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featuring Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche - one of the monks involved in the groundbreaking project conducted by the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior at Wisconsin University to examine the effects of meditation on the brains of advanced meditators. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=793eUxsxOOM&feature=related

Excellent! I liked it very much. Thank you Kip.

no more loneliness nor ice-creams and lollipops gone is the sweet-tooth...

Hmm yes i agree the movie was rather disappointing. The book was much more interesting. Duke deRichleau was one of my childhood heroes. After reading this novel i became an instant fan of Dennis Wheatley and went on to collect a number of his other works. I think i must have been 12 or 13 then. I still remember the Latin magical invocation he used to dispel the demons with - 'fundamenta ejus in montibus sanctis'... wonder if it really means something or is it really effective? Drew might want to give it a try perhaps?

precious few moments on the back of an old truck with chickens for friends...

Pray tell, TJL... these conclusions of yours, based on 3 decades of intelligent study, are they or are they not your beliefs? Have they not weaved their way into your present consciousness, influencing and hardening your views and your present disposition? The fact that you cannot suspend this hardline view and be more accommodating of others who happen to approach spiritual discoveries in ways different to yours, does that not make you somewhat of an extremist, which is actually more severe than being simply a dogmatic believer, the kind that you so abhor? Just cos you label your work as intelligent 'explorations that withstand scrutiny' does not in any way mean that others do not have their own unique practices which could be labelled similarly - so what makes your explorations more profoundly effective, i wonder? Just as you have a mental check-list/guidelines that determine what is right to adopt as a philosophy or way of life for your own path, others too have their own system of investigation to perhaps derive similar conclusions as yourself. The fact that certain paths and practitioners prefer a more structured approach does not nullify the validity of the end-result. As a matter of course, i am certain that your 3 decades of research was intelligently performed, and your inquiries was definitely not done haphazardly - again i wonder, what makes you think your conclusions are somehow more valid than those you often lock horns with here, and may i remind again, that often it is you who initiate the first move in this 'game', which makes you quite a hypocrite really, seeing how you often put others down for engaging in mental word-play. Next time before you pass judgement on others and belittle their position and integrity, please use the energy to reflect on your own hard-line, stubborn beliefs first - cos whatever you throw at others (as though they are stupid or something), springs from these very same beliefs of yours, so please spare us all the talk about how shallow and ineffective Buddhism and other -isms are, just because the approaches are not aligned with the beliefs (yes, Beliefs) in your own so-called dogma-free Clarity.

Sarcasm is your domain TJL. I am only dishing whats been handed over. If these kindly remarks of yours were not strewn all over the shop, there would have been nothing there to dish with. Right from the word 'go', there were vibrant signs of discontent gleaned from all your posts directed at Buddhist posters, most of which hid behind the veil of 'clarity'. Just because no 'religious' labels are attached to your brand of 'clarity' does not make it any more 'clear'. In addition, the afore-mentioned posts are all, whats the word - peppered, perhaps - with stark displays of intolerance. When challenged, more than once proclaimed you have much respect for your buddhist brothers and sisters! Boy, you sure have a 'clear' way of demonstrating this. Your statement above about some guy's need to escape reality fundamentally shows a total lack of understanding of that which you hope to refute, and, to put it crassly, displays ignorance and disrespect. You might want to consider taking some lessons from Apepch7 as regards to decorum and diplomacy to polish up that mucky 'mirror of clarity' that you are so proud of. To conclude, yes, i would say its still quite murky. Be well..

And whats this here? Just more 'Ralism'!

Old time agape whispered in ages gone by just reminiscing...

Self-manifesting stillness... yeah right. Like a zombie you mean? Murky, like always.

A form of 'Ralism' propaganda perhaps? (c'mon lets go 'Rile' up some buddhists says he... !!!)

Among Chinese Buddhists, 'Bu Ren' is also understood as 'empty of an independent self', that the notion of a 'self-existing self' is incorrect, and that the 'self' is merely made-up of non-self elements, or a collection of aggregates. In this regard, they would sometimes integrate the state of 'dispassion' with 'ease towards attaining equanimous compassion' - seeing it this way, without an independent self, passion and dispassion have nowhere to get stuck on, so its natural for one to then find the middle ground, treating all things equally. In this middle ground, beyond all biases, compassion arises spontaneously, just like the way a loving mother regards all her children, without favoring any one in particular, and often sacrificing her own needs to put the children's first. Quite Tao, actually.

