Hindu Group Stirs a Debate Over Yoga’s Soul

Good read for anyone. Enjoy

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/nyregion/28yoga.html?_r=1&ref=health

Indie Movies, Indie Video On Demand

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I enjoyed the film for its artistry, movement, and subtlety in light, form, and shadow. It was arousing and relaxing
at the same time. I don't know who I am. And knowing this I know who I am. The film teaches the teacher to become
the student…And the student to become the teacher.

Fred Alan Wolf Ph.D., The Discovery Channel's The Know Zone

What is the kundalini

The kundalini is a dormant enlightened energy within all human beings. Activating the kundalini inner fire is one of the primary goals of yoga and meditation. Opening the chakras or energy centers of the body is the result of a kundalini awakening. Health vitality and ultimate self knowledge are the enlightened results of success in kundalini yoga practice. [[posterous-content:pid___0]]Click here to learn more

What is the kundalini

The kundalini is a dormant enlightened energy within all human beings. Activating the kundalini inner fire is one of the primary goals of yoga and meditation. Opening the chakras or energy centers of the body is the result of a kundalini awakening. Health vitality and ultimate self knowledge are the enlightened results of success in kundalini yoga practice. Click here to learn more

Wild Dreams

Wild Dreams

 

New brain research suggests that the often-derided Sigmund Freud may have been right after all— those crazy nighttime scenes are an open door to your unconscious mind.

by Robert Sapolsky

    You find yourself at a banquet table. You feel disaffected because the people surrounding you are speaking a language you do not understand. Suddenly, beneath the table, you feel someone's foot on top of your own. You glance up. Your eyes meet those of an attractive person and you sense there is one word that you now must say: "Phlegm." The person stands, and suddenly everyone else at the banquet is gone. As is the table. As are your clothes.

You fling yourselves at each other in passion. You rise up in the air, the sensuality of the experience heightened by clouds brushing past. Yet you begin to sob in shame because you have been observed by your four deceased grandparents, who disapprove. You suddenly realize that the severe-looking man in the black frock coat comforting your maternal grandmother is William Seward, and with great clarity and an inexplicable sense of nostalgia, you recite, "William Henry Seward, U.S. Secretary of State in the Andrew Johnson administration."You're dreaming.

To state a truism, just as the kidney could accurately be described as a kidney-shaped organ, dreams are dreamlike. Why should that be? In real life you wouldn't wind up floating amid the clouds with someone seconds after the touch of a foot. Instead, at such a moment you might remember you forgot to turn off the lights of your car. Dreams, by contrast, are characterized not only by rapid transitions but by a heightened sense of emotionality and irrationality. In dreams, you do things that with two seconds of sensible reflection you couldn't bring yourself to do in real life.

There has never been a shortage of theories about the utility of dreams being dreamlike. Maybe dreaming is the channel through which the gods choose to speak to mortals. Maybe it's the means to work out how you really feel about your mother without all that repression stuff getting in the way. Maybe it's a way to get your brain to work in an unconventional, orthogonal manner to solve that pesky math problem you went to sleep thinking about. Maybe it's how you keep underutilized neural pathways active by giving a workout to neurons that don't get exercised during the day. Or maybe the whole thing evolved so that the surrealists and dadaists could make a living.

How does your brain bring about this state of disinhibited imagery? Until recently, scientists understood little about the actual nuts and bolts of dreaming. But one thing we've known for some time is that there is a structure--an architecture, if you will--to sleep, with rhythmic cycles of deep, slow-wave sleep interspersed with the rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep most associated with dreaming. And the levels of activity in the brain are not uniform throughout the stages of sleep. Techniques that indicate the overall levels of electrical activity in the brain have uncovered something intuitively obvious: During deep, slow-wave sleep, the average level of brain activity goes way down. This fits well with studies suggesting that the main purpose of slow-wave sleep is to allow for the replenishing of energy stores in the brain--the proverbial recharging of the batteries. But something very different happens during the onset of dreaming--a big increase in electrical activity. And this has a certain intuitive logic to it as well.

Advances in brain imaging technology now allow scientists to study activity and metabolism in small subregions of the brain rather than just the brain as a whole. In a pioneering series of studies, Allen Braun and his colleagues at the National Institutes of Health have taken a close look at the neuroanatomy of metabolism during sleep. In the process I think they may have uncovered the explanation for why dreams are so dreamlike.

The researchers utilized positron emission tomography, or PET scans, to measure the various rates of blood flow throughout the brain. One of the brain's remarkably adaptive features is that blood flow in a particular region will increase when that area increases its level of activity. In other words, there is a coupling between demand for energy and the supply of it. Thus, the extent of blood flow in a particular area of the brain can be used as an indirect index of the level of activity there. That is why PET scans, which easily show blood flow, are so helpful in this type of research.

Braun and crew got some volunteers who allowed themselves to be sleep-deprived for an ungodly 24 to 53 hours. Each bleary volunteer was eventually rolled into a PET machine and forced to stay awake while a baseline scan was made. Then, snug as a bug inside, each study subject was finally allowed to sleep while the scanning continued.

As the subjects slid into slow-wave sleep, the blood-flow changes observed made a lot of sense. Parts of the brain associated with arousal, known as the reticular activating system, shut down; ditto for brain regions involved in regulating muscle movement. Interestingly, regions involved in the consolidation and retrieval of memories did not have much of a decrease in blood flow, and hence metabolism. However, the pathways that bring information to and from those regions shut down dramatically, thus isolating them metabolically. The parts of the brain that first respond to sensory information had something of a metabolic shutdown, but the more dramatic changes were in downstream brain areas that integrate and associate those bytes of sensory information and give them meaning. The result: metabolically quiescent, sleeping brains.

While the scientists at the scanner's console bided their time, the sleeping subjects transitioned into REM sleep. And then the picture changed. Metabolic rates lept upward throughout subregions of the brain. Cortical and subcortical regions that regulate muscle movement and brain-stem regions that control breathing and heart rate all showed increases. In a part of the brain known as the limbic system, which is involved in emotion, there was an increase as well. The same was true for areas having to do with memory and sensory processing, especially those connected to vision and hearing.

Meanwhile, something subtle went on in the visual processing regions. The primary visual cortical region did not show much of an increase in metabolism, but there was a big jump in the downstream regions that integrate simple visual information. The primary visual cortical region is involved in the first steps of processing sight--the changing of patterns of pixels of light and dark into things like lines or curves. In contrast, the downstream areas are the integrators that turn those lines and curves into the perception of objects, faces, and scenes. Normally, an increase in activity in the downstream areas cannot occur without an increase in the primary areas. In other words, when you're wide awake, you can't get your eyes to see complex pictures without first going through an initial level of analysis. But REM sleep is a special case--you're not using the eyes. Instead, you're starting with the downstream integration of visual patterns. This, Braun and his colleagues have speculated convincingly, is what makes up the imagery of dreams.

