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Zen is a form of Mahayana Buddhism. Vajrayana is Tantric Buddhism, which has Mahayana at its base. Mahayana = Nondual Enlightenment to Infinite Impersonal Being WHILE appearances/the world occurs as summum bonum. Philosophical base is middle way/Nagarjuna, or Infinite Being can never be hinted at as object of any kind. Hinayana (earliest buddhism): Cessation as goal, mainly via the concentrative Jhanas. Nirvikalpa. Blank out. Nothingness. But coming out of it, not necessarily being aware that the same Nothingness is also the substance/Infinite Reality of everything else. That would be the Nondual Enlightenment of Mahayana. Hinayana doesn't exist anymore, but Theravada as successor-form. Theravada doesn't evolve from Mahayana but from Hinayana. For example, forms of Thai Buddhism, forest tradition, Ingram, Frank Yang, Rob Burbea and so on are basically Theravada-based or influenced. Although nowadays Theravada also can have Nondual Enlightenment as goal, and not just cessation/Jhanas (as a general statement, especially with the latter persons mentioned. Ingram has a nice chapter on map-failure in his "Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha". In Zen/Vajrayana/Mahamudra/Dzogchen I guess the map wouldn't have failed so drastically, and that is why he added meditation techniques from there also. Same with Frank Yang and Rob Burbea. The equation of cessation=Enlightenment got updated in later Buddhism pretty fast. The same Nothingness experienced in cessation (as, um, NOTHING-ness) can also be experienced WHILE appearances arise, that is (true) Nondual Enlightenment (Nothing-ness+Something) when it is impersonal Infinite Being with no other and not just merging in nondual Unity of a still-alive-though-thinned out separate self). Early Hinayana: Cessation as goal. Theravada is a continuation of Hinayana, although Enlightenment=cessation(s) got updated to true Nondual Enlightenment in Theravada also, at least in some teachers/lines. But it has a certain "hangover" of valueing cessations a lot, which is ok, because if that is done often enough the Nondual Enlightenment can and does open up. Cessations = Enlightenment would be a prime form of Leos Buddhist Reductionsim. https://www.shambhala.com/historical-introduction-excerpt-integral-buddhism/ And there is not just "one" Buddhism. There exist so many schools, with development over millenia. And btw. Jainism is so similiar to Buddhism that there are doubts that the historical Buddha even existed (because Buddhas story is pretty much exactly the same as the story of the founder of Jainism Vardhamana Mahavira, see below in blue) or if it is just a founding myth. A framework. @Leo Gura: One of your favourite Buddhism-extremist-reductionist afficionados just killed the Buddha. And requests to be promoted to part-time Buddhist-Iconoclast. And maybe Nondual-Enlightement-Reductionist. But no longer Buddhist reductionist, because, you know, got kicked out of the club for killing the Buddha . And he even delivered some juicy books with a lot of aliens&faries&angels&demons inside as atonement. Oh my, I hope you get my humor For killing the Buddha softly, see for example "Secret Drugs of Buddhism: Psychedelic Sacraments and the Origins of the Vajrayana": "It is customary to assume that the Buddha was a historical character (even iconoclasts like Trevor Ling do not question his historicity) but parallels with non-Buddhist systems raise a suspicion that this may not be so. It is no longer believed that there was an ancient Greek poet called Homer who composed the Iliad and Odyssey. These “Homeric” epics are now understood to be compiled and refined from the compositions of many individual storytellers. Might not the teachings of “the Buddha” be analogous? Could the teachings also have been an age-old body of wisdom, analogously compiled, refined and imputed to a single, fictitious author? These teachings would have been transmitted orally but eventually, when writing systems arrived, transcribed as suttas. The earliest Buddhist art does not depict the Buddha as a person, but merely in symbolic form. In these so-called “aniconic” images, he may be shown as a parasol, an empty throne, pillar of fire or a pair of footprints. Could this be an acknowledgment that “the Buddha” was not a person in the normal meaning of the word? There is a strange feature of the Buddha’s biography which rarely receives comment and that is its similarity to the life of Vardhaman. Also known as Mahāvira (literally, “great man”), Vardhaman was son of a king, born with the 32 major and minor signs of his body. His father, the king, consulted wise men who foretold that he was destined to become a world-ruling emperor or a great spiritual leader. The wise men advise the king that to prevent him becoming a great sage, he must keep his son distracted with amusements. This the king does until, as an adult, Vardhaman escapes from the palace, meditates in the forest and achieves enlightenment. He teaches a non-Vedic path which, he says, is called Jainism. Anyone who knows the life of the Buddha will recognize all this as the same story. Even so, I have left out a lot of parallels such as identical personal names of characters in the biographies. Buddhism and Jainism also share many of the same … Killing the Buddha by the River softly while selling water

