dawg

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About dawg

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  1. A Path To Enlightenment

    Allinone, Meditate more, and read lessā€¦ you canā€™t really understand what the books say unless you have experienced it for yourselfā€¦ imagine that you wanted to learn to snow skiā€¦ you could read about skiing for a year and still not know how to skiā€¦ but if you went to a ski slope, put on a pair of skis, and tried to ski for even one dayā€¦ you would know more about skiing, than reading about it for a yearā€¦ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is what I was taught by my teacherā€¦ it is what Theravada Buddhism teaches.. What is a ā€œBUDDHAā€ā€¦? What is ā€œAWAKENEDā€ā€¦ ? What is the meaning of the word ā€œBuddhaā€ā€¦? Buddha is often misunderstood as the name of a historical figure from Indiaā€¦ but this is not the caseā€¦ his name was ā€œSiddhartha Gautamaā€, the word Buddha means ā€œawakeā€ā€¦ when Siddhartha Gautama was asked by a man, ā€œare you a godā€¦?ā€ Gautama, the person who became the Buddha replied, ā€œNo ! ā€ ... ā€œthen what are you?ā€ the man asked againā€¦Gautama answered, ā€œI am awakeā€ā€¦ the word ā€œBuddhaā€ is derived from a Sanskrit word that means ā€œawakeā€ ā€¦that is why he is called ā€œBuddhaā€ā€¦ all awakened people are Buddhas (awake), but out of respect the title ā€œBuddhaā€ is reserved for Siddhartha Gautamaā€¦ What is a ā€œBODHISATTAā€ā€¦? The Buddha referred to his past lives before he became the Buddha as ā€œwhen I was a bodhisattvaā€ā€¦ meaning that a Bodhisattva is not yet awake, but will reaching awakening in seven reincarnations or less ā€¦Bodisattas are not yet ā€œawakeā€, they still have delusionā€¦ they will die and be reborn in the physical world unless they have reached the attainment of ā€œAnagamiā€, the last attainment before wakeningā€¦ then if they are an ā€œAnagamiā€, they will be reborn in one of the ā€œpure abodesā€ which are the highest heavensā€¦ and reach awakening there, and never be born anywhere else againā€¦ or if they are a ā€œSakadagamiā€ (ā€œonce returnerā€), they will be reborn in the physical world one more time, and reach ā€œAnagamiā€ and go to the ā€œpure abodesā€; or reach awakeningā€¦ A Bodhisatta is a ā€œSotapanna, a ā€ stream enterer who has abandoned the first three fetters that bind the citta to the cycle of birth and death, and has entered the path to awakeningā€¦ he will be reborn no more than seven times, before he reaches awakeningā€¦ and because his own eventual awakening is assured, he chooses to spend this life, and as much of his future lives as he can, in helping others to reach awakeningā€¦ What is a ā€œARAHATā€ā€¦? The Ten Fetters to Awakeningā€¦ There are 10 fetters or bonds that tie us to this deluded world of existence. To become awakened, we need to overcome or cut these fettersā€¦ 1 - False belief in Self. 2 - Skeptical Doubt about the Dhamma. 3 - Attachment to Rites and Rituals, including norms, beliefs, concepts, names. 4 - Sense Desires. 5 - Ill Will. 6 - Attachment for existence in the Fine Material Planes. 7 - Attachment for existence in the Fine Immaterial Planes. 8 ā€“ Conceit. 9 ā€“ Restlessness. 10 ā€“ Ignorance. The 4 levels of attainment on the path to awakening A Sotapana or ā€œPath Entererā€ has eradicated the first 3 fetters of a false belief in Self, skeptical doubt and attachment to Rites and Rituals. He will have at most 7 more lifetimes before achieving enlightenment. Having eradicated the first 3 fetters, he will not fall back into the lower realms (he will never be reborn in hell, or as an animal again). A Sakadagami or Once-Returner has further weaken but not totally eradicated Sense Desires and Ill Will. He will have no more than one rebirth before attaining nirvana... An Anagami or Non-Returner has eradicated the first 5 fetters. He will be reborn in the Pure Abodes and from there attain Nirvana... An Arahant has eradicated all the 10 fetters. He has attained awakening (enlightenment) in this life. What is ENLIGHTENMENT ? Though 19th century translators of Buddhist texts sometimes used the word "enlightenment" to refer to Gautama's moment of spiritual awakening on seeing the morning starā€¦ the first time a large number of general English readers saw the word used as a spiritual term was with the publication of ā€œEssays on Zen Buddhism First Series D.T. Suzukiā€ in the 1930sā€™ā€™... Before that time the word referred to the 18th century rationalist movement in Europe that strove to understand the world using logic and reason. ..The word ā€œenlightenmentā€ is just the English language word used in translation to describe the Buddhaā€™s awakening, it is not a different type of awakeningā€¦ A Buddha..., someone who is Awakened..., an Arahat..., and someone who is Enlightened, have all reached the same level of attainmentā€¦ they are all the sameā€¦ spiritually they have all permanently destroyed their delusion and purified their Citta ā€¦ and have reached nirvanaā€¦ their personalities my be different, their talents may be different, there may be other differences... but once they die, they will never be born or die again, they are free... Dawg
  2. A Path To Enlightenment

    Taichistudent, The reason I started this forum was to pay back the wisdom my teacher taught meā€¦ all I do is answer questions, or give opinionsā€¦ since you have no questions, I will give you an opinionā€¦ You try to use ā€œanger" to control peopleā€¦ a person who uses anger (your righteous indignation is just another form of anger) to control people, is a person with low self esteemā€¦ why do you have low self esteemā€¦? It is because your father used righteous indignation (anger) to control you, and conditioned you that way when you were a childā€¦ he indignantly criticized every little thing you did wrong, but never praised you for the things you did rightā€¦ he was always ā€œrightā€ and you were always ā€œwrongā€ā€¦ so all of your conditioning is negative, which is why you have low self esteem, and a negative attitudeā€¦ then to cover up your low self esteem, you built up a superiority complex, which is your bloated egoā€¦ now you have turned into your fatherā€¦ and you indignantly (angrily) criticize other people, to prove to yourself that you are superiorā€¦ that is why you waste your