So there are increases in metabolism during REM sleep in numerous parts of the brain. In some regions, metabolic rates even wind up being considerably higher than when someone is awake. But researchers have also found an exception that I think may be the answer to why dreams are dreamlike, in a region of the brain called the prefrontal cortex. Outside the prefrontal cortex, all of the brain regions most closely associated with the limbic system showed an increase in metabolism with the onset of REM sleep. Within the prefrontal cortex, however, only one of the four subregions increased in activity. The rest of those areas stayed on the floor of metabolic inactivity they had sunk to during the period of slow-wave sleep.

This is intriguing, given the functions of the prefrontal cortex. The human brain has many unique features when compared with an off-the-rack mammalian brain. Its sensory inputs and motor outputs are uniquely fine-tuned to make it possible to whip out an arpeggio on a piano. The limbic system allows for something virtually unprecedented among mammals: sexual receptivity among females throughout the reproductive cycle, not only at the time of ovulation. The vast cortex creates symphonies and calculus and philosophy, while the atypically numerous interconnections between the cortex and the limbic system allow for a particularly dreadful human attribute--the ability to think oneself into a depression.

Yet in many ways, the most remarkable feature of the human brain is the extent of the development and the power of that prefrontal cortex, the region that stays metabolically inactive during REM sleep. The prefrontal cortex is the brain region that plays a central role in self-discipline, in gratification postponement, in putting a rein on one's impulses. On the facetious level, this is the part of the brain that keeps you from belching loudly in the middle of a wedding ceremony or an important business meeting. On the more profound level, it keeps the angry thought from being allowed to become the hurtful word, the violent fantasy from becoming the unspeakable act.

Not surprisingly, other species don't have a whole lot of prefrontal function. Nor do young kids; the prefrontal cortex is basically the last part of the brain to fully mature, not coming completely online for decades. Violent sociopaths appear to have insufficient metabolic activity in the prefrontal region. And damage to the prefrontal cortex, such as that created by strokes, causes a disinhibited, frontal personality. The person may become apathetic or childishly silly, hypersexual or bellicose as hell, scatological or blasphemous.

Braun and his colleagues found that during REM sleep much of the prefrontal cortex was off-line, unable to carry out its waking task of censoring material, while there were high rates of activity in the complex sensory processing parts of the brain concerned with emotion and memories.

So bring on those dreams, now free to be filled with uninhibited actions and labile emotions.

You can breathe underwater, fly in the air, communicate telepathically; you can announce your love to strangers, invent languages, rule kingdoms; you can even star in a Busby Berkeley musical.

Mind you, even if it turns out that the lack of metabolic activity in the prefrontal cortex during REM sleep explains the disinhibition of dream content, it still doesn't tell us anything about why anyone's brain would spend time staging that particular musical. The specific content of dreams remains a mystery. Moreover, if true, this speculation would constitute one of the classic features of science--in explaining something, we've merely managed to redefine the unknown. Suppose the answer to the question "Why is dream content so disinhibited?" turns out to be "Because prefrontal cortical regions are atypically inactive during REM sleep." The new question obviously becomes "Then why are prefrontal cortical regions atypically inactive?"

Just as with anything else that can be studied and measured in living systems, there is considerable variability in the level of activity of the prefrontal cortex in different individuals. At one end of the spectrum, there seem to be decreased metabolic rates in prefrontal regions in sociopaths. At the other end of the spectrum, Richard Davidson, at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and colleagues have observed elevated prefrontal metabolic rates in people with so-called repressive personalities. These are highly controlled folks, with superegos going full throttle, working overtime to keep their psychic sphincters good and tight. They dislike novelty, prefer structure and predictability, are poor at expressing emotions or at reading the nuances of emotions in other people. These are the folks who can tell you what they're having for dinner two weeks from Thursday.

This leads me to an idea that seems to flow naturally from the findings of Braun and his colleagues. The data regarding the sociopath/ repressive continuum come from studies of awake individuals. Most certainly, there will also be considerable variability among people as to how the prefrontal cortex functions during REM sleep. While prefrontal metabolism may remain on the floor with the transition into REM sleep on average, there will be exceptions. So I suspect it's likely that the more prefrontal metabolism remains suppressed during REM, the more vivid and disinhibited dream content will be, perhaps in a subject-specific manner. Most revealing would be some comparative studies of prefrontal metabolism during waking and sleep- ing periods. Do peo-ple who have the most active prefrontal cortices when awake have the least active when asleep? This would certainly fit the old hydraulic models of psychoanalysis, which postulate that if you repress something important during the day, it will most likely come oozing out during dreams.

At Stanford, where I direct a neuroscience lab, I've occasionally heard medical students come up with a witticism to express their disdain for classes in psychiatry. Question: "What classes are you taking this semester?" Answer: "Oh, pathology, microbio, pharmacology, and this required seminar in laser psychotherapy." The last is meant to be an eccentric oxymoron. Laser something-or-other equals high tech, as opposed to psychotherapy, the pejoratively low-tech art of talk therapy. Thus the student is saying: "They're forcing us to take some class with these shrinks who are trying to dress up their stuff as modern science." Wouldn't it be ironic if some reductive support for that seemingly antiquated Freudian concept of repression were to emerge from the bowels of a gazillion-dollar scanning machine?

Parallel sayings of Buddha and Jesus

http://www.johnworldpeace.com/budjesus.asp

Jhalu or The Rainbow Body

Jhalu  or The Rainbow Body

A teacher or yogi who has acquired the highest forms of accomplishment can manifest what is called "the rainbow body" or "body of light."  Usually this happens after death, but it has been known to happen at other times.  For example, one of the 8 forms of Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) is The Rainbow.   HH the 16th Karmapa was observed by many people as he temporarily dissolved in this way during a Black Crown ritual.

Those who have mastered the trek-chod phase of Dzogchen in which pure and total presence is stabilized, are able to do to-gal.  This is the final Dzogchen practice which enables the yogi at the time of death to dissolve his or her physical body into the essence of the elements.  The yogin then disappears into a " body of light" leaving behind only the hair, toe and finger nails, and the nasal septum.

Sogyal Rinpoche wrote, "

In 1952 there was a famous instance of the rainbow body in the East of Tibet, witnessed by many people. The man who attained it, Sonam Namgyal, was the father of my tutor at the beginning of this book.

He was a very simple, humble person, who made his way as an itinerant stone carver, carving mantras and sacred texts. Some say he had been a hunter in his youth, and had received a teaching from a great master. No one really knew he was a practitioner; he was truly called a "hidden yogin."

. . . he then fell ill, or seemed to, but became strangely, increasingly happy. When he illness got worse, his family called in masters and doctors. His son told him he should remember, 'Everything is illusion, but I am confident that all is well.'

Just before his death at seventy-nine, he said "All I ask is that when I die, don't move my body for a week." When he died his family wrapped his body and invited Lamas and monks to come and practice for him. They placed the body in a small room in the house, and they could not help noticing that although he had been a tall person, they had no trouble getting it in, as if he were becoming smaller. At the same time, an extraodinary display of rainbow-coloured light was seen all around the house. When they looked into the room on the sixth day, they saw that the body was getting smaller and smaller. On the eight day after his death, the morning in which the funeral had been arranged, the undertakers arrived to collect the body. When they undid its coverings, they found nothing inside but his nails and hair.

