Tibetan_Ice

So how is that practice any different from a marmot sunning itself on a rock? From "Stilling the Mind". -Alan Wallace:

Kundalini and the Holy Spirit are not the same! How long will you persist in your ridiculousness? According to Tau Malachi, kundalini is the serpent fire at the base of the spine and it is awakened by the Holy Spirit (the Divine Mother) from above. http://www.sophian.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=1610&p=5963&hilit=Kundalini#p5963

Is there something wrong with the wiki? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Way

Interesting video. Buddhism statements at 40:20 http://youtu.be/7r-3FNtgOFM

The difference between knowledge and wisdom is that wisdom comes from experience.

I am aware that you have called me a punk. Keep in mind that I am older than you and have more experience. It is obvious you know nothing about jhanas other than what you've read. Remaining in the first jhana requires effort. And, it does not matter if your posture is straight or you are laying back in a lazy boy with spine curved, first jhana is attainable and sustainable.

Hi Ichigo, I have noticed that the location on which you fixate will turn into a pale white light cotton ball just after the background brightens up. However, there is also another light that appears off in the background. Since Nimitta is a generic term meaning "sign" I will bring in two terms which are often used to analyze breath meditation. The pale white cotton ball like light is sometimes called "the learning sign". It is a mental representation of the object of meditation. The star, or the sun that is very bright is called "the counterpart sign". That is the light of the still mind which appears in the background. It is like looking at your mind in a mirror. What happens is that you concentrate on the point at the nostrils, you keep at it until it becomes like the cotton ball of light. At that point, the mind is not still... The star is in the background, moving around. If you keep concentrating on the cotton ball, the star will become brighter and move closer and closer to the cotton ball. If you keep focusing on the cotton ball, the two (the learning sign and the counterpart sign) will join, occupy the same space and sort of fuse together. For me, this process happens quickly but I'm having lots of "wobbles" lately, going in and out, in and out...

Ichigo, Thanks for posting your experiences. I have had a good day with first jhana by just going back to practicing vitakka and vicarra. The formula is "point, sustain and monitor". When off, repoint, sustain and monitor. Right now it is taking me 20 seconds to get into first jhana, complete with a star nimitta and bliss... Using the point in the right nostril. Although, today I have practiced two one hour sessions beforehand... So there is a cumulative effect..

Hi Ichigo, I think he answered your question in his post from that link to dharmaoverground (right at the bottom): Regarding you aversion to smiling: Joy and happiness are jhanic factors, meaning that are part of the recipe that makes up the conditions for the first jhana to arise. That being the case, does one not have to cultivate joy and happiness or some form of positive emotion in order to succeed? I have had good results by adding the "loving of the breath" to my routine. Also, in Kunlun, they emphasize the "inner smile". If I think of this in terms of the layers of the body, one has to bring in the emotional body in order to break through or connect the sheaths of the body. I know, for example, that just a rush of love from the heart is enough to reveal the other planes that exist over top of this reality so it is all linked and powerful. When I add the inner smile to my routine, the mind gets allot clearer much faster. That clarity comes from the heart. There is a large pool of it surrounding he heart. It is like a pool of clear luminous blissful water. So there are a few ways to add positive emotion to meditation. I'm not trying to sell metta meditation, I think the 6R practice is useful. But I will say this... When the heart expands with bliss, it does totally wipe out the mind. It is way more powerful than the mind. Not sure if you wrote to someone on Dharmawheel or Dharmaoverground... If you do get a response would you mind sharing it?

The first video about the young girl is authentic to me probably because I have driven my car with my eyes closed by looking through my third eye. Who cares if she learned the technique from a bad guru? I believe Buddha boy is authentic. Sai Baba was a fraud. Once you have the power it isn't hard to believe that others can also attain the same power. Why don't you spend more time developing yourself rather than focusing on frauds? Once you attain a power, your very own mind will call you a fraud and try to usurp your power...

Said the person whom has had pressure between the brows for over 40 years... http://thedaobums.com/topic/36844-dharmawheel-pressure-between-the-eyebrows-bad-advice/

You know, after listening to this talk about the jhanas, I would say that there is very little difference between the jhanas and dzogchen. They are both about letting go, relaxing in the natural state, not "doing"... the higher you go. When you first realized rigpa, did you see any lights? Did you feel any bliss? Did you realize that motion of the mind was counterproductive?

