China, introducing Buddhism to China formally.

Yes. And we have Ananda to thank for most of what was passed down allegedly