@emil1234 For Marc Leavitt "it" "went down" the same way, with some further Awakenings into Oneness down the line. "The" Void. Behind your head. Beyond the bubble of the visual field. Spaceless vastness. Infinite. Timeless. Deep Sleep. Death. Eternity. Yet, pure potential. And actually, the groundless essence/suchness of every appearance. The substance-less "substance"or suchness of all possible realms. Groundless ground, "falling" into the Infinite. "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head" Remove any concepts/imaginations of space from "it". Probing with your focus of attention into it only leads to more imagined space, but not spaceless/infinite. Make "it" genuine limitlessness. Boundless. Spaceless. Infinite. "It" is larger than an Infinity of space and endless dimension. "It" contains them all... Jump? jump?? jump! Now you just need to find out what you are, and what "others" are. And in what these states of void, dream, wake and deep sleep "roll" before. Maybe there is no "you" if "you" don't imagine yourself (I-feelings, I-thoughts)? Maybe IT sees only ITSELF, in everything that appears which is IT, but no you? Maybe there is only THAT? Impersonal Infinite Vastness, able to imagine "small" "you", I-feelings and I-thoughts imagined and moving in IT? Switch it/you on, and switch it/you off if IT is so inclined? And maybe THAT is YOU? And then, maybe, all "it" and "void" and "other" becomes Infinite You. Or rather, it is understood to have always been this way. Just with some illusions/ignorance before this true state of things was realized again. PS: Leavitt, Enlightenment: Behind the Scenes. Could speed up the clarification... PS PS: Like @Yimpa wrote, the tip of a magnificent infinite endless awe-inspiring iceberg....

Ah, you know, enlightened enough As I have already told you. I flinch a bit from calling me Inliytened2 , but yeah, "I" know what I am talking about. Solipsm: Useless when talking with separate-self-well-and-alive beings, because they always tend to project their Identity on it and blow it up to nondual Unity-states with the Infinite Field of Being (often with the help of some, um, less-than-legal substances). The Godrealized-Ego. But yes, there is only one. One-ness. If Solipsism is not just a concept projected by an ego, but a truly realized Way of Being, truly realized that "the" same impersonal Awareness looks through each set of eyes... perfectly fine with me. And also Absolutely... True! As long as there is an "other", Infinite Being has not been realized, and Solipsism becomes just another conceptual booster for the separate-self to hijack & suffer. The magic word is impersonal. Not only personal, but truly empty and impersonal infinite Awareness/Being. And here a Koan for you: Who are YOU really? "I" know "you" know it. Idealism: Empty appearances hovering in "the" groundless Infinite of True Being. So idealism is obviously more truthful than materialistic views. Appearances = "Consciousness stuff", or Suchness. Has become totally obvious and always "verifiable" after a long time of practice cultivating awakened nondual states. Oneness? Ever found anything&any"one" that possibly could be outside eternal&infinite&groundless YOU? So yes, its talking to myself... But what else is there to do? All my thoughts. What I have written in the last post, to my knowledge, you can copy & paste from nowhere. That is why I do the Muppet-Show-Selling gig, because if someone else would have already written all of that in the way I like it, I could have saved myself the trouble and instead go do something else, along the lines of my lovely hobbies. On your command, my dear dream-brother : Hach... I truly love Aliens&fairies& Angels and demons! Fascinating stuff. Imagine what kind of adventures "we" will have, this life and the Infinity of lifes yet to come Ok, I have no doubts that some will still put me in the corner of the closed-down-minded Buddhist r******reductionists (sorry, have yet to adopt on the new very courteous customs at this lovely place here, got a bit of a hang-over), and I admit its my job to make that pidgeon-holing at least a bit more challening... Let me know how I am doing! It is just that I prefer to have the peace & stability of resting in Infinite True Being in my nice little comfy valley after having come down from the summit. And not to be disturbed by any grasping for the alien. Or for any other "wave-surfing-easing-the-pain-that-a-still-contracted-self-contraction" causes. That is why I chop-chop any such grasping in my mindstream as soon as it feels like coming from a lack, or from grasping/suffering/self-contraction. Because if the fascination comes from the self-contraction, it is just a new game to keep the self-contraction spinning-suffering-reliefing itself in experiences/understandings and so on. Exploration for enjoyment yes, for grasping no. The True Being of yours truly has infinite time to explore infinite realms. Luckily, that has become self-evident by just "reaching-into-it" and realizing its eternity, or always-here-nature again. I can hold eternity within the palm of my hand. You know what I mean. Can't disappear. So why be in a hurry and not relax the self-contraction and enjoy the show the shows itself here on this lovely planet? But each being has to burn its "exploring-the-Multiverse-grasping-Karma" on its own speed. I just sometimes tell little tales about which kind of choice on the path to the Infinite has been benefical for me. Up the mountain to the highest Summit if Infinity Absolute Reality, or up to the secondary-summits with the Aliens sitting on top of it. Of course, I don't expect too much immediate success doing it, but it still needs to be done. "At least we can say that we tried" by the River

Oh well. Where there is not stable realization of Infinite Being and nondual Awakened States sobre in everyday life, there is only suffering-in-cycles wave-surfing. Wave-surfing up and down Maslows pyramid. And one can also appreciate the lovely lady & lovely alien when resting in True Being or after having fallen into the Infinite Ocean. Just too much preference for wave-surfing understanding consciousness of woman/alien n+1 prevents dropping into the Ocean of Infinite truly Impersonal Being. Which btw. is an Awakening which one can't anticipate or imagine in any way before it really happens. If one could, it would have already happened... So lets hope it doesn't need a major or minor crocodile (like the one has that has bitten you out of the pretty much non-stop-psychedelic gig of last year) to wise you up on wether the summon bonum is dropping into the ocean or surfing ever higher waves. Spiritual Intuition can make one skip some of the crocodiles, one doesn't need to get also bitten by the crocodile sitting at the fork of the road with the sign "Summum Bonum: Wave surfing or falling into the Infinite Ocean?" Selling the eternal boring broken record of dropping in to the Infinite Ocean of Being instead of wave surfing by the River PS: Selling & broken record: Yeah, you are right: I guess I start to sound like this guy: So surf the largest wave ever dear Leo, and then after have done that I wish you that you have the Karma to finally drop into the Infinite Oean that You Truly are:

Nothingness or suchness is the essence of every appearance, appearing in Infinite Impersonal Being. Form(or appearance) is Nothingness, Nothingness is appearance/form. The same "stuff/non-stuff". Realizing this beyond a doubt is Enlightenment, expressing and stabilizing these awakened impersonal states in daily life is the path that follows after it. Infinite Being lives itself, the universe "universes", without any contraction into a centre of perception and its lenses and filter-illusions. Consciousness OF a woman, OF a man, OF a human, OF an alien... any consciousness OF or more radically, any consciousness OF anything, be it self-reflective or not, is like a show of states (appearance/form/temporary/not really existing but just appearing) rollling "before" the impersonal Awareness of True Being. Which is pure Impersonal Awareness, unaware of itself if nothing arises, but with potential for sentience. Infinite Being. And which is Nothingness if nothing arises/appears. The consciousness OF something (man/woman/alien) is wave surfing on the ocean of Infinite Being, stabilizing living from the impersonal nondual awakened states where this Infinite Reality if Infinite Being is obvious (and "living itself") is dropping into the Infinite Ocean and becoming it fully. And afterwards, one can still do wavesurfing, or consciousness-OF-x exploration. And rumour has it that wave surfing the Infinite Ocean can become quite tiring & stressfull & and a bit less than relaxed if done for too long by a separate-self-contraction. And at some point when one doesn't want continue surfing ever new waves (of which there exists an Infinity of, forever and ever to be explored by God "itself") the dropping & dissolving & and fully BEing the ocean can happen. But wave surfing is all fine and well as long as it is fun... Selling neoprene suits so that the dropping into the ocean feels comfy for all tired wave-surfers by the River

If you want to call realizing Infinite impersonal eternal True Being (and staying awakened nondual states sobre) reductionism of Consciousness... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductionism "Reductionism is any of several related philosophical ideas regarding the associations between phenomena which can be described in terms of other simpler or more fundamental phenomena.[1] It is also described as an intellectual and philosophical position that interprets a complex system as the sum of its parts.[2]" Luckily, Infinite/Absolute/Nondual Being doesn't have parts. Nondual. Only in duality/ignorance it appears so as being divded and having parts. Nondual doesn't have parts. So reductionism doesn't apply. Selling better don't play reductionism with Nondual Infinite Being by the River PS: Wise new video by the way. Meeting all children of your True Being where they are at. Stabilizing from yellow to turqoise to coral and so on. Nice. A solid base to stabilize the love that resides in Infinite Reality if it is not divided.

That is why I wrote infinite. In-finite. Not-finite. I didn't write Infinity as you did. Something not-finite can't be measures in any way, that is its defining property. Not higher nor lower, not more or less, not here or not here. Infinite Being. Always here, and never any kind of form. Reality itself. Infinite Reality, to be precise. Unchanging. True Being. Techically, Infinity is manifestation. A mathematical object. Manifestation and appearance. Happening in Infinite Being. But not the Infinite, as in Infinite Being. Only the content or what appears in Infinite being can vary, different Infinities, appearances, understandings. All the understanding you grasp is understanding of more content/manifestation/appearance/shadow/illusion. Realizing/Being/"Understanding" the Infinite Absolute of True Being on the other side is Enlightenment, which actually brings the satisfaction you seek with your understanding-project of infinity of infinities. Confusing the Infinite or Absolute with Infinity is btw. the core difference between true Impersonal Infinite Nondual Realization and a nondual realization still interpreted through elements of subtle ego/personality/separate-self filters. It is btw. the core mistake you are still making, and that will not change until you get a big clap from the One Hand and finally let the rest of whatever remains of your separate-self or "Leo"-ness die and see through it as mere appearance. Temporary form arising, a hypnotic illusion covering True Infinite Being. So basically seeing through & cutting off in real time what remains of your remaining separate-self gig. So well, can get more Infinity than Infinity: Yes, true, known since Cantor. Different classes/sizes of Infinity exist, and that why one can get more Infinity than Infinity. But can't get more infinite than infinite, can't get more absolute than absolute. That is how absolute is defined. And Absolute=infinite. Non finite. I know makes this differentiation doesn't make sense for you, but maybe just keep it in mind. Somebody once made a really smart video on youtube about open-mindedness. Maybe stay open-minded, so that the One Hand has a change of finding you and clapping the rest of the Leo-illusion out of you? Trust me, nothing more wonderful than that. In that moment, all Aliens & ETs in the Infinity of Multiverses will give you a hug, and whisper in your ear: My Darling, we just appear to be different, but actually we are all one, lovers of truth and understanding united in Infinite Being and of the same essence. And then you can continue meeting & hugging these way more intelligent beings and bask in their understanding of Infinities, but coming from infinite nondual being before the trip, and letting them appear in nondual true being during the hugging. Then we would have a truly happy love affair, since the essence of these beings wouldn't leave you after the romantic trip. Selling Water by the River PS: As you know, no Lèse-majesté inteded, always. And always with (imagined) alien respect & love.

Yup. When "it" is not Absolute. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_(philosophy) Can't get more Absolute than Absolute, can't get more Infinite than Infinite. I agree in so far that many Enlightenments (by far most of them) are announced when it is not Great-(Zen-lingo) or final/full-Enlightenment (Impersonal, Death of the separate self, real Satori), but just Nonduality, or Unity of the separate-self with the universe (just nondual, not impersonal, just unity of personal + Universe, or Kensho). Or, the difference between waking up and a nondual dream.

