tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post8947136874725908884..comments2024-03-18T10:07:38.422+08:00Comments on Awakening to Reality: A little pointer for those practicing Self-InquirySohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16416159880942160813noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-41553800908081011462018-12-05T02:20:41.005+08:002018-12-05T02:20:41.005+08:00"
A : follow Dharma Dan 's advice , go in..."<br />A : follow Dharma Dan 's advice , go into very serious retreat(dark retreat,self-made at one's own house , vipassana etc...) but personally, a retreat course at monasteries(goenka, etc...)doesnt appeal much to me ...they r too rigid,rules etc...<br /><br />B : go into long term seclusion(zhong nan mountains in China is a good place)<br />"<br /><br /><br />You should instead go for retreat under the guidance of Adyashanti, as he is clearly enlightened (especially in recent years his insights are clearly into anatta and total exertion) and furthermore practiced and teaches the Self Inquiry method.<br /><br />His insights are deep and will be more suitable for you than Vipassana, since I believe you are more into Awareness teachings and Self-Inquiry.<br /><br />If you are living in Singapore and do not wish to travel far, maybe try the retreats held by Zen Master Dae Kwang - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeSUJ7WsX4Abb6l-Owb7TetYpQEYjwhKdK-f2-oidkEt-4Vqw/viewform and http://kyclzen.org/index.html<br /><br />They also use the self-inquiry method.Sohhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16416159880942160813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-61254028159186631172018-12-05T02:04:02.913+08:002018-12-05T02:04:02.913+08:00"even seclusion is no guarantee of any real a..."even seclusion is no guarantee of any real attainment.Many of them are still 'searching for the ox' "<br /><br />First of all, they may already be enlightened. You never know.<br /><br />Secondly, they may lack access to enlightened teachers and guidance.<br /><br />Don't be so quick to leave things to karma, also karma is not the same as "fate" and Buddhism is not fatalistic. Karma can be changed.Sohhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16416159880942160813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-36271072469528207692018-12-05T02:01:22.191+08:002018-12-05T02:01:22.191+08:00Nobody can really tell you until you try both type...Nobody can really tell you until you try both types of retreats yourself and see which one produces better results. But it's best to find a good teacher for guidance.<br /><br />Ask Daniel M. Ingram for advise on retreats.<br /><br />His advise here is good: http://integrateddaniel.info/retreats/Sohhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16416159880942160813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-70232355671188488792018-11-29T23:52:04.870+08:002018-11-29T23:52:04.870+08:00If you were to asked of yr pov,or opinion,of this ...If you were to asked of yr pov,or opinion,of this :<br /><br />Comparing mountain life with shorter time (days,weeks or even months)of intense retreat,which one will more likely produce realizers?<br /><br />Mountain vs self-made retreat .....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-20015265777989993512018-11-29T23:40:27.720+08:002018-11-29T23:40:27.720+08:00Why even seclusion fails to yield any meaningful r...Why even seclusion fails to yield any meaningful realization? The answer is most likely this : karmic(or karma) . Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-35674716177885555772018-11-29T23:38:22.268+08:002018-11-29T23:38:22.268+08:00Theres a documentary(there are others as well) ,av...Theres a documentary(there are others as well) ,available for viewing on youtube, 'Amongst white clouds' . It documents life of hermits living in Zhongnan mountains,China.<br /><br />From the talk with the various recluse in the documentary,it can be concluded(my own pov of course) that even seclusion is no guarantee of any real attainment.Many of them are still 'searching for the ox' . If seclusion itself couldnt do it, whats more of worldly life ! <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-90953981878646301912018-11-29T23:24:18.543+08:002018-11-29T23:24:18.543+08:00Talking abt living secluded mountain lives : i be...Talking abt living secluded mountain lives : i believe its beneficial for both practitioners : those without realization,and the advance ones.<br /><br />But it will be much2 more helpful for the one havent attained any real,genuine awakening.Ignorance and karmic tendencies runs deep,without renunciation and great act of letting go,going in rounds after rounds in samsara is a guarantee.It is naive to suppose otherwise,unless through the ripening of karma.