• Studying the phenomenon of Rainbow Body (by Gail Holland)

Exploring the world of lucid dreaming.....

Dreams

The world of our dreams is the world of from which our waking reality is projected. The goal of life is to understand who we really are. To explore the source of ourselves using dream yoga is to master the art of lucid dreaming. To interpret and analize our dreams is to explore the unknown reality from which our enlightened intuition is born.

Now available on pay per view
Killing the Buddha Movie -
The Lost Secret of Immortality
http://bit.ly/9CfXeb

Tantric Spiritual Meditation

The six yogas of Naropa are a collection of ancient tantric yoga techniques which have been used to achieve enlightenment. To awaken the kundalini it is necessary to activate the chakras and subtle body. Tantric spiritual meditation results in health, vitality and inner illumination.

 

 

The Goal of Life is Spiritual Enlightenment

Enlightenment

 

The goal of life is to awaken spiritually according to the enlightenment traditions of China, India and Tibet. Tai Chi, Yoga and meditation are methods which enable the human mind and body to achieve enlightenment. Spiritual awakening is the key to discovering the enlightened consciousness that is within all of us. To learn and understand more I invite you to watch Killing the Buddha. A film that inspires all of us to discover our own enlightenment.

Barclay Powers

Producer and Writer

Killing the Buddha

The Lost Secret of Immortality

 

 

 

Christ In Buddha Nature: Two Worlds-One Heart

Father Francis Tiso: Christ In Buddha Nature: Two Worlds-One Heart

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If you have ever struggled with the dilemma of reconciling Buddhist philosophy with Christian theology, you will find yourself quickly absorbed in this rich and informative conversation with Father Francis Tiso, scholar, poet, artist, musician, botanist, alchemist, exorcist, mystic and gourmet cook - a Renaissance man in the truest sense of the term. Responding to the question of how a Catholic priest becomes so involved with Buddhism, Fr. Tiso launches into the story of his calling and the extraordinary unfolding of his lifework. We hear about his travels to Asia to meet Tibetan Buddhist masters; the Tibetan Buddhist phenomenon of the rainbow body and its connection to the resurrection of Christ, and his thoughts on metaphors and symbols. "We have to be aware that culturally we have a lot invested in the term "symbol or metaphor" as a limit feature of phenomenon. When traditional cultures talk about symbols and metaphors they are talking about greater reality. Not only greater in the sense of having more meaning, but representing the way things really are in their depths."

Father Tiso is an ordained Roman Catholic priest of the Diocese of Isernia-Venafro, where he holds the office of Canon in the Cathedral. He is the author of numerous publications, and presently serves as the Parochial Vicar of the parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Mill Valley, CA.

New Dimensions seeks out the most innovative and creative people on the planet and engages them in spontaneous, deep dialogues. Its mission is to deliver life-affirming, socially and spiritually relevant information, practical knowledge and perennial wisdom through the voices and visions of those who are asking new questions and are looking at the world in positive and inspiring ways. It is through the exchange of ideas and information that we can be empowered and enabled to meet the future with greater energy and clarity.

Can Sex Lead to Enlightenment?: Tantric and Buddhist Perspectives

Can Sex Lead to Enlightenment?

Tantric and Buddhist Perspectives

Oct 16, 2009 Anita Saran

Tantra, which originated in post-vedic India, may be defined as a form of yoga that teaches the attainment of spiritual ecstasy via esoteric and erotic techniques. One of its goals is to further spiritual evolution through sexual energy.

The practice of tantric sex has been growing in the West. This is often referred to as pop tantra because it is bereft of the other more important aspects of the practice. Many are attempting to attain enlightenment through this ancient practice. But the majority are interested in either enhancing sexual pleasure or creating "spiritual bonds" with their lovers.

Maria P, a writer doing research for her tantric novel, attended a workshop in New York on tantra. She says: "It was interesting that just before the break, one couple piped up to the teacher, 'Is this all we're going to cover? When are we getting to the sex?'

"When the teacher explained that this was more the spiritual aspect, they said, 'Oh, well, no thanks,' and got up and left. Later, when I approached the teacher, she told me she gets a few in every crowd like that. Even though the write up advertising her class tells what will be covered, they always run a 'hot' image with it, so some get the wrong idea."

The Mother of Tantra – Margot Anand

Margot Anand, a disciple of the late Bhagwan Rajneesh (known as Osho), is considered "the mother of tantra." In an interview with What is Enlightenment? magazine, she says that in tantra there is a belief that The Buddha could not have attained enlightenment if he hadn't experienced the transcending bliss of sexual union with his wife. Tantrics claim that The Buddha did not attain enlightenment under the bodhi tree, but in sexual union with his wife.

However, she admires those who become celibate because of a natural tendency, and not because they are repressing their desire. She believes that only after experiencing and indulging in sexual activity is a practitioner ready for celibacy, and mentions how Osho always spoke of Mahatma Gandhi in this regard. Until the very end, says Anand, Gandhi was obsessed with sex and struggled to free himself from it.

Yet it is clear to Anand that celibacy frees people from attachment and jealousy. She says about sex: "If you, once and for all, don't bother with it and remove yourself from it, you probably have a much better chance to focus your energies on spiritual matters."

Read on 

• Senior Sex
• Ecstatic Sex versus Tantric Sex
• Tantra Teacher Mishaps, Part One

The Bliss of Celibacy and Sense-Restraint

In 1996, Sister Siripannà, from the Amaravati monastic community in England, conducted a weekend workshop at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies titled Renunciation: The Highest Happiness.

In a lecture, she explained, “There is a part of us that feels renunciation means to lose everything we love; having to deprive ourselves of what is pleasant and enjoyable in life. . . Renunciation can sound like passivity, a “door-mat” philosophy, but actually it is the opposite.”

She says the practice of sense restraint has given her a "tremendous sense of freedom and relief" and no longer is she "running after the world."

The Buddha on Sensual Pleasures

Sister Siripannà quotes The Buddha on the subject of sensual pleasures, saying, “Whatever bliss in the world is found in sensual pleasures, / and whatever there is of heavenly bliss – / These are not worth one sixteenth part / Of the bliss that comes with craving’s end.”

A Buddhist Monk on Sexual Activity and Enlightenment

Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, a Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka, in a fascinating interview with Simeon Alev for What Is Enlightenment? magazine, says, "And therefore in his gradual teaching, he [The Buddha] said that first there is the pleasure in sexual activities, and then there are the disadvantages, then there are the problems. And only when you see the problems, only then do you begin to realize that these disadvantages, this negativity, are inherent in sexuality – they are intrinsic."

According to Bhante, sexual activity cannot lead to enlightenment. He mentions The Buddha as saying in the Pali Canon that no matter how well one knows the sutras, or how long he lives alone in a desolate cave, if he cannot get rid of his lust, hatred and ignorance, he cannot attain enlightenment.

Bhante adds that sexual indulgence leads to jealousy and confusion. Although he does not condemn "moderate, wise, healthy sexual activity," he says that it is forbidden to those whose aim is enlightenment.