time being an internet troll, trying to bait people, then trying to flame themā€¦ all trolls are the sameā€¦ they are a psychological type styleā€¦ Whether you practice Tai Chi as a martial art or mild form of exercise, your anger and low self esteem (negative attitude) will poison your effortsā€¦ You are a spiritual crippleā€¦ your low self esteem prevents you from being able to ā€œloveā€ yourselfā€¦ and if you cannot love yourself, you cannot love anyone elseā€¦ and if you cannot love anyone else, they cannot love youā€¦ The first step in breaking out of your negative attitude, is to accept yourself just the way you are, and know that you are no better or worse than anyone elseā€¦ love yourself and accept yourselfā€¦ you are not inferior, you are not superiorā€¦ once you can do that, you can destroy both your low self esteem and superiority complexā€¦ and until you can do that, you are wasting your time, if you are meditatingā€¦ you need a positive attitude if you expect to make any positive progressā€¦ a negative attitude poisons your mind and blocks any positive attainmentā€¦ only you can make that choiceā€¦ if you flip your attitude from negative to positive, everything else will fall into placeā€¦ if you donā€™t flip your negative attitude, your negative emotions will poison your life and be the source of more problemsā€¦ you create your fate with your thoughts and actionsā€¦ Dawg
  3. A Path To Enlightenment

    seekingBuddha, Please edit your post, and delete ā€œVenerable Dawgā€, and change it to simply ā€œDawgā€™ā€¦ then I will delete this request from my postā€¦ I am not offended, it just made me smile at the absurdity of itā€¦ I am not a ā€œholy manā€ preaching religionā€¦ I am just an ordinary guy who wanted to know the ā€œtruthā€ of our existenceā€¦ so I followed the path of the Buddha, and found itā€¦ 1ā€¦ Terminology Terminology....Words such as liberation, arhantship, enlightenment are often interchangably used, these days. So, i request all who are posting in this thread to clarify their level of liberation using the terminology of the Buddha, the Supremely Enlightened One whose is the teacher of teachers. The Buddha used the Pali language which was the language of the common people in his day, so that everyone could easily understand what he saidā€¦ but today, no one speaks the Pali language, and glossaries of Pali words frequently contradict one another and give you different translationsā€¦ so that you are still unsure of the meaningā€¦ now that I have reached awakening and realized the simple meaning of the Pali words, I use simple English language words in their place, so that anyone who speaks English can easily understand what I writeā€¦ 2ā€¦ 'There are, Ananda, these eight liberations. What are they? (I) Possessing form, one sees forms. That is the first liberation. (2) Not perceiving material forms in oneself, one sees them outside. That is the second liberation. (3) Thinking: "It is beautiful", one becomes intent on it. That is the third. (4) By completely transcending all perception of matter, by the vanishing of the perception of sense-reactions and by nonattention to the perception of variety, thinking: "Space is infinite", one enters and abides in the Sphere of Infinite Space. That is the fourth. (5) By transcending the Sphere of Infinite Space, thinking: "Consciousness is infinite", one enters and abides in the Sphere of Infinite Consciousness. That is the fifth. (6) By transcending the Sphere of Infinite Consciousness, thinking: "There is no thing", one enters and abides in the Sphere of No-Thingness. That is the sixth. (7) By transcending the Sphere of No-Thingness, one reaches and abides in the Sphere of Neither-Perception-Nor-Non-Perception. That is the seventh. (8) By transcending the Sphere of Neither-Perception-Nor-Non-Perception one enters and abides in the Cessation of Perception and Feeling. That is the eighth liberation. 'Ananda, when once a monk attains these eight liberations in forward order, in reverse order, and in forward-and-reverse order, entering them and emerging from them, as and when, and for as long as he wishes, and has gained by his own super-knowledge here and now, both the destruction of the corruptions, and the uncorrupted liberation of heart and liberation by wisdom, that monk is called "both-ways-liberated, and Ananda, there is no other way of "both-ways- liberation" that is more excellent or perfect than this.' ....................(Mahanidana Sutta) Since it would be nice to hear from someone who speaks from direct experience, could you expound on the experience of reaching each one of these liberation stations ? The eight liberationsā€¦ These are not ā€œliberation stationsā€ on the path to awakeningā€¦ they are a super sure test to see if you are awakenedā€¦ Ananda did not reach awakening until after the Buddhaā€™s deathā€¦ The Buddha is talking to his cousin Ananda, who in spite of high attainment had been unable to reach awakeningā€¦ and Ananda wanted to know how he could test himself and know beyond any doubt that he was awakenedā€¦ the Buddha is explaining to him how he would know for sure that he had awakenedā€¦ Ananda reached awakening after the Buddha diedā€¦ The eight liberations are the rejection of the physical world and the seven types of higher and higher heavenly worldsā€¦ the Buddha is saying to Ananda that if he can visit these 8 types of realms without wanting to stay in any of them, he is enlightenedā€¦ bear in mind that the inhabitants of all of the heavenly realms, even the highest, suffer from delusion (karma), and when they die will reincarnate again in the physical realmā€¦ but if he does not choose any of them, he will rise above the heavenly realms and not reincarnate because he has no delusion (karma)ā€¦ he is freeā€¦ There is not just one path, there are manyā€¦ the Buddha mentioned that there are tens of thousands of possible paths, but I donā€™t remember the exact number he saidā€¦ 3ā€¦ You have expounded on your experiences of visiting other worlds. Some in this thread have mentioned numerous worlds that exist beyond earth. So, why is it that Digha Nikaya mentions only 31 abodes (worlds), including the fine-material Bramha/Deva worlds ? (I don't think is this of much use to me, as i focus more on my development, here and now. But, my curiosity is