ajasatya

certainly good for beginners, even though we should aim for no attachment to objects in any part of the consciousness spectrum: visual auditive tactual olfactory gustatory mindful and ultimately, respiratory

@Debbie B your question is one of the biggies. the zen master dogen spent a lot of time trying to clarify it himself, so i'm going to attach a great book with the core of his teachings. the very first chapter should help you to answer your own question. it's not about understanding things conceptually, intellectually. it's not about accepting nor attaining. it's about embodying Truth and staking your life upon it. every thought, word and gesture. it's about becoming a true master. a true master of yourself. Shobogenzo.pdf edit: also, @Leo Gura, i think you may enjoy this book on this new phase of yours.

no. they're not enlightened at all. they've just found excuses for their ego's comfort, laziness and arrogance.

@Tancrede Pouyat have you tried opening your heart and telling them that they hurt you when they act like that? this is an attempt to practice the jesus' teaching about showing the other side of the face.

@Costa7 start really slow. meditate once in a week. when i started, i only practiced on mondays exactly at 20pm. my mondays started to be all about my meditation practice. mondays became the best day of the week after a while.

@stevegan928 not everyone. it's possible to heal this addiction. progress is not bad but you can't put your happiness on it. a day in which "nothing" was accomplished? that's still a day. the only way to have REAL progress is when you know what you want and how to get it. if you don't know it yet, use this opportunity to free yourself from self harassment. this opportunity is quite rare to be honest.

@stevegan928 hello! you're still looking for progress on these spiritual practices. one of the purposes of meditation is to kill your addiction for progress. so just sit with no goal. it feels terrifying, i know. it means you're doing it properly. keep going.

@Shin nice. more important than knowing Truth is living it. the secret lies on being sincerely curious and paying attention. be completely present. while listening to someone, that's your satsang.

@John, true meditation is sitting for no reason. just sit and do nothing. let everything be the way it is. just sit.

good point. this kind of topic is not important right now. i see myself on the place you are because once i actually was. i was sexually ill, with a sick penis, for 26 years. sex was horrifying and i had to go through a dangerous surgery, with the risk of losing genital sensibility. fight for your healing because it's possible. you need professional help. all i said on the other comment was that suicide is NOT going to help at all.

@Deepak sadhwani the mind is the best book. practice meditation daily. if you want something to read throughout your practice, i'd recommend the power of now.

my ex-girlfriend was having a bipolar freak out, taking off her clothes, breaking public things, hitting people and throwing stones. it was happening periodically, but that time i couldn't handle it. i started to cry the deepest crying ever. i felt the biggest pain of my life, even though my body went through a huge amount of surgeries and painful recoveries. at the moment i was crying, the voice appeared in my thought: "i give up completely. i give up on life. just take this all away". then a subtle lucidity ht me like a lightning. i started to feel detached from all that, from me and from reality. since then i've been feeling life in a completely different way.

this entire album

@renegade_bee your state of mind determines the kind of life that the consciousness you're experiencing right now will have. Reality works this way. the mind is the workspace for materialization. this is how faith works. there are some limitations, of course. if your mind is connected with suicidal thoughts, that's your pattern. this birth you had is a materialization of the last state of mind that you (as consciousness) once was experiencing before its mind/body death. break that cycle for once. get into the flow of the Dharma and be free from bad rebirths.

your sense of self is not the only one that's illusory. EVERYONE'S sense of self is illusory. so Reality is this Thing experiencing itself through illusory selves. Reality forgets its own origin so it can experience Being by duality. and here You are, reading Your Own messages, fundamentally. it's not necessary to fight your sense of self, though. you just have to align it to Truth. it's done through training, real practice. i can point the training to you if you want. waking up to our True Nature just takes us to the door. it's just the beginning. we can fool ourselves grinding out kenshos and samadhis but it's not necessary. all it actually takes is one glimpse. the training process is the same as the one that provides you the glimpse. right now, through "me" and "you", Reality is trying to wake itself up as this message is being read.

@Dodoster what is it that does karma yoga? or even, what is it that feels the fruits of karma yoga? if you truly understand this, then there'll be nothing to do but 24/7 practice of goodness without any attainment in mind.

that was honest, noble and straightforward. interesting.

@Martin123 good, but not so fast. don't be afraid. what do you want for your life then?

want to be your own pillar for motivation? remember that you (as a person) are going to die. don't deceive yourself. then carry your own death with you 24/7. what can you do about it?

@NutellaTC why are you doing all this? are you trying to escape from your social anxiety? your body is pointing to your lies. actually it's not just pointing. it's SCREAMING. you have to heal yourself before trying to transcend your ego. i'd say you're lacking forgiveness/humility. stop running away asap.

@Shin i love you too! this is true liberation. not some purely intellectual trash. knowing what our true nature is? it means almost nothing! it's only worth it when we can actually live it

yes. you have to practice without goals. that's the best advice. just practice for the sake of it. practice for practice itself. this book is perfect for this topic. if you want to deepen your meditation practice, it's the best modern source of knowledge i know.

@Peace and Love i feel like i can help you with some clarifications so you may find your middle path. unfortunately i can only talk about going from the single-with-no-child state to the married-with-children state because that's my own path. which is also good, because you can make use of my words. i had to go through a celibacy training stage to reach the comprehension i have right now. i lived as a zen monk until i could free myself from the needs of sexual satisfaction. then i met my girlfriend on a kundalini yoga event. we started to talk and quickly we found out that both of us had Truth as the primary value to live by. we do not feel as if there were some obligation for us to live together. we simply enjoy the calmness of each other's presence and it floods into our sexual intimacy like nectar dropping from a flower. yes, love is freedom. we love everyone. but there's intimate love, which grows DEEPER and DEEPER as we practice presence and synchronicity. and it can go infinitely deep as we mature together with sincerity and non-attachment. my advice is: heal yourself completely. clean your past as soon as possible so you can start living your own truth. enjoy a healthy life from now on and wish happiness for everyone around you.

@Joel3102 nice! you've gone into it! here are some precise meditation instructions given by sidhartha gautama himself. pay attention to the seven factors for awakening and try to map your practice with what he says so you know how to go deeper and deeper.

@Authenticity there is ONE spirit. that's why jesus, who was a very concise embodiment of the Truth, talked about this thing called The Holy Spirit all the time. ask yourself what you are until you know it.