Originally posted by Fugazzi:Existence precedes essence lah. Eg, Do I need to belive that I exist or my hands exist. I simply know …. However, if my friend or a sibling tells me that I need to believe in god or … it is merely a belief, a precept or a teaching or ….
Whatever is not in the realm of ’’experiencing’’ is simply thinking, explaining or … a mere intellectual exercise.
Whether one thinks or not one exists! Do I have to think before i exist I exist and thinking follows
What is existence?
how come there is a discrepancies in theravada definition of Nirvana, compare to that of Mahayana?
what did the buddha said about Nirvana then?
Hot and Cold can be non-dual... not in the sense of non-judgemental witnessing.
But rather, when experiencing hot or cold, there is no experiencer, the universe is just hot or cold.
A monk asked Tozan, “When cold and heat come, how can we avoid them?”
Tozan said, “Why don’t you go to the place where there is no cold or heat?”
The monk said, “What is the place where there is no cold or heat?”
Tozan said, “When it’s cold, the cold kills you; when it’s hot, the heat kills you.”
This is not advice to “accept” your situation, as some commentators have suggested, but a direct expression of authentic practice and enlightenment. Master Tozan is not saying, “When cold, shiver; when hot, sweat,” nor is he saying, “When cold, put on a sweater; when hot, use a fan.” In the state of authentic practice and enlightenment, the cold kills you, and there is only cold in the whole universe. The heat kills you, and there is only heat in the whole universe. The fragrance of incense kills you, and there is only the fragrance of incense in the whole universe. The sound of the bell kills you, and there is only “boooong” in the whole universe…
~The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing
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You are describing a state of relative cessation right? Can you function in the normal world in such a state?
Why not? It's only about realisation per se and nothing in physical form has changed. We still have our mind, our conscious, our perceptions, etc. remain intact as humans in the material world. Nothing else in our mental faculties have changed; only our attitude has shifted from our normal way of understanding circumstances to more profound realisation on circumstances.
At the end of the day, it is entirely a personal choice to cease or not to cease the suffering in life.
As again, the Buddha has shown the Ultimate Way to cease the suffering. The Buddha has only opened up a new perspective for one to understand the reality. No one is commanded to follow the footsteps of the Buddha.
Once again, our fate in life is determined by ourselves. If we choose to continue with the cycle of suffering, so be it. Do not blame others for it, do not be confused about it. Your ignorance is yours to bear with.
The saying goes.....
If one stays on with seeing Conventional Truth, one would remain in Samsara.
If one stays on seeing both Conventional Truth & Ultimate Truth, one has the choice of remaining either in Samsara or Nibbana.
If one stays on seeing Ultimate Truth, one would remain in Nibbana.
I asked you because you describe ceasing all twelve links which is only possible after the death of an Arhant or in states like nirodhasamapatti where normal functioning cannot occur...
For an Arhant who is still living, ignorance and craving ceases, but normal bodily senses and faculties, and feelings (perceptions of pleasant, unpleasant or neutral sensations), still arise owing to past karma (which means there is still dependently arisen phenomenon), even though they no longer create new ones or new causes for future births. This is called the cessation with remainder, in contrast with cessation without remainder (parinibbana).
Also isn't it contradictory that you said your mind is intact, and yet in the pictures you said the mind disappears into 'a blackhole of emptiness'.
Can you describe what 'blackhole of emptiness' means, experientially?
Fugazzi, u newage izzit?
Originally posted by sinweiy:Fugazzi, u newage izzit?
When the Buddha has gained Enlightenment at age 35, he still has his mind working for the next 45 years i.e. the Buddha still has his mind and body remain intact until the one last time of disintegration i.e. the pass on time period. Only then could the mind be fully liberated – ultimately.
In other words, when one has gained Enlightenment while sustaining with a living body, the mind would still exist but with a paradigm shift towards seeing the reality without delusion or hesitation. The mind has not gained absolute liberation as yet and this circumstance is also known as cessation with remainder. The ultimate liberation or cessation without remainder can only be achieved without sustaining with a living body.