Celibacy Requires Self-Mastery

Spiritual aspirants contend that celibacy requires ability and an attitude of self-mastery which are signs of inner freedom, of responsibility towards oneself and others. They point out that spiritual practitioners have long known the benefits celibacy brings: those of improved concentration and purity.

They explain that just as the body needs food for sustenance, the soul needs purity.

If you enjoyed this article, you may like to read about how meat-eating affects the psyche, and the moral dangers of eating meat – both according to the Buddhist perspective.

Sources:

• What is Enlightenment? magazine - Margot Anand's interview with Susan Bridle
• Sex, Celibacy and the Spiritual Life interview with Bhante Henepola Gunaratana

Copyright Anita Saran. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.

What do you think about this article?

Comments

Nov 6, 2009 7:46 AM

Guest :

So "sexual indulgence leads to jealousy and confusion". This entirely depends on the context and persons involved.

Jealousy is a painful emotion, but that doesn't make it bad - like all emotions it is an opportunity for one to learn and grow.

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Where "Killing the Buddha" originated

T'ang dynasty Chinese Ch'an monk and founder of the Lin-chi school. He originally came from a family named Hsing in Ts'ao-chou, but left home while still quite young and studied Buddhist teaching and practice in many places with many teachers. He achieved his enlightenment experience and received inka from  Hsi-yün (d. 850), and thereafter made free use of Huang-po's methods of beating students and shouting directly into their ears. Aside from these ‘shock’ techniques, Lin-chi also gained renown for his mastery of the most complex Buddhist thought as contained in the Hua-yen ching, and his ability to teach and illustrate it in plain and straightforward language. In 851 he moved into the Lin-chi Temple in Hopei, from which he took the name by which he is mainly known and which lent its name to the lineage that followed after him. The Lin-chi school thereafter became the most successful and widespread of the five Houses’ of Ch'an, and became the ascendant line of the  Rinzai school of zen in Japan. He is perhaps best known for his dictum, ‘If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill the Buddha’, through which he attempted to turn students' attention away from external images and teachers so that they could discover the truth about themselves.

Breathe right to increase energy

One of the benefits of learning Tai Chi Chuan is increased energy and while learning the art can take months or even years to learn, the effects of learning to breathe correctly can dramatically improve one’s health, in some cases in the very first class.

It is common in so called civilized societies to adapt the habit of chest breathing in adulthood but the jury is still out as to why. Different theories exist, including stress and tension, or for appearance purposes (to have a flat stomach). In any case, chest breathing utilizes only a small fraction of lung space, while breathing correctly not only provides the body with more oxygen, it also provides stimulation to one’s internal organs because the diaphragm muscle gently massages them with each breath.

Relearning to breathe

The diaphragm muscle which lies below the lungs is responsible for moving air in and out of the lungs and it moves vertically. By watching a baby breathe, one can see that their stomachs rise and fall with each breath and this is why in Tai Chi and other martial arts, abdominal breathing is referred to as infant breathing.

Learning or rather, relearning to breathe correctly doesn’t require a formal class; all it requires is practice. In fact, it is customary for Tai Chi instructors to explain correct breathing and to instruct their pupils to practice anytime they think of it so that, over time, correct breathing will become automatic or in other words; one will eventually do it without having to think about it.

Easy practice

Set aside a couple of times each day for concentrated practice and add other times whenever it comes to mind. For example, while lying in bed before falling asleep, place both hands on the lower abdomen, one atop the other, and count ten long, full breathes, feeling the rise and fall of the lower abdomen with each one. Do the same upon rising in the morning, before climbing out of bed.

Mix in other times too; while sitting idly, while driving or riding to work, and any other time it comes to mind. Within two weeks or so, correct breathing will be relearned and will be done without conscious thought. Most people, who relearn to breathe, find an immediate increase in energy simply because of increased oxygen intake and if continued long term, they often gain increased vitality due to renewed energy derived from improved organ function.

Yoga takes CWG by storm

2010-10-03

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New Delhi: Young athletes at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony enthralled the audience by performing stunning yoga asanas and 'surya namaskar', a series of postures in salutation to the sun. With body, mind and soul in unison, lean but strong performers in amber light spread across the field at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, depicting 'kundalini' or the coiled energy, an instinctive force that lies at the base of the spine. Then one of them rose in the 'padma asana' or the lotus pose. The performers choreographed themselves to form 'chakras', the seven energy points of the human body as the 65,000-audience looked in awe.

Coming together

Coming together

by Gary Gach, The Buddhist Channel, Oct 18, 2010

 

Living in Harmony When Things Fall Apart: Notes from the World Buddhist Conference 2010

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- FOLLOWERS of the teachings of Buddha encircle our blue planet.  Like the migration of birds, their activity (and non-activity) proceeds without any single, central leader.  What it is, is – up to its communities and practitioners ever seeking harmony with life.

<< More than 800 participants attended the World Buddhist Conference held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from September 25, 26, 2010 (Photo by Lim Kooi Fong)

The Buddha once declared that whenever three or more people sincerely gathered in his name, he’d be there. A year after his final continuance (paranirvana), 500 of his realized disciples convened to discuss the preservation of their practice. Three of four more such summits were held, over the years.

Gathering together to learn from the past and renew our vows for the future, all in the present moment, can be wonderfully salutary. Such was the case on the weekend of September 25-6, when the 2010 World Buddhist Conference (WBC) convened in Kuala Lumpur.  This important gathering could be typified by its marriage of broad scope with relevance to everyday life. Here follows the first of a series of exclusive reports on this invigorating wind.

Coming Together Under One Banner

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold …
— William Butler Yeats

Things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together and fall apart again. It's just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy. — Pema Chodron

The World Buddhist Conference was initially organized to provide a contemporary approach to issues affecting Buddhism. It continues to illuminate the timeless Dharma through the lights and lives of male and female monastic and lay practitioners from all traditions –including such notables as Pra Ajahn Brahm, Geshe Thubten Jinpa, Roshi Jan Chozen Bays, and Bhante Gunaratana. 

Originally entitled ‘Global Conference on Buddhism,’ it’s also been held in Auckland and Perth as well as Kuala Lumpur.  Topics have included Buddhism and technology; death, dying, and rebirth; euthanasia; karma vs fate; ending war, making peace; and revelation and realization.

Such a grand undertaking is fruit of many hands, seen and unseen.  Spearheaded by the Buddhist Gem Fellowship, the Buddhist Missionary Society Malaysia, and the Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia, support also came from Bandar Utama Buddhist Society, Buddhist Channel, Losang Dragpa Buddhist Society, Nalanda Buddhist Society, Shah Alam Buddhist Society, Subang Jaya Buddhist Association, Than Hsiang Temple, and World Fellowship of Buddhist Youth.

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Please goto: www.wbc.my to view more pictures from the conference

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When the 2010 conference was first conceived, the catastrophe of 9/11 and collapse of America’s debt chain were still of recent memory. The phrase, “when things fall apart” came to mind.* Indeed, people often turn to the Buddha’s teaching from personal disappointment, such as experience of divorce, disaster, or death.

