Kaye's Universe

Prayer to Grandmaster Wong for the Pacification of Negative Karmic Connections

2012-01-28T18:35:00.000-08:00

Dear Divine Grandmaster Wong,

I, _____, humbly and sincerely prostrate myself before you in your great compassion and wisdom.
Regardless of what I have done or how many prayers I may have offered,
I clear my mind now and appeal to You with great reverence, love and amazement as though for the first time.
Please hear every sincere cry of Your humble disciple.
Although it may not seem so to me, I know that:
Compared to the obstacles of others, my obstacles are small;
Compared to the problems of others, my suffering is tiny;
Compared to the great issues of existence, my issues are non-existent;
I am greatly blessed compared to others.
May I truly realise this, and with great determination and compassion in my heart, may I quickly pacify all my own obstacles and suffering so I can play my part to relieve the suffering of all beings.

Dear Divine Grandmaster Wong,
Please heal, repair and purify my karmic connection with __(all people/group of people/person)__.
May all parties confess, even as I now confess all my own karmic errors.
May all parties regret and repent, even as I realise, regret and repent my own errors against everyone.
May all parties forgive, even as I forgive all wrongdoing against me,
I now realise all these wrongdoings to be an illusion of my own deluded mind,
For life is like a dream – form is emptiness, emptiness is form.
I realise now all the suffering I have created for myself and others through this deluded state.
May this forever be forgiven, pacified and purified.
I generate to my greatest ability the deepest gratitude and love towards the compassion of __(people in general/group of people/person)__ for manifesting in this form to teach me this lesson.
May this connection attain its highest form,
Full of love, forgiveness, compassion and Light.

Through the power of these words, actions and realisations, which continue to deepen long after this prayer is complete,
May this connection be truly pure and made whole, in Your Wisdom.
Whatever outcome is best, I rejoice and trust in Your Wisdom and Compassion.
Whatever time is best, I accept with gratitude.
Whatever happens, my faith is steady, my devotion is complete, my compassion is strong and my realisation is intact.

Reflecting on myself,
I realise all attachment creates suffering, so I willingly release and let go.
I realise ego and judgment create attachment, so I let illusory stories and false logic dissipate.
I realise fear compels us to commit karmic errors, so I clear my heart.
I realise karmic error perpetrates karmic error, so I ground all my actions in pure compassion and motivation.

All form is a reflection of the universe,
So all beings are my fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters.
Sitting in this realisation, I generate compassion and pray:
May _____ and all beings always be safe,
May _____ and all beings always be healthy,
May _____ and all beings achieve great wisdom,
May _____ and all beings be truly wealthy,
May _____ and all beings always be blessed,
May _____ and all beings enjoy positive conditions,
May _____ and all beings receive beneficial and timely help,
May _____ and all beings give and receive great love and compassion,
May _____ and all beings effortlessly release attachment and attain enlightenment,
For the greatest benefit of all.
Through these meditations, realisations and prayers,
I can finally lay down heavy karmic burdens and purify ignorant thought,
I breathe a sigh of relief and let my mind relax into pure emptiness,
I now realise the mirror-like nature of the mind,
No matter what happens, may I always be united with the great Dao.

Dear Divine Grandmaster Wong,
May every prayer I have respectfully and sincerely made that is True and Correct be heard by all appropriate Buddhas, bodhisattvas, deities and beings;
May all incorrect prayers be nullified and forgotten,
Please multiply the merit of these prayers for the greatest benefit of all.
I offer this prayer with the deepest gratitude to You,
and continue to learn as Your humble disciple,
And trust in Your great Compassion and Wisdom.
May all beings benefit from this prayer.

OM! AH! HUM!
OM! AH! HUM!
OM! AH! HUM!

Wisdom of Atisha

2011-12-31T18:41:00.000-08:00

The greatest achievement is selflessness.

The greatest worth is self-mastery.

The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.

The greatest precept is continual awareness.

The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.

The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways.

The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.

The greatest generosity is non-attachment.

The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.

The greatest patience is humility.

The greatest effort is not concerned with results.

The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.

The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

Atisha
(Atiśa Dipankara Shrijnana 980–1054 CE)

Sound

2011-06-30T22:03:00.000-07:00

Simply focusing on the sound and resting one-pointedly on it is shamatha meditation. Recognizing the nature of the sound is vipashyana meditation. Focusing on the sound, looking directly at the nature of the thought apprehending the sound, then letting go and relaxing into the nature of that thought is mahamudra meditation. Resting in a state free from the duality of perceived and perceiver - an object of sound and a thought apprehending - is meditation according to the chittamatra approach. But if you are really skilled, it will become mahamudra meditation. It all depends on your level of skill. If you recognize that sounds, like dreams, are the expressive power of mind's abiding nature, mahamudra-luminosity, and if you look directly at their nature and relax within it, that is mahamudra meditation.

Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, from his commentary on The Profound Inner Reality given at Karme Choling, Vermont, 2000 (p. 154). Translated by Elizabeth Callahan.

Notice Space

2011-06-05T00:42:00.000-07:00

Image source/copyright: Wikimedia/Suguru Musashi

Noticing the space around people and things provides a different way of looking at them, and developing this spacious view is a way of opening oneself. When one has a spacious mind, there is room for everything. When one has a narrow mind, there is room for only a few things.

Ajahn Sumedho, “Noticing Space”

Sunday 5th June 2011
Tricycle Daily Dharma

Genius

2011-05-15T18:33:00.000-07:00

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.

- Arthur Schopenhauer

New Frontiers in Imagestreaming Interpretation

2011-05-02T07:17:00.001-07:00

I was researching some methods of intuitive interpretation of dreams, and it occurs to me that the same techniques could quite readily be added to the Project Renaissance arsenal of interpretation.

Technique 1: Name the Imagestream

After the imagestream is completed, mentally label it. It doesn't have to make sense - just label it with whatever comes to mind. For example, a stream with images of a needle and thread could be called "A Stitch in Time", which, as you can see, helps to bring out the possible meanings and interpretations.

Technique 2: Revisiting the Stream

Project Renaissance techniques have typically focussed on free flow imagery, but I don't think we have ever tried specifically revisiting the imagery through controlled visualisation. By going back into the exact stream consciously and recreating the elements, we can talk to each character or element, and ask them what they mean. Some surprising insights could come of this technique.

Training Problem Solving Ability

2011-04-07T05:26:00.000-07:00

The ability to solve problems is highly prized. As Jose Silva used to reason,"If IQ is a measure of how effectively we solve problems, then by increasing our abilities to solve problems, we raise our IQ."

Ironically, training problem solving abilities is not a complex process. It is in fact rather simple: Use your problem-solving abilities on a regular basis. Give it a good workout.

So, the question is: How?

I recommend Winsight article 55: http://www.winwenger.com/part55.htm

That describes the windtunnel process, which is a process whereby a person is given a question or problem and probed to provide nonstop solutions to it for 11 minutes or even more. This is done by torrential talking, but I suspect it can be done by writing as well, though that would be much slower and require more time.

The idea is that we all have the solutions to our problems within us, which is a Socratic proposition. By asking the right questions, and by probing our minds beyond the scope of our usual thought processes, we can discover new solutions. Over time, doing this also expands our natural ability to process problems quickly.

The key is continue to drain out our normal range of responses to a problem as quickly as possible, hence the "torrential" solutions to the problem that we are required to push out of our minds. The out-loud description serves as further behavioural reinforcement.

Here are some hints for facilitating the process:

1. Maintain a sense of curiosity about what solutions might arise from your own mind throughout.
2. Keep talking even if you think it does not make sense - do not edit.
3. If you find that you have a lot to say about a subject, then extend the length of time you are required to talk. There should be pressure on you to grasp for more than your usual capacity.

Negotiating Positions

2011-04-07T04:55:00.001-07:00

Source/copyright: Wikimedia

Negotiating a contract or even in daily business interactions, we often run into problems because of a lack of clarity and integrity within ourselves. When we face others, there is a discomfort in expressing certain things. What these "certain things" are will of course vary from person to person. However, the sources of this discomfort tend to be the same:

1.) Fear of rejection/disapproval/judgment. "What will they think of me?"
2.) Fear for survival. "What if I lose my job?"
3.) Fear of loss of control. "What will happen if I lose their support?"

To start with, the important thing is coming to a point of clarity within ourselves about who we are and who we choose to be. Of course, this is a work in progress, and perfect congruence is always tricky. Nonetheless, some forethought about who we want to be within a certain environment such as work or play will go far in helping us avoid these situations.

The following questions need to be considered:

- Who am I in this context?
- Who do I want to be perceived as?
- What are my values relative to this situation and how do they impact my actions?
- How should I act in order to be in line with this image?
- Are these actions in integrity with who I really am?

Clearly, there is a lot of depth in terms of how much we want to flesh this out. It is impacted by culture and mental conditioning.

When we have the identity established, then we have the basis for negotation. It determines what we negotiate and how we negotiate.

Negotiation tactics are usually fairly straightforward. I recommend a simple question: "Which is the line I can hold?"

This question is more profound than it seems. It basically introduces the concept of boundaries into a relationship. Being able to define boundaries verbally and in writing in a polite and non-confrontational manner is the main skill which is going to drive negotiations forward. Without those boundaries, the probability of resentment, dissatisfaction and conflict increase exponentially, because one of the parties feels cheated or taken advantage of. Thus, drawing boundaries is not just for ourselves, but also for the benefit of others.

There are many ways to express these boundaries and colouring them.

Examples:

Opening/setting the stage

"Thank you for agreeing to spend time with me. I want this meeting to be of benefit to both of us and hope you feel the same way." (This looks like an ordinary opening, but it establishes your position to the other party as an equal and is extremely useful for balancing an apparent inequality of position and gaining respect. It also sets a cordial but businesslike boundary.)

Requesting clarification/responding to a challenge

"Help me understand what you mean when you say..." (This looks innocuous, but it is a very effective method of neutralising a combative situation. Back in my boarding school days, one of my fellow House Captains had a very straightforward way of dealing with those who challenged his authority or talked back to him. He would look them in the eye perfectly calmly and say,"What are you trying to say?" I haven't seen that line fail yet.)

Calling in an external force/buying time

"I appreciate your honesty and feedback. I need to confer with ... before I come to a commitment that I can make with integrity. Will it be all right to get back to you by ...?" (This line should be used with integrity. You may beat a strategic retreat, but do it with dignity. You can also say that something needs to happen before you have enough information. Again, honesty is crucial here, and I do not recommend manipulation, but that is a reflection of my own values.)

Straightforward boundary drawing

"I hear what you are saying and I am taking it into consideration. I still don't feel fully comfortable with it somehow and would like to get back to you on whether it is a yes or no." (Again, it buys time. Eventually, however, you need to get back. If it is a "yes", in most cases it is not a problem. "No" is trickier. See next line.)

"Thank you for being patient with me. It appears that this is not a fit for where I am going at the moment. However, I want to thank you for your time and input in helping me reach this level of clarity." (Do it strongly but respectfully.)

Of course, there are many ways to do it. Everyone will have their own way of doing it. However, these are some basic tools.

Figuring Situations Out

2011-03-23T03:07:00.000-07:00

This is in response to a call for papers by Dr. Win Wenger for the Project Renaissance Double Festival 2011. Win asks two questions:

"What simple practice might best let you gain traction, building toward your best possible outcome?"

"How best can you bring yourself to be applying/implementing that answer?"

Project Renaissance techniques are notoriously powerful for finding creative answers to troublesome questions with its unique mix of Socratic and Einsteinian technique, otherwise known as imagestreaming. My aim here is not to extend or refine the technique base, but to look at the context within which we analyse situations. I propose that many of weaknesses found lie not within the traditional purview of the Beyond Einstein training, but in the context.

Basically, let us assume that, whatever the question, we can find an answer with standard Beyond Einstein/ImageStreaming (IS) techniques. Two areas immediately present themselves as potential issues:

1. What's the question?
2. What can we do with the answers?

I (mis)quote Jose Silva when I assert that, "If IQ is a measure of how well someone solves problems, then if we can raise their problem solving skills, we raise their IQ." A good percentage of the inhabitants of planet Earth will come across a number of biases in extending their problem solving base which is completely unrelated to the effectiveness of the Project Renaissance techniques. I wish to discuss two of these problems in turn:

Context Bias - Where's the problem?

When we define a situation as a "problem", basically we are saying we have an issue with it. Our internal roadmap, as defined by what NLP calls our metamodels, have a bone to pick with a situation. We would rather a situation not be what it is. Even if we don't know what we would rather have, we just would rather have something else. Or, we might be willing to put up with some situation in the interim, but when a point in time arrives, we want it resolved in a way that agrees with our internal roadmap.

Any and all of the above situations create blindspots which will hinder our ability to solve problems, because they create certain presuppositions about a situation.

1.) We may assume a situation is "bad" and "needs fixing" when in fact it does not, in the greater scheme of things.
2.) We may not know how to phrase a question if we do not know what we want as a satisfactory outcome.
3.) Even if we had a satisfactory outcome according to our roadmaps, there is no guarantee that we are correct in our assessment of what is satisfactory, or that it is even possible.
4.) We may also be missing a better outcome orientation because of what we want.
5.) We may be outright wrong, and a situation may in fact be perfectly acceptable - we just don't like it.

So, in finding the right questions to ask, we have to consider all these possibilities before even getting to the problem solving stage. It is not wrong to put questions such as the following through the Beyond Einstein processes as preliminaries:

(a) Given my mindset, what is the most optimal outcome of the resolution of this problem?
(b) With my mindset's current flexibility, what could the most optimal outcome of the resolution of this problem be?
(c) Why do I have a problem with this?
(d) With my complete willingness to change and adapt with the situation, what is the most optimal outcome of the resolution of this problem?
(e) If I were not who I am, what is the most productive/useful/empowering etc. way of perceiving the situation?
(f) How would an "optimal me" perceive and assess this problem?

Sometimes the questions will be irrelevant. At other times, we may well discover that we ourselves a key issue in the problem. And my personal experience is that a lot of times, we are. The dangers of too external a focus become evident even when we ask these questions without applying standard IS techniques.

My own research into problem resolution suggests that the dissonance that is the dissatisfaction with a given situation arises from the fact that we wrap our minds too tightly around a number of things. Notorious within this category are our identity and what we conceptualise something to be. Because of who we think we are, and how we perceive it to be threatened when one scenario of reality plays out rather than the other, we perceive a "problem". Similarly, because of how we label and conceptualise the essential characteristics of a problem (different people may emphasise different characteristics, or even mix values into it), a situation becomes acceptable or unacceptable.

There is much to be said for the theme in the human potential movement that talks about acceptance of a given situation. However, for practical purposes, solutions must still be sought. Nonetheless, it is important not to lose sight of the fact that we may be calling a rope a snake. And that instead of calling for exterminators the "problem" might be solved simply moving it aside. Or ignored, for that matter, for it does not pose the danger we thought it did.

This leads us on to the application of solutions bit.

Blindspots: I don't understand it/can't do it!

One of the trickier aspects of the IS process involves decoding the actual stream of images. One of the causes of these blindspots is the fact that what may be a perfectly obvious solution to someone else may be invisible to us due to the way our mind habitually works. That is why we have the Joking Analyst process to help with this, at least as far as the decoding is concerned. I will avoid discussion of actual processes here and assume that, for better or for worse, an acceptable answer has been arrived at.

I say "for worse", because more often than not these solutions do not get implemented. A large part of that has to do with (again) perceptual bias and identity. This is not meant to be a thesis on the subject, so I will withhold many of my more involved comments. Suffice it to say that how one views oneself will have a very large impact on how effectively the solution is implemented. A lot of literature in the last decade or so have focussed on "congruence" - how a solution must be in line with someone's passions, beliefs or thought processes. That would indeed be an ideal situation. However, I am finding that many people's passions, beliefs and thought processes create such a dead loop that very little productive comes of it.

In delving into my old libraries, I have noticed that whilst much of the literature and recommendations from the human potential movement are the same cats wearing shiny new spots, a number of players are conspicuous by their absence from about the mid-1990s. These include: resilience, determination, ingenuity and the willingness to be a maverick. Resilience has since devolved into a dirty word, it seems. Determination is now called resistance. Ingenuity is missing altogether, since the industry appears to prefer pussyfooting around people's lack of self-esteem. And willingness to be a maverick? In my capacity as both spiritual and life coach, I have come across precious few of those, although they still exist.

I am not saying that these traits are the key. In fact, I agree with some of the criticisms. However, creating change in a situation involves also changing oneself. Thus, one key question that needs to be asked is, "How should I position, change or adapt my personality/identity/self-image in an acceptable way in order to best implement the solution?"

Food for thought, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you and goodnight.

Japan - A Release for the World by Hale Dwoskin

2011-03-18T22:43:00.000-07:00

Note: The video isn't really configuring correctly on my blog, so if you want to watch Hale more clearly, I have provided the link below.

This is a deeply insightful release. Hale says to notice that there is no separation between you and our planet. It has to do with the fact that at some level, we have an interconnectness. That is how we mirror into the world what we wish it to be.

He invites us to start by simply being what we are. And does this repeatedly. As we do this, we find that even the ideas of "what we are" start to fall away. This is returning to our original nature.

Then, we think of something that is unfolding on planet earth that we have resistance against. The Sedona process then kicks in - allowing that which we resist to be, letting go of the wanting to change or control, and allowing ourselves see the perfection. This is the power of love and acceptance in opening up the knots of our minds. We become more open to the thought or energy of the relevant body-minds to support our home world.

Now this is very crucial. We first have to release our identities and resistance before allowing the idea of harmony or peace or perfection to enter. This is how we tap the frequencies of harmony with our liberated minds, and begin to ride these energies.

This process is pretty much a synopsis of essentials for manifesting, because it talks about the erasure of the illusory self and mind first, rather than resisting it. If we were to do this daily, and love and accept things we resist, before focussing on perfection, then it is very useful for dissolving the situation. We then allow the love and perfection that we are to shine, which is a recognition of our implicit perfection. And then we reflect that energy into life. We become shining beacons of light.

Clearly, I do not own or represent the Sedona method, but readers of my blog will know I have tremendous respect for Lester Levenson's work, and highly recommend it.

The original clip is available here: http://www.sedonamethodcommunity.com/highest-best-good/1945-release-japan-world.html

I would add that when I first began the Sedona method many years ago, it was a largely intellectual exercise for me. Over the years, my understanding of it has matured, and the opening of the heart has become increasingly important for me. Ultimately, the wisdom path still needs the compassion path. We are coming back in touch with the inherently expansive and joyous nature of the universe. This is how the bodhisattva path goes as well.

Tibetan Buddhist Magic Classifications and Their Applications

2011-02-24T20:15:00.000-08:00

The Disclaimer Section

This is an article I have been considering writing for some time. It is not without some misgivings that I am putting this information out. However, I think it's about time some treatment of this subject was given. So, some disclaimers:

1. I have not been formally (or informally, for that matter) taught this magic system, so I am no expert in it by any means.
2. Ergo, please don't bug me about vows of secrecy because I have none in this area - my comments are from the viewpoint of an outsider looking in and based on my understanding of metaphysics.
3. Warning: This is a very complex area, so although I am using my usual chatty style, I doubt this particular post will make useful bedtime reading. Then again, if you are plagued by insomnia...
4. Second warning: It is very important to understand the context for each of these classifications, so it may seem like I'm going around in circles, and I probably am, but bear with me, because then when it gets to the good bits, they are that much clearer.

So why are you blabbing about nothing, Kaye?

Although I usually do not teach "magic" of any kind, I have exposure to quite a lot of magical traditions. There are practical systems, which specialise in daily issues (Taoist magic falls a lot into this category), and there are systems which are very strong on self-discovery (Tree of Life stuff typically would fall in here). The Tibetan conceptual structure interests me because it actually bases its magic on enlightenment. Rather than developing towards enlightenment, it develops from enlightenment. So, I am more interested in its implications for how an enlightened person acts. (Sorry folks - if you thought I was going to teach you get-rich-quick rituals, I'm not. But stick around anyway - you may learn something useful in that area too.)

Okay, okay. Get to the point!

Tibetan Buddhist magic largely revolves around 4 classifications, which are related to the five Dhyani Buddhas, or the five buddha families, shown above. I don't intend to get into their details, although it is very interesting, so here's the relevant background link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Dhyani_Buddhas

The four types of "magic" are associated with the four directions. I am going to quote the Nalanda Translation Committee website from here on in for the formal definitions (in italics).

"...four karmas: Four enlightened styles of activity for working with situations; four stages or levels of taming ego completely. These are pacifying, enriching, magnetizing, and destroying:..."

So, we start with the four karmas, which are essentially the four types of magic. You can see from this definition that they are seemingly not very magical at all. In fact, they are ways of "working with circumstance", as Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche would put it. In more Trungpa-style lingo, they represent four ways of relating to the world. On closer examination, however, they can be applied to different levels of relating. For example, as the definition suggests, they can be applied to taming one's ego. They are turned in on themselves in contemplation. They can also be applied in relating to another; pacifying by calming; enriching by encouraging; magnetising by attracting interest; destroying by being wrathful.

In between these two world of inner and outer, there is the world of metaphysical influence, or what most people would instinctively call "magic". Pacifying magic involves neutralising or gentling circumstances. Destroying would relate to the complete annihilation of obstacles. Magnetising involves attracting, and is probably the most popular version of magic (both amongst the average people and the so-called magic folk) these days, thanks to the the Law of Attraction publicity. Enriching involves enhancing, say of love or wealth. Notice that there is no category for controlling, which is significant. Because these classifications are based on notions of enlightenment, they are actually ways of relating to the world without ego kickback. What that should tell you, people, about chasing potions for making someone fall in love with you...

So what's the point?

The point is about bodhisattva action. It is about how someone who has to deal with daily circumstance and the business of being alive can relate to situations without getting sucked into them. It is a precarious balancing act. You may want to save the masses from getting sucked into the fiery depths of hell, but if you're going to be jumping into burning buildings, you better have fire protection equipment. And preferably a hose. This magic is the equipment and the hose both. Used correctly, it allows you to engage with others without getting burnt.

See why I'm interested? The thing that gets most well-meaning helpers, teachers and masters is that they get sucked in when they engage with situations. Ego looms and before they know it, they become attached. Attachment in the situation is what causes this whole loop-de-loop, because it breeds more personal suffering. So the goal is to selflessly help others, but also to keep your own mind selflessly pure throughout the whole process. This is the secret action of the dakinis. They're pretty sneaky about how they do it, and this system of magic is pretty much how they do it, I believe.

*Foot tapping* Still not getting to the point, Kaye. I want the HOW of it!

Okay, so the entire system is grounded in compassion (I can hear the collective groans already). The whole reason we engage is to be compassionate. That is the life support system. Without selfless compassion, we get sucked completely into attachment because ego has some kind of foothold on the identity. Sitting in emptiness, we realise that luminosity and form is a display of the nature of mind. So, when we bend over to enjoy the play, we had better keep ourselves firmly planted on the throne (that view of reality) or we might topple off and get lost in the sea of colours.

So, it's not just compassion - we need to have the right view of the interplay of emptiness and luminosity, and if we want to play in the form display, we had better be compassionate. The ego gremlin always watches!

So let's get through the classifications.

"pacifying: The activity of feeling the ground very softly and cooling it out; subduing psycho-logical imbalance or physical sickness."

This is the tamest-looking magic of the four, but applying it requires a lot of skill. From a physical relationship viewpoint, this is the act of keeping one's cool. Look at the Wikipedia link, and you'll find this area linked to Amogasiddhi Buddha, who is associated with the skandha of the conceptual mind. That already gives you a clue of how to engage with others. In order to pacify someone, you yourself have to remain calm. This is done by being able to skillfully deal with the concepts arising. We only get agitated when we think we are under threat somehow. There is only a "we" when we conceptually give rise to it. So, questioning our thoughts, Byron Katie style, is a good way of providing a base for this style of relating.

So much for the external appearance. In the internal setup, this magic becomes active when we are looking to quell turmoil in our own minds. There is not quite a roiling thunderstorm, but definite rumblings in the interior. We tread lightly, feeling out the situation with awareness. We notice how we are reacting. When emotions arise, we observe how we are, and we try to see how we are really reacting without defensiveness. Incidentally, I think it is a mistake to be overly strict with the classifications here. For example, anger is related to the magic of destruction, but it can just as easily be pacified through this noticing. Once we notice, we can realise why we are reacting that way. By following the subtle strands of twisted logic in our own minds, we can find the source, which is usually just some slight misguided perception of a situation (thanks to mental conceptual formation). Untwist those butterfly wings flapping and the thunderstorm fades away. This is the art of pacification.

So, there are three aspects that I can see related to pacifying magic:

1. Giving the thunderstorm air time. Letting the mind (or another's mind) or a situation develop naturally, blowing off steam, whilst using the opportunity to study it, or feel it out.
2. Keeping our balance. Being careful not to engage in taking sides (not losing the view), but just noticing and observing, looking for the butterfly flapping its wings causing this whole display.
3. Jumping the butterfly. Once it stops its fluttering, everything stops. Job done. Pacified.

Sitting very closely to the view of luminosity and emptiness interplaying, we may not even have to jump the butterfly within ourselves. Very often, realising the mistaken view in our minds automatically ends the situation. In influencing type magic, we locate the source of the disturbance, and focus on diverting it very slightly or exerting a calming energy energy on it to create a beneficial outcome. The influence is very subtle, and almost undetected. It's like walking into a flooded building and turning off the water supply. Small twist, big difference. It is the 80/20 principle of magic - least effort, most gain. One could also call it the tai chi of magic - don't struggle with the charging bull. Give it room to charge and shoot it a tranquilizer dart.

If it seems like I'm talking in metaphors, I am. There is a specific energetic "buffeting" which occurs in disturbances. This magic makes you impervious to the buffeting by neutralising your own mental conceptions. This largely makes you invisible to the buffeting energies because you are riding them, going with the flow. You simply observe to find the source of the disturbance. You remain fearless throughout (thus the mudra of fearlessness). Then you neutralise it. Those with energy background will know what I'm talking about. This is the magic of Mahatma Gandhi, the great pacifist. Visualisations are held very loosely, and allowed to flow and transform, always holding an intent of finding a way to bring energetic negotiations to a successful ending.

Notice that the key here is keeping balance. When the magic of pacification degenerates, it degenerates into envy in this system. I can't be certain, but I don't think envy is the right translation of the problem. The real problem arises out of comparison. When we start relating the storm to our own individuality, all kinds of relational issues arise. This can be envy of the storm's power, yes. But it could just as easily be an angry retaliation against what is perceived to be an oppressive force. Which leads us conveniently to the next karma.