curious). There is an endless multitude of inhabited planets, and their spirit realms in the universeā€¦ plus there are spirit realms for animals and all other lifeā€¦ but humans will go to one of the 31 realms mentioned in the Digha Nikaya ā€¦ so the Buddha only mentioned the realms that concerned usā€¦ 4ā€¦ While i spent many months at the meditation center, i encountered several visitors who would engage me in spiritual talk. And some of these people spoke about their use of psychedelic drugs to attain to the experience of reaching other realms and beings. I still remember one guy who said he had attained Nibbana Some of these people were very happy, healthy, highly educated and successful. So, i neither credited nor dis-credited them, while speaking. But, i started wondering if the use of drugs plays tricks with brain chemistry and if it is easier for drug users (past or present), to reach advances in liberation. If this is possible, I wonder how many in this thread are using (OR have used) drugs to reach their attainments. The ancient Indo-Europeans who swept down off the Eurasian Steppe, conquered India, and founded Hinduismā€¦ they built sweat lodges filled with marijuana smoke to purify themselvesā€¦and then they drank ā€œSomaā€ (a psychedelic drug they called the ā€œdrink of the of the godsā€) which allowed them to see and communicate with the godsā€¦ psychedelic drugs were used in almost every tribal religion in the worldā€¦ it is a tradition that goes back thousands of yearsā€¦ psychedelic drugs strip away ā€œmundane realityā€ which is ā€œAvijjaā€ or ā€œdelusionā€ā€¦ which allows a person to temporarily see and know that mundane reality is not real, that it is an illusion, a deception, a delusionā€¦ that there is a higher realityā€¦ the effect of the psychedelic drug is temporary, but the memory of it permanently alters a personā€™s perception of ā€œrealityā€ ā€¦but it does not do the work of purifying the mind, a person still has to meditate to destroy mundane reality, but now they know what and whyā€¦ 5ā€¦ The power of subconcious could be the influence for the "visions" people get during dreams ? While you have talked about the distinction between visions and ordinary dreams, i wonder how one can be sure that thevisions are not the projections of the subconcious (during deep sleep). Your subconscious mind is your spiritā€¦ so it is always in, and connected telepathically to the spirit worldā€¦ and it communicates with spirits and the subconscious minds of other people, without you being aware of itā€¦ your subconscious mind creates ā€œvisionsā€, ā€œnormal dreamsā€, and ā€œlucid dreamsā€¦ all three are created by your subconscious mindā€¦ā€œvisionsā€ are called ā€œNimittaā€ and happen when you are wide awake and meditatingā€¦ normal dreams occur in your subconscious mind while you are sleepingā€¦ ā€œlucid dreamsā€ take place outside of your subconscious mind in the spirit world, and are usually generated by one or more spirits (your spirit guides) trying to teach or test youā€¦ 6.. Morality: While discussing the numerous reasons why other people praise him, Buddha says "Abandoning unchastity, the ascetic Gotama lives far from it, aloof from the village-practice of sex"....... "Abandoning harsh speech, he refrains from it. He speaks whatever is blameless, pleasing to the ear, agreeable, reaching the heart, urbane, pleasing and attractive to the multitude." I can not question your decisions, but i wonder why you chose a different path, post liberation/arhantship ? Buddha has spoken about how liberated beings lose the strength of their mindfulness and equanimity, due to indulgenceā€¦ The Buddha is talking about the awakened monks, who have taken a vow of chastityā€¦ so he is not warning them about sexā€¦ but because I am awakened, you think I should take a vow of chastityā€¦ because you think sex is ā€œdirtyā€ā€¦ your delusion is showingā€¦ Indulgence is anything that you do in excessā€¦ you can eat in excess, that is indulgence ā€¦ but that does not mean that eating food is bad and that you should not eatā€¦ there is nothing wrong with eating foodā€¦ you can spend all your money buying trendy clothes, that is indulgenceā€¦ but that does not mean you should not buy clothesā€¦ you can spend fourteen hours a day reading books, that is indulgenceā€¦ but that does not mean you should not read booksā€¦ you can have two hundred pet dogs, that is indulgenceā€¦ but that does not mean you should not have a pet dogā€¦ you can have sex with dozens of women, that is indulgenceā€¦ but that does not mean you should not have sex with one womanā€¦ You said ā€¦ ā€œBuddha has spoken about how liberated beings lose the strength of their mindfulness and equanimity, due to indulgenceā€ā€¦ the Buddha was cautioning about any form of excess, he is not prohibiting sexā€¦ Once you reach awakening, you have finished, it is permanentā€¦ now if you are not a monk, you can continue the life you had before you started to meditate, and now it is effortless and full of joyā€¦ I am not a monkā€¦ nor have I ever taken a vow of chastityā€¦ and you forget that you reach awakening by accepting the Buddhaā€™s middle path as your new realityā€¦ sex is neither good or bad, it is neutral of itselfā€¦ it just isā€¦ only intention can make it good or badā€¦ if you are neutral, and neither seek it, or reject itā€¦ there is no attachment or karmaā€¦ if you are married, it is a duty you owe your wifeā€¦ Dawg
  4. A Path To Enlightenment

