/lit/ - Literature

>>20439506
>I found it very dry
It's a meditation manual, not a novel.

>>20439528
How am I supposed to work with it, should I first memorize all the instructions and details given (the various pre-meditation steps and so on) and then practice, and then start meditating?

bump

>>20439506
the author of that book was caught in a sex scandal which is pretty damning for a spiritual guide, but he may have alot of bookish knowledge nevertheless.

If u want a theravada manual that has authority second only to the Pali canon read the visuddhimagga

>>20439862
>visuddhimagga
Wasn't there a controversy about how the teachings in there didn't accurately reflect the contents of the nikayas or something

>>20439862
>the author of that book was caught in a sex scandal
that's part of why i want to master it. if it helps me get laid, all the better.

>>20439862
Rape has no inherent existence young student Aauummm....

>>20439944
>Rape has no inherent existence young student Aauummm....
kek

>>20439862
>the author of that book was caught in a sex scandal which is pretty damning for a spiritual guide
Quick rundown?

>>20439506
i tried that for a while
i switched to the AYP yoga series and found great success following them and still do to this day

>>20439862
All self-help authors are charlatans.

>>20440012
>All charlatans are self-help authors

>>20440010
He was caught cheating on his wife with several women and supporting those women financially. So it’s not like he raped or abused students or anything just a horny old man.

>Literally stop thinking
You don’t need a manual for that.

>>20439506
No. As others have pointed out, he’s a charlatan and a dilettante. The proof is in the behavior. If you don’t believe me, look at any of his exegesis of Pali scripture, especially Buddhist metaphysics, epistemology, and psychology. It’s woefully basic.

Here is a ton of solid work from a Buddhist scholar. Pick any concept, like the “five hindrances”, and compare The Mind Illuminated with Piya Tan’s explanations. It’s night and day.

https://www.themindingcentre.org/dharmafarer/sutta-discovery

>>20439506
someone in the archive said it's trash and recommended How to Meditate by Yuttadhammo Bhikku and/or Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Gunaratana instead

>>20439531
yes

>>20439944
Based and Zenpilled. Westoids were a mistake.

>>20440132
Pretty typical honestly. Spirituality gives you a big dick and an unquenchable sex drive. But his lack of self control should be worrying especially to someone that wants to study under him.

>>20439506
For the purely Buddhist perspective read the Mahasattipathanna Sutta.
>>20439874
It's commentarial literature considered authoritative in Theravada. Where is the controversy?

isn't meditation just

1. sit down, relax, somewhere quiet, close eyes
2. focus on your breathing or on a mantra
3. ...
4. profit?

>>20442036
>Spirituality gives you a big dick and an unquenchable sex drive.
wat
shouldn't it be the opposite?

Interested too, I bought it last week and feel I am making progress but it seems needlessly verbose and mechanistic for what ultimately comes down to
>dude just focus on your breath
Guess I'll just stick with it for three months at least and see what happens

>>20439506
bump was actually gonna post a thread about this exact same question few months ago but procrastinated

>>20439506
>Is pic related really the best instruction manual on meditation...
yes
just practice each step 'til mastery
any book about Buddhist "theory" would be a good companion, at about step 6 or 7 you'll realize that you really need that "theory"

>>20442085
The problem is that the guy who wrote it wasn't a meditator but he was a master of the Vedas so he interpreted a lot of the meditation stuff through that lens. That lead to a misinterpretation in what is actually meant by "jhana". In the commentary it's described as a one-pointed concentration but in the original suttas it's clear that it's not one-pointed. I think Leigh Brasington has a video or article about it somewhere.

>>20442266
Unlocking your sacral chakra unblocks sexual energy, in eastern religions sex has a spiritual and religious dimension, he was performing tantric practices with those women.

>>20444049
Many of the major Buddhist intellectuals have historically been brahmins who entered the sangha since those were the most literate class of people in classical and medieval India. There are four jñanas and certainly concentration would be an entry point into realizing them. If you consider Buddhaghosa heterodox relative to the canon, I would assume you are engaging in some modernist attempt to divine a supposedly original or pre-sectarian reading.

>>20444097
how do you unlock your sacral chakra?

>>20444140
Just because it's been done wrong for ages doesn't make it right

>>20439506
>>20439531
I've never heard of this author. That doesn't mean that it's not a good manual if you only want to learn about it from books.
But it may be more productive to learn about it via guided meditations. You could check out Audio Dharma or the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts or the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California for access to live or recorded guided meditations.

What's the best form of meditation? There are so many.

>>20444665
TWIM is pretty good. It's simple, has experienced teachers you can connect with via email, and starts working pretty fast.

>>20444708
Is metta as effective as breathing meditation?

>>20444140
>I would assume you are engaging in some modernist attempt to divine a supposedly original or pre-sectarian reading.
How is Theravada Buddhism a modernist reading?

>>20442036
What if he decided to do that stuff in a controlled and conscious manner? That may suggest a poor set of morals, but it isn't really relevant to what he's teaching in the book

>>20444716
I think it depends on the person but you actually won't be staying with metta for very long anyway. If you do it properly and are maintaining the precepts you'll very quickly progress to taking equanimity as your object.

I would try it for a week or two and see what happens. Breath meditation is definitely the method the Buddha himself recommends most often in the suttas (and is the method he used to attain awakening) but metta, because it's a pleasurable feeling, is much more self-reinforcing so you'll experience the jhanas much more quickly. I think in the beginning the jhanas are more important because having a source of pleasure that doesn't depend on anything external really helps in uprooting craving for sensual pleasures.

>>20444816
I tried metta for a week a while back and found it much harder to maintain than simple breath meditation because focusing on the breath is so much easier than going through the metta process (finding a pleasant memory, holding on to that feeling, "smiling", then the whole partner thing...)

>>20444947
The object is ultimately of secondary importance. As long as you are using Right Effort, you're fine.

>>20444961
>Right Effort
What is Right Effort?

>>20444961
>The object is ultimately of secondary importance.
Kind of a secondary concern, but the kasinas for example are said to have not been taught by the Buddha at all, and as such are decried by some as improper objects of meditation. What do you think?
I think there might be a neurosis among people who take an interest in Buddhism in that they (me included) tend to frantically look for the best form of meditation, the most effective one, and so on. And since there are so many, from satipatthana to shikantaza to Pure Land mantras to Vajrayana visualization practices, it's difficult to choose and stick to one thing.

>>20444970
>What do you think?
I think you should stare corpses.

>>20444966
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_Eightfold_Path

>>20444966
""And what, monks, is right effort?

[i] "There is the case where a monk generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his intent for the sake of the non-arising of evil, unskillful qualities that have not yet arisen.

[ii] "He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his intent for the sake of the abandonment of evil, unskillful qualities that have arisen.

[iii] "He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his intent for the sake of the arising of skillful qualities that have not yet arisen.

[iv] "He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his intent for the maintenance, non-confusion, increase, plenitude, development, & culmination of skillful qualities that have arisen: This, monks, is called right effort.""

In TWIM practice this is simplified as the "6Rs": Recognize (the arisen hindrance/distraction), Release (ditto), Relax (tension in the mind and body), Re-smile (to generate a wholesome state of mind), Return (to the object of meditation)

>>20444970
The seeking for the best form of meditation is actually just a form of craving and aversion. It's an aversion to the perception of slow progress in whatever method one is currently doing and craving for an imagined "faster" method. I think that even something like the kasinas will work (the Buddha does mention taking the four elements that constitute the body as an object, which is similar to kasina meditation though not quite the same thing). Much of the dogmatism surrounding meditation objects seems to be a form of clinging to views however. At least in the suttas, there doesn't seem to be that much concern about what the object should be (e.g I cannot think of a single sutta in which the Buddha decries a particular kind of meditation because of its object, it's usually the way they are meditating that needs correction e.g Arittha Sutta). As long as the meditation gives rise to the seven enlightenment factors, I don't see why it wouldn't be valid. Anyway, I would say maintaining the precepts is far bigger obstacle to samma samadhi than choosing the "best" object of meditation.

>>20439506
Buddhist meditation leaves you open for demonic possession. It’s also hella gay.

>>20442103
No. You need to notice things arising and ceasing and let go of things you notice are not conductive to a good future or achieving liberation.

>>20445119
>demonic possession
What is a demon?
What is possession?
How does meditation leave you open to either of these?

>>20439506
it's not the best but it's a good start for westerners. pretty accessible. you could try this
https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/WithEachAndEveryBreath/Contents.html

>>20439531
no. you should go step by step and not read too far ahead.

>>20445119
Concentration is the exact opposite, it's closer to a narrowing of the potential entry routes.

>>20445090
Suppose one reaches nirvana. What do you do then? You'd have no desires, no aims, no ends. Your attachment to the world is over, so you have no stake in it anymore. Where would be your drive to act?

I suppose I don't want nirvana. I want acceptance, truth, depth, and emotional regulation.

>>20439531
>How am I supposed to work with it
Doesn't he literally say it in the book? It's an exercise book, so logically he says how to read the book, it's not part of the deal that you need 4chan to make progress.

>>20442974
>procrastinates for several months
Bro...

>>20439506
Disregard this piece of shit book. It sucks all the joy out of the practicing meditation, gives you an autistic fixation on "dullness" and "subtle dullness". It does nothing to teach you about the HOWs and WHYs of practicing meditation.


People mentioned he's a hack who cheated on his wife plenty here. More damning however is his view of reality. You can hear him on podcasts saying he's a "total non-dualist" and thinks everything is one mind. This is a very low level view and understanding.

http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2007/03/thusnesss-six-stages-of-experience.html

https://www.dhammatalks.org/ebook_index.html#eachandeverybreath

Read With Each and Every Breath and take on an experiential and experimental approach, you'll love meditation and love practicing it. Read "Awakening to Reality" for a map that you can use to follow into Vajrayana Buddhism if you like.

>>20439874
Honestly depends who you ask. Thai Buddhists fucking hate the commentaries and say the suttas are all you need. The Thai Buddhists also have a huge range of interpretations of what the path is, how to meditate etc. Compare Ajahn Brahm to Thanissaro Bhikkhu to see what I mean.

The original method for meditation from the Buddha has been lost also, so you have most of the Theravada who discounted the commentaries recreating the methods. See Ajahan Mua Boa.

>>20439862
>noooo you can't have sex with the hot hippy girls at yoga class, master says it's not allowed
You can't, the GURU can.

>>20440010
Docile old boomer kept a mistress, very pedestrian.

>>20439944
Woah, I didn’t know Buddhism was THIS based. Why didn’t /lit/ skip the pseud bs and go directly to the point?

>>20445314
Because this is the culmination of the teaching, reserved only for high-level gurus with female westoid students.

Are there any good modern books on Christian meditation? I've seen this one recommended before, The Art of Divine Meditation by Joseph Hall, but it's from like 1600
https://books.google.ca/books?vid=OCLC11602280&id=_9GzBjJd7r0C&pg=PA46&lpg=PA46&dq=Joseph+Hall+Meditations&as_brr=1&hl=en&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

>>20445256
Yeah making meditation pleasant and "fun" should be the goal for such books

>>20439506
I've been reading it and meditating for a few weeks, he seems legit but I just hope it doesn't turn out a year later that he's the Jordan Peterson of meditation and I'm cringe for liking him

>>20446395
He's dead now anon and was exposed for commiting adultery years ago so it can't get much worse, but if the book his helping then so be it, we have to start somewhere right?

>>20446429
>his
is*

Does meditation actually work? I mean does anyone here actually have some experience?
It all sounds too good to be true when you read the books and testimonies from the "pros".

>>20446982
Start stretching your legs so you can sit crosslegged without wobbling and stiffening. I bet you can't. Nananabooboo.
Bhante Nananñaňa BhuBhu invented sitting. It was a revolutionary discovery on the physiology and ankles and pelvis.

I tried with the brain sensing headband and gyroscope app and it was like a video game on ultra hard mode. Gonna try to do serious yoga to be Kneesovergoesguy level supple and sit still.
I woke up refreshed as 12 coffee cups everyday for a week when meditating 3 days in a week.

>>20447006
I can do the lotus pose on one side. My flexibility is ok, but I'm trying to achieve inner peace, not auto-fellatio.

>>20444719
You're a layperson who cares about having original teachings vs commentaries you suspect of innate corruption. Can't be more modern/protestant than that

>>20445224
Might want to get into Dzogchen then. It's not world renouncing like sutrayana.