Just finished watching a video by Ajahn Brahm wherein he says that the Buddha said many times that the jhanas are the only way to enlightenment. Not only did Buddha practice the jhanas under the Bodhicitta tree but he also entered the fourth jhana on his death bed. Anadi is an arrogant intellectual who sells expensive retreats. Here Anadi aptly demonstrates his lack of knowledge. One does not sustain thought in the practice of the jhanas, one calms the mind until thought disappears as indicated by bright light nimittas. The doer is thought, thinking, motion. The knower does not think or create thought. Further, one does not solidify the observer as Anadi claims. The knower and the known fuse together revealing finer and finer powerful blissful states in which there is no ego, no hinderences, no senses... And Anadi's claim that Buddhism is a mind-oriented discipline totally misses the great emphasis on Bodhicitta, both relative and absolute that is found in all Buddhist teachings. Anadi is mistaken here. Buddha did learn how to enter the two highest jhanas from two teachers before reaching enlightenment but he wasn't satisfied, so he kept on searching. It was his revisitation of the form jhanas, his recollection of the blissful state he entered as a child which prompted home to revisit the jhanic progression starting with the form jhanas. This was his path to enlightenment, not something higher than the eighth jhana as Anadi is trying to sell. In Buddhism you do not awaken "conscious me" for the conscious me is already awake. Buddhism is a task of clearing the hinderences, and the conscious me is just another hindernce. And, what exactly does Anadi mean when he says that one must have acces to Universal reality? Is not the formless jhana of unlimited consciousness the same as universal reality? It is clear, even from Anadi's description of the jhanas on his web page that he does not understand the jhanic states. Anadi so missed it here. The jhanas empower the mind, grant super concentration, super powers, siddhis which make the knower capable of realizing the truth about reality. Once the truth is known, it liberates. Anadi is right. You can contemplate with a normal mind till the cows come home but it is no better than just thinking. Here he missed the fact that a mind empowered by the jhanas is not your everyday normal thinking mind. If Anadi believes that his defective understanding of shamatha and vispassana cannot produce enlightenment, no wonder he has twisted conclusions. What he is proposing is just a bunch of crap. And it is an insult to use the term Legend, isn't it? What a defeatist attitude. Just because one labeled monk prefers to overlook the ability to ripen through practice, conduct and understanding doesn't mean that such possibilities don't exist. What a load of crap. I've listened to many talks by Anadi and I found them to be complex, difficult to understand and they left a bad taste in my mouth. It is like he has a super stringent path which is fraught with obstacles and is impossible to describe in one complete sitting. You keep going back hoping to find some clarity but eventually you feel like you are in a never ending roller coaster in need of more information. On the positive side, despite his anal teaching style, I did hear from two people that Anadi is very accomadating and will let you attend half a retreat at half the price.

Hi, I thought I'd post this here because in this video, Anadi claims that Buddhism misses the mark with regards to anatta. Anadi says that the soul has the potential for infinite realization and that enlightenment is just the first step of a very long journey. Anadi's concept of the soul is at odds with anatta (no-self) for Anadi says that one must first develop and realize the 'me', attain maturity and stabilization in the "me" and make it mirror the soul's higher intentions and level of purity before one can realize enlightenment. But, once realizing enlightenment, the soul continues it's evolutionary path, beyond death. Anadi stresses the importance of realizing, developing and stabilizing the 'me' in order to align it with the soul, before one can use the soul as a vehicle to gain access to the portal of the "I AM" and continue on its journey. Anadi says that Buddha and Ramana did not dissolve away (like they would if anatta were true) but still exist in higher forms of evolving beings. He also says that Buddha and Ramana were highly influenced by the culture of their times which resulted in some of the concepts and teachings that were presented, which were mainly oversimplified and deceptive. This is a very interesting video. For example, Anadi says that there are very few sincere seekers in this modern world and that the West is more spiritual than the eastern cultures. He says that humanity is at a very low level of development (infancy), and justifies this by saying that if the 'security' of modern living were taken away, most all of humanity would revert to their baser instincts, as exemplified with modern wars, killings etc. Anadi does not say that we are already enlightened, like the Buddhists say. Instead, he says that we have to develop ourselves, align ourselves with the soul and if we don't follow our life's purpose which is to develop ourselves and progress spiritually, there is also the possibility that we will dissolve back into nothingness. Sort of like rejects from the factory of God. Other things that Anadi said that hit me hard is that spiritual leaders who initiate and teach thousands of people (internet transmissions?) are practically useless and that the only effective means of evolving spiritually with the help of teacher is in small personal groups, or one-on-one. So, if you have an open mind and are willing to consider alternate points of view from the Buddhist dogma, grab the popcorn and put your headset on. You won't want to miss a single word. http://batgap.com/anadi/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbanOlqbH1Y TI