 

We may hold life to a model of perfection, but impermanence is a fact of nature.  An intricate spider web can blow away in a storm.  A life’s savings built up over years can be wiped out in a single day.  An entire family is placed in jeopardy when its breadwinner meets an accident on the road.  A bird with a broken wing fears being target of other birds. A war veteran, haunted by memories of killing in battles fought in a distant land, is unable to return to normal life.

Thinking it through, the organizers realized their initial phrase, alone – ‘things fall apart’ -- might seem like too bleak a prospect.  Further contemplation yielded ‘Living in Harmony.’  The two phrases fit in a perfect balance, as of Ying and Yang. Living in Harmony: When Things Fall Apart.  After all, the Buddha tells us he offers but one teaching: the nature of suffering, and liberation from suffering.

Instead of living on autopilot, driven by stress and anxiety, we can look into the roots of our suffering, to gain deep insight into its cause and remedy.  We can know ourselves better and more profoundly by cultivating and tapping the potential of the mind – training mind as a tool to transform mind.  We can mobilize our wealth of inner and outer resources for learning, growing, healing, and transformation, regardless of our situation – and participate in the common wealth of friends along the path.

The next step for the conference organizers was finding speakers for the year’s theme. Benny Liow, of Buddhist Youth Association, deserves a deep bow for assembling a well-rounded roster of high-caliber presenters, capable of connecting with a diverse, savvy audience.  No doubt, his ongoing tenure as editor of Eastern Horizon helps him keep his finger on the pulse of international Buddhism. As is the custom of the series, the final line-up not only represented the three major groups of traditions, Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana, but also a healthy blend of gender, age, profession, etc.  Relative status ranged from one of the most beloved spiritual leaders of our time, Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh, to the relatively unknown but potent Anchalee Kurutach who has been involved in refugee work and survivors of torture for over twenty years in her native Thailand as well as in the US. 

This Writer was particularly honored to meet two Malaysian presenters.  Venerable Wei Wu from Than Hsiang Temple, Penang, is best known for setting up Malaysia’s first International Buddhist College, and many welfare projects such as kindergartens and orphanages throughout the country.  Very present too was Buddhist psychotherapist Dr Tan Eng Kong is a key figure in the alloy of psychology (soul-study) and Buddhism (the art of awakening).

<< Roshi Joan Halifax demonstrating a healing session at the WBC 2010

Other speakers included Venerable Tenzin Zopa from Nepal, a resident teacher at Losang Dragpa Center, Petaling Jaya — who we instantly recognized from the widely acclaimed, new documentary The Unmistaken Child, about his search for his reincarnated teacher Lama Konchog. Speakers from the West included Dr Joan Halifax, internationally-reknowned medical anthropologist and Zen master; Venerable Tejadhamma, a pioneer in hospice work in Sydney, Australia; Venerable Thubten Chodron, well-known author and spiritual teacher from the Pacific Northwest of America; and Prof David Loy, gifted scholar practitioner from the US and co-founder of Buddhist Global Relief.

On Saturday morning, September 25th, years of hard work paid off.  The palatial grand ballroom of the Hotel Istara was filled to capacity with 800 attendees, from across 12 countries. The audience mirrored the diverse presenters, in reflecting a balance of both women and men, young and old; a cross-section of seekers from everyday society.  All there welcomed the conference’s practicality, on how to live in harmony and lead peaceful, happy lives. As the Malaysian Buddhist community has a penchant for wearing white, in the sea of attendees there was fine contrast of white clothes, bordered by the grey and red, saffron and orange, of the robes of monastic attendees from various sanghas. The palatial crystalline chandeliers in the ballroom seemed, to this Writer, like bright nodes from the Net of Indra, infinitely interpenetrating luminosity and bliss, overhead.

Prof Loy spoke for hundreds there when he told us, after the event, ‘I found it very moving, not only because of what people said, but how they said it. Everyone spoke from the heart, and you could feel it.’

For more information :

Buddhist Gem Fellowship
http://www.bgf.org.my
Buddhist Missionary Society Malaysia
http://www.bmsm.org.my
Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia
http://www.ybam.org.my

Religion vs Science

Religion vs Science

 

"Let me explain the problem science has with Jesus Christ." The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand. "You're a Christian, aren't you, son?"

"Yes, sir."

"So you believe in God?"

"Absolutely."

"Is God good?"

"Sure! God's good."

"Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?"

"Yes."

"Are you good or evil?"

"The Bible says I'm evil."

The professor grins knowingly. "Ahh! THE BIBLE!" He considers for a moment. "Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help them? Would you try?"

"Yes sir, I would."

"So you're good...!"

"I wouldn't say that."

"Why not say that? You would help a sick and maimed person if you could... in fact most of us would if we could... God doesn't.

[No answer.]

"He doesn't, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?"

[No answer]

The elderly man is sympathetic. "No, you can't, can you?" He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax. In philosophy, you have to go easy with the new ones. "Let's start again, young fella."

"Is God good?"

"Er... Yes."

"Is Satan good?"

"No."

"Where does Satan come from?" The student falters.

"From... God..."

"That's right. God made Satan, didn't he?" The elderly man runs his bony fingers through his thinning hair and turns to the smirking, student audience."I think we're going to have a lot of fun this semester, ladies and gentlemen." He turns back to the Christian.

"Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?"

"Yes, sir."

"Evil's everywhere, isn't it? Did God make everything?"

"Yes."

"Who created evil?

[No answer]

"Is there sickness in this world? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness. All the terrible things - do they exist in this world? "

The student squirms on his feet. "Yes."

"Who created them? "

[No answer] The professor suddenly shouts at his student. "WHO CREATED THEM? TELL ME, PLEASE!" The professor closes in for the kill and climbs into the Christian's face. In a still small voice: "God created all evil, didn't He, son?"

[No answer]

The student tries to hold the steady, experienced gaze and fails.

Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace the front of the classroom like an aging panther. The class is mesmerized. "Tell me," he continues, "How is it that this God is good if He created all evil throughout all time?" The professor swishes his arms around to encompass the wickedness of the world. "All the hatred, the brutality, all the pain, all the torture, all the death and ugliness and all the suffering created by this good God is all over the world, isn't it, young man?"

[No answer]

"Don't you see it all over the place? Huh?"

Pause.

"Don't you?" The professor leans into the student's face again and whispers, "Is God good?"

[No answer]

"Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?"

The student's voice betrays him and cracks. "Yes, professor. I do."

The old man shakes his head sadly. "Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen him? "

"No, sir. I've never seen Him."

"Then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus?"

"No, sir. I have not."

"Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus...in fact, do you have any sensory perception of your God whatsoever?"

[No answer]

"Answer me, please."

"No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't."

"You're AFRAID... you haven't?"

"No, sir."

"Yet you still believe in him?"

"...yes..."

"That takes FAITH!" The professor smiles sagely at the underling."According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son? Where is your God now?"

[The student doesn't answer]

"Sit down, please."

The Christian sits...Defeated.

Another Christian raises his hand. "Professor, may I address the class?"

The professor turns and smiles. "Ah, another Christian in the vanguard! Come, come, young man. Speak some proper wisdom to the gathering."

The Christian looks around the room. "Some interesting points you are making, sir. Now I've got a question for you. Is there such thing as heat?"