    3Dominicus3, you asked me for my opinion... and I gave it to you... you can accept it, or reject it... it does not matter to me... I will not respond to your post point by point, because you are not serious... instead I will give you my opinion again... When you said that you were playing the devilā€™s advocate, you were admitting that you were not telling the truth of what you believe, but were trying to bait meā€¦ in short, you were lying, and by lying you destroyed the credibility of everything else that you saidā€¦ What you say and imply about your level of attainment, also shows you were lying about that tooā€¦ it is all ā€œbook knowledge that you donā€™t understand properly, so that you cannot describe it properly, it is not your personal experienceā€¦ but you think you understand itā€¦ I will not describe the things that give you away, because I donā€™t want to help you make your lies more credibleā€¦ A person who tells lies, is a person with low self esteemā€¦ why do you have low self esteemā€¦? It is usually because your father conditioned you that wayā€¦ he criticized every little thing you did wrong, but never praised you for the things you did rightā€¦ so all of your conditioning is negative, which is why you have low self esteem, and a negative attitudeā€¦ then to cover up your low self esteem, you built up a superiority complex, which is your bloated egoā€¦ now you have turned into your fatherā€¦ and you criticize everybody else, to prove to yourself that you are superiorā€¦ that is why you waste your time being an internet troll, trying to bait people, then criticizing themā€¦ Your low self esteem prevents you from being able to ā€œloveā€ yourselfā€¦ and if you cannot love yourself, you cannot love anyone elseā€¦ and if you cannot love anyone else, they cannot love youā€¦ The first step in breaking out of your negative attitude, is to accept yourself just the way you are, and know that you are no better or worse than anyone elseā€¦ love yourself and accept yourselfā€¦ once you can do that, you can destroy both your low self esteem and superiority complexā€¦ until you can do that, you are wasting your time, if you are meditatingā€¦ you need a positive attitude if you expect to make any positive progressā€¦ a negative attitude poisons your mind and blocks any positive attainmentā€¦ only you can make that choiceā€¦ if you flip your attitude from negative to positive, everything else will fall into placeā€¦ if you donā€™t flip your negative attitude, your negative emotions will poison your life and be the source of more problemsā€¦ you create your fate with your thoughts and actionsā€¦ Dawg
  5. A Path To Enlightenment

    Allinone, Yes, what you described above is ā€œAvijjaā€ā€¦ when we are little children we learn how to act like the adults around us by watching them, and doing what they doā€¦ we also watch children older than us and learn from themā€¦ we want to act like adults so we mimic their actionsā€¦ even when we ā€œplayā€, we play by pretending we are acting like adultsā€¦if adults get angry, we learn to get angryā€¦ if adults lie to each other, we learn lie to each otherā€¦ if adults hit each other, we learn to hit each otherā€¦ whatever we see and experience around us, we consider to be normal behaviorā€¦ and our actions and reactions, and the emotions that they generate become automaticā€¦ our actions and reactions, and emotions that they generate are no longer controlled by our conscious mind, they are now controlled by the subconscious mind (our Citta)ā€¦we then forget that we learned these actions and reactions, and think that they are our ā€œgut reactionā€ to the world around usā€¦we no longer control what we have learned, it controls usā€¦ we have been brainwashed, and donā€™t even know itā€¦ this is what Avijja (delusion) is, and how it controls our conscious mindā€¦this is why we need to purify the Citta (subconscious mind)ā€¦ before we can reach ā€œawakeningā€, and why enlightenment is called ā€œawakeningā€ā€¦ it is like awakening from a dreamā€¦that seemed so real that it deluded usā€¦ Dawg
  6. A Path To Enlightenment

    Allinone, Buddhist terminology uses the Pali language, which was the language of the common people at the time of the Buddhaā€¦ Pali is a corrupted version of the Sanskrit language which was brought to India by the indo-europeans who swept down from the north about 1800 years before the time of the Buddha and conquered Indiaā€¦ who then set themselves up as the ruling class, and founded Hinduismā€¦ the Buddha was an indo-europeanā€¦ The subconscious mind is in what is called ā€œthe Cittaā€ (pronounced as Chitta)ā€¦ which is usually translated as ā€œmindā€ or ā€œheartā€ā€¦ ā€œmindā€ is the conscious mind, ā€œheartā€ is the subconscious mindā€¦ the subconscious mind is called the ā€œheartā€ because it feels and controls our emotionsā€¦ the purified Chitta is radiant and bright, and is a state of ā€œknowingnessā€ā€¦ a Citta that is not purified is under the power of ā€œAvijjaā€ (delusion)ā€¦ as long as there is ā€œAvijjaā€, there is ā€œintentionā€ā€¦ ā€œintentionā€ creates ā€œKammaā€ (Karma) that attaches itself to the Cittaā€¦ everything that we think or do, originates in the Citta (conscious mind and subconscious mind)ā€¦ Dawg
  7. A Path To Enlightenment

    Hey Dawg, Hey Kubba, From your perspective - is it true that arahants do not have sexual life or are impotents? They say in Buddhism it is like that after full enlightenment. Ajahn Brahm said so, but some gurus and teachers have wifes so I don't understand this partā€¦ Buddhist monks have taken a vow of chastityā€¦ and unless they quit being monks (disrobe), it is forbidden for them to have sexā€¦ so they abstain from sex, because they rather stay as a monkā€¦ they may or may not be impotent, that depends on their age and heathā€¦ Ajahn Brahm abstained from sex for most of his adult life, so he didnā€™t miss itā€¦ __________________________________________ Quote from my reply above, ā€œI never ordained as a monkā€¦ but now that I am awakened, I am totally neutral and indifferent all the timeā€¦ and open and honestā€¦ and I never try to pick up a womanā€¦ but women try to pick me upā€¦ and if I have sex, it is the best sex I ever hadā€¦ because there is no voice in my mind to distract me, and I am totally in the present momentā€¦ but I donā€™t miss sex, or go looking for itā€¦ it is just a ā€œspontaneous unplanned eventā€ā€¦ bear in mind that sex is neither ā€œgoodā€ nor ā€œevilā€, that it just ā€œisā€ā€¦ if you donā€™t cling to it (consider it ā€œgoodā€ or ā€œevilā€), there is no karmaā€¦ I am now experiencing what it was like back in the mythical ā€œGarden of Edenā€ of Adam & Eveā€¦ before they ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of ā€œgoodā€ and ā€œevilā€, and became deludedā€¦ delusion is the ā€œoriginal sinā€ of Christianityā€¦ I laughed my ass off (at the absurdity and simplicity of it) when I first realized this, after I awakenedā€¦ it is so blatantly obvious to me now, that I canā€™t imagine how I could not have seen it before I awakenedā€¦ but that is how powerful delusion is, we canā€™t see what is right in front of our facesā€¦ but when we destroy delusion, we