"destroying: The activity of penetrating confusion and annihilating obstacles. When there is a strong self-justifying pseudo-logic, compassion may demand razing a situation in order to clear the ground."

Destruction is nearly the polar opposite of pacifying as far as relating to problems or discordant energy is concerned. If pacifying is the yin, destruction is the yang. It takes the bull by the horns. There is a brashness about this way of relating. It relates to charging forward. However, the charge is not led by anger, which is the usual accompaniment to this kind of spirited response. There is still a calmness within. That means staying with the right view. This level of engagement with form is very seductive in the sense that in the heat of the moment, it is very easy to degenerate into an "us versus them" situation. The mudra is humility, which is what one needs to maintain whilst being this wrathful. The whole attitude is might be one of disciplining a child. A raising of one's voice might accomplish in an instant what a day of cajoling might not. The entire process is very risky for the practitioner, because in a sense it is pre-planned, or the aware mind is reacting in a very calculated way. If the parent gets caught up in the heat of the moment, feelings of anger and hate arise, muddying the original wise and compassionate motivation that pointed down this route as the fastest and most effective way to deal with a situation.

This magic is the magic of the gardener, who prunes trees for their benefit. Better to cut off a withered branch. It is used very selectively, and the whole attitude throughout is one of balance (there's that word again). Again, we sit very firmly in the view of form being a bit like a dream, and take it with a pinch of salt. We use the burst of energy to defuse a situation, but do not let it drive us into ego stuff. The anger arises again out of the subject-object division. Instead, it is more useful to treat it like cutting off a toenail. We don't hate the toenail or the toe. We treat it as a part of us that needs some adjustment.

So this is the kind of mental stance that is taken, even though the energy is taken head on. Before using this kind of power, be very careful to check your cannons! Letting influencing magic of this type go astray can prove tiresome, because of the whole competing aspect of it. This is the type of magic that involves building up extremely strong charges of energy and pulsing it forward with a very fixed intent. There is nothing subtle about it. Visualisations are held to obstinately in a "no matter what" attitude for the battle to the very end. And this obstinacy is precisely how anger can arise - via the frustration when things do not immediately go your way. Having chosen this route, it is very difficult to retract - you are stuck with it till the outcome emerges, for better or for worse. So use it with care. It is by far the most active and dynamic of the four. Walk softly, and carry a big stick. Unfortunately, most people start out using this level of force in their meditations, and this unleashes chaos more often than not. Maintain humility and keep the bravado under check.

"magnetizing: The activity of bringing the elements of a situation together, provoking it into ferment; also, attracting power and relationships which give control of situations."

The previous two types of magic could be considered the yin and yang of dealing with "negative" situations. The next two deal with the yin and yang of positive situations. Magnetising is the yin side. It could be considered seeding magic. It seeds small causes for big positive returns. It is another advocate of the 80/20 principle. Magnetising in relationship situations is hardly new - seduction has been around since the beginning of time. It involves attracting interest. It is very like pacifying, but its modus operandi works on finding natural routes in which energies flow and directing it one's way. Viewed this way, it is unsurprising that the skandha it degenerates into is selfishness.

Selfishness is a tricky energetic aspect to deal with. It is not just the selfishness of ourselves, but the selfishness of others, particularly because this aspect is heavily used in "attracting" relationships. The whole basis of this form of magic is anchored in finding something that attracts interest to engage. That is the basis of seduction, the morality of which is quite nicely summarised in that article, I think. Particularly because there is a double potential for delusion here, magnetising is a force to be used with extreme caution. It can appeal to the baser delusions of fear (wanting approval, wanting control and wanting survival) within people, and the magnetiser becomes a propagator of that delusion. There are opinions on this which state that if the magnetiser intends to use the channel of influence ultimately for good, then the ends justifies the means. I am not so sure, but I will reserve judgment on that.

From an energetic standpoint, magnetising is the art of shifting the river. By sneakily holding awareness to perceive which points will cause a person to be fascinated, or to be pleasantly entranced i.e. to fill their awareness with wonder and delight, the magician attains the ends. This takes a certain level of spontaneity, of being able to react to situations. It involves prodding in a way, leaving little tidbits to the imagination to fill in, and guiding it to fill it in in a seductive way. Outside the field of romance, this involves finding the path of least resistance, on the one hand, and finding a way to cause energies to flow in that path, on the other. The awareness is held in bliss, or enjoyment of, whatever energetic phenomenon is used to attract the attention of the energy that is to be worked with. It is the whole being seductive process. Of course, if the magnetiser becomes caught up in this whole dance, then control is the result. Magnetising becomes manipulation.

There is another form of magnetising, which is subjugation. This involves doing the peacock show, in a sense. The way magnetising energy deals with negative circumstances is to create a show of blinding light, inspiring awe into discordant forces, prompting them to stop of their own accord. This is a very tricky thing to do, and in a certain sense it is a bluff, but that is the subjugation aspect. It puts up a front that causes incoming forces to back off or bow down without actually engaging. A more distant form of subjugation, to be sure.

Again, examining one's motives is key to keep from falling into delusion here. Magnetising is probably the most dangerous of the four magical classifications as far as this is concerned, and I cannot repeat the warning enough.

"enriching: The activity of feeling further the texture of the situation and bringing it to full expression; extending your influence over others; generously spreading your rich and dignified quality all over."

Having seeded positive circumstances through magnetising, it can be stabilised through the magic of enriching. From a physical standpoint, this can be viewed in traditional ways. For example, a rich man, having attained wealth, seeks to solidify his position. He builds and maintains contacts, and constantly searches for ways to entend his empire. This is pretty much the sense of enriching. Clearly, this leaves a lot of room for attachment, which is why it is neutralised by the mudra of generosity. By not grasping what we attain, we maintain a mind that remains open to attain more. Ironically, once self-interest comes into it, the whole structure crumbles, because the fear of loss creates that very fear.

The four aspects of magic can be associated with the waxing and waning of energies, a yin and yang movement. Situations wane through pacification, are annihilated through destruction, seeded through magnetising, and reach their zenith via enrichment. Even the deluded forms of situations and circumstance follow this same general pattern. Just the layout should warn us of this. It is very interesting that in the Chinese bagua, that formation would be a clockwise motion through the trigrams. If we follow the Dhyani Buddha movement, the pattern is the same, but it is counterclockwise. I could speculate on this but I think I'll leave that to another day.

However, in both systems, enrichment comes before the start of the negative side of the cycle. Hence, it is the most dangerous, because delusion causes negative kickback almost instantly. Energetic strands are at their height, so the slightest mistake causes instant repercussion. Greed and pride are unsurprisingly the causes of this. Equanimity is key.

So how does this enrichment energy work? As previously mentioned, it has two aspects:

1. Stabilisation or consolidation of position
2. Expansion of territory

In a sense, the same kinds of techniques as magnetisation are used, but in enrichment, there is more a filling in of gaps and colouring in blind spots. The relative view and focus changes towards making a positive circumstance more complete somehow. It also has a sense of evening out, of spreading the wealth. Already, the energies of abundance are present, and there is a dissemination of it, always looking for the easiest path to spread. It is the organic growth of good fortune.

Energetically, this is the power of synergy. It occurs from mixing and matching strands of energy to create win-win situations. Whereas magnetisation has more to do with bedazzlement, there is a more level-headed stability to this approach. It chooses clearly mutually beneficial outcomes and builds on that. There is no manipulation. The need for that is past. Of course, once delusion sets in with the skandha of feeling, we have the old empire-building problem, together with the pride that goes with it.

The Greatest Magic - The Central Buddha

I think that the fifth form of magic is pervasive in all the four forms, and serves to ground them. In a sense, it is not magic at all, but then again nothing really is. It is the whole grounding of the whole engagement process in the fusion of compassion and wisdom. If wisdom is the right view of emptiness and luminosity interplay, compassion is the right action based on that view. Wisdom is the yin, compassion is the yang. Without that, the whole thing falls down. So we're back to enlightenment talk.

Some Interesting Conversation Material

2011-02-22T22:26:00.000-08:00

A casual conversation developed into something quite interesting. With the other person's permission, I've published the more interesting aspects of our conversation. I do not represent this as truth, but it's something to think about. Neither, incidentally, do I represent this as Buddhism, because I am not officially qualified to teach that. I can only speak from my experiences and discoveries.

Because the conversation is quite long, I've catalogued and titled it. I've also done some grammatical editing. Here's the list of topics:

The Trap of Mind - Stories We Weave
Purpose of Life, Karma, Mind Imprints and Detachment
Existence and Nature of Reality; Nihilism versus Materialism; The Middle Path
Past Lives and Their Use
The Way to Enlightenment
Pure Land Buddhism; Secret Methods of Chanting; Failsafes in Mantra
Enjoyment, Bliss and Rebirth; Greed and Wealth; Compassion
Guru Yoga and Vows; Powers
Merging with the Universe; Lessons from Legend of the Thousand Hands Guan Yin
Bodhisattva going on Buddha
New Souls and Implications for Karma and Bodhisattvahood

The Trap of Mind - Stories We Weave

E: Yes I tend to get too caught up in my mind, don't I? Possibly one of the hardest things to detach from, for me.

Kaye Lee: You're like most people - trapped in the mind. But that's pretty common. We built pretty elaborate traps. That's where it doesn't pay to be intelligent.

E: Aren't people usually more attached to material things or relationships?

Kaye Lee: Where is that attachment coming from?

E: From the ego I suppose - the need to find something/someone to make you you

Kaye Lee: That's the story. The attachment comes from believing the story, and the story is largely mind generated, or should I say mind arisen.

E: Indeed.

Kaye Lee: So everything is based on a story. No one is completely free from it. Knowing it helps, though. That's the grand metastructure of life.

Purpose of Life, Karma, Mind Imprints and Detachment

E: So does Buddhism say anything about the purpose of life? Or is that running in circles to think about that question?

Kaye Lee: I don't know if it does. Not in my knowledge. I suppose the standard copout would be to be a bodhisattva. The purpose of life is to be compassionate.

E: Wikipedia says that there are stages to enlightenment and when you're at a certain stage(having detached from certain things) you have a limited number of rebirths

Kaye Lee: For the arhat stage, yes.

E: Does that mean the detachment gets inherited through rebirth?

Kaye Lee: Through mind imprints, yes, probably. That's how karma sticks with you. In a sense detachment is very powerful good karma - because it makes sure negative experiences don't create negative imprints.

E: Can you explain this mind imprints that you mentioned?

Kaye Lee: Well, we're back to how karma tracks you. There's no big book in the sky recording everything. So what's doing the recording? Mind imprints are spiritual microchips, more or less; because wherever you incarnate,you take your mind with you. It's what makes you you.

E: I see.

Kaye Lee: So the mind tendencies are what allows the universe to track you. Erase that, and you erase all culpability.

E: So in a sense, if one truly wanted to escape from it all, one would detach from detaching, if that makes sense.

Kaye Lee: Ultimately, yes. Detachment loosens the hold of everyday imprints. So you don't react. But in using it that way, you are still looking for some kind of advantage, some kind of personal gain. That still creates imprints because the ego mind is manipulated through that. So once you get to the point where stuff doesn't bother you much, you just release the releasing process. Otherwise you become attached to the boat that got you to the other side. Stick on it too long and you still drift back into the ocean.

Existence and Nature of Reality; Nihilism versus Materialism; The Middle Path

E: Like a speck of dust in a stream, you go where you must eventually go, there is no choice only the illusion of one and there's no speck.

Kaye Lee: Choice is a perspective. The speck both exists and doesn't. Paradox. More like a dream. To say a dream is completely illusory would be false. To say it is real is similarly delusional.

E: I might be missing something, but it feels really nihilistic to me.

Kaye Lee: Yes there is the ultimate trap. This is considered very secret stuff.

E: Well, I'm pretty much a nihilist so not that it matters.

Kaye Lee: If you believe too much in emptiness, you will become nihilistic. If you believe too much in form, you become overly materialistic. So, to take form with a pinch of salt and enjoy the show - that's the real "middle way". Essentially that's what the Buddha's pointing at - every time you deviate from the middle, you create delusion and karma.

E: But to realise that there's a middle is acknowledging that there are two ends- which is a form as well isn't it?

Kaye Lee: Correct. You need to get past the intellectual construct. It is not resisting form or emptiness, but to be able to dance in both. At least that's my answer.

At different points in life you will be more attached to different sides of that coin, and each person is predisposed to one side or the other generally.

E: Really?

Kaye Lee: That's what a lama told me, which makes sense.

People are generally either more materialistic or nihilistic. And ironically, It is not necessarily better to be nihilistic, apparently that gets you reborn in the formless realms. Which means you're stuck there for a looooong time, so it is apparently smarter to err on the side of form.

E: Does it matter?

Kaye Lee: If you are interested in [speedy] enlightenment, yes. If you are not, then no. Ultimately everything gets back into balance I believe.

The Way to Enlightenment

E: So the way to enlightenment is meditation and detachment, not intellectual ponderings?

Kaye Lee: I don't think the answer is in the intellect no. Meditation may or may not be the answer either. Personally, I believe you find enlightenment by relating to life. You figure out what works and what doesn't in life, and then you realise the view. Once you realise the view, then you're pretty much there.

Pure Land Buddhism; Secret Methods of Chanting; Failsafes in Mantra

E: There's a sect that believes in lots of chanting - I fail to see how repeating some prayer that you don't understand would enlighten you.

Kaye Lee: Pure Land Buddhism?

E: No idea.

Kaye Lee: What's the chant? Namo Amituofo?

E: That's one, or Da Bei Zou. [Kaye: That's the Great Compassion Mantra. The comments that follow apply to it as well. However, longer mantras and sutras tend to be more challenging for people and can interfere with their ability to relax into the flow.]

Kaye Lee: Okay.

E: Or any sutra, I suppose.

Kaye Lee: Well in a sense it does and it doesn't. Let's take Namo Amituofo. There are a few safeguards in that one.

Namo = I take refuge in
Amituofo = Amitabha Buddha

For those with monkey minds, you start by generating a sense of relief. There is a sense of "Here, I'm tired. I give up. I place myself in your care. Please take care of me. I have faith in you."

I consider this a secret of the highest order, although it is fairly basic.

When you do that, you create the first inklings of detachment, because you say, "It's not my problem any more. I give up. I'm making it your problem."

Bet you've never heard it taught that way.

E: Ah, interesting way to think about it.

Kaye Lee: Yes. Then you can relax into it. From a logical standpoint, eventually as you do it more and more, The mind will open up more and more. The key is to focus on that feeling of relief. A bit like hitting the bed after a long day. You don't want to think any more. And when you don't think, stories don't get generated.

Guess what? Karma doesn't get generated. That's failsafe 1.

Kaye Lee: Failsafe 2. Amitabha Buddha, if you believe he exists, has a vow to take anyone who recites his name with devotion into his pure land if they die prior to enlightenment. So if you die with your mind on him, you go to him by sutra promise.

E: That's like cheating...

Kaye Lee: Of course it is. It's the Buddhist insurance policy. You complete your bodhisattva training there.

E: But he's not a deity, is he? He's a sage like gautama no?

Kaye Lee: Fully enlightened Buddha. [In the sutras Buddha confirmed he had attained full enlightenment in spite of his bodhisattva vows. This is pretty significant to something later on in these conversations regarding how bodhisattvahood can lead you to stumble into enlightenment, too.]

Yes, but he's not from this world system according to sutras. He was enlightened in another system.

E: Which means?

Kaye Lee: Buddha pointed to him in sutra because he welcomes practically all. But the unique thing about his realm is that it is open to non-enlightened beings. Most pure lands require a certain level of development before they'll let you in.

E: Elitism!

Kaye Lee: Yes, elitism in a way. I thought about that too. I can see why, though. Certain doors are opened only if you can hold certain frequencies. It's like building a nest in a tree - it's not discriminating against you, but you can't get in if you can't climb trees. And if certain Buddhas choose to work with those frequencies (trees) you can hardly blame them.

E: Aliens collecting souls in the netherworld

Kaye Lee: That's the funny side, yes.

But anyway, Failsafe 3.

E: There's more?

Kaye Lee: At least 2 more that I can think of, and probably many more I haven't.

Failsafe 3: Most people do not have nondual thinking They are attached to an idea of what Buddhas are like, and that's usually full of good qualities. By focussing on Amitabha so much during their lives, it creates a mind imprint, an intentional good story.

That creates a tendency to think of Amitabha Buddha, so if at death you can't focus on him, your mind instinctively settles onn the idea because it is acclimated to it, hence activating Failsafe 2. Make sense?

E: Yes.

Kaye Lee: Failsafe 4: Even if all of that is an illusion, your mind will incarnate based on where the mind tendencies or imprints attract it most at the time of death. If it has a tendency to think of good stuff via Failsafe 3. You at the very least have a tendency to incarnate in a better life. We're going down the scale a bit here.

Failsafe 5: Buddhas are supposed to be full of merit, So to think of them creates merit as well, which is good karma. Personally, I believe that "merit" is essentially the same as mind tendencies and what they attract, so Failsafe 5 and Failsafe 4 for me are largely the same, though many would disagree I suspect.

Finally - Failsafe 6 - and this isn't a failsafe at all. This is the ultimate goal in fact. If you can deposit your worries with Amitabha Buddha via Failsafe 1,Chances are good your mind will open and discover its natural state.

Very spacious - no room for story. Or rather, plenty of room for story but you don't get caught up in it. You have a truly open mind, and you instinctively recognise your true nature That would be complete enlightenment. In other words, you wouldn't need the failsafes - you've got it.

E: I see. A bit like striking the lottery though. If you hadn't told me about the purpose of this chanting, I wouldn't have thought of that.

Kaye Lee: This is based on my own realisations over the years.

Enjoyment, Bliss and Rebirth; Greed and Wealth; Compassion

E: I doubt being on the brink of death would make me that much sharper, so if what you were attached to at death determines where you incarnate, wouldn't wealthy greedy people constantly reincarnate as wealthy people regardless of karma?

Kaye Lee: Really? Greedy people focus on greed. Greed is essentially a focus on "not enough". That is what eventually screws them up. Now, if they die enjoying their wealth, the sense of enjoyment creates a mind imprint, which they can ride to a good incarnation.

E: I see.

Kaye Lee: It's not so much that their greed helps them - it's that they are accustomed to wealth. But how many people actually sit down to enjoy their wealth? They can't even do that!

So busy chasing it they plant the seeds of "not enough" instead, and even if they did enjoy their wealth, if they became attached to it, the fear of losing it would be planted. So you see, catch 22.

There's really only one way out of it. You take all your wealth and put it in Buddha's hands as well. Super cop out. I'm not saying to give it all away - no point doing that if you can't survive. But you mentally put it in Buddha's care, and focus on the good your money can bring others.

You'll notice that we have no problems about others' good. They either benefit or they don't. We tend to be unattached. Our own good is a completely different story. That's where we come back to your original question - bodhisattvahood is the purpose of life. It's a copout that ensures we don't collect more mind imprints.

Kaye Lee: You focus yes, but you don't get involved. Help where you can, give them what they nee, and you move on

E: Hmmm...how about the case where you focus on wanting a specific someone to be better? Say, a spouse?

Kaye Lee: If you become attached, you're stuck in story again. Same story. More difficult in practice of course.

The problem with marriage is that most people use it as a way to lock in their delusions.

E: How so?

Kaye Lee: They don't feel okay about things themselves, so they find someone who is similarly deluded and that somehow makes it okay. That's why enlightened partnerships are notoriously tricky. Both parties keep developing, instead of locking each other in. And, there's no guarantee they won't develop away from each other. But that's the nature of it.

E: So where do you go from here? What do you do to attain the next level of enlightenment so to speak? Continue living and detaching?

Kaye Lee: Yes. That's where life is your teacher, because it reflects back to you what is in your mindstream.

E: And developing insights about buddhist truths.

Kaye Lee: Oh I'm not bound by Buddhism, as you really should know by now.I just happen to agree a lot with its insights.

Guru Yoga and Vows; Powers

E: Hmmm, now that I think about it, in Christianity when you think about Jesus Christ as being crucified for all of our sins, one detaches.

Kaye Lee: Same thing.

E: Seems like another way to cheat

Kaye Lee: I once had the Catholic mass explained to me, where you partake of the blood and body of Christ. It is extremely similar to the secrets of Hindu and Buddhist guru yoga. You imagine yourself to be one with Christ.

I was quite surprised that they used this method, and I've been around a long time.

E: And how does being one with christ help? He clears the imprints?

Kaye Lee: There you go into guru yoga secrets. I can't always answer clearly but I'll try.

Let's do it with Christ since I have no vows there

E: What happens when you break the vows anyway? Quite curious about that.

Kaye Lee: Oh you go to hell apparently. But then hell is an illusion, ultimately

E: That's what I thought as well.

Kaye Lee: It has its purposes, so if you don't see hell as hell it's okay.

Took me a long time to get over vows

E: There is no hell isn't there?

Kaye Lee: Yes then you have the keys out of hell anyway. [Here I mean true realisation, not some intellectual exercise.] As I said, it's all about how you relate to life. It's a double edged sword

Vows make you treasure things, because it is something special not to be degraded. But it also creates this fear of hell. I do not approve of this fear indoctrination thing. It creates more obstacles for you in its own way.

I figured out the reason for basic vows though - quite an interesting karmic reason. Care to hear it?

E: Of course.

Kaye Lee: Basically, if you screw up karma, you're screwed anyway, but by taking vows, you actually make the retribution heavier.

E: Ok..

Kaye Lee: This seems stupid, but it has its reasons. Basically, you're saying, "If I deviate, smack me real hard, so I'll have no choice but to return to balance as the pain will be too much to bear."

Rather sadistic, really, but that seems to be the brunt of it.

E: Yes, but the not-wanting-to-be-punished idea kinda prevents you from releasing the ego, doesn't it?

Kaye Lee: Exactly. So, it depends on the kind of practitioner you are. If you are the type who disciplines body and mind and maintains balance that way, then it helps you.

But to transcend that level you still have to dissolve the fear that arises. Double edged sword, as I said.

Kaye Lee: Even guru yoga, where you become one with a deity (can't tell you how) has its delusions.

But to answer your original question, it's typical spiritual practice - plenty of failsafes. You typically take refuge in a guru yoga situation. "My Lord, I place myself in Thy Hands." Something like that.

That activates failsafe 1 from before - the relief factor. In guru yoga you go one step further - you relax into it, and then imagine yourself one with the guru. This creates a situation where hopefully, you realise that the powers and realisations you accord your guru are really within you, because you are creating that story

E: The Buddha mentioned that everything has a Buddha nature right? one could choose to meditate on one's buddha nature or the collective Buddha nature of everything. Is that becoming one with buddha as well?

Kaye Lee: That is on the Dzogchen level. Zen or Chan type meditation. That's the type of meditation I prefer, which I consider the fastest approach because it has no delusions. It doesn't use stories or props like mantras or visualisations per se. Direct realisation of the nature of mind. But you work with what you have.

Once you know where everything is pointing, you can figure out where the weaknesses of each method are. Like the ego could latch onto the guru yoga visualisation and say "I am God, muahaha!" And bingo you get a superego. Worse, if you're developed - a superego with magic powers.

E: Really?

Kaye Lee: Sure

E: What kind of magic powers? Now it sounds really tempting to go down that path. :P

Kaye Lee: And that is exactly what messes with people. To deny the powers would be silly, but to get caught up in them...It's the route of the black magician. You realise much of the truth of the universe, but instead of merging into it and attaining ultimate bliss, you choose in spite of your realisations to engage in the samsaric game of cat and mouse.

And worse, use the insights gained to influence the fabric of reality. It sucks big time.

E: Now it sounds a bit too unbelievable...

Kaye Lee: No one is all powerful really. If they were, the Buddhas would have released us all long ago. That alone should tell you something. And that was Buddha's point. You can manipulate reality to a point, and it's true that at higher levels you can manipulate more, but it doesn't mean you can manipulate everything.

Which is silly anyway, because if you look at your personal reasons for messing with how things are, you'll find that it's because you're chasing peace somehow. So why not shortcut the manipulation and just enter into bliss?

Which is what enlightenment does anyway.

The only reason is that people are after the egoic version of bliss - the ego wants to feel good about itself. In true bliss it would die. That's why it does that, and that's how masters fall.

Merging with the Universe; Lessons from the Legend of the Thousand Hands Guan Yin

E: I see. Earlier you said expanding the consciousness to the entire body has its benefits, what exactly?

Kaye Lee: Ah, now there's a tricky one. I've never really been fond of body-based spiritual work, but I recently realised that like it or not, we're stuck with the body in this lifetime. It is part of our consciousness, and to detach from it is still a form of denying ourselves and fighting our awareness.

So, when you point the conscious awareness into the body, it reintegrates and makes the body's spiritual resources available to you.

Things like the dantian, which are essentially body based spiritual points, become activated at that point.

E: I see.

How about expanding it further? To the ground, to the air, to everything, to give yourself to the universe. Sort of. In your words, to integrate yourself with the universe I suppose, where the consciousness becomes everything and nothing.

Kaye Lee: Ah...There you come across a pretty high level secret. Chunyi Lin starts Spring Forest Qigong meditations with the password, "I am in the universe, the universe in my body, the universe and I combine together."

Then you imagine yourself really becoming one with the universe. So yes, that's essentially what you're describing.

It's an intellectual exercise in a way, and a form of guru yoga

E: Hmmm I seem to come across many secrets...... kinda trivialises them....

Kaye Lee: You ask the right questions. Also, I'm pretty generous with spilling the beans.

Essentially, you are always one with the universe. The visualisation is just a way to get you to realise that, because it's not the universe blocking the connection -it's you.

Kaye Lee: If it becomes an intellectual exercise of conquering the universe through merging, then you will have a problem. More attachment.

E: A much bigger ego?

Kaye Lee: A superego. Same problem as before. And because you still access the merging aspect, you gain greater access to your abilities. Hence, the greater potential for good and evil thing. You know, with great power comes great responsibility and all that jazz.

E: Let's say you've merged with the universe. Every little problem in the universe becomes your problem, but it's also not your problem

Kaye Lee: Or rather, it stops being a problem.

E: Is that an ego thing?

Kaye Lee: It is.

E: Really?

Kaye Lee: You are viewing it [the situation] as an [from the perspective of] ego identity.

E: All the ills in the world.

Kaye Lee: "Ills" are usually a point of view.

E: The sadness and powerlessness of everyone, the misfortunes.

Kaye Lee: That's from a relative viewpoint. What's good for someone is usually bad for someone else. From an absolute viewpoint, nothing changes.