"Yes," the professor replies. "There's heat."

"Is there such a thing as cold?"

"Yes, son, there's cold too."

"No, sir, there isn't."

The professor's grin freezes. The room suddenly goes very cold.

The second Christian continues. "You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super- heat, mega-heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat but we don't have anything called 'cold'. We can hit 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold, otherwise we would be able to go colder than -458.

You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. "Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it."

Silence. A pin drops somewhere in the classroom.

"Is there such a thing as darkness, professor?"

"That's a dumb question, son. What is night if it isn't darkness? What are you getting at...?"

"So you say there is such a thing as darkness?"

"Yes..."

"You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something, it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? That's the meaning we use to define the word. In reality, Darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker and give me a jar of it. Can you...give me a jar of darker darkness, professor?"

Despite himself, the professor smiles at the young effrontery before him. This will indeed be a good semester. "Would you mind telling us what your point is, young man?"

"Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with and so your conclusion must be in error...."

The professor goes toxic. "Flawed...? How dare you...!""

"Sir, may I explain what I mean?"

The class is all ears.

"Explain... oh, explain..." The professor makes an admirable effort to regain control. Suddenly he is affability itself. He waves his hand to silence the class, for the student to continue.

"You are working on the premise of duality," the Christian explains. "That for example there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science cannot even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism but has never seen, much less fully understood them. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, merely the absence of it."

The young man holds up a newspaper he takes from the desk of a neighbor who has been reading it. "Here is one of the most disgusting tabloids this country hosts, professor. Is there such a thing as immorality?"

"Of course there is, now look..."

"Wrong again, sir. You see, immorality is merely the absence of morality.

Is there such thing as injustice? No. Injustice is the absence of justice. Is there such a thing as evil?" The Christian pauses. "Isn't evil the absence of good?"

The professor's face has turned an alarming color. He is so angry he is temporarily speechless.

The Christian continues. "If there is evil in the world, professor, and we all agree there is, then God, if he exists, must be accomplishing a work through the agency of evil. What is that work, God is accomplishing? The Bible tells us it is to see if each one of us will, of our own free will, choose good over evil."

The professor bridles. "As a philosophical scientist, I don't view this matter as having anything to do with any choice; as a realist, I absolutely do not recognize the concept of God or any other theological factor as being part of the world equation because God is not observable."

"I would have thought that the absence of God's moral code in this world is probably one of the most observable phenomena going," the Christian replies.

"Newspapers make billions of dollars reporting it every week! Tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?"

"If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do."

"Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?"

The professor makes a sucking sound with his teeth and gives his student a silent, stony stare.

"Professor. Since no-one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a priest?"

"I'll overlook your impudence in the light of our philosophical discussion. Now, have you quite finished?" the professor hisses.

"So you don't accept God's moral code to do what is righteous?"

"I believe in what is - that's science!"

"Ahh! SCIENCE!" the student's face splits into a grin. "Sir, you rightly state that science is the study of observed phenomena. Science too is a premise which is flawed..."

"SCIENCE IS FLAWED?" the professor splutters.

The class is in uproar.

The Christian remains standing until the commotion has subsided. "To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, may I give you an example of what I mean?" The professor wisely keeps silent.

The Christian looks around the room. "Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?" The class breaks out in laughter.

The Christian points towards his elderly, crumbling tutor. "Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain... felt the professor's brain, touched or smelt the professor's brain?" No one appears to have done so.

The Christian shakes his head sadly. "It appears no-one here has had any sensory perception of the professor's brain whatsoever. Well, according to the rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science, I DECLARE that the professor has no brain."

The class is in chaos.

The Christian sits down.

 

The yoga of light and meaning of life

What is the ultimate yoga of light? It is life well lived. How do you define life well lived? It is one being suffused in light and guided by it. Being suffused in light and guided by it an essential part of the yoga of light? Life and light are inseparable. One is defined through the other. The meaning of life, which is not enshrined by light, signifies a pale incompleteness of life. The meaning of light without the existence of the humans signifies an incompleteness of the picture of the universe.

All conceptions of light are rooted in human consciousness. There is certain circularity in the meaning of the phenomena. But it is a good and symbiotic circularity. Life and light blush and blossom in the presence of each other.

Is light a religious phenomenon, or some kind of god? No. Light is not god — not, in any traditional sense. But it is sacred because it is the source of all sources. As such, it deserves to be treated reverentially and considered sacred.

The appreciation of the enormous worth and beauty of light leads naturally to acts of homage we pay to light. But this form of reverence does not lead to the idolatry and mindlessness characteristic of traditional religions. The celebration of the glory and sacredness of light is a joyous and participatory phenomenon in which the inspired humans co-create with the Ultimate Source.

Can you ask of light more than your share? You can do it, if you are ready for it; and light will bless this readiness — if you are ready to act on its behalf; also on behalf of the whole universe. You never ask for anything big on your own behalf, but only on behalf of larger causes.

How do you justify your acting on behalf of Big Light? You don't need to justify it. You just act — until your acting is so compelling and beautiful that all can see. Acting on behalf of Big

Light is beautiful and rewarding. And yet heroic and demanding.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Search/search.aspx?q=Henryk%20Skolimowski&o...

Atheists Debate How Pushy to Be

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/16/us/16beliefs.html?scp=1&sq=atheists%20debate&st=cse

Killing The Buddha Motion Comic

We wanted to give you a sample of our Bestseller: Killing The Buddha Motion Comic! The motion comic is featured with audio and video, can be read on any smartphone, computer or iPad.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Is this a dream or is this reality?

If you scroll back into our older posts, you can find that we have already posted about dream yoga and lucid dreaming. After a day of tweeting about lucid dreaming, I thought we could add another post related to lucid dreaming. You may or may have not seen Inception with Leonardo DiCaprio, but in the movie they explain the dynamics of lucid dreaming. The multiple levels of a lucid dream, how to create them and how to find out if you're in a dream or in reality. Through the hours of research I have done, I have found that lucid dreaming can actually help you. 

"The overwhelming majority of lucid dreams are positive, rewarding experiences. Moreover, lucidity in unpleasant dreams or nightmares can transform habitual fear into conscious courage. The simple state of lucidity is frequently enough to elevate the mood of a dreamer in a nightmare. In a study of the effect of lucid dreams on mood, college students reported that realizing they were dreaming in a nightmare helped them feel better about 60 percent of the time. Lucidity was seven times more likely to make nightmares better than worse." - lucidity.com

I have had a few of my own lucid dreams; they were the most amazing and intriguing dreams I've ever had. If you could create your own lucid dream, what would you do in it? Would you fly around the world, dive deep into the ocean, or create your own world? 

 

THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS!

We are going to be giving you more than candy and ghosts on Halloween, in 13 days we will be unveiling our biggest secret yet! You have been waiting and asking and we are ready to give you what you want. We can't wait to share our secret with you, and we will be giving you clues days before the big announcement!

Also, do not forget to enter in our iPad Giveaway; we have three iPads to giveaway to some lucky winners! The iPad's will be loaded with our bestseller, Killing The Buddha Motion Comic, you definitely don't want to miss out on a free iPad!