Emptiness does correspond to general characteristics of Black Hole in the Universe. Let us analysis it as follows: -
1. A Black Hole forms when any object reaches a certain critical density, and its gravity causes it to collapse to an almost infinitely small pinpoint. [The black hole of Emptiness forms when the dependent nature of phenomenon dies out and fades away; and the force of awakening caused the Mind to collapse into it to infinitely singular point.]
2. A Black Hole is a highly dense region of space with an enormous concentration of mass from where nothing can escape from its gravity: not even light. [Emptiness is the original richness and fullness of the phenomena as they really are.]
3. When a Black Hole and a star are close together, high-energy light is made. This kind of light cannot be seen with human eyes. Scientists use satellites and telescopes in space to see the high-energy light i.e the X-ray emission.
[Buddhism is also known as the path to illumination.]
4. A Black Hole is surrounded by a surface called the event horizon at which the escape velocity equals the speed of light and that thus marks the outer boundary of a Black Hole. This is a spherical surface that marks the boundary of the Black Hole. The “event horizon” of a Black Hole is the point of no return. That is, it comprises the last events in the spacetime around the singularity at which a light signal can still escape to the external universe.
[In Buddhism, there is a third stage of transcendent insight known as an�g�mi (non-returning).]
5. A light flash originating at an event outside of the event horizon will escape, but it will be red-shifted strongly to the extent that it is near the horizon. An outgoing beam of light that originates at an event on the event horizon itself, by definition, remains on the event horizon until the temporal end of the universe.
[Emptiness creates the Samsara, but it enables also the escape or the liberation from it to Nibbana.]
[In Nibbana, time is a non-existence.]
7. Black Holes were originally called frozen stars: because they seem to 'freeze' at a size just slightly bigger than the Schwarzschild radius - the distance at which all matter within that distance will collapse into the singularity.
[Literally, in Nibbana, all basic elements i.e. energy, matter and space are practically frozen. Any input would churn no output - this arises, that ceases; that arises, this ceases.]
8. To a distant observer, clocks near a black hole appear to tick more slowly than those further away from the black hole. In a sense, time really does pass more slowly near the horizon than it does far away.
[In deep meditative ambience, the come factor would decelerate and the relative become factor would accelerate. Thus, the mental development speeds up.]
9. In principle, Black Holes can have any mass. The size of black hole does not have any limit. It can be of any size with any radius and any mass. The size of black hole as determined by the radius of the event horizon, which is proportional to the mass.
[The Buddha nature exists within all beings or things – regardless size and mass.]
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Originally posted by Takso:[IMG]http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc408/takso/NDE.jpg[/IMG]
The tunnel of light vision is not the experience of clear light. Clear light is not a visually experienced light as in the tunnel of light. A lot of people don't understand this and distort its meaning. Clear Light is simply a Metaphor for the sheer brilliance and illuminating quality of pure awareness, not a visually experienced light.
Worse still, a lot of people experience seeing bright light in meditation, and think it has anything at all to do with Buddha-nature. They are screwed, completely deluded by appearances.
When you realize the true clear light, you don't see any funny lights. It is just pure awareness.
As Lobsang P. Lhalungpa clearly states:
"Lucid awareness" refers to an individual's pure consciousness, which is detached from any dualistic discrimination. A perfect insight into the intrinsic void of reality, it is wisdom with clarity. This is one of those important points that have been misinterpreted in the West. The literal rendering of the original Tibetan term "osel" (spelled 'od-gsal) as "clear light" seems to be the case. It is a metaphor, signifying an inbred clarity.
The Tibetan text (f. 204 B, l. 4) gives the following description:
The meaning of osel (clear light) consists of its being a natural state - detached from any absolute emergence or cessation and from any substance or element - and being unstained and immutable like spaces or nondifferentiable from it.
Furthermore, the common description "the void of clear light" (Tib. osel tongpanyi, spelled 'od-gsal stong-pa-nyid; Skt. pratibhasa sunyata) makes my point eminently clear."
