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jonesboy

USA
594 Posts

Posted - May 02 2013 :  11:06:40 AM  Show Profile  Visit jonesboy's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
I have moved up to Siddhasana. I have only been able to do it so far for about 10 mins straight during DM. A pillow under my hiney and blankets to help with the ankle strain seem to help. I have some questions please.

I have my right ankle tucked underneath. My left foot, it is resting between the calf and thigh with the ankles aligned on top of each other almost. Is that right?
I have also noticed that siddhasana seems to spread out the energy and yet makes it stronger at the same time. I do siddhasana during SD and I try for the last 10mins of DM if my ankles allow for it. What I have noticed during this clunky phase is the pressure in my head has gone away. For awhile my whole head would feel pressure, now nothing. My DM seems less, like I am struggeling to stay on the mantra, maybe because of the pressure being gone but today right at the end, DM made me really happy.

So, Does anyone know any good ankle streaches. Yes I do the sitting streach on the ankles from the starter kit but does anyone know anything else that can help?

Due to the power of siddhasana I believe I should be very comfortable with this position before I move on the Yoni Mudra or add samyama correct?

One last question :) During SB when we bring our attention to Adjuna we are not forcing or trying to push through anything. It is just a gentle nudge right?

Thanks to everyone for ther help and guidance.
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jonesboy

USA
594 Posts

Posted - Jul 01 2013 :  12:40:36 PM  Show Profile  Visit jonesboy's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Well it has now been 5 months since I started AYP. I have tried to do it twice daily on a regular basis. I do admit that on weekends I don't always do it twice a day but it is something I am working on and getting better at. At least the last two weekends have been better.

I have started doing Yoga asana at work. My body feels so much better and boy does it generate a lot of energy. Because of that and the fear of overloading all I have been doing is SB and DM.

I feel very blessed and grateful to Yogani and the teachers of AYP.

I no longer feel that I am in a race. Instead I know I need to slow down.

SB just like Yogani says is starting to bring a lot of pleasure. It is SB that actually for me that brings a lot of the scenery so to speak. The breathless state I have experienced just once and it was a little scary. Your body not needing to breath but your mind thinking you do. It doesn't happen every time but I do feel the bliss on a low level going up and down the spine. It seems that it all starts and expands from Ajna the 3rd eye. The bliss is easy to lose and usally starts in the beginning of the session. I get lost in SB.

Meditation - Most of the time it is just a normal boring so to speak session. But every once in a while and more and more frequent I get these pulses of pleasure. Not a lot but just enough to go ahh and to have my mouth hanging open in pleasure.

Samyama - Sends me into overload real easy. If I try to do two rounds of the mantra it will knock me out every time. I am thinking for now maybe 1 time through once a week for now. The power of Samyama radiating out is beautiful.

While all of those experiences are nice and I do have to admit to liking them. It truly is how you feel during the day that makes all of the difference. Peace, a calmness with what is and joy. You can't forget the joy that is building a foundation for your waking day.

I still have much to learn and much to overcome. I am noticing bad habits getting less frequent but still there. I am still the only one I know who meditates. Family has noticed a difference, friends are asking about it. It is a start :)

On a sperate topic. Is it just me or did anyone else experience serious energy when reading Secrets of Wilder?

Edited by - jonesboy on Jul 01 2013 3:47:52 PM
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jonesboy

USA
594 Posts

Posted - Apr 25 2014 :  5:41:10 PM  Show Profile  Visit jonesboy's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
I am running into an interesting issue out of practice and I figured this was as good as any place to ask.

My practice is good. I am still working on siddhasana. It is a very powerful practice for me and going to take a while to get comfortable in. I tried yoni mudra, saw the star, overloaded and had to cut everything back to sb,dm and samyama. Currently I am slowing adding in the second mantra enhancement. It feels good.

For awhile I was having some witness experiences. Not at all at the moment. I do feel a lot of crown activity during the day. I can easly close my eyes and just allow my awareness to float, would be a good description. No overload symptoms at the moment.

So current practice is:
5 min heart chakra
5 min SBP
20 min DM (second mantra enhancement slowing adding in)
5 min Samyama
10 mins rest.