Sadness and powerlessness comes from their decision to fall under the illusion of separation. The master is very clear that it isn't his problem. It doesn't mean he isn't compassionate and sympathetic. It's the same way you would dress a wound on your body. Then it either heals or it doesn't. If it doesn't you try something else. But the healing is not your business - it is the business of the body part to heal itself or not.

E: Kinda harsh.

Kaye Lee: Reality can be kinda harsh.

E: Not as compassionate as I imagined.

Kaye Lee: People think compassion is a fluffy bunny. Then they wonder why deities whack them.

True compassion is providing what someone needs. If someone gets knocked down by a car, you can get into your own story of "oh my god look you're hurt" and freak out on the spot. What use are you?

You have reduced your effectiveness to zero.

"Oh, you're dying. But look at me, I'm fainting out of the pain of seeing you die - I'm compassionate!" What utter confusion!

On the other hand, you could remain clear, call an ambulance and get off your butt. The person has a much better chance of surviving if you keep your balance.

Kaye Lee: Ever hear the tale of how the Thousand Hand Guan Yin came about? [My version could be off - this is the closest version I could find on a quick Google search, which does not mean it is correct either: http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-BH/bh117498.htm]

E: No.

Kaye Lee: Well, Guan Yin was busy helping everyone as usual. And one day he/she (depending on your mythology) looked at all the suffering still in the world, and gave a sigh. I forget if she gave up or was lost to despair. The tale goes that she split into many pieces, because it constituted a breakage of a vow

Amitabha Buddha (again I think I have this right) put her together again with a thousand hands and 11 heads. That's the birth of the Thousand Hands Guan Yin. Basically, so she could help many people.

E: How does 11 heads help anyone?

Kaye Lee: To see the better apparently, and they're of different forms, so different ways. The form is probably largely symbolic, representing many skilful ways

But people focus on the end story. Notice no one focuses on WHY she broke up. I believe that's a far more important point. By getting involved in the story of suffering, she lost her ability to be effective, more or less symbolised by breaking down.

There may have been a vow involved, but the implication of that is far more important for us common folk. Even bodhisattvas can mess up - we had better figure out how to avoid those blind spots.

I find it astounding that people never think to analyse these stories

Bodhisattva going on Buddha

E: How does a Bodhisattva continue on to Buddhahood?

Kaye Lee: Bodhisattvas are one degree off Buddhahood. In a sense you don't continue to buddhahood, because the vow is to remain till everyone gets it. It means your ego is 99.9% destroyed.

E: Ok

Kaye Lee: But there is one remaining 0.1% that stays, which helps, because you remember the pain of suffering. It is very real to you yet. You just got out of the hole and now the guy at the top says no, you stay right at the top side of the hole and get everyone out.

So you focus on doing that. Might as well, really - there's nothing else to do in the emptiness. So you stay at the fringe and pull people out. But if you're not careful you topple back in.

E: By?

Kaye Lee: Teaching, healing, whatever. Depends on what your particular abilities are. And by that time you have quite a few of them. So the real question is - how do you mess up?

It's not a lesson for Bodhisattvas only, because we are all essentially Bodhisattvas in training, whether we like it or not.

The mess up comes when you get involved in the story that allows the ego a grip on us, because it has a way to establish an us versus them situation, and then it cements it in with fear. And Bob's your uncle, you're back in the hole.

Darned resilient, the ego. The only way out is to train yourself in compassion. So ego doesn't get a grip.

Selfless compassion, really

New Souls and Implications for Karma and Bodhisattvahood

E: Where do new souls come from?

Kaye Lee: No real idea. Generate out of the emptiness I imagine.

E: So karma comes out of nothing? I suppose it must have some karma to begin with.

Kaye Lee: Novel way of asking the question. I hadn't considered it like that before. Karma itself doesn't come out of nothing per se. It comes when a part of the whole cognises itself as separate from the whole.

That's the whole new soul thing I guess.

The soul starts pure - it's basically emptiness, or a form display of emptiness. Then it starts to relate to stuff around it, gets involved in the story. And starts digging itself into a hole.

E: So cycles within cycles

Kaye Lee: Yes

E: Then, it makes no sense to pull everyone out of the hole. Just impossible. New things are generated ex nihilo and get caught up.

Kaye Lee: Correct. This point puzzled me for a long time - why masters are so insistent on pulling people out of holes. Then it occurred to me. This is the only game in town

Basically, if you want to engage in form, the only way to remain stainless is to be compassionate. Which will lead you down the bodhisattva path in one wy of another. By doing that, you will eventually get to the point where you will realise emptiness anyway.

So, in spite of your [Bodhisattva] vow, you will probably become a Buddha thanks to the bodhisattva practice. It's a side effect of it.

If you don't want to engage in form, then you are resting in the nature of mind. Which still gives you fantastic displays of form. You just enjoy it and relax, with about as attachment as you would watch your foot twitch really.

Probably not the way the monks would explain it but I think I've got a fair approximation of it

The Great Compassion Spark Meditation

2011-02-19T00:22:00.001-08:00

1. Humble yourself and open to the universe.
2. Notice any fear or resistance and apply willingness to open.
3. Using the lightest of intentions, intend to become one with the ultimate level of compassion, wisdom and light.
4. Invite this energy and wisdom to channel through you to its highest wisdom, using your awareness to funnel out into the world, creating the greatest good.
5. Surrender to and lose yourself in this energy. Become one with it. Apply faith if fear arises and open up even further.

Liao Fan's Four Lessons - Changing Destiny

2011-02-17T07:15:00.000-08:00

Today is the 15th day of the Chinese New Year. I walked into a Thai temple today, with a very large reclining Buddha. This is not a new place for me - my family has prayed at this temple since I was a baby. Nonetheless, to visit was a relatively rare occasion. Usually, it is crowded during Wesak Day, when people queue to bathe a statue of the baby Buddha.

I did my prayers, but in my thoughts I was deeply engrossed with the subject of changing karma. So many people suffer, and even though I help where I can, I still felt a lingering sense of dissatisfaction about both personal and global karma. Not that I am displeased with the universe. Far from it, I have been given so many gifts that I really cannot complain. I know that if we sit in emptiness, we can still transcend all this. When I am behaving myself and doing my practice properly, this is indeed my experience. But I do not pretend to be perfect.

The repressed kiddie mind in me who never got the chance to collect enough baseball cards was hunting for relics, pendants and other stuff to collect. Spiritual materialism, Chogyam Trungpa called it, and I agree. Nonetheless, I sat before the Buddha statue and meditated. This is when I had the intuition that I was to go to the pile of books that are left there by devotees for devotees, and to select one carefully. I have done this before, but today seemed especially significant. So the relic hunt got replaced by a book hunt.

I selected the Diamond and Heart Sutra. This sutra is very special to me. However, in rooting through the books, I came across a rather strange looking volume called Changing Destiny. Usually unimpressed by modern interpretations of universal truths, I browsed it. My attention was caught pretty quickly. As it turns out, this book is hundreds of years old. I knew it was for me because it was a Buddhist book that was discussing the I Ching and the states of mind when drawing Taoist talismans. It describes methods of changing destiny, essentially Mahayana tactics (do good, get good) with a bit more of a Theravada motivation (I'm doing good to take care of me). At least this is what it looked like at first - later in the book it becomes more purely Mahayana in motivation. Interestingly, Liao Fan himself describes how he was given a mantra to practice - a Zhuen Ti mantra. As it happens, my own master had given me this mantra as well, and I had forgotten how powerful it is for the purification of karma.

More importantly, however, the manual describes how Liao Fan's life had been predicted to the last t (literally to the day and hour of his death) and how his life had been following that track. He eventually accepted his destiny, but was unable to change it. This book describes his discoveries AFTER he realised that it could be changed, and how to change it. It is an extremely readable text and although a touch long, I recommend it strongly. We need texts like these which are more accessible.

Here's a copy: http://www.namoamitabha.net/en/publication/liaofan/liaofan_chinkung.pdf

The commentary is by the Pure Land school of Buddhism. That would be the group that goes around chanting "Namo Amitabha". Nothing wrong with that, and surprisingly their understandings have aspects of Zen and Dzogchen in it as well.

If you're really interested in how I think destiny can be changed, then this book points more directly to the source, which is the emptiness of mind. It gives guidance on how to make requests of deities, how to accumulate merit, how to relate to sutras etc. In short, it's a book I heartily recommend.

P/S: I ended up taking the Heart Sutra home, because I felt it reflected everything. If this book was meant for me it would turn up. It turned up faster than I thought - I did not imagine that a digital version would be available.

Do Spirituality and Business Mix?

2011-01-21T20:47:00.000-08:00

Source copyright: Memes/Wikimedia

Although I have been a coach and consultant for awhile now, it was only yesterday that I really considered the question of whether spirituality and business mix. It took me under an hour to realise that the question is silly - of course they do. All of life is spiritual, even what appears not to be. Business is traditionally understood to be a profit-seeking enterprise, an enterprise that positions and creates situations within the economy to put itself in the flow of money, or green energy. It is the fount of abundance. Spirituality has to do with an understanding and intimate knowing of self, its quirks, foibles and its intrinsic nature. It is the source of peace and happiness, the end of suffering. Now call me silly, but I see nothing wrong in having both. If I'm going to be sitting in a fountain of abundance, I'd like to enjoy it, thank you very much.

Source copyright: Memes/Wikimedia

So let's think about this a little: How does spirituality really involve itself in business? What would we do differently? Is it just fairy dust over harsh reality? Does it even help the business, or does it become an unnecessary burden?

Clearly, the instinctive answer most of humanity has had to that last question is no, that it is inherently separate of business. So, instead of going into into woowoo, let's have a look at that. I had a quick Google on business objectives and this came up: http://www.bized.co.uk/educators/16-19/business/strategy/presentation/busobjectives2_map.htm

Let's have a look at how an understanding of spirituality tones and tunes the whole business thing. I will talk mainly about the spiritual side here and italicise each of the words relating to the mind map.

Clarity and Understanding

Being spiritual is being clear. It is about understanding why you are doing something, and that each action is a choice. This is an act of self-empowerment. Why do people engage in business? It is to express this self-empowerment, this individuality. Why do people work for businesses? Because they see it as a means to survive. We do things out of fear, out of greed. If we are really clear, then we can do this from a very empowered state, a state of choice. We are clear that this is our decision, and not what the world has forced on us. Getting out of this victim mentality is the first step to a spiritual life, and it is also the only way one can really be personally satisfied. From this state of choice, personal ethics can arise, and this will reflect into business ethics.

Spiritual Decision-Making

From this clarity, we know why we are doing stuff. We are much more efficient about it. No time is wasted moaning and worrying about situations. We see each situation as it truly is, and are at full liberty to choose the appropriate response. This means seeing what is needed to achieve customer satisfaction, for one thing. Because we are clear about us, we can be clear about them. It stops being an us versus them situation, because we understand us, and then it's a question of how clear or confused they are, and what we want to do about it. We understand their needs and wants because we understand how the human psychology and psychosis works. That's going to help brand loyalty and turnover, too. Because we have clarified our own values, who we are, what we do and what our business does, others can be clear about us too. This is how we develop a brand. Otherwise we're just being incongruent.

The implementation becomes much easier, too. Seeing through their mind, we can see how marketing and sales techniques can be incorporated, with complete integrity, whatever that means for us. When we market, there is no fear about where the next sale comes from. We have evaluated the situation in clarity, we have chosen our response, and we can implement our decision. It either works or it doesn't. If it does, great. If it doesn't, we can remain clear and efficient about it and go back to the drawing board. No time is lost on self-pity, or on useless wringing of wrists.

Psychological Comfort, Adversity and Being

So we have become clear, clarified our values, made our decisions, implemented them, corrected them and implemented them again, only better. All in a very clean and efficient way. This is a spiritual post, but it occurs to me that those are all words which would get the average entrepreneur or businessman excited. The spiritual component has one advantage the alternative doesn't - spiritual comfort. If you have an image of austerities, of Shaolin monk discipline and the beating of breasts when you think of spirituality, try thinking instead of the Laughing Buddha. I am not saying that business is not austere - the very nature of life can be austere, and that is quite enough, thank you. Our job is not to make it seem even more harsh. We meet it with spiritual compassion and grace. And enjoy ourselves, by heck. In no tradition that I know of did God of whatever understanding say "Thou shalt face a difficult life, and then confuse thyselves to make it more difficult. And maketh sure thou really suffer!"

We learn how to enjoy ourselves. To be appreciative, and to be grateful. We learn to be meek, and realise that reality is such, and always wins, no matter what we want. This is ultimate humility - to do the ultimate prostration before God. And once we realise this is our spiritual place, we can start to enjoy it. It is a huge burden off our shoulders. All the guilt, all the fear, all the worry. You know what? It wasn't my problem after all. It was God's business. And if it isn't, I'll make it His business. He, in all His Glory, can manage THAT can of worms.

So when businesses turn bad, and when things seem to fail, and they do, although the average marketing course would have you turn your eyes away from that fact, you are still unshakeably at peace. You are still doing what needs to be done. The rest is reality. No story arises in your mind that it should be this, that or the other. You can simply smile amd move on. It is the end of attachment. Or, if something arises that needs to be done, you can do it. You have created true business resilience.

Personal Self-Realisation and Transformation

So we develop the understanding of the self and the soul. We see that our "self" is very fluid, very liquid. This means that we are locked into a whole journey of self-discovery through business. This turns it into the vehicle of our enlightenment. How? Pain and suffering only arises when there is attachment. If we are to be self-realised, then we must first identify our attachments. Yes, sitting meditation could probably do it, but that is not the only way. We use our experiences as the direct catalyst. When there is pain, by deduction there is attachment, and then we become the cat who goes mouse-hunting. Time to find that sticky, vulnerable part of us that goes hiding. Adversity becomes very useful for this. In fact, if we're not careful, we can become enlightened.

As we become more and more open, we can become whoever we want to be, as the situation calls for. This is not being two-faced. It is being efficient, and if you've been reading with any degree of attention, you'll have become aware that spirituality is deadly efficient. You are no longer bound by norms you are not choosing to be bound by. So, you can manifest any personality type to deal with any situation. Will it be perfect? Probably not. Will it be easier than before? Almost certainly. You can transcend how you were taught to be, and so become what you choose, realising at the same time that even that is not you, that ultimate and innate peace comes from within. And the business becomes a place to be enlightened. AND make more money. Sounds like a good proposition to me.

A Miracle by Grandmaster Wong

2011-01-10T13:59:00.000-08:00

Well, well, well. Some days it really pays to be on the good side of Grandmaster Wong. As some of you will know, I have just made the trip from London to Malaysia. The first night I slept more than twelve hours. Tonight I awoke at about 4.30 am. With nothing better to do, I decided to do my homework and practice some qigong meditation.

In Spring Forest Qigong style, I called upon my master's energy and meditated. What goes on when I'm in hocus pocus mode is for me to know and for you to find out. However, mid-meditation, which turned out to be a learning meditation, I felt a pang of regret that a notebook I had written containing nearly one hundred techniques to be potentially released to my students had disappeared.

For those not in the know - I had an epiphany a few months back and started to consolidate everything I had learnt in the industry into a "few" (if you knew me you wouldn't be surprised - I believe I'm past the hundred and twenty mark now in notebook 2) techniques. Things that had no place before integrated into very simple and elegant techniques. I completed notebook 1 and have been writing notebook 2. When I was packing for Malaysia, notebook 1 went missing. I simply couldn't find it. Finally, I shrugged and simply packed notebook 2 for the journey. Maybe the techniques weren't supposed to be released after all. Non-attachment, right?

Flash back to this morning and my pang of regret. I was just contemplating the missing notebook when Grandmaster Wong indicated I should look in my backpack. I was certain I had checked it when I packed it, and it was now jammed full of documents and notebook 2. So half-believing (I really should know better by now) I turned over in the bed and reached, in the dark, into my backpack. My hands found a lump of paper which did not seem like the usual documents. I prodded. And fished out notebook 1.

Some days the hocus pocus gets even me.

Lives of Quiet Desperation

2010-12-23T09:36:00.000-08:00

Source/Copyright: Forest & Kim Starr/Wikimedia

We lead lives of quiet desperation. Even in the self-help and metaphysical industry, in which I have been participating for the last 16 years (yes, I can't believe it's been that long either), there is generally a remarkably insensible approach to peace that defies common sense. Of course that's my opinion.

So how do we find peace? There have been many, many tools that have arisen in the last half century which have helped. Many swear by one or the other. I have my favourites, as readers of this blog no doubt have realised. However, there is a very subtle difference in the many approaches which can make a huge difference in the long run. It is simply this - are you finding "peace" in lieu of freedom?

I don't know what others may think, but it seems to me that if I want peace, I really don't want to lose any freedom with it. Otherwise, I might find being locked up in a padded cell with a straitjacket pretty peaceful. No bills to pay, no one to look after. More commonly, though, that is what happens in the mind with some of the techniques out there. If you are truly at peace, you should find the range of your behaviour widening, being more able to find more joy and adventure in life, being able to participate in it more without feeling threatened all the time (whilst being smart about the risks, of course).

Doesn't every technique do this? Well, actually, no. I am an advocate of a peaceful method of finding peace. If we go out with a technique or method designed to hammer whatever's bugging us in that moment back into place, I'm not really convinced that's really peace. We still have to be a manager, an overseer. And if it gives us peace, then we have to constantly guard and monitor that peace. In short, it's a full time job!

So the only way out is to make peace a way of life, a state of living. And also to incorporate our method of working out the kinks to peace into that way of life. We don't make it a huge effort to "fix" ourselves. The "problem" fixes itself in response to our approach, and life lives itself. Now that's true peace. Fire the manager, thank you very much. I didn't sign up to this lifetime to play manager to peace. Talk about a stressful job!

So whatever the method, live peace, and reflect truth, and if your zone of possibilities expands effortlessly, you're probably on the right path. If you're having to put more and more effort into living some kind of "life" in the hope of finding peace, take the padded cell. You might find it less stressful.

Does the Byron Katie stuff only work if your turnaround is totally believable to you?

2010-12-23T08:34:00.000-08:00

Source/copyright: Joe Mabel/Wikimedia

I got this question in the mail, and in writing the answer decided it would be worth posting it up here as well. Clearly, I am not Byron Katie and I don't own The Work. Her material is available at www.thework.com and I have referenced it a few times now on this blog.

Think of Katie's stuff as an exploration of truth - your truth. It won't work for someone who is not going to go with it with an open mind, because they have already made up their minds. It similarly will be very much less effective if you try to approach it like some kind of tool to "fix" something. So, to answer your question, yes, it works when your turnaround is believable to you, but that is when you can find examples. It doesn't ONLY work via the turnaround. The questions are enough, sometimes.

Is it true? As Katie says, there are only two answers - yes or no. There is no "but if..." or "yes but..." or "in this situation..." You already have the "yes" in you. We are giving equal opportunity to the no, to see if it is true for us. It is not coercing the mind, and if you do that you'll find it won't work.

Can you absolutely know it is true? Look in again and check. This is where Katie can get some flak from people just coming to the work, because it looks like we are trying to make you say "no". It's not. It's just saying, check your reality map. If it's true for you then by all means stick with it. Go with what you feel. Close your eyes and see if it is true. All that is being asked is that you stay in your integrity.

How do you react when you think that thought? This is an education into how you react when you believe something to be true. Is it worth the pain and misery?

Can you find a single stress-free reason to keep that thought? This is a question she throws in sometimes. I heard a really nice variation of it once - give me one single peaceful reason to keep that thought. And if that reason makes you feel pain, it is NOT stress-free.

Who would you be without that thought? This is research. It is research into what you are outside that thought. Or, as I put it, thought on - pain, thought off - no pain. We're not trying to submerge it or anything. We are simply recognising that reality that the thought creates pain, and without it the confusion lifts, and so does the suffering.

The turnaround can be broken into three parts - to the self, to the other and to the opposite.

"He is a selfish jerk."

1.) To the self - "I am a selfish jerk (especially when thinking about him)."
2.) To the other - doesn't apply here.
3.) To the opposite - "He is not a selfish jerk."

The turnaround is again an exploration of your truth. You don't kick a turnaround under the rug if it just doesn't ring true at first. You write it down and think about it. Give it equal airing time to see if it is as true or truer than your original statement. Then you start finding examples.

Examples
- "I am a selfish jerk around him." Look at your answers to the question about how you react when you think that thought. How do you act around him? Do you pout, become quiet, react? If you took away that thought, you would meet the person for the very first time, not the person you are constructing in your mind. Which is why Katie likes to say that "no two people have ever met". We're all reacting in our minds. And when you act that way, do you think it provokes him to act that way?
- "He is not a selfish jerk." Take your mind away from just the one or two instances it is replaying. Now look at examples of when he is not selfish. You will find them. We are never completely one way or another. The thought provokes us to look at it with a biased mind.

The trick is to approach this with an open mind, a passion in finding the truth, even if it turns out to be what you didn't think it was. If you approach this just wanting to "fix" something, or if you try to force an answer that doesn't work for you, the work is unlikely to succeed.

Enlightenment Isn't Always Pretty

2010-12-16T03:57:00.001-08:00

Source/Copyright: Phineastoad/Wikimedia

Enlightenment isn't always pretty. There is a definite ruthlessness about it. There is honesty that is required. Enlightenment is, as Adhyashanti would put it, the end of your world. There are a few common mistakes that followers of the path can fall to, and the main one amongst the New Age/spiritual crowd is the trap of trancendence.

With techniques of energy control and power often available to them (and they are increasingly easily available these days), the average seeker can now "attune" himself to high level vibrations indeed. Nothing wrong with this. In fact, it can be a definite plus. The downside is when this ability to skip above the regular frequencies of existence is abused. It is to be used as a privilege, not as a shield.

If one harbours resistance or attachment somewhere, the responsibility is to enter into it and release it through whatever process one can use - thoughtful inquiry, wrathful visualisation, determined emotional openness. If one instead chooses to continually play with higher energies and pretend it does not exist, this creates a problem. The attachment of the energy festers. The very fact that one has to use a technique to remain in the realm of higher frequencies indicates that that is not the resting state, the default option.

So, one comes back and destroys the chains of attachment with whatever method. One could even use the higher energies to attune it, whilst sitting in those frequencies. However, the key is that the garden must be weeded. When this is done, the higher states become far easier to dance the dance of enlightenment.

Compassion is the Mark

2010-12-16T03:37:00.000-08:00

Source/copyright: Petr Brož/Wikimedia

The Master views the parts with compassion because she understands the whole. Her constant practice is humility. - A Thousand Names for Joy by Byron Katie with Stephen Mitchell

Compassion is the mark of enlightenment. Or is it? This is one I have worked with in many ways, and still would not claim to understand much of it at all. Yet I have recently had some insights regarding compassion. We can engage with compassion in two main ways. One is, having some degree of awakening, we are able to perceive the dance of luminosity and emptiness, and thus are able to view each individually component with generosity and openness, with compassion because you see them for what they are, not what they threaten your ego-identity with.

The more practical application of compassion for most people is the high watermark. Compassion is very useful, because we can use it as the eternal compass, the measure of how open and receptive to emptiness we really are. Even in traditional psychology, we find it easier to be kind when we perceive our basic needs are met. I defer back to the perceived needs/wants of the ego - approval, survival and control.

So, in our daily practice, we can ask ourselves, "How compassionate am I feeling?" and "Can I allow this degree of compassion to increase?" In increasing it, we are feelingmore open, and this allows a greater sense of awakening to the dream-like nature of reality because we are no longer grasping it. We do this with a sense of humility, not with a sense to conquer it, for conquering is in itself an ego trip. This work takes a tremendous amount of personal integrity and honesty. If we find ourselves stuck, then we can explore the stuckness, identifying the reluctance. The reluctance is always this - the ego will have to give up some part of itself. That part will inevitably be a recipe of survival, control and approval tied up with a thought.

We increase our willingness, faith, trust and surrender into compassion. We allow it to support us, just so. It is like the sea rushing into the dry desert. And we die into it, into a state of emptiness and luminosity, resonating and recognising ourselves as this state.

If there is further stuckness, we then apply a more dualistic solution, going lower down the energetic scale to activate the triple liberators. We sit in duality, educating ourselves with the wisdom insights and exposing ego to the reality of pain which its thoughts create. Then we use the determination to create more openness. This is the more wrathful version of surrender.

Either way, compassion is the mark we can aspire to. When we go into it, we disappear and integrate completely into it, like a drop of milk in a glass of water.

The Triple Liberators

2010-12-16T02:42:00.000-08:00

After months of silence, it is appropriate to discuss the three liberators, as I call them, or the three liberating emotions. These are not anything like the usual suspects like love or compassion or faith. Rather, these three liberators have to do with the baser suffering instinct.

They are outlined here as an idea, but it is highly encouraged that any work with these be done with supervision of appropriate professionals. I do not bear any responsibility for anything arising from their use or misue.

They are:

1.) Hopelessness/weariness - The weariness of experiencing the pain of daily life. This also includes the weariness of holding onto thoughts that create suffering and pain in our minds through unfulfilled wants and desires. This creates tension and desire and ultimately suffering.

2.) Anger/retaliation - Sometimes the ego reacts to suffering not with weariness but with anger and a sense of having being done an injustice. This energy, although apparently opposite (and in some ways it is) to the energy of hopelessness, can also be applied when channelled to good use.

3.) Jadedness/cynicism/pessimism - This happens when the ego goes neither into victim mode in hopelessness or revenge mode in anger, but instead steels and covers itself with an air of indifference, or protects itself with lower expectations. This lowers sensitivity, and is trickier to deal with in some ways than the other two, but it is still workable.

The trick with these three emotions is to temper them with the appropriate insight. When mixed with wisdom, they can create the motivation to surrender to God, or to release a belief or thought that is creating pain. The key wisdom insight is to realise that there is really nothing to fight against, or to hold onto. That reality just is. Byron Katie's work is a good starting point for this. Whereas my favoured path is to work the emotions, she works the wisdom directly. This approach is a mix of both.

When Katie asks someone to write a painful thought down in her Judge Thy Neighbour worksheet, it is accessing a thought of pain. Then she asks, "Is that true?" and "Can you absolutely know that that is true?" These are questions pointing to the flimsiness of thoughts and belief. They create the wisdom insight that everything is really depending on which side you take, which point of view you are persuaded by.

Then she asks, "How do you feel when you think that thought?" and "Who would you be without that thought?" These questions point to another wisdom insight - that really it is the thought which is creating the pain, not reality itself. It is like green glass held before a light. Put it in front of it - pain. Take the glass away - no pain. It has nothing to do with the light of reality itself. It is the glass filter of thought that does it.

