BipolarGrowth

We’re already here, so why not enjoy it? ?

I agree.

@Aaron p Well, I’ve talked to three very experienced Buddhists, and none of them have this obsession with removing thoughts like you see in many modern, online spiritual teachings. One of them actually heavily emphasizes the usefulness of thought in practice by using wholesome thoughts to enter the first jhana which is unfortunately a bit of a forgotten element of the Buddha’s teachings. Introducing wholesome thoughts is a step in Ānāpānasati (mindfulness of breathing) as it was taught in the original sutta given by the Buddha. When I say wholesome thought it is to say a thought which is bringing someone away from the hindrances such as “this is comfortable, this is great, etc.” Wholesome thoughts increase satisfaction while unwholesome thoughts increase dissatisfaction. Mindfulness in the Buddhist context could be said to be to “wake up to the senses”. Oftentimes, people might turn away from thought as the focus of their attention to be able to get into the senses more fully, but any meditator with a notable degree of skill should be able to be more mindful even if thought is present than a normal person or beginning meditator would be with no thoughts. I think the key here is to not be “lost in thought” in such a way that you lose attention of the other aspects of the present moment picked up by your other senses. Any Buddhist teacher worth their salt will emphasize the fact that mindfulness needs to be cultivated during daily life outside of sitting meditation practice, and the suttas talk about this extensively as well. Much of daily life involves thought, and one cannot hope to become a well-developed practitioner if they cannot maintain a good degree of mindfulness in situations where thought is necessary. It is also a common element in some Buddhist spheres that the mind is seen as a sense door the same as the five physical sense doors. In later stages of practice in this school of Buddhism, all six sense doors fuse into one, and thoughts are perceived as just more sensations on equal footing to any others.

Yes, essentially that is what non-doership is. There is no such thing as a realization which has zero effect on perception. At least not what I’d call realization. Maybe a new conceptual belief won’t change perception though. I made a vid with an easy exercise to examine doership vs. non-doership several months ago. It might make things more clear to you. Simple Spiritual Technique for Realizing Nondoership + Talk on Middle Paths/Buddhism & My Progress

The most awakened vid I’ve seen!

In my opinion, the deepest possibility is for the mind to be still whether thoughts are present or not. Viewing only one possibility as ideal is a sort of prison.

Basically the same thing, but in the “disorder” people will interpret it as a bad thing and not be prepared for it.

I anticipate that Leo will rather upgrade to a smartphone, and in 1-5 years he will be telling people that no one has awakened to his newest levels of consciousness which are deeper than the awakening we’ve heard about recently. Actually willing to make some friendly bets on this ?

I prefer silent darkness as good ole’ Terence McKenna suggested, but maybe that would be not as thrilling on a moderate dose.

Sounds like a degree of “non-doership” A sign of progress

“Emptiness… there’s nothing to it! *laughter*” -Dhammarato This is why the Buddha focused on one polarity throughout all of his teachings. Dukkha (dissatisfaction) and dukkha nirodha (the end of dissatisfaction). When one learns how to be satisfied, Nibbana is at hand.

Thoughts arise. How they arise is a relative story.

Well said ?

Part of the problem is that you are associating these various sensations as being painful which will in turn make them feel more painful. I think trying to make things more comfortable for yourself in the ways you mentioned will help in the short term, but finding a different way to interpret and categorize these sensations might do more in the long term.

How do you define pure consciousness?

Imagination is imaginary.

“God” is a concept within God’s mind as much as “natural state” is. When we’re talking about other people’s awakenings, we’re obviously adding in the relative perspective based on the appearance which is presented.

I have been a long time watcher of Frank’s content and Leo’s. When Frank said that he had found things deeper than Leo, I was very skeptical mostly because I had not had similar realizations at that point. Much of what he said was beyond my understanding at the time. After having many experiences which align with his, pretty much everything he says makes sense. Leo and Frank have used different methods as their main emphasis for reaching awakening but at the same time used many of the same methods at one point in time. Their teachings really don’t differ as much as it sounds. It’s ultimately your individual awakening which is all that matters at the end of the day. If you haven’t reached cessation and many things which follow that, you really have no chance of understanding the fullness of what Frank talks about.

Frank has already had this realization and has talked about it extensively in the past. He’s just found things which subjectively feel deeper than that.

There is no separation between experiencer and what is experienced. Every experience is different. There’s not even the same experiencer that was there 0.01 second ago.

Sounds like a fantastic idea!!! What possibly could go wrong?

The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Never listen to people with mental illnesses. The sane human perspective is of course the only valid perspective in all of existence.

Hope cements in your mind even further that the present moment you’re in is not good enough or just outright horrible while postponing happiness for a later situation which might not come. It’s much more useful to do what you can to view the present moment in a more positive light right away.

There’s no one to help, nothing that needs to be helped, and no way anything even could be helped in the ultimate sense. It can appear helpful to realize this though oddly enough. It only appears as being helpful though if the person in question is quite aligned with that truth. Otherwise, it might commonly appear to make things worse in the relative sense. Maybe people in a third world country would be wise to move to a different country before spending the little resources they most likely have on a course about awakening.