Over the last year something has been happening and I need some help.

When I am at work and about to talk in a meeting with people I am comfortable with, on subjects I am an expert in. This can be on a speaker phone even, I am getting really, really nervous. When I start to talk I run out of breath, my hands have started to shake. Over the last two days I have noticed a major clinching of my neck and the back of my head muscles when and after I am talking. I tried to get a drink and it was like my body was trying to stop me on both occasions this has happened. People don't notice. They can not tell that I am nervous and freaking out inside because of this.

Now understand, I have been a teacher, I just finished OCS training in the military where this type of fear is trained out of you. I have always been a little nervous at public speaking but nothing like this.

Any thoughts?

P.S. I am being in/with my emotional body as all of this is happening.

The only thing I can think of is maybe some excess energy going on.

Edit: After reading what I have written and thought about it. I need to drop the enhancement and stick with I AM. A little to much right now, darn it.

I did now just remember that at home I will have some of that same clinching in the back of my head. Energy moving around, kundalini maybe? I probably should have asked before :) It is really prominent after I smoke. That floating awareness sensation is really strong then also.

Edit to the Edit: I was doing a asana class 3 to 4 times a week. I did have to stop because I gave myself a hernia playing water volleyball I may need surgery for it. I did find asana's grounding but the issue was still happening with this included.

Thank you for the help in advance.

Edited by - jonesboy on Apr 26 2014 10:08:33 AM
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jonesboy

USA
594 Posts

Posted - Mar 09 2015 :  3:59:20 PM  Show Profile  Visit jonesboy's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
It has been almost a year since I updated this. A lot of happened and I thought it would be ok to share a little of my progress.

My experience has been one of going light. Feeling the flows of energy flowing through my body. Happier and able to let go of things.

Next I started to feel the ecstatic waves of energy when working with others fill my body. A little bit at first grasping at the sensation, trying/wanting more. The lesson of course was learning to let go.

Around this time is also when I noticed siddhas. The ability to shaktipat or to do group dives. I also was able to feel the emotional hurt of others that I was close to within my heart. The creation of a PU and having dreams of learning and receiving/sending light to others.

Over time with the flows of energy I started to notice that if I tried to reside in them I noticed emptiness and oneness. It wasn't just an emptiness of my thoughts it was an emptiness of my body of all things. It really hit home when I started to have an argument and I could feel the emotions as wind flowing through me. It was empty except for what I attached to.

Next came the ability to feel ecstatic waves when I wasn't working with others. Just noticing the flows started to send more and more ecstatic pleasure through my body. The female side was developing more. I was no longer grasping at the feeling. Well, not as much anyways

As the waves of pleasure increased so did the silence of my meditation sits. I started to experience the Clear Light (Rigpa), waves of pleasure during my sits and brief experiences of Samadhi.

A gradual increase in depth in all areas. Learning to feel the flows but not really able to tell the difference between male and female. If someone else was male/female or if I was.

Next came Deity Yoga.

My current status is one of being able to feel the male or female form (Sambhogakaya) when working with the light. It is like a real body superimposed over the one I have now. One that has the ability to touch, see, smell and taste. That allows me to be much better at determining flows of energy from others and myself. It is new and like anything something I am currently working on increasing the depth and ability to use and feel in an ever increasing manner. The separation I feel from my thoughts in meditation is becomming more and more my natural state of being during everyday life.

This so far has been my experience of things that I am willing to share with others. All things considered, it has been one amazing year!

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Dogboy

USA
2294 Posts

Posted - Mar 09 2015 :  4:46:25 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
I'll say! Do you still have a consistent daily practice, or do you meditate as needed? Have overloads subsided or increased?
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jonesboy

USA
594 Posts

Posted - Mar 09 2015 :  6:58:34 PM  Show Profile  Visit jonesboy's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Hi Dogboy,

I still try to meditate twice daily just like always. I have to admit that if I only do it once a day on the weekends I don't feel that bad about it. I really like the feel of twice a day meditation.

