Anattā (no self)

[7luminaries]

Originally Posted by jonesboy

What does Clarity mean to you?

Also, I agree that choosing to do the practice, to stay mindful means your are doing and haven't realized being. It is all a practice until then no matter what practices you do.

Hello Jonesboy. IMO there is always practice, no matter where you are on your path. It simply looks and feels different at different points.
If you are being lovingkindness, if you have realised lovingkindness, then you will consciously choose to do it. You will choose to be and do lovingkindness with awareness and illumination.

Rather than not doing/being, or doing/being sporadically or with difficulty, or doing/being with ease but lacking awareness or clarity in the moment, or doing/being with ease but lacking commitment and fortitude to integrate the realisation into doing and being consistently and long-term.

Over the span of eternity, the fact of awareness implicitly brings about the immanent act of lovingkindness. That is, the being and doing from a place of conscious awareness in the moment. That conscious awareness in the moment is de fact choice. You consciously do and be...your conscious presence brings about ownership and choice. It's all a question of timing, LOL.

Re: clarity, it is a realisation or illumination which is ultimately integrated into one's awareness. Hence an illuminated presence has clarity; it has integrated the realisation into one's awareness. However, there is an entire process of realisation, reflection, and integration...all of which involve time, growth, and ultimately conscious choice/presence in the moment.

Clarity in and of itself does not immediately translate to manifest doing and being. The integration process itself is what yields that. Many have some clarity or illumination but have not yet chosen to integrate that into their daily being and doing. That requires more than clarity or realisation. That requires mindful presence, engagement, fortitude, courage, strength, discipline, and a deeper transformation of our spiritual being over time, day-to-day, which we then consciously intend to and work to manifest on the ground.

Peace & blessings
7L

Originally Posted by sky123

I am visualizing you running with steam coming out of your head and your hair standing up on end

I know very little about Chakras etc: but moving energy around , breath body/body in a body is something I do practice.
Why do you blow the energy out and not just circulate it around to clear the obstructions ?

sky123,

I remember a Buddhist monk once taught using the breath to clear some obstructions.

You would probably be well versed in instruction here

Namaste,

JL

Originally Posted by Gem

Yes practice brings the realisations called insights which amount to wisdom, and also enables the purification and extinguishing of accumulated sankaras, and pure love emerges from the endless depth of infinite outpouring to permeate the actuality of one's of day to day life.

Yes, that's a good way of putting it.

I remember a few teachers saying very few people know how to really practice, and judging by these forums, I understand.

It's interesting how few will be interested in the genuine teachings too, I guess some things are just sexier

More seriously, and most seriously, we know the Way, and the manifestation of true love, and peace is possible for those of us whom practice. This is the guidance and love of all the Buddhas..

JL

[sky]

Originally Posted by janielee

sky123,

I remember a Buddhist monk once taught using the breath to clear some obstructions.

You would probably be well versed in instruction here

Namaste,

JL

Yes JL, Bodhidharma

Originally Posted by Gem

Well, I'm a little extreme, so when people meditate and they are doing anything - visualising, controlling breath, mantra, or other self-generated activity, I'm like, OK, stop doing that and be aware of 'what is'. That's really what I think, but I don't mean it as advice or anything.

Samatha -

https://zmm.org/teachings-and-traini...-instructions/
https://www.budsas.org/ebud/ebdha236.htm

Originally Posted by sky123

Yes JL, Bodhidharma

---------

[jonesboy]

Originally Posted by 7luminaries

Hello Jonesboy. IMO there is always practice, no matter where you are on your path. It simply looks and feels different at different points.
If you are being lovingkindness, if you have realised lovingkindness, then you will consciously choose to do it. You will choose to be and do lovingkindness with awareness and illumination.

Rather than not doing/being, or doing/being sporadically or with difficulty, or doing/being with ease but lacking awareness or clarity in the moment, or doing/being with ease but lacking commitment and fortitude to integrate the realisation into doing and being consistently and long-term.

Over the span of eternity, the fact of awareness implicitly brings about the immanent act of lovingkindness. That is, the being and doing from a place of conscious awareness in the moment. That conscious awareness in the moment is de fact choice. You consciously do and be...your conscious presence brings about ownership and choice. It's all a question of timing, LOL.

Re: clarity, it is a realisation or illumination which is ultimately integrated into one's awareness. Hence an illuminated presence has clarity; it has integrated the realisation into one's awareness. However, there is an entire process of realisation, reflection, and integration...all of which involve time, growth, and ultimately conscious choice/presence in the moment.

Clarity in and of itself does not immediately translate to manifest doing and being. The integration process itself is what yields that. Many have some clarity or illumination but have not yet chosen to integrate that into their daily being and doing. That requires more than clarity or realisation. That requires fortitude, courage, strength, discipline, and a deeper transformation of our spiritual being over time, day-to-day, which we then consciously intend to and work to manifest on the ground.

Peace & blessings
7L

I would agree that clarity does have a luminous quality to it but it is much more than that.

The manifestation of the primordial state in all its aspects,
its "clarity," on the other hand, is called the nature. It is said
to be "self-perfected" (lhun grub), because it exists spontaneously
from the beginning, like the sun which shines in
space. Clarity is the pure quality of all thought and of all
perceived phenomena, uncontaminated by mental judgment.
For example, when we see a flower, we first perceive
its image without the mind entering into judgment, even if
this phase of perception only lasts for a fraction of a second.
Then, in a second phase, mental judgment enters into the
situation and one categorizes the perception, thinking,
"That's a flower, it's red, it has a specific scent, and so on."
Developing from this, attachment and aversion, acceptance
and rejection all arise, with the consequent creation of karma and transmigration. Clarity is the phase in which perception
is vivid and present, but the mind has not yet entered
into action. It is the spontaneous manifestation of the
individual's state. The same is true for thoughts: if we don't
follow them, and don't become caught up in mental judgment,
they too are part of our natural clarity.

So when people talk about love, kindness and compassion what they are really describing is Clarity.

Void, Clarity and Energy are the 3 bases of awareness. They are not separate things.

True Clarity is a deeper realization of the present. Eventually one does move from making choices of being nice to others, to it just being a natural result of ones being.

Originally Posted by Gem

In the interests of what is actually said about mindfulness according to Buddhist teaching, the satipatthana (which is the central discourse on mindfulness) explicitly says it is the way to nirvana.

The paragraph you quoted was full of technical mistakes.

JL

[Rain95]

Originally Posted by django

They may use drugs or other artificial methods. In effect, they get high on energy, and, over time, are likely to experience many of the problems normally associated with addiction, which is antithetical to Buddhism. Maybe they feel like they can never get enough energy, so the Buddhist aim is never realized.

The big one there not included in that is "spiritual materialism." Where one egotistically seeks spiritual realizations. That also never leads to a true realization. It's amazing these subjects have been discussed for so many centuries.... like the old Christian debates on faith verses works and deeds...

Like the idea you can be a mean person, treat others bad, but still be "saved" or "spiritual" because you believe or do the right things... then of course the logic problem they had with "good people" who did not belong to their faith....

This subject always reminds me of the movie, "The Name of The Rose." as the overall context of that movie was a bunch of medieval monks gathering for those debates.

I think that this thread should be called Random Buddhist Discussions