>>20445301
Also screwed prostitutes

>>20445301
>>20447289
This sounds extremely tame by 2022 ethical standards

>>20447178
Ngmi
Full lotus and jelly scalp electrodes or no psychic powers for you

>>20447326
"
For psychic union pose, यओगमुद्रासन (Yogamudrasana), the practitioner bends forward in full lotus, bringing the forehead as close to the floor as possible.[19]The pose is both an asana and amudra; easier variants begin from Ardha Padmasana orSukhasana.[20]

Variations of several other asanas include the Sukkhadukkha asana and the Ramamanadeepasi Asana and the Kakuchupala Asana and the Panikissalika Asana

>>20447345
For me it's Dikalikachupa and Puparupa Banis

PSYCHIC DICK SUCKING

Tfw no thicc pawg yogi gf

>>20439862
the scandal was an 80 year old man having with more than 10 women and prostitutes regularly, if anything makes me want to pick up the book more

>>20439944
he didn't rape, he was just having consensual sex with multiple women and prostitutes as an 80+ year old man

>>20440944
it's a practical guide for normies, not an scholarly exegesis

>>20442008
>or Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Gunaratana instead
it's a nice book but it's a very limited book to use it as a guide, it gives you some tips and tricks, but very little structure

>>20444568
aren't guided meditations more like hypnosis than like actual meditation?

>>20444975
bloated corpse meditation is my favorite one, but very tricky to find those on the street

>>20446429
>He's dead now
rip in peace, didn't know the old guy died, very sad

>>20446429
>He's dead now
>may 2021
it was the vaccine, right? in his last interview he said he didn't expect to die yet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdiW7_HcjiE

>>20447559
Seems it was cancer

>>20447545
Yes.

>>20447559
He was clinging to life. He had cancer for a long time. He didn’t sleep for days and could barely breathe but was meditating a lot so he didn’t perceive the extend to which the pain went.

>>20439506
OP most people here haven’t read the book or barely know about the author.

There is the „Culadasa: My Journey“ series on YouTube if you wanna go deep into it.
The guy grew up in a severely dysfunctional family and really made his own way in life. He had quite the work ethic but after the 60s and hundreds of acid trips, he got interested in Buddhism (before having been a Roman catholic Christian by choice). He never really let go of that, as he, along the way, trained to be a shaman. He was a truth seeker.
He was severely influenced by his traumatic childhood (BPD mother, physically abusive father).
The whole sex scandal thing is quite complex as it has to do with his then wife and some students turned teachers in training turning on him and involved a bunch of money..
the question of the immorality of sex in Buddhism is complex too.

He admits that even the meditation couldn’t help him see the effect of his traumata clearly and joined other American Buddhist „teachers“ in doing psychotherapy.

The book is grade A though. He’s just a guy with flaws but at least tried to be mostly honest. The book is perfect for analytical thinkers and has helped my progress in meditation and my life in general a lot. There is A LOT of wisdom on those pages. It may not contain truth. But it contains a lot of good pointers to the way there.

>>20447694
the book is a mash up of pali abidharma with mahayana, it's utter crap compared to the sutras

>>20447530
i used to do that on rotten.com lol

>>20447545
me too

>>20447779
It’s also much more accessible and easy to understand if you have no idea of the terminology.

>>20445224
I remember one monk saying that a person who has attained arahatship will need to join a sangha (or else just retreat into the wilderness) or they will just wither away and die within a few days. So I guess the answer is that they either teach others, out of compassion, or just burn out the remainder of their past kamma in seclusion.

But there should be a distinction between nibbana and the attainments. Experience of nibbana for the first time, which is stream-entry, will not make you fully enlightened. Rather, it's said that there's an incredible feeling of relief that persists for many days and never really goes away. You'll also feel unable to consciously break the five precepts (doing so will just seem abhorrent to you) and all doubt toward the path will disappear. These seem in line with the things you listed and I would go further to say that stream-entry is a very achievable goal even for laypeople. Just the very fact that a person is of sound mind and health, has access to the true Dhamma and has the wholesome desire to practice it, indicates they are "ripe". Just consider how rare that combination is.

>>20446982
work for what? what are you looking for?
Stream entry? it definitely works
Inner peace? maybe

>>20448759
In my experience, meditation made my mind more objective in the sense I can distinguish between bias and real thoughts, also more open to "intuitions".
Successful people meditate? Maybe but maybe they reach such states by other means.

>>20447488
redpill me on spiritual masters and high appetite for sex
is it too much pent up chad power that is not being utilized? doesn't kundalini live somewhere near the genitals?

>>20439506
https://www.shobogenzo.net/index.php/text/handbook-of-authentic-buddhism/

>>20447871
>or they will just wither away and die within a few days.
why

Is it true that most successful people meditate? Entrepreneurs, professionals, inventors etc. I remember reading about a devout Hindu math prodigy who said that he discovered theorems after intense meditation. Seems counterintuitive desu, you’re literally sitting down and doing nothing.

On youtube ajahn brahm has many meditation instruction videos. I found the ones where he uses mantras and you gradually increase the spacing between the words. It was probably one of the most effective "technique" type instructions I've recieved.

Also Ayya Khema has many dharma talks online where she discusses the jhana states, meditation absorptions, and the 3 marks of existence. They were incredibly helpful lectures for me personally into getting into the right mindset for practicing meditation techniques consistently.

This is just what worked for me, but I definitely think there are others out there who would benefit from these particular teachings.

>>20439506
>integrating buddhist wisdom and brain science for greater mindfulness
how you can read this and think its a serious book in any possible way?. people are retarded. meditation is a meme and it always was anyway.

>>20448759
>Entrepreneurs, professionals, inventors etc
No. They don't. And if they do it will be some mindfulness meme to play into the latest fad and make themselves feel good.

>you’re literally sitting down and doing nothing.
That's not what meditation is. Meditation isn't even one thing.

>>20449157
>work for what? what are you looking for?

My brain is always going 100 miles a minute and my amygdala is working overtime, I think I have agoraphobia or an anxiety disorder because I enter fight or flight very easily. I don't want to take jew meds.

>>20445171
1. Approximately 40 men wrote the Bible.
2. They all came from diverse backgrounds.
3. They wrote it 1500 years ago.
4. The authors of the Bible wrote about demons.
5. The authors of the Bible wrote about possession, which is caused by demons.
6. Therefore, meditation causes demonic possession.

>>20449855
if you are a neet you can build your own safe space and do some activities inside it, to gradually be normal, but if you are a normie, with a job and so on, you will never have the time to properly be calm.
the best normies can do is 15 day retreats in some buddhist center

>>20448767
>I found the ones where he uses mantras and you gradually increase the spacing between the words.
were you able to get into the jhanas with this method? and could you link the video if possible? i'm quiet curious about mantra methods since they quite possibly the oldest form of meditation

Has anyone heard of Tara's Triple Excellence? It's supposed to be an online Vajrayana program

>>20447779
>compared to the sutras
there's zero meditation guides in the sutras, retard, except for some description of the mental factors associated and some vague allusions to breath meditation

>>20445256
The only book you need on "why" is a good translation of the Dhammapada, I recommend Acharya Buddharakhita. If that doesn't make you feel some sense of profound urgency to leave samsara (even if you have no idea how nor what is on the other side) then I don't know what will.

>>20450111
The Dhammapada is beautiful

>>20449731
Once you meet Bliss with Void, you will understand, that is something reserved only to initiates though.

>>20449878
All scriptures are written in a state of single-pointedness, scriptures are meditated over, foolish shudra.

>>20447694
>acid trips
>truth seeker
>american buddhist teachers
aah america

>>20445090
Hi anon. I meditate for 10 minutes a day and use the advice and classification of TMI, the book quoted by the author, to know where I am, but I feel like I'm not making any progress. Any advice?

Can I really reach samatha and then the first path and awakening just by improving my concentration on meditation and breath?

Maybe I should meditate more but I try to take it easy, because even 10 minutes is hard for me, I get bored, restless and fall asleep.

Also, a side point: does morality matter that much? Some people seem to reach the advanced states while still drinking alcohol from time to time (the precept I have the most trouble with, along with the 4th one because I like to make jokes with my friends).

Another point : I don't believe in anatta as classically understood, my theory is closer to Vedanta and Dolpopa Buddhism, I identify Nirvana with the True Self. As long as I agree that the worldly self is illusory, it should not be a problem, right? Thanks.

>>20448759
In „Tools of Titans“ Tim Ferris has summed up things he learned while interviewing hundreds of very successful people. He mentioned that the biggest commonality between them was that they actively meditated for periods of their life.

>>20449731
I don't think they have a higher appetite for sex than the average man. It's just hard to avoid the temptation when you're a cult leader with all these women surrounding you, eager to please you.

>>20439862
I find this pretty confusing honestly, isn't Eastern spirituality ultimately not concerned with morality? How does a guru doing what we think of as immoral imply he isn't spiritually on a higher level?

>>20449878
Point 6 doesn't follow from any of the other points

>>20449855
yeah I think it can help you but you should know that certain stages could temporary exacerbate your problem
some REBT should be helpful too, I discovered it when I was a teen and it saved me from a lot of pointless suffering, super useful too when you're monitoring the "thickness" of the self

>>20445224
There's no such thing as inaction, so you would simply act without attachment. Which comes much earlier than nirvana, acting without attachment is karma yoga.
This is just a confusion about assuming enlightenment is something, you imagine yourself without motivation basically. That's not what it is, you don't know what it is because you aren't enlightened.

>>20451517
most eastern spirituality paths have you working on following strict moral rules before you do any meditation, because they knew you get fucked up if you just jump straight ahead to the meditation

>>20451565
I don't see this at all in jnana yoga, can you explain to me if I'm missing it? (not challenging, legitimately seeking wisdom on this subject)

>>20451573
i don't know much about jnana yoga, but i assume it was a path developed on the context of growing up inside a certain caste, so if you grew up in a certain caste you would get a certain upbringing and be expected to follow certain rules? but just pulling this out of my ass, not sure how it worked in real life

>>20451583
Jnana yoga as I understand it is the Brahmin path to enlightenment so yeah, but that said its supposed to be superior to other paths because the brahmin caste is the spiritually superior caste. Its mostly concerned with detachment and then a strong desire for liberation.

Imagine meditating, lmao.

>open your mind, clear of thoughts
>allows space for evil feelings to come in by doing so

Meditation literally fucks you up even more.

>>20451715
You're right for most people it's better to meditate on something or use a mantra

>>20451715
>i need to be constantly distracted or else i will become evil
that's a personal problem, probably psychic residue from worshiping a volcano demon

>>20451715
>evil
Evil is a Judaic concept with no place in any religious intellectual or spiritual discussion.

>>20451789
I was clearly using evil in this context to mean "bad things" but I'm sure your autism will prevent you from accepting that.
>>20451749
lol
>>20451731
ya

>>20451715
>worries about "evil feelings"
>literally browses imageboards
lel

>>20450781
Hating on psychedelics is the most midwit shit you can do

>>20450817
If you can only do 10 minutes a day you should be focused on just trying to build a daily habit and practice Right Effort in your meditation wrt to the hindrances. The key is keeping the five precepts. The precepts can be best understood not as commandments but as a loose taxonomy of behaviors which, when broken, lead to the arising of future hindrances. The reason a hindrance arises in meditation is because you broke one or more of the precepts in the past The precept against not killing, for example, should really be seen as a precept against harming others (or oneself) either by speech, thought or action (which gives rise to ill-will). Intoxicants refers not only to alcohol, but any substance that dulls the mind (e.g television, junk food).

Until you make an effort to change your behavior, you will keep experiencing the same hindrances over and over, as you have been your whole life. That is the law of kamma: nothing we do is ever done in vain, for better or worse. In every sutta in which the Buddha mentions meditation or jhana, he always begins by saying that the monk should withdraw from sensuality, both physically ("having gone to the wilderness, to the shade of a tree, or to an empty building" and mentally "quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful qualities"). Sensuality and unskillful qualities here can be understood as the 5 hindrances. To withdraw from them requires, one way or another, keeping the five precepts.

I would not concern myself overmuch with concepts or views regarding the self or the three perceptions at this stage (I highly recommend listening to Thanissaro Bhikkhu's take on the subject). Focus instead on taking action. Don't forget what a precious existence this is: to be human, to be of healthy mind and body, to be able to hear the true Dhamma and to practice in accordance with it, to have the desire to do so---countless causes and conditions had to have aligned just right for this to happen, many even before you were born. This means you are "ripe". If you practice diligently, there is no doubt you will experience the jhanas and stream-entry (at the very least).

So to summarize:
1. Establish a daily habit first with Right Effort and the sits will get longer by themselves
2. Keep the precepts, examine the hindrances that arise to figure out what to focus on
3. Don't worry too much about views right now
4. Don't waste this precious existence

>>20452350
Not him, what's your opinion on Vajrayana?

>>20451715
If this happens you're just an evil person

>>20451545
Holy shit, well put

>>20450817
>I don't believe in anatta as classically understood, my theory is closer to Vedanta and Dolpopa Buddhism, I identify Nirvana with the True Self
Can you expand on this?
>Some people seem to reach the advanced states while still drinking alcohol from time to time
If you have trouble giving it up that's probably an attachment right? I guess it depends why you drink.

>>20451545
>so you would simply act without attachment
What drives your actions in the absence of cravings and aversions?
>That's not what it is, you don't know what it is because you aren't enlightened.
Then what is it? Is it a perfect moderation of our passions in order to be aligned with the nature of things?