regain our innocence, purity, and peaceā€¦ and the whole world is a Garden of Edenā€¦ and our conscious and subconscious minds integrate themselves into this Eden, so that we are plugged into whatever we needā€¦ and life becomes fearless, painless, and effortlessā€¦ā€ ______________________________________________ Arahants essentially all go through the same process of purifying their subconscious mind, so they are the same in that they have all destroyed the delusion in their subconscious mindā€¦ but as a random group of people, they are as different as any other random group of peopleā€¦ their skills and powers vary depending on what they were interested in and cultivatedā€¦ But I donā€™t think it is possible for gurus and teachers who have wives, to be enlightened in the sense of being a Buddhist arahantā€¦ a married arahant would be like sayingā€¦ ā€œhe has one of his feet nailed to the floor (he is attached to his wife), but he can go anywhere he wants to go with the other footā€ā€¦ you cannot be tied down, and free at the same timeā€¦ but the Hindu tradition considers raising the Kundalini using any method, as reaching enlightenmentā€¦ in Buddhism raising the Kundalini is called a ā€œBrahmin Awakeningā€, because it temporarily pushes aside your delusion and gives you a taste of awakening, but then the delusion reasserts itself, and returns and the awakening fades awayā€¦ and you are right back where you startedā€¦ but with the Buddhist awakening, you destroy the delusion, so it is permanently goneā€¦ Dawg
  8. A Path To Enlightenment

    Hey Dawg, Just wanted to reply to a few points: Hey Dominicus3 Sorry to be so long in replying, I was off lineā€¦ Quote Karma is just the spiritual equivalent of Sir Issac Newtonā€™s ā€œthird law of motionā€ describing one of the laws of the physical universe which states thatā€¦ā€for every action, there is an equal and opposite reactionā€ā€¦ the universe is indifferentā€¦ what you sow, you reapā€¦ If you stick your hand in a fire, your hand gets burnedā€¦ why canā€™t you un-burn our handā€¦ ? The thing is, the laws of this physical universe has loopholes. You can cover your hand with a special fire-proof gel before putting it in a fire, and not get burned. Also, their is a high probability that there are other universes/dimensions that do not hold to the same rules that are in this one. If you put gel on your hand, you are not sticking your hand in a fire, you are sticking your gel in the fireā€¦ You are bound by the laws of this physical universe and spiritual universeā€¦ you canā€™t escape themā€¦ Everything you have ever thought or done (all your karmaā€¦ including your past lives) is recorded in the ā€œAkashic Recordsā€ (which is not in your subconscious mind, but your subconscious mind can access it)ā€¦ I have seen the akashic record myself when I awakened, so I know they are realā€¦ the record of your karma cannot be changed, it can only be added toā€¦ google ā€œakashic recordsā€, and check out several sitesā€¦ There are some teachings out there that describe the place within the body where karmic seeds rest (your karma is your conditioning and it is in your subconscious mindā€¦ It is also called your delusion), and it is said that an awakened one who has taken Buddhas vows (there is no such thing as Buddhaā€™s vowsā€¦! Unless you mean the vows of a Buddhist monk) , can go in and pluck all the karmic seeds out, and is no longer accumulating any (after you awaken, you no longer make any new karma, but your existing karma lasts until the death of your body..). So my question is, what if you haven't gotten or seen this within yourself yet? Cause it may be this way, but if one doesn't know, then they would just say that there is no way to transcend karma. (I know because I am awakened, and now have ā€œknowingā€)ā€¦ ā€œyou pluck out the karmic seedsā€ to reach awakening, not after you reach awakening Quote If it exists as described, normal humans would be unable to experience it, because they still have delusionā€¦ raising the kundalini might give you a taste of it for a short time, but it would quickly fadeā€¦ There are Taoist, Buddhist, Sufi, Mystical branches of thought that say that Absolute Beingness Experience doesn't require kundalini. Others say if consciousness merges absolute, then subconscious is transcended, because it is entirely seen as "Not I" therefore there is nowhere for consciousness to "stick." This makes no sense at allā€¦ either what you are reading is bullshit, or you donā€™t understand what you are readingā€¦ So from what I read of your path, via through the Subconscious , some say this is the front door to Enlightenment, and that the back door is just to no longer identify with it, while merging conscious with Unity Consciousness permanently in heart, and then merging Unity with Absolute in the LDT, and this backdoor way will also purify and trasncend the subconscious resulting in it becoming very quietā€¦ You cannot transcend or deceive your subconscious mindā€¦ at best you can make it ā€œquietā€ temporarilyā€¦ "Not I"ā€¦ is only one of the many steps on the path to awakeningā€¦ you also have to get rid of your hate, anger, greed, etc, etc, etcā€¦ and even then after attaining all the steps, you have to have the necessary strength of focus, to hold the focus long enough to break through and shatter your delusion (active karma)ā€¦ Your subconscious mind IS your eternal spirit which you are trying to purifyā€¦ it controls your conscious mind and your bodyā€¦ it is impossible to deceive itā€¦ it is what is deceiving you nowā€¦ and there is no back doorā€¦ I know a Taoist master in India (also claims Enlightenment) who teaches that only by avoiding and no longer identifying with Subconscious, will the central channel and access to unity and absolute open, and that going through subconscious is something you can get stick in for lifetimes with no guarantee, and that it is the hardest pathā€¦ I repeatā€¦ your subconscious mind IS your eternal spirit which you are trying to purifyā€¦ it controls everything elseā€¦ there is no back doorā€¦ it is the main event, you canā€™t avoid it or deceive itā€¦ but it deceives your conscious mind 24 hours a dayā€¦ which is why you are deluded and cannot tell the difference between truth and fictionā€¦ you obviously donā€™t meditate, you just read about