dwai

Maintaining a Dream Diary will help you remember your dreams better. It is a necessary step in Lucid Dreaming (or Dream Yoga)... When I was practicing Lucid Dreaming, remembering my dreams was a big issue (I was following Carlos Castaneda's Dream incubation techniques at that time)...maintaining the dream journal helped. It also helped in setting up the dreaming (before going to bed) and incubation process itself. The kind of dreams I had were mainly three types -- 1) Dreams of flying 2) Symbolic dreams: Eg: being surrounded by tigers (being stalked by tigers), with one specific white tiger taking sound interest in me. I think it was my Tai Chi master, who has a very strong interest in tigers, especially white tigers. As it turns out, I met him about an year after that...and it also turns out that his spirit guide is a White Tiger (which I learned many years later). 3) Teachings: I have had dreams in which I have been taught Tai Chi/Chi Gung movements by an Old Taoist Master (don't know who -- but it was for certain a Taoist Master...old Chinese man, with taoist garbs, white hair (with the taoist top-knot) and beard... I have had conversations with Sadhus (Hindu hermits) in great detail and have been given Mantras and mudras in the process. All of these helped me get over a very difficult time in my life and also solidify my practice and interest in esoteric practices.

I think the "divergence" is an illusion, since "real Buddhism" doesn't prescribe this. All this is based on a mistaken understanding of the term "Anatta" (or Non-Self)...Taoism, Advaita Vedanta (and indeed Upanishadic teaching) and Buddhism point to the same thing, only the fingers are different, that's all... Oh for crying out loud! Can we stop flogging the dead "dependently originated" horse already?!?

Brahman

Hi Serene, My experience has been that Tai Chi/Chi Gung practice is like traveling over a mountainous terrain...there are peaks, there are valleys and there are plateaus. Usually if one is consistent with their practice, the peaks keep getting higher and therefore the valleys might seem lower. The plateaus might seem longer too..but if one perseveres, the general trend is a positive slope. Medications can indeed impair Chi sensitivity...and depending on the environment, your own state of mind, etc you will feel chi stronger or weaker on different days. Here's something that works for me...maybe it will work for you. If you aren't fixed on a certain time of the day for practicing...you can use this: The heaven connection (from crown point) is considered a very important aspect of practice in the school of Taiji Chuan I study. It is called the "Suspension Point"...and when you have developed sufficient sensitivity (which I assume you have since you know when you can feel chi and when not), you will feel a tangible connection from your crown point up (or from the Sky down into your crown point), like being suspended by a string (sensation varies from cool menthol type sensation to electric activity). Usually I go by that as an indicator of when is a good time to practice, what place is good for practice, etc (You will see the sensation (strength and intensity of it) vary from place to place, time of day, what you have eaten, how you have been thinking etc)... When this sensation (at the crown point) is strong, I feel a natural inclination to practice. And usually the practice at that time is stronger, deeper and more satisfying. The Chi sensitivity is also stronger. With time you can feel this suspension point at will (and sometimes it stays all the time with you)... Hope this helps...

Hi Raymond, I have been trying to practice Water Method using Bruce's books. I found there were many overlaps with the school of Tai Chi I practice and the Water Method. Outer dissolving takes time...but when it works it really works. It is a physical feeling and not an imagined one, when a blockage dissolves. I'm still trying...it seems to be getting easier with time and practice. Inner dissolving -- I haven't started practicing Bruce's inner dissolving method seriously, but just normal meditation and Tai Chi practice has taken me to the point of facing my inner demons. As I read Bruce's description of the "issues" raised via Inner Dissolving, I could identify several that I have encountered... As far as Yog Nidra is concerned, I do practice it regularly and I can get to a state of immense relaxation through that. It does help in dissolving physical issues but is not focussed on a particular area as we do in Outer Dissolving. At the mental level, it helps meditating in the gap between thoughts...

Imho, Water method will not create any tension with non-dual methods. Water method is Non-Dual as well... Water method too transcends intention, since the dissolving is only a step in the actual meditation. Also, iinm, the Water method will work on resolving physical, mental and psychic blockages, making the individual healthier and better able to deal with Non-dual awareness...

Nostril or Dan Tien is not important. They are simply tricks into making you split your experiencing self and observer/witnessing self...you could do the same clapping your hand, chanting a mantra...any repetitive action (which will not tire you). Also, Nostril sensitivity is easier than Dan Tien sensitivity.

Qi is Life. Without Qi, there is no Life.

I have had this kind of pain and my teacher suggests chanting root sounds (like "mmmm"), stretching as long as possible to create vibrations that will open up channels and resolve the problem. That is provided it is a channel-blockage issue and not a bio-mechanical one...

I wonder why we keep distracting these poor souls from their quest for emptiness by constantly challenging them. I propose we just move over to a new thread everytime anyone posts stuff similar to that kind of blathering and simply continue on. I for one have lost interest in TTB because all that seems to happen is "elucidations" of the "Finer" points of Buddhism by a pretender (and another noisy bunch rallying to support those fake efforts). Heck, if Namkhai Norbu started posting here, I'd read with respect and interest...and I am certain he would not post this kind of nonsensical proselytization...I also seriously doubt (which I have since my first altercation with this individual) his "background". Talk is cheap and it's easy enough to fabricate lineages and tutelages on the internet...