>>20439506
it is one of several modern technical meditation manuals so just keep looking around and you may find a book that suits you much better in wording and teaching
some leads though i am uncertain if you will like them
shinzen young, michael taft, sam harris, etc

>>20452847
>What drives your actions in the absence of cravings and aversions?
The animal body still exists I would imagine, "you" are just no longer attached to it. Just as in nirvana, one is liberated from their form, but the form continues on. The point isn't in the literal destruction of the animal body but in complete detachment from it.
>Then what is it?
I don't know bro, not only am I not enlightened, if I was it wouldn't be able to be expressed in language.

If anyone sees this: Zen Mind, Beginners Mind by Roshi Suzuki is a good companion to this to get in a proper headspace. Unfortunately, TMI takes a achievement/gaining perspective to meditation. And that’s all fine and good, especially when you’re starting and dealing with a wild mind. However, Suzuki really emphasizes meditating with non-gaining ideals: open awareness and a focus on proper posture are all you need (I highly recommend a zafu and zabuton if you want to sit zazen). Progress will come easier and more naturally when you’re not grasping for it (and admittedly, as Westerners it’s incredibly hard to get into this mindset). Try metta work as well. It’s a beautiful practice to supplement concentration meditation. If you can find a sangha, I also recommend that. It helped so much for me. Also, supplements of Ram Dass have helped bc I’m a big soft bitch.

Seeking will get you beyond where you are now, but it will only lead to suffering when you do not get what you want. You are complete as you are, and you will be complete at every stage. The factors for happiness are always here; it’s just a matter of seeing them.

May you NEETs be happy; may you NEETs be free of suffering; may you NEETs move through the world with ease; may you NEETs know happiness within your innermost heart.

I hope this made sense. Best of luck on this path

>>20452191
shut up junkie

>>20455399
t. midwit

>>20446274
why

>>20455419
Otherwise it's much harder to stick to it.

>>20452350
Thanks very much anon

>>20452350
Are the 5 precepts really that important for attaining the jhanas?

>>20450817
10 is ok, 20 is plenty enough. Just keep going back to focusing on breath or whatever object you use whenever distracted. Forget about precepts and rules, they're just distractions.
Once you find the quiet place, you'll learn to go there by will, and one day you might snap off the habitual daydreaming.
Maybe read bodhidharmas blood stream sermon.

>>20439531
I find that recalling information is easier for me if I write in notes form with an expanded definition below.

I then can copy it and paste on my phone and read it throughout the day

>>20455815
>is a baseline of self-discipline important to meditative states?
yeah

>>20455905
You can be disciplined without following the precepts

>>20455815
They're only important if you want to be a good little buddha worshipper.
Nothing to do with seeing yourself aka enlightenment, apart from being another distraction and delusion.
Haven't you heard, unless they see their nature, people who shave their heads (=monks) are simply fanatics.

>>20447504
I wasn't precise earlier. The point is not that it is too simple but rather that his interpretation is incorrect and doesn't capture the essence of meditative practices. His inability to correctly categorize and describe meditative qualia makes sense, given his sex scandals, which demonstrate an inability to properly regulate himself like an enlightened person should.

>>20456064
It seems to me that Buddhism, at least as far as stream entry is concerned, is completely amoral and the Five Precepts are only important in terms of self-regulation and discipline from samsara rather than any altruism or compassion.

>>20449878
Diversity is ur strenk
Fucc whyt pipo

>>20445717
Yeah just meditate like a normal person but with Rabbi cum all over you and pay exorbitant amounts of
AS A WHITE MAN I AM MEAN TO YOU IN A BUDDHIST THREAD AS I WILL BE ON ALL ENDS OF THE EARTH

>>20444665
All of them

do different meditation objects produce different benefits?

>>20456662
based

>>20457320
It was literally schizo ramble

is there such a thing as getting too used to a meditation object? i feel i can focus on the object while also having regular thoughts in the background

>>20457563
nah, you are just detecting more subtle distractions now

>>20457567
is this stage four from the book?

>>20456365
>>20456064
>>20456057
The precepts should be seen rather as a taxonomy of actions which, when broken, lead to the future arising of hindrances. They are not religious commandments. They are rather a description of cause and effect ("if you do this, this hindrance arises"). Their scope is greater than what is written. It's not just about not killing but about not harming other beings (or oneself), whether through speech, thought or action. It's not just alcohol which is an intoxicant, but any substance, physical or otherwise, which dulls the mind. Each precept is intimately connected with a corresponding hindrance. Since the jhanas require withdrawal from the hindrances, it follows that keeping the precepts is a necessary part of the practice. This is the interpretation that makes most sense to me, anyway.

>>20452354
I don't know enough about it to say anything useful. In general, any teaching is fine so long as it is centered around the four noble truths.

>>20457706
Have you reached the jhanas?
Can I really reach enlightenment just by concentrating on my breathing?

>>20445256
based and agreed. With Each and Every Breath is free and has way less jargon bullshit than OP's pic.

>>20457944
>Can I really reach enlightenment just by concentrating on my breathing?
No. It's more involved that.

>>20458014
Wasn't that how Shakyamuni did it? What else do you need

I not meditate because lazy and drink alcohol play videogame and lurk 4chans all day
will i go to (worse) hell? do they have imageboards there? i have book culadasa and also guarantana and ancient tantric kriya and yoga but cant even sit straight because i never leave dark room and hunched before computer for all my life like gollum. writing like retard on purpose and because lazy btw. gf left me long ago and pensi is broken beyond repair. why even meditate. nirvana sucks is nihilistic. i want gf and fug and talk to rabbits and anime girls. what after dead? i scared. mommy!

>>20456692
yes

>>20458177
why dont you meditate while you drink alcohol play games and browse 4chan

>>20458014
Yet with tmi some attain samatha and have insight and stream entry
Only with anapanasati

>>20458192
is this possible? thought no fun allowed when do monk things. have to try some day (procrastinating) why not now? idk. maybe need rest. should go outside and lick some trees.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WsHjDQqlf0&list=UUIeWn_WVQSPJOR2cPCQL2-w

>>20458272
don't know the details but there is tantric practices which seem to involve meditating with all the things that are typically considered 'naughty' and in everyday life instead of in repressed seclusion

>>20457944
My experiences seem to align to some of the arupa jhanas (when I discussed them with a teacher) but I haven't yet experienced cessation.

>Can I really reach enlightenment just by concentrating on my breathing?
If you mean just using the method of mindfulness of breathing (anapanasati) over other meditation methods (e.g metta, mantra etc.), certainly. The Buddha himself did so. If you mean by concentration alone, the answer, according to the Buddha, is a definite no. Meditation constitutes only three folds of the eightfold path (Right Concentration, Right Mindfulness and Right Effort). The other five are just as necessary and it will be difficult to make progress even in those three without the support of the other five. Although the Buddha was inordinately fond of lists, his lists are usually quite parsimonious.

>>20456692
no

>>20445299
DAS RITE
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kWZVKU5imx0

>>20439506
Check this one out. https://library.dhammasukha.org/uploads/1/2/8/6/12865490/the_path_to_nibbana__d_johnson_f18.pdf

>>20444665
Metta

>>20457567
Oof you answered a question of mine. Thanks anon

>>20455815
Yes

>>20458420
>Meditation constitutes only three folds of the eightfold path (Right Concentration, Right Mindfulness and Right Effort).
What are the difference between the three?

>>20460380
Why

>>20452350
>Don't forget what a precious existence this is: to be human, to be of healthy mind and body, to be able to hear the true Dhamma and to practice in accordance with it, to have the desire to do so---countless causes and conditions had to have aligned just right for this to happen, many even before you were born. This means you are "ripe". If you practice diligently, there is no doubt you will experience the jhanas and stream-entry (at the very least).
Adi Shankara says something similar in the Vivekacūḍāmaṇi:

"He who has somehow risen to the human condition, who has been given a male body, who has grasped the deeper meaning of the Vedas, and yet is foolish enough not to devote himself entirely to his emancipation, is committing a crime against himself; by pursuing illusory ends, he is consuming his own downfall. (I-4) "

>>20457944
>Can I really reach enlightenment just by concentrating on my breathing?
There'd be vastly more enlightened people if one could reach it consistently by some method or technique.
But if you keep seeking, one day the bottom of the rice barrel gives out as they say.
I'd say meditation gets you halfway there. Then at some point, it'll happen suddenly, like a thrust of a knife, instantly.
Chan enlightenment stories can give a hint. Just remember it's not fake it till you make it kind of a deal. Imitation ain't gonna cut it, it's about seeing yourself.

>>20458177
you'll become a hungry ghost, look it up

a while ago some anons said that the stages of meditation is taken from asanga's stages of meditation
in which work of his does asanga talk about stages of meditation like in TMI

>>20461017
1/2

>>20461017
2/2

>>20461017
3/3

>>20461017
>>20461033
>>20461036
>>20461041
what's a sanga?

>>20439506

Here’s all you need to meditate

>set an alarm for 5 minutes
>breathe normally
>notice your breath
>keep noticing your breath
>if you get distracted from your breath that’s good that’s your brain showing you what it’s thinking under the surface
>that’s ok that happened
>focus on your breath
>focus on your breath
>don’t even think the words focus on your breath just do it
>wait till the timer goes off

You can learn to meditate right now if you actually do this. Everything other meditation tradition is just expanding on that simple core

I use Sam Harris's app. Where should I go from there? I've built the habit and do an hour a day (collectively. Only done hour sessions a couple times)

>>20461281
>Sam Harris's
Brainlet

>>20461366
>feser
yawn
back to your containment thread

>>20461366
I know he's a zog. His criticisms of religion tend to only ever touch Christianity. I'm a normie when it comes to meditation and his stuff helped.

>>20451715
>worried about allowing evil in
>browses 4chan
wew

>>20461033
TMI must be babby tier compared to those writings by asanga

>>20460533
Right Concentration: In a word, the jhanas. The jhanas are initially used to wean yourself from more crude forms of sensuality, they are a much more wholesome form of pleasure on which to feed. Later, they culminate in cessation after which you can observe the arising of the links of dependent origination. Think of this as the destination.

Right Mindfulness: The four bases of mindfulness as described in the Satipattana sutra. Mindfulness is also one of the seven enlightenment factors and the one which should always be present. Think of this as the vehicle.

Right Effort: See >>20445036. Think of this as the fuel.

During meditation you maintain Right Mindfulness with Right Effort until Right Concentration arises as a consequence of your (temporary) withdrawal from sensuality/the hindrances.

>>20461635
Asanga is considered a "third" founder of Buddhism in traditional Mahayana doxography, after Nagarjuna and the OG. His Mahayansamgraha is perhaps the most concise work. K. Brunnholzl has an excellent transition of the text and its commentaries from India and Tibet, including Vasubandhu's (half-brother of Asanga)

>>20462109
Dolpopa > all
t. a vedantin

>>20462006
Thanks anon

meditation seems like larp to me
like, what the fuck
you just sit there doing nothing, then pretend it was useful?
bravo

>>20462130
thanks

>>20462118
>vedantin
based crypto-buddhist poster

>>20460536
This anon >>20452350 explains it very well (hindrances). You can check it out on your own. If you meditate and you achieve any attainment you can try breaking a precept and you will feel tremendous guilt. Don't take our word for it, you can test it on your own.

>>20462130
yeah it helps. even doing half-assed ADHD-riddled meditation for a year improved my observation of my thoughts and moods, helped me deal with anxiety, etc.

>>20462130
I started reading thing book it just increases your concentration and such, I started reading this book, and gauged the method pretty much just from reading the summary, focussing on breath was enough for me,


But if you want the elite practice I will summarise it:
As you're in bed, go to sleep, or sleep, but in your head visualise a white "A" at your throat, and imagine the sound when you see the A as an object in your mind, "Ahhhhh" now, if you hold this meditation and fall asleep while doing it, you will essentialy have lucid dreams, and such, your concentration will indefinitely increase, what matters though is that you don't stop this practice until your body falls asleep, you continue you it, now that may be hard, but there.

Also get used to emptying your mind, once it's empty become observant, if a thought arises feel your mind staring into it, contemplating and noticing, this thought is a transient one, and then imagine it being devoured by the void, by doing this my mind is empty of thoughts all day, and I don't see my mind so to speak, it's hard to explain, but I can think but I'm not really thinking, I can write but I am not actually aware of where these thoughts are coming from, my awareness if I can call it that, is conditionless and clearly separated from my mind, and when I meditate with that awareness I completely bypass all this stuff about meditation technique to put myself into that void like slumber of course I can think in that state, but my awareness refuses to think about anything which is not "Absolute" my discursive mind is a different thing all together.

Perhaps this is a case of split personality but I don't think so, I am also able to move my awareness around my body, and focus it it, and then with my mind activate certain parts of my body, in a hard way to describe, but it's purely sensation, especially in my navel area, it's like i have a second heart there and it gets all warm,

So I haven't achieved anything really, but I think this is what meditation is all about,

Also I am now memorising every single bone in the body, all the organs etc. So I can then in my visualisations and meditiations instead of merely moving that awareness to my arms, finger, but down to the very marrow of my bone, I have tried it with the organs in my stomach, and I just have to say it's like I've found a new dimension of my body, I can "feel" my organs and all the gooeyness, and my warm blood I can feel circulating.