By the way, while the subsidance of gross mental experiences can result in a glimpse of clear light, it does not mean that clear light itself is not a 'dependent phenomenon'.*
Also, more often than not, a glimpse of clear light in the gap between of thoughts is simply a mere glimpse and can lead to the I AM sort of understanding. The Hindus also talk about pure luminous consciousness in the gap between two thoughts (see latest post in http://sgforums.com/forums/1728/topics/439257). Without insight into the twofold emptiness, we will not gain liberation this way.
*Clear light mental activity is not dependent on ignorance, so it is in itself not an afflictive phenomenon (adventitious defilements can be destroyed leaving luminosity intact), but it is defiled by afflictions in the manner Buddha spoke of:
"Luminous, monks, is the mind.[1] And it is defiled by incoming defilements." {I,v,9}
"Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is freed from incoming defilements." {I,v,10}
"Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is defiled by incoming defilements. The uninstructed run-of-the-mill person doesn't discern that as it actually is present, which is why I tell you that — for the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person — there is no development of the mind." {I,vi,1}
"Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is freed from incoming defilements. The well-instructed disciple of the noble ones discerns that as it actually is present, which is why I tell you that — for the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones — there is development of the mind." {I,vi,2}
~ Pabhassara Sutta
Nonetheless you should understand mind as also an activity that dependently originates, even though not afflictively.
Here is an excerpt regarding the dependent origination of clear light by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in his book 'Dzogchen: Heart Essence of the Great Perfection':
Question: Is the fundamental innate mind of clear light dependent on causes and conditions? If it is not dependent, how can it be empty of independent existence?
HHDL: This is a very good question. Often in the texts we find mention of the fundamental innate mind of clear light being not produced by causes and conditions. Now here it is important to understand that in general when we use the term 'produced phenomena' there are different connotations. Something can be called 'produced' because it is a production of delusions and the actions they induce. Again, it may also refer to a production by causes and conditions. And there is also a sense of 'produced' as being caused by conceptual thought processes.
Certain texts speak of the activities of the Buddha as permanent and non-produced in the sense that they are continuous, and that as long as there are sentient beings, the activities of the buddhas will remain without interruption. So, from the point of view of their continuity, these activities are sometimes called permanent.
In the same manner, the fundamental innate mind of clear light, in terms of its continuity, is beginningless, and also endless. This continuum will always be there, and so from that specific point of view, it is also called 'non-produced'. Besides, the fundamental innate mind of clear light is not a circumstantial or adventitious state of mind, for it does not come into being as a result of circumstantial interaction of causes and conditions. Rather, it is an ever-abiding continuum of mind, which is inherent within us. So from that viewpoint, it is also called 'non-produced'.
However, although this is the case, we still have to maintain that, because it possesses this continuity, the present fundamental innate mind - this present instant of consciousness - comes from its earlier moments. The same holds true of the wisdom of Buddha - the omniscient mind of Buddha - which perceives the two truths directly and simulttaneously, and which is also a state of awareness or consciousness. Since it is a state of awareness, the factor which will eventually turn into that kind of wisdom, namely the fundamental innate nature of clear light, will also have to be maintained to be a state of awareness. For it is impossible for anything which is not by nature awareness to turn into a state of awareness. So from this second point of view, the fundamental innate mind of clear light is causally produced.
Also, he explains,
The fundamental mind which serves as the basis of all phenomena of cyclic existence and nirvana is posited as the ultimate truth or nature of phenomena (dharmata, chos nyid); it is also called the ‘clear light’ (abhasvara, ‘od gsal) and uncompounded (asamskrta, ‘dus ma byas). In Nying-ma it is called the ‘mind-vajra’; this is not the mind that is contrasted with basic knowledge (rig pa) and mind (sems) but the factor of mere luminosity and knowing, basic knowledge itself. This is the final root of all minds, forever indestructible, immutable, and unbreakable continuum like a vajra. Just as the New Translation Schools posit a beginningless and endless fundamental mind, so Nying-ma posits a mind-vajra which has no beginning or end and proceeds without interruption through the effect stage of Buddhahood. It is considered ‘permanent’ in the sense of abiding forever and thus is presented as a permanent mind. It is permanent not in the sense of not disintegrating moment by moment but in the sense that its continuum is no interrupted…