This bears an extreme connection with the triple liberators, for the answer to "How do you feel when you that thought?" is precisely the suffering which leads to the ego reactions. If one were awakened, just becoming aware of that thought would prompt one to release it. However, more often, then is a determination to cling on. The Work of Byron Katie then goes on to change the perspective using a turnaround. There is another way.

We can take the wisdom insight derived from the Inquiry Process, or indeed any other insight-based process or even spiritual principles such as Buddha's Four Noble Truths (1. Life sucks. 2. Life sucks because you want things. 3. So stop wanting things. 4. Deal with it.) and apply it to the emotions, transforming them into liberation. We turn them into a burning determination to be free of the pain, to release the limiting and painful thought, come what may.

So, weariness and hopelessness becomes a determination to find peace. To reside in peace, even if it means giving up all perception of how the ego thinks the world is battering it. The energy of anger is even more useful - it is already looking to strike. We simply guide it to the right target - the offending thought, not the world. In cynicism, expectations are low. The way to deal with it is to recognise that since one doesn't really expect much, there really isn't much to lose anyway, and to play along just in case something spectacular happens.

By confronting and sitting in the emotions this way, and constantly applying the wisdom insight that the pain is arising because of a thought, one gains the determination to be courageous, to open one's mind to the acceptance of what is, of reality. The alternative is suffering. Why is there determination? Because initially fear and uncertainty buffers us as we enter the unfamiliar territory of being open minded. As we do, we hold onto the forged determination to enter into the flame, and our dual minds die into peace.

Twelve Ways of Realising God

2010-11-08T01:08:00.000-08:00

Twelve Ways of Realizing Me

1. LONGING...If you experience that same longing and thirst for Union with Me as one who has been lying for days in the hot sun of the Sahara experiences the longing for water, then you will realize Me.

2. PEACE OF MIND...If you have the peace of a frozen lake, then too, you will realize Me.

3. HUMILITY...If you have the humility of the earth which can be molded into any shape, then you will know Me.

4. DESPERATION...If you experience the desperation that causes a man to commit suicide and you feel that you cannot live without seeing Me, then you will see Me.

5. FAITH...If you have the complete faith that Kalyan had for his Master, in believing it was night, although it was day, because his Master said so, then you will know Me.

6. FIDELITY...If you have the fidelity that the breath has in giving you company, even without your constantly feeling it, till the end of your life, that both in happiness and in suffering gives you company and never turns against you, then you will know Me.

7. CONTROL THROUGH LOVE...When your love for Me drives away your lust for the things of the senses, then you realize Me.

8. SELFLESS SERVICE...If you have the quality of selfless service unaffected by results, similar to that of the sun which serves the world by shining on all creation, on the grass in the field, on the birds in the air, on the beasts in the forest, on all mankind with its sinner and its saint, its rich and its poor, unconscious of their attitude towards it, then you will win Me.

9. RENUNCIATION...If you renounce for Me everything physical, mental and spiritual, then you have Me.

10. OBEDIENCE...If your obedience is spontaneous, complete and natural as the light is to the eye or smell is to the nose, then you come to Me.

11. SURRENDER...If your surrender to Me is as wholehearted as that of one, who, suffering from insomnia, surrenders to sudden sleep without fear of being lost, then you have Me.

12. LOVE...If you have that love for Me that St. Francis had for Jesus, then not only will you realize Me, but you will please Me.

— Meher Baba (Source: http://www.ambppct.org/meherbaba/12-ways-of-realizing-me.php)

He Can Who Thinks He Can

2010-05-26T02:32:00.000-07:00

Kaye: This is an absolutely crucial excerpt from Christian Daa Larson's book Your Forces and How to Use Them. I urge you to ponder upon these concepts, because it is indeed, in my own experience, a good chunk of why students fail.

The discovery of the fact that man is as he thinks, has originated a number of strange ideas concerning the power of thought. One of the principal of these is the belief that thought is a domineering force to be used in controlling things and in compelling fate to come our way. But that this belief is unscientific in every sense of the term has been demonstrated any number of times.

Kaye: Here we see effectively an emphatic denial of the popular version of the Law of Attraction. I too have found this to be true. You can indeed change reality, but for every change there is a price. To think that you can change and compel reality without changing first yourself is an illusion. The very act of compelling from a position of mental weakness is asking for trouble. It either won't work or won't work in the long run.

Those who have accepted this belief, and who have tried to use thought as a compelling force, have seemingly succeeded in the beginning, but later on have utterly failed, and the reason is that the very moment we proceed to apply thought in this manner, we place ourselves out of harmony with everything, both within ourselves and in our environment.

Kaye: I would reread that sentence many, many times. We have a riddle here - to try to force change is to go against nature, and thus create disharmony. But to create change, surely things must change? The answer is that we must change ourselves, our attitude, and our beliefs. It is like a snowball stuck in a hole. If we try to pull it out, it will exhaust us. Instead, if the ice melts and seeps away, it will naturally escape the hole. So the question is, what constitutes melting and seeping away?

The seeming success that such people have had in the beginning, or for a season, is due to the fact that a strong compelling force can cause the various elements of life to respond for awhile, but the force that compels, weakens itself through the very act of compelling, and finally loses its power completely; and then, whatever has been gathered begins to slip away.

Kaye: Scary enough for you to pay attention yet? Trying to manipulate the universe is like a weakling trying to lift a boulder whilst standing on a three-legged stool. Through supreme effort it might be done, but once strength is lost the poor sod may find the boulder crashing down on him. What you want to do is 1. Remove the stool. 2. To put the weakling into a regimen of training 3. Give him a lever.

This explains why thousands of ardent students of metaphysics have failed to secure the results desired, or have succeeded only in spurts. They have taken the wrong view of the power of thought, and therefore have caused their power to work against them during the greater part of the time.

Kaye: First we have to remove the stool. That is the insecurity that is present when the metaphysician articulates his desire. It is the wish that is tainted by uncertainty. When a mighty manifester selects his target, there is no question of attaining it. There is only an intention that it be achieved. Thus, we have to work on belief in one's ability, or the ability of the mind.

The power of thought is not a compelling force. It is a building force, and it is only in the latter sense that desirable results can be produced.The building capacity of thought, however, is practically unlimited. Therefore there is no end to what might be accomplished, so long as this power is employed intelligently.

To apply the full building power of thought, we should proceed upo the principle that he can who thinks he can, and we should act in the full conviction tht whatever man thinks he can do, he can do, because there is no limit to the power that such thinking can bring forth. The majority among intelligent minds admit that there is some truth in the statement that he can who thinks he can, but they do not, as a rule, believe it to be a very large truth. They admit that we gain more confidence in ourselves when we think that we can do what we have undertaken to do, and also that we become more determined, but aside from that, they see no further value in that particular attitude of mind. They do not realise that he who thinks he can, develops the power that can; but this is the truth, and it is one of the most important of all truths in the vast metaphysical domain.

Kaye: So we build belief that a thing is possible. This is parallel to the Desire Belief Expectancy axis in the Silva Method. However, receptivity is also key, as is faith. In training, we are training our thoughts to be silent, to be at rest. Only when activity becomes minimal does the mind have space to create vast change. This is the equivalent of alpha. In visualisation and imagination, it is important to use the present tense sense, for that bypasses many of the blocks which are created by the conscious mind.

At the conscious level, it is useful to imagine the thoughts employed at the alpha level having vast power, and constantly affecting what they need to affect in order for something to manifest. Keep this attitude, and you will be in faith. Keep humble and receptive at the conscious waking level, and the subconscious will act all the faster.

Promise Yourself

2010-05-18T03:03:00.000-07:00

Source/copyright: Superflewis/Wikimedia

Promise yourself to be so strong
that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness and prosperity
to every person you meet.

To make all your friends
feel that there is something in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything
and make your optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best
and expect only the best.

To be enthusiastic about the success of others
as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to
greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times
and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself
that you have no time to criticise others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger,
too strong for fear and too happy
to permit the presence of trouble.

- Christian D Larson
"Your Forces and How to Use Them" 1912

The Prayer of the Chalice

2010-05-18T01:23:00.000-07:00

Source: Vassil/Wikimedia

Father, to you I raise my whole being
- a vessel emptied of self.
Accept, O Lord, this my emptiness,
and so fill me with yourself, your light, your love, your life -
that these your precious gifts may radiate through me and over-
flow the chalice of my heart into the hearts of all with whom I
come in contact this day revealing unto them
the beauty of your joy
and wholeness
and the serenity of your peace
which nothing can destroy.

- Francis Nuttall

Do It Anyway

2010-05-18T01:15:00.000-07:00

Copyright/source: Kropsoq/Wikimedia

Found written on the wall in Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta:

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

- Original by Dr. Kent M Keith. This version is credited to Mother Teresa

The Essence, The Nittus Grittus

2010-05-17T23:08:00.000-07:00

Source/copyright: Szczery/Wikimedia

If you are unhappy, be unhappy. Do not judge yourself for being that way.

It is wonderful to be unhappy, it is God expressing emotion. Love your unhappiness. It means you are ready for change.

You are ready to go forward, yet you mourn for the old;
you are not ready to let go.

Allow the unhappiness, there is purposefulness in it. Remove from your life everything that inhibits you
from being the totality of yourself. That is called "becoming"

Remove from your thoughts all the have to's, should's, must's.
Remove the images you think you must be and just be.

Embrace your life. Know that you created it.
Love all that you have been, said and done.
Know it was all purposeful.

Never see anything as a failure. See everything as an accomplishment.
Love the hurt, the pain, the sorrow.
For what an experience! What a wonderment!
What jewels of wisdom are now in your treasure!

Be your own teacher, friend, counsel.
Confide in yourself, speak to yourself.

Seek answers that feel right within your soul.
Your soul knows what the truth is, and it will tell you through feelings.
Always listen to your feelings. They know ... they know.

Live, experience, feel. Do not seek to identify yourself.
You will never have a point of understanding from which you
can say, "This is who I am!", for in each expanding moment
of consciousness, of being God, who you are will have changed
into the next moment of being.
To know who you are is to feel what you feel each moment.

Never do anything, no matter how far you are into it,
if you lose the joy of it and it becomes monotonous and mundane.
Do away with it and do something else that brings happiness.
For perhaps what you needed to learn from it you have already achieved.
Go wherever you want to go,
Do whatever you want to do,
for as long as you want to.

Create only for the mere joy of creating.
When you create for you, you will soon find youself living in joy.

Don't ever strive to have anyone understand you.
If they wish to understand, they will.

Love everyone. Have compassion for all other entities.
You do not need to go and take care of them.
Love them by allowing them to express however they choose.
That is the greatest thing you can do!
If they are angered or disappointed by your life, love them
by allowing them to be thay way.
Then you have become a great god, a great light!

- Author Unknown

Love Yourself

2010-05-17T22:53:00.001-07:00

Source/Copyright: Stan Shebs/Wikimedia

Take full responsibility for your life.
Stop blaming others.
See yourself as the cause of what happens to you.

Do things you like to do.
Don't stay in a job you don't like.
Participate in life at the highest level you can.

Stop terrorising yourself with your thoughts.
Be gentle and kind and patient with yourself.

Give yourself the simple pleasures of life abundantly.
Wear clothes you feel good in, get a massage etc.

Watch what you say. Avoid self put-downs.
Stop being critical of yourself and others.

Take care of your body.
Give it exercise and good food.

Be willing to create a life-style that generates and nourishes self-esteem.
Associate with others with high esteem.

Acknowledge yourself frequently.
Keep a diary of your successes and accomplishments.

Avoid comparing yourself with others.
Remember that it's who we are, not what we do, that's important

Give yourself permission to do nothing periodically.
Schedule time by yourself.

Frequently take deep breaths.
Discover the benefit and pleasure of breathing fully.

Eat first class frequently.
Don't look at the right side of the menu.

Stop trying to change others.
Focus your attention on being the way you want others to be.

Look into a mirror regularly
and say "I love you, I really love you".

Stop feeling guilty and saying "I'm sorry".
See mistakes as valuable lessons and avoid judging yourself.

Consciously generate positive thoughts and feelings of self-love
in place of old thoughts of inadequacy.

Be willing to laugh at yourself and at life.
Stop taking yourself so seriously.

Accept compliments from others without embarrassment.
Don't invalidate their positive thoughts and feelings about you.

Be kind to your mind.
Don't hate yourself for having negative thoughts.
Gently change your thoughts.

Keep your awareness and your thoughts focussed in present time
instead of living in the past or future.

Acknowledge others frequently.
Tell them what you like and appreciate in them.

Invest money in yourself.
Go to seminars, workshops and courses that develop your talents.

Make a list of 10 things
you love doing and do them frequently.

Treat yourself as you would treat someone you really loved.
Praise yourself.

- Author Unknown

O del mio dolce ardor

2010-05-11T07:33:00.000-07:00

Probably the most difficult song I had to learn when I was younger, although not for range. I was trained in breath control with this song and I still habitually sing it drawn out much longer than most singers. The accuracy of tone and resonance isn't what it used to be but I personally think this was a pretty good attempt.

Gia il sole del Gange

2010-05-11T07:19:00.001-07:00

And just to prove that I can do classical when I want to...Scarlatti.

On the Street Where You Live

2010-05-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

I was having some fun here - this is a more operatic version of the same song.

On the Street Where You Live

2010-05-11T06:45:00.000-07:00

Impossible Dream

2010-05-11T04:52:00.000-07:00

I Could Have Danced All Night

2010-05-11T00:34:00.000-07:00

Can anyone tell I was at Julie Andrew's "The Gift of Music" at the O2 Arena?

Wouldn't it be Loverly?

2010-05-11T00:23:00.001-07:00

"Okay, I'll stop now," he said.

So he lied. Live with it.

I thought my attempt at sounding anywhere near Eliza was so bad that it just had to go up.

Feed the Birds

2010-05-10T23:56:00.000-07:00

This was a childhood favourite. Okay, I'll stop now. Although these are the only recordings I've ever made getting anywhere near to a falsetto.

Can You Feel the Love Tonight

2010-05-10T23:43:00.000-07:00

Can't seem to leave it alone, can I?

Beauty and the Beast (Tale as Old as Time)

2010-05-10T23:28:00.000-07:00

Same comments as below. The mistake in the lyrics caught me by surprise so I went with the typos. Yes, I'm enough of a geek to know the lyrics off by heart.

A Whole New World

2010-05-10T23:14:00.000-07:00

I was just fooling around with this with a morning (read: not warmed up yet) voice. It came out surprisingly passable, so be nice!

Meditating on the Kleshas and the Stain of Thoughts

2010-04-20T02:25:00.000-07:00

Let me start by providing a link I intend to quote extensively from in this seminar:

http://www.kagyu.org/kagyulineage/buddhism/int/int04.php

Let me also begin by stating that this is simply an out loud rambling meditation on the content of that seminar, and does not in any way represent anyone's thoughts other than my own.

My notes on the content:

The Four Noble Truths were presented in 3 stages:
1. The truth of the origin of suffering
2. The appropriate actions to neutralise suffering
3. The third one I will quote directly: "Third, he taught that if one knows suffering, there is nothing else that one needs to know; if one removes its origin, there is nothing else that one needs to remove; if one applies the practice, nothing else need be applied; and if one experiences cessation, there is nothing else to experience."

My thoughts:

So basically, we are dealing with Noble Truths 1 (life is full of suffering) and 2 (life is full of suffering because we want things) in stage 1. Stage 2 has to do with Noble Truths 3 (so stop wanting things) and 4 (deal with it). Stage 3 basically says, in my humble and possibly mistaken interpretation, if you fulfil stages 1 and 2 and accomplish the Four Noble Truths, you are done. Attained the Emptiness. Enlightened. Period.

The question, of course, is how?

My notes on the content:

The source of karma lies in the Six Kleshas, which I think is extremely well described by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. (My interpretation of his version of the kleshas is here. Note in particular that he also described the kleshas the one of the two kunjung, or sources of suffering. Basically, the model is that we suffer when we develop an emotional attachment to thought in one way or another. I really like his progressive model of it though.) I quote the seminar content wholesale again here:

1. hatred, or anger, which creates the experience of the hell realm;
2. greed, or miserliness, which creates the hungry ghost realm;
3. ignorance of how to act virtuously is the cause of rebirth in the animal realm;
4. attachment (virtuous action performed with attachment to the meritorious results) is the cause of human rebirth;
5. jealousy (virtuous action sullied by jealousy) causes rebirth in the demigod realm; and
6. pride, or egotism (virtuous action performed with pride) causes a godly rebirth.

The seminar goes on to describe a model as follows:

Kleshas/defilements => Unskillful actions => Karma => Suffering

Solution:
Loving kindness + compassion = Diminished defilements/kleshas
Discriminating awareness (prajna) arising out of wisdom of emptiness = Complete uprooting of kleshas

My thoughts:

The "unskillful actions" bit in my simplified arrow model is interesting, because it implies something. Mainly, it seems to imply that if actions were uncoloured by the kleshas, then it is enlightened, or skillful action. So the "skillful means" so often discussed in Buddhism is really nothing more (or less) than methods which are untainted by the kleshas. This whole discussion is very important, because it answers the question of whether someone is enlightened or not. Basically, if you are subject to emotions still, stuck with kleshas still, then you are not fully enlightened, at least according to this model.

This angle is also incredibly important because it gives us a clue as to how to cease suffering. If the kleshas are the source of the issue, then it is a simple (if not easy) matter to dissolve them. And herein lies the problem. There are relative methods and absolute methods for dissolving the kleshas.

My notes on the content:
Solution: Loving kindness + compassion = Diminished defilements/kleshas
Discriminating awareness (prajna) arising out of wisdom of emptiness = Complete uprooting of kleshas

My thoughts:
There are other ways of relating to the kleshas. Since in a sense they form the very root of Buddhism, it is unsurprising that many approaches have developed. From the book "Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving-Kindness" by Chogyam Trungpa, quote number 44 says: Train in the three difficulties. Paraphrasing, they are:

1. Understand how the kleshas trick you.
2. Dispel the emotionalism.
3. Cut the continuity of the emotionalism. (This is the source of the vow never to repeat it again. Incidentally, I used to think vowing might be too harsh a method, especially since it is a vow that is very difficult to keep. When walking in meditation at a retreat recently, it dawned on me that even the karmic effects of not keeping a vow help one to see the kleshas, for the enhanced "negative" (as perceived by the individuated mind) experiences push one back closer to truth. It is a method rooted more in relativity than the absolute, I'll grant, but there is definitely something about it.)

Looking at this, we can see that there is definite value in not being pushed around, or bullied, by the kleshas. If one can face them down with equanimity, then one has gone a long way towards being aware. So, one useful practice is to Notice. Noticing what emotions are doing, or are pushing you to do, is in my opinion getting to know the kleshas. You can't really dispel them if you aren't aware of them. It really doesn't matter what the justification for the klesha is - in fact one of the kleshas is related to holding stubbornly to a worldview. The kleshas, I think, basically attach to thoughts in order to survive.

Klesha = emotional push that becomes emotional bully if you let it
Emotional bully = evolves from the emotional push when it starts sticking to thought and congealing
Emotional despot = kleshas completely fused with thought harden the personality and the individual

So, when I developed a way of relating to fear for myself, I also found a way not to be pushed around by doubt and uncertainty. It certainly helped reduce my level of suffering, although I continue to think that examining the kleshas is a very worthwhile and important experience.

The notes say that compassion or loving kindness reduces the kleshas. There is relative and absolute bodhichitta. This is relative bodhichitta, I think. By practising compassion towards others and meditating on the suffering of others, our self diminishes, for we are meditating on how small our problems really are, compared to others less fortunate than us. This keeps the ego, which one could consider the emotional golem (definition of golem: blockhead. Think about it!), in check. But it still exists, and the golem is pretty sly - it survives in very sneaky ways. So, the only way to completely exit it is to observe the source of thought, the ultimate view - beyond thought. The emptiness. Again. Lovely how things go in a circle, isn't it? For if we can become aware and remain aware of the dreamlike nature of existence, then we are no longer fooled by the kleshas, and can do as we wish. We become free. The hot buttons disappear.

My notes on the content:
Loving kindness + prajna arises out of 5 paths:
1. The path of accumulation
Stage 1:
(a) Taking refuge
(b) Shinay - tranquillity meditation
(c) Listening to the teachings (the wisdom of hearing)
(d) Reflecting on them with the analytical mind (the wisdom of contemplation), which prepares the intellectual/conceptual mind for emptiness by making it fertile to the idea
Stage 2:
(a) Abandonment of negative actions
(b) Cultivation of virtuous actions to accumulate merit
Stage 3:
Development of four qualities relating to Dharma:
(a) aspiration/strong desire to practice
(b) diligence in practice
(c) recollecting/remembering one's practice
(d) developing meditative one-pointedness
2. The path of unification: Deepening of the first path.
3. The path of seeing: The first experience of emptiness. This is also the first bhumi - from this stage there is possibility of falling back.
4. The path of meditation: Stabilising the experience of emptiness in the path of seeing. This is the 2nd to the 10th bhumi. At the 10th bhumi all the subtle traces of the kleshas are purified.
5. The path of no learning: Complete purification. Enlightenment.

Notice that it is all very simple - it has to do with attaining emptiness, or seeing past the illusion of separation. Even when you see past the illusion (path of seeing), there is continued practice so that you learn to abide in the emptiness. You are no longer sitting as ego perceiving emptiness, but ultimately as emptiness perceiving thought. Yet you are totally unmoved by it because you have gone past the kleshas. Enlightenment, plain and simple. Om mani padme hum.

Advice for Carrying the View by His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

2010-04-16T00:15:00.000-07:00

Advice for Carrying the View

by His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

The everyday practice is simply to develop a complete acceptance and openness to all situations and emotions, and to all people, experiencing everything totally without mental reservations and blockages, so that one never withdraws or centralizes into oneself.

This produces a tremendous energy that is usually locked up in the process of mental evasion and a general running away from life experiences.

Clarity of awareness may, in its initial stages, be unpleasant or fear inspiring. If so, then one should open oneself completely to the pain or the fear and welcome it. In this way the barriers created by one’s own habitual emotional reactions and prejudices are broken down.

When performing the meditation practice one should develop the feeling of opening oneself completely to the whole universe with absolute simplicity and nakedness of mind, ridding oneself of all protecting barriers. Don’t mentally split into two when meditating, one part of the mind watching the other like a cat watching a mouse.

One should realize that one does not meditate to go deeply into oneself and withdraw from the world. In buddhist yoga, even when meditating on chakras there is no introspection concentration. Complete openness of mind is the essential point.

The ground of samsara and nirvana is the alaya, the beginning and the end of confusion and realization, the nature of universal shunyata and of all apparent phenomena. It is even more fundamental than the trikaya and is free from bias toward enlightenment. It is sometimes called the “pure” or “original” mind.

Although prajna (wisdom) sees in it no basis for such concepts as different aspects, the fundamental aspects of complete openness, natural perfection, and absolute spontaneity are distinguished by upaya (skillful means) as useful devices.

All aspects of every phenomenon are completely clear and lucid. The whole universe is open and unobstructed, everything mutually interpenetrating. Seeing all things nakedly, clear and free from obscurations, there is nothing to attain or realize. The nature of things naturally appears and is naturally present in time-transcending awareness; this is complete openness.

Everything is perfect just as it is, completely pure and undefiled. All phenomena naturally appear in their uniquely correct modes and situations, forming ever-changing patterns full of meaning and significance, like participants in a great dance. Everything is a symbol, yet there is no difference between the symbol and the truth symbolized. With no effort of practice whatsoever, liberation, enlightenment, and buddhahood are already fully developed and perfected. This is natural perfection.

The everyday practice is just ordinary life itself. Since the underdeveloped state does not exist there is no need to behave in any special way or try to attain or practice anything. There should be no feeling of striving to reach some exalted goal or higher state; this simply produces something conditional or artificial that will act as an obstruction to the free flow of the mind. One should never think of oneself as “sinful” or worthless, but as naturally pure and perfect, lacking nothing.

When performing meditation practice one should think of it as just a natural function of everyday living, like eating or breathing, not as a special, formal event to be undertaken with great seriousness and solemnity. One must realize that to meditate is to pass beyond effort, beyond practice, beyond aims and goals, and beyond the dualism of bondage and liberation.

Meditation is always perfect, so there is no need to correct anything. Since everything that arises is simply the play of the mind, there are no “bad” meditation sessions and no need to judge thoughts as good or evil. Therefore, one should not sit down to meditate with various hopes or fears about the outcome; one just does it, with no selfconscious feeling of “I am meditating,” and without attempting to control or force the mind, and without trying to become peaceful.

If one finds that one is going astray in any of these ways, one should stop meditating and simply rest and relax for a while before resuming.

If, either during or after meditation, one has experiences that one interprets as results, they should not be made into anything special. Recognize that they are just phenomena and simply observe them. Above all, do not attempt to recreate them as this opposes the natural spontaneity of the mind. All phenomena are completely new and fresh and absolutely unique, entirely free from all concepts of past, present, and future—as if experienced in another dimension of time; this is absolute spontaneity.

The continual stream of new discovery and fresh revelation and inspiration that arises at every moment is the manifestation of the eternal youth of the living dharma and its wonders; splendor and spontaneity is the play or dance aspect of the universe as guru.

One should learn to see everyday life as a mandala in which one is at the center, and be free of the bias and prejudice of past conditioning, present desires, and hopes and expectations about the future.

The figures of the mandala are the day-to-day objects of one’s life experiences moving in the great dance of the play of the universe, the symbolism by which the guru reveals profound and ultimate meaning and significance. Therefore, be natural and spontaneous; accept and learn from everything.

See the comical, amusing side of initiating situations. In meditation, see through the illusion of past, present, and future. The past is but a present memory or condition, the future but a present projection, and the present itself vanishes before it can be grasped.

One should put an end to conceptions about meditation and free oneself from memories of the past. Each moment of meditation is completely unique and full of potentiality of new discovery, so one is incapable of judging meditation by past experience or by theory.

Simply plunge straight into meditation at this very moment with your whole mind, and be free from hesitation, boredom, or excitement.

When meditating it is traditional and best, if possible, to sit cross-legged with the back erect but not rigid. However, it is most important to feel comfortable, so it is better to sit in a chair if sitting cross-legged is painful.

One’s mental attitude should be inspired by the three fundamental aspects, whether the meditation is with or without form, and it may often prove desirable, if not essential, to precede a period of formless meditation by a period of meditation with form.

To provide for this eventuality many classes of preliminary meditation practices have been developed over centuries of buddhist practice, the most important being meditations on breathing, mantra recitation, and visualization techniques.

