Science and the Mysteries of TIBET (video)

Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; David Wilcock/Edgar Cayce (DivineCosmos.com, WisdomTeachings.com, Gaiam TV.com); Disclosure Truth TV; VAJRAYANA BUDDHISM

Guru Rimpoche Padmasambhava, six fingered mystery figure in Tibetan Buddhism (wiki)

 

• Watch Preview (Season 2, Episode 34, 36:07 mins)
  

Wisdom Teachings with David Wilcock (#69)
The transfiguration into a rainbow body of light has long been shunted to the realms of mystical experience and Eastern philosophy.

However, there are Western scientific concepts, which we have already learned about in previous episodes, to validate the reality of this ascension [transmogrification] process.

David Wilcock, who formerly existed as Edgar Cayce, begins to weave together the science and philosophy of the rainbow body transformation before presenting physical examples of Padmasambhava’s ascension in this presentation originally webcast July 7, 2014.  

• See Full Series
• VIDEO: David Wilcock exposes Mass Arrests
• VIDEO: The plan to take down the Illuminati

Beyond Cosmic Consciousness - Part 1 (Season 1, Episode 3) Wilcock explains how to connect with the galactic center in order to boost our psychic abilities, the positive impact of the "meditation effect" upon the world, and how light affects DNA. Discover how we can begin to...

Who is David Wilcock?
(Disclosure Truth TV, June 7, 2014) In "The Hidden Science of Lost Civilizations" David Wilcock exposes some of the greatest scientific secrets of our time -- from DNA transformation to multidimensional time -- to unlock the mysteries humankind have always struggled to answer: Who are we? How did we get here? And where are we going? 

In his book The Synchronicity Key, he goes beyond this new understanding to investigate how our universe works. Using history and astrology, as well as new research into fractals, spiritual geometry, and quantum physics, Wilcock demonstrates that there is a hidden architecture within time which guides individuals and nations through a system of "enlightenment" (which Joseph Campbell called the "Hero's Journey" or Heroine's Journey, as we all go through it).

What is it? Historical events occur in shockingly precise and repeating cycles of time. And once the hidden laws governing our "fate" our destinies, which we influence all along the way, through seemingly random events Jung termed "synchronicities," are identified, we are left with a remarkable blueprint of how to lead our lives in an uncertain world.

Synchronicity is more than a happy accident. It is an effect of the connectivity of the universe. It is proof that everything is a part of a unified, connected whole.

It is an affirmation of life. Wilcock's understanding of the living fabric that binds the universe together is behind his knowledge of synchronicity, the Law of One, and how we are guided by it.

 
Synchronicity is a means to awaken us to our true identity, the thoughts we think, and the actions we take (karma) are being guided by hidden cycles that repeat, as our guide to this new world of knowledge explains.

David Wilcock and Wynn Free co-authored the book The Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce? in 2004. He is also the author of the 2011 book The Source Field Investigations, which debuted at No. 18 on the New York Times Best Sellers list on Sept. 11, 2011. His second book, The Synchronicity Key, debuted at No. 8 on the same list on Sept. 4, 2013.

Wilcock has appeared on several radio programs, including semi-regular appearances, and he had a role in the Syfy documentary "2012." He was a proponent of the theory that a large segment of humanity would undergo ascension in the year 2012. He also appeared in several episodes of the History Channel series "Ancient Aliens." Beginning in early 2013, he began hosting a weekly program entitled "Wisdom Teachings with David Wilcock" on Gaiam TV.

What is an "entheogenic" drug? (video)

Editors, Wisdom Quarterly (Wiki edit); Enlightening Channel; Samadhi Meditation

The Buddha in psychedelic colors DMT (and substances or practices that bring it out of the pineal gland) allow one to see the world as it really is undistorted by our mental defilements we accept as "normal" reality (progressivebuddhism). It's not a recreational activity.

DMT: The Spirit Molecule. See full documentary at the Enlightening Channel.

Buddha is beautiful (lilminx16/deviantart)

An entheogen ("generating the divine within") is a substance or practice used in a spiritual, religious, shamanic, or sacred context that may be natural or human made.