I have told you all this just to recount my experiences for no particular reason, my intent is behind all this is "wisdom" "higher state of being" "become detached" and become "nicer"


I will recall one more thing, after this meditiation I've begun, I no longer feel revulsion over bad smells, grotesque appearances, I no longer feel scared of the dark, I am less judgemental but I also cling to a sense of feeling guilty for all my past arrogance and judgemental, muddled delusions.
But I am developing let's say.

>>20458420
The situation with the Buddha's awakening is that he achieved awakening through the three knowledges (tevija) which is seeing past lives, talking with other beings and asking them what did they do to be where they are (karma) and another one that i think is destroying the taints. Nobody wants to teach that method, so people usually just tell meditators to do the breath (slower than metta) or the brahmaviharas which is how sariputa awakened. Another route for awakening is siddhis, how mogallana awakened, but nobody wants to teach it either because of the meditator developing pride on that.

>>20462444
>also cling to a sense of feeling guilty for all my past arrogance and judgemental,
You should try forgiveness meditation how bhante vilamaramsi teaches it. It will work wonders, believe it

>>20457944
Breath takes longer than metta, but yes. Just remember to relax the body mind formation when a hindrance arises (anything that draws your attention away from your object of meditation) the tightness one feels in the body mind formation is craving. Let it go and don't keep your attention on it and it will go away after a while.

>>20462444
Another thing I also have more control over my orgasm, I feel less aroused, but when i get deep into meditation I am able to ejaculate without ejaculating and the object of my arousal is nothing , then I sort of just "meditate" on the feelings of that orgasm and it continues, higher and higher and higher, and my mind gets light and airy, and then it stops, but afterwards I feel like I have changed in some way,

Once you have an orgasm with a purely clear mind undefiled by the sexual thought I just have to say, that it is insane.


Also I meditate on like an internal sound sometimes, hard to describe, I don't think it's tinnitus.

And about that feeling in my navel,when I focus on it, and focus on it, my body feels like it's burning, It sort of feels like I am getting into unknown territories with all this,

For example I have all these different "beatings" like hearts all around my body, I searched up what it may be on the internet, and there is no explanation.


So I think that meditiation also unlocks the body, but also, for me I have also learnt to appreciate the space between breath, its like a state of non-breath, one time while I was meditiating I had a revelation of sorts, that each breath was like the creation of the universe, or the breathing of a new life, sort of like a big bang - sounds cringe, but I haven't meditated too in depth on that

>>20462469
Thanks I will look into it.

>>20462487
Not to sound like a degenerate coomer, but I since I am able to induce these "states" by just closing my eyes, I am still a virgin, but I can imagine that having sex while meditiating must be an incredibly beneficial thing,

I don't know how to describe it really but I have gained a higher appreciation for tastes of food, but as soon as I taste it, I think "this food taste will be gone soon, it is fleeting it is void" and then I enter into a definitely objective state of mind, and then I try to maintain it, so if I were to have sex like this, with a woman who arouses me completely then I would definitely be able to objectively raise my level, I am thinking of visiting prostitutes but this is only for the cultivation of meditation, my mind is also racing with the possibility of what would happen if I ingested psychedelics in meditiation,

I tried it with alcohol the other day, and kept up the same voidness idea, and I never got drunk I just felt incredibly blissful,

So meditation is potentially leading me into these degenerate habits, but I don't think degeneracy is a real thing, from a higher point of view.

How do I explain it, after uncovering these dimensions to myself, I feel like "limit testing" the body, I wonder if anyone here has "limit tested" the body, used meditiation and drugs together, I have never taken drugs before, but it must be a crazy experience.

>>20462526
Not a state of "mind" as I said before but Awareness, the two are pretty much different from experience as I clarified before.
I know this is not a blog posting site, but I am essentialy a neet with too much time on my hands.

>>20462487
Here
https://www.dhammasukha.org/forgiveness-meditation

>>20462487
>For example I have all these different "beatings" like hearts all around my body, I searched up what it may be on the internet, and there is no explanation.
I've had those too, like a second heart beating. Also someone or something blowing cool air in my face or body while meditating, spinning in place, light etc. They're only phenomenons that happen during Jhana, don't get attached to them since everything that arises is bound to perish.

>>20462487
>>20462526
>>20462444
damm now isn't this way interesting and less tiresome than those shankara vs nagarjuna threads
this is why practice threads are best takes me back a few years

>>20462580
>>20462568
I also have a question, do you guys know any sort of way to do a self-guided meditation, I mean when a person has a guru say, they can just set there and meditate so to speak, and the guru gives them instructions and pointers, what ro visualise, this and that, and I have realised that this is something unmatched and definitely important and can accelerate the meditative journey, I have found such meditation texts, and I have been thinking about , how can I instruct myself according to the text, in a way without requiring someone read it to Me, while I am fully trusting and obedient to the instruction,

I considered then memorising the meditation instruction may work, but it also impedes upon the quality of the meditiation, have you guy thought about this question?

I have started to realise the necessary importance of fhere being a "Teacher" or "Instructor," I was wondering if there was a meditation method, in which you could seamlessly "install" an inner guru, to teach you as you meditiate, or guide you through certain sayings or pointers, instructions which one may reflect on.

Do you guys think to put it in crude terms it would be beneficial to "install" a guru, by following those "tulpa" methods, then say train the tulpa in the Upanishads, and take him as the instructor, then I imagine there would be a seamless integration between the tulpa guru, and the meditation process.

I know this sounds sort of stupid mostly because of the psychologistic terminologies, but do you think it could work, especially if I grounded it in the view of impermanence, the guru would be able to be destroyed and created, arise spontaneously if necessary as an introduction.

>>20462568
Also I appreciate this.

>>20462684
No, never thought of it but there are guided meditations by bhante vilamaramsi on YouTube. He does metta primarily and it definitely works. When something happens (metta goes to the head, which you will know) you can send an email to dhammasukha and they'll help you out, since when that happens it's time to change the object.

anybody dealt with energy blockages all around the body? my body is shit from sitting too much, and always get those when meditating, and i don't think just powering through them is a good idea

>>20462697
You're very welcome. Try it out, i did it yesterday and you'll feel very light in both body and mind, and it'll be easier to feel the metta.

>>20462710
You relax and come back to your object of meditation. Body pains during meditation are just that, meditation pains.

>>20462718
not really, that's a western meme, wrecking your body by sitting won't take you anywhere, buddhists didn't even let you meditate if you had a crooked spine

>>20462731
>buddhists didn't even let you meditate
That's not what I've experienced but okay. It doesn't matter how you sit, sitting in lotus when you've never been trained in it is counterproductive. Just sit on a chair with a relaxed position and meditate. Even lying down you can meditate, just be conscious that laying down will raise sloth and torpor (unless you have high level of energy)

>>20462731

This is why zen monks alternate between sitting zazen and walking meditation. Much healthier for the body.

>>20462684
First I am thinking:
1. Trace out and develop the ideal guru, in a precise manner and make myself connected to it, not in the sense of attachment.
2. Compile the source material, and pointers and instructions.
3. Follow the schizo tulpa methods, I know they do "guided meditation" to essentialy solidify this thoughtform in their mind, it's pretty much akin to deity Yoga.
4. Reinforce the pointers and instructions, into the tulpa personality, I will essentialy have to just keep my thoughts occupied with metaphysics until it becomes intuitive and native,
5. Parse all the instruction through the tulpa, and then meditate kek.

It may be possible to install these tulpas or deities in each part of my skeletal structure, and associate them with one or another, command, and essentialy fill my body with little deities, to assist in this endeavour.

I'm pretrt sure this is what they do as part of advanced practices see "body mandala" they tie these little deities to energies in the body, chakras, winds, channels, aswell, which they call upon in meditiation.

I feel that it is impossible for me to become "psychologically unstable" as I am in a state where I do not even acknowledge that these things exist, and also even IF I was given horrifying visions of angels and demons, i don't think it would drive me mad as I know they are non-existent right?

>>20462710
Ah, you can sit for an hour and then get up slowly and walk while meditating to get the blood flowing (20-40 minutes walking) then you can return to the sitting.

>>20462710
exercise i think

>>20448934
https://www.reddit.com/r/Buddhism/comments/ud6z1o/ajahn_brahm_on_using_mantras_and_chanting_to/

This is the technique

Combined with ayya khema's talks on the jhanas, hinderances, marks of existence, etc.
https://dharmaseed.org/teacher/334/

Are what helped me start to feeling like I was making progress vis a vis jhana states and the 8 fold path.

Anyone feel a fear of the unknown kinda feel during meditation? Felt like I was going to see something scary, and it made me scared to keep eyes closed. Also saw some mildly evil faces in the periphery in the beginning. I think its happened before too.

yeah it happens, I used to hear voices and feel light "touches" in my back, don't really know what causes it, it just stops at some point
TMI addresses it at Stage 4 or 5 iirc

>>20463224
yeah it happens, I used to hear voices and feel light "touches" in my back, don't really know what causes it, it just stops at some point
TMI addresses it at Stage 4 or 5 iirc

>>20445119
>bro sitting still and breathing deeply is demonic!!!!
Imagine being this fucking retarded

>>20463224
You must have fucked up big time in past life, Holmes

>>20462130
And reading books is doing nothing but staring at paper and ink

>>20464173
tell me about it
i think i've spent all life being crippled by fear in some form or the other

>>20462451
>Another route for awakening is siddhis, how mogallana awakened, but nobody wants to teach it either because of the meditator developing pride on that.
How to gain siddhis?

>>20462580
>Also someone or something blowing cool air in my face or body while meditating, spinning in place, light etc.
They are literally demons. Sivananda talks about them (pic rel), they appear at a certain level to distract you. Think of Mara coming to see Buddha.

>>20465083
But blowing cold air on your face isn't bad, so maybe it's an angel or a hallucination, I don't know.

>>20463224
>Also saw some mildly evil faces in the periphery in the beginning. I think its happened before too.
See ---> >>20465083

>>20463921
But it's true tho:

>>20462580
>>20463224
>>20465083

Lmao.

I think it's because meditation, on some level, opens up something like your third eye, or ESP (extra-sensory perception). After a while, the spiritual world reveals itself more. I don't know about others, but when I meditate often I can tell that I am making progress because I see synchronicities increase on a daily basis, for example. Like messages that the world is sending me. At high level, I have read testimonies of how easy life seems to become as fate is moving in our direction. Your boat follows your current perfectly.

>>20465083
how do i know i'm not just imagining this shit

>>20465083
>>20465153
That’s the point, within most forms of Buddhism the three worlds are thus.

Mind
Speech
Action

The mind world coming first on account that all perception and all phenomenon arise from the mind, all experience and conscious occur from the mind and are based on whether the mind is in rest or agitation, thus within the Buddhist view, there is no meaningful difference between it being a literal demon or simply your own agitated imagination, for these are identical.

There’s wrathful usages to agitated imagination and those oddities you anons experience but it’s best not to experiment without some supervision or direction if you are planning to go down a very orthodox Buddhist mode.

Daily reminder that Hindo-Buddhist devas are angels/demons: immaterial, composite, changing local powers, etc.: pic rel. Simply immaterial creatures.

You will also notice that these are cast out with the Om >>20465083 , the Logos: the Christ. Just saying...

>>20465061
I’m throwing you a golden apple with the word kallisti written on it.

https://libgen.is/book/index.php?md5=BF15C7E5DE02BED3A6175C8314EF0943

https://libgen.is/book/index.php?md5=933D14D8DEEA1B829CD6F12BD448DCD5

https://libgen.is/book/index.php?md5=ACF74A1E547BE0DAFDA8826B27DCC008

>>20465168
Yes, as some see the demons/Devil/Mara as the ego that struggles and distracts from being dissolved into the Principle (the devil divides). Who knows.

>>20465201
Did you send the same book twice?

Thanks, I'll look into it. But discordianism and chaos didn't get me very far. I'm maybe too rational.

>>20465179
>wrathful usages to agitated imagination
like what
looking at creepypasta faces right now feels like scratching an itch

>>20465226
Nope, two volumes in a series. By the apple comment I’m saying it’s not for most people and for most people it’s inviting a lot of variables into their life, it’s best not to go for that method unless your mind’s composition demands it.

>>20465236
Siddhi cultivation and increase of desire (why would you want to increase desire? That’s a whole big topic.)

Read this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chöd

>>20465238
I read somewhere that tantra could be a more effective method during the times of Kali Yuga. So who knows.
But I don't really like the visualization methods etc. I prefer to focus on the breath. Hoping to become the pure subject sooner or later.

>>20465197

>>20465083
Hmm, i did have a sorta lucid dream where i saw the hat man and that dream felt like a spiritual attack. I sent metta to him and he let me go, before sending metta to him i punched him (his image was in a wall so i basically hurt myself) and he shouted at me. He was at ease when i sent him metta. It could be, but it's odd, the wind only happens when i start meditation. What about the spinning in place? That's wild! Kek

>>20465061
Only with a teacher. It takes 10 years. Only a very emotionally inclined aspirant should seek siddhis method of awakening. There are three types of personalities.