To engage in the second and third of these classes, personal instruction from one’s guru is required, but a few words on the first would not be out of place here as the method used varies little from person to person.

First, let the mind follow the movement of the breath, in and out, until it becomes calm and tranquil. Then increasingly rest the mind on the breath until one’s whole being seems to be identified with it.

Finally, become aware of the breath leaving the body and going out into space, and gradually transfer the attention from the breath to the sensation of spaciousness and expansion. By letting this final sensation merge into complete openness, one moves into the sphere of formless meditation.

In all probability the above description of the three fundamental aspects will seem vague and inadequate. This is inevitable since they attempt to describe what is not only beyond words but beyond thought as well. They invite practice of what is, essentially, a state of being.

The words are simply a form of upaya, skillful means, a hint which, if acted upon, will enable one’s innate natural wisdom and naturally perfect action to arise spontaneously.

Sometimes in meditation one may experience a gap in one’s normal consciousness, a sudden and complete openness. This experience arises only when one has ceased to think in terms of meditation and the object of meditation. It is a glimpse of reality, a sudden flash that occurs infrequently at first, and then, with continued practice, more and more frequently. It may not be a particularly shattering or explosive experience at all, just a moment of great simplicity.

Do not make the mistake of deliberately trying to force these experiences to recur, for to do so is to betray the naturalness and spontaneity of reality.

The Conceit of Self

2010-04-08T02:24:00.001-07:00

The conceit of self (mana in Pali) is said to be the last of the great obstacles to full awakening. Conceit is an ingenious creature, at times masquerading as humility, empathy, or virtue. Conceit manifests in the feelings of being better than, worse than, and equal to another. Within these three dimensions of conceit are held the whole tormented world of comparing, evaluating, and judging that afflicts our hearts. Jealousy, resentment, fear, and low self-esteem spring from this deeply embedded pattern. Conceit perpetuates the dualities of “self” and “other”—the schisms that are the root of the enormous alienation and suffering in our world. Our commitment to awakening asks us to honestly explore the ways in which conceit manifests in our lives and to find the way to its end.

Christina Feldman

Thursday 8th April 2010
Tricycle Daily Dharma

You Are Not Alone

2010-04-07T14:08:00.000-07:00

Source: Andrew Bossi/Wikimedia

When I speak about inner practice, about facing one's fears and embracing them, about having the courage to look where the mind hides its darkest secrets, there is often a wise nodding that goes in the room. There is a resonance not with me, but with the bare truth that is being spoken. But there is also sometimes a feeling amongst my listeners that somehow, Kaye is different. (Well, weird different, maybe!) Somehow, he is special. Somehow, he can do it, but I can't. Or somehow, he must have forgotten how scary it feels to face one's fears full on. As you can see from the previous post on this blog, I have not. But sometimes, it pays to be reminded that many others have gone through the process. This is from a nationally renowned trainer in the USA, at my request, to share what it feels like to have recently gone through what seemed to be a trial by fire by life and its karmic effects. Sometimes, it pays to be reminded that as difficult and fearful as life seems, you are not alone, and it can be done.

Where I Stand

When you teach others to overcome obstacles and limiting beliefs as part of your career, what the heck do you do when your obstacles and limitations don't respond to the tools you already have? Or when the problem has aspects you can't even see?

I turned to someone whom I could trust to help me see what seemed invisible so I could address what seemed unknowable - Kaye Lee.

I've spent virtually my entire life entrenched in the masculine warrior metaphor - let's go after it (whatever it is) and take no prisoners. There's no problem that can't be solved by the application of more force, more strength, more willpower. Guess what? This time it didn't work. The harder I fought, the more force I tried to apply, the more I felt like a fly stuck in amber - A great metaphor for years of struggle and resentment with no clear idea how to break the cycle.

I just wanted to pull my head under the covers, hoping and praying for someone to swoop in and rescue me. That didn't work either.

What did work was facing the fear head on. This really felt like standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon without a parachute, and having nothing to lose by stepping off the edge anyway. Being able to take that step from a place of complete surrender and openness, and gratitude for the way in which events made clear to me what was truly important in my life. What worked was release or surrender of the warrior paradigm and complete acceptance of the consequences, however dire they turned out to be. (Here I am talking about the power of surrender when previously I resented even saying the word, because it seemed like the antithesis of power, more like the complete abdication of power.)

I guess a shift of this magnitude was needed. Every thing else was like applying Band-aids to stop significant bleeding - ultimately ineffective.

The clarity and peace that come from acceptance and surrender is amazing. I feel more free, lighter and happier, more content, than I could have imagined.

You asked the three things I've learned:

* My Yang warrior stance still has a use in my day-to-day life. It's not the basis for my spiritual energy anymore. It is a role or tool now that comes from peace and power versus a reaction to protect myself, an attempt to keep myself safe. I didn't turn wimpy by embracing a willingness to surrender. Previously I had been unable to imagine moving through the world without the warrior to keep me safe.
* The metaphor of openness, not binary like a door either open or closed, but like a flower bud opening. The beauty and power of this metaphor allowed me, for the first time I'm aware of, to connect with the power and gracefulness of acceptance, of surrender.
* The supportive energies of the universe are always there, always here with me, not waiting in some celestial or energetic staging area for me to call them in.

My dear friend, thank you seems pale, but I can say thank you for the gift of such peace, and thank you for continuing to offer the gift until I was finally ready to receive.

And I, in turn, thank my dear friend and colleague for being so willing to share the experience so that others may draw inspiration from it.

The path is not clean and swept and tidy. The people who are beside you may not be well-dressed, or rich, or cultured. The journey is not always smooth. Winds will blow, candles will gutter. But if one can look past the fear, labels lose their power, for there is no more aversion, and when there is no more aversion, there is no more running. When there is no more running, there is peace. And the innate perfection reveals itself.

What Masters Get Up To in Caves

2010-04-04T00:11:00.000-07:00

Image source: Andre Engels/Wikimedia

So let's get into what masters get up to when they hole up in caves with no food or water for 20 days or more. And no, in case you were thinking to ask, this is NOT something I do. Nonetheless, Master Chunyi Lin had some interesting things to say (years after he got out of the cave by the way) about what the experience was.

"I finally know why masters could go into meditation so much - they were watching TV!"

No kidding. I heard him say that (well, not necessarily word for word - it's been awhile now) at a retreat. And like many others, I had absolutely no idea what he meant until I went through my own process. Having done so and watched also as other people experienced it has given me some kind of clue as to what happens.

The whole process begins by some kind of releasing process, externally or internally triggered. In my case, as my readers will know, circumstances forced me into a mental position where I had a choice of letting go of my own attachments or risk insanity. It is an interesting one - when you make the decision to demand nothing of life, because the very thought of demanding it summons up a sense of desperation so paranoid that you feel extreme pain. This is by far the most dramatic way to discover truth, and I do like the drama, even if I had no clue what was happening at that point.

So I gave up everything, even thinking itself. It was a forced surrender. Every thought brought me pain, so I started ignoring the thoughts. That's when things began getting remarkably exciting. Only the pain remained. With nothing further to lose, I plunged into the pain. It was partially an act of desperation, a last act of defiance that screamed, "Go on then, do your worst!" And it stopped hurting. Not immediately, but it became somewhat more bearable. I no longer had to fight the throbbing headache, the deep fear or the intense cracks in my self confidence. By degrees, over a course of maybe a month, the pain began to disappear. Like fog disappearing in the morning light, it could not withstand conscious awareness upon it when conscious awareness did not impose conditions. And so I understood the nature of thoughts' ability to manipulate - they do it through fear. When fear is no longer a goad one instinctively shirks from, thoughts lose their power and begin to evaporate.

So back to watching telly. I did not digress above, but rather gave a context in which this process happens. As I sat in meditation as I had never sat before, I surrendered everything. It was the most painless thing I had ever done. And when you're in such pain, every little bit helps! And then the thought-ego body (what Eckhart Tolle would call a pain body, one supposes) tried a last ditch attempt to retain the illusion. It started dredging up images. Things I had never seen before, things long forgotten from my youth, loves and hates, fears, random imagery - they all floated by. And this is where I was blessed by weariness. Beleaguered as I was, the monkey mind was finally too tired to chase after each image to analyse them, as I would have in the past. And they flittered right by. Sitting in that perspective of weary hopelessness (and this is why I say hopelessness is rather useful for enlightenment), it became a television show.

Bit by bit, I discovered a way to interact with them without being burned, and this was through service. By praying for others in the depths of my pain, I managed to maintain a neutral stance. And unlike any healing process I was familiar with, the images began to shape themselves. All I did was hold an intention and surrender completely. Images that started out apparently as illusion began to develop into surprising meanings, and I understood them. Practically all the praying I did in those days of trial worked, incidentally - the people benefitted very quickly. And all the intuition worked as well. And thus I understood why so much intuition fails as well - the messages are mixed, like two people shouting over each other. One would be true intuition, and the other would be the pain body. How to recognise truth? It's simple - the images untainted by fear or even attraction. Those are the truth. The truth has no need to compel - it simply is. And by their fruits ye shall know them, I believe Jesus the Christ said. And the whole thing is much like watching television, as Master Lin said all those years ago. I can finally agree.

But he said more!

"When you find in your qigong practice that you enter emptiness, leave your practice and simply sit. The healing will go on instantaneously."

This is a statement I also struggled with for a long while. How can emptiness be trusted to do anything, without supervision? The brainwave management crowd will have the same issue - how can sitting in alpha, theta or delta without doing anything be beneficial for anything other than perhaps rest? How can that solve our problems?

It is an incredibly arrogant position, if you think about it, to assume that the ego knows better than emptiness, or the sea of awareness, from which the ego itself arose. The emptiness is the basic space, the basic canvas upon which everything is painted. To return to the emptiness is to dive beneath the surface of the overpainted fabric of our lives and to get in touch with basic awareness. And it heals. Once left alone, the structures of our thoughts disintegrate - the same process that I described above. However, this becomes painless, for we are enjoying the nature of emptiness.

""Om Mani Padme Hum" means "Go into the emptiness and seek your authentic Self. And from your true Self, everything else will be attained."

Again, Master Lin's words, not mine. But I agree completely. Wish I had said it. But I doubt even Master Lin could claim credit for that one. After all, were we not told to "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and all other things shalt be added on to ye"?

So let's address the difficult issue - how is emptiness to be trusted with what is right? After all, it is constantly throwing up streams of thoughts spontaneously, and all we need do is look around to see that certain outcomes are not, to the ego Self at least, desirable. In the eyes of the Divine they are all perfect, of course. Well, there are a couple of effects there:

1. Firstly, as we transcend thought and conditions, we also transcend need and preference. Whatever happens cannot harm us now, for fear loses its manipulative ability, and thus emptiness can be trusted to do exactly what it does, and the outcome makes no difference.

2. Secondly, the closer one gets to pure awareness, the closer one gets to the true attributes of the soul. One no longer needs the attention of another to feel loved. Money no longer is needed to feel abundance. The conditional emotions are dropped in favour of unconditional ones. These are the First Emotions, the First Order. They are the samboghakaya, the Light that arises out of the sea of awareness. And they are nothing but benevolent. If we rest in them, they can summon nothing but the highest manifestations. Why, then, do we get ourselves into so much trouble? It is only when we get involved in the derivatives of these emotions, the Second Order, the Conditional Emotions, that chaos ensues. Each intention becomes tainted by fear and suspicion, and thought streams become tainted. The purification process, then, is the same - it is to sit in sheer unconditioned awareness, to rest and to recuperate. Then, when we are ready, we surrender our awareness fully to pure emptiness and live in the bliss of the First Order emotions (interesting how that abbreviates to FOEs - which is what our mind perceives them to be, not the salvation that they are).

So nature becomes truly benevolent. And with no effort at all! Fundamental nature is benevolent. Sitting in it, we cannot help but be benevolent and compassionate.

Getting Accustomed to Peace

2010-04-03T15:46:00.000-07:00

For all that we claim to be searching for peace of mind, we have a remarkably difficult time getting comfortable with it. Highly evolved beings through the ages have pointed the way, and yet we continue to struggle with the idea of true peace. A lot of this has to do with the problem is that the mind is so unaccustomed to not having to struggle and run on to the next discovery that it very often, upon stumbling onto a brief moment of peace, simply blunders right on its merry way.

So what is this peace? The Dao De Jing suggests that "the Tao that can be described is not the Tao". Many other sources suggest this element of being beyond description and conception. How can we hope to understand that which is beyond concept? I recall struggling myself with this concept when I was younger. It is a terrifying idea, that mind is no longer needed, and one which it will struggle mightily against. The usual tactics of distraction, manipulation, control and denial will usually ensure quite effectively that we do not stumble upon the truth.

So what is this truth?

Simply this - we are more than our thoughts. Look inside your mind right now, and notice what is there. Where did that thought come from? Where did it go? This is what the masters have asked over the centuries. There seems to be this black hole. But in the moment of asking, if you paid attention, there is a gap, a moment of no-thought. No thought does not mean unconsciousness. We enter this state by accident, sometimes, when driving or doing some kind of repetitive task. Or perhaps when we are lost in art, or rapture. It is a moment of pure awareness, beyond thought.

Well, perhaps it is unfair to say "beyond thought". It is more correct to say "more fundamental than thought". For if we can exist in the space between one thought and the next, and can even be aware, then we are more than our thoughts. The space is the basic fabric of being - it is the sea of awareness. And as we direct our CONSCIOUS awareness towards this, we naturally become more aware of it. Yet, it will defy any attempt to quantify or qualify it. This is what frustrates the mind so. And that is why it fails to see anything special in this event.

But wait! Most of humanity has stumbled upon this gem of existence at one point or another. 99.9% will promptly arise, dust themselves off and go on their way. The remainder will do a variety of things. Many of these will attempt to manipulate this space in some way, for they will correctly deduce that this is somehow the doorway to the soul. Precious few will actually be willing to sit in this space and watch what arises. And for those who do, able to remain awake long enough not to be torn away by newly arisen thoughts, a feeling of peace and well-being will arise. And this will be peace. It will not feel like it necessarily, for the mind will really have no reference for it. But this will be the arising point of the soul. And if we want to get a chance at getting to know lasting peace, we would do well to stay in this sensation long enough to get acquainted.

On the Art and Skill of Purifying the Awareness

2010-03-21T00:53:00.000-07:00

Source/Copyright: Przykuta/Wikimedia

The art of purifying awareness is simple, but not necessarily easy. I'm not exactly in the mood to preach this morning, but thought I'd just note down a few brief comments on it.

To begin with: The skills of purification go from western "releasing negative thoughts" to eastern "purifying the imprints of karma". The idea of letting go of these imprints is that they somehow affect us, not always to our amusement. I won't go into modus operandi - there are plenty of sources for that. More to the point, I'm looking at the main components that make such methodologies work.

Let's work with metaphor as a model. An imprint is like graffiti on a wall. The instinct in dealing with it is to "Erase it all! Mua ha ha!" The temptation is to shower it with the water of positive thoughts, and everything will be just fine. Or will it? Positive thoughts, while potentially beneficial, are just another form of graffiti. You're attempting to overwrite the old stuff by painting it over. It is still beneath the surface. Worse, you have in fact made it more difficult to clean off! And worse yet, the CLOSER it is to the wall, the more power it is able to draw out of your internal energetic circuitry. Ouch. Yep.

So purifying really comes down to 3 components that I can identify offhand. I might develop a better model for this later, but here's what I have:

1. See the graffiti/Awareness - Difficult to purify what you don't know exists.
2. Own the graffiti/Ownership - It doesn't matter how it actually got there. If you don't take responsibility and own it, you can't change it.
3. Release the graffiti/Willingness - Once you own it, you become one with the wall. You don't even have to worry about the graffiti, you can just release it by changing the structure of the wall and the paint will fall off.

We've visited all this in past posts on ROLCE and the like. The key here is that when you take ownership, you gain power over it. Thus, you stop resisting it and the paint loses power to threaten or irritate you somehow. You have to become one with it to dissipate it. It is the art of destroying from within.

Once you have infiltrated it, then it becomes easy. If you make it easy, that is. If you still hold the image of spraying it with water, it becomes difficult again. Instead, regard it as a friend - so much more pleasant to deal with, don't you think? Then you thank it - gratitude always helps. But then imagine it becoming something light and dropping away by itself. Visualisations include blocks floating away in water, becoming smoke or butterflies, or even just shrinking and disappearing into nothing. In all this, one employs the idea of ease and gracefulness. So much easier than struggling with it with a sledgehammer, don't you think?

This has been a pretty pithy post, but that's all I have time for this morning. Happy releasing!

Mental Vision Board Affirmations

2010-03-14T06:30:00.000-07:00

MVB Purification Statements
I release mental and emotional blocks easily and effortlessly. They are dissolving, dissolving, completely dissolved. My entire being is completely purified.
My mind, body and awareness are now returning to their normal, natural and complete states of perfect health.
All unneeded blockage patterns are released and completely forgotten. My entire being downloads and resides in beneficial, healthy states.
My mind is open, ready and activated to manifest my highest good.
My mind, body and soul automatically work together in perfect harmony to bring light, joy and peace into my life.

Source Empowerment Statements
I willingly surrender old emotional patterns that are no longer beneficial. All blockages are completely dissolved and purified. New, beneficial and helpful patterns are now manifested.
Any previously stuck, hurt or splintered parts of myself are now healed and released. Stagnant energy is purified and flows again. I am completely healed.
I am empowered by the highest sources of Light, warmth, love, wisdom and compassion. This power radiates through me and blesses everyone I have a connection with. This power flows through me into all aspects of life and transforms them for the benefit of all.
My levels of acceptance and openness are increasing. The parts of myself that are ready are now healing, healing, completely healed. I am returning to a natural state of purity, innocence and joy.
Streams of abundance flow naturally and connect with all areas of my life.

General and Project Programming Statements
Each day, I am increasingly successful in every way.
I am completely supported by the universe.
All my projects proceed smoothly and manifest for the best of all concerned. Any apparent setback becomes a golden opportunity to bring about even greater good.
My mind, body and awareness are becoming open to greater and greater possibilities. This fills me with a childlike joy and wonder. All my projects bring great benefit to all beings and in turn receive great help and blessings.

Service Statements
I increasingly enjoy the many blessings manifesting endlessly in my life. I receive these gifts with humility and gratitude. I allow these blessings to overflow through me into all beings. I am becoming a stable anchor for light and love.
My mind, body and awareness are becoming open to greater and greater possibilities. This fills me with a childlike joy and wonder. All my projects bring great benefit to all beings and in turn receive great help and blessings.
Each day, I increasingly embody love, joy, peace, abundance, compassion and wisdom. These energies are transforming all areas of my life for the highest good.

Automating Statements
The tremendous power of this experience immediately manifests great benefits into my life.
My mind, emotions and system continue to accept and install all beneficial changes smoothly and efficiently.
My thought, speech and feeling patterns are completely purified. I patiently and willingly allow these new patterns to transform my life for the better.
These images of success continue to be transformed, purified and empowered for the highest good until it is no longer needed. I rejoice and enjoy the blessings now.
I willingly increase my levels of trust and faith that my highest good manifests, and this attunes my entire being to the ultimate source of abundance.
My mind automatically inspires, downloads and installs my highest vibrations in all areas of life. My sense of enjoyment increases as I welcome these changes into my life.
My mind, body and awareness continue to automatically and smoothly release any remaining blockages and vibrate at the optimal level. My life is constantly evolving into greater purity, love, joy, peace, connection, compassion and wisdom.
Riding on my increasing sense of trust and faith, I allow these energies to continue to transform, heal, attune and empower me for my highest good as I humbly rest in enjoyment and gratitude.

Trading Affirmations

2010-03-12T04:21:00.001-08:00

Trader development
I am a successful and profitable trader.
I am a professional currency trader.
I treat my trading as a business with clear and effective goals.
I visualise and plan my day in my mind to maximise my success in the highest good.
I channel my energy effectively, using the ideal trading plan to its maximum and most consistent profitability for me at all times.
I maintain my optimum psychological fitness for trading at all times.
I maintain perfect clarity of mind and emotional balance in my trading.
Every single day is a positive experience, and this continues to reinforce successful trading habits for me.
I plan my trading and plan my profits.
I trade to earn my optimum amount of profits in my highest good. Any learning that enhances my optimum profits occurs easily, naturally and efficiently.
My mind and body quickly draw me to the best trades available.
My trading skills develop quickly each day, giving more consistent and greater profits.
I make consistently good trading decisions to make the greatest and most consistent profits for me.
My mind, emotions and body develop and easily maintain perfect psychological and trading discipline.
Each day, in every way, I am becoming a better trader.

State triggers
Each trading session, I attain my best trading state smoothly and instantly.
Every time I put the first three fingers of either hand together like this [join first three fingers], I will instantly trade at the optimum level.

Maintaining balance
All outer and inner events serve to improve my trading performance.
All previous emotional blocks are now melting away, widening my trading perception and enhancing my abilities.
I follow my trading plan easily and effortlessly, yet I am always aware of when to change it for maximum and consistent profitability.
I feel a beneficial sense of confidence in myself and my trading at all times.

Trading plan
I develop and apply strategies successfully and profitably.
I have an optimal level of confidence in my trading strategies for maximum profitability.
I take each trade correctly, confidently and with ease.

Learning
Each time I look at a chart or trade, my mind accelerates my learning and understanding of price to its optimum level.
I am discovering and learning profitable new ways to trade each day.
Trading is effortless for me, and my abilities increase all the time.
I am able to easily use each strategy to its optimum profitability.
My mind, emotions and psychology easily and quickly adapt to optimally use each strategy.
My mind integrates all information relevant to trading efficiently and to my greatest benefit.

Profitability
Trading brings in greater and greater profits for me.
I trade consistently and congruently in every way.
I fully benefit from the financial freedom that trading brings me. This is increasing all the time.
My trading is becoming more and more effortless and profitable at the fastest rate.
The profits from my trading supplies all my financial requirements and more.
I live a life of abundance.

My mind quickly absorbs and processes these beneficial programming statements. Each time I repeat them, the effect will increase at an accelerated rate. I use these skills for the benefit of all.

Year of the Tiger - Haiti and Chile

2010-02-27T13:03:00.000-08:00

Well, it seems as if we are welcoming in the year of the tiger with a bang. Five Yellow, the dreaded disaster star, has chosen to rear its head early this year. Although I'm not into ominous portents, when Chile followed Haiti I simply had to check out what the deal was. For those who don't know, the most popular time energy system in Feng Shui makes use of nine stars which fly about every year or so, roundabouts February. This year, they make their appearance as follows:

7 3 5
6 8 1
2 4 9

The Chinese have south traditionally on top, so 5 is in the SW. Superimpose those numbers on the map, ladies and gentlemen, and see where the dreaded 5 lands. For those who want more detail, look for the blogs of Feng Shui masters who are actually into the academia of it. Since I only do Feng Shui for exclusive clients these days, I'm even less inclined to waffle than usual.

Anyway, here's my 2 pence worth:

8 White, the auspicious wealth star, in the center. Although supported by the earth energy inherent in the center of the map, it needs a carrier energy. Someone else needs to do the homework here but the direction of the wind (yes, the literal wind, not some obscure Feng Shui reference) blowing out of northern regions of Africa, Saudi Arabia region will determine where the wealth blows. The fact that it is Saudi Arabia we are talking about suggests oil will be involved somehow, but 8 is the image of the mountain, so that is another contradiction in terms. Anyway, that area is going to be doing well.

9 Purple, the auspicious fire star, returns to the NW. That would be North America, folks. I can hardly say anything original without looking as though I was simply relying on political and socio-economic information. So, all I'll say is the 9 is considered helpful, but the combination of 9 in the NW is the "Fire at Heaven's Gate" formation. Expect political shakeups this year. But then you could say that of every year. The good news is we have wealth slowly returning. Take with a pinch of salt. Wash, rinse, repeat.

1 White goes to the W. Again this looks more USA like. Same as above. I did say to wash, rinse and repeat.

2 Black, the illness star, is in the NE. Interesting. Flu and illness outbreaks in Korea, Japan, parts of Russia and possibly China. Will it happen? Try June. The monthly 7 goes to meet it for potential foot and mouth. Don't email me about why I am ignoring 2 and 5 monthly stars in this analysis. It is not academic. As I perceive it, June is the key make or break month.

3 Jade, the argumentative star, goes to the south. I say we can largely ignore 3 Jade this year. Some unrest but the fire of the south should burn it up nicely.

4 Green, the romance and networking star. My read on this star this year is that it is going to be showing its scholarly side more than anything else. That goes to the North. It is strong there, with water to feed it. Our ever handy world map says that Europe is going to be going through a period of re-evaluation of policies. Probably for the best.

5 Yellow, the disaster star: This one goes to the SW of the map. Haiti and Chile. Enough said.

6 White, the general star, visits the east. Normally a benevolent star, I am less sure of it this year. It is a metal star, hacking the eastern wood element. It doesn't help that that is the home of China, the symbolic dragon. I am even more disturbed by this because this is the year of the Metal Tiger. The tiger is wood, so the image of the year is reflected here in real life. I would expect a serious amount of deforestation from this part of the world this year.

7 Red, the politicking and backstabbing star, visits the SE. That's SE Asia and Australia. No comment. Personally I doubt it is going to do that much.

I was going to talk about all the other hidden stuff but I'm feeling as if I've said enough for the moment. This post simply reflects my reading of the flying stars for the year, and not any personal bias or political opinion in one direction or another. As always, take with a pinch of salt.

The Prayer to Grandmaster Wong

2009-12-20T21:31:00.000-08:00

With the greatest reverence and respect,
I humbly and sincerely request divine Grandmaster Wong,
To hear this prayer and to grant what is right in His wisdom,
For the good of myself,
For the good of my family and friends,
For the good of my ancestors and children,
For the good for all future generations,
For the good of all the souls related to me,
For the good of all sentient beings,
Now and forever.

OM AH HUM! OM AH HUM! OM AH HUM!

May all beings be free of physical suffering and enjoy good health,
May all beings be free of mental suffering and enjoy serenity,
May all beings be free of poverty and enjoy great prosperity,
May all beings be free of negative karmic connections and enjoy happy relationships,
May all beings be free of obstacles and enjoy smooth lives,
May all beings be free of delusion and see wisdom,
May all beings be free of struggle and achieve effortlessness,
May all beings be free of attachment and achieve enlightenment.

May all beings discover the right view,
May all beings have the right intention,
May all beings engage in the right speech,
May all beings choose the right actions,
May all beings exemplify the right livelihood,
May all beings engage in the right endeavours,
May all beings achieve the right awareness,
May all beings attain the right concentration.