Some natural chemicals can induce expanded states of consciousness, whether psychological or physiological, for example, plants, toad or bullet ant venom used by the Satere-Mawe people.

Dope is not reinvention.

Entheogens can supplement many diverse practices for transcendence and revelation (unveiling of a hidden truth), including meditation, yoga, some forms of prayer, psychedelic, chanting, and visionary art, traditional medicine, psychedelic therapy (such as the careful, controlled use of minute amounts of a "magic mushroom" like psilocybin), and music including peyote song and psytrance, even witchcraft (witch comes from the word wise), magic, and psychonautics.

 

Entheogens have been used in a ritualized context for thousands of years. Their spiritual/religious significance is well established in anthropological and modern studies.

Deep in the mind during meditative absorption (jhana) a counterpart sign (nimitta) forms colored by mental defilements. This learning sign becomes the patibhaga sign. Exogenous drugs, even DMT, are not likely to help in this purification of consciousness.

 

Buddha at Thiksey (Ragg Burns Imaging)

Meditation leads to mindfulness and concentration, to sati and samadhi. A nimitta is a mental representation, a sign of concentration. If one focuses on the breath as the object of meditation, eventually a light will form in the mind as the sign of the breath; this is what one concentrates on to gain absorption. Middle Length discourse (MN) 44 tells us that one of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness is the nimitta, which serves as the cause for the eventual elimination of the Five Hindrances (sensual desire, ill will, restlessness, sloth, skeptical doubt) and, beyond that, the arising of the five concomitant mental factors (cetasikas) of the first absorption (jhāna).

Himalayan novice must focus (Dietmar Temps)

And according to AN 9.35, the nimitta as the mental representation of the first absorption is the presence of these same five concomitant jhāna factors. AN 9.35 states that this nimitta is to be developed, pursued, and established. When properly engaged, these five factors work in concert to refine and maintain what DN 9 calls a "truly refined perception of joy and pleasure born of seclusion" (viveka-ja-pīti-sukha-sukhu-ma-sacca-saññā). More

The American Book of the Dead?

Examples of traditional entheogens include psychedelics like peyote, psychedelic-dissociatives like ayahuasca (daime, natema, spirit vine), and Tabernanthe iboga (synthesized as ibogaine), atypical psychedelics like Salvia divinorum, quasi-psychedelics like [CDB-rich] cannabis and Ipomoea tricolor, deliriants like Amanita muscaria (biblical fly agaric or "manna from heaven").

Traditionally a tea, admixture, or potion like ayahuasca (a blend of an Amazonian vine, bark, and leafy plant) or bhang (a cannabis drink) have been compounded through the work of a skilled shaman or apothecary.

 

With the advent of organic chemistry, there now exist many questionable synthesized pharmaceutical drugs with similar psychoactive properties. Many were originally derived from these plants but stripped of supporting elements to presumably get at the most "active" ingredient without the help of other ingredients nature combined as limiters, enhancers, and so on.

Many isolated active compounds with psychoactive properties have been refined from these respective organisms and chemically synthesized, including mescaline, psilocybin, DMT, salvinorin A, ibogaine, ergine, and muscimol. More

(Samadhi Meditation) Isochronic tones for the natural release of DMT, the spirit molecule in the center of the brain (pineal gland), the third eye (dibba cakkhu).

Psychedelic Rock at The Terrace (Family Guy)

Erik Morgan (Collective Consciousness), Anonymous, Dev, Wisdom Quarterly

The earthbound "fairies" (bhumi-devas) have their own special instruments (CC).

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(collectiveconsciousnessband)

We're looking for bands to book for psychedelic rock in Pasadena (in the foothill area of Los Angeles) on Thursday nights at The Terrace (next door to the Pacific Asia Museum and its many Buddhist exhibits) on Colorado Blvd. at Los Robles Ave.

 

Collective Consciousness

We want bands that will bring a lot of friends so that everyone's circles and musical creations can connect into a collective of memories and new friendships, coming together and forming greater networks between everyone in SoCal sharing in this beautiful collective consciousness. Infinite heart vibrations connect us.
 