Overloads are of a different manner. It has to do with receiving energy flows. They are always happening, sometimes they are so strong they knock me out. As in I might take a nap or go to bed early because of it. The worse I have experienced is a headache which is a sign of me holding on to some obstruction. Those same energy flows are becoming more and more ecstatic and I am getting better at residing in that. It makes work fun
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Flat4Wagon

Canada
9 Posts

Posted - Mar 10 2015 :  01:42:08 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
I enjoyed reading about your journey so far. Motivates me to keep going!
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technoyogi

Canada
158 Posts

Posted - Mar 10 2015 :  02:38:30 AM  Show Profile  Visit technoyogi's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Wow Jonesboy, very nice progress. Inspiring to me as a newcomer to AYP as well.

I am curious to know if you were doing other things as well since much of your references are to Tibetan Buddhism concepts like Clear Light and Sambhogakaya)?

I have been doing Dream Yoga prior to starting AYP and have had some experiences of Clear Light while sleeping, as well as some Samadhi states while OBE.

But never Sambhogakaya to my knowledge. Again, very interested to know how some of this developed if you don't mind adding some more details, thanks!
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Ecdyonurus

Switzerland
479 Posts

Posted - Mar 10 2015 :  04:19:23 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Hi Jonesboy, very impressing and inspiring!
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jonesboy

USA
594 Posts

Posted - Mar 10 2015 :  1:48:54 PM  Show Profile  Visit jonesboy's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Hi technoyogi,

quote:
Originally posted by technoyogi
I am curious to know if you were doing other things as well since much of your references are to Tibetan Buddhism concepts like Clear Light and Sambhogakaya)?


I would not say that I am doing any Tibetan practices. What I have found is a lot of there concepts are what I have experienced.

This is a recent quote I have come across that describes what I am experiencing.

quote:
"E ma!
Dear intelligent friend,
If you are eager to know about the view,
I, a simpleton, will tell a bit of what I've understood.
If there's bias, that's not the view.
If there's clinging to things as real, that's not the meditation.
If there's accepting and rejecting, that's not the action.
If there's hope and fear, that's not fruition.
"Then what is it?" you may ask.
The view is empty awareness, without any source.
The meditation is empty clarity without any concepts.
The action, like the path of a bird through the sky, is without any trace.
Whatever arises is freed, just as it arises.
The fruition is samsara and nirvana, complete within mind itself.
Does this suit you, dear friend?"
::

~ Tendzin Nyima Rinpoche's "edifying song" to Lama Shabkar, Tsogdruk Rangdrol


It's not all the time but when I do...

I do a lot of energy work. One practice I do is from Kashmir Shaivism. Basically what it is, is taking someone consciousness down a couple of levels of depth. It is like a waking meditation. As you know once you experience a thing it is easier to return to a thing or state of being. This can been done while working and going about daily activities. If done during a group meditation one can really feel the energy flowing through your heart. I have found this to be a very powerful practice.

quote:
I have been doing Dream Yoga prior to starting AYP and have had some experiences of Clear Light while sleeping, as well as some Samadhi states while OBE.


The clear light I am talking about is a little different. I think OBE and Lucid Dreaming is still local mind. With that being said. I have never had an OBE or a Lucid dream.

quote:
But never Sambhogakaya to my knowledge. Again, very interested to know how some of this developed if you don't mind adding some more details, thanks!


The reward body, the bliss body that is the meaning of Sambhogakaya. It seems to fit the best :) Atman nor Jiva, just didn't seem to fit for me.

I highly respect Yogani and AYP. My intent in posting was not to bring outside practices, even if compatible with AYP to AYP. I don't want to go down that road here on the forums. You can always email me for additional details.

I hope that helps answer some of your questions


Edited by - jonesboy on Mar 10 2015 2:10:51 PM
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technoyogi

Canada
158 Posts

Posted - Mar 10 2015 :  4:49:43 PM  Show Profile  Visit technoyogi's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
That was very helpful indeed Jonesboy, thanks for the clarifications.

Dream Yoga is just another of many possible paths to enlightenment and it happens to use OBEs as part of that path, many Tibetan masters like Guru Rinpoche used it to attain the rainbow body while alive. Clear light is attained 24/7 but starts in the sleep state in this path.

