Ask a Bodhisattva Anything

reply to post by avatar01


The best answer that I can give you is God is.

No I haven't used enlightenment to score chicks. Also being enlightened means I never would.

reply to post by IndieA


Do you find it disgusting to be a part of a system that consumes and destroys? That enslaves and exploits?

The fact that my very way of life is built on the backs of the poor in the third world both angers and saddens me but you can't escape the system. How do you "get back into the world" when all I see is greed and corruption?

reply to post by WhiteHat


My view on sex has changed completely. For example I'm married but if my wife wanted to have sex with someone, who am I to deny her that experience. I don't own her.

I told my wife this and she said "You know that doesn't work for you right?" =)

reply to post by AnotherYOU


I actively sought it out and it worked for me. But many would say by seeking it you'll never find it. I can't tell you what you should do, but seeking worked for me.

reply to post by Buddha1098


Have you told your wife about all the women you want to have sex with? I bet she feels pretty insecure. Now you are a free spirit you might be unpredictable.

reply to post by starwarsisreal


The law of attraction works like this. Whatever energy you give out, you will get back. Whatever thoughts you have about something you will manifest.

For example: If you are an angry person, you will experience a lot of anger in your life. If you think the world is out to get you, you'll experience situations that make you fearful. Basically it's like the platitude "You don't see the world as it is, you see the world as you are."

I don't think the law of attraction is your key to prosperity. If you want to be prosperous work harder, get a better job, or go back to school.

reply to post by whaaa


I didn't answer because I didn't understand the question. I'm assuming it's a zen koan of some sort?

Originally posted by Astyanax
reply to post by Buddha1098

 

Stagnation, laziness and procrastination all stem from the desire to serve one's own needs before the needs of others.

Fiddlesticks. They stem from conflicts within the self which are only incidentally to do with others.

Cultivate a spirit of service in your life, once you are genuinely fulfilled by the happiness of others you will become excited by service.

Poppycock. We do not exist to be one another’s servants.

This is just good old Judeo-Christian slave morality, as pilloried by Nietzsche. It isn’t even Buddhist.

You are not an enlightened being; you are a self-deluded one who is now trying, in all innocence, to make others share your delusion.

Service to others isn't slavery, it's liberation. If you want to be happy, make other people happy.

Here is an excerpt from Mysticism by Evelyn Underhill.

"There are three main types of experience which appear again and again in the history of mysticism; nearly always in connection with illumination, rather than any other phase of mystical development. I think that they may fairly be regarded as its main characteristics, though the discussion of them cannot cover all the ground. In few forms of spiritual life is the spontaneity of the individual so clearly seen as here: and in few is the ever-deadly process of classification attended with so many risks.

These three characteristics are:—

1. A joyous apprehension of the Absolute: that which many ascetic writers call “the practice of the Presence of God.” This, however, is not to be confused with that unique consciousness of union with the divine which is peculiar to a later stage of mystical development. The self, though purified, still realizes itself as a separate entity over against God. It is not immersed in its Origin, but contemplates it. This is the “betrothal” rather than the “marriage” of the soul.

2. This clarity of vision may also be enjoyed in regard to the phenomenal world. The actual physical perceptions seem to be strangely heightened, so that the self perceives an added significance and reality in all natural things: is often convinced that it knows at last “the secret of the world.” In Blake’s words “the doors of perception are cleansed” so that “everything appears to man as it is , infinite.” 491

In these two forms of perception we see the growing consciousness of the mystic stretching in two directions, until it includes in its span both the World of Being and the World of Becoming; 492 that dual apprehension of reality as transcendent yet immanent which we found to be one of the distinguishing marks of the mystic type.

3. Along with this two-fold extension of consciousness, the energy of the intuitional or transcendental self may be enormously increased. The psychic upheavals of the Purgative Way have tended to make it central for life: to eliminate from the character all those elements which checked its activity. Now it seizes upon p. 241 the ordinary channels of expression; and may show itself in such forms as (a) auditions, (b) dialogues between the surface consciousness and another intelligence which purports to be divine, (c) visions, and sometimes (d) in automatic writings. In many selves this automatic activity of those growing but still largely subconscious powers which constitute the “New Man,” increases steadily during the whole of the mystic life.

Illumination, then, tends to appear mainly under one or all of these three forms. Often all are present; though, as a rule, one is dominant. The balance of characteristics will be conditioned in each case by the self’s psychic make-up; its temperamental leaning towards “pure contemplation,” “lucid vision,” or automatic expression; emanation or immanence, the metaphysical, artistic, or intimate aspects of truth. The possible combinations between these various factors are as innumerable as the possible creations of Life itself.