The devas' music

Hey, Erik, can the Wisdom Quarterly house band audition? We only have two songs -- "Noble Indian Chief" and "Do Her" -- so far but lots of hipster/hippie friends and fans. Granted the songs are covers paying homage to Peter and Lois Griffin of "Family Guy" fame. We're called "Handful of Amber," psychedelic death metal/vegan grindcore, pro-entheogen, lute/harp music. Well, here, have a look:

(Family Guy) Peter and Lois are a "Handful of Peter" performing "Do Her" while baked on entheogenic cannabis, which does not end up helping their music or public performance.

Pacific Asia Museum

Fusion Fridays, Chinese and Mexicans return to America (pacificasiamuseum.org)

What is "consciousness" in Buddhism?

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Ven. Nyanatiloka Maha Thera, Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines (viññāna)

Buddhas of the past, sacred Dambulla cave, Sri Lanka (inquiringmind.com)

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How are living beings conscious? (WHP)

"Consciousness" is one of the Five Groups [that comprise] Existence (Five Aggregates of Clinging). It is one of the Four Nutriments. It is the third link of the causal chain on the arising of suffering called Dependent Origination. It is the fifth in the sixfold division of elements.

Viewed as one of the Five Aggregates [trillions of discrete phenomena lumped into five groups or categories], it is inseparably linked with the three other mental aggregates (feeling, perception, and formations) and furnishes the bare cognition of the object, while the other three contribute more specific functions.

Conscious awareness (dhammawheel.com)

Its moral and karmic character, and its greater or lesser degree of intensity and clarity, are chiefly determined by the mental formations associated with it (particularly the most salient formation, "volition" or cetana, which determines if a karmic act is beneficial, unwholesome, or neutral).

 

Just like the other aggregates or "groups of existence," consciousness is not so much a thing as a flux (sotā, a "stream of consciousness") and does not constitute an abiding mind-substance. 

Free your mind. Rest will follow.

Nor is it in any way a transmigrating soul, entity, or abiding self, even though it is commonly regarded as such by ordinary uninstructed worldlings not yet freed of ignorance regarding existence. Arhats, the noble ones, who gain knowledge and vision recognize it for what it is and are freed of suffering, which is called enlightenment, the realization of nirvana, "the end of all suffering").

The Three Marks or Characteristics of Existence (the impermanent, unsatisfactory/disappointing/woeful, and impersonal nature of all conditioned phenomena) are frequently applied to consciousness in the texts (e.g., in the Anattalakkhana Sutra, S.XXII, 59).

The physical base of the "mind" is the heart (K)

The Buddha often stresses that "apart from conditions, there is no arising of consciousness" (MN 38). And all of these statements about its nature hold good for the entire range of consciousness -- be it "past, future, or presently arisen, gross or subtle, in oneself or another, that is, internal or external, inferior or lofty, far or near" (S. XXII, 59).

  

Six consciousnesses

The seven main chakras,energy centers, along the spine (Manifesto-Meditations)

 
According to the six senses it divides into six kinds: eye- (or visual), ear- (auditory), nose- (olfactory), tongue- (gustatory), body- (tangible), mind- (mental, intuitive, memory, psychic) consciousness. 

 

About the dependent origination or arising of these six kinds of consciousness, the Path of Purification (Vis.M. XV, 39) says: 

• "Conditioned through the [sense base or sensitive portion within the] eye, the visible object, light, and attention, eye-consciousness arises.
• Conditioned through the ear, the audible object, the ear-passage, and attention, ear-consciousness arises.
• Conditioned, through the nose, the olfactive object, air, and attention, nose-consciousness arises.
• Conditioned through the tongue, the gustative object, humidity, and attention, tongue-consciousness arises.
• Conditioned through the body, bodily impression, the earth-element [the solid quality of materiality or rupa], and attention, body-consciousness arises.
• Conditioned through the subconscious [or default, underlying] mind (bhavanga-mano [manas, mind]), the mind-object, and attention, mind-consciousness arises."