Boy am i glad to see you back here Marbles! I was actually worried when you went missing for a while. Trust all is well with you? Why yes, says he... wonderful! A jolly good fella you are.

This reminds me of what a Zen master said - That within each of us lies Big Mind and Small Mind. I just want to add that right smack in the middle lies the word, 'Choice'. All the good and right things which we often know about comes from the big 'un. Its almost instinctual. For example, when there is hunger, the good and right thing to do is to eat. Some, however do not listen, and the short-(energy depletion), middle-(gastritis) and long-term(ulcers) effects are immediately put in play. By making the right choices, often we can create the causes for promoting the possibilities for Higher Power to manifest either immediately, in the near future, or at some point in the distant future. That which we know, but choose to ignore, comes from the small 'un. Not much need be said about this. However, if one believes there is a Higher Power (faith not required - just common sense, most times), and chooses to see it manifest in 'mysterious' ways in daily life by being mindfully aware, i suppose often one will. Conversely, if the belief is absent, or negated, or shunned for that matter, then the choice made to prevent/ignore any sort of manifestation will naturally align itself. Asleep or awake - a matter of choosing wisely... Thanks Bob!

In plain English this secret is also called, "Same dung different day."

That is precisely what i said - you lack the ability to see the (very apparent) differences.

Nah...too convoluted i'm afraid. Sorry, but thanks all the same. You DO realize that in essence what you're doing here, and what you have flung at others by way of accusations, are exactly the same? Guess you will never see that, which is rather strange. Perhaps a touch of intelligent semi-blindness dont you think, which could also be interpreted as ignorance? You are preaching too without the guts to face the truth of it. Fasting, full-lotus blah blah blah - what is new in your park DH?

in your bag of tricks a rabbit, doves and flowers Magician at large...

Hey Presto! You missed out on the veneration of Xabir? How could you, for all your keen observational skills?

Pea-shooters/Full-lotulists ALERT! Sound the alarm! Ping! Ping! Ting! Oops... .............. Glad you're back Vaj. I for one respect your mental dexterity and disciplined manners. Dragonfire seems to think i am in your troupe, and DHem thinks i am a Russian chick who has the hots for you, and they are the ones who adhere to (read adore) Full-lotusism, which apparently is the be-all and end-all, according to the 'walking encyclopedia' of O's at a D. With all his intelligence, he cant even tell the difference between a male and female bum... Oh bummer!

becomes ready cash those tear-outs and old tea bags please do not discard...

Stage One (The Softening Stage) - Begin by performing 100 000 prostrations while reciting the 100 syllable Vajrasattva Mantra! I enjoyed this post Mikael! Good points!

A NEW EARTH you say to prepare for - May this one be more flavorful! Succulent with the juices of decency coursing thru the veins of all beings...

More than this, i do recall in one of your earlier posts you stressed the need to strip the gurus (i assumed you meant individuals) so i responded in that vein. However, i fully agree with your thoughts here on the institutions. In the last 10 years i have seen many supposedly traditional spiritual lineages being corporatized, with the latest management systems put in place to be run like fortune500 companies. Not saying this is bad. Just a sign of the times i suppose. As more and more influential Western patrons become benefactors, perhaps these systems become one type of means of accountability to safeguard 'investments'. The downside, i suppose, is that some individuals who have distorted expectations of these traditional schools will decry this 21st century spiritual makeover - mistaking progress in organization for spiritual corruption.

I can understand where most of your points are coming from. You have articulated well - many thanks for that. I just want to add that i too, have had the affinity to meet many teachers in the few years i have tried to broaden my spiritual understanding, and thus far have not met one who was arrogant enough to proclaim that somehow they are in possession of a kind of secret higher knowledge and ought to be kowtowed to based on that. This is just my personal experience, which in no way is a suggestion that i am so naive as to say that there are no scoundrels out there. Of course there are, within all traditions. Even the real masters themselves acknowledge this. The ideas of subservience to a physical person (as in gurus) when one embarks on the spiritual path are all based on false understanding, and more often than not, completely blown out of context. No true masters expect such subservience, yet they are the ones who are often paid the highest homage. We need to investigate why this is so, and to do this, we cannot simply lump all the apples into one basket, and proclaim there, these guys are all the same - this is not investigation, more like accusations. Individual gurus have individual merits. Should we feel the need to venerate, perhaps more than the person, is the veneration of merits, those that we ourselves aspire to realize. Ultimately, whatever humility is offered up, with hearts and minds opened, can only do more good than harm.