... and no imagined rodent has been hurt Enlightenment doesn't mean that one is always right when it comes to relative truth like the things you mention. It just meaning knowing what you truly are, and what Reality is. Answers to both is the same. And on top, having that accessible all the time means nothing else than being to switch off/cut-off any ignorant I-thought and I-feeling of being only this little body mind, which makes the states (1)-(4) available all the time. And this can be done (without lying to oneself) if the Awakened State is accessible anytime (1) Infinite boundlessness of the Visual Field (and any other perception/dimension) (2) its groundlessness, or mere-appearance (imagined) character "hovering" in Infinity (3) the eternal nature of this Infinite Reality/Consciousness is always known (4) there is no (zero!) separate-self I-thought/feeling still hypnotizing. Impersonal. Empty. Silent. Vast. Yet, giving rise to all appearances and thoughts. And if one chooses to, one can cut off these thoughts/feelings off in real-time. The magic word is real-time, Or high-speed cut-off of any thought/feeling arising that ignorantly believes in being only this body-mind. Speed & strength of awareness, before any thoughts starts hypnotizing oneself and are believed&elaborated. And that takes normally many years. But its worth it. The high-speed cutting of of (4) isn't always necessary, but that ability is what opens up the Awakened states described in (1-3). And if thoughts then rise again, simple mindfulness lets let flow in Infinite Being without believing them, if (1)-(3) are powerful enough. And: Being able to generate (1)-(3) with (4) induces so much bliss that the annoying separate-self arisings don't "grip", even if they are not cut off in realtime but just watched in mindfulness. Ego-wanting/avoiding only grips when one is not in a positive enough state already. One has a human, but one isn't one. True Being is Infinite Reality. That doesn't mean one does stupid things for to ones relative vehicle, like James hand-into-the-fire. Beings who know their True Nature are not brain dead. And that is having Absolute Truth always available. Or Enlightenment. It is not an idea, and there is zero doubt about it that this is final. Can't get more infinite than infinite, and there is and only can only be THAT. And any Alien, ET or way-out-spectacular-appearance-of-consciousness appears only in THAT. Nice to understand&see, but not really urgent in any way. There were enlightened Zen Masters who thought Japans Imperial Wars were great. So one can be totally wrong on relative stuff. But the Absolute stuff must be handled. Selling smiling little annoying Buddhist-rodents by the River

@Osaid good points. I find the following thought experiment interesting: Imagine that all it would need for Enlightenment (realization of True Infinite Being instead of being a separate-self/human) would be taking psychedelics. Truly realizing Infinite Being means understanding that each and any identity and thought is just an object. No character/ego-element not made from subject into object arising in Infinite Being in real time. If psychedelics don't deliver that (which they apparently don't do, has been tested many times), and yet would cause a permanent blissful nondual state, that would mean nothing else that ego and its normal occupations with I/me/mine and all its endless needs Maslows pyramid up and down, not to talk about being soooo special (a brief look at current state of the world suffices) would at least partly survive untranscended. And then we would have permanently blissful non-suffering (and hence NON-CHANGING) super-egos running around, established in blissful nonduality, doing its remaining turbo-egoic-thing. . Not for the faint of hearted... So, there is and will remain an entrance price for staying in blissfull boundless impersonal nonduality: The transcendence or seeing through each and any separate-self I-feeling and I-thought in real time. The death of the little self, understanding it never existed, and only Infinite Being IS and apparently played the game of being something separate. And what would a Roshi say to Water by the Rivers telling his little pet theory and thought experiments: Empty your cup and back on the pillow! And he would be right. Oh well... Singing "If I can Dream..." by the River

When first stepping truly into True No-Self or truly impersonal Infinite Nondual Being, it kills the separate self. Literally. It no is longer believed at all, just as an assembly/Gestalt of incorrect ignorant ideas and feelings, realized as appearing mirage that just pretended and cut off in real time. The snake is the rope. Which is Infinite Impersonal Being. And "the" "Realizer" of that is also more BS-clusters of thoughts and feelings. That closes the loop. The separate-self illusion has then no ground to stand any more in infinite groundless mere appearance Infinite Being. Then, it is replaced by an Infinite Ocean of Suchness or groundless mere nondual appearance. Only after quite some familiarity with that does the normal hypnosis of unawakened human life seem as the altered state, and the empty Suchness as the unaltered state. Yet, that is how things truly are.

Suffering in cycles is the force that pulls all beings and souls back to the source. Even the demon. The more separation/duality/split off from the Source is experienced, the more suffering happens, and the more evil arises as coping mechanism. If love is not available, evil acts as coping mechanism. And only huge suffering forces the demon back on its path, away from separation and evil towards the other path, returning to the source/love. Ever heard of hell-realms/dimensions, full of evil? Thousands of NDE and OBE reports exists of these, throughout all ages&cultures. Anything split off from True Infinite Being as apparently separate being (illusion) suffers in cycles. That is totally obvious in certain Awakened states. Where there is not THAT, there is only suffering in cycles. Anything but impersonal nondual Enlightenment with the self-contraction of the separate-self gone suffers. Not all the time, but in cycles. Only in these realizations/awakened states of Infinite Impersonal Consciousness is the love of True Being flowing fully and unrestricted, and that finally lets the separate-self-contraction drown in oblivion. Interesting that you are not aware of that, not even conceptually. Evil is separation and splitting off from the source, and compensating and coping for that in extreme cases with evil behaviour, and love is the opposite force, which pulls all beings back. Reality "breaks" evil with suffering. And huge evil = huge suffering necessary. What do you think hell realms NDE/OBEs are? That is spirits way of nobody gets left behind... PS: I am not talking about animals here, but more complex beings. Like humans/demons and so on... Selling basic spiritual compass/intuition by the River