The Abhidharma literature distinguishes 89 classes of consciousness as being either karmically wholesome (skillful), unwholesome (unskillful), or neutral, and belonging either to the Sensual Sphere, the Fine-Material Sphere, or the Immaterial Sphere, or to supermundane consciousness. See Table I for the detailed classification.

What is mind? What is consciousness?

Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly (COMMENTARY)

No one has to lose his or her head wondering where "mind" is (MaretH/flickr.com)

"God made Man, but he used a Monkey to do it. Apes in the plan, we're all here to prove it"

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The brain starts at the base of the spine

Does Buddhism have an answer? The Dharmic religions are very interested in "mind," which is roughly the equivalent of heart, the seat of consciousness. We think the brain is the mind, but it is not. The base of physical base of consciousness was not spelled out by the Buddha precisely the way the other senses were. Buddhism acknowledges six senses, mind being the sixth.

 

Mike, a living headless chicken (MTHC)

But it is pretty certain, and individually verifiable, that the "mind door" is near the are of the physical heart not up in the head. If anyone considers the matter for a moment, it becomes obvious that the entire body is conscious -- informed by a gut feeling, a broken heart, a mild headache, a strange tingling feeling, and so on -- all playing a part in what we are conscious of at any moment and what we feel about it; "thought" is a minor part.

A powerful placebo

For example, few people have been told that there are many neurons -- "brain" cells -- in the lining of the gut and in the heart. But we walk around all "scientifically minded" thinking neurons are somehow exclusive to the brain, up in the head, limited to the cranium. Neurons, ganglia, axons, and all that hardware extends down the brainstem into the spine innervating every part of the conscious body. We don't need a brain to live; a brainstem is enough -- ask anyone with microencephaly. We sure do need a heart. Some cruel/greedy humans chop off the head of chickens to sell their bodies and are surprised that they live on. Ask Mike, you know, Mike the Headless Chicken.

I'm not a monkey! My doctor takes them, too!

We are all taught, mostly by long winded drug commercials that depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders are due to "imbalances" in our neurotransmitters (actually, that's at least as much of an effect as a cause in the feedback loop of the body), but what we are rarely if ever told is that most of these transmitters are in other parts of the body. Case in point, if one has a section of the colon removed for whatever reason, one is almost certain to come down with severe clinical depression. Yet, look how we treat our beautiful colons. Why would that be? It's the brain in the gut, the brain in the heart, the brain in the glands -- the rolled up gut, which is 23 feet long, has a lot of braincells.

However, of all the sages of India and Vedic Indus Valley Civilization, no one went further in detailing the "mind," consciousness, software, mental processes, and mental concomitants (cittas and cetasikas) than the Buddha. It is what the entire Abhidharma (the "Higher or Ultimate Teachings") is about -- one third of the Dharma alongside the conventional sutras and the monastic disciplinary code.
 

Mind is more complicated than a clock.

So what is "monkey mind"? Try to meditate and you, too, will find out in about a minute. But, first of all, What is MIND?

The individual (let's say the gandhabba or Sanskrit gandharva) is body and mind, the physical-psychological process of becoming, of phenomenal conditioned-existence, the world, the process of perception. The Buddha outlined this as a conglomeration of eight impersonal heaps called the Five Aggregates. (I thought you said eight? Yes, the first four are collapsed into one category simply called "form").

"Mind" in Buddhism is defined as the remaining four categories: feelings, perceptions, formations, and consciousnesses (viññāna). All of these are plural because they are heaps, aggregates, countless discrete units within each category, always changing, always impersonal, always unsatisfactory.

• The Abhidharma distinguishes 89 classes of consciousness

Clinging -- to ego, notions of self, soul, eternal existence, selfishness, possessions, likes and dislikes, strong preferences, sensual pleasures, and so on -- occurs because of this illusory separate "being" or personality which arises dependent on causes and conditions, nutriments. What are the causes and conditions? They are explained in the meditation on Dependent Origination as 12 causal links to be contemplated, penetrated, and experienced for liberation.