It is posts like these that really make me wonder about your claims of awakening, Spotless. Can't you access the akashic records and find the truth about the life of JESUS? You don't even have to be enlightened to do that, do you? Or why don't you just ask JESUS yourself instead of speculating and demonstrating your imprisonment by handed down mental constructs? Do you think awakening is just an expansion of the etheric body without any form of wisdom or capacity to discover the truth? On several occasions, not only did Bhudda know certain person's past but he also predicted their futures and times of enlightenment. You claim to be enlightened, but you sure don't demonstrate it in your posts.

Here is a good talk about nimittas by Ajahn Brahm.

Hi Bob, A few points.. Buddhism is big on reincarnation. What do you suppose it is that reincarnates? That which reincarnates in Buddhism could very well be compared to the "soul" in Chistianity except that there is no mention of reincarnation in Chistianity. Steve's quote is a little misleading. If one inquires further, one discovers that John O'Donahue is actually a Catholic priest whom uses Buddhism as a method of purification and he does not ascribe to the Buddhist tenet of no Self. I think the quote is a suggestion to look inside the heart and see what you can find. http://www.onbeing.org/program/inner-landscape-beauty/transcript/1125 It is hard to let go of the idea that we do not really exist by virtue of the fact that there is something larger than ourselves which is animating us. Call it illusion, emptiness, God, ultimate Bodhicitta, or whatever you'd like. You seem to think that Buddhism is at odds with other religions when in fact, true reality does not change one iota based on any system of belief.

Hi Ichigo, Thank you for your posts. It is very nice to have someone else confirm that the practice works. Yes, I've noticed that the 6R technique really helps to clear up the space in the head. I am getting to the point where the clarity is like swimming in an ocean of paints, each thought is a multicolored string, with breath meditation. The interesting thing is that on a video I was watching about Bhante Vimilaramsi's retreat, he claims that 50% of his attendees reach nibanna during the retreat. Now, that is with the metta practice and smiling as much as possible to your spiritual friend. It is hard to believe. That same result was mentioned on Dharmawheel and everyone just dissed it. It is too bad that people are imprisoned by their beliefs. Yes, I too will keep the 6R technique in my repertoire. Thanks again for your comments.