>>20463224
You shouldn't be identifying with fear. I recommend you read the path to nibbana and cultivate the metta meditation and the 6r's and you'll be able to understand fear and to manage it.

>>20465256
Remember to relax the body mind formation when craving arises. Breath is slower than metta but it will get you through all the jhanas if you do the 6r's

>>20465266
>I sent metta to him
fuck does that mean

>>20465098
An anon on x told me it was prana. I don't know

>>20465304
You send x or y loving and kind thoughts.

>>20465140
There are two extrasensorial eyes. The eye of dhamma and the celestial eye (third eye). Meditation will open a lot of doors

Why does one sais that metta is faster for the jhanas?
How to do metta?
What are its benefits ?

One might think it's harder to concentrate on something as vague as love rather than the tip of his nose

And what are the puritications?

>>20465368
>The eye of dhamma and the celestial eye (third eye).
What's the difference between the two?

>>20444970>>20445090

>>Kind of a secondary concern, but the kasinas for example are said to have not been taught by the Buddha at all, and as such are decried by some as improper objects of meditation. What do you think?
That's true. it's from the abidharma. And it's retarded just like mantras, like ''Om'' that the hindus do. All the hindus and gurus miss the point that right samadhi cant stem from sensual inputs.
This part of their general NPC narrative that ''senses are not inherently bad, and in fact you can enjoy them, it's just craving them which is bad''.
in buddhism senses are inherently bad since they are inherently conditioned.
So no sound, no taste, no touch, no sight will get you enlightened. It's only this which gets you enlightened.

first what not do to
>Having been touched by that painful feeling, he resists (and resents) it. Then in him who so resists (and resents) that painful feeling, an underlying tendency of resistance against that painful feeling comes to underlie (his mind). Under the impact of that painful feeling he then proceeds to enjoy sensual happiness. And why does he do so? An untaught worldling, O monks, does not know of any other escape from painful feelings except the enjoyment of sensual happiness. Then in him who enjoys sensual happiness, an underlying tendency to lust for pleasant feelings comes to underlie (his mind). He does not know, according to facts, the arising and ending of these feelings, nor the gratification, the danger and the escape, connected with these feelings. In him who lacks that knowledge, an underlying tendency to ignorance as to neutral feelings comes to underlie (his mind). When he experiences a pleasant feeling, a painful feeling or a neutral feeling, he feels it as one fettered by it.

then what to do
>‘The first absorption is a basis for ending the defilements.’ That’s what I said, but why did I say it? Take a mendicant who, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskillful qualities, enters and remains in the first absorption. They contemplate the phenomena there—included in form, feeling, perception, choices, and consciousness—as impermanent, as suffering, as diseased, as an abscess, as a dart, as misery, as an affliction, as alien, as falling apart, as empty, as not-self. They turn their mind away from those things, and apply it to the deathless: ‘This is peaceful; this is sublime—that is, the stilling of all activities, the letting go of all attachments, the ending of craving, fading away, cessation, extinguishment.’ Abiding in that they attain the ending of defilements. If they don’t attain the ending of defilements, with the ending of the five lower fetters they’re reborn spontaneously, because of their passion and love for that meditation. They are extinguished there, and are not liable to return from that world.
https://suttacentral.net/an9.36/en/sujato
and sila gets you the first absorption

I think that the Buddha teached the True Self.

---> https://web.archive.org/web/20100704194342/http://www.attan.com/
---> https://web.archive.org/web/20100702155616/http://attan.com/start.html

>>20465168
OM AH HUM
>>20465249
In Chöd you essentialy become like a passive spiritual medium, but ultimately with bliss and void you overcome it.
Also frater since I read, do not get distracted by "inner phenomena" as it leads to attachment, how do I reconcile this with all the visualisations of nectar, bliss, the central channel, tummo and so forth,

I also have a question for you, can you explain to me what is the actual experience of "clear light" is it something visible, or of "red light" and all the death simulations, for the dissolution of the gross body, and even the subtle eventually with space,
Understanding the actual experiential side to these things is rough for me, I will say though I have essentialy been able to enter deep states which are residual and which continue, but I'm interested in recognising my "progress" how do I do that, in fact I realised that trying to observe your progress was pointless and lead to attachment and was a hindrance, trying to watch for siddhis, but since now I am in a relative frame of mind, of learning I am interested in all the most practical aspects which I recognise and relate to by my own experience - maybe you can recommend me reading some texts or something

And also what is your opinion on samayas, do you find the commitments an obstacle and hindrance, and the visualisations don't they sometimes become a bit too excessive.

>>20465197
Lol, pleb take I'm not being prideful but it's all mind or reflections of the self, And you can't see through the relative appearances.

>>20465368
The eye of the heart is unanimous, in all traditions, its the seat of Brahma,
The Logos of God is like a grain of mustard seed (cf. Matt. I3:3I) : before cultivation it looks extremely small, but when cultivated in the right way it grows so large that the highest principles of both sensible and intelligible creation come like birds to revive themselves in it. For the principles or inner essences of all things are embraced by the Logos, but the Logos is not embraced by anything. The grain of mustard seed is the Lord, who by faith is sown spiritually in the hearts of those who accept Him. He who diligently cultivates the seed by practising the virtues moves the mountain of earth-bound pride and, through the power he has gained, he expels from himself the obdurate habit of sin. In this way he revives in him self the activity of the principles and qualities or divine powers present in the commandments, as though they were birds.

- Maximus the Confessor

My Self within my heart is smaller than a grain of rice, smaller than a grain of barley, smaller than a mustard seed, smaller than a grain of millet, smaller even than the kernel of a grain of millet. The Self in my heart is larger than the earth, larger than the mid-region, larger than heaven, and larger even than all these worlds. He who is the sole creator, whose desires are the desires of all, whose odours are the odours of all, whose tastes are the tastes of all, who is everywhere, who has no sense organs, and who is free from desires—he is my Self and is in my heart. He is no other than Brahman. When I leave this body, I shall attain him. He who firmly believes this has no doubt in his mind. This is what Śāṇḍilya has said.

- Chandogya Upanishad

The tetrahedral reality source from point to star - is just a symbol and whatever else, ether and points are common symbols.

What is /lit/'s opinion on this book?

>>20466270
it's a bit interesting to get a general idea of what buddhists believe in regards to meditation and the different stages, but hard to take the ultra-bluepilled bugman who doesn't pass a physiognomy check seriously, at least the TMI author looks like a very nice old man, and despite the sex scandal went out in a more or less dignified way and didn't feed into the drama

>>20466115
Holy based
More resource on this?
It's like >>20465264

>>20466099
>Also frater since I read, do not get distracted by "inner phenomena" as it leads to attachment, how do I reconcile this with all the visualisations of nectar, bliss, the central channel, tummo and so forth,

In Vajrayana you do this by performing the visualizations and seeing the various arisings as being no different from sunyata, meaning you look at them and utilize them but you do not perceive them as having essential atomic individual nature or the like, being nothing more than the arisings of pure mind, the dynamism of pure mind, the mind in rest glorifying in itself. This question of looking at and using the sensual while cleaving to the interior that is the sunyata of the sensual is the key to it.

> , can you explain to me what is the actual experience of "clear light" is it something visible, or of "red light" and all the death simulations, for the dissolution of the gross body, and even the subtle eventually with space,

It is an experience of light and perception of light, but the light is the self-luminous of consciousness, the awareness of consciousness becoming aware of itself, this meta-awareness is the mind resting in mind, the mind bathing in mind, this mustn’t be seen as death, this mustn’t be seen as life, neither samsara nor nirvana, you must see all of these as the arisings of mind and the resting of mind.

>excessive

The usage of excess is intentional and purposeful in tantra, as is the realization that the obligations and so forth are also empty themselves.

If you want some access and some tools and technologies to help you out and support your sadhana, I'd like to offer three excellent sources.
The first is Mooji, the mellow, master of induction, of revelation. I'm teasing a bit but he 's pretty great at gently guiding people to realizing their proper identity and the potential power and possibility that offers. It's a great place for the skeptical or for beginners bogged down in linguistics or technical details. Helps cut through the noise.
Maybe my favorite is Amma, the hugging saint/guru. Her transmission is an embrace, and she's still working through Covid and has been for 30 years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vqyr2EmUgIE
Pretty sure she's determined to hug every single human being that's willing, before she passes on. She's also a perfectly competent speaker when needs be, and has plenty of available material.
Maybe the most palatable and prolific would be Sadhguru. He's written several books on meditation/inner engineering, yoga, adiyogi/shiva, death, poetry, etc, but he's also phenomenally prolific and active in the world today. He's in the midst of a 100 day, 30k awareness raising campaign, striving from London to southern india and stopping at just about every country along the way that will have him, speaking for hours, and then getting back on the bike and riding on, often through the night. He's 65 and his voice is cracking now (I believe it's day 74 or 75) and wild and important as that is he's been doin this for decades, non-stop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDAhaJWnD6w
Meditation/yoga/learning how to actually transform and care for your body and mind is the best gift humanity has available to it. Don't miss out. Save Soil.

Also a reminder/disclaimer as always. If it's been said already I apologize. Mystical explanations are fascinating, great entertainment, and a wonderful support to practice, but they are never a substitute for actual work, for first hand experience. If you're looking to be sold on it, keep listening to all the pretty words, but if you're ready to live, just sit down, just practice, just do it. It's always been this way, goin on 20,000 years now. Language is the least of our competencies as human beings, and the least precise tool in our kit, especially today. But as a vehicle for sound its power is undeniable. The vibrations have more value than the verbage, is what I'm saying. After all... how hard is it for a healthy human being to sit still? And why wouldn't you? Aren't you this earth? Aren't you this air? Aren't you this water? Aren't you this fire, in your gut, blazing in the sky? Aren't you this space, pressing on you and filing you up?

You can always settle into the lap of creation and just be there. 'The only way out is in.'

>>20439506
no

>>20466691
This was sent here ages ago, search the archives for talk about "Trinity" and "sat-cit-ananda" or "Sat-Chit-ananda"
"Satchitananda" the archives have stuff on it,

There is a book published by sophia perennis which is highly technical "Christianity and the doctrine of non-dualism"

Try to locate the writings of Brahmabandhav Upadhyaya, read Shankacharya first, and also become more well acquainted with the Christian tradition - I recommend you not debate the sorts of insights which you may have when engaging in this study, as this sort of cross-traditional dialogue and oecumenism, will have problems on both sides from Christians and maybe from advaitins - however all debate on such a thing is really just a sign that one has not realised God,

One of the main things people try to argue against the "tripersonalisation" of satchitananda, is that Brahman is impersonal - but really it is personality which just lacks individuality - another thing people argue is - the Trinity is contingent or dependent upon causality and thus is a differently conditioned tripersonalisation, in actuality this is not necesserily true and subject to interpretation, and there are different views on this subject between East and West, with more monadic acausalists that God is not "Three Gods" but that the Holy Trinity is One God, and indeed I would agree with this from my reading and understanding, and that to claim that the "causality" is exactly what distinguishes the particular type of "tripersonalistion" is not something so straightforward,

Nonetheless debate is inferior to experience and insight, so don't get lost in the "intellectual" discussions, read the primary traditional sources and work it out yourself, who knows maybe you will derive some insight as I said or Experiential benefit.

And it is not syncreticism insofar as you do not officially mix the traditional forms, but rather acknowledge that there is some metaphysical unity between them, and see both religions independently and self-sufficiently capable of reaching the same place, informed by that universal metaphysical truth.

>>20465140
When I was most into meditation/ritual, there was a period where I kept seeing repeating numbers when I looked at the time. Especially when I was getting up out of my chair to go to another room, it would almost always happen, it would be 3:33 or 4:55 or 12:12 or whatever. It was meaningless but weird things like that happened sometimes. I also saw shadows or small objects moving through the air occasionally when I meditated, especially with my eyes closed, I would sometimes see through my eyelids a shadow move in front of me, never had any major visual hallucinations though.

>>20455815
>>20455815
>>Are the 5 precepts really that important for attaining the jhanas?
Yes, sila is here to reduce mental fermentation already, the next reduction is precisely the jhanas. It's super hard to get the jhanas without the first step.

>>20466791
>various arisings as being no different from sunyata
True, I have experienced this so far
>arisings of pure minds
True, my teacher essentialy outlined various views and schools, and said each one was tailorable to the individual disposition in whatever form, vaishesika, yogacara and madhyamaka, Definitely think vaisheshika is not for me as atomism doesnt seem fully encompassing, like it stops at prakriti or substance, and doesnt develop the essence, and prefer yogacara, madhyamaka seems like yogacara with some inserted mental gymnastics, I'm not too deep into the philosophical aspects, the teacher even claimed its not really about the intellectual discursions but instead about the cultivation of the experience of sunyata and bliss, plane and simple, and that you eventually gain insight into the nature of Dharmakaya, which I'm pretty sure he roughly equates with an Absolute nature, or Brahman so to speak.
>the usage of excess is intentional and purposeful, as is the realization that the obligations and so forth are also empty themselves
Yeah I know this, it's clearly outlined in dzogchen texts, and the tantras themselves, I think the teacher stressed them so heavily, because it was sort of like an egoity diminishing exercise to reveal the self, so far I'm only beginning.