<br /><br />For those already attained some stages,if the ultimate aim of Buddhahood is to be achieved in this very present life itself,then mountain life obviously will be immensely helpful as well.but of course,as ignorance runs deep,so does its partner clinging.So much so that one may need few more lifetimes b4 the end is reached due to inability to let go of clinging at the most subtlest level...<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-50799496051972706452018-11-29T16:09:23.019+08:002018-11-29T16:09:23.019+08:00Ramana 's realization came 'just like that...Ramana 's realization came 'just like that' ....so the temptation is there: it can happen to me as well...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-12599465246604725842018-11-29T16:05:47.314+08:002018-11-29T16:05:47.314+08:00Abt time needed for realization : is it within one...Abt time needed for realization : is it within one' s control? In other words, can it be speeded up?<br /><br />If im not mistaken, Daniel Ingram is an advocate of this ( MCTB).According to him, one can pass through stages quickly when go through intense retreat .Its a very tempting pov ...yeah, quick realization...instead of a lifelong practice ....which makes one wonder what kind of (shallow) realization that is .... <br /><br />Karmic tendencies (that had been accumulated over lifetimes) can simply be broken as long as one push hard enough in some retreat...possible? Yet we had example like Ramana's death experience ....<br /><br />For me , it seems very likely no lasting realization is going to happen in normal setting ...ignorance is too deep.to uproot just like that...<br /><br />2 options now :<br /><br />A : follow Dharma Dan 's advice , go into very serious retreat(dark retreat,self-made at one's own house , vipassana etc...) but personally, a retreat course at monasteries(goenka, etc...)doesnt appeal much to me ...they r too rigid,rules etc...<br /><br />B : go into long term seclusion(zhong nan mountains in China is a good place)<br /><br />Any words/advice ?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-59076067454602635622018-11-29T16:02:39.824+08:002018-11-29T16:02:39.824+08:00Abt time needed for realization : is it within one...Abt time needed for realization : is it within one' s control? In other words, can it be speeded up?<br /><br />If im not mistaken, Daniel Ingram is an advocate of this ( MCTB).According to him, one can pass through stages quickly when go through intense retreat .Its a very tempting pov ...yeah, quick realization...instead of a lifelong practice ....which makes one wonder what kind of (shallow) realization that is .... <br /><br />Karmic tendencies (that had been accumulated over lifetimes) can simply be broken as long as one push hard enough in some retreat...possible? Yet we had example like Ramana's death experience ....<br /><br />For me , it seems very likely no lasting realization is going to happen in normal setting ...ignorance is too deep.to uproot just like that...<br /><br />2 options now :<br /><br />A : follow Dharma Dan 's advice , go into very serious retreat(dark retreat,self-made at one's own house , vipassana etc...) but personally, a retreat course at monasteries(goenka, etc...)doesnt appeal much to me ...they r too rigid,rules etc...<br /><br />B : go into long term seclusion(zhong nan mountains in China is a good place)<br /><br />Any words/advice ?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-30218378271964353512018-11-29T13:59:06.693+08:002018-11-29T13:59:06.693+08:00As Thusness said in the past, realization always c...As Thusness said in the past, realization always comes with experience, but experience does not necessarily come with realization. So just go for realization and the rest will come.<br /><br />Releasing self will come with insight.<br /><br /><br /><br />"...it seems that lots of effort need to be put in -- which is really not the case. The entire practice turns out to an undoing process. It is a process of gradually understanding the workings of our nature that is from beginning liberated but clouded by this sense of ‘self’ that is always trying to preserve, protect and ever attached. The entire sense of self is a ‘doing’. Whatever we do, positive or negative, is still doing. Ultimately there is not-even a letting go or let be, as there is already continuous dissolving and arising and this ever dissolving and arising turns out to be self-liberating. Without this ‘self’ or ‘Self’, there is no ‘doing’, there is only spontaneous arising. Smile"<br /><br />~ our forummer, Thusness (source: Non-dual and karmic patterns)<br /><br />"...When one is unable to see the truth of our nature, all letting go is nothing more than another from of holding in disguise. Therefore without the 'insight', there is no releasing.... it is a gradual process of deeper seeing. when it is seen, the letting go is natural. You cannot force urself into giving up the self... purification to me is always these insights... non-dual and emptiness nature...."