Shut up, monkeys are cool! - the Beebs

Traditionally, in Buddhist instruction, early teachers noted that just as a monkey going wild in a tree grasps one branch and before letting go of it is grasping at another so, too, the meditator barely gets done with one line of thought and s/he's onto another. This is called discursive thinking, a great impediment to calm and insight IF we identify with it. Just let it be. There is no reason to try to stop it; it is usually enough to detach enough by becoming an observer. It really is ridiculous and like a chattering, clambering, confused monkey, full of frenzy, restless, and craving constant stimulation and/or entertainment.

• Prozac, used by 40 million, does not work, say scientists (The Guardian) Analysis of unseen trials and other data concludes it is no better than placebo nor do similar drugs in the same class, according to a major review. Full text: the PLoS paper (Oops, sorry, suckers! So long, says Big Pharma, and thanks for all the money? No, there's still a lot of money to be made. This study was released in 2008).
• Is it Prozac or Placebo? (Mother Jones)
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• Doctors and nurses told to slim down for sake of patients
• Five a day will do, larger study of fruit and veg intake suggests
• I was ill with hunger, went to prison for stealing food and became homeless 
• Five a day will do, larger study of fruit and veg intake suggests
• I was ill with hunger, went to prison for stealing food and became homeless 
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• Brooke Magnanti misses parts of old Belle de Jour life
  
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• Denis MacShane: Tackling the trafficking myths

Sufism is Buddhism with Islam

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Mac Graham (wholelifemagazine.com), Nevit O. Ergin (Inner Traditions); Ranajit Pal; Wikipedia edits

The tomb of the great Sufi poet Rumi in Turkey, the land that bridges East and West

Sufism is the mystical school of Islam heavily influenced by Buddhism and Brahmanism. Here the famous spiritual poet Rumi is seen depicted, not accidentally, in a Buddha-like posture (art-arena.com). In Buddhism a shaman in "trance" (shramana in blissful absorption called jhana, dhyana) is an ecstatic "dervish" in Sufism.

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Further proof that the Buddha's influence was so far ranging as to be imponderable comes in the form of the new book, The Sufi Path of Annihilation by Nevit O. Ergin.

Just as the key to Buddhist enlightenment (bodhi) is comprehending and penetrating with insight the truth of egolessness (anatta) so, too, in Sufism.

It is the illusion of "self," the "ego," "pride" that must be realized. In Buddhism the "self" (atta, atman) is the "soul," and this leads to a great deal of confusion about what no-self or no-soul means.
 
Conventionally, there is a self and soul in Buddhism, no matter what anyone says, but this "self" is not ultimately real, not eternal, not even existing for two consecutive moments. So in an ultimate sense, there is no self, no ego, no soul. How? See below. 

Early Sufi "saints" were Buddhists
Ranajit Pal, Ph.D. (ranajitpal.com)

The most famous Sufi writer of all, Rumi

The legacy of the historical Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) is clearly seen in Persian literature: The resounding humanism of Jalaluddin Rumi, Hafeez (Hafiz), Attar, Omar Khayyam, and Amir Khosrow cannot be grasped without the call of [monastic] brotherhood called for by the Buddha and echoed by Alexander [the Great] and Emperor Asoka/Diodotus [a "warrior caste" noble ksahtriya/satrap west of India]

 

Sufism is known to be a universal form of wisdom that has very ancient roots. That fanā' (annihilation) of the Sufis is almost identical to the nirvāņa (complete freedom from suffering and rebirth) of the Buddhists, moksha (a general name for "liberation") of the Hindus [and the Jains and generally all the Dharmic traditions of greater India], kephalia of the Manichaeans, and Kaivaya of the Jains is due to their common origin in Indo-Iran [proto-Persia].

 

A very large number of Sufi saints were from Khorasan and Karman-Baluchistan where Buddhism once flourished. As W. Ball realized, the caves at Chehelkhaneh and Heydari are linked to Buddhism. In fact, these may also be linked to Mitraism/Mithraism [the religion of Mithras that underpins so much of modern Christianity]. 
 