If I understand you correctly, you are saying that you have essentially done the same thing!? This is extremely motivational to me in any case, thank you for being here to share these things. I read your early "newbie" reports and then after a gap you come back with such amazing progress, it is rather astounding actually

Yet as you also stated, might as well focus here on the AYP methods for the purpose of discussion here. I may indeed mail you at some point as I go further, for now just trying to best integrate what is here. Thanks again!

Edited by - technoyogi on Mar 10 2015 5:31:10 PM
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jonesboy

USA
594 Posts

Posted - Mar 10 2015 :  10:49:39 PM  Show Profile  Visit jonesboy's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
I really like a good debate. I know i don't know everything. Maybe hardly anything but if you don't mind.

Your comments on Dream Yoga. I think you would be hard pressed to find a single quote from any Lama or Rinpoche that says Rigpa is found in the dream state or during an OBE.

Dream Yoga is most often associated as being part of the Six Yogas of Naropa.

What does Lucid Dreaming teach you?

It teaches you that with intent you can change reality. That it is all of the mind.

Here is a quote from Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava - Self Liberation through Seeing with Naked Awareness

quote:
24.

You should look into what is self-arising and self-originated.
With respect to these appearances, in the beginning they must arise from somewhere,
In between they must remain somewhere, and at the end they must go somewhere.
Yet when you look (into this matter), it is, for example, like a crow gazing into a well.
When he flies away from the well, (his reflection) also departs from the well and does not return.
In the same way, appearances arise from the mind;
they arise from the mind and are liberated into the mind.
The nature of the mind which (has the capacity) to know everything and be aware of everything is empty and clear;
As is the case with the sky above, its emptiness and its clarity have been inseparable from the very beginning.
Self-originated primal awareness becomes manifest,
And becoming systematically established as luminous clarity, just this is the Dharmata, the nature of reality.


My point being there will come a point when you will be working with the light. The more you believe that what you are seeing, feeling or doing is real the more real it becomes. That is the point of Illusory body and Dream Yoga practice. To generate the Sambhogakaya.
The path isn't in our dreams because they are still local mind. It is what it teaches us about our mind and reality. That it is all empty. As real as you believe it to be and can be made manifest. It is all self arising.

The same visualization methods are also used in Guru and Deity Yoga practices within the tantra traditions.

Does not Samyama work the same way? Dropping intent into the Divine to be made manifest. You will eventually come to a point where it is your belief, therefore your intent is all that is needed for it to be made manifest.

That is my thinking of what Dream Yoga is for. I know that people can use Yoga Nidra for many things. Talking with Divine Beings and all sorts of fun stuff. Once you get off of the playground remember it is all self arising, filtered by our local mind and our current level of depth. Whatever we experience will be filtered this way.


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technoyogi

Canada
158 Posts

Posted - Mar 10 2015 :  11:49:59 PM  Show Profile  Visit technoyogi's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Well, it was not my intent to debate by any means, yet I am sure you mean that in a constructive way so I will simply share what I think I know and have experienced thus far, which is admittedly very little on the path. And so the usual disclaimer applies "I could be wrong!"

Certainly what most people think of as a normal OBE or LD is indeed illusory and not Rigpa, yet the ultimate goal of dream yoga using them as a tool toward attainment of clear light and liberation, and it was the tool that Padmasambhava used to attain his enlightenment IIRC.

It is said by dream yogis that any technique such as meditation is 9 times more powerful in the dream state, and so using meditation in the dream/obe state is a great destroyer of illusion. This then is how it should ideally be used, not just to go off and indulge our fantasies.

About a year ago, I found this out first hand. I was in an OBE, and remembered to simply chant OM on the advice of someone who I have now come to believe is enlightened, an author named Jurgen Ziewe.

I sat down in lotus position in the OBE (which was fun because I cant do it in real life haha and even a little strange because I never even meditated in lotus in all my life). I said the OM only once with no expectation whatsoever about what would happen.

The OM sound was much more powerful than I had intended it to be and suddenly all form disappeared, it was literally vibrated out of existence, the lava rocks on which I sat, the lake nearby, the land, the sky, everything was gone and so was my "body". All that was left was consciousness in formless light.

I did not maintain the state for very long at all because I had no meditative practice to accustom me to this state. That is part of why I am here, so that I can attain these states through meditation and pranayama more reliably.