@Ahbapx lets ask the important questions are you in control of your mind, or is it in control of you? Try sitting for a second or having a walk in the park. be fully conscious, who is making the decisions? Are they automatic? You have to be able to take a step back from the mind and observe it for what it is, a tool. Can you effortlessly distance yourself from your thoughts, or do you sometimes let them suck you in? You will notice mind is a powerful machine, and you need to take a step back sometimes from it. Then you can return to it consciously and directing it in whichever direction you choose. I say a balance needs to be achieved. Too much mind? Yoou need to stop. Too much no-mind? You need to start. You have to follow the path by using the power of the pathless path. There is no path and there is a path, its paradoxical. I wouldn't have it any other way. The mind cant get any of this, but to being it is the simplest thing. Make sure that Consciousness Moooji points to controls where you look, and not your mind. But do this in the park, perhaps while sitting on a bench. Take back control and ground yourself in impersonal consciousness and then orchestrate your mind from that backwards step position. Let go, try not to judge anything or aanyone, even someone you perceive as annoying, like someone shouting and disturbing your peace. Dont judge anything and dont think, tune in to the true reality through Being itself.

No, that is having serious depression. Enlightenment means that your mental landscape is no longer limited by emotional and mental structures but flows directly from the source. It is a change in frequency. Within that flow, things like fear or desire occur, but they are seen as a flow of what is, like everything that exists, and one does not identify with them since everything passes and changes. There are no limits and therefore anything is dwarfed in its importance, you are not that, but the flow itself, and this flow is impersonal, it is a phenomenon that occurs given the absence of limits, which ultimately is what you are: absence of limits, from which reality emerges , then you, the reality, perceive itself without any doubt as eternal, and you perceive your alive substance, the intelligence, the life

I also believe using both is best and most efficient. At the final stages of meditation, one can dissolve these last and very subtle lenses. When taking for example the Mahamudra-system, which I consider as the most sophisticated system on the planet (together with Dzogchen), the Yoga of One Taste (advanced practice, 3rd stage in Mahamudra system) makes the visual field boundless, infinite and mere appearance/lucid. Basically the effect that many psychedelics have. And no, that is not yet Enlightenment. https://www.actualized.org/forum/search/?&q=yoga of one taste&author=Water by the River The final lenses of deception/illusion are not yet dissolved at stage 3. But here we are already on very trippy terrain, visual field nondual, boundless and infinite and mere appearance. And now comes the kicker: stage 4, Nonmeditation Yoga automizes the techniques done at stage 3 in such a way that even the meditator can be dissolved. There is no longer a separate-anything doing anything, the meditation does itself. Awakening, or Awakened Awareness (nondual, boundless, infinite, groundless, and impersonal, or not only personal), does the meditation. As long as someone does the meditation, the illusion with the dream-character is still well and alive, even if its nondual and what not. A nondual dream. https://www.actualized.org/forum/search/?&q=Nonmeditation Yoga&author=Water by the River What happens at stage 4 Nonmeditation Yoga can no longer be fully described. But it can be understood what happens or happened once it happens. And it takes a loooong time at stage 4 Nonmeditation Yoga, at least for most, until crossing over to Enlightenment happens. No other. No you. Just Infinite Consciousness/Reality, an Infinite Ocean of Awareness, its essence forever unchanged. Eternal. Always having been the case. The former separate-self just an illusion. And until one gets the hundreds or thousands of hours (if one is not a prodigy) in these states to make it to the big bang, if one tries to do that with psychedelics, one has ones brain fried long before. And a God-complex on top if one doesn't start on the humble side from the beginning (which few do), since the ego projects itself already busily on the nondual infinite field, see stage 3. And if one has bad luck, ET comes along and gives a seductive smile... But that is another topic. And the limitations/problems of meditation practice: Getting to Nonduality, stage 3. Takes a looong time, and many things can be implemented incorrectly. Then, meditation practice NEVER leads to Nonduality,boundlessness-infnite and mere appearance. That happens to 98%+ of meditators, because the meditation techniques used are so inefficient that multiple thousand of hours of hardcore head-against-the-wall meditation would be needed... Few are made for that. Mahamudra on the other side can be used efficiently in daily life if done correctly. Without Mahamudra Pointing out the Great Way style I would have gotten nowhere, and even with that I read the book 15 times over 10 years to get it. To get a nondual state take enough shrooms et voila. To experience Infinity take some 5-MeO et voila. It prooves that its real. Most meditators without psychedelics give up before that. One knows if one does something correct with meditation if these psychedelic-induced awakenings happen from meditation. Hope I have answered all your questions. Selling Water by the River

Yes, at the end, you are that, but it's something impersonal, is the substance of the reality, just absence of limits. Is absence of limits a self? Or something?

