tao.te.kat

> Can you suggest a method for moving forward to having this experience so we can understand??? > Or, can there actually be 88 thousand methods of arriving at Nirvana? There're 84.000 and we can only suggest one (or none). Because one only walk the path once. Anyone claiming he knows well about two paths is lying or too innocent as you cannot realize the nature of mind twice. > I have heard stories of people who go to Sesshin and put in mega effort to have a Kensho experience. Some do and some don't have Kensho. More of them will not have kensho for lack of prajna in Zen dojos (at least the ones I know). It's not a question of effort at all. Effort can even be an hindrance if it's a subtle (or strong) attachment to results. > Do you suggest we spend the time in such places to put in such efforts? And will it work for me? LOL. You can be there. They do right things. The problem is the things they dont do. Mostly prajna. Also right mindfulness all the time is probably more important than zazen before kensho, so they're a bit twisted. > A rubbing hand on the back of my bald head. I do not wish for it as I do enjoy the ride. It is all a dance of life. Well, good nite all. Thart's so nice, Observe your mind, create a nice life where cultivate Dharma with the paramitas and contenment and understand deeply the buddhist teachings in yourself. Doubt about what you are. Find out your own auto-created mind tricks. Be the best knower of yourself. Best wishes.

> I could be fooling myself?? Your view is quite correct in buddhism. The view of the skandhas is from initial buddhism. Later other compatible views were taught which I think are more clear on this. Letting aside material world (your body) which is clear that will disappear. Mahayana Buddhism teaches eight forms of vijnana, or mind processing (sometimes called "consciousness"). The first five are the five senses and their associated processing The sixth is the conceptual thinking process that's where people mostly pass their lives. The seventh is a non-conceptual mind function that "Wants" and "rejects" objects from the six previous vijnanas. The eigth or alaya is the deeper layer and stores our karma and samskaras. Of them all only alaya moves from one life to the next. While usually we work for purifying the sixth, release will come from purifying the seventh and eigth. But of course there's a process of acquiring of 7th and 8th from the 6th and the others five. You only want and reject things you know (or think of). Desires get stored in Alaya, so releasing attachments implies purifying Alaya, and so on... Hope it helps.

Essence Mahamudra, like taught by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal and others. No tantric practices right now. Best wishes.

>I find teacher in ladakh his name is palga Rinpoche So good. If you can, please keep us up to date with your path. I love the six dharmas of Naropa but I have only read about them. My path is closer to essence Mahamudra. Best wishes.

Just that I dont know any of them first hand. So I cannot tell, sorry. Maybe I wrote it wrong... My english is Baaaaad

Maybe you can contact them at their website: Drukpa

Naropa teachings today are mostly kept by the Kagyu tibetan lineage. So I would recommend checking Kagyu monasteries and teachers. But I cannot tell you about one master. Probably around Ladakh (Hemis and so on...)

>we learn to not identify with them. Not to attach ourselves to thoughts. We learn thoughts are a tool and not the identity. Thru grace we become our true self That's pretty right, congratulations. Completly realizing the nature of mind is reaching absolute naturality and exhaustivity on that non-attachment to thoughts. I cannot believe on true selfs or grace, but that's not that important. I would prefer causality and mind. Just that.

> The realization of how things are is ONLY experiential. It is actually quite simple conceptually, In fact is devoid of conceptuality. It's just experiental. When you say a word about it you start lying. But it's a needed skilfull mean to help others. As said manytimes, you can read books about how to ride a bike, it's nice and even can be useful. But still not a even a begining of the process of learning to ride. Or a preparatory stage if you want. Riding a bike is devoid of conceptuality, it's an experiential training. Many people just need a very short explanation and then practice to ride it quite well but a book can help too. Realizing the nature of your mind it's not very different. Also my experience with people with a lot of theoretical knowledge is that they usually have their "cup quite full" so it's really difficult for them to relay on not-so-erudite people but maybe with a lot more practical knowledge, They see them as too rough or rudimentary, so they will not accept advice from them. Usually at forums that's quite clear because the "winner" of a debate it's mostly the more erudite (or the one with more time to spend :D) As you cannot bring your experience to a forum at all but your erudition will shine bright.

Consciously empty

>Like saying a person who has practiced for years and spent time learning about the Dharma is no better off than a person just beginning to practice? Not one is better than others, not even a Buddha. But I think "better off" doesnt have that meaning ¿? (my english isnt very good) If you ask me what of the two is most probably realizing its nature before, I will say I dont know. Some people do it even without a minute of practice. See Huineng. But not only him. And some people never at all. But it's better not to compare to others. Just do what you have to do.