If you care to read further about this the following google search brings up many interesting articles (Simply a search for "Padmasambhava dream yoga clear light")

https://www.google.ca/search?safe=o....tlwMgfcBj3A

I definitely think that on average, AYP is a faster and more reliable means toward enlightenment though, even if it worked for the the founder of Tibetan Buddhism and the man many consider to be the second Buddha. That does not mean that it is easy, many of the practices are extremely arcane, and I would have never tried them if I had not spontaneously started having OBEs... I think it would take the average person months to years just to have the first OBE doing some of the thing they suggest, which would be very discouraging as you need that to practice the rest.

AYP on the other hand, is much, much more accessible and starts to give progress markers almost immediately, so I feel truly blessed to have found it!

Edited by - technoyogi on Mar 11 2015 04:01:46 AM
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technoyogi

Canada
158 Posts

Posted - Mar 11 2015 :  12:13:43 AM  Show Profile  Visit technoyogi's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Here are some excerpts to save you from having to google around too much:

"The primary aim and foundation of dream practice is to realize during a dream that one is dreaming. Once lucidity has been established the applications are limitless. One can then dream with lucidity and do all sorts of things, such as: practice sadhana; receive initiations, empowerments and transmissions; go to different places, planes and lokas, communicate with yidam; dialogue with sentient beings, creatures and people such as guru; fly; shapeshift, etc.

It is also possible to do different yogic practices while dreaming (usually such yogic practices one does in waking state though the product and fruit of sadhana is greatly accelerated due to the learning, play and practice context). In this way the yogi can have a very strong experience and with this comes understanding of the dream-like nature of daily life. This is very relevant to diminishing attachments, because they are based on strong beliefs that life's perceptions and objects are real and, as a consequence, important.

Dream yoga mastery not only assists in the complete realisation of shunyata, but also in the lila of Mahamaya. When one realises and embodies the Shunyata Doctrine of Buddha Shakyamuni and Nagarjuna amongst others forded by Dream Yoga and other advanced sadhana, complete realisation is imminent and elementary.[citation needed]

Namkhai Norbu gives advice, that the realization that the life is only a big dream can help us finally liberate ourselves from the chains of emotions, attachments, and ego and then we have the possibility of ultimately becoming enlightened.[14]"

---------------------------------------------------

Padmasambhava's teachings on dream yoga begin with the provocative statement, "It is like this: all phenomena are nonexistent, but they appear to exist and are established as various things." At first glance that may seem a bit shocking — even crazy. But taken in context it makes sense.

By "nonexistent," Padmasambhava is not speaking nihilistically — he is not telling us that nothing exists whatsoever. Rather, he is inviting us to change our perspective on not only dream phenomena but waking experience as well. He is suggesting that our normal waking experience is just as deluded and fantastic as our dreams. This is precisely the view of emptiness we touched on earlier, for the phenomena of waking experience are no less devoid of inherent, objective reality than are dreams. So when Padmasambhava states that phenomena are nonexistent — not really there — he means that phenomena don't exist by their own nature, either subjectively or objectively.

In other words, phenomena exist interdependently — their appearance to our consciousness depends on a multitude of factors rather than on their having an independent reality from their own side, so to speak. The fact that phenomena appear to our minds and that we give them conventional labels — cloud, cup, Colorado — does not mean they are ultimately real.

-------------------------------------

In Tibetan Dream Yoga the Clear Light is

“The subtlest level of mental activity (mind), which continues with no beginning and no end, without any break, even during death and even into Buddhahood. It is individual and constitutes the mental continuum of each being. It is naturally free of conceptual cognition, the appearance-making of true existence, and grasping for true existence, since it is more subtle than the grosser levels of mental activity with which these occur. It has nothing to do with “light.” (Alexander, Berzin. Berzin Archives Glossary.)

Take a look at the above picture. It is meant to be a depiction of clear light as a pale moon. What you actually see is yellowish-white light surrounded by fields of blue. Metaphorically, clear light is the ambient light that you are looking through when you read these words. It is the medium, the matrix, which makes the perception of any frequency of light possible. It is formless, yet existing. As such, it is also a metaphor for causal, “empty,” or high transpersonal consciousness. It is most closely associated with the “way of the sages,” in contrast to the lower transpersonal “way of the yogis,” or the middle transpersonal “way of the saints.”