meditatingā€¦ and unless you meditate, you are wasting your time reading about itā€¦ I'm bringing this up, no offense to you, (donā€™t worry about me, even if you tried to insult me, I would not take offenseā€¦ ) but to just show that everybody, who (you think) is enlightened, is teaching only what they know themselves through direct experience, and there were only a few teachers (Osho) Osho was certainly not awakened, all of his teachings were run of the mill hindu ā€œfeel good meditationsā€ presented by him with the flair of a good performerā€¦ who told people what they wanted to hearā€¦ you are too gullible (wishful thinking)ā€¦ donā€™t believe anything you hear or read until you try it out (take it for a spin around the block) and prove it to yourself, that it is trueā€¦ who spoke of a myriad of ways to get there, or at least 2 (front door/back door)ā€¦ All ways lead to the subconscious mind, called the ā€œcittaā€ in the Pali languageā€¦ Quote Think of ā€œMettaā€ as having a good attitude, so that you are happy, and wish other people happinessā€¦ because without a good attitude, you have poisoned your awarenessā€¦ and blocked spiritual attainmentā€¦ so in that sense ā€œMettaā€ is vitalā€¦ Don't some of these spirit realm gods feed off metta though? which would mean its better not to feed them with it? ā€œMettaā€ has nothing to do with the godsā€¦ it is simply having compassion and good feeling towards all other sentient beingsā€¦ so that you donā€™t poison your own mind with any negative thoughtsā€¦ Quote Anything that PERMANENTLY destroys all delusion in your subconscious mind will make you awakenedā€¦ but just temporarily detaching yourself from the delusion is just simple Samadhi (concentration)ā€¦ it makes your mind temporarily peaceful ; but when your concentration ends you are right back where you startedā€¦ it is not permanentā€¦ Ramana Maharshi taught that to find the source of thought, or the thought 'I', would uproot the main taproot of the entire conscious/subconscious mind, and leave you in complete thoughtlessness permanently along with full awakening, subconscious purged, enlightenment, and so forth. So in that case, it would qualify as your: "Anything that PERMANENTLY destroys all delusion in your subconscious mind will make you awakened." You already know that the source of ā€˜thoughtā€, and the thought ā€œIā€ is in the subconscious mindā€¦ so are you awakened nowā€¦??? Also, obviously it took years to get to this point, so would you agree entering a monastery full time would be the only legitimate choice to achieve this? Considering a monastic life is majority spent on practice without access to family, friends, tv, media, and other worldly distractions, it just sounds like your way there is impossible in the modern day worldā€¦ what you are saying here is that you donā€™t want to give up your delusion because you like it, and cling to itā€¦ that your delusion is more important to you, than spiritual developmentā€¦ that you are looking for a way to reach awakening, without having to let go of your delusionā€¦ I never ordained, I was what is called a ā€œDharma Guestā€ā€¦ I lived in a monkā€™s hut when I was at the monasteryā€¦ ate food collected by the monks on their alms round (had one meal a day)ā€¦ our group of Dharma guests (2 to 6 people)ā€¦were given Dharma talks 2 or 3 times a week, and our Dharma teacher would answer questionsā€¦ we were supposed to spend most of our time meditatingā€¦ I also had a house where I lived when I was not at the monasteryā€¦ when I started meditating, I had the attitude that I would give it a try, to see if I made any progress, I came to Thailand and found the best monastery and teacher that I could findā€¦ and from the beginning I made steady progressā€¦ so I persevered and the path opened up before meā€¦ Also 2 other questions I forgot to ask: 1. What's your take on Lust? It's connected also to the body/subconscious network yes? But there also stories of lust continuing in the spirit realms and some say lust is only part of the body, so I'm trying to figure out the whole Lust complex. Is it also transcended in your case or is there still some partaking in it? The only place in the spirit world where there is physical sex similar to the physical realm are in the lower heavenly realmsā€¦ the very lowest heavenly realms are here on earthā€¦ the inhabitants are the nymphs and satyrs of Greek mythology, so it can get wildā€¦ the feeling you get from just being in a realm gets better and better the higher you goā€¦ in the upper heavenly realms, just being there is far far better than physical sexā€¦ people there are usually married, and live togetherā€¦ sex there is staid, but when the two bodies meet, ZAP, you have a smile on your face for weeksā€¦ ā€œI never ordained as a monkā€¦ but now that I am awakened, I am totally neutral and indifferent all the timeā€¦ and open and honestā€¦ and I never try to pick up a womanā€¦ but women try to pick me upā€¦ and if I have sex, it is the best sex I ever hadā€¦ because there is no voice in my mind to distract me, and I am totally in the present momentā€¦ but I donā€™t miss sex, or go looking for itā€¦ it is just a ā€œspontaneous unplanned eventā€ā€¦ bear in mind that sex is neither ā€œgoodā€ nor ā€œevilā€, that it just ā€œisā€ā€¦ if you donā€™t cling to it (consider it ā€œgoodā€ or ā€œevilā€), there is no karmaā€¦ I am now experiencing what it was like back in the mythicall ā€œGarden of Edenā€ of Adam & Eveā€¦ before they ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of ā€œgoodā€ and ā€œevilā€, and became deludedā€¦ delusion is the ā€œoriginal sinā€ of Christianityā€¦ I laughed my ass off (at the absurdity and simplicity of it) when I first realized this, after I awakenedā€¦ it is so blatantly obvious to me now, that I canā€™t imagine how I could not have seen it before I awakenedā€¦ but that is how powerful delusion is, we canā€™t see what is right in front of our facesā€¦ but when we destroy delusion, we regain our innocence, purity, and peaceā€¦ and the whole world is a Garden of Edenā€¦ and our conscious and subconscious minds integrate themselves into this Eden, so that we are plugged into whatever we needā€¦ and life becomes fearless, painless, and effortlessā€¦ā€ 2. Would someone meditating next to you gain any benefits from your own aura or state of Being? There are a lot of stories of monks gaining benefits from the auras of teachers who were enlightened It would depend on how receptive the person wasā€¦ if their subconscious mind communicated with my subconscious mind, they could ā€œintuitivelyā€ understand things that they did not know beforeā€¦ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ SUMMARYā€¦ you want to reach awakening, but keep your delusion because you cling to itā€¦ you canā€™t scam or cheat your way into awakeningā€¦ it has got to be an honest and sincere effortā€¦ and if you succeed, your delusion will be permanently swept awayā€¦ but you will not miss itā€¦ Dawg