Please bless all the world leaders and spiritual leaders with wisdom and insight.
Please bless the earth and help it to achieve balance.
Please heal the sick and the suffering.
Please alleviate poverty and teach people the true causes of wealth.
Please bless all people with happy and long lives.
Please provide abundant guidance to light the path.
Please save the beings lost in ignorance and delusion.
Please release the karmic burdens so enlightenment arrives.
Please save the souls of the dead so they may attain liberation.
Please bless all beings to ignite the compassion heart and to attain enlightenment.

Please guide me to do what is right in Divine wisdom,
When I pray, please come immediately,
And grant my prayers that are True and Correct,
Make ineffective any wrong doing or intention,
Purify the ignorant mind,
Please multiply the merit of my good deeds,
So that I can play my part according to Heaven’s Divine Will.

Divine Grandmaster Wong, please hear this humble prayer of a sincere aspirant and
grant what is right in your wisdom.
Please act as my representative to deliver this prayer to the appropriate Buddhas,
Bodhisattvas, deities and beings, so that all souls may be saved in the correct way and
Truth will prevail.
On this auspicious day and auspicious hour,
I maintain my faith and release this prayer to you.
I genuinely and sincerely mean what is in this prayer, and I continue to cultivate the wisdom sentiment in myself. I know that it is my sincere intention that allows this prayer to be fulfilled.
May the merit of this prayer go to _____________________.

OM AH HUM! OM AH HUM! OM AH HUM!

Karma and The Secret - Can a Butterfly Change its Spots?

2009-12-20T20:48:00.001-08:00

Source/Copyright: Richard Bartz/Wikimedia

Yes, before you ask, that's a Leopard Lacewing butterfly in the picture. I could have used the real leopard but that particular saying was getting a little cliched.

So, I was at yet another PhotoReading event presented by my friend Marilyn Devonish yesterday and this issue did come up in passing. With all the hooha about The Secret, has anyone cared to observe the karmic consequences?

Kaye, what the heck does karma have to do with The Secret?

Rather a lot, actually. Basically, it impacts it in three ways:

1. If you're attempting to manifest something, your past manifestations will play a part in it. The old energetic blueprint will be active unless you know how to deactivate it. That's personal karma.

2. If your manifestation impacts the fabric of the sea of awareness (which it assuredly will, since by definition you are affecting the flow of energies when you manifest), you will be subject to the kickback from the ripple effects from that effect. And contrary to what you may intuitively think, doing good doesn't necessarily mean you get good back in the short run. It certainly pays to be good in the long run.

That's because you also have to deal with group or social karma. When you change something, you are stopping a karmic event. That's the same as hitting the brakes on a car headed off a cliff. In the long run you may save lives. In the short run you may have to deal with the attendant problems of the smoking brakes. Make sense?

3. If you are doing multiple manifestations that are not congruent with each other, you are self-sabotaging. The butterfly is a good example of this - nice wings, no? But to get the perfect design it has to get into a cocoon and build from scratch. Somehow people think this has nothing to do with The Secret. As Byron Katie would say, "Oh, honey..." If you like polka dots, wear polka dots, but drawing polka dots over a Van Gogh canvas is a bad idea. Trust me. Been there, done it, got the t-shirt.

So what do we do?

Learn to manage karma. It's rather dangerous to ignore it, even after one attains enlightenment. I believe that in Tibetan Buddhism it's considered a cardinal mistake. Anyway, karma management as I see it has to do with two things:

1. Pacification of obstacles - inner, outer and secret. Outer obstacles are the usual ones related to the material world. Inner ones are delusions that prevent us from effectively achieving our goals. Secret obstacles - unseen ones. I prefer the Alex Viefhaus (my great friend and mentor) version - a block isn't a block until it blocks you from something.

Obstacles can be pacified by energetically paying off and releasing past karmic "debts". They can be pacified by forgiveness, such as the Hawaiian ho-oponopono. It depends on the particular energetic knot you've tied, really. People are so creative about how they get themselves into trouble. The only one-hammer-fits-all-nails solution I have found to cutting these karmic knots is to master the essence of shunyata, or emptiness. See two posts previous to this one - my commentary of the Three Words Hitting The Essence.

For those so inclined, listening to the Vajrasattva Hundred Syllable Mantra helps too. So does understanding what it means, which is really a much more complex issue.

For those who wish for a shortcut, pray to Grandmaster Wong. I will put it up in the post after this one.

2. Attainment of merit. This one is interesting, because one first has to decide what merit is. Now, if one asks me, I must say I can't really say. However, I vaguely recall a line in a Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche book which says something like, "Merit is a sense of satisfaction." Unfortunately, I haven't been able to relocate that quotation. However, I think it is accurate. I don't think it is so much about accumulating brownie points, but to congruently hold an energetic state. This is done through offerings, through the energy of enjoyment, faith and trust. More on that another time.

Ask me questions if you want to know more.

Sometimes a Prayer is Enough

2009-12-06T16:54:00.000-08:00

So I'm back in Malaysia on a short holiday. I was exhausted last week and was suffering from eyestrain, thanks to my work as a trader. The eyedrops weren't quite cutting it too. Anyway, one evening I decided it was time to get in some extra help. So, I knelt down and prayed for a solution, did the incense offering, and got on with life. Later that evening, the strain started in again. These things can be rather peculiar - it feels as if your eyes can't stay open any longer, and also objects start looking blurred. A very frustrating experience. Before I knew it, I found myself reaching over to my kit of massage sticks, which I keep next to my bed. Getting a few out, I started massaging certain key points around the eye area, something I had never thought to do before. Solved the thing in about 5 minutes. In fact, the nerves responded immediately. I've been giving myself repeat treatments but that one seems to have done the trick. Eyestrain gone for good.

Sometimes, a prayer is enough. Then, of course, when it happens, you say, "Thank you!"

A New Message for Spiritual Seekers - Enlightenment and Manifestation

2009-11-28T11:52:00.000-08:00

As I was meditating last night, preparing for a flight back to Malaysia, I had another interesting insight that I believe is crucial to the next level of spiritual and inner development. I am sharing it here although I suspect that my convoluted language will do little to make it much clearer to anyone else but myself, and I doubt that even I know what I'm talking about, so if I sound even more vague than usual, many apologies.

The nature of enlightenment and the state of emptiness is certainly one that is attainable by the Buddhist path. You can see this stated in many sources, but lately I have come to favour the Three Words Hitting the Essence by, if, unless I'm much mistaken, Dza Patrul himself. If anyone is interested in the content of that particular text then I highly recommend reading the Dalai Lama's interpretation of it in the book Dzogchen. Although I usually prefer the words of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, in this case I found the explanation remarkably exciting.

Keeping in mind the usual rules about not exposing the teachings of Dzogchen and Mahamudra to the uninitiated, I still feel that I would be out of order to offer my country boy explanation of the three "words", which are really three principles about the ultimate nature of emptiness and how to engage in it. The Dalai Lama talks about the View, Meditation and Action. The three words are about the view, which I believe is where all the action (no pun intended) is anyway. Meditation is about mixing the realisation of the pure nature of awareness with compassion. Action is about moving that whole process into physical expression. The realms of the bodhisattvas, in other words.

Back to the view. My version of it:
1. Get past all your thoughts and perceive the pure space of emptiness.
2. Make a commitment to sitting in that state of pure awareness no matter what.
3. As thoughts arise, meet them with your conscious awareness seated firmly in the awareness of 1. and 2. and they will dissolve naturally.

That's all I want to say about enlightenment today. I'm far more interested in making a slightly different point.

Once you actually have the connection with emptiness, the question arises as to how to maintain a relationship with the realisation. In this sense, I have come to suspect that the Dao De Jing, the bible of the Taoists, is more convenient. Whilst I am highly convinced that the Buddhist approach is a valid and useable path to enlightenment, once you have that realisation, engaging it in the unhindered manner which the Taoists encourage is much more interesting.

It has to do with grace in managing the energies. The enlightenment experience allows you the perspective of emptiness, a glance at the canvass upon which thought, perception and manifestation arise. Even if you have attained the view, thoughts still will arise. It remains for you to engage with them in grace, to dance with the energies as smoothly as you can and to remove any remaining fear or resistance to them. In this sense, I have often propounded in the past the use of the Feeling Exercise by Arnold Patent, particularly in the exploration of fear. However, once you have attained a certain facility, I am now beginning to be re-sold on Lester Levenson's approach of letting it go. Releasing is a powerful method of manifestation, and indeed it was the one that started me on my many adventures through the realms of advanced metaphysics. I find myself returning now with an awareness that sometimes, I thought I was releasing when in fact I was not. There was a deeper root. That root can be found by following the fear. However, once one knows how to follow the fear and is no longer threatened by it, one can directly perceive the cause of that fear and release on it directly. This is the essence of dancing with the feminine principle.

I believe that even though the higher level realisation has to do with that of emptiness, one ultimately has to return to engaging the energies. Even if one knows the mother, one has to engage the sons, is my response to the Dao De Jing's exhortation to stick with the mother. Why? Because we reside in the manifestative realm. It is no surprise that Lester and Byron Katie both sail through life and seemingly have miracles fall on their lap. It is a matter of releasing and then riding the energies with grace.

That is another point that was brought to my attention recently, and this may well be of interest to the "advanced" practitioners of "The Secret". If you put out energies at a very disembodied level, the energies struggle to manifest. In order to truly bring the energies into the physical realm, you have to actually ground them, and come more into your body, where you wish the manifestation to appear. Otherwise, it will tend to remain a floating thing in the spiritual realms. Interesting little point. I had not thought of it previously, but it agrees with my experiences of the past 15 years. Indeed, it agrees with all of my life experience.

The other point, which I did know about, but had tended to forget, was that in manifesting one had to access the feeling of the reality already complete. This would eventually mature into a knowing. But let us backtrack and observe that process. It first starts with an intention, as all things manifestative do, but then it engages the automatic aspect of the feminine principle. It is up to the manifester to notice the bumps and insecurities (fear is again a good signal to sniff after) and to resolve them. Also bring those energies into the physical realm. Release on them. Add the energies of faith and trust. Also add softness and warmth to it, or it will tend to become cold and impersonal. Be willing to be vulnerable. Finally, add humility, modesty and surrender. Compassion is always a useful one for taking bits of self out of the mix.

Then, enjoyment and relaxation. These last two are incredibly useful indicators of what is going on. If you are not enjoying yourself, there is a part of you that still takes this as a project, and you can be sure that there is fear associated with letting go and trusting the process in that. If you are not relaxed, then you are not relying enough on the feminine principle. In the lingo of an earlier era in my life, you are not programming into the subconscious, but instead relying on the conscious mind.

Happy exploration!

Vajrasattva Hundred Syllable Mantra

2009-11-01T03:03:00.001-08:00

I just remembered that Jeddah once asked me to have this recorded for her, so here it is.

World in Union

2009-11-01T02:57:00.000-08:00

This one is pretty close to my heart. I definitely want to rerecord it once I have had time to rehearse a little, but here's the rough initial version. I'll stop torturing your eardrums now.

Love Changes Everything

2009-11-01T02:48:00.000-08:00

My excuse for the poor notes on this one is that it was completely unrehearsed. Yes, I did fudge it a little, but hey, if I do rerecord it I'll replace this one.

Ma Ma Hao

2009-11-01T02:40:00.000-08:00

Well, if you do a piece for dad, you've got to do a piece for mom too...

This was the shortest piece, but I had to rerecord it so many times!

Colors of the Wind

2009-11-01T02:30:00.000-08:00

I still say it should be spelt "colours", but there you go. A cappella. My father has a liking for this song. I wonder if he'll hear this version...

I Dreamed a Dream

2009-11-01T02:00:00.000-08:00

Just fooling around with Camtasia. This is an experiment, so excuse the off notes! Was just thinking of Susan Boyle so I decided to record her song.

Advanced Portable Memory Bank as a Tool of Intelligence

2009-10-17T01:40:00.001-07:00

The Portable Memory Bank (PMB) technique is not mine - it was developed by Win Wenger, Phd. The principle behind it is the simple Pavlovian principle that each time you respond to something in your awareness, the brain takes note and interprets that as a signal to give you more of the same. Imagine that you are taking the bus or the Tube. For most people, there is very little awareness of what is going on around them or who is even sitting at the far end of the carriage. That is because, by successive degrees of ignoring them, the brain has become entrained to delete the information from conscious awareness, although it still records it. If one wished to increase awareness, then taking note of what a single person was wearing or doing each time one sat down would signal that this material was now of interest, and over time a more refined awareness would develop.

PMB is taught in various forms, but its most popular version is as an idea generator. By responding to ideas and thoughts (i.e. writing them down in a little notebook), we encourage the mind to produce more of the same. It is a simple enough notion, but one that can work very powerfully to unlock the flow of genius that may have stayed hidden.

This post is about advanced applications of PMB that I have developed in my own application of the technique, which I believe takes its usage well beyond the original. Nonetheless, I would be very surprised if I was the first to discover them.

Here are the tricks:

1. To generate idea flow. Write 50 ideas down a day. Just write them down, even if they are nonsense. That will stimulate the brain to produce more of them. Simple as that. 1 out of the 50 will work. This is a standard variation on the basic PMB technique - rather than waiting for ideas out of blue, start to encourage them.

2. To generate very high quality ideas. This is my twist on the basic technique. Because we are using a Pavlovian response to stimulate simple idea flow, we can also use the same approach to stimulating high quality ideas. Each time you see a great idea pop up, immediately write it down and then decorate it in the PMB notebook in emotionally stimulating ways. I like to write AHA!!! beside these, or to put them in a large box of text on their own. Oversized exclamation marks work well, too. By doing that, we are giving an extra stimulus to the brain to produce more ideas of that quality.

3. To direct idea flow. It occurred to me that this is seldom discussed in PMB faciliation. To get general ideas is fine, but mostly one wants answers. Thus, ask questions! I do the same with questions that I do with high quality ideas - overdecorate them. Imagine that the notebook is a way to ask a direct question of your subconscious (and it is). Then ask the questions. Ask as many as you can. In fact, I would go so far as to say this is the real key to mastering the PMB genius process. I draw large question marks around them. In fact, I ask the most difficult questions I can imagine.

The subconscious block users have with this tends to be that they think a question will be too difficult to answer, and thus they avoid asking it. Use the notebook! It will give the answers, over time. Very often, I will awaken the following morning with the answer to the questions that I have asked. Be bold, and ask away. Always mine for detail. If an idea seems good on principle, but requires "filling in", then ask specific questions about the details. Otherwise, it will very often remain a good idea, but an unimplemented one.

4. Start answering your questions. For some questions, you will have an inkling of the answer, if not the full answer. Or so you think. If you even have a whiff of what the answer will be, immediately write that down. In the writing of it, the force of expression will very often change and transmute the idea into something entirely different. You will be amazed at how much some answers can change. For the ones that don't, it gets you past the "stock answers" you may have allowed yourself to become comfortable with. That clears the space for fresh, new ideas and thoughts. Get it out of your head and onto paper! Furthermore, the answer material will very often spawn new questions, which should also duly be noted down.

5. Write in the spirit of interaction. Although probably less powerful than the actual imagestreaming techniques for generating solutions, the PMB is extremely powerful for reasoning and analytical thought. By writing continuously in it, one's thought processes become clear and connected, rather than scattered. By pretending the notebook is an all-knowing partner, we can begin to enjoy the interaction with the book, thus generating tremendous insight.

Always write as though you were talking to a real person, and express yourself as though you were talking to someone who cannot see inside your head. Writing in "note form" is unacceptable! That allows the shortcuts in one's mind to prevail. Rather, spell everything out in as much detail as possible, and mental blindspots will be unveiled before your very eyes. And when you spot a blindspot, ask another question to find the best response to it. In this way, the PMB notebook becomes an extremely valuable companion.

6. Change your handwriting, change your mind. Use a physical notebook wherever possible, rather than typing in a document. There is something to be said for physically writing down the notes. There is also the added advantage of being able to change your handwriting. The nuances of mind are also reflected in the nuances of handwriting. By deliberately writing in a different form, new ideas will bubble forth.

Have fun writing!

Signposts in Manifestation

2009-10-08T06:45:00.001-07:00

Source/Copyright: Wikimedia

Every manifestation technique will usually have some of the following components:
1. Opening up/relaxing
2. Some kind of visualisation or affirmation or directing of awareness in order to affect the sea of awareness.
3. Some automating factor that "sets" or "saves" the work in the ethers of consciousness.

Everyone will claim to have invented something new (including me), but essentially these are the steps. Here are some signposts that will help you along the way:

1. Were you open enough to try the manifestation process in the first place? This is the initial openness of awareness which allows the whole process to begin.

2. Did you feel really relaxed physically, mentally and emotionally? This is the physical and emotional openness which frees up conscious awareness to sense, affect and create.

3. Did you use your awareness in skillful ways to deepen your sense of openness and connectivity? This may take advantage of standard tactics like counting backwards, or following breath.

4. Were you able to visualise/affirm clearly? This is the "active" part of using your awareness. The more clearly you were able to articulate your intention, the better it is.

5. Did you feel the sense of reality as you did it? This is a measure of your sense of immersion in the technique. You can immerse yourself fully by being more emotionally and physically open and interacting with awareness in an uninhibited fashion.

6. Did you feel a sense of confidence as you engaged in your process? If you weren't totally comfortable with it, then you are still resisting it at some level, and you can use your feelings as a guide to any remaining resistance.

7. Did you simply go with what you sensed, or did you make the choice to change it to something you chose? There is a balance between acceptance and free will. Not everything should be changed, but you can change things that are ready to be changed.

Sarcasm - Trait of Genius in PhotoReading Activation

2009-10-06T03:10:00.000-07:00

So I've just come back from speaking at yet another PhotoReading seminar, and the issue of genius came up, one way or another.

I forgot to mention one thing to the participants - sarcasm is a trait of genius when asking questions about a book.

Right, Kaye. Convince me.

Well, consider that the ability to learn is directly related to one's ability to ask questions. The ability to learn effectively is directly related to one's ability to effectively ask directly related questions that are of interest to oneself. If there is no genuine curiosity about the answers, then there is no real motivation to find it.

Hence, one should take advantage of one's personality in asking questions. Sarcasm is a genuine and legitimate trait of genius if in finding something to be sarcastic about, one actually has to LOOK. Hence, in asking questions about anything, make use of one's personality traits, whatever they are. They will add to the curiosity and effectiveness of the questions.

The Seed of Universal Power - Determined Compassion

2009-09-26T22:51:00.000-07:00

Source/copyright: Wikimedia/John Hill

I was speaking with a high Lama some time back, and he commented, "There are people who come on the Mahayana path (the compassion path), but without going through the Hinayana/Theravadan path, their foundation is incomplete, and their base is shaky."

For all those for whom that was gobbledegook, don't worry. Ten years ago it would have been that way for me too. However, there is something very important about determined compassion as the entire path for ultimate happiness. Consider that we are all in a world of samsara, or suffering. There is dissatisfaction in some, if not most parts of our lives. As human beings, we are failing to address our most prevalent disease - that of dis-ease.

I had that too. I was severely dissatisfied with my life. Heck, I STILL get dissatisfied with my life. It comes with the package. What's the difference between me and everyone else, though? I know how to come out of it. And in spite of the fact that I've been teaching this ever since I figured it out by accident, new ways of seeing it are constantly evolving.

So Kaye, let's get to the point. Why do you call it the seed of universal power? Power to do what?

It has the power to relieve suffering and achieve peace, once and for all. Don't you think that is a universal power? There is nothing complicated about it. It has two components - determination and compassion. Why determination? Because we are stuck in our own paradigms, and it will likely be painful (at least at first) for us to escape it. If we do not have the determination to grasp the nettle, as it were, then escape is impossible.

Freedom is hidden in the one place where we will least expect to find it - in the midst of pain. Determination to find it is what founds the entire process.

Compassion is a different story. It is about empathy and kindness. And compassion is not just for others, but also for oneself. Having compassion for self means being appreciative and kind of what has been done. However, it has a quality of lightness about it. It is not allowed to devolve into selfishness. On the contrary, it is the act of selflessly placing others above oneself that allows us to transcend fears.

Compassion is about the greater story. From the Mahayana viewpoint, you could look at how much more other people are in need, and use that to inspire your actions. Because there is vision, there is inspired action, and determination. Because it is not for personal gain, the element of grasping selfishness is transcended.

Thus, determined compassion is really a very sneaky way of overcoming psychosis.

When watered with Wisdom, it becomes a very powerful vehicle for enlightenment, but that is a story for another time. Suffice it to say that misapplied determination can become mule-headedness. Compassion without insight becomes idiot compassion. So buyers beware!

The Final Goal is a Story, The Final Step is Peace

2009-09-26T22:34:00.001-07:00

I've just had a brief look at the questions I have received for the free teleseminar tonight for the Plateau Point. Firstly, I was staggered by the huge response although it was announced only at the last minute. Secondly, it struck me that many of the questions come from a place of dissatisfaction, whether it be dissatisfaction in being able to do more, or to find the perfect man.

The key here is differentiating between reality and expectation. Look carefully at what you are aiming for. Then ask yourself why you are aiming for it. And if you dig deeply and honestly enough, you will find an answer that will sound something like, "I want to be happy." or "I don't want to be in pain." And if you dig even deeper than that, you will find that that arises because you imagine that things can be somehow better than they already are. As your awareness gets stuck on that, a longing arises. Or, as Chogyam Trungpa would say, you get horny about it. There is a blind, instinctive grasping that arises. And from there all the misery, desperation, denial, grasping, manipulation and heartache arise.

It is the acting on, or allowing yourself to be swayed by, these instincts that begins the wheel of suffering. Without it, you would be at peace. Why? There would be nowhere to go, nothing to do. There would be no goal, no dissonance between reality and desire. The story would be ended, and you would have taken the final step.

Does this mean we should all sit around in total acceptance doing nothing? How very inefficient! If doing nothing was what I advocated, then I would have a great following preaching to rocks. Rather, being at peace is the final step, because it really frees you to do what you are passionate about. It frees you from the fear of being disapproved of, of being inadequate, of being undeserving. In that, you can do what you really wish to do, not what society says you should. It frees you from the need of a relationship, and because of that you can actually have one. It frees you to find peace amidst the craziness that is the world, because you see the perfection of it all, dropping the goal, that story about how it could be different.

In that moment, you become free to move from vision to vision, from ecstasy to ecstasy, and not be bound with "dealing with" hurdles and obstacles.

So with all the stuff people have come up with, here is a question I have myself, "How much work have you done lately to find peace?"

Manifestation and the Problem of Interdependent Origin

2009-09-13T10:26:00.000-07:00

Manifestation is a subject that many have tackled in various ways, using various tactics. However, there is a problem with most techniques that seems to have slipped by unnoticed by most. It is the problem of interdependent origin. The idea is that one problem will have multiple causes. Each "problem" is likely to be linked up with tons of other issues in one's life. Hence, to look at it in isolation is a mistake. Yes, in some cases, it will be possible to solve the problem, if it happens to be a relatively isolated issue. In others, it will be more difficult, but still possible. That is why the best manifestation processes always allow for deeper issues to arise and resolve them.

However, in the larger scheme of things, problems are Gordian knots. You either solve all of them at once, or not at all. Each one will slightly influence the other, and if they are not cleared, the manifest result of one project is likely to be skewed in unexpected ways. That's why manifestation is tricky.

The key then will be to cut at the heart of the knot, the part from which all this emanates. It has to do with the self, unsurprisingly enough, and the sense of self/identity. Before problems become physical, they arise in the mind. Look at the Paradox of Manifestation for a deeper discussion to this end.

Shunyata as a Transformative Principle

2009-09-12T11:44:00.000-07:00

"If you are facing difficulty, meditate on the concept of shunyata."

This is a common enough saying in Tibetan Buddhism. However, it only really hit home today with me. Shunyata meditation is a coping mechanism. Shunyata itself is the realisation (or, at least the concept) that everything is inherently "empty", and so difficulties will eventually resolve themselves. It's a sophisticated way of saying, "It'll be all right in the end, dear." Or so I thought.

It can certainly be related to on that level, but there is more. As our conscious awareness becomes patternised and stuck in certain belief systems, enhanced by "experience", we can lock ourselves into a stuck pattern, or a plateau. Whilst one does not need necessarily to deal with the stuck pattern directly, this is what meditation on the shunyata principle does.

I usually recommend working with complete surrender and compassion to get around stuck states and situations. More recently, I also talk about trust, faith and intention. All this can be combined with the power of decision, which I talk about here. Meditating on shunyata, however, we befriend our situation, and quit mentally shrinking away from it because we think it is unsolveable. Through applying our attention and awareness to it, the "stuckness" dissolves and it becomes more fluid and malleable. In that way transformation is very possible, and even quick.

All those approaches work. It is as though you were swimming underwater and your foot got caught in a rope tied to an anchor. Instead of trying to pull yourself up, which is the instinctive thing to do, you go down to the rope to untie it. This is what meditating on shunyata does for you. It is effective by gently easing your foot out, and not straining so that the knots don't get tighter. It takes the panic and desperation out of the picture.

The power of decision is the use of force. It says, "I will solve this one way or another." It is a commitment that says you will do whatever it takes to get free of that rope, including cut your foot off. Clearly, decisive power works on a different level of manifestation than shunyata. See Levels of Manifestation for more details.

Faith, trust, intention, compassion and surrender are all extremely high level copouts. They do the miraculous, because you effectively transcend all problems without having to deal with them. You become one with the water, and the rope slips off because it has nothing to hold on. It does take a leap of faith though, and if you are uncertain or unclear, or even if you aren't, there are likely to be bits of your that remain "solid" in this metaphor.

Nonetheless, shunyata has its role, for it emphasizes the cyclicity of things, their mutability. So, by meditating and applying your conscious awareness to the mutability principle, it automatically becomes more a reality for you. So meditate on shunyata not only as an acceptance of what is, but as a healing principle of transformation, for it gives you the hope that things can turn completely around. Hope develops into actual experience.

The Levels of Manifestation

2009-09-10T05:32:00.000-07:00

Kaye, why do you tell us to do conflicting things? On the one hand, you say be determined and willing to do whatever it takes. On the other, you talk about surrendering. Isn't that a contradiction in terms?

Yes, I do talk about apparently conflicting things, but they appear conflicting because they are not considered in the context of the level of manifestation you are discussing. We can think of manifestation as being on several levels:

1. Physical
2. Emotional/mental
3. Spiritual

On the physical level, action reigns supreme. Taking clear, methodical, massive action creates the results you want. In other words, if you want new batteries in the remote, go to the shop and buy some. This is how results can be created on the physical level.