<br /><br />~ Thusness<br />--------------<br />From a pure insight practice point of view, you can’t ever fundamentally “let go” of anything, so I sometimes wish the popularity of this misleading and indifference-producing admonition would decline, or at least be properly explained. However, if you simply investigate the truth of the Three Characteristics of the sensations that seemed to be a solid thing, you will come to the wondrous realization that reality is continually “letting go” of itself! Thus, “let it go” at its best actually means, “don’t give a bunch of transient sensations an excessive sense of solidity.” It does not mean, “stop feeling or caring,” nor does it mean, “pretend that the noise in your mind is not there.”<br /><br />~ Theravadin teacher, Dharma DanSohhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16416159880942160813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-90088751381970294752018-11-29T11:40:33.345+08:002018-11-29T11:40:33.345+08:00Hi, in Thusness's 2nd stage, at the end he wro...Hi, in Thusness's 2nd stage, at the end he wrote : inability to fully 'die' into total Presence. Can you elaborate on this? How to effectively 'surrender' one's ego/self and die into Presence?<br /><br />He said (stage 1) at moment of realization, 'tremendous flow of energy being released'. Does realization always accompanied by peak experience?If realization doesnt come with experience,then most likely it is still within the realm of mind.Anyone with good grasp of language can talk high about this,giving satsang,talks,charge money etc...(look at the nondual,self realization ,spirituality market nowadays) but all they give is just mental masturbation,nothing substancial.How to avoid mental masturbation in one's personal practice? It seems this is the most difficult balance in the path to realization,like walking on a rope.I think it's better to chase experience,rather than fall into conceptual realm.With experience,there's high chance of realization follows,as compared to using mind/thoughts. Look at the philosopher Franklin Merrell Wolff, by using the mind,it took him 20+ years(if im not mistaken) to have genuine realization.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-66496983450832033122018-11-28T14:33:19.517+08:002018-11-28T14:33:19.517+08:00The Tao that can be named is not the Eternal One,t...The Tao that can be named is not the Eternal One,the Nameless is our eternal home,but why is it of such ungraspable nature?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-29596165111552411692018-11-28T13:36:34.817+08:002018-11-28T13:36:34.817+08:00If i approach too aggressively,with too much inten...If i approach too aggressively,with too much intention,it slips away.If i approach too lightly,it just hides there in the high grass,unrevealed.How to catch the ox?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-75999613116104708422018-11-28T03:03:31.949+08:002018-11-28T03:03:31.949+08:00Does dark room retreat effective in speed up reali...Does dark room retreat effective in speed up realizations?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-46081133317792867022018-11-27T17:52:06.252+08:002018-11-27T17:52:06.252+08:00in fact I quoted the inner frontier website Jacob’...in fact I quoted the inner frontier website Jacob’s ladder article in my ebook as it describes the I AM phase well up to god realization (impersonality) Sohhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16416159880942160813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-6486976061743989202018-11-27T17:25:00.508+08:002018-11-27T17:25:00.508+08:00In god realization the sense of a personal self (b...In god realization the sense of a personal self (but not necessarily perceiver perceived duality or agent) and personal doer ship is purged, and one simply lets the divine intelligence and life take overSohhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16416159880942160813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-44984311625304442742018-11-27T17:22:18.647+08:002018-11-27T17:22:18.647+08:00Through surrendering, like Christians and just let...Through