The poignant story of Ibrahim ibn Adham of Balkh (see Farooqui, the Travel of Adham to Balkh), one of the earliest Sufis, closely parallels the life history of Gautama Buddha and has been immortalized in the legend of Baarlam and Josaphat (story of the Bodhisat). This was a great religious document that highlights piety, and in many cultures it marked the beginning of literature. More

 

Dawn of Religions in Afghanistan-Gandhara-Punjab

Lands of the Indus Valley Civilization

Sir Aurel Stein found a Buddhist site at Kuh-e Khwaja in Seistan in 1916. There were many Buddhas before Siddhartha Gautama.

[How many is open to question, for while the Theravada school regularly interprets kalpa to mean an "aeon," an incomprehensible period of geological time, it also has another meaning in Pali: a normal lifespan (kappa) for the age, which at the time of the Buddha was a period of 120 years. This means that the historical Buddha was the only teacher to awaken to the utmost in millions of years, whereas Jain and other teachers spoke of being one in a series of ford finders or conquerors (tirthankaras or jinas) helping others cross over to the liberated state as defined in each dharma, the goal of Buddhism being unique but all glossed as the same, i.e., rebirth in some permanent heavenly state.]

This implies that Buddhism was as old as Zoroastrianism [and the Vedas, etc.]. Early Buddhism was closely linked to Brahmanism (there being no such thing as "Hinduism" yet), Zoroastrianism [Zoroaster/Zarathustra possibly having been a titan, who opposed the devas esteemed in Buddhist texts and the Vedas], and Judaism that originated in Afghanistan-Baluchistan-Gandhara. More

• Jalaluddin Rumi and The Lost Paradise
• Sanchi and Ajanta: windows to the Garden of Eden 
• Lost History of Buddhism Bangla[desh]
• Antecedents of "Hinduism"-Buddhism in Indus-Saraswati-Seistan
• Gautama and Zoroaster in a Non-Jonesian Frame
• The Isigili Sutra

Who was Ibrahim ibn Adham?

Forest ascetic Ibrahim bin Adham with devas (IMP)

Ibrahim ibn Adham (إبراهيم بن أدهم), circa 718-782, AH circa 100-165 [Note 1], see at left) is one of the most prominent of the early ascetic Sufi saints.
 
The story of his conversion is one of the most celebrated in Sufi legend -- a prince renouncing his throne and choosing asceticism closely echoing the legend of Gautama Buddha [2].

• 1. Richard Nelson Frye, The Cambridge History of Iran: The period from the Arab invasion to the Saljuqs (CUP, 1975, p. 450)
• 2. Muslim Saints and Mystics, Attar (trans.) A.J. Arberry intro. on Ebrahim ibn Adham; Encyclopedia of Islam, Ibrahim ibn Adham

Sufi tradition ascribes to Ibrahim countless acts of righteousness, and his humble lifestyle, which contrasted sharply with his early life as the King of Balkh (itself an earlier center of Buddhism).

As recounted by Abu Nu'aym, Ibrahim emphasized the importance of stillness [calm derived from "serenity" meditation or Buddhist samatha?] and meditation [wisdom derived from "insight" meditation or Buddhist vipassana?] for asceticism.

Rumi extensively described the legend of Ibrahim in his Masnavi. The most famous of Ibrahim's students is Shaqiq al-Balkhi (died 810). More

• Jalal al-Din Rumi (Academy of American Poets) They settled in present-day Turkey, where Rumi lived and wrote most of his life... The letters are described as having lines of poetry scattered throughout... Eventually, Rumi made peace with his loss, returning to his home believing Shams...
• Poet: Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi (PoemHunter.com) Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273, Persia)
• The biography of Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi

The concept of anatta as a doctrine is unique to Buddhism. No other teacher but a buddha teaches it. If Sufism understands it, it is because they received it from Buddhism. If it has been misunderstood or misconstrued as Annihilationism, the destruction of an existing self, then it is no Egolessness Doctrine.
 

In the Tradition of RUMI and Master Hasan...