On the emotional/mental level, we devise strategies to conserve energy. It is possible to employ strategies like the 80/20 principle, taking the 20% action that creates the 80% result. We develop determination, resilience and focus. Mental clarity and goal-setting are the forces that direct this level.

On the spiritual level, however, we surrender. Having engaged the first two levels, we trust in God and let go. That is the surrender effect. It is through this detachment and surrender that miracles are allowed to happen. Faith and trust facilitate this process.

This may sound like old hat, but the mix of manifestation skills is different for different people. Whereas a person may succeed by relying largely on the first two levels (included in this group would be many of my colleagues from Cambridge University), he may also employ the third level. There are things which, in spite of perfect execution at the first two levels, still do not materialise. This has to do with the spiritual level of manifestation. Does anyone understand this level fully? Not that I know of. We only know certain spiritual factors which seem to contribute to success. Even then, it is not foolproof.

Knowing It Is Done

2009-09-08T00:45:00.000-07:00

In traditional self-hypnotic programming, we are told to end the session "knowing that what we program for is done". This knowing it is done has been misunderstood and misapplied to disastrous results. The key is coming from a place of confidence and abundance, and of decision. If we artificially create a sense of knowing e.g. if we say to ourselves, "Oh, I don't really feel it, but it says to pretend it is done, and I really want this to happen, so I'm going to pretend it has..." then we are coming from a head intention of fear, rather than a heart intention of life-affirming abundance. We have failed to make the decision to succeed, and thus doom ourselves to failure. Done this way, it has done nothing more than affirm our insecurity and indecision.

Thus, it is important to clear our doubts, a subject I have addressed on many an occasion before, and then to progress from there into a place of genuine innate confidence (GIC), and not an artificial one. Thus, we say, with the faith of a king who expects his commands to be obeyed, "It is done."

The Power of Decision

2009-09-07T07:16:00.000-07:00

Source/copyright: Wikimedia/Ltshears

The power of decision focuses energy into a power burst. The difference between those who succeed and those who don't is the decision to be successful, no matter what. There is no "What if this happens to me?" There is only courage behind the decision to succeed. Once you have made a clear decision that you will accomplish something "no matter what", then it is as good as done.

It is this attitude, which I imagine to be like a lion's roar, this challenge, which draws up the energies of the subconscious and the conscious into one burst. In that moment, it cuts all fears, because it has already committed to its goal, and is ready to take all the hits necessary to make it. It is a stance of bravery and courage that subdues fear.

It is a stance of commitment, for it says, "I choose you as my goal, even if other areas are compromised." That is the essence of "no matter what" (NMW). This cuts through the psychoses related to conflicting goals. When you choose a powerful goal to focus on, focus on that one only, as the overarching goal of your life. Everything else must bend down to it, and give it the respect due the King of the Forest when he roars.

It is the stance of power and self-esteem, for in making that decision, it affirms the life-giving power of "Yes!" It has no tolerance for self-pity or lack of self-worth. Instead, it runs ahead and smashes through the puny wails of uncertainty and inadequacy.

It is the power of patience, for in eradicating all inner uncertainty about the result, the overwhelming confidence allows the decision-maker to confidently and patiently await the correct moment.

It is the stance of complete surrender. Surprising as it may seem, when you make decisions correctly, the outcome is irrelevant. The race is run, and the deed is done. It is now simply a question of getting it done or, as warriors of old might have thought of it, "getting killed in the process". There is no longer any if, and because of that, there is no question of whether or not it will be done. All forces are unleashed towards the goal, and because of the certainty of decision, whether or not it actually comes to pass is irrelavant. It is this irrelevance and releases the last safeguard on the subconscious strength we have hidden within ourselves, and allows us to succeed.

Truly, the strength to succeed is within, only waiting to be summoned by the roar of decision.

Plateau Point - Part 1

2009-08-31T04:13:00.001-07:00

Source/licence: Wikimedia/Daniel Mayers

What is the the Plateau Point?

It is a point in your life where no matter what you do, things just don't seem to be going your way. This can, although not always, happen at all three causal levels - physical, mental and spiritual. They are inter-related. It can even feel as though you are spinning your wheels backwards, or losing ground.

Why does the Plateau Point happen?

Basically, it is the end of an upcycle in your life. In everything, there is balance, and life does not move in a straight line - there are upcycles and downcycles. The upwards thrust before it may have been a period of phenomenal growth, or it may have been just a gentle upward movement. The end of the upcycle is marked by the consolidation phase of the Plateau Point (PP). The consolidation may be followed by a downcycle, further upwards movement, or stagnation.

What can I do about it?

Understand firstly what is the primary cause for your personal PP, and then the appropriate reaction will become clear.

What are the causes of the Plateau Point?

- Self-sabotage/conflicting purposes within yourself.
- A natural ending phase in the physical phenomenal world.
- Spreading yourself too thin mentally and spiritually, leading to a lack of focus and/or conflicting purposes.
- A lack of clarity in what you want.
- Limiting beliefs and experiences.
- A lack of energising focus and power.
- Inadequate physical strategies leading to suboptimal performance.
- Failure to adapt to change.
- Being too easily influenced by others.
- No staying power, flexibility and resilience.
- Issues around guilt, fear and deservingness.
- A lack of confidence.

Surrender Process

2009-08-31T03:50:00.000-07:00

Source/licence: Wikimedia

1. Imagine the purest, highest and most powerful level of unconditional love that you can.
2. Double that in intensity so that nothing can withstand its presence except the highest level of love and acceptance.
3. Imagine yourself being drawn into that energy and merging into it.
4. All blockages, worries and conflicting energies are completely neutralised by this pure energy.
5. If you get distracted, dissociate yourself from the light again and repeat, doubling and doubling the energies again until it is so brilliant that you cannot bear to look upon it.
6. Merge into the energies again, surrendering all the concepts and thoughts of control into it.
7. Abide in that energy, allowing it to purify your energies completely in whatever way it sees fit in its wisdom.

The Flame Activating Breath for Achieving Goals

2009-08-16T01:34:00.000-07:00

Source/licence: Wikimedia/Mila Zinkova

The breath must be one of the most overlooked tools in the human potential arsenal. When we see something unusual, we "catch our breath". We describe views such as the one above as "breathtaking". There is a definite mind-body correlation that can be demonstrated by the breath. Win Wenger, I believe, says that we stop breathing properly just as we encounter a problem - just at the very moment when breathing evenly and smoothly would create the oxygen flow and stimulus that we are seeking.

I offer the activating breath here, for the purposes of activating the mind's self-piloting system towards goal-achievement. The Activating Breath is easy:

Breath in to the count of 4 at the speed of 1 count per second. As you inhale, expand your abdomen/diaphragm to its full potential.
Exhale to the count of 4 at the speed of 1 count per second. As you exhale, relax the abdominal muscles.

This is the basic breath used in many processes, such as pranic healing and Quantum Touch. Practise doing it a few times until it flows smoothly and evenly for you.

Now for the Flame part. Imagine you have a candle in front of you. If it helps at first, actually light a candle and put it in front of you so you have an image of the flame. Blink your eyes twice and use the afterimage of the flame. Inside the flame, there is an image of your goal as it looks like when it is fully accomplished. This is the flame of blissful energy, energising and empowering your goal. Make sure you add all the visual, auditory and kinaesthetic components of the success image.

As you visualise it, start doing the Activating Breath. As you inhale, the flaming image becomes brighter and brighter, and more colourful. As you exhale, the image becomes more real and more solidified. Practice doing this - visualise the image becoming more colourful and bright as you inhale, until it becomes automatic. On each exhale, practice making the image so powerful and materialised that you believe beyond doubt that it will definitely happen.

As you inhale, imagine the sounds becoming clearer and louder. As you exhale, imagine the image materialised even more.

As you inhale, imagine the sensations and feelings becoming even more distinct. As you exhale, imagine the image so materialised that it is a given that it will occur. On each inhale, enhance the sense of gratitude and appreciation for the image.

Keep doing this for 10 minutes a day for each big image goal. Keep breathing at all times! You can switch periodically between the visual, auditory and kinaesthetic components, or do all three at the same time. Experiment and find out what works best for you. If you feel your attention starting to lag, always go back to the breath counting and try changing the modality i.e. if you were doing visual, then switch to auditory. The brain needs constant change to provide stimulus for attention, so provide it with that, and it will obligingly imprint the image of your success deep within you.

At the end of the session, with a deep sense of gratitude, place the whole image and energy into your heart and release it to your highest good.

Two Selves

2009-08-15T00:49:00.001-07:00

Source: Wikimedia

There are two selves that we can switch between. One is the relative self, and the other the absolute self. We really need both to function in the world. The absolute self is free of limitations, but the relative self allows us to experience, well, relativity.

The balanced approach has to do with maintaining a balance between these two selves, I think. If we reside wholly in the self that experiences emptiness and absolute bliss, there is a tendency to withdraw from the world into ourselves. While it is blissful in a sense, there is a rejection of the world. The relative self goes out into the world, but relies almost exclusively on the push-pull fear motivations to function, which is again not an ideal situation.

The trick is to be able to switch between the two smoothly and fluidly.

Dare You Plunge in the Knife?

2009-08-06T06:35:00.000-07:00

Don't worry - in spite of the picture, I don't mean to kill yourself. I am referring to those times of deep emotional upheaval - when a loved one lies ill or dying, when a child is lost, when a lover goes, when dreams die, when hopes are killed. If you're lucky, you will never have to face those situations in life, but unfortunately most of us do. And it is better to know how to deal with it BEFORE we actually get into that situation.

This post reflects the heart of this favourite saying in Buddhism:

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

Those situations which I have described do happen. Even if they don't, everyone will have some experience of a personal fear. And when the time comes for reality and dreams to go at loggerheads, reality always wins.

So what's the solution?

Jump into the tidal wave of emotion completely. Give yourself up to it. Don't try to use justification or thought to turn it around. Experience the grief and the pain, but do not think about it. Just experience it. You will know you are turning it into a story if you suddenly feel like the victim. Or if you feel like blaming someone, or even life. Or if you feel you can't bear the pain, because while the pain may be real, the story that you can't bear it isn't.

Most stop right at the point of really plunging in the knife. It's conditioning, and I can understand it. But folks, seriously, quit being wimps. It's like holding a knife and testing the sharpness and cutting yourself slightly and saying I don't think I can do this. And we can get really upset doing it. It is the resistance that is really causing the suffering. If we plunge the knife straight in, we find that it is healing, for it cuts through the dreams and illusions, and free us from our cages of thought. Painful? Yes. But if you can hold to the pain of the experience and resist the temptation to think about it, to avoid it somehow, then you have played a trick on death. You will have cheated it of its power to cause suffering, for in embracing it it has no more power to threaten you.

It is conditioning that prevents us from doing this, but consider: In situations of extreme grief, most people use thought, conscious or unconscious, to avoid the pain. No one ever thinks of using the pain to avoid thought. And thought, by a long, long shot, is the one that will cause the most suffering. You go into the emotion, it disperses, and you move on. You go into the thought, it anchors, and congratulations, you get to carry it for the rest of your life. Apparently horrific, but that's the way it goes.

Dare you plunge in the knife?

The Paradox of Manifestation

2009-08-05T02:16:00.001-07:00

It may seem somewhat surprising for me to tackle a topic like this just after completing a 13-part series on the subject. The series was designed to look at the mechanics of it. However, it was noted in the 13th post that the height of manifestative skills comes when one is not interested in it. Let's take a closer look at that. I propose that to pursue manifestation is a reflex to an initial impulse which actually takes the focus off in a completely misleading direction. The impulse, used in a completely counterintuitive way, would produce vastly different results.

For that, I'm going to refer to my all-time hero in Buddhism - Chogyam Trungpa. See book below.

I found his exposition of the kleshas, conflicting emotions that lead to suffering, particularly interesting. The kleshas themselves are nothing new - there have been tons of exposition on the six main conflicting emotions - desire, anger, pride, ignorance, doubt and opinion.

According to Trungpa, kleshas are one of two kunjung, or origins of suffering - the other one being the kunjung of karma. The kunjung of kleshas could be considered the birth of the kunjung of karma. They are the initial point, the starting of karma, one could say. So understanding kleshas is a good place to stop creating the kunjung of karma. In English: If you stop the emotions fast and early, they don't develop into patterns engraved into the mind stream, or karma.

The most fascinating thing is that the kleshas themselves arise out of a basic stupidity, or bewilderment. This, in my interpretation, is that there is a basic non-awareness about self and states (i.e. reality), of not knowing what to do, which is independently existent. We go about in this state, not really knowing what to do. There is an uncertainty about it, but not quite outright confusion. Then, there is a "sudden flickering of thought", according to Trungpa. It makes you very passionate and lustful. (Note the interesting fact here - passion is actually a function of suffering in this model.)

Hence, desire is born. Unfulfilled desire leads to anger. Anger and desire fuel pride as a self-preservation mechanism. Ignorance then arises as a strategy to continue, to close one's eyes to things that are contrary to the world view. Ignorance then develops into doubt - the avoidance of alternatives and advice. Finally, it forms a full-fledged opinion. In terms of the manifestation, the conscious awareness is now well and truly rooted in a fixed energy pattern.

What does this have to do with manifestation? Consider that manifestation is basically a topic about fulfilling one's desires. By engaging it, one jumpstarts the whole process of the kunjung of the kleshas. See the paradox?

Surfing Emptiness - The Psychological Part

2009-08-04T15:23:00.001-07:00

Emptiness is about space - basic creation and phenomenal space. Emptiness is about the realisation of this space. Realisation arises through insight, awareness and experience of this as fundamental reality. That is basically what the whole process is, when described from the larger viewpoint.

Getting there is another matter.

The initial process is about loosening the bonds of egoic identity, the inadvertent jail of conscious awareness. This has to do with generating acceptance, with developing an understanding for the reality of the world, and with developing a love affair with it. There is a sense of hopelessness, of connecting with the fact that we really cannot do that much about the world - it will go on its own merry way. The best laid plans of mice and men and all that. This is not to deny the validity of action, but to create the detachment from the result, so that the gesture of action is empty of any force rooted in egoic resistance.

This hopelessness is very freeing - it frees us from worry. It says,"Do what must be done, but don't get upset if things don't go your way." It also allows us to react smoothly to whatever arises. There is a hopelessness, but without bleakness or bitterness. It is a very subtle difference. If we are bleak or bitter, then we are not really hopeless. We have not really accepted the hopelessness of the whole situation. There is a sense of internal resistance. So what we are really going for is fully accepted hopelessness. Then it is painless. It becomes a statement of reality.

The statement is this:

"Don't go about expecting the world to always go your way - it probably won't."

Where does that leave us? It leaves us free to explore, to tinker with the world. It opens a whole new plethora of behaviours we would not otherwise be able to engage in, in our fear and worry. So, it is actually a very freeing conception. We do our best and move on. That is the heart of the basic message. We take joy in what comes our way, and lovingly accept the stuff that doesn't as par for the course. We may even find a way to fall in love with that. It is a falling in love with reality. This is the heart of the Hinayana path. There is nothing particularly magical about it, in the sense of something out of the ordinary occurring. The practice is largely about examining the stuff arising in conscious awareness and freeing the resistance where it becomes apparent.

As we become more free, we can afford to be more generous and compassionate. We recognise our own hang-ups and transcend them, and then we have all this attention freed up, which in turn expands our awareness. And we become aware of the suffering of others, of their hang ups and how they mess up their lives. And then we can afford to be affectionate, because we have no particular agenda. We take refuge in the hopelessness, or more accurately, the reality of what is. We become very realistic, rooted in the moment. There is no worry about the future, because we know that the hopelessness will enable us to deal with anything that comes. We also become much less inclined to control, since we are able to face whatever situation may arise anyway.

It's all very boring, really, this hopelessness. Because there is nothing to do. There is nothing to face, no fear, no worry. Then you have nothing to discover. So we become cosmic meddlers. We observe others' hang ups and see if they wouldn't like a little help with that too. Not that we care at a personal level whether they overcome them or not - it's all hopeless anyway. But it becomes interesting to prod them on their journey. We feel their pain, and because we are rooted in reality, we know the pointlessness of pain, but they have chosen it. So we are there, saying,"Can I help you?" And when they are ready, they take that help. That is the the great compassion path - the Mahayana path. It is not just about developing compassion because we "should" somehow. It is just a naturally arising phenomenon from the Hinayana.

Compassion has a sneaky quality - it takes our attention away from our own hang-ups. It can be considered another way of relating to reality. When we discover how small our problems are compared to those of others, we almost shame ourselves into letting go of dwelling on them. When we consider issues of world hunger, for example, we suddenly become grateful for what we have. Thus, compassion is a double-edged sword. It cuts away hang-ups for others, but it also cuts away our own hang-ups. It also begins to take the focus away from self. Whereas Hinayana kills the ego and then leaves us hanging in undefined direction, Mahayana is very efficient. It takes a different route, and then cuts up the need for body and mind to be used for self-serving gains. It makes us look at the world with a magnifying glass, giving us a perspective of how small we are. That perspective helps us to get over ourselves.

It also develops gratitude. This develops a sense of appreciation for our situation, that may or may not have been present with Hinayana. With Hinayana, as we develop fully accepted hopelessness, we may fall in love with reality, and begin to just enjoy the ride. With Mahayana, as we develop compassion, the compassion perspective encourages gratitude, and humility. Both Mahayana and Hinayana encourage humility, in fact, by putting things in a perspective of us being infinitely small in relation to everything else. It is this perspective upon which everything else is built, in particular the realisation of emptiness.

The Hinayana version of emptiness is basically that phenomena comes and goes - the wheel turns and turns, and if you don't like it, it will go away - eventually. That is the shunyata principle. Reality is empty in that sense. The Mahayana perspective says it is all empty, and you get this realisation by meditating deeper on the illusion of suffering, on how we create pain unnecessarily in our lives. The sense of giving is very key to both paths. In Hinayana, it is giving up the struggle by considering cyclicity. In Mahayana, it is in giving to others, by focussing on others' hang-ups. In both situations, we are giving to something that is bigger than our perceived self, and in doing that eventually coming to realise self's inherent empty nature.

Both Mahayana and Hinayana have the sense of reduction, or seeing things in a certain setting that leads to the breaking down of ego. It is very structured, very guided. Hinayana takes it lessons from the pain of personal reality. The cure is acceptance/hopelessness. Mahayana roots its learning in the larger picture. The cure is compassion/service. Tantra, or Vajrayana, is another path to Rome. Tantra does not use a different perspective, such as pain or large-scale suffering, to take someone out of delusion. Instead, it uses the delusion itself, dives right to its core and neutralises it there.

So tantra is very tricky, very subtle. It is also the most dangerous because it chooses to play ego's game, and win. You either come out enlightened, or demonised. In fact, I would go so far as to say without some basic Hinayana experience at least, the chances of things going very wrong are pretty high. Unlike the other paths, tantra uses what it has. So, if you have a fascination for a certain energy, a certain persona, tantra uses that attraction as a meditation point. If you have a desire or lust, tantra uses that. If you are prone to anger, tantra uses that. So, tantra takes the resonating point with your egoic identity and then gets you to meditate on it.

Where does that all lead?

Without divulging secret practises, tantra largely has to do with identification with an yidam deity, a personal deity one feels a connection with. (Gross simplification) It is a game of pretend. Pretend you are this deity. The danger is apparent - if the ego is not reined in, you literally behave like a spoilt child in God's shoes. However, if it is, then you realise that you are not really playing pretend at all, but actually discovering your true form. Even the deity is a projection within emptiness. So where does this lead? It leads to the enjoyment body. Every deity will have certain benificient qualities. So, it uses the meditation on the attractive quality to each person to lure him into meditating on the beneficial use of this quality.

It is the ultimate teaching ploy. This is like getting a child to watch Barney the purple dinosaur, and then getting Barney sneaking in the educational parts. Here, it is worse - you pretend you are Barney, so you have to actually do the education!

The pretend is also the means by which personal inhibitions are temporarily bypassed. Say someone wants long life. They meditate on White Tara, one of the long life goddesses. In imagining themselves to be one with the goddess, they also create a mental and emotional space to experience the quality of long life. In normal waking awareness, they do not allow themselves the benefit of this enjoyment, and so do not allow themselves to attract or engage with this energy form. The pretend helps them visualise this.

It is like telling someone - imagine you're overwhelmingly rich. You can say, "Well, that's easy for you, you're Bill Gates!" The response of tantra is, "Okay, then imagine you are me!"

By the very act of imagination, the hang-ups are circumvented. As the identification become stronger and stronger, the new personality literally is used to push out the old one. That is, of course, dependent on the ability of the meditator to surrender the old viewpoint. Drawing from the training of Hinayana and Mahayana would undoubtedly help, as a fallback, because there is more structure, more fixed perspective. If one practised tantra alone, it is easy to get lost in the colourful nature of the method.

The ultimate realisation of all three paths is emptiness. If one practised just shamatha/shinay (calm abiding) and vipassana (insight) meditation, one would eventually realise the emptiness of reality. (Hinayana) If one practised giving and compassion, in giving until there was no more self to give, one would also spontaneously realise emptiness. (Mahayana) If one meditated on the identification of the deity, one is both the giver and receiver, and subject and object become one. Suddenly it becomes a cosmic joke, because you realise neither really exists, in the bigger picture. (Tantrayana/Vajrayana)

Nothing impossibly difficult, really, from an intellectual perspective. At least in the psychological sense. Real life practice is a completely different matter. And the energy aspects of these three paths are completely different. Another story for another time.

Manifestation Series Part 13: A Summary Discussion of Sorts

2009-08-03T03:19:00.000-07:00

Basic Creation Space and the Manifestation Equation

Kaye:

If you imagine a basic space called the emptiness, and in this floats all the energies that exist and all our realities - that's the basic creation space.

The model for manifestation is

Manifestation, M = M(C,A)

C is the law of creation

A is the law of attraction

They are not really laws per se. They simply identify the main phenomena involved in manifesting a reality.

The law of attraction is simple. It's a magnetic principle. You get more of what you resonate with. The idea is that energies go on the principle of birds of a feather flock together. So manifestation is largely about resonating to the right tone. Easier said than done, of course.

At the magnetising level, you have to be rid of all unconscious and conscious blocks which are magnetising to the contrary. It's a matter of optimising the attractive power.

So if you're trying to quit smoking for example, what stops you is the hidden benefit. This is pretty much the same.You need to discover and pull out the hidden benefits to the contrary.

The law of creation is more drastic because it says you need to re-create yourself. You are resonating to a basic energy level that is native to you. Water finds its own level, so to speak.

So if you want to permanently automate manifestation, you have to change the level, which will involve changing key aspects of what you identify yourself to be. This changes your identity, your karma, as it were. And when you do, different potentialities will emerge.

The level of change will determine how large a change in the potentialities there are. For example, to change a work situation will require much less work than if you chose to change dna. Probably nothing short of death and rebirth would do that.

Make sense so far? That's the bare mechanics of it.

YF:

I get the gist, although some of the examples of what you've mentioned I don't quite get.

"So if you're trying to quit smoking for example, what stops you is the hidden benefit. This is pretty much the same. You need to discover and pull out the hidden benefits to the contrary."

I didn't get this hidden benefit aspect.

Kaye:

You don't stop smoking because to continue to smoke benefits you in some way. Similarly, you fail to manifest because failing to manifest benefits you in some way. Somehow, you position it within your mind and consciousness that something needs to be protected. So although you may be intending one thing, there is a push-pull going on.

YF:

Ok, got it. Go on.

The Effectiveness Quotient

Kaye:

The next equation is really building detail into this model.

I suppose you could call it an Effectiveness Quotient:

EQ = EQ(Push, Pull)

Pull is the drag you get from the countervailing inner thoughts and inadequacies (usually subconscious) that you have. So for example, if you wanted a relationship, but you are inside somehow unconsciously afraid that it will jeopardise your family relationships, then that becomes a blocking energy, or a pull factor.

Push is well, not a pull. It has to do with lack of faith and trust. Even though you may eliminate pull factors from your awareness, impatience develops. This has to do with needing to see the desire fully manifestaed in physical form. There is a certain uncertainty to this, a lack of trust in the process. The uncertainty is what attracts the drag factors. The expression "you're pushing it" is somewhat unconsciously reflecting this phenomenon.

YF:

In this regards, is push a positive or negative factor for manifestation?

Kaye:

Negative, not in that it is bad, but in that it pushes away that which you desire.

Consider what you are saying:

"I desire a car."

Push turns that into "I want a car now."

And then "I want a car and I don't see it right now. I want it now!"

You see how easily the desperation accelerates? There is a fear in it, no matter how subtle.

It is that fear that is drawing in countervailing energies. You are creating the pattern of attracting a car with one part of your conscious awareness, and at the same time holding it back with another by latching onto a counter-energy.

I will elaborate on the EQ, because there are several layers to that equation, but for now if you get that I'd like to move onto the engine of the whole process.

YF:

Ok - move on.

The Transformation Equation

Kaye:

Both equations so far have been descriptive. The first describes the current state you experience, as a result of the unconscious use of the laws of creation and attraction in tandem. The second describes the friction, if you like, the resistance to change. The third is really a dynamic version of the first.

We can say that transformation leading towards new manifestation is T.

T = T(new awareness, new focus, new resting state)

Or T = T(new awareness, masculine principle, feminine principle)

We are constantly swimming in that basic creation space of emptiness. So transformation is basically becoming aware of and activating different patterns in the template. That's where new awareness comes in. It is the process of being open to new things, new realities. It causes conscious awareness to become softer, more malleable, and therefore more able to sail within the sea of awareness that is the emptiness.

It is guided by a very light intention, almost an idle curiosity. Anything stronger than that will cause the frictional push and pull factors in equation 2 to kick in. So we wipe the template clean temporarily, and then engage the search for new resonance. The intention is the masculine principle.

As we become aware of it, we allow ourselves to resonate with it, allowing it to permeate every aspect of our awareness and transforming any countervailing frictional pull factors. So we basically become a new person.

T itself is dependent on quieting push-pull factors enough so that the conscious awareness can at least gain temporary freedom. That is what is meant by "new awareness".

Does that make sense? This equation is pretty crucial.

You see that the three factors affecting T need to be constantly balanced. We are opening up and softening conscious awareness, but need the masculine principle in the form of some kind of intention to drive the vehicle, yet using the feminine principle to create the awareness, the receptivity to new realities, and the ability to slide into them. It is the feminine principle that automates the process once it is all complete. The masculine principle is based on attention, and so is draining to use all the time, although that is how traditional manifestation is taught.