Edited by - technoyogi on Mar 11 2015 04:08:46 AM
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AYPforum

351 Posts

Posted - Mar 11 2015 :  09:32:17 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Moderator note: Topic moved for better placement
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jonesboy

USA
594 Posts

Posted - Mar 11 2015 :  11:21:41 AM  Show Profile  Visit jonesboy's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
quote:
Originally posted by technoyogi

Here are some excerpts to save you from having to google around too much:

"The primary aim and foundation of dream practice is to realize during a dream that one is dreaming. Once lucidity has been established the applications are limitless. One can then dream with lucidity and do all sorts of things, such as: practice sadhana; receive initiations, empowerments and transmissions; go to different places, planes and lokas, communicate with yidam; dialogue with sentient beings, creatures and people such as guru; fly; shapeshift, etc.

It is also possible to do different yogic practices while dreaming (usually such yogic practices one does in waking state though the product and fruit of sadhana is greatly accelerated due to the learning, play and practice context). In this way the yogi can have a very strong experience and with this comes understanding of the dream-like nature of daily life. This is very relevant to diminishing attachments, because they are based on strong beliefs that life's perceptions and objects are real and, as a consequence, important.

Dream yoga mastery not only assists in the complete realisation of shunyata, but also in the lila of Mahamaya. When one realises and embodies the Shunyata Doctrine of Buddha Shakyamuni and Nagarjuna amongst others forded by Dream Yoga and other advanced sadhana, complete realisation is imminent and elementary.[citation needed]


All this is saying is that dream yoga is a tool to help one realize Shunyata (emptiness). It is a tool just like mindfulness is an emptiness tool. It can help but it will not lead and is not The path to enlightenment.

quote:
Namkhai Norbu gives advice, that the realization that the life is only a big dream can help us finally liberate ourselves from the chains of emotions, attachments, and ego and then we have the possibility of ultimately becoming enlightened.[14]"


I think that fits in with exactly what i was saying.

quote:
Padmasambhava's teachings on dream yoga begin with the provocative statement, "It is like this: all phenomena are nonexistent, but they appear to exist and are established as various things." At first glance that may seem a bit shocking — even crazy. But taken in context it makes sense.

By "nonexistent," Padmasambhava is not speaking nihilistically — he is not telling us that nothing exists whatsoever. Rather, he is inviting us to change our perspective on not only dream phenomena but waking experience as well. He is suggesting that our normal waking experience is just as deluded and fantastic as our dreams. This is precisely the view of emptiness we touched on earlier, for the phenomena of waking experience are no less devoid of inherent, objective reality than are dreams. So when Padmasambhava states that phenomena are nonexistent — not really there — he means that phenomena don't exist by their own nature, either subjectively or objectively.

In other words, phenomena exist interdependently — their appearance to our consciousness depends on a multitude of factors rather than on their having an independent reality from their own side, so to speak. The fact that phenomena appear to our minds and that we give them conventional labels — cloud, cup, Colorado — does not mean they are ultimately real.

-------------------------------------

In Tibetan Dream Yoga the Clear Light is

“The subtlest level of mental activity (mind), which continues with no beginning and no end, without any break, even during death and even into Buddhahood. It is individual and constitutes the mental continuum of each being. It is naturally free of conceptual cognition, the appearance-making of true existence, and grasping for true existence, since it is more subtle than the grosser levels of mental activity with which these occur. It has nothing to do with “light.” (Alexander, Berzin. Berzin Archives Glossary.)

Take a look at the above picture. It is meant to be a depiction of clear light as a pale moon. What you actually see is yellowish-white light surrounded by fields of blue. Metaphorically, clear light is the ambient light that you are looking through when you read these words. It is the medium, the matrix, which makes the perception of any frequency of light possible. It is formless, yet existing. As such, it is also a metaphor for causal, “empty,” or high transpersonal consciousness. It is most closely associated with the “way of the sages,” in contrast to the lower transpersonal “way of the yogis,” or the middle transpersonal “way of the saints.”



