Advice for astral projection practitioners

[acitak]

Yesterday, I asked few questions about astral projection to one master, my dear friend who attained 8th samadhi(jhana) and he is one step to final enlightenment, stream as he said.( he went through all astral and mental(causal) worlds in this universe,already) and there are his answers.



What is difference between astral projections and other astral travels in consciousness states?

This is exactly what the Buddha had asked before he attained enlightenment. He was taught by various masters to reach realms of emptiness and the various astral realms. However, he still saw suffering in all of these realms. In order to find the answer to this, the first clue he received from insight was the experience of first jhana in his childhood.

Take careful note of this. The liberation starts from the first jhana to the fourth jhana, also known as the rupa-jhanas. These are extremely important. If a person does not go through these, they do not develop equanimity or any of the factors of enlightenment. They do not develop sufficient "power" or emptiness to receive the insight stream in whole.

The higher samadhis - such as reaching various astral worlds - the realms of devas, brahma, etc - These are all simply experiential realms. If an adventurer has this ability, it is only due to one's past merits and meditation work in another lifetime that has allowed this to ripen. However, this does not mean that one should not develop the first to fourth jhana.


May you, for example , reach higher states of consciousness and higher astral worlds by projecting only , without meditation background ,or ego is obstacle?

You are right in saying that the ego itself is a form of obstacle. This ego is consciousness. Even if you are able to experience the whole world in the various samadhis, if you do not develop the first four jhanas and attain the right factors, it is impossible to attain liberation.

In sleep, dreamlike states where a person is not completely lucid can also be a form of astral projection. However, this is a state that is alike to "oblivion". The person is not aware. It is not the right state of samadhi. Even in lucid sleep, this is still a limited experience. Some refer it to an "astral tube experience". Even in near-death experiences, the "intermediate yin body" is still not able to truly reach all of these realms.

What we are doing in first to fourth jhana is to allow the faculties to fully ripen (please note this is a layman description to just give an idea). It is like developing the ability for one to receive wisdom. Vipassana is not a type of meditation technique, it means "insight", which comes along with absorption.