You could almost say that new awareness itself is a combination of the right balance of masculine and feminine factors. So the equation is more accurately written:

T = T(new awareness)

T = T(masculine principle, feminine principle); New awareness being a function of the balanced use of masculine and feminine

YF:

Ok. Anyway, go on. From that, I could see what you were onto.

Aspects of the EQ Equation

Kaye:

This is the grandest version of manifestation I have cared to outline so far. So it is a pretty big step. I have not seriously talked about the topic since 2005 It's only because of the recent events in my life that I've had reason to re-examine the topic. And interestingly enough, much detail has filled in over the years.

The mechanical part is largely over. What remains is to paint in the EQ details. Once that is done then the structural part of the model is done.

I have described EQ so far as being push-pull factors, but different people have coded it differently. Lester Levenson of the Sedona Method, could have been said to have formulated the equation thus:

EQ = EQ(wanting control, wanting approval, wanting survival)

It gives you some insight into the nature of conscious awareness. Because if you look at each push-pull factor closely, it is really a facade expressing one of these three wants.

This is the master list of insecurities, if you like. All push-pull factors have to do with insecurities.

Or incoherent desires. So to continue an earlier example, if you want a relationship but somehow believe that it will cause problems with your family, the wanting approval from the family becomes a countervailing energy. And you will find with some experimentation that all countervailing energies are premised on one of those three wants.

YF:

Go on.

Kaye:

Right then. I have 2 more versions of EQ to go through, and then we're on the mechanics.

The first is by Gay Hendricks, and second is my own. Neither is really better, but each highlights the issue from a slightly different perspective.

Hendricks' version of the equation would be something like this:

EQ = EQ(feeling fundamentally flawed, disloyalty and abandonment, viewing success of manifestation as an additional burden, fear of outshining someone else)

Four factors:

Fundamentally flawed basically relates to beliefs around deserving and capability.

Disloyalty and abandonment has to do with upholding a history or a past. It has to do with an innate reluctance to make a clean break with history. An object at rest tends to stay at rest, so to speak.

Additional burdens of success, whether on you or others, will also create pull factors. This has to do with perception, not what actually is, since that is what is being created and sustained in conscious awareness.

Fear of outshining has to do with guilt.

You can take the same example I gave, about relationships and family, and you will see that factor 2 on disloyalty and abandonment will feature in it. Possibly factor 3 on additional burdens features as well. The other factors may be in the background, but may not be immediately clear.

Do you see how viewing it through multiple lenses adds perspective to it?

YF:

Yep. Not the typical economist route, which aims at simplifying the model as much as possible to the main factors, but more of a scientific approach to try to encorporate all the factors.

Kaye:

My approach has always been to attempt to globalise factors, but I don't think it is the case in this situation. I'm just giving several different snapshots of the same thing. My own version of the EQ equation is much more elegant, if I do say so myself.

YF:

Globalise? What does that mean in this context?

Kaye:

I usually attempt to cover everything there is to cover, as you said of the scientific approach.

YF:

EQ=EQ(fear)

Kaye:

Very close.

EQ = EQ (sense of inadequacy)

Even the fear is an effect. I am gunning for the cause. And the cause is this: you can only create all the push-pull factors, including fear, if you have a sense of inadequacy.

There is a higher order version of this:

EQ = EQ(ego identity)

If there is no identity, no sense of self to be threatened, inadequacy can never develop,

and that bypasses all of it.

The Paradox of Manifestation and The Pure X Sub-Equation

YF:

Here's another question along the same lines - would manifestation occur if there was no sense of inadequecy, if someone saw no need to better himself? If you were perfect, why manifest?

Kaye:

Exactly. There you have a paradox. Your powers of manifestation are at their heights when you have no particular desperation or even preference around manifesting. And that is why people fail.

That is also why I have not touched the manifestation issue for so long. It becomes a non-issue.

However, I do have an answer to your question.

You manifest out of sheer volition.

We come on to the lesser equations:

Pure X = X in normal form - desperation/fear/inadequacy

X is an attractive factor, a drawing towards a particular reality.

So X could be, amongst other things: desire, attraction, passion, admiration, appreciation, enjoyment

It flies in the face of traditional motivational theory. The carrot and the stick both don't work in manifestative phenomena because both rely on inadequacy factors. The stick relies on pain avoidance, creating pull drag. The carrot relies on trying to get something that you don't have now, which creates push drag.

It really is quite a liberating thing, because it says the ultimate manifester manifests because he truly is attracted by something, but does not need it, and is unattached to whether it comes to pass or not.

Lester Levenson would call this the state of hootlessness - where you don't give a hoot. And he was notorious for having things just happen for him. Life literally landed on his lap. Never had to work a day of it.

YF:

I know that theory. With regards to relationships, when you really want something, you try really hard, but end up barking up a tree. You're the most attractive when you're trying not to impress i.e. when you're not interested at all and are completely natural

When trying to attract, one immediately becomes less attractive himself/herself

Kaye:

That's an expression of what we are describing, yes. Although I am coming at this from a spiritual/metaphysical angle, it also works at the physical level.

YF:

Yep.

Hootlessness and The Optimisation Equation

Kaye:

I think this is a more sensible framework to see the whole process within.

Of course, the experience of it is completely different. What we have seen so far is really the cold-blooded version of it. I have come as close to creating structural equations for the process as possible, I think, without making it unnecessarily rigid.

So I have a couple more things to throw out regarding the push-pull factors, if you would?

YF:

Go on.

Kaye:

We are onto the "lesser" equations. Lesser not in the sense that they are smaller, but lesser in that they have multiple interpretations.

What we looked at earlier was the immutable, the structure, except, of course for the Pure X equation. As we move closer to experience, we have different labels for the impulsive forces.

So we are forced to become a lot more flexible, and accept the fact that it is impossible to quantify all the lesser factors.

There are simply too many permutations. The lesser equations have to do with the transformation equation and also the EQ equation.

In reality, we do not always walk around in states of hootlessness. In fact, we often do give a hoot. That's what starts the whole process of manifestation.

So, it is then a process of refining our vibration so that it becomes hootless. The lesser equations are about this refinement. And we may ultimately find that in the refinement we didn't really want what we wished for. It is the push-pull thing that curses when we get what we wish for, because we find that it is so incongruent with our inadequacies that we often wish we hadn't gotten it.

Mostly, fortunately enough, this does not happen. The universe only reacts to true manifestations, on balance.

So we begin by examining the impulse.

Optimisation of the attractive impulse X, O = O(resonance increasing factors)

Where O = increasing the navigator function of conscious awareness in the sea of awareness

Resonance factors basically involve sympathetic resonance with the desired reality. They are basically the same list as X: desire, appreciation, attraction, admiration, etc.

All the equation says is, if you wish to optimise your attractive impulse of your desired reality, enjoy it more!

Or, you could also say that using all the factors of X increases the likelihood of locating it in the sea of awareness.

Some people actually start by running away from something, which is to say that X is completely zero. They just would rather be anywhere than where they are. You end up with being nowhere, because there is no directing attraction, really. The result is the mish-mash of messy factors in the masculine and feminine forces involved.

YF:

Makes sense.

Push/Pull Neutralisation Equations

Kaye:

Okay we'll continue then. I want to cover the neutralising strategies of push and pull.

From this point I am going to carry on more in the vein of my personal experience, because pure objectivity isn't going to help much.

In terms of optimising the X factor, even to use that equation, or perhaps even to be aware of it, is in itself a push factor. That's because we are at some level still attempting to manipulate the universe. So we are talking about neutralising the drag from the push and pull factors.

You can say there are local and global strategies for neutralising these factors. Local strategies only neutralise specific inadequacies in specific forms. Global strategies take a wipe-out approach and basically clean the slate.

If we talk about local strategies we could plumb the depths of my 15 years in the field, so we'll stick to global.

The global neutralisation equation for pull factors is as follows:

Npull = Npull(Acceptance/Release/Hopelessness)

I use / because those are really facets of the same thing.

Acceptance of reality as it is will neutralise all pull factors, and actually all push factors as well.

Letting go of wanting to create change will do the same.

Hopelessness is a weaker form, but one I advocate quite a bit. It says to lose any hope of fighting reality, and so to accept it.

You could reduce all that to

Npull = Npull(Peace)

So really, finding inner peace is the end of suffering. This could be said to be the root aim of Buddhism. It also happens to be easiest way to automatically cut through all the hidden automated blocks, thus enabling access to the wider sea of awareness.

Questions?

YF:

One question which springs to mind is when you're formulating your equations, to what purpose are you doing it?

Because that would affect the end result.

Kaye:

The equations cannot be used in the way you would use scientific equations. They are meant as pacemakers than anything else. Ultimately everyone has to come up with what works best for them, but they highlight the pitfalls. One particular problem plaguing the industry is the use of methods with no regard to push and pull factors, and so a lot of methods, even though useable if you knew about them, create wildly different results between people.

Shall I move on to pull?

YF:

Yep

Kaye:

Pull is interesting. In a sense, it would be neutralised by the exact same factors as push.

In fact, I think I will use the same equation and express it as

Npush = Npull = N(Peace)

The Resonance Equation and Enjoyment

Kaye:

However, there is one other aspect to this.

We can consider it the resonance factor.

Resonance, R = R(enjoyment)

You could say this is the same as X, but it is slightly different. X has to do with what you find attractive in the desired manifestation. Resonance is the same quality, only you find it in yourself.

In other words, you enjoy the very qualities you find attractive in the desired reality without waiting for it to manifest. The Buddhists would call this the enjoyment body, sambhogakaya. To not allow yourself to experience this enjoyment or bliss would in itself be a push factor, because you push or lock it away into the desired manifestation, imagining that you will receive it when it is attained.

However, it is the very lack of resonance that hinders the manifestation, as it lowers the energetic attraction.

YF:

Yep. My advice to ppl who are feeling down: "follow the fun".

Kaye:

"Follow your bliss" is another apt description, because passion is also an X factor.

YF:

Which is basically acknowledging the enjoyment of certain things.

Kaye:

Ah the key here is enjoyment for the sake of enjoyment.

YF:

Yep

Kaye:

It is like saying you don't have to own a garden to smell the flowers.

Everything else in manifestation is a strategy operating on these basic grounds. It has parallels in mind-programming, manifestation, laws of attraction, quantum physics, you name it.

Even the deity invocation is a strategy.

You basically place your identity in something else, so it is easier to create detachment.

YF:

Sometimes the universe will just pass those things which you enjoy your way, and without being receptive to those gifts, the gifts will just float on by without ever having been appreciated or taken advantage of to lead onto better opportunities (...which is basically the premise of The Alchemist)

Kaye:

Yes, you can see it as a perceptual theory as well. You see only what you are ready to see.

Manifestation Series Part 12: The Laws of Energy and Conscious Awareness

2009-08-03T02:04:00.001-07:00

Time to move this series back to basics. Let's cover what actually makes manifestation possible. In other words, let's talk about energy and conscious awareness. They are:

1. Energy follows conscious awareness. This is far more subtle than the idea that energy follows thought, or energy follows attention. Yes, both are true, but I think my version is more complete. Thought is not the only thing that directs energy. It is a form of projection of conscious awareness. Attention is likewise a director of energy, but so is unconscious attention. Conscious attention is a masculine principle thing, mostly. Unconscious attention is a feminine principle thing. So although "energy follows attention" is an acceptable proposition, it is insufficiently clear.

2. Where energy flows, manifestation follows. Yes, it is ultimately true. It manifests because like energy has the property of attracting like energy. There is no push energy, really. It is all pull. However, some manifestations do not occur because other people and other forms of conscious awareness are manifesting in the opposite direction. Even if you attained a completely pure resonance, you would still be subject to the limitations of others. Unless, of course, you employ the third law.

3. Your energy flow is impacted by others only to the extent to which the energy pattern you weave and the energies you use are locked in the same paradigm as theirs. In other words, when with the sheep, you are forced to do as sheep do. If you carry a hammer, you run the risk of dropping it on your toe. If you want to avoid a hammer on your toe, avoid hammers! If you want to be immune to certain energetic effects, then don't use the energies which are linked to them. Energies are a package deal. They have certain properties. Take one, take them all. How to avoid them?

4. Within the emptiness of the sea of awareness, immunity to individual energies develop. In the sea of awareness, the conscious awareness is not attached to energies, so a certain immunity develops. It does not mean complete immunity develops. It just means that there is less impact.

5. To develop complete immunity, develop complete anchoring in the energy patterns of your choice. In other words, anchor your conscious awareness in the patterns that produce the characteristics you desire.

6. Conscious awareness can only pull, not push. Mentioned above, but here it is again as a law. Conscious awareness is attractive by nature. So where it flows, it will attract similar energies. It cannot repel, except by anchoring into a a paradigm where an energy cannot exist.

Manifestation Series Part 11: First Develop Hootlessness

2009-08-02T02:17:00.000-07:00

Lester Levenson used to say to develop hootlessness. Things happen when you don't give a hoot. It makes sense in the structure outlined in this series. Basically when you don't give a hoot the push and pull forces no longer have any impact on you, and thus you are free to resonate fully.

I would suggest hootlessness begins with hopelessness. Lose all hope that you can affect reality one way or another. Accept it fully as it is. And I don't mean a sneaky kind of acceptance, a type that says, "Oh, if I give you this, you will give me manifestative ability." That doesn't work. As I've said before, God doesn't respond to Disney eyes. Neither does he respond to deal brokering. But give up hope, and suddenly not giving a hoot becomes easier.

The thing to develop after hootlessness is the enjoyment body. As we gain facility with a new level of flexibility in conscious awareness, we can tune into and enjoy energies without putting conditions on the physical environment. As we resonate more fully with these energies and allow them to settle into our field, we naturally engage the Law of Creation, and expand our hidden potential to create all this. So hopelessness is the base. Upon that, we develop hootlessness. And from hootlessness we develop courage. This is not courage that comes from fake bravado, but because we are genuinely not threatened. And with this comes the beauty of life's energy.

First develop hootlesness, then develop enjoyment. We've forgotten to enjoy ourselves. Even faith and trust are secondary to enjoyment. You will also see that appreciation arises from enjoyment, and gratitude from appreciation. And thus a whole list of positive resonance factors are invoked.

Manifestation Series Part 10: Observe the Purity of Intention

2009-08-02T01:28:00.001-07:00

Source/copyright: Wikimedia, Daniel Schwen

It may seem odd to touch on this topic so late in the day, but in the context of what has been given, it will perhaps be clearer. I intend to keep this one brief, but the depths of this topic cannot be underestimated.

Basically, the purity of intentions affects the effectiveness of manifestation. There are two basic factors affecting purity of intention: Push and Pull. Why are these important? Because they will impact the effectiveness of the use of the twin laws of Creation and Attraction.

Firstly, intentions should arise out of pure volition i.e. pure desire, not those tainted by an unconscious desire to avoid something. This means were are attracted to a manifestation purely because of the beauty of the experience, not because of the beauty of the experience in comparison to something else. We are not unconsciously going, "Oh, if only this would happen, then I would not have to deal with ..." That is avoidance, and it has the Pull factor in it. Unfortunately, Pull energy is based fundamentally in inadequacy, which will attract countervailing energies to sabotage you. There is a hidden sense of fear or desperation to it. These are the locks talked about earlier which are tainting the manifestation. See earlier posts in this series. We are basically attempting to pull something in to avoid something else.

The Push factor has to do with impatience. It has to do with residing more in the physical world of phenomena than in the spiritual world of instant creation. If we were in perfect harmony with the energies, there would be no push. We would expect it, but not need it, so there is no struggle. Even when we eliminate Pull factors, there may remain a vague sense of uncertainty, of not knowing whether things will come. We are measuring our success by the manifestation in the phenomenal world. By this very act, the energies are pushed away. The impatience manifests the hidden uncertainty, and lack of trust and faith energies. So when facing this, release the impatience and allow yourself to experience the feelings you think you would experience if the intention manifested. You are pushing and postponing these feelings into the future, thinking erroneously somehow that they cannot be accessed right now. That is the essence of the push factor, and what creates that uncertainty. Trust, and have faith.

Manifestation Series Part 9: The Key to the Great Lock of Inadequacy

2009-08-02T00:42:00.000-07:00

Source/copyright: Wikimedia; Gryffindor

In my blog, I have already detailed the fact that the resting state of our individual conscious awareness' is the pattern which determines the limit of our potential to manifest. This is, if you like, the blueprint. If it is not changed, then even if strides are made in the direction of our manifestative desires, it will resettle in the old pattern, just as if there were a magnetising force bringing everything back into order, albeit an undesired order. This is the effect of the basic harmony energy of the universe (there are three - the wisdom energy, the Light energy and the harmony energy).

Identifying the blocks of this pattern, or in other words identifying the limits of one's potential, is probably the trickiest thing to do in the whole manifestative process. It requires honesty and courage - the honesty to see that you may be holding yourself back, even when you desperately wish you were right; the courage to conquer the fear patterns which are also emitted by the magnetic potential properties to drag you back the further you explore outside the current potential.

Various people have come up with various models for identifying blocks. Some are useful, some are not. I've come up with many of my own over the years. Doubtless as you explore your psyche you will notice some that may not fit the grander pattern.

The Sedona Method formulation of the magnetic locks, in equation form:

Sedona Block, B1 = B1(wanting control, wanting approval, wanting survival)

In other words, the hidden limits of the potential, or the Upper Limit Problem created by a given magnetic identity, is determined by a combination of those three things.

The Hendricks version, a la The Big Leap, could be summarised as:

Hendricks Block, B2 = B2(belief in lack of capability/deservingness, disloyalty and abandonment of past and lineage (own and others), believing greater success brings a greater burden to self and others, not wanting to outshine)

In my preference for grand underlying schemes, a carry over from my youth, my version of the block is this:

Grand Block, B3 = B3(sense of inadequacy)

If you look at all the other blocks in any other system, you will eventually see that it boils down to some form of inadequacy.

So how do you find these blocks? Study the Sedona Method or The Big Leap, or even The Work of Byron Katie. All good areas to start. Also study the Feeling Exercise of Arnold Patent. All use different tracking devices, but the essence of all these methods is to track feelings of non-harmony. It is the dissonance that arises when you go counter to the particular manifestation of harmony energies held in your awareness that causes discomfort, anger, fear, retaliation. The harmony energies is probably the most hands-on of the three basic energies, and the ordering nature is what keeps people in their place. That's great for most living, but it also means that if we do not know how to change it, then we are stuck! From a non-esoteric level, let your feelings be your guide.

A simple block tracking technique in the tradition of the masculine principle: Visualise what you desire, right now, and notice what comes up.

1. Did your visualisation lack clarity?
- Check the clarity of your intention.
- Check how well you have thought this through, especially what the successful manifestation will mean to your life and what changes will happen - to you and those around you.

2. Were you in harmony with the visualisation?
- Check how comfortable you were - if not, seek out the source of discomfort, for therein lies a lock.
- Check how congruent you were - is your life ready for this right now? If not, you may be in harmony with this, but mentally putting it on hold whilst waiting for another aspect of your life to manifest.

3. How naturally did the visualisation appear?
- Even if it were in harmony, if it did not come smoothly, it may be foreign to your energy field. Then it is a matter of stretching towards it so it is manifested. This is where it is within the field of potential, but not being activated.

The automatic release of blocks and natural attraction (a feminine principle approach):

Relax and smooth out the bumps in your awareness. Enter the state of emptiness, which is the nullification of all illusory blocks and the ultimate freeing of awareness. The emptiness naturally nullifies all thought blocks and links to limited awareness. (A master once said that meaning of the great mantra, Om Mani Padme Hum, means "enter into the emptiness, and within that discover your true self, and from that abundance follows". That is exactly what this technique accomplishes.)

Using the lightest of intentions in the sea of awareness, discover the reality of perfect harmony which you desire and are attracted to. Allow it to perfume and colour your awareness, and settle gently down into it. Allow your awareness reside in it, even as it resides and embeds itself in you. Allow this reality to re-order the nature of your energy field, and become the new blueprint. The key here is to allow. Keep your awareness very humble, very light, very malleable and very open. The key is to surrender to this new reality. The more force is being used in your intention, i.e. the harder you try to superglue it into your awareness, the more of the masculine principle is being used in the design, which takes far more energy to maintain. Far wiser to use the feminine, which will automate the harmony energies on your behalf. As you come back to waking awareness, allow this energy to reside and grow freely. Raise the levels of faith and trust energies in your system, and it will do so.

Thus the great lock is not attacked, for in attacking it it grows stronger, but completely bypassed, in the tradition of mastery.

P/S: I have not gone into it, but the Light aspect of the energies has the power to burn locks too.

Manifestation Series Part 8: The Resonance Principle

2009-08-01T12:43:00.000-07:00

I've been harping on about the feminine principle, so here is something on the masculine principle. The ultimate masculine manifestation technique is one that basically involves the use of such intense power and energy that it sweeps through every part of the mind uniformly, transmuting and transforming everything in its path.

The method of doing this is quite simple. Simply invoke the appropriate energies/image to be manifested, and then use a 4-4 breath i.e. a 4 count inhale and a 4 count exhale to increase the attention and absorption. The inhale should expand the lungs upwards and outwards and the exhale should do the opposite. This has an interesting energising impact on the body. I suspect, but have yet to prove, that done correctly this creates gamma brainwaves, which also are the most penetrative of the brainwaves.

Given enough resonating at this pure level, the remnants of energies will begin to align and start to be coloured by this. However, on experimenting with this, I find that immediately after, one's mind descends into quiet, not unlike the quiet after imagestreaming, which makes me suspect the mind transitions to delta immediately after. This is most startling, for it says that at the height of the masculine principle is again the feminine principle, and the energy resonance ultimately has to enter a feminine form to sink in and sustain itself. Thus, it stands to reason that although the masculine principle can sweep up the blocks temporarily, it is dependent on the feminine energies to permanently transform. And the feminine energy template basically creates the limit of potential for a given energy form, what Hendricks calls the Upper Limit Problem.

Manifestation Series Part 7: The Grand Formula

2009-07-31T08:16:00.001-07:00

Source: Wikimedia

I am generally suspicious of any attempt to make the manifestation process into a grand formula, because it has a habit of coming to bits. However, in the spirit of putting everything into equations, I couldn't resist taking another stab at it. Please realise that the universe is far too complex to be put into a specific formula - the equation is more to be a reminder of success components.

Success, S = S (Creation, Attraction) = S(C, A)

Success is a function of the Law of Creation and the Law of Attraction. The Law of Creation allows us to flexibly maneuver our awareness within the sea of awareness, or pure potential, to anchor an awareness in an energetic pattern that supports us. Once rooted into that pattern, we can employ the energies of attraction to magnetise that which we purely desire. We re-Create ourselves in a form that can Attract what we desire.

The facilitator of this simple scheme is the ability of conscious awareness to move flexibly beyond the normal range of thought. Your equation for freeing conscious awareness:

Freedom of conscious awareness, F = F(Intention, Conscious of the content of awareness, Surrender)

Intention is that which mobilises the movement in awareness. It is a very light, very gentle thing. Anything heavier or more forceful tends to create friction, because it is driven by (or at least cultivates a fertile environment for) desperation born of fear. It is pure intention, and it won't be of any surprise now to any reader of this series when I say

Pure Intention = Intention - desperation/fear.

The effect of being conscious of the content of awareness is tricky. You are employing multiple views. Ultimately as awareness fades into the sea of awareness, it becomes pure. However, on the trip there, having a view of what is going on helps. The key is to notice. If I had to give a sub-formula:

Conscious of awareness' content = Noticing content of experience + Insight

Noticing is a third person perspective. It is conscious awareness monitoring itself. Notice when discomfort arises. Notice when pleasure arises. Notice when desperation or fear arises. And based on your observation, explore this further. You will gain the insight necessary to release the chains by which you are bound. The things that hold you back: wanting approval, wanting survival, wanting control (ala Lester Levenson and Sedona Method) or, if you prefer the Hendricks approach: feeling flawed, feeling disloyal or not wanting to abandon, believing success is a bigger burden, the crime of outshining. Notice the stories of justification that arise. Question them with The Work of Byron Katie. You will find the stories to be false. With this insight you will gain the courage to use the third part of the Freedom formula - surrender.

When you have discovered that which holds you back, and you realise it is false, then it is easier to surrender the stories. Surrender is an interesting one to put a formula to. It's a theme I've harped about for quite some time, but never been more specific about. Let's try an equation on that:

Surrender or complete vulnerability = Releasing all inner protective barriers + Willingness to experience whatever comes especially emotionally

This shows a maturity, for in creating complete vulnerability, we no longer feel the urge to lie to ourselves. It cuts through our tendencies to fudge and keep secrets from ourselves. Releasing all the inner barriers is daring to look at yourself in ways that are different from the usual. It may be flattering or not, but if you do not look you can never invoke the perspective. When you no longer hide from your feelings, then no inner gremlin can budge you from your path, because it will have no bargaining chip. All emotional blackmail fails, both from within and without, because you have commited to experience whatever comes completely. The instinct to survive, or wanting to survive, is usually strong. It feels out of control, with no assurance of approval, and all the factors of wanting come into being.

The dying flaring of the ego tries to snatch at bits and crumbs of stories to make the pain more bearable. However, determined willingness to experience, and experience fully, the brunt of what comes, will drive back these illusions. It is like a dam has broken and water has poured forth. It is not your part to save a dam that is broken. It is your part to experience and survive the flow of energies released, and live to rebuild something even more glorious. Attempting to build yourself too early results in suppression, and ultimately even more heartache in the long run.

That's a lot of equations. I want to put out just one more, without too much elaboration, on the nature of conscious awareness' aspects itself. This equation is less about doing, but more a statement about how conscious awareness automatically moves and functions.

Conscious awareness, C = C(Masculine principle, Feminine principle)

The masculine principle is that energy which arises dynamically. It is taking action. It is belief. It is the building of thought structures. It has to do with strategising, implementing, sustaining, growing. As conscious awareness grows in passion, the masculine principle often takes its form. But underneath all this activity is the yin side, the feminine principle. The feminine principle has to do with what awareness is rooted in, what identity has been created. Both complement each other. The masculine principle initiates, the feminine principle supports, but the masculine cannot exist without the feminine, and thus the feminine comes first.

And as we come to the end, we have to ask what creates the whole impulse for the manifestation process to begin. What is the initial spark of attraction?

Impulse of manifestation = Self-arising Volition (not Will, which is a masculine principle force) + Awareness + Harmonic resonance

I'll leave you to ponder that. It has great implications for the issue of free will.