  9. A Path To Enlightenment

    3Dominicus3, So what's your take on Intuition? It is also connected to Subconscious, but cannot be wrong? I've seen people on the path argue about who was right when they were both going by intuition, but choosing different. TELEPATHYā€¦ your subconscious mind is telepathic, and can communicate with all other subconscious mindsā€¦ (this is the ā€œcollective subconsciousā€ of the psychologist Carl Yung)ā€¦ your subconscious mind can pick up ideas and information from other peoples subconscious mindsā€¦ this is what your intuition isā€¦ and your spirit guides are with you 24 hours a dayā€¦ they are telepathicā€¦ they work by planting thoughts, ideas, and actions in your mind that you think are your thoughtsā€¦ this is what your ā€œintuitionā€ isā€¦ EQUANIMITYā€¦ there is no right or wrong, everything just isā€¦ everything is neutralā€¦ when two people argue about which one of them is right or wrong, they are both ā€œwrongā€ā€¦ if they both agreed that the other was entitled to believe whatever they wanted to believeā€¦ both would be ā€œrightā€ā€¦ Why can't karma be transcended? The seeds completely uprooted and just transcend the whole karmic system so as to not play out what's left? It seems unfair that stuff done in ignorance, and because of it, then has to be tallied up after ignorance is snuffed out. Karma is just the spiritual equivalent of Sir Issac Newtonā€™s ā€œthird law of motionā€ describing one of the laws of the physical universe which states thatā€¦ā€for every action, there is an equal and opposite reactionā€ā€¦ the universe is indifferentā€¦ what you sow, you reapā€¦ If you stick your hand in a fire, your hand gets burnedā€¦ why canā€™t you un-burn our handā€¦ ? 3. Can one navigate the spirit realms to get to the Highest heaven by whatever modes, stealth, love, thought-less awareness with intention, or even some mystics say you have to keep repeating that "you are from the first and highest pre-existent realm," and that it acts as a one way ticket, then Enlightenment can be gotten at that highest realm. Noā€¦, the highest you can get in the spirit realm by stealth is the ghost realmā€¦ and that is beneath the lowest heavenly realmā€¦ anyone who says otherwise is conning youā€¦ The longest continuous time you can spend in the spirit realms is seven or eight days, or your physical body will dieā€¦ Many shamans extend their life as long as they canā€¦ (with rapidly declining quality of life) then go to the ghost realm leaving their physical body to dieā€¦ they do this rather than die in their physical bodyā€¦ they do this to avoid going to a hell realmā€¦ (and the ghost realm is visually very much like the physical world)ā€¦ but they are stuck in the ghost realm forever, unless they go to a hell realm and get rid of their bad karmaā€¦ then they are reborn in the physical realmā€¦ 4. Can you speak on Absolute Beingness, it is the state on which Unity seems to rest on, yet is prior to it, unborn, unmanifest, and seems to be linked to the Lower Dan Tian as a doorway to it. The only context in which I have ever heard the term ā€œAbsolute Beingnessā€ used, was in a religious context, to describe a god, or godsā€¦ it implies that the mind knows and contains everythingā€¦ including the unborn and unmanifestā€¦ (but everyone in the spirit world still has delusion, even the godsā€¦ so only enlightened beings would be able to experience it)ā€¦ Absolute Beingness is a unity, it is complete, it does not rest on anything... IF it exists as described, normal humans would be unable to experience it, because they still have delusionā€¦ raising the kundalini might give you a taste of it for a short time, but it would quickly fadeā€¦ The lower Dan Tian is a door to many thingsā€¦ if it is a door to ā€œAbsolute Beingness, it is a metaphor to imply that using the Dan Tian to raise the Kundalini, will allow you to experience a taste of Absolute Beingnessā€¦ but it will not be permanentā€¦ 5. Which brings up next question. 3 Dan Tian System, or Chakra system, or are they united? They are interconnected, but not the sameā€¦ both are invisible body systemsā€¦ that western medicine is not aware ofā€¦ they are both controlled by the subconscious mindā€¦ 6. Also what about radiating Metta to all beings? Is this vital, as it is in a number of Buddhist branches? Think of ā€œMettaā€ as having a good attitude, so that you are happy, and wish other people happinessā€¦ because without a good attitude, you have poisoned your awarenessā€¦ and blocked spiritual attainmentā€¦ so in that sense ā€œMettaā€ is vitalā€¦ 7. Also, it seems Adviata Vedanta can do the same as a mantra, by constantly detaching from and no longer identify with any thoughts/thinker/body, access to the source of Thought manifests, and in that source, there is no thought. So are there other legit Paths to manifest Enlightenment in the manner of what you have reached? All the gods including Brahman, were born and will dieā€¦ and they suffer from delusionā€¦ the hindu path to awakening is based on raising the Kundaliniā€¦ when you raise the Kundalini, it cleans out the six lower chakras, which includes the third eye (subconscious mindā€¦) but it does not destroy the ā€œdelusionā€ in the subconscious mind, it just suppresses itā€¦ this is called a ā€œBrahman Awakeningā€ā€¦ but a Brahman Awakening is not permanent, it slowly fades, and the delusion takes over your subconscious mind againā€¦ and replaces all the blockages in your chakras that the kundalini removedā€¦ you are back where you startedā€¦ you have to continuously raise the kundalini to maintain the awakeningā€¦ even then you will not reach nirvana when you die, you will