Mac Graham (reviewer), Whole Life Times (wholelifemagazine.com, June 2014)

The Sufi Path of Annihilation (Inner Traditions)

Author Nevit O. Ergin mingles his cryptic contemporary Sufi short stories with sayings of Master Hasan Lutfï Shushud and the immortal verses of Rumi to reveal the barest essence of the Itlak Sufi path.

 

Our perceptions [saññā], we learn, are based on a lifetime’s accumulation of conditioned habit [sankhāra, mental formations such as our intentions or root motivations], primarily in eating and breathing.

Manipulation of these two functions through fasting and zikr (breath-control [yogic pranayama which was displaced by mindfulness of in and out breathing in Buddhist insight practices]), along with a steady, slow acknowledgement of life’s suffering [dukkha] and illusion [maya], brings release [moksha] from dualistic perception [Brahminical/Hindu non-dualism], annihilation [nirodha, extinction in stages] of the self [atta, atman], and revelation of essence beyond God -- that, “We are the beloved; God [Brahma/Brahman] is the lover.”

 

(wholelifemagazine.com)

This dualistic perception can be an obstacle to Itlak’s deep and slippery slope truth. Such mysteries require an oblique and indirect approach to replace the panaceas or placebos of religion and philosophy.

We can only approach our truest nature [Three Marks or Characteristics of Existence: anicca, dukkha, anatta, the truth that all things that exist are impermanent, incapable of fulfilling us, and impersonal] and meaning through annihilation of even those institutions that intend to guide us. [Compare with the Buddha's message in the Kalama Sutra].

 

Prepare to grapple with our most basic assumptions in this sweet, simple, and completely annihilating [liberating since there is no "thing" that could be annihilated other than ignorance and distress] adventure.

 

Shams al-Ma'arif (Danieliness/wiki)

Like much mid-eastern religion and mysticism, Itlak Sufism seems couched in suffering and denial [just as the Buddha approached ultimate Truth by negating our common assumptions using negating conventional language that is misleading to modern readers who may mistake it as pessimistic or nihilistic].

However, the goal -- [the realization of] nothingness [framed in later Mahayana Buddhism as "emptiness" (shunyata), the ultimate "perfection of wisdom," which is the liberating realization of ANATTA], absence -- transcends any such negation.

With annihilation of the [illusion of a] self, essence [the luminous quality of the heart/mind, primordial consciousness, which the Buddha analyzed (dissected, divided, broke down) in many ways: viññāna, citta, cetasikas, mental states (sankharas), mental factors, mana, nāma, manas, conceit, attention] expresses its hidden [timeless] being, allowing one to “die before one’s chronological death” or die to the illusory world.

Otherwise, as Rumi notes, we are just “a morsel for the ground.”

No self?
Wisdom Quarterly (ANALYSIS)

Hinduism: We are drops merging

The Buddha was not a materialist, nor was he an annihationist nor was he an eternalist. Even if these three categories seem to exhaust all possibilities, all three are nevertheless "wrong views" (miccha ditthi) based on very deep seated assumptions and errors.

To untangle this impossible situation is easy: There are two kinds of language, conventional and ultimate. Conventionally, there if of course a self; it is self evident! We can identify with and designate anything as "self," but if we examine it, we are almost always talking about one or more of these five things: our bodies, sensations, perceptions, mental formations (like our volitions), and consciousnesses (associated with these five senses with the mind as sixth).

However, ultimately, no such self is there; it falls away when analyzed (broken down and penetrated with insight). A materialist is one who believes only in matter, which includes most modern, "reasonable," scientific types. We know there's more, but we will admit no such knowledge because we think Science says that there's nothing more. (To believe this we have to ignore all of the science that says it does. See what David Wilcock, formerly Edgar Cayce, has uncovered in this regard at divinecosmos.com).

• Into the Fire of the Sweat Lodge
• BOOK: The Joyous Cosmology
• Yogananda and the Gangsters
• Nada Brahma (The Sound of God) 
• Practical Spirituality
• The Threefold Higher Knowledge
• Buddhist particles of ultimate matter
• Buddhist Classification of Phenomena (dhammas)
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• Buddhist monk Watareka Vijitha arrested in Sri Lanka
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