Update: The last month has been interesting. Since it was quite hard to establish the first jhana by focusing at the feeling of the breath as it touches the nostrils I decided to try Bhante Vimilaramsi's practice of Recognize, Release, Relax, Re-smile and Repeat. It is an interesting technique. When you realize that you have drifted off of the object of concentration, you release the distraction, relax the body and mind, smile and then go back to the object of meditation. At first, it takes a while to incorporate the R practice and I found I was using any distraction to perform the R sequence. That in itself was quite a distraction. After a few days of practice I started to get e hang of it and I started hitting the first jhana regularly. Out of ten meditations, I hit first jhana seven times! Then I became bored with it. Well, not quite as bored as wondering how I was going to get past the bliss and ecstasy to progress further. I couldn't figure it out and I was getting the feeling of not having enough vispassana. I was not gaining any new knowledge. So, I decided to go back to Alan Wallace's technique of Awareness of Thoughts, like a lighthouse, undisturbed as the waves of thoughts come crashing against the shore. I spent the last two weeks doing that style of meditation as my "twice daily". However, yesterday, I felt that I was making no progress with that technique. Basically, I can sit there and watch conglomerates of thoughts appear, stay for a while and then dissolve. What I learned is that some of the conglomerates of thoughts are nonsensical, seem to have no relation to me, my life or anything really. The other thoughts and conglomerates of thoughts seem to be all the relevant issues going on in my life during the last couple days, and these slowly are replaced with the new batch of experiences and issues that each new day brings. It seems endless and I don't have allot of confidence that gradually they will become less and less. It seems that they become more and more, the deeper I get. So, today i decided to go back to breath meditation. Except this time, I decided to do Ajahn Brahm's method of "focusing on the part of the mind that knows the breathing cycle" rather than trying to maintain awareness of the feeling of the air as it passes through the right nostril. I was going to focus on the location in the mind that "knows when one if breathing in" and "knows when one is breathing out". I started the meditation and when I focused on the place where the mind knows that one is breathing in, it looked very clear and bright. Instead of the usual white-light representation of the counterpart sign which resembles a stream of off-white light that moves up and down with coordination to the breathing cycle, I found that the area that "knows" when I am breathing in and out to be very colorful and full of images! It was like being in the middle of three dimensional thoughts and little scenes surrounded by very clear space. I think this was probably an effect of the previous weeks' form of meditation of "watching thoughts"... the effect seems to be cumulative. Anyway, I went with it and focused on that part of the mind in conjunction with "knowing when I was breathing in and knowing when I was breathing out". That particular location is closer to the center back of the head, in almost a straight line up from the center of the spine. It is like being in the center of the vertical shaft of the central channel (sushumna). After a few minutes of practice, a bright star appeared in the little clear space where the colorful thoughts were located. Then, I hit the first jhana. The bliss started gushing out. It was very intense. I wondered how long I could take it (again). I stayed in this state for 40 minutes and then decided to stop. I had allot of joy, realizing that I didn't have to use the "nostrils" technique to reach first jhana, and the joy was more noticeable. Not only that, but the form of consciousness that I had achieved was clearer and more colorful than any previously accomplished jhanic states. I think I am getting closer to pure consciousness due to the greater clarity, the clearer detail and the lack of whitish pale cloudy mental formation. One observation is that when the breath goes in, it is like there is a flow of energy up the central channel from the center of the medulla to just below the top of the head, and then on the out breath it reverses. Also, I can now hit first jhana just by placing my attention in exactly that location. Don't know how long that will last... So, it seems that it has been beneficial to quit one practice and do another for a few weeks, and then return. And, it seems that Vimilaramsi's technique is a good one. I did not believe it when I read that by using his technique, people were advancing in leaps and bounds, achieving jhanas much sooner than the "normal" practice practitioners. Now I believe it to be true. Jhanas are linked to relaxation and positive emotion so it is good to train in that too.

“Protect yourself from your own thoughts.” ― Rumi

I was standing outside and I heard a thump from up above. I looked up and saw a bird falling onto the sidewalk. I pulled out my handheld and took a video of the bird as it died. I thought to myself "how peaceful it looks, going into the beyond. No more worries, no more searching for food or shelter. No more frantic flights from predators. I reflected on the Theravada Buddhist whom said that consciousness is conscious for up to three hours after the body is clinically dead, until such time as the body is cold. I wondered about phowa, the practice of transferring consciousness to a fresh corpse. Hmmm... What use was a broken neck? I didn't feel sad for the bird I felt envious. He would know the beyond before me. The big sleep. Seemingly peaceful, still, final resolution... RIP

I don't know if I believe this, but it is interesting nonetheless. I found about 5 or 6 statements that hit me the wrong way in this video. For one, Mark Griffin said that the on/off switch for the senses is located just below the heart chakra and in this video it claims that it is situated near the back of the nasal cavity. (The diving board structure) Also, I cannot find a reference that says that the biblical bridal chamber is really the third eye or that it is even located in the head. Also, the narrator misreads the quotes twice which doesn't inspire confidence in his intellectual acumen. But I did notice that one of the credits is Ennio Nemis so I wonder how authentic that reference is...