I am sort of being round about I already know all the answers to the things I asked, but you are right - it really all boils down to sunyata, the induced desire, revulsion, fear, I am prerrt much noticeabley past alot of that and realise that it's essentialy left-hand path, sort of directly encroach upon the extremes, reconcile them to attain that perfect nondual mean.

I just wanted to talk to you about it, since I remember reading that you were already initiated,
Do you have any advice for a new initiate into vajrayana tantra? Anything I should know? Any good super effective practices I should look into?

Thanks frater.

>>20466976
Yeah also what do you think about Dzogchen or Atiyoga, as I've read it referenced there are various teachers who give transmissions and such to related practices, but I haven't looked into it much, I read various translations - alot of the Tibetan translations are pretty imprecise but I can get the general gist of it and it's seems from my surface level understanding a bit more purely contemplative but arguably less popular and developed, aswell as also subject to what seems to be some strains of innovationism.

>>20465304
It's the only thing prayer actually accomplishes: good feeling transmission.
I deposited my ki at the Vihara and then I woke up and sensed many bald heads cerebrating their metta signals into my skull. I sprinted for a mile my fastest time yet and had a zero procrastination day. I delegate my meditation to the Sangha
SARANAM GACHAMI
But in a body builder niche way that is cooler than that old stuff

Nuthin personnel, bhante

>>20466976
>Do you have any advice for a new initiate into vajrayana tantra?

Yes, that you shouldn’t ignore the normative forms of meditation nor the more common scripture, that Ego’s intensity and lack has to be a kind of dance and to fully deny it is to cleave to nirvana and not the pure mind which is both nirvana and samsara, that the three bodies and three worlds are nothing more than the mind, the light of the mind, the interpretation of the light of the mind.

>Any good super effective practices I should look into?

If you’re actually getting initiated it’s not good to pick up practices without the appropriate empowerments and recommendations, whoever is teaching you knows the nuances of your practice and mind more than any of us.

One thing I would recommend is to have both a distrust and an enjoyment in the meditative delusions and visions that will arise, you need to see them as empty and contemplate them as mysteries of the dharmakaya, the explanation of the dharmakaya, but you should delight in them, enjoy them, either at peace or with an act of agitation that is not actual agitation, a kind of act. Holding to the pure mind is neither annihilation of anything nor affirmation but the arising of all of these and none of these.

practice practice practice though!

>>20465359
so just smtp or what

>>20466791
>an experience of light...
Yeah also about that when I close my eyes whilst my mind rests in mind, and it feels like I turn inward, all I see is darkness, I don't see any light, is this supposed to be a visible light?
When I look in I just feel like an expanding feeling, like space, I don't see light and I don't try to associate with any concept of light, or of space etc.

Sometimes actually I do meditate on the elements and central channel, and navel that feelinf of nectar, but this is only ever introductory - prefatory, and I do it for sensory reasons to overcome senses by senses so to speak, by meeting them all with void.

since I just see darkness that doesn't mean I'm soulless or something does it...

My experience:
Formless mind becomes the subject, open my eyes, all I see that is are objects are non-different from the subject.

>>20467044
>distrust and an enjoyment
Recently I've started "denying" them, I was before getting sort of lost in it, and that feeling of "bodhicitta" to begin with, but the more that comes up, the more I deny it, the deeper it goes, it's like the experiential analogy to , apophasis, or via negative.

>>20465633
>How to do metta?
feel love flooding you, there's hundreds of videos out there, probably the easiest meditation
if you don't know how to feel love, begin with the feeling of a warm blanket in winter, the wonder of the clear air after a heavy rain, etc.
>What are its benefits?
compassion and comprehension of another people, which seems something stupid but really important to keep advancing
>it's harder to concentrate on something as vague as love rather than the tip of his nose
it's actually a more powerful feeling, more dynamic, you can actually get into the earlier Jhanas without any effort during Metta meditation

>>20466385
>but hard to take the ultra-bluepilled bugman who doesn't pass a physiognomy check seriously
exactly the reason I don't like Ingram

>>20467068
Syn ack syn <3
Gammawaves

>>20467044
Yes the teacher does know it, he has 50 years of practicing the tantras he gave empowerment for, and has given oral transmission, but it was not all instantaneous understanding because the visualisations he introduced where at times overwhelming.

Which translation and commentary on Upanishads is best to start with?

>>20467080
The one I read and not the ones I did not read

>>20467080

>>20467092
I have to disagree
The ones I will read and the ones you may not have read

>>20467070
The awakening experience for me was "karmamudra" or "jnanamudra" with a visualised consort, that was sort of when I realised how real and effective tantra is, and how mundane all my previous experiences have been.

>>20467070
>Yeah also about that when I close my eyes whilst my mind rests in mind, and it feels like I turn inward, all I see is darkness, I don't see any light, is this supposed to be a visible light?

For most circumstances no, the light is an allegorical light, light being the wisdom and awareness, the light turning inwards and viewing itself is the goal, which is to say, the clearness that is consciousness.

The many forms of perception are allegorically colored light which in meditation and various states such as the bardos can reveal as literal colored, the meaning of this is that the diversity of perception is pervaded by the nature of pure mind which hasn’t atomic nature but is sunyata, thus the ground where all the colors arise from.

>When I look in I just feel like an expanding feeling, like space, I don't see light and I don't try to associate with any concept of light, or of space etc.

Visualizations of light are a means through shakti, through desire to become aware of awareness, they are means and not ultimately separate from it, but are not essential to it and are ultimately just a vehicle.

>since I just see darkness that doesn't mean I'm soulless or something does it...

Kek, you don’t realize it but this is vanity. Nothing can arise without the pure light as its ground.

Cleave neither to the subject or object or the lack or fullness, but to the mind in rest. Longchenpa’s Precious Treasury of the Basic Space of Phenomena.

>>20467111
Sorry multitasking, meant to write to read longchenpa’s.

>>20467078
Keep at it, contemplate slowly as you do each the esoteric meaning relating to the nature of mind with each and you’ll grasp it bit by bit.

>>20467111
>for most circumstances no, the light is an allegorical light,
Ought
>the many forms of perception are allegorically coloured light which in meditation and various syayes as the bardos can reveal as literal coloured.
So the talk about red light and white light which has a very very interesting reproductive analogy... in the death bardo means a LITERAL vision of coloured light - which im assuming can be meditatively induced? The death yoga I was explained to was essentialy like an elemental dissolution from grossest to most subtle, with various experiences like sparks in the vision on death - like what you experience in a concussion,
So I can already glimpse that the tattvas and so on seem real, as the various sense organs and so on correspond to that process of death,
Lel but I have to wait until I die to enter meditation, and if I die suddenly I lose my chance?
Essentialy when you hit most subtle or space in death, you make sure to not get distracted by the inner phenomena and visions of death, and focus on the bindu but I'm sure eventually in death I'd have to give it up, what the teacher explained seems intuitive though.
>>20467122
Yes, I can feel it, it's like an intuition bit by bit, so I can essentialy simulate the death bardo at some stage kek?
>>20467108
Also here, I had an orgasm which was not "sexual" from that which lasted as long as I contemplated sunyata, and this has led to various developments in my navel, but I have to say if I ejaculate and dispel semen, the pressure building up, dissipates and weakens.

So nofap is completely required for tantra I guess, it was also a tantric vow - which I broke, not being able to ejaculate - I rarely do so now, has been a bit difficult, do you follow this rule?

>>20467162
If i complete that death meditation I have a feeling I become "one with the universe"
Holy based...

>>20467111
>vanity
Yeah you're right.

>>20465635
The eye of dhamma will open for a split second when you enter cessation and you will understand and touch the nibbana element. The celestial eye is only for siddhis and to see other beings, see into the future, see past lives etc.

>>20465633
https://library.dhammasukha.org/uploads/1/2/8/6/12865490/the_path_to_nibbana__d_johnson_f18.pdf

>>20467071
>>20466385

>but hard to take the ultra-bluepilled bugman who doesn't pass a physiognomy check seriously
> exactly the reason I don't like Ingram

I don't get it, you seriously think you can judge attainments from physical appearance? I remember reading once there are certain deformities which indicate a person cannot spiritually develop, but it wasn't something as vague as physiognomy.

>gods demons magicks
>>>/x/

>>20466270
Ingram is the same atheist turned buddhist self proclaiming to be fully enlightened after following the Burmese crap and being disapointed by it, which by the way is not even what the buddha taught. Ie the vipassa stuff, ie the 16 knowledges.

Then Ingram added the novelty of ''cycling'' which is even more retarded in a buddhist context, ie the the ''huh guys arahants are not fully enlightened, it's just cycling thru the dukkha knowledges until death'' woah.

then his crowd on his forum started speculating that what he defines as 4th path, ie full blown arahant a la Ingram, is jsut stream-entry fucking lel


it's a disaster but atheists who fucking love science love it, along shinzen young crap and TMI crap, all eager to say ''yeah I'm 4th path now, totally enlightened''. They all end being lost in the sea of gurus, just like in the 70s, but this time they are atheists who ''scientifically study mediation in an amateur fashion''

>>20467473
i think spiritual achievement has to have some reflection on physical movement and behavior, on the other hand the tao te ching says:
>The skillful masters (of the Tao) in old times, with a subtle and exquisite penetration, comprehended its mysteries and were deep (also) so as to elude men's knowledge . . .
>Shrinking, looked they like those who wade through a stream in winter; irresolute, like those who are afraid of all around them; . . .
>evanescent like ice that is melting away; unpretentious like wood that has not been fashioned into anything; vacant like a valley, and dull like muddy water. . . .
>Who can make the muddy water clear? Who can secure the condition of rest? . . .
>They who preserve this method of the Tao do not wish to be full of themselves.
>It is through their not being full of themselves that they can afford to seem worn and not appear to be new and-complete.
>—Tao te Ching, 15
so maybe he is just tricking us all with his appearance, but on the other hand he is openly claiming to be an Arahant, so probably not lol

>>20467396
the 6r of vimalaramsi is pretty good, but dont fall for the ''meninges is where enlightenment happens when you relax them'' meme

>>20467528
i think TMI is probably a decent guide on concentration, but there's other mental qualities that are required for enlightenment that the author doesn't seem to have mastered and that just mentioned but not really properly elaborated in the book

>>20467473
Not that anon, but no that's rubbish, in fact many high level cultivators are born into very average situations, and essentialy camoflague amongst the masses, its better to not stick out like a sore thumb, once you reach a certain degree of attainment you will reach the level of "occult war" and you will realise at a high level of government and so on. Or the elites are essentialy warring factions of cultivators, who fight over resources for cultivation, elixirs and so on, which accelerate the liberation from samsara, however I have noticed that there are some elites who fight over certain resources which do not "liberate" from samsara, but essentialy elevate a person to the level of God or archon, they spend lifetimes fighting over these potions and pills, aswell as methods for instanteous enlightenment and illumination,
A popular item which is sought after is dharmapala contracts, which grant a person siddhis like splitting oceans in two, and technological insight, clairvoyance, omniscience,

A rare siddhi is being able to peer a few seconds into the future, you would be surprised how potent this ability really is.

t. Elite insider (I am a bodyguard)

>>20467587
I mentioned all the elite stuff, because those with the best fortune are "protected" by their low status destiny,
If the elites found out about them, they would be killed and harvested - put into the ingredients of an elixir, pill or worse...

>>20467587
Obsessive craving for liberation like that seems to miss the point

I kind of regretted buying the book after I opened it. I don't care for stages as through them I may form a distorted system of thinking about spiritual development. Through my short meditation practice, I have found out what feels deeper as an experience. I can't imagine going through stages in a programme set by someone else.
I have gotten more insight from reading Joseph Campbell and Robert A. Johnson than from reading what's the difference between attention and awareness. Seems like an unnecessary distraction, so I may give the book to someone else, kek.

>>20467545
Eh, whenever i relax the head mind falls silent and craving diminishes

>>20467528
So what's an actually solid guide if this and TMI are shit?
Thanissaro's book?

>>20467545
why does vimalaramsi claim that metta can bring you to nibbana

>>20467528
>which by the way is not even what the buddha taught. Ie the vipassa stuff, ie the 16 knowledges
Explain

>>20467916
Because it will, and you can experience it for yourself. The Buddha taught metta in more suttas than the breath.

>>20467874
Disregard thanisaro and stick with bikkhu boddhi

>>20467960
there's no meditation guide in the sutras so anybody can claim to be doing "real" meditation

>>20467974
He only mentioned metta relatively to the brahmaviharas, not the higher jhanas

>>20467528
So what's the real first path? What's the real method for attaining it if not TMI and co?

