dwai

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Posts posted by dwai

  6. Posted

    There was an interesting development in the past two days with an old friend (also a former TDB - which I guess is a misnomer because "once a Dao bum, always a dao bum") wrote to me about his realization and the falling away of the sense of self which he described as "a dissolving into everything,  which can be interpreted as losing oneself).

    I asked him, "Are YOU disappearing or is the personality who answers to the name 'Former TDB' disappearing?"

     

    Because the original YOU has never not been there (or is always present, ever-shining). Only that it was clouded by the layers of personality that identify as this and that. Once there is a sufficient stillness developed, that One becomes apparent for what it has always/already been - Existence, Consciousness, Joy/Bliss (Sat, Chit, Ananda). 

     

    I shared with him this snippet from James Swartz --

     

    Spoiler
    Question: Will there be suffering, as long as I have an ego?
     
    You have an ego until the day the body dies. Vedanta, however, says the problem isn't ego but the "sense of doership" that the ego, which is a conscious entity, entertains. The feeling that I am doing something disappears when you see clearly that action requires many factors working together, the senses, mind, intellect, autonomic nervous system, etc. not to mention macrocosmic factors. At that point the anxiety the ego feels as it works out its karma disappears and it becomes a very relaxed ego. It doesn't suffer. Suffering is just the mental emotional load that comes with taking responsibility for what is happening in the field of karma. Anyway, when it realizes that stress is gratuitous, it does action happily, not for happiness, without the feeling that it is doing anything.
    ❤️

     

    • Like 2

  7. Posted

     I was reeling from the untimely death of my father some 30 years ago (he was 54 when he passed), and I started to meditate to make sense, or maybe just to cope with the feeling of despondency that set in.
     

    Perhaps the first sign of there being a “witness” happened as his corpse lay in the living room of our house, as is the Hindu custom, with hundreds of friends coming to pay their last respects. As I was bawling my eyes out, something separated from this bawling, pitiful situation and observed the room, the entire scenario. Almost like I had a drone footage of the entire room from a high ceiling as the situation was unfolding. 

     

    anyway, fast forward a couple of years, and I was “trying to meditate”. Until one day,  as I lay down on the living room couch, i found myself floating in total darkness - a void if there can be one. At a distance I saw a blue luminescence. As soon as I saw it, I seemed to float into that space. There I saw a bluish white egg, crackling with energy. As I watched, it spun slowly, and within it I saw Lord Krishna, and then it spun again, and I saw the Buddha, it picked up speed, and soon the Krishna and Buddha merged into one and faster still until there was only the egg. And then, a silent explosion (I guess that is what a supernova event must be like). And I saw galaxies and stars flying by me. 

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  11. Posted

    18 hours ago, idiot_stimpy said:

    Question for discussion, is a nondual realisation equivalent to a kundalini activation?

     

    Are they both a means to the same end? 

     

    A nondual seeing simulating the kundalini, or energetically stimulating the kundalini leading to a nondual seeing?

    Nondual realization is the full awakening of chit kundalini. What people usually refer to as “kundalini” is Prana kundalini. It can also lead awakening of chit kundalini, but not always. 

    • Like 1

  14. Posted

    1 hour ago, liminal_luke said:

    Is this kind of thing especially prevalent in martial arts circles or a feature of our age generally?  I see people getting bent out of shape all the time (myself occasionally included), especially online.  Different politics, different religious beliefs, different hairstyles....whatever the topic, it seems we humans can devise an ingroup and an outgroup and judge the outies.  Some people even get distraught over nondualism.  :ph34r:

    Yeah, binary logic is very reassuring. Imagine not having the ground to push off of. The opposite is a very natural, instinctive option for us. Us vs. Them, in-group vs. out-group, Blue vs. Red, all symptoms of a mental disease that get exacerbated every time we resort to this kind of mentation. 

    • Like 3

  16. Posted

    There is an interesting phenomenon where people react in an immature manner to someone who they disagree with. I was reading a post on FB of a relatively famous IMA/Neigong teacher who said he regularly gets death threats toward  himself and his family simply because he teaches something that his detractors don't agree with. Mostly, the culprits are martial artists (or that's the sense i got from the post). 

     

    I wonder if this is a case of arrested development of the intellect/psyche of these so-called martial artists (many are probably middle-aged or older)? Maybe they have unresolved trauma from their formative years that has prevented them from developing wisdom and kindness towards others. I can understand not agreeing with someone, but to threaten them with death and violence because of said disagreement is juvenile (if not criminal).

     

    • Like 1

  17. Posted

    Just now, stirling said:

     

    Some great wisdom here. I agree with your experience, and your teacher. 

     

    We have a tendency to filter our experiences through our "self", processing them in thoughts, dismissing the seemingly impossible, explaining away the strange with whatever model of reality (religion, science, beliefs) we have clung to or adopted. When we stop trying to impose models on the infinity that is experience, or deny what appears, things start to loosen up. Are there angels, devils and aliens? As long as there is no attempt to reify them, eventually almost anything can appear in consciousness, in my experience.

     

    The intellect doesn’t like randomness. It will always try to create a “story” in attempt to make sense of whatever it encounters. That’s why we look for cause, purpose, reason (not saying that it’s bad). 
     

    One effect of spiritual wisdom is that the need for reason, purpose, etc is extinguished. One of course will continue to use the intellect in the transactional sense, but the compulsive need is gone. 

    • Like 3

  20. Posted

    The conditioning is different between western and traditional eastern societies. It’s often difficult to tell the difference in modern times, with rampant urbanization and cultural assimilation (predominantly from west to east) - colonialism has a big role to play in that process.

    But there is also a resurgence of traditional eastern views as the trauma of colonialism begins to recede from generational memory. Ancient civilizations like India (dharma) and china (a more nuanced understanding is needed - how Chinese communism actually reclaimed confucian perspective) are reclaiming their roots , and will in the next 30-50 years become the predominant worldviews (given that 2/3s of the world population is in that region of Asia). 

    • Like 1

  22. Posted

    I've been noticing two types of different flows that occur above the crown  - i.e. from top of the crown to about 18-20" above it. One is a spiraling (a double helical pattern) which turns slowly (frequency about 3-6 cycles per second). The other is a little sphere of energy in that area (usually notice it when I'm chanting a mantra) - which is like a double torus (donut) whose surface is flowing continuously.

     

    Any thoughts?

    • Like 3

  23. Posted · Edited by dwai

    5 hours ago, Nungali said:

    Not only is that silly , I have never heard that  before  ( not  even on Daobums ! )

    There some very interesting theories about it, right here on daobums. 😆

     

     

    • Like 1

  25. Posted

    I would categorize practices in two broad groups, predicated on the objective. For me, spiritual practices are for liberation or Self-realization. So, towards that objective the groups are -

     

    Direct Path

    Gradual Path 

     

    The direct path takes us to the goal directly. Right here, Right now! But not many can handle it. For those there are preparatory practices like stabilizing the body (physical and energetic), stilling the mind, and so on. 
     

    The indirect path is an evolutionary one, spanning multiple lifetimes. It involves proper rituals, right conduct, and so on.