"It" is. Always there. Infinite, boundless. Groundless. Any boundary would appear within "It". "It" is Infinite Reality itself. "It" is Nothing when no appearances arise. Nothingness. Groundless. Void and empty. Not even space. Yet, "It" is everything as soon as appearance appears. Without appearance, there is no time. "It" is not even self-aware then. Yet, "It" is always "there". "It" has the potential for awareness if some appearances arise, and for self-awareness if I-thought/I-feelings arise as appearances. "It" doesn't arise. There is no beginning to "It". Who or what would watch "Its" arising? Only "It", the only Awareness. "It" is fundamental. It can not not "be there". "It" can't go anywhere. Anywhere would be imagined within it. "It" can't end, since It would perceive its own end, and so it wouldn't end. Nor begin. Before any appearance, "It" is. After any appearance dissolves, "It" "is" still there. Neither existing (as anything), nor non-existing. Words of time loose there meaning, because "It" is more fundamental than time, since there is no time without changing appearances, or "objects". "It" is Infinite Consciousness, Infinite Universal Reality/Being. And "It" is "You". Capital Y, True you. Impersonal You. Or better, "not-only-personal"-True You. But nondual, Infinite Being, big You. Not small/illusion you, but that which is always there. Even in deep sleep. Impersonal. Infinite. Immortal. "It" looks through all eyes, is the essence of every being and every appearance. And to do that, "It" needs to be impersonal. Only impersonal (not-only-personal, but universal and fully empty) Awareness is "compatible" to look out through all "personal/individuated/not-empty" eyes/beings/perspectives. "It" holds all perspectives, looks through all eyes at the same moment (not sequentially), but forgets these "dimensions" of all the other perspectives "real-time". "It" imagines the clouds covering True Being/Infinite Awareness, hiding "It" in the clouds of solidity, materiality, duality and separation. Magnificent illusions. "It" plays a game of hide and seek with "Itself". When one has access to verify that sobre anytime one feels into "the" Infinite (which means that one fully realize the structure of ones own perspective ("subject" and all appearances, truly nondual) and has access to that realization anytime (nondual, infinite, mere appearance, impersonal, groundless ,Awake).... this realization is the case for each and any being, since "It" is boundless , infinite and limitless. There is nothing besides "It". N+1. ... one walks in the home one never really left. There is nothing else, nor can't be. The only price: The frog has to jump fully into the mixer and see whats still left of its essence. And THAT is it. Neti Neti until Infinite Being is realized without the clouds of boundaries, separation and duality. And the crocodiles ensure that at one point. One lifetime, the frog actually gives up resisting and playing games, gets rid of the last clouds of duality, and jumps in the mixer. And finds out that the frog never really existed, only appeared to do so. And then the former frog (Which never actually was a frog) wins the ultimate price: Everything. Each and any possible universe arises in Infinite Being, as Infinite Being. Since there is nothing besides "It", nor could be. The mixer only appears as mixer before the Gateless Gate. Beyond the Gateless Gate, it was just the wind that has blewn away all the clouds of duality and ignorance. So who is reading these words right here, right now? Offering best-practice mixers by the River

Please excuse my sloppy answer. It is just when one assumes that no Ego-elements/separate-self-elements are remaining in the psychedelic state... That is a bit, um, Contrast it with this here: Adi Da was quite problematic in other ways , but here you can get a feeling of what no filters/lenses/clouds looks like. And that is a nondual/infinite/mere appearance/awakened state up the hilt, making the true state of "things" absoltely obvious, the realization of Absolute Reality/True Being/Infinite Consciousness a no-brainer. Concerning the last subtle ego/separate-self-clouds/lenses/filters: One just doesn't see them, since there is way to little time in the psychedelic states to transcend these filters/lenses, and normally way to little training in transcending these filters/lenses/clouds done before. One looks THROUGH THEM, and doesn't even notice they are there. And then interprets the infinite nondual experience through them. And what is missing for Enlightenment is the impersonal part: No filters/lenses/clouds left. If you would understand/see these (very subtle) filters in these states, you could sustain the enlightened/awakened/boundless/nondual state AFTER the psychedelic has lost its effect. The infinite and "godly" states of consciousness are nothing but a big trap that parade "in front" of your Real Eternal Being. And btw., "classic" full Enlightenment is infinite, nondual and boundless, and mere appearance/imagined. And impersonal. And the "godly", ET or "whatever" states in that case parade "in" it, "in front" of it. And its YOU by the way. Just the True You. Not the god-state+reamaining filters/lenses. When filters/lenses/clouds/ego are switched off, isn't it logical that Awakening/boundless/nondual/mere apperance states just continues (or is no longer covered by duality), making the eternal always here "suchness" of True being available all the time. Just throw the frog in the mixer and see what remains. What remains is eternal. The rest is just illusion, parading in front of your eternal Being. Ranging from rat to crocodile to human to God to ET. And ET is better for sexy marketing and probably more fun than throwing the frog in the mixer, I assume. It is just if you throw the frog in the mixer, the imagined crocodiles tend to stay away, because, um, they intuit they would follow the frog into the mixer. Selling Water by the River