>>20467976
Yeah but which actual GUIDE

>>20468012
the buddha said the dharma would be lost in 1000 years, in 500 if they let women join monasteries, and they did, so if he was right it's been gone for a long time

>>20467587
Imagine being so materialistic that u think potions can buy you powers/awakening

>>20468010
Metta will automatically transform into compassion then joy and equinimity. These will take you into the higher jhanas and then cessation will happen. It's I'm sutta 111
http://www.suttas.com/mn-111-anupada-sutta-one-by-one-as-they-occurred.html

>>20468016
So what should we do then

>>20468013
http://www.suttas.com/mn-111-anupada-sutta-one-by-one-as-they-occurred.html

>>20468000
This so hard
That's why it's good to see how other yogic practices That's why it's good to see how other yogic practices do it (Hindu yoga, tantra - vajrayana, vedanta, etc.).

>>20468016
Women have always been part of the sangha, even during the Buddha's time. You can find a lot of women achieving sotapanna in the nikayas. The Buddha had two male chief disciples and two chief female disciples.

>>20468023
>The Australian monk Shravasti Dhammika is also critical of contemporary practice based on this work.[23] He concludes that Buddhaghosa did not believe that following the practice set forth in the Visuddhimagga will really lead him to Nirvana, basing himself on the postscript to the Visuddhimagga:[23]
>Even Buddhaghosa did not really believe that Theravada practice could lead to Nirvana. His Visuddhimagga is supposed to be a detailed, step by step guide to enlightenment. And yet in the postscript [...] he says he hopes that the merit he has earned by writing the Vishuddhimagga will allow him to be reborn in heaven, abide there until Metteyya (Maitreya) appears, hear his teaching and then attain enlightenment.[23][note 2]
so basically do good deeds that earn you a place in comfy heaven, and wait there until Metteyya comes

>>20468033
And?

>>20468038
Being female or male makes no difference if you follow the 8 fold path.

>>20468036
So why shouldn't I go balls deep in Vajrayana and see where that takes me if it's all fucked anyway?

>>20468033
yes, but he also made this prediction
>Ananda had made his point, and the Buddha relented. Pajapati and her 500 followers would be the first Buddhist nuns. But he predicted that allowing women into the Sangha would cause his teachings to survive only half as long -- 500 years instead of 1,000.

>>20468040
Okay, but the Buddha said that >>20468016
so I don't understand your remark

>>20468041
cause if you do it wrong you'll end up as a hungry ghost

>>20467587
Maybe Arahants are hiding because they don't want to be hunted like tigers and elephants for their adrenochrome

>>20468052
So just do it right then

>>20468046
There is also a passage that denies that women can't be Buddhas, but this famous scholar considers it to be a late invention
The Bahudhātuka-sutta and its Parallels On Women's Inabilities
https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=75673

>>20468057
Just do spiritual keto so your ghost belly doesnt bloat

>>20468058
My bad wrong link
Here it is : https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/5-personen/analayo/bahudhatuka.pdf

>>20468061
I'm serious
Why not find a serious lineage, choose a good guru and do the needful? Apparently theravada is fucked anyway

>>20468046
That's not in the nikayas, sorry. The only thing he said about women was that they couldn't become buddhas. He personally awoke khema and she became an arahat.

>>20468072
I am too sexy to become a monk

>>20468041
>So why shouldn't I go balls deep in Vajrayana and see where that takes me
Honestly why aren't you doing that right now? Most of it isn't secret anymore and there's good english translations of a lot of it.

>>20468076
I didn't say become a monk, I said practice vajrayana
>>20468078
Because it's vast as fuck and I have no idea how to proceed, where to start, etc.
Going at it alone also seems dangerous and difficult.

For those new to jhana and want to know if meditation can really be anything more than relaxation or pacifying your mind, read this short article, then go practice. You won't even need to experience full first jhana at first to gain curiosity, just preliminary arising of jhanic qualities. Then when you are sufficiently intrigued — and I'm sure you will be, keep practicing and study more in-depth and with less contentious sources.

https://www.lionsroar.com/entering-the-jhanas/

>>20468072
>Apparently theravada is fucked anyway
Lmao read this https://vividness.live/theravada-reinvents-meditation

>>20468093
Yeah theravada has pretty much nothing to do with "original" teachings at this point

>>20462487
>when i get deep into meditation I am able to ejaculate without ejaculating and the object of my arousal is nothing , then I sort of just "meditate" on the feelings of that orgasm and it continues, higher and higher and higher, and my mind gets light and airy
Sounds like 1st jhana factors/qualities. Might not be quite 1st jhana but certainly sounds like piti and sukha. I'd suggest to practice decoupling these feelings from the idea or association of them being sexual if you want to continue advancing in your practice.

>>20468086
I'll probably tumble down that road myself. I'm looking to revive Indra worship in its biocentric form. I want to shake samsara to my will and become that shake not escape it.

>>20468086
>Because it's vast as fuck and I have no idea how to proceed
Here's what worked for me. Pick a tantra that is well documented in english and practice it as written. In my case I chose the 6 yogas of naropa, not because I believe in the inherent superiority of that tantra but because lama yeshe has written extensively about it in a way that's easy to understand. If you want to experience vajrayana I strongly recommend picking up a copy of "the bliss of inner fire" and working through it. After that Glenn Mullin has some more complete translations and commentaries on the tantra.

>>20468112
Or just go full vedanta and Dolpopa. Advaita vedanta has alive lineages going back to Adi Shankaracharya. Dolpopa has the same metaphysics

>>20468112
>6 yogas
Did you attain the jhanas with this?

>>20468086
Check out the Aro gTer if you want to get into Vajrayana.

Funnily, I'm considering switching over from Aro to Ingram. In Aro, to move on from the basic meditation (concentration/shamatha) you have to last 10 minutes in it without any thoughts arising at all. I am getting better at avoiding getting lost in thought, but no thoughts arising at all? That's not happening any time soon.

>>20468135
>I can't do it so instead of working on it I will redefine the scale

This is how we get to Ingram and his temporary awakening lmao

>>20463224
>>20463681
Everyone's jumping on the metaphysical, but let's state the obvious.
They're probably endogenously generated sensations and false perceptions due to prolonged sensory isolation (sitting in a quiet room with eyes closed).
>>20465168
Huge misinterpretation of Buddhism that
a) equates small human mind with Mind; and
b) forgets that Buddhism, whether Tibetan, Thai, or Chinese actually has an expansive demonology
>>20465226
It isn't Discordianism. It's the Buddhist variant of the voodoo doll (Vajrakila material in general) and a core Buddhist tantra (Hevajra).
Go with Hevajra. Ditch Vajrakila - it's a peripheral Buddhist cycle that Cultus Sabbati samsaric saprophites try to push to give their doll cursing the respectful patina of an ancient tradition
>the light is an allegorical light, light being the wisdom and awareness,
Not really. They are clearly treated as photic phenomena within the texts and described as things that pupils must actually see - firefly lights, light of a fire, reflection of a moon.
>Visualizations of light are a means through shakti, through desire to become aware of awareness,
You're not supposed to visualize light, You imagine yourself as deity or focus on your channels or on the mandala at the tip of your nose; and then the light come on their own AS a sign of attainment. Different lights show different meditative stages during the creation (visualization one self's as a deity) and completion (actual sexual yoga) stage. By the proper light phenomena you understand at what stage of the dissolution process you are and how close to original clear light, the "essence" of your being, you are.
>All the other Frater posts
Too much garbage to untangle.
To serious anons, ditch him.

>>20468121
I heard a Vedantin monk say once that they don't really have practices, they're all about the knowledge that you're the Atman being enough.

>>20468131
It doesn't use the exact same terms but it seems similar. I'd need to do more reading about the jhanas to answer this. I've experienced the complete cessation of thought and abided in the clear light. If that means anything to you.

>>20468139
How was Ingram's awakening temporary? What are you basing this on?

>>20445224
Your misunderstanding is common and it's in assuming one reaches nirvana, assuming there is someone—a person—who reaches nirvana, or even that nirvana or awakening is a place to reach or something to get. Nirvana is in very simple terms the realization that there's no one to reach or attain nirvana. The person you think is going to become awakened, or others you think are awakened, will never be awakened; there's no one to awaken. You're reasoning from the perspective that nirvana happens TO YOU. But there's no you for it to happen to. Nothing changes. You just realize how this always was, and you realize your freedom. Realizing this is nirvana, or at least the gateway. And to be clear, I'm not suggesting you "kill/destroy your ego" or lose your sense of who you are or anything like that, you retain the "you" you think you are, but you realize "what" "you" really "are", or aren't.

>>20468147
How to attain jhanas?
How to attain siddhis?
What of morality?

>>20468147
>described as things that pupils must actually see - firefly lights, light of a fire, reflection of a moon
I did actually see them, if that counts for anything

>>20468157
Yep. So you've seen it as well, brother

>>20468151
>they don't really have practices,
Kek
But the yogic practices come after the atma-vicara

>>20468153
What benefits do you see on a daily basis?

>>20468109
Why not go for hindu tantra then?
>>20468112
>Pick a tantra
Aren't some tantras ranked higher than others? iirc the yogas of naropa are a high level mahamudra practice. Is there something well documented in english for dzogchen? I think I might pick up the books you're recommending though since I've heard those names before and they seem to be solid.
>>20468135
>Aro gTer
For initiation?

>>20468147
>voodoo
This makes me think, is it possible for a westerner to learn tibetan sorcery? Is it separate from the main vajrayanin practices? What are the dangers?

Why are these so many leftits jews in buddhism? Especially in the west

>>20468170
>What benefits do you see on a daily basis?
The ability to enjoy things without becoming attached to them. The ability to mentally rest in the clear light state with very little effort. Negative events, at least those that happen to me, don't seem to affect me very much. I deal with their effects but I don't feel the emotional cost. It's not crazy super powers, I'm just more stable and focused and very difficult to upset. Not sure if it's really a benefit but I've gotten much better at visualizing complex 3d images and I'm getting better at dream recall and recently I've lucid dreamed. An interesting bonus at least.

>>20468135
Have you seen rigpa?

>>20468196
>clear light state
What is it?
How long have you been meditating? How long per day? Do you notice more synchronicities ("strange coincidences") in your daily life? What are you doing, anapanasati?

>>20468196
In what Jhana does the field of vision becomes illuminated by a white light?

>>20468171
>Aren't some tantras ranked higher than others?
It's a completion stage practice and I think some schools classify it as Anuttarayogatantra (I totally had to look up how to spell that one). Yeshe covers this in his book though that the generation and completion stage can be practiced simultaneously.

>>20445090
>The seeking for the best form of meditation is actually just a form of craving and aversion. It's an aversion to the perception of slow progress in whatever method one is currently doing and craving for an imagined "faster" method. I think that even something like the kasinas will work (the Buddha does mention taking the four elements that constitute the body as an object, which is similar to kasina meditation though not quite the same thing). Much of the dogmatism surrounding meditation objects seems to be a form of clinging to views however. At least in the suttas, there doesn't seem to be that much concern about what the object should be (e.g I cannot think of a single sutta in which the Buddha decries a particular kind of meditation because of its object, it's usually the way they are meditating that needs correction e.g Arittha Sutta). As long as the meditation gives rise to the seven enlightenment factors, I don't see why it wouldn't be valid. Anyway, I would say maintaining the precepts is far bigger obstacle to samma samadhi than choosing the "best" object of meditation.
H O L Y
B
A
S
E
D

/thread

>>20468171
Aro is basically a complete package. They offer a free meditation course, that is based on the perspective of Dzogchen. You can get initiation with them as well (have to be an apprentice for at least 5 years first), but that's something more of a hassle if you don't live somewhere with an Aro sangha.

>>20468200
Lol. Lmao even. I'm just a hapless beginner. Currently on my third attempt to get into meditation, but this has been my longest run so far (like 9 months) and also managed to get to 1 hour sits. I did that through the Aro meditation course, so I suppose I should give them credit for that at least.

On r/TMI there are many testimonies of people who have reached the jhanas and there are also testimonies of people who have reached the first path
With his method

>>20468218
>generation and completion stage
Of other tantras? Or is there a generation stage for the six yogas? I don't get it
I thought completion stage being the highest you had to do a bunch of ngondro and stuff beforehand anyway

>>20468211
>What is it?
It seems to be the state that's reached when everything is taken away. When everything, even thought, is gone. It's pretty easy to recognize but I have difficulty describing it.
>How long have you been meditating? How long per day? Do you notice more synchronicities ("strange coincidences") in your daily life? What are you doing, anapanasati?
I'm practicing the 6 yogas of naropa so the main meditation practice is tummo and using the heat and visualizations to cause various mental states. I guess I've been meditating for a couple years now. Not super long per day, maybe 30 minutes to an hour.

>>20468243
I can't get past 10 minutes
Any advice?

>>20468229
Yeah physical sanghas are the biggest hassle for me. Normally you need a lama to show you things directly but how do you do that when there are none? Have you received instructions from a guru?

