Sri Ramana Maharshi

Did not watch the vid, but the top joke is flawless. -metta

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I find these factors (inquiry/VIpassana) to be self-supportive for the most part as well, at least in certain stages of development. I started daily meditation with a Samadhi focused practice (8 Jhanas at a medium level, Metta, etc.), several years ago, but my first teacher and I quickly saw that I was using those toys and "attainments" to re-self and stagnate. Mahasi style practice for 3 years straight has sorted that out, but the way has been rough (as it probably should be). One eventually sees the mind follow after most traps and cravings and not so skilled entrainments. Also, the purification Vipassana practice gives is incredible if one sticks to the basic technique, in its daily dose or constantly if possible. I will keep the weekly retreat advice for use as soon as the body is capable. For myself as a westerner, faith was originally a problem due to over education (beliefs/conditioning) so Ecclecticism moved in. While I learned a bit about Generalized Mysticism through a broad research pattern, there emerges a tendancy toward hacking over and over again at the branches of the tree rather than a sharp honed skill set that cuts the root. Metta, -Brett

Oh, that pain. My teacher gives me gold and I transmute it into shit. Everytime it seems like. I'm often like the legend of Midas in reverse. I suppose we should also wonder, "Where is the bad shit?" Both? Non-dual. The antidote burns up in its own ground -- rest, pow! Gone. Watch out for the trap of preventing the little guy from having some "fun" due to fearing the next abyss/moha/delusion. All these traps bear my blood stains. So you'll cycle forever in the Tao, but maybe somehow grow from the struggle for balance. I'm babbling, sorry Sri.

There are probably infinite ways to "unpack" Nasargadatta's work. In my practice, now, I can sum up how it feels like he helped(s): After reading certain passages in his work, the possibility that thoughts could slip off the mind as "not me, not mine" was created. Once created, that possibility interleaved with the Vipassana/Therevada practice I was already doing and thoughts really do slip off the mind and fail to be grasped. More and more this seems to be the default, but inconstancy reigns surpreme as always. Adyashanti breaks down many of these concepts in perfect speech, which sometimes almost feels like Shaktipat over video here. Velcro wears out over time. Whew. -Brett

E.O. WIlson also popularized the idea that all Magesteria would tunnel into each other to eventually be understood holistically as a unity at some point in human history...at least I am pretty sure that is the case if memory does serve.

Sounds like you are have reasons to be confident in your meditation abilities, although I too am merely a student of reality humbly trying to share. Eventually, you will/or may attain to a level of mindfulness where you see potential becomings of emotional states and whole "monkey-mind" stories, bubble up from "the source" in the present moment, and you may experience the usual grasping release from story rather than the usual contraction. In any case, this will come and go and ultimately disappoint, and if so the "search" may continue. Ultimately, the ego fades away from one's imaginary routine when it sees it can never "win" or be "free", and lets go in the manner in which you have designed it. Or there could be the experience of years and years of tug of war/arm wrestling with sticky beliefs that keep pulling the old hope traps out...or however you experience and attempt to discuss it. A wise man once told me it was often the case that the sense of self idea must be worn out over time like a pair of old shoes, often in spite of great Insight or beyond. Many teachers and students alike claim that "mindfulness alone is curative". Sounds good, but it's a bullshit dream if you know the standard way the mind works according to the findings of most yogis. Contact occurs only *after* the mind has extended a fabrication (which depends on belief in a false sense of self), which means you are neck deep in the "bull" prior to any knowing period. This is why Buddhists discuss and gain insight regarding Right View - The 4 truths and the Tilikhana (3 characteristics of cond. reality) prior to contact with the unconditioned. So my teachers have warned me about the trap of finding exactly what I want via the search (eg. the ego wants immortality as itself, and many other "toys"). If "the dream" autocorrects through awareness alone (a Vedanta doctrine/dogma) then there's some potential wisdom right there. You are fabricating "the dream" and looking for reality...so if the dream self repairs, then maybe you have an insight about the healing properties of illusion/moha. Of course, the Buddhist doctrine makes the assumption that the user is looking for freedom from fundamental and other (self-survival based) suffering. With right view in place, Sati Sampajanna autocorrects for this. Monkey mind is no problem when its arising, dwell, and passing are all seen within mindfulness, then its just another sensation, not you, not yours. What I try to study closest is which stories, hindrances, and "needs" make me crave and drop mindfulness long enough to go hypnogogic or get caught up in story in any way. A super realized teacher once told me: If you aren't in MIndfulness, you are in story. Sorry about having to pull so much spiritual ego out for this lip flapping session. I guess I didn't feel I had a Sangha and for the first couple of years of Vipassana exertion, it was hard not having anyone besides "The Guru" to discuss shop with in meditation (they are often too smart to get reeled into that), but in the long run it was best and these kinds of things are mainly a distraction and food for something that already has plenty of sustanance. Indeed an hour is a great sit, whether you are noting or working on your Concentration in Samadhi. Much metta friend, don't take any of this too seriously, since its whole purpose is to eventually land you in a position where you enjoy life, while not taking it seriously to tragic proportions. -Brett PS: To be succinct: "Skillfully trained Mindfulness is curative."

Nice. -b

Ok, this looks like it could be a "non-duality war" and thus against Leo's sticky rule. I should risk becoming a "Zen Devil - What is it?" and comment anyway. ... For me, it seems like this conundrum can be resolved within inconstancy via keeping a mindful eye on balance. What is meant here is, as one lives and creates daily experience, there is an intuition of taking life too seriously (ruining it on that polarity slip) and/or not seriously enough. So one side of the dichotomy tends to attract only contraction, while the other side tends to fixation/grasping and/or expansion or even vice versa. Some folks/beings seem to be naturals at this kind of abidance and others have to "think about it" or extend a fabrication for the Insights to reach maturation, and even then the work goes on and on, with daily practice recommended until the body conks out++. "Learning == Behavior Change", and that's for damn sure an experience many of us ought to readily relate to. Metta, -b "You....painted my entire world, but 'I', don't have the turpentine to clean what You have soiled..." -Bad Religion

Be careful what you wish for...include caution for how you label and interpret events. Force nothing, but sometimes that feeling that we can mislabel as an "enemy" is actually a friend in disguise. Of course, we can't drop resistance until we can, and that's a lesson I had to learn by getting my ass handed to me hundreds of times. In retrospect, it's easy to "shoot skeet" and see that the "me" that feared fear itself was able to be seen through, but only by living, not doing. Tragically I used to give beings bunk instructions, in an unethical and unskillful way, failing to understand that they can't listen (not that they wouldn't like to) and they must live a unique opening. Regarding a "panic attack", someday you could design a contemplation along the lines of: Panic Attack - What is it? -b PS: In the meantime...what about a being who has come the path to a point where such an encounter could be useful, but the present no longer obliges so easily. hmmm...