This is all about emptiness, about how our dreams and that which we think is real is all empty. Again this is all about realizing what thoughts really are.

Maybe this will help:

quote:
Primordial emptiness is like a bubbling sea of nothingness, brimming with potential. It can be most easily described in the realization of three components, but each of the component is inseparable. These components are Void, motion (or energy) and potential.

The void is empty with no activity at all. Nothing to perceive and nothing to sense. Like a totally dead sea with no motion. The nature of void can be found going deeper and deeper into meditation. The is a common goal in many traditions. But, it is beyond senses, lights or astral visions. All activity in mind (or universal mind) is dropped such that nothing is left. All perception is gone, such that the mind is still and for all practical purposes, one and everything "ceases".

When the nothingness of void "moves" or changes state, one has "energy". Energy has no true substance as it is only the motion of void, but it gives rise to something to be "perceived". In it's emergence, energy can be guided by "intent". First energy is noticed on a subconscious level, but with greater realization, it can be guided and affected. First in one's body, and later as greater mental obstructions are cleared on a universal level.

When one has fully realized the void and one experiences energy 24/7 in a conscious (controlled) manner, one integrates the two and can notice the "potential". The potential is the pristine clarity (or light) of the void. Or in more modern terms, it is the structure or raw building stuff of mind/universal mind. All that exists or potentially can exist is a transmission of this pristine clarity/light.

When one fully realizes these three components as integrated and inseparable, they have realized ultimate emptiness. One "sees behind" the curtain (of mind) and becomes stabilized in the primordial sea.

Ultimately, void is nothingness, energy is the motion of nothingness, clarity (or light) is the realization of the potential of it all that can be guided by intent.


It is the light that shines from the void that is Rigpa. That is what I am referring to when I talk about light. It is much different than what you are thinking. Dream yoga is a tool that one can use to realize emptiness. As you can see emptiness is inseperable from the void and rigpa. The whole point is to experience emptiness. Without emptiness you will not truly experience the light of the void.

I still put forth that dreams are a tool to help realize the reality of thoughts. It is a tool that one can use along the path but it is not the path.

I will admit to sending and receiving light during dreams. That is different than being the light. You know??

As far as OBE's. I have never seen any teachings by any recognized teachers that recommeneds OBE'S.

Good talking to you technoyogi :)

Edited by - jonesboy on Mar 11 2015 11:54:20 AM
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jonesboy

USA
594 Posts

Posted - Mar 11 2015 :  12:32:29 PM  Show Profile  Visit jonesboy's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Technoyogi,

Please don't take me wrong with regard to Dream Yoga. It is a powerful tool. It can teach us a lot. More than what I have alluded to so far.

What I worry about and what I often see is strong 3rd eye types who can easily astral travel and can see many wonders get trapped. How can you tell someone they are not seeing things right when they can see things better than you? How can you convince someone that there view is incomplete when they can see past the heavens?

I have friends who use to do a lot of astral travel. They tell me how they use to see galaxies born. Ride on comets and have all sorts of fun. Now, not a one does it. They have all realized it is all not real. It is all still local mind. That is the point I am wanting to make. Use it for the powerful tool that it is but understand it is not a path unto itself for enlightenment. For many it can be a trap.

Take care,

Tom
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technoyogi

Canada
158 Posts

Posted - Mar 11 2015 :  1:19:12 PM  Show Profile  Visit technoyogi's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Thank you again for your wise perspective Jonesboy.

I have been fortunate a few times to experience the void as a result of doing meditation in OBE as I wrote about above. And yet, that said, I think we are ultimately saying the same thing.

While the teachings I have read say it can be *a* path, and while I have used it at times in that way, I too realize that ultimately it is usually a difficult path and it can be a distraction due to the thought dominant mode they start in, in the way you have said.

That is largely why I am here instead of simply trying to do more and better OBEs. Ultimately they are a form of siddhi, and Patanjali and Yogani have both warned that these can be a distraction to the path.

I regard them as something of an "enlightenment experience" instead of enlightenment itself, i.e. something that if you have never had before, powerfully shock you into looking at the world differently.