>>20468251
Read this, they'll help you understand right effort
https://www.dhammasukha.org/the-6rs

>>20468257
I already do it: as soon as I notice that my attention has left my breathing at the end of my nose, I come back to it

>>20468268
Remember to relax body and mind. Roll your R's :)

>>20468246
>Of other tantras? Or is there a generation stage for the six yogas?
The 6 yogas do have instructions on the generation stage, they're heavily taken from other tantras like the Guhyasamaja Tantra and Hevajra. In short the generation stage is diety yoga and involves a lot of imaging and visualization before you actually kick stuff off and experience it for real.
>I thought completion stage being the highest you had to do a bunch of ngondro and stuff beforehand anyway
My personal experience seems to show that you don't have to do all of that. You still have to show respect, it's definitely a high level practice but as long as you're not doing it for the wrong reasons and you're earnestly making an effort for liberation and to help the people around you I doubt you're going to get cursed or anything.

>>20468251
The first time I tried to really get into it, I tried TMI. With that I got up to 40 minutes by increasing by 5 minutes each week. I stopped eventually because of persistent irritation.

In my latest attempt (Aro), I started at 5 minutes, again increasing by 5 minutes each week. This way I got to 30 mins, but during the holidays, I got inspired and decided to just go for an hour. Those first one hour "sits" were done lying down in bed for like two weeks. Then I moved to 30 minutes sitting, 10 minutes walking meditation, then another 30 minute sit. Only recently did I get to 1 hour continuous sits.

What stops you from getting past ten minutes? A technique I found useful is to observe whatever feelings are blocking you. Just observe them and they eventually go away.

>>20468285
>>20468277
Thanks anon

>>20468285
>whatever feelings are blocking you
Not him but impatience.

>>20452350
>Don't forget what a precious existence this is: to be human, to be of healthy mind and body, to be able to hear the true Dhamma and to practice in accordance with it, to have the desire to do so---countless causes and conditions had to have aligned just right for this to happen, many even before you were born. This means you are "ripe". If you practice diligently, there is no doubt you will experience the jhanas and stream-entry (at the very least).
What a great idea :)

>>20468283
Ah so the 6 yogas are a self-contained system rather than a part that only makes sense within a larger system?
>diety yoga and involves a lot of imaging and visualization
How difficult is that, are you good at it?
>You still have to show respect
yeah the most important thing is to accrue merit right

>>20468294
This and boredom

>>20468292
To relax the body mind formation is to cultivate samatha. Don't give up, you'll progress fast, you'll see.

>>20468135
>Funnily, I'm considering switching over from Aro to Ingram. In Aro, to move on from the basic meditation (concentration/shamatha) you have to last 10 minutes in it without any thoughts arising at all. I am getting better at avoiding getting lost in thought, but no thoughts arising at all? That's not happening any time soon.
Be careful.
First of all maybe reread on the definition of thought. It’s all caused and when you get more aware you notice things lower down the chain. Maybe don’t take your self so seriously and just keep sitting and walking.
Nothing much to learn from Ingram in terms of concentration. He just says: pick an object (he likes Fire Kasina), focus, notice gone focus, focus again.

Maybe read carmelitemonks.org hosted „The Dark Night of The Soul“ by St. John of the Cross where he says it’s better to learn humility under one teaching than to find the best one.

>>20468093
Funnily, Chapman (the vividness.live) guy, is no longer with Aro. I don't even know if he practices anymore.

>>20468294
>>20468305
When such feelings arise, forget whatever object of meditation you're using and rest your awareness on the feeling instead. Don't try to make it go away. Just observe them, not too tightly and not too loosely, you have to find the sweet spot, like you're tuning an instrument.

They go away on their own eventually, since whatever is object to origination is subject to cessation.

>>20468302
>yeah the most important thing is to accrue merit right
I don't like to think in those terms personally. It seems a bit too much accumulating favors or something. I'm doing to do good whether it benefits me in the future or not.
>How difficult is that, are you good at it?
I wasn't at the start. But the thing that really helped me is the type of meditation generates feelings inside your body that you have no choice but to focus on. You think oh man how can I focus purely on one thing for so long but it's pretty easy. You're ascending in the form of heruka and feeling fire inside your body going through the channels and all sorts of other stuff. I don't think I'm special at all, most people who care to make the attempt should be able to do it. Don't let your fear of not being perfect prevent you from trying.

>>20467162
>So the talk about red light and white light which has a very very interesting reproductive analogy...

Yeah it’s also the white and red bodhicitta, which is again the wisdom and awareness of the pure mind.

>in the death bardo means a LITERAL vision of coloured light - which im assuming can be meditatively induced?

Yes but such experiences do not necessarily need a physical experience, phenomenological experience of light can occur and often do with the most ritualistic means, but such things as nimita while they can be a mark, manifest on account of their actual secret nature as being representative of the nature of mind.

>The death yoga I was explained to was essentialy like an elemental dissolution from grossest to most subtle, with various experiences like sparks in the vision on death - like what you experience in a concussion,

Yeah that’s a very common method of purification.
>Lel but I have to wait until I die to enter meditation, and if I die suddenly I lose my chance?

No, as shingon says, it can be done in this very body, it simply takes the proper awareness, if you cultivate and rest in the proper way it be done with or without the gross manifestations.

>>20468147

> a) equates small human mind with Mind; and

That mind which is at rest is the very supreme monarch mind, that spirit which can be angry and rises in anger is the origin of the angry spirit.

>forgets that Buddhism, whether Tibetan, Thai, or Chinese actually has an expansive demonology

Doesn’t matter literally everything arises as the dynamism of pure mind, Mind’s primacy is key.

> Vajrakila

If the question is siddhi and sorcery, it’s a thing one ought know of, but once more if the desire is siddhi that’s more or less inviting trouble.

> and awareness,
Not really. They are clearly treated as photic phenomena within the texts and described as things that pupils must actually see - firefly lights, light of a fire, reflection of a moon.

Not must physically in the action-body in all cases, their allegorical meanings, imaginative forms arising spontaneously and their visible manifestation are all allowable.

> You're not supposed to visualize light, You imagine yourself as deity or focus on your channels or on the mandala at the tip of your nose; and then the light come on their own AS a sign of attainment.

Nah there’s also deity yoga where you visualize specific lights coming from the deity and beaming into you and this is done before identification with the deity and before resting in sunyata, there are also meditations on the light emanating from the red toad, meditations on the glow of certain letters/syllables, meditations in the mahamudra and dzogchen grouping related to kundalini methodology which require it, and again fundamentally the true pure light is the light of Mind which can be grasped by the inward turning of the light to the light.

>>20468305
>>20468294
Reduce stimulation levels through going on walks, only take in one source of Information at a time. Don’t „surf“ the internet.

Note the feeling of impatience, relax your body, focus on finding joy. Where in your Body is the feeling of impatience? What does it feel like. Don’t loose awareness of your body and the breath. Relax. Just sit with the feeling. Make it your object. When it disappears focus back to the breath.

The key is checking through distractions, really setting aside time in your day to sit. Then you can always know there really isn’t anything better you could be doing right know. Trust your former self.

>>20468329
This!

>>20468315
Thanks for the pep talk. I've been meaning to read The Dark Night of the Soul. Maybe I'll pick it up then.

>>20468330
Do you do anything else aside from visualization prior to the six yogas? tummo or whatever? Do you feel like branching out into other tantras?
My main interest lies in navigating the bardo state properly personally. The six yogas seem good for that

>>20468380
>Do you do anything else aside from visualization prior to the six yogas? tummo or whatever?
All I had was a vague understanding of buddhism from a comparative religion class and some free time. I think someone posted the book here so I read it, found it interesting, and started practicing. Tummo is the first step, the most important step, but it's a part of the 6 yogas. If you get completely stuck you can also post a thread here, I'll probably see it.
>My main interest lies in navigating the bardo state
The 6 yogas cover this extensively. The whole thing can be seem as a simulation of death; obtaining the clear light to allow you to retain consciousness in dreams and then eventually the bardo.

>>20468398
>it's a part of the 6 yogas.
It's great that it's such a self contained practice
That begs the question though: why bother with anything else if the 6 yogas are so complete, do other tantras add anything more? Dzogchen and mahamudra aren't strictly tantras but do they add anything more?
>simulation of death
Perfect then. Thanks for the help anon, I appreciate it.

>>20468419
>That begs the question though: why bother with anything else if the 6 yogas are so complete, do other tantras add anything more? Dzogchen and mahamudra aren't strictly tantras but do they add anything more?
I don't have the knowledge to answer that but I'd assume that they have something to them. Eventually I'll get there but I'm currently trying to shore up my extremely weak academic understand of buddhism. The Pali scriptures, actually reading the Mulamadhyamakakarika. That kind of thing. It's complete because the 6 yogas were a synthesis of the tantra's available to Tilopa and Naropa into a singular practice. Taking what they found useful and making it work together as a cohesive whole. It doesn't mean that nothing else has value.

>>20468447
>Eventually I'll get there
How do you plan on doing so on your own?
>academic understanding
Doesn't right view come from right practice anyway? I mean obviously reading the texts is useful but not being an expert shouldn't matter. By the way I've yet to read it myself but apparently Longchengpa's Treasury is one of the best treatises on vajrayana metaphysics

>>20468463
>Doesn't right view come from right practice anyway?
Yes, but now I'm interested in seeing the logical arguments, the history, the poetry. I don't think it will directly help my practice but it should be fun.
>Longchengpa's Treasury
I'll have to look that up. I currently have an extensive multi-volume translation of the jamgon kongtrul's treasury of knowledge to read as well.
>How do you plan on doing so on your own?
Read what's available and give it a shot. If I completely fail I'll have to ask someone for help.

>>20467785
>Joseph Campbell
What book?

>>20468478
>extensive multi-volume translation
Tibetan literature is a bit overwhelming. I had an easier time navigating the Pali stuff
>Read what's available
I don't know if there are clear written guides when it comes to dzogchen and mahamudra, they're supposed to be very esoteric and "noble" paths.

I meditate before sleeping and I feel dullness + I fall asleep during meditation and my mind starts to dream
Any advice?

>>20468611
There's a number of things you can try. Most obvious is to try meditating at other times. What position are you in when meditating? What kind of meditation are you doing?

>>20468617
>Most obvious is to try meditating at other times.
Yes, but it bothers me to do that before: when I get home I want to go to my hobbies. I lack discipline, I guess I'll try.

I meditate sitting down, on the sensation of breathing at the end of my nose.

>>20468611
I had this issue myself. The Buddha actually recommends several solutions to deal with sleepiness (see AN 7.58). Here they are in brief (you are supposed to try them in order until the drowsiness goes away):
1. Stop paying attentions to the perceptions associated with drowsiness
2. Recall the Dhamma (I try to step through all the various lists in a tree fashion using the four noble truths as the root)
3. #2 but do it out loud
4. Pull both your earlobes and rub your arms (weird but it works)
5. Wash your eyes and look up into the sky
6. Walking meditation
7. Take a nap (in the lion's posture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2eEPdUQCtc))

>>20468633
Meditation on the breath is perfectly fine. Are you really getting lost in it? Losing track of all other thoughts? That's the goal anyway. Feel free to try other meditational objects if you can find one that holds your interest better.
>>20468652
I guess it's a pretty common issue but it's kind of funny thinking about personally asking the buddha this question.

how come everyone is going Buddhist now? what happened to all the trad Christians here?

>>20468861
They're in their Bible generals. There's always been Buddhists here.

>>20468861
Nobody's "going buddhist", people just learned to stay in their containment threads

>>20468611
The best time to meditate is actually just after waking up, because you are comfy and not sleepy

>>20468012
There isnt a true buddhist path. The bet you can come up with currently is
-all the Mahayana, Vajrayana Hinduism blend is utterly not buddhism
-make some sense of the pali sutras

if you want to be a normie dabbing into wrong samadhi to pass time, then do what normies do: follow vajrayana, like >>20468086
. But at least, be smarter than them and dont fall for the propaganda that it's the best buddhism.


>>20468023
the postscript is debunked. And even if it's not, the Visuddhimagga is not a good book on buddhism. The only relevance it has is for historical reason, ie knowing what some monks at the time thought buddhism was. And as expected, what they though is garbage.

So, do you also see more synchronicities as you progress spiritually? Or are you experiencing other strange/weird things?

>>20468956
Yes, but I would have to get up earlier, so I would have to go to bed earlier, which I refuse.

>>20445090>>20468222

>>The seeking for the best form of meditation is actually just a form of craving and aversion
No it's not. In buddhism, there is wrong meditation and right meditation. That's the whole point of the buddha, who tried various ones.
If you think otherwise you fall into Mahayana sterility.

>>20468861
I used to be a trad Christian when I lived with my parents. I got a job and financial independence.
'ate Jews simple as

>>20469027
Yes. I walk around with this halo aura feeling when I have good deeds and good thoughts. The more my brainwaves go STRONG with medtitation the luckier I get. Lucky Buddha indeed. Those chinks weren't just memeing.
I got free ice cream the other day because I meditated. No one else in line got free ice cream. The gay waiter gave me ice cream. I'm not even that handsome. If I am, I don't get these treatments all the time, only when I feel this way.

>>20469116
image magick you have failed me for the last time

Can meditation help with discipline in weight loss? I crave for food