Namaskar 3Bob, I realized it's pointless trying to make the ostrich pull it's head out of sand. It is Karma that is making those who deny the True Self be that way. If they think that it is the way out of samsara, they are gravely mistaken and will come back to learn one day. The only reason I bother responding to these jaundiced-view Buddhists is so that some hapless individual who comes across this site doesn't mistake the rambling of egotistical fools for real wisdom. What you and I (and some others on this board) see, is an infinite mind-twist for those who you claim are "harping". And the incredible, colossal folly that they consider "Truth" is nothing but mindless mind-fuck! Be Well...Happy Practice and Good Chi!

It is absolutely that. It was driven by a desire to disprove the Self (or prove the Non-Self Anatta). What they didn't understand is that the Non-Self is not the Self. Read Shankaracharya's demolition of Alaya vijnana for a more erudite treatment of the subject. There are methods to do what you said without having to bend over backwards to prove a point simply because it was used as an analogy by the Buddha and a tool to help people discover what they really are, by first realizing what they are not (Neti Neti). One will take responsibility for one's thoughts and actions only when they realize that They ARE IT...THEY ARE ONE...THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEM AND OTHERS! That is the source of both infinite peace and infinite love.

Are you looking exclusively for Buddhist dogma or are you open for a more over-arching understanding of Enlightenment? If you are not, then Enlightenment is realizing your true nature/true Self. Unconditioned Consciousness self-existing and self-aware. It is the stabilization of Consciousness in Non-Duality. How do you know if someone is enlightened? They very countenance will tell you, if you know how to listen. What can one do to become enlightened? Realize that everything is simply Unconditioned Consciousness, realize the unity of Self and drop the differentiation of Subject and Object. What will one do after becoming Enlightened? It depends The actual experience of enlightenment? Cannot be described, it is beyond name and form, perception and conception, subject and object.

Alaya Vijnana is an intellectual masturbation perpetrated upon hapless sheep to try and pretend there is no self...that's all there is to it. If infinite streams of consciousness (whatever that might mean) are interconnected, then they are one single pool of consciousness (just as an ocean can be differentiated into infinite streams of really salty water)...

come on now...don't get so melodramatic. I am a spontaneous poet...I thought you'd see the wisdom in what I wrote.

The reason you cannot structure your thoughts about Consciousness is because it cannot be captured in words or defined via structures. It is not your limitation, it is simply how Consciousness is. All philosophy (at least all pragmatic philosophy) have their roots in phenomenology (even those that claim to not be that way)...because to study life and it's meaning is to study phenomena, since everything we encounter in our mundane life are phenomena -- meaning they can be expressed in names and forms (concepts and percepts). Some have both names and forms, some only names and others only forms. Consciousness is beyond names and forms...that is why anyone has a tough time describing/defining it. One can be Conscious, but cannot use rational faculties to express consciousness or it's workings. All efforts to do so lead to contradictions and absurdity. I will check it out...thanks

And my apologies for butting in here... The problem is with definitions. What do you mean by Consciousness? Can we try and define it? It's structure? It's mechanics? Depending on how one sees it, That Primordial Wisdom IS Consciousness. There are problems of semantics when Sanskrit is translated into other languages...where Atman is translated as Soul instead of One's True Self, implying Pure Objectless Consciousness. Manas is translated as Consciousness, where it should really be "Mind", which is a field of thoughts (objects) in Consciousness. DO is a perfect explanation in a Dualistic model, where Subject and Object interact. What happens when Objects don't exist anymore?

and if you take the Ayurvedic position, Smoking is both Fire (Pitta) and Wind (Vata). The wind fans the fire...increasing both the Wind and Fire humors of the body, throwing the system off-balance. Prana being a finely balanced function of Vata (Wind Humor), get's agitated and the 5 pranas (Prana, Samana, Udana, Vyana and Apana) go out of whack... Definitely no no

The subtle body of the Buddha is omnipresent; myriad phenomena present no obstacle. If you understand the true reality eye which is completely pervasive, then you will know that the triple world is your house. Looking at it, you cannot see it's form; but when you call it responds. Do not say that this sound is like a valley echo; if there is no valley, what sound is there? The essence of Buddhahood is not the same or different: A thousand lamps are together are one light -- Adding lamps doesn't make more lights, removing lamps doesn't damage the light. Neither grasping nor rejection impinges on it, Neither fire nor water can obstruct it, Nothing in perception or conception can assess it. When you have seen true emptiness, emptiness is not empty; complete illumination pervades everywhere. Senses and objects, mind and phenomena -- there is no thing at all; only by subtle function can you know how to assimilate. The essence of the Self enters the essence of the Buddhas; the essence of Buddhahood is everywhere thus. From on high, the cold light shines in the cold springs; one moon reflected in a thousand ponds. Its smallness is smaller than a hair, its greatness fills the universe. High and low do not restrict it, it may be square or round; what long or short, deep or shallow can you say it has? -- enjoy!

hmm...again...that is just your understanding...not what it REALLY is.

If you stop and drop your preconceptions about what Brahman is, you will realize what it is not. It IS NOT what you think it is. One cannot read someone's description of Brahman or Tao or Shunyata and understand what it is...or even what it is not. To understand there has to be prajna (or Pure-Intuitive awareness) operating...oh well! Never mind...we've been through this before

Excellent post! Thank you...

Thomas Cleary's translations of the Taoist Classics (Vol 2) http://books.google.com/books?id=vGFs3yIMCFoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=taoist+classics+vol+2&source=bl&ots=C6L5VOyF0m&sig=pm2NQ8Pd7JhzjYBQhPG1gbYLbuo&hl=en&ei=hhwaTNi2PJ2QMrL02aMF&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CDMQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=false