I wasn't asked, but since that didn't prevent me from commenting ever since, please allow me my musings... So, here is the Ultimate Crocodile. Or Trap. Since it is pretty close to Ultimate Truth: The problem (or rather near impossibility) in realizing Ultimate Truth/Full Enlightenment (not even to talk about realizing & keeping that on a stable basis in daily life) with mainly/only psychedelics (vs. a combined meditation and psychedelics-approach) is that the separate-self/ego is never fully seen through, and happily hijacks all insights gained and projects itself onto them. Like nondual merging with the visual field, aka non-dual-Unity-states of a still separate-self merging with the visual field. that the visual field is mere empty appearance hovering in Nothingness that this Nothingness is "IT", is Infinity, in all possible dimensions, is boundless limitless nondual Consciousness/Suchness "God-Realization" (aka that pretty much everything which appears is imagined to fool oneself into a false-body-mind-identity. That includes past&future imagination. Which is true, but still there is a subtle separate-self-something left and not seen through having all these insights, and proclaiming "I am God". It is not truly impersonal yet, and Absolute Reality is impersonal. Yes, True You is totally impersonal. Shocking, but true. But only shocking from before the Gateless Gate. After the Gateless Gate, it was just one more trap on the path/maze to Infinite love&liberation&freedom). That is pretty much the development Leo has taken, from nondual, to Infinity, to "God-Realization". And then some ETs (which is of course just more appearance/mind-stuff/content consciousness) since the God-Realization didn't went any further from there. And then after some psychedelic-substance-fallout-crocodiles ET said not permanently in this life darling, but maybe permanently in the next life in the 7th heaven, and the message was heard, and the phone was (increasingly) hung up (for now). Ultimate Truth is beyond all of that. Contains all of that. Unchanging. And eternal. All the rest mentioned above rolls "before" and "in" your true formless Infinite Being like a show. Waking/dreaming/deep sleep/normal life/nondual/infinite/God-Realization/ET/crocodiles: All these states roll before your True Being like a show, never changing anything real even for a moment. All just appearance. What is watching all of that? What can never not be here, even in Deep Sleep? And btw., the essence of the frog is completely understood by throwing it into a mixer and looking what it is made of (Suchness). That is how the frog gets truly impersonal. And the essence is all that stays, eternally. The rest is just changing appearance, an illusion, a show. Including any "understanding", which can be dead&gone&forgotten. The essence never can go anywhere, ever. That is what each being truly is. And realizing & embodying that is true freedom and liberation. And why is this kind of psychedelic "God-Realization" not stable? Psychedelics: The filters/lenses of the last subtle separate-self illusions don't get disassemled/transcended/cut-off in real time (aka impersonal, or "not-only-personal-awareness,"). Because of lacking strength&speed of Awareness in cutting all of that off in real-time. And that is why Infinite Nonduality/mere appearance/Awakening states break down after the trip: Unearned wisdom/states. Not impersonal, but still personal/separate-self/ego. In "God-Realization" there are still remnants (although subtle ones) of an ego/separate-self too much left alive & hijacking the insight/state. Meditation: Transcending separate-self/ego-elements (speed and strength/knowing each and any separate-self-arising illusion/I-feeling/I-thoughts/...) leads to nondual/infinite/mere appearance states: stable & personal transcended (aka impersonal), "earned". Psychedelics: psychedelics lead to nondual/infinite/mere appearance states without transcending all (subtle) separte-self/ego-buildings-blocks: unstable &"unearned" & can hijack the states: "I am God/-realized, whatever". The True Being of every being (Infinite Consciousness/Reality, impersonal or universal Awareness) is always right here, eternal. Can never change. It can only appear to be clouded. Looking out for less-than-impersonal-crocodiles by the non-personal River

Well, I am happy you survived your episode(s) last year (in doing a few hundred trips over a year or so if I remember your statements on that correctly, but I am not sure. But at least a lot of trips...), and now are write something like this. That will create better/more sustainable Karma for readers/author for sure. Not everbody is a tough enough cookie to survive a few hundred trips (especially in a short time-span), at least without totally wrecking his/her life. Lets skip the question of how you learned that. Or which of the crocodiles mentioned smiled back hungry. And the age-old question of state vs. stage, transformation vs.peak experience. https://www.actualized.org/forum/search/?&q=transformation&author=Water by the River For example: or Yes. Because it is a stage that has been earned by transformation and transcendence. States that have become permanent as stages. Going from states, to plateaus, to very permanent stages. And the remaining self doing these practices gets more and more refined. Pure. Impersonal. Empty. Transcendal. Not the remains of a separate ego/self, switched on and off by psychedelics, but never fully gone. The remains hindering the Full Realization in daily life, and are also projected on Infinite Consciousness during the trip, disfiguring its pure empty impersonal nature. So some lense always remain that prevent the final deep shift of Full Enlightenment. ... Ken Wilber: "The downside comes with people that only use psychedelics or drugs. And I found that over the years they just become mean it's somehow I just kind of closes them down. Its like you keep doing it and you keep doing it you keep doing and it doesn't quite cause the transformation. It can cause a peak experience but generally not a transformative experience and some people like David Deida will say that in order for altered changes of state to contribute to transformationpermit transformation it has to be basically endogenous not exogenous. It has to be has your own source. The people that do use both [psychedelics and meditation] and use it as a sacrament I think an enormous bit out of it. " Anybody ever wondered why that is? That Spirit/Infinite Reality prevents the crossing over through the Gateless Gate to Full Enlightenment if the soul is not purified enough, the separate-self/ego-illusion emptied out and transcended completely, all deaths died, all illusions gone? Maybe it is not a bug, but a deep deep feature? If we admit Infinite Intelligence to Infinite Reality, maybe Infinite Reality demands and requires giving up and transcending certain last subtle lenses also, letting the Illusion of separation fully die? And a high degree of compassion and some kind of Boddhisattva-vow? Because Infinite Reality itself IS Love? A fundamental archetype of manifestation, of essence? Sounds familiar and resonates? This combination of Transcendence and love is a deep structure of all spiritual systems of all ages. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj — 'Love says 'I am everything.' Wisdom says 'I am nothing.' Between the two, my life flows.' Water by the River Your favourite (although imaginary) non-100% Buddhist rodent selling water by the River to (imaginary) "others" and wondering which will be the (imaginary) crocodile to cause his final retirement from the water-selling-job for good. Luckily, the crocodiles are also all made out of water, since there is only water. by the River.