I do think that if every human on earth had an OBE tonight, it would be a much different society. Not fully enlightened by any means of course, but less fearful of death and much more open minded. And it would put some people on the path to seek full enlightenment just as it did for me.

If anything doing this AYP practice has seemed to lessen my OBEs, yet I continue to do it as my own greatest goal is enlightenment, not to create more illusory galaxies during OBEs :-) I truly feel like AYP is what I have been looking for, it was not the OBEs that happened to me mostly spontaneously and that I then learned to try to apply to the path.

Since I have personally as mentioned used them at times to find the void, I will likely still keep them as a tool on the side, yet my primary focus and effort is on doing my AYP practice, day in and day out. I started a journal here to track my progress. That si even more effort, yet I hope to remain serious about both it and my practice.

Thanks again for the "tough love", I am open to any and all feedback in this journey, and I very much appreciate you taking the time to provide guidance and wisdom :-) I hope that I too can go from being a newbie here to having the kind of experience you have had. If I have not lost your good graces from anything I have said, then if you have a moment at any time in the future to pop into my journal thread and provide some thoughts, I would welcome it too, here is the link if so:

http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic....PIC_ID=15111
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Dogboy

USA
2294 Posts

Posted - Mar 11 2015 :  3:43:11 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
I definately sleep better now that kundalini has awakened, and appreciate the scenery while in sleep's grip more so than ever, releasing scenery samyama style upon awakening. Mother Kundalini was a lover in one dream, and I had a lucid dream of pranayama that melted beautifully as I opened my eyes. Great discussion, gentle men!
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jonesboy

USA
594 Posts

Posted - Mar 11 2015 :  4:45:43 PM  Show Profile  Visit jonesboy's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Thank you Dogboy that means a lot

You mentioned Kundalini. I was always scared of kundalini. I didn't really understand it and I have rarely posted in the kundalini section. That was until I read this quote, then it all clicked.

"Ramana Maharshi mentioned that Kundalini is nothing but the natural energy of the Self, where Self is the universal consciousness (Paramatma) present in every being, and that the individual mind of thoughts cloaks this natural energy from unadulterated expression. Advaita teaches self-realization, enlightenment, God-consciousness, and nirvana. But, initial Kundalini awakening is just the beginning of actual spiritual experience."

I don't know why I posted this Dogboy. It was meaningful to me and it just feels right to share it.

Much love my friend.

Edited by - jonesboy on Mar 11 2015 4:54:45 PM
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Dogboy

USA
2294 Posts

Posted - Mar 11 2015 :  4:54:41 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
And to you. I have heard that is our natural state, but most are too "impure" to notice...
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jonesboy

USA
594 Posts

Posted - Mar 11 2015 :  7:52:41 PM  Show Profile  Visit jonesboy's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
If you don't mind I am going to share a unasked for insight

I remember when I first started on my spiritual journey one thing I had never really thought about was what am I. I really had no clue just like anyone else starting out. I read The Presence Process and was like yes, I am Presence! Then I would read a book by Colin Drake and would go Ahh I am Awareness

I would hear how we are the sky and our thoughts are the clouds. I would read where we are the screen that the movie is playing on.

It was always something far off. It wasn't the present me that would experience this but a more advanced me that would understand it all.

Now I understand there are a lot of techniques to help with this but I just wanted to share something that was a powerful moment for me.

What really made a few things click for me was one day (best after meditation because of the silence) I went to my back sliding glass door and was looking outside.

You know how you can stare and the glass of the door goes away?
You can see everything outside clearly yet there is something between you and what you are seeing but not really.

THAT was me. That was awareness.

So I am staring out my window, silent mind and I am residing in that something. I am watching the leaves move and they don't bother me. I am watching the reflection off of the water flow right on by me. The wind just like my thoughts are just floating by me as I am residing in that space. Just like looking out through a glass door.

Maybe because it is just like our thoughts. None of it can really hurt you. I am inside and I see everything moving outside. Light reflecting, plants moving yet because I am inside I am just witnessing it all. When you put yourself in that same place as the glass door and then let your thoughts float on by like everything else that you are observing. Not attaching, clinging or trying to change in any way.

That is our Natural State, Awareness.


I hope this very unconventional experience helps someone else.


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