surrendering, like Christians and just let grace and life happen, one can experience divine life and being lived even before realising innermost core<br /><br />But for me the realization of the certainty of Being happened before the God RealizationSohhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16416159880942160813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-50505867875400864472018-11-27T17:20:42.238+08:002018-11-27T17:20:42.238+08:00God realization is different from “in the seen jus...God realization is different from “in the seen just the seen”<br /><br />Some people experience divine happening without I AM realization. Some only experience the innermost core of I AM. Some experience both. I have experienced both in the phases 1 and 2.<br /><br />In the seen just the seen comes later, it is about nondual anatta so stage 4-5Sohhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16416159880942160813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-796637502201280442018-11-27T17:18:43.589+08:002018-11-27T17:18:43.589+08:00God Realization is a sub phase of Thusness Stage 1...God Realization is a sub phase of Thusness Stage 1 and 2. <br /><br />Particularly if you read my e-book you should know, it is the aspect of impersonality that leads to the sense of everything as divine happening and being lived by a cosmic intelligence. Sohhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16416159880942160813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-8068129023998418422018-11-27T17:16:11.756+08:002018-11-27T17:16:11.756+08:00Yes sincerity of intention and effort is very impo...Yes sincerity of intention and effort is very important<br /><br />I just watched this video yesterday which talks about this:<br /><br />https://youtu.be/w4ZWNzSliGkSohhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16416159880942160813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-61735138238943099592018-11-26T10:22:02.786+08:002018-11-26T10:22:02.786+08:00According to the American philosopher-mystic Frank...According to the American philosopher-mystic Franklin Merrell Wolff, there are 3 kinds of knowledge,'perception' , 'conception' and 'introception' . It is the 3rd one that needed to be brought to light in our spiritual path.Wanderernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-7571659433940694012018-11-26T00:23:39.148+08:002018-11-26T00:23:39.148+08:00Pure silence and tracing back radiance : Good poin...Pure silence and tracing back radiance : Good pointers :-) <br /><br />Thanks<br /><br />But even more important ,or rather, the deciding factor,of whether one is capable of any real breakthrough at all, is the sincerity behind the practice.<br /><br />" Seek first the Kingdom, the rest will be added unto you " .Truer words were never spoken.Problem is, we all seek the rest, not the Kingdom.Even seeking the Kingdom may simply be a disguise of hidden ulterior motives.<br /><br />Would you write and post something regarding this sincerity of intention and effort? Not everyone is as lucky as Sri Ramana Maharshi, and without real heart where is the Kingdom ?<br /><br />RegardsWanderernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-44490514660292283172018-11-25T07:50:42.286+08:002018-11-25T07:50:42.286+08:00The Seeker
Adapted from Rumi
After years of inne...The Seeker<br /><br />Adapted from Rumi<br /><br />After years of inner work, <br />A seeker found the door of the Beloved and knocked. <br />A voice asked: <br />“Who is there?” <br />The seeker answered: <br />“It is I.” <br />The voice said: <br />“There is no room for me and you.” <br />And the door stayed shut. <br />The persistent seeker engaged in ever deeper spiritual practice, <br />And then returned to the door of the Beloved and knocked. <br />The voice from within asked: <br />“Who is there?” <br />And the door opened, <br />And the seeker opened <br />And said: <br />“It is You.”<br /><br />Wanderernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-12093426151046587712018-11-25T07:46:25.216+08:002018-11-25T07:46:25.216+08:00" The truest transformation comes in purifyin..." The truest transformation comes in purifying ourselves of our egoism and leaving that empty gap open to our Loving Creator, Who may enter us. "<br /><br />This "creating an empty gap" is comparable to the practice of 'in the seen just the seen,hearing just the hearing ....' .In the latter, one leaves the sense of self and simply be the scenary,or senses(seeing ,hearing etc..).That opens a gap and cracks the sense of self,leaving the possibility of Realization('Loving Creator who may enter us)to happenWanderernoreply@blogger.com