go to a Brahman Realm (a group of high heavenly realms) for a long timeā€¦ then to a hell realm to burn up your bad karma, then be reborn againā€¦ Anything that PERMANENTLY destroys all delusion in your subconscious mind will make you awakenedā€¦ but just temporarily detaching yourself from the delusion is just simple Samadhi (concentration)ā€¦ it makes your mind temporarily peaceful ; but when your concentration ends you are right back where you startedā€¦ it is not permanentā€¦ 8. What is left for you now? Any more cultivation of any additional aspects? Once you reach awakening, it is permanentā€¦ delusion is gone forever, you have finished the workā€¦ you are free to do whatever you wantā€¦ life is effortlessā€¦ nothing bothers youā€¦ you are never boredā€¦ your heart is at peaceā€¦ you are permanently happy ā€¦ you continue to have deep insights on whatever you focus your awareness onā€¦ so you can know whatever you need to knowā€¦ your spirit guide protects you from harm, warns you of any danger, and helps you find whatever you needā€¦ Dawg
  10. A Path To Enlightenment

    Tibetan Ice I follow the tradition of Ajahn Munā€¦ (but I translate the Pali language words into English)ā€¦ the abbot of the monastery where I meditated was a student of Ajahn Munā€¦ both were enlightenedā€¦ I followed the meditation instructions of the abbot, who followed the meditation instructions of his abbot ā€¦ Ajahn Mun died around 1950ā€¦ the abbot where I meditated died in 2011, age almost 98 yearsā€¦he appeared to me shortly before I awakenedā€¦ and smiled at meā€¦ the first time he ever smiled at meā€¦ he knewā€¦! I know what jhanas are but was strongly discouraged from doing jhanasā€¦ and the few mediators that passed through the monastery where I was , who did do jhanas did not seem to have much attainmentā€¦ they still had all the defilements in their subconscious mind that would prevent them from reaching awakeningā€¦ the whole point of the meditation I was doing, was to get rid of the defilements in my ā€œCittaā€ (subconscious mind) step by step by sitting in Samahdiā€ (concentration)ā€¦ so I could reach awakeningā€¦ I see the jhanas as high states of concentration that are useless unless you have already reached awakeningā€¦ and even then useless if you are living in the mundane worldā€¦ Dawg
  11. A Path To Enlightenment

    Infinity, When you awaken all of your active conditioning in your subconscious mind is destroyed and drops away, and you make no more karmaā€¦both your subconscious mind and your conscious mind are squeaky clean, all defilements are goneā€¦ but there is a record of your present life and all of your past lives in the Akashic Record (which is a permanent record of everything in the universeā€¦ so you still owe karmic debtsā€¦ (if you are not familiar with the Akashic Record, Google it and read up on itā€¦ I think you will find it interesting)ā€¦ using hypnosis, it is possible for a hypnotist to regress you to past lives, and to see your past livesā€¦ access to the Acashic Record is from your subconscious mindā€¦ your conscious mind goes into your subconscious mind ā€¦which is always in the spirit worldā€¦ normal dreams take place in your subconscious mindā€¦ lucid dreams take place when your conscious mind leaves the subconscious mind and goes out into the spirit worldā€¦ that is to say that ā€œlucid dreamsā€ are you experiencing the spirit world, in your sleepā€¦ that is why you can fly in lucid dreamsā€¦ the goal of breath meditation is ā€œ to stop all thoughtsā€¦ when you stop all thoughts it is called ā€œconcentrationā€ ( ā€œsamahdiā€)ā€¦(samidhi is said to be a taste of nirvanaā€¦) when you are in samahdi you frequently see visions that are called ā€œnimitaā€ā€¦ you might hear music, or singing, or see beautiful different colored patterns of colors, or bright lights, feelings, ecstasy, etcā€¦ Once your awareness was focused on the nimitas, your concentration was destroyedā€¦ if you had ignored the nimita your concentrate would have continuedā€¦ No...I am completely unified nowā€¦ but I donā€™t see my personality and conscious mind as being ā€œmeā€ā€¦ my subconscious mind is ā€œme, the spirit that I amā€¦ ā€my conscious mind is unified with my subconscious mindā€¦ and the physical world is unified with spirit worldā€¦ sometime when I get in my bed to go to sleep, and close my eyes, I find myself in the spirit worldā€¦ so I lay myself down in the spirit world and go to sleepā€¦ sometimes I (my spirit body) wakes up in the spirit worldā€¦ and I have to open my physical eyes to see the physical worldā€¦ donā€™t forget that your subconscious mind is your spirit bodyā€¦ You should experiment with itā€¦ record several tapes to hypnotize yourselfā€¦ then try them out and fine tune themā€¦and since hypnosis is aimed at the subconscious mind and what it believes to be trueā€¦ it could be a very effective toolā€¦ you could go to another hypnotist, and have him do a past life regressionā€¦ if you do it, let me know how it turns out.. Each person is uniqueā€¦ some people could meditate all their lives, and never reach any attainmentā€¦ other people meditate and reach attainments quickly and easilyā€¦ it is possible that you are such a personā€¦ if you meditated seriously, you might progress quickly... Dawg
  12. A Path To Enlightenment

    ALL KARMA IS NEUTRAL TO THINK THAT THERE IS ā€œGOOD KARMAā€ AND ā€œBAD KARMAā€ IS DELUSION Karma is Karmaā€¦ there is no such thing as ā€œgood Karmaā€ or ā€œbad Karmaā€, there is only ā€œKarmaā€... ā€œKarmaā€ is neutral, neither ā€œgoodā€ nor ā€œbadā€ā€¦ Karma is neutral ā€œcauseā€ and ā€œeffectā€ā€¦ our intention is the ā€œcauseā€, Karma is the ā€œeffectā€ā€¦ we call some Karma ā€œgood, because we like it, and want itā€¦ we call some Karma ā€œbadā€ because we donā€™t like it, and donā€™t want itā€¦ but all Karma is neutralā€¦ it just isā€¦! It is ā€œdelusionā€ to call Karma ā€œgoodā€ or ā€œbadā€ā€¦ if you cling to ā€œgood Karmaā€, you are also clinging to ā€œbad Karmaā€ā€¦ they are the two sides of the same coinā€¦ you cannot have one without the otherā€¦ if you cling to good Karma, you will not reach awakeningā€¦ the highest level you can attain is a high heaven called a ā€œBrahmin Realmā€ā€¦ it is not good Karma that gets you to awakeningā€¦ it is destroying delusion that gets you to awakeningā€¦ Dawg