I'm sorry. It's not a nice proposal, I know. I understand being attacked if that happens. Masters wont say that to you and probably for good reasons, but they know perfectly. But if you attain no ground, you will be at point zero again just some months after stopping practice or when bad times come, or maybe you even will abandon the path forever for lack of motivation or results. So before a ground you're mostly trying to stop a flood... all the time. And you feel like it. And it's very easy to be carried away. That's not an idea, thousands of people live it. All the time. You feel it. So yes, but it's not point zero of real spirituality, because all the practice is making you approach the first ground. That's very important. So it's not zero. There're the paths of accumulation and joining. And they have a function here. But you dont have yet a ground, then you can revert to point nearly zero very easily. And even forget all about this. Many people did. And that's a common experience. I'm not saying anything that you probably already know inside you. Sotapanna is entering the path, the stream. So obviously before Sotapanna you're out of the path, of the stream. So we can mark lots of stages if wished, before the first ground. But they will not be really stages, they're easy to loose and different for every person. They are no ground just contingent situations. So not really stages just you getting a bit better and closer to understanding your mind and buddha qualities. All buddhist stages count the first ground at realizing the natue of mind. Be it the first bhumi, sotapanna, kensho, first mahamudra yoga, etc... and even thusness stage one happen with kensho... As in the ox herding, you can explain a lot of what happens before it, but it will be no ground. It's a taming.

Problem with a statement from a sutta is that there're hundreds that say the opposite. So it cannot be used as anykind of refutation or global afirmation, because its authority is not over the other suttas. So what to do? Well, just what happens in the world. You can think one or the other. 100 suttas says A, and maybe three says B. So 100 buddhist usually think A, and some other (less people) like Jonang school thinks B. As long as we understand what it means every choice, you're free to have your own ideas. So, there's a soul un buddhism? Moslty no, but for some minority, yes. In the form of the shentong approach. Which is quite different from hinduist atman or abrahamic souls. That's not very orthodox, or course, because is an uncomfortable truth but it's as things are. About "buddha not answering" here you have a resum: The unanswerable questions - Wikipedia Is good to remember that Buddhism is not very interested in metaphisic answers. It's aim is practical, not theoretical, It's removing suffering. That's why all this is so subject to opinions, because it really can be both ways and be a path to release in both cases. There's the famous parable of the arrow and talking about its shape, color or essence instead of taking care of the injured... That's the buddha view about it.

>What are the stages? does it matter to see the stages? Being a bit pessimistic: first milestone is first kensho. Before it milestones dont make sense because there's any really. No ground attained. Not only Bodhidharma or Hakuin or the tibetan ways to do it (introducing to the nature of mind) point there, even thusness puts its first "rank" on a kensho or realization he lived. So this is hard to digest but ... So 99,99% of people dont see stages because they are always at stage zero. Sorry. Probably I'm going to be attacked, but it's the truth. Of course, a lot of changes happen at stage zero, you get better in a lot of things. But they're not spiritual milestones, no grounds and your mind is more or less the same that the first day and you should keep doing the same practices. So we can say that this changes happen inside the relative (using Tozan five ranks use of the word) but without real consistent contact with the absolute. Maybe in deep meditation without identification you contact it, but it's not a change, just an experience of it. After kensho there're some milestones. Not a lot but there're. Meaning trascendental changes in your mind, and it being a ground (you cannot revert easily to previous situations or not at all). But the stages are useless for 99,99% of people (because they havent see the nature of mind so they're not at the first ground to understand). So they dont see stages at all.

>hen Buddha said there is no self, this should mean there is no reason to extinguish self because there is no self. There is no reason to believe that the practice of meditation is to extinguish the self. What we do when we practice meditation is to set things right, we learn the truth and realize our nature thru grace. That's right, "extinguising the self" is as silly as saying you want to extinguish unicorns. Ok, mimicking Bodhidharma, - I want to extinguish the self - Then show me your self - I cannot find it!!! - So it's extinguished! Is that silly. Buddhism is about removing suffering, and one way for it is understanding our mind completly. Understanding processes like pratītyasamutpāda and the absence (now, then and ever) of a concrete agent... Is not about not-thinking of course. You will always, always will hace intelectual thinking. Buddha did think in the sutras In Mahayana buddhism the attachment to samadhis and non-thought sends you to a formless realm but not to nirvana. So, why practice samadhi and non-thought?, well it has a place in the eigthfold path. It's mind trainig and also helps you to slowly see what is behind the noisy thought system, but without a clear view of it all, it's nearly useless. Remember the parable of calming the dirty waters. Is that. You can find people who has a kensho without meditating at all, just because of their natural self-inquiry (non formal). And you can find people reaching the nth jhanaa and no kensho, but worse, no wisdom or not that much understanding, or compassion or release from suffering. In Tibet the Meditational path starts AFTER the path of seeing, because the real meditation which is abiding in your realized nature accepting all (also thoughts) only happens after seeing (kensho). Best wishes