These are notes for myself to review at some point in the future.
Quotes to use during postings:
“Some people are magic, and others are just the illusion of it.” Beau Taplin
…don’t be an illusionist!
“Expectancy is the atmosphere for miracles.” Edwin Louis Cole
Consciousness Training: Entry Level Training (3 Parts)
1. Thought Observation: This is very much like what I recall of reading the entry level work in the Vipassana meditation techniques. You simply become the impartial observer of your thoughts. You notice them, what they are, and watch them go. No clinging, no judgement, just notice…just observe. Do this at first for 5 minutes then expand out to 30minutes or longer if you feel like. Once you can do this…it”s time for the next level of training.
2. Thought Focusing: Now that we’ve learned how to become the impartial observer, it’s time to reign in some focus. Pick a thought, a word or a concept you’d like to focus on. Keep your mind on JUST this thing for a period of 5 minutes. Vigorously expel any other thoughts that try to come in. If other thoughts do show up, and they will, simply push them away and come back to your object of focus. Objects of focus can be any of the following and actually it’s a good idea to test through each of these as they are a bit different in nature: * A concept like Love.* A mental image.* A physical object. (Like a candle flame)* A sound. (ie: a mantra that you enjoy)* Your breath. Pick a location of breath, such as the point of breathing just on the outside of your nose. Stay there. When you can do this for up to 30 minutes, it’s time to go onto the next level of training.
3. Vacuity of Thought: This is a biggie. In this phase you do not attempt to lose yourself, but rather have zero thoughts in your mind. Remove it all…let it all fall away. JUST BE. When you can do this for 10 minutes solid, you have achieved something great. Next, discuss some notes about taking a personal inventory. This is for eradicating and working through negative characteristics on the path to a better state of being.
“When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come close to the conclusion that the gift of imagination has meant more to me than any talent for absorbing absolute knowledge.” – Albert Einstein
Next Exercises: Working through and controlling the senses. Visualize objects…both with eyes closed, then open. Retain up to 5min then proceed to hearing. Then to the sense of smell. Then to sensations of the body. Then onto taste. I will expand a bit here on the “Senses Meditation” at a later time.
This is where I will cover additional early phase sensory exercises from a variety of sources. Developing this is VITAL in creation of the life you want…which begins by becoming the person you need to be to have that life. And of course the major element in this is mastering ”perception.” Of self, of others, of situations, of things as they are and of things not yet created.
Review these links later: http://www.aypsite.org/150.html and
fun visual meditation w/sound
ONE’S OWN MIND
Thus, all compounded and uncompounded phenomena—the ten directions, the three times, the three worlds, and so forth—are none other than one’s own mind, as is stated in the Great Sovereign of Practices, the Victory over the Three Worlds: “If one realizes, in accordance with one’s own unmistaken mind or the power of the mind, that discerning consciousness is the very nature of the buddhas, bodhisattvas, and the like, one is enlightened. If one fails to understand this, everything appears as the vessel and contents that constitute saṃsāra. The three worlds are simply this; the great elements are simply this.”
—A Garland of Views: A Guide to View, Meditation, and Result in the Nine Vehicles Padmasambhava’s classic text with a commentary by Jamgön Mipham, page 68