Check our Facebook and Twitter to receive constant updates on our big announcement!

Can color make you feel better?

There are seven main energy centres (chakras) of the body. These chakras are like spirals of energy, each one relating to the others. Using the seven colors of the spectrum, Color Therapy aims to balance and enhance our body's energy centres/chakras and also to help stimulate our body's own healing process. Color Therapy uses color to rebalance the Chakras that have become depleted of energy.

Color therapy can be shown to help on a physical level; however there are deeper issues around the colours on the psychological and spiritual levels. Color has a profound effect on us on all levels, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. If our energy centres become blocked or depleted, then our body cannot function properly and this, in turn, can lead to a variety of problems on any level. 

Our well being is not purely a physical issue. Many more practitioners are now treating patients in a holistic manner. That is to say, we are body, mind and spirit and none of these areas function entirely alone; each has an effect upon the other. This is why Color Therapy can be so helpful since color addresses all levels of our being.  

This post was taken from Three Hearts & Company. 

 

Religious Psychosis

Religious psychosis is a phenomenon that occurs in all civilizations; in some cases it actually forms the basis of a religious tradition. In Japan and the Muslim world, the ideal of the suicidal martyr forms a key religious component. In the Philippines, for example, on Easter, self-flagellation and crucifixion are routinely practiced. Similarly, self-mutilation rituals are common in Islamic cultures. Even in Buddhism, monks burn themselves alive or burn off a finger to show their devotion to Buddha, practices which the Dalai Lama regards as self-destructive. Religious psychosis is a self-destructive aberration that results in warfare, suicide, extreme materialism and ideologies that result in permanent conflict.

One of the main aspects of religious psychosis is shamanic in that extreme heat, cold, sensory deprivation, and flagellation can produce altered states of consciousness, which can produce spiritual ecstasy. Many researchers of shamanism describe it as a collection of techniques resulting in states of consciousness that enable the practitioner to access information from upper, middle and lower world dimensions.

The basis of both the Chinese and Indian medical systems is that the preservation and health of the body is a prerequisite for achieving full-brain activation; yet there have been many individuals who attempted to achieve spiritual knowledge through extreme ascetic methods and only succeeded in starving to death. Religious psychosis usually results in paranoid states, which separate and fragment cultural views in terms of a permanent conflict between good and evil. Religious psychosis can also be seen in institutions and practices that are destructive, or incompatible with modern concepts ofhuman and animal rights.

The Tibetan traditions describe the religious systems that do not result in whole- brain activation within one lifetime as being essentially incomplete in their understanding of the human mind/body continuum and its fundamental energetic structure. A correct understanding of Asian medical theory results in a harmonious, altruistic world-view based on mutual cooperation and respect for nature, resulting in greatly enhanced health and well-being. The perpetuation of an individual family or civilization is dependent on avoiding warfare or other forms of religious psychosis, which prevent the successful reproduction of a genetic line.

Can Buddhahood be found in the vagina? Priest explains...

Father Francis Tiso and Director Barclay Powers discuss Buddhahood, and how it can be found in the vagina of a woman. To listen to more interviews with Father Francis Tiso and Barclay Powers, subscribe to Killing The Buddha Movie Blog. 

Download now or watch on posterous

Buddha-vagina.divx (60879 KB)

Feel free to leave comments or ask questions! We would love to hear from you and what you think about these interviews! 

Catholic Priest Earns Degree in Buddhism

Catholic Priest, Father Francis Tiso is featured throughout Killing The Buddha Movie and Killing The Buddha Motion Comic, in this clip he speaks to Director Barclay Powers about Christianity and Buddhahood.  

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Christ_-_Buddha.divx (80766 KB)

Biography of Father Francis Tiso

Father Francis V. Tiso is Associate Director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, where he serves as liaison to Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, the Sikhs, and Traditional religions as well as the Reformed confessions.

Father Tiso has written and lectured widely. He is the recipient of grants from the American Academy of Religion, the American Philosophical Society, the Palmers Fund in Switzerland, and the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Petaluma, CA.   

A New York native, Father Tiso holds the A.B. in Medieval Studies from Cornell University. He earned a Master of Divinity degree (cum laude) at Harvard University and holds a doctorate from Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary where his specialization was Buddhist studies. He translated several early biographies of the Tibetan yogi and poet, Milarepa, for his dissertation on sanctity in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. He has led research expeditions in South Asia, Tibet and the Far East, and his teaching interests include Christian theology, history of religions, spirituality, ecumenism and interreligious dialogue. 

Father Tiso has researched the phenomenon of the Rainbow Body in Tibet. Francis Tiso remarks that one of is most intriguing interviews was with Lama A-chos. He told Tiso that when he died he too would manifest the rainbow body. "He showed us two photographs taken of him in the dark, and in these photographs his body radiated rays of light."

Tiso is a musician and paints in acrylics and watercolors. 

 

To listen to Father Francis Tiso lecture on The Rainbow Body, click here. 

Spirit: The Intangible Instinct

Science is clearly one of the most profound methods for discovering truth, while religion remains the single greatest force for generating meaning.
-Ken Wilber, The Marriage Of Sense And Soul

It seems like common sense.

We know we have a body, and we know we have minds. But it often feels like there's something more to life. It feels like there's some almost intangible instinct within our minds and bodies that wants to lead us beyond the physical into the world of spirit.
Sometimes we call that a soul, but it seems safer to call it spirit, a word derived from the Latin word for breath. Just as a body is informed with breath, so body and mind are informed with spirit.

So, it follows that if the body seems to produce our minds, and our body is the product of the reproduction of our mother’s and father’s bodies, then our spirits are the product of something beyond. A first Father or Mother or both, or, in any case, a first
Spirit or Spirits of some sort.

We're not only told we have spirit by those in authority, but it certainly helps make sense of things. Our bodies die, and sometimes our minds go before our bodies. Do we exist for nothing? Is there something that remains of us after death beyond a corpse or ashes?

Religion and spiritual teachings comfort us. A comforted and meaning-filled spirit and mind certainly feel good in human bodies.

Still minds wonder about other things.

For instance, minds wondered about the sun.

For some races of early humans the sun was God, or at least, like Apollo in Greek myth, a god.

We would not exist without the sun. However we would not exist if our planet was closer to the sun, or further away. The sun is our main source of energy.

Early humans didn't need science to realize that.

They looked up and they saw the sun's progress across the sky. Since things seemed to pretty much stay still, it was easy to assume that the sun, and the stars, moon and planets traveled around us.

Earth, after all, was the center of the cosmos.

The Immortal Embryo

SPIRITUAL OR IMMORTAL EMBRYO.  In Chinese culture the Spiritual Embryo is the core energy in a human being, the original energy of the body’s conception. It is this energy, when led through various practices, to the center of the brain (the pineal gland, or nihuan point in the Chinese medical system) that results in full-realization enlightenment. Through various breathing techniques, one can return to the original embryonic breathing pattern, which is the union of yin and yang and the basis of the realization of the Tao. The cultivation of the Spiritual Embryo is the central metaphor for the evolution of mind and body in Chinese culture.