In the wonderful rhapsodies of St. Augustine, in St. Bernard’s converse with the Word, in Angela of Foligno’s apprehensions of Deity, in Richard Rolle’s “state of song,” when “sweetest heavenly melody he took, with him dwelling in mind,” or in Brother Lawrence’s “practice of the Presence of God,” we may see varied expressions of the first type of illuminated consciousness. Jacob Boehme is rightly looked upon as a classic example of the second; which is also found in one of its most attractive forms in St. Francis of Assisi. Suso and St. Teresa, perhaps, may stand for the third, since in them the visionary and auditory phenomena were peculiarly well marked. A further study of each characteristic in order, will help us to disentangle the many threads which go to the psychical make-up of these great and complex mystic types. The rest of this chapter will, then, be given to the analysis of the two chief forms of illuminated consciousness: the self’s perception of Reality in the eternal and temporal worlds. The important subject of voices and visions demands a division to itself."

www.sacred-texts.com...

Originally posted by Sentience365
Greetings and thank you for starting this thread.

I have a question for you in regards to the enlightenment experience. Earlier this year I too had an experience I would term as enlightenment was well. Everything dissolved around me into what can only be described as love and an understanding of the interconnectedness of the universe. Just like you I was given the option to come back and the presence there informed me that I could access this place at any time. Since then, however, I have not been able to return to that place at all. Do you know why this would be? I speculate it is because I got caught up in my material life once again but this brings me to my second question.

I do not consider myself "enlightenment material" in the least. I watch TV every so often, I have some drinks on occasion, I eat meat and indulge in attachment to the physical via my hobby which is bodybuilding. So my question is: Why would I have had an enlightenment experience in the first place? Aren't there people out there dedicating their lives to the betterment of humanity who would deserve to feel what I felt but haven't? Some dedicate their lives to the seeking of enlightenment, why should I be rewarded when they haven't been?

If you need more information I started a thread trying to understand my experiences somewhat recently, here it is: Link

Thank you very much for your time and effort!

Since you're a body builder I'll call you bro.. =)

I was a coc aine addicted, steroid using, carnivore consumer before my experience. I wasn't seeking it it just happened. You can get back there at will. You just have to start meditating.

PS I watch TV shows and drink on occasion too. I don't think you have to be a monk to be liberated, I do think it helps though =)

Namaste

reply to post by Buddha1098



No ZEN....

I'm heart broken....

reply to post by EmilNomel


I would say when you have Christ consciousness or Buddha nature. When your own desires are gone and all you are left with is unconditional love for all humanity.

I'm not even close btw

So you were in this Christ-state for about ten days? Were you under the influence of any entheogenic substances (eg. mescaline, ayahuasca, '___') ?

Why do you think your christ state ended after ten days?

From a buddhist perspective, is right and wrong, ie. becoming conscious of the choices and choosing kindness over harshness, merely illusions? If so, then why is it that the teachings I have read have also been positive, and mindful of others?

What is infinity, and how does this relate to the buddist perspective?

When I close my eyes with a blindfold and see the inner universe within, to locate my point of light, how does that inner infnity relate to myself, its as if the boundaries between my form and this merge and disappear?

Why so often when the point of light shows, like a swirling light or color, or a tunnel do I immediately go to sleep for 20 minutes to an hour?

reply to post by Buddha1098

Service to others isn't slavery, it's liberation. If you want to be happy, make other people happy.

Show how this follows.

What drew you to ATS of all places? Why not to a Buddhist specific forum or website?

Originally posted by Astyanax
reply to post by Buddha1098

 

Service to others isn't slavery, it's liberation. If you want to be happy, make other people happy.

Show how this follows.

It requires an emotional capability called empathy. You experience the emotions of others vicariously. You probably have seen somebody smile and then felt like smiling back? kind of like that.

-rrr

Originally posted by Buddha1098
reply to post by Sahabi

 

Stagnation, Laziness and procrastination all stem from the desire to serve one's own needs before the needs of others. Cultivate a spirit of service in your life, once you are genuinely fulfilled by the happiness of others you will become excited by service.

Thanks for the above quote, this is of value to me

what is my first name?

reply to post by Wachstum


I really don't know enough about Tantra to give you anything more than an intuitive guess. But my intuition tells me you are manipulating your Kundalini. I feel an energy almost like a wave of solid electricity move up my spine. I'm no expert by any means though.

Namaste