This idea of the Immortal Embryo (sheng tai) goes very far back in Taoist internal alchemy practices. The basic idea is that through continually practicing internal alchemy, one develops an immortal, spiritual embryo. Then, after further practice and refinement, this spiritual embryo actually emerges from the body of the practitioner, out through the crown or Heavenly Gate point at the top of the head. We can see illustrations from ancient China of the practitioner sitting in meditation with a small fetus floating above his head. The Immortal Embryo is also described as a form of pure yang spirit. Upon death thispure yang energy will live on outside the body.

 

In Taoism it is believed that not all people achieve reincarnation. For the vast majority of people who do no spiritual practice, upon their death their hun and po souls separate and they are basically “recycled back into the Tao.” But those who do cultivation have an opportunity to come back into the world again for further teaching or to help others along the Way.

Here is a description of the nine stages involved with creating the Immortal Embryo.

(1) the living ch’i circulates freely and unimpeded throughout the body; (2) the essence, the semen (ching), collects in the lower cinnabar field; (3) the sacred embryo begins to assume the form of a human embryo; (4) the two souls of the sacred embryo come into being; (5) the embryo is fully formed and has various supernatural powers; (6) inner and outer yin and yang reach their highest intensity and the embryo merges with the body of the adept; (7) the five internal organs are transformed by the power of ch’i into those of an immortal; (8) an umbilical cord develops, through which the breath is channeled during a practice known as embryonic breathing; (9) form and Tao combine and clouds form below the feet of the practitioner, on which he ascends toward Heaven thereby completing the metamorphosis.

- The Shambhala Dictionary of Taoism

Now whether this is an actual physical experience or if it is more of an inner spiritual or energetic one, the spiritual attainment is the same. There will be physical and energetic experiences connected with this. Just as with a mother carrying a child, much care must be taken to nourish and strengthen both the body and the spirit of the practitioner. It is only in this way that a successful birth of the Immortal Embryo can happen.

Is enlightenment elitist?

The concept of the chakras, or energy wheels within the body, is common to both Chinese and Indo-Tibetan subtle body theoretical frameworks. The Chinese describe the energy as moving in circular patterns in the body. The Indo-Tibetan systems describe a central channel with a solar and lunar set of parallel meridians, which must be united to fully open the central channel. When these energies are integrated, there is said to be realization. Similarly, the kundalini theory describes the energy as traveling from the base of the spine to the top of the head.

Click here to download:

Kundalini_chakras.mp4 (3421 KB)

The nihuan point, which corresponds with the pineal gland, represents the third, or wisdom eye. The human body is actually a universe which can be described in alchemical terms as "as above, so below" which sees the human body as both the microcosm of the multiverse and the fundamental source of the design of the cosmos.

According to Taoist alchemical theory, the pineal gland of the enlightened adept becomes equivalent to the North Star because everything between heaven and earth has become one being. The mind and body of the adept is identical to the mind and body of the universe simultaneously. This idea that the inner dimensions are actually more real than our conventional third-dimensional reality is based upon the ability of advanced practitioners who travel between inner worlds. The other basic idea is that the reproductive energy of the lower body can be taken to the head to activate the brain and increase the luminosity of the mind. 

Chinese alchemy is based on the idea that aging can be dramatically reduced if the original pre-birth energy of the body is restarted by natural breathing practices. The basis of Taoism is that embryonic breathing results in a kundalini activation, the Golden Flower, or the union of the individual with heaven and earth, the higher and lower dimensions of reality being unified into a single whole. This single whole is the Tao or universal void. 

The goal of meditation is for the individual to open the third eye by systematically cultivating the mind and body, using variations of heat yoga. All of these alchemical systems describe the human body as a crucible, which can be heated by specific practices, both internal and external, which greatly increase the overall luminosity of the mind/body continuum.

Is enlightenment elitist? To get good at something one must study and practice. There is more access to information about the various practices used to achieve enlightenment through the globalization of our information systems. The nirvana meme has gone into the advertising industry, as well as commercial sports, which use Zen concepts like the Zone or Peak Performance to enhance an athlete's psychological condition. The end result is that a spiritual, non-religious dimension is recognized in Western science as normal. What do you think?

 

 

The Tantric Shaman

Continued from Mind-Altering Practices...

From an Asian perspective, there are certain classes of non-physical beings that thrive on the energy that is generated by warfare and killing. The Tibetans have up to eight classes of beings that affect humanity in different ways. Epidemic disease is associated with a specific class of being which feeds off of the energy of the dying.

In many of the traditions of China, India and Tibet, the tantric shaman has the ability to fulfill any of these aforementioned functions when fully trained. These shamans become mahasiddhas who have united the Three Bodies. This is the highest level of power. In many civilizations, the first king or ruler was a tantric shaman. In China, this includes the Yellow Emperor and Lao Tzu.

Tantric shamans have attained power through successful practices that often include fasting and sensory deprivation, as well as sexual yoga. This type of shaman employs dreams, visions, and inter-dimensional travel in order to retrieve useful information from other realms for all the members of the tribe, clan, or community.

Shamans serve as intermediaries between the worlds of the dead and the living. Shamans have the ability to guide the souls of the departed to their next destinations. Shamans translate the inner meanings of dreams for the benefit of the tribe.

The majority of descriptions of ascending or descending (journeys to an "upper," "middle" or "lower" world) are based on shamanic intervention on behalf of a student or patient. A shaman's journey is the defining practice of shamanic visionary experience.

In many tribes in Siberia, the shaman has to have experienced eight dismemberments of the subtle body. This is one of the key characteristics of shamanic initiation. This experience of dismemberment is also the basis of the Chod practice of Tibetan Buddhism, wherein the practitioner visualizes dismembering him/herself and offering the body parts to various "guests” at the ritual feast.

Until the latter decade of the twentieth century, Western science did not include the concept of multiple worlds, but this has been the basis of the shamanic worldview for thousands of years. The Western physicists' discoveries that echo Buddhist billion-world theory have confirmed the essential shamanic worldview: there are many parallel dimensions, and our waking reality obscures our perception of these other worlds. They are always present, but most of us cannot observe or visit them. Shamans can.

Mind-Altering Practices

Shamanism is a collection of archaic mind-altering practices existing worldwide. It is associated with the origins of human civilizations. The war shaman was the leader, the king. In China, the Mandate of Heaven is originally the concept of the war shaman being permitted to enter the Tao and create a kingdom.

The shamanic path contains the original, or native medical traditions and knowledge of humanity. It also gives us the model of the ruler of the people as a warrior- philosopher-king. War, healing and bewitching are the functions of a shaman.

The war shaman is a military archetype that pervades both Eastern and Western cultures. It represents power through conquest. It is also an ancient model for leadership in many cultures.

The healing shaman is the archetype for medicine and curing. It represents power through benefiting others. It is also an ancient model for those who retrieve information from other worlds or realms that can be used for healing. Healing shamans are guided by visions, dreams, and practices that use sacred plants.

The bewitching shaman is the negative magical archetype. It represents power through coercion, deception, and illusion. Bewitching shamans parasitically prey on weaker beings. Bewitching shamans are guided by malevolent deceased ancestors.

To be continued...