Absolutely! It also helps to have an impersonal source of well-vetted Self knowledge like Vedanta.

The videos do contradict each other in some aspects. Because the word/signfifier "God" is not used refering to Impersonal Infinite Being (devoid of any properties besides being infinite & potentially aware). But used for a "God" loaded with feelings of individuality, some personality-remnants which are still being in nondual unity with all appearance (and even if its a world bubble appearance) in the psychedelic state. In truth, the same Infinite Impersonal Being is looking through all beings and perspectives. Not a God here and a God there, which are also the same God (somehow, but not explained how. The only explanation tha works is fully empty & impersonal consciousness. And only that fully empty & impersonal consciousness is able to reside in and be all beings). That is by the way the whole problem with the psychedelic-only/mainly path: One gets the nondual unity with the limitless bubble of appearance (this world and any fancy psychedelic realm), but not the totally empty impersonal part of Infinite Consciousness/Being. And that is why its not stable without the psychedelic. The way forward is the dissolving/transcending/cutting off with high-speed-awareness (aka meditation training) any and all of the remants of I-feelings/I-thoughts/concepts/ideas/all of it that this "God-bundle-identity" consists of. That ends in Infinite Impersonal Being, or sobre stable Enligtenment. Infinite Impersonal Being containing the former (now transcended and seen trough) personality patterns and this world, and any other being & other world. And this Impersonal Infinite Being is looking through all eyes. So who is reading these lines? That solves the Solipsism dilemma, and nothing else ever will. Selling Real Impersonal and fully empty Solipsism by the River PS: Short form: Psychedelic Awakening = not fully empty/impersonal separate-self-remnants hijacking the experience and projecting themselves on their visual/experience-field bubble, and calling that God. Not for the faint of hearted. Infinity of Gods is just a nice conceptual try to keep the remnants of the separate-self illusion alive and credible and not let them die/transcend them fully, which would be Impersonal Infinite Being. Outcome: Suffering & no sobre Enlightenment. To declare that superior to sobre Enlightenment, add a few ETs. Which is nothing else than more appearance & understanding of it, but who cares. PS PS: Even more shorther form: Conceptual Solipsism is just a game to keep the ego alive a bit longer, give it a bit more refuge/ground to stand on, and project itself onto the whole universe. Et voila, an Infinity of infinitely extended God-Egos Gods.

The Importance Of A Philosophical Position Before one can do any serious philosophy, it is imperative that s/he understands one's own position regarding something as fundamental as how one thinks of the world of one's experience: Is it out there, happening independently from one's mind? Or is it in here 🧠, occurring through the mind's constructive capacity? Note that I'm not simply referring to the world, but to a world of one's own experience, rather. This is because I want to make it clear what it is we're dealing with here, as some of us, if not most, will be quick to argue that they are without a position in this matter because they are not philosophical. However, you do, in fact, have a position, even though you might claim to have no interest in philosophy or down right have nothing to do with it. This is because philosophers aren't doing anything alien to the plain man when doing philosophy, as with botany or geology or any other science, the philosopher only does what the plain man will do rather unsystematically. You have a position regarding the world of experience. Everyone does, for experience is quite a universal thing in the human world, wouldn't you say? No, it is merely a matter of you not having made a distinction of your position, yet. And thus making it distinguishable from, let's say, your neighbor's or any other philosopher's position which might contradict yours should you be given the chance to discuss it. Your position on the world of experience simply refers to how you understand your experience of the world as you experience it. For example, when you're waiting in a line to a food stand, do you regard this as a personal experience or an impersonal experience. You might be quick to think that this is obviously a personal experience because you're the only one who can understand what it is like for you in that particular moment of waiting. But some will understand it to be impersonal simply because s/he is not alone, everybody else who is in line is experiencing the same thing as s/he is – waiting for food. See, no one has asked you how you're understanding the experience of waiting in line, but you are already doing it anyway. And so it can be with your position of your world experience. How you understand your experience of the world is a position of its own philosophical merit. The only difference is that no one had asked you to express it. Without a self-realised position, it may be difficult to do some proper philosophy because you have no referential framework for considering other arguments. Some folks might argue that not having a position is good because it allows you to be open minded and free to develop your own unique philosophical position. Yes, that would be true if a person in fact did not have a position in this matter. However, experience is a universal thing, and chances are that a person would have long developed a position before s/he could even reflect on it. For instance, when it comes to the question of whether there is an external world or not – just the world that we know, the world of experience: I reject the position of an external world, that is, a world external to one's experience. And, I may not be so interested in figuring out which school of thought affirms the existence of such a world as much as I would be interested in learning more from the schools that don't. This can happen, yes. However, because I am interested in doing philosophy in a careful way, I am determined in learning from both positive and negative arguments, having realized my own understanding of the world.

1. First understand that Life is a zero-sum game. 2. The objects you seek don’t contain satisfaction/happiness. If they did the same object would produce the same joy or suffering for everyone. 3. Objects are anything you seek other than yourself. For instance: feelings, thoughts, events, situations, relationships, etc. 4. It’s natural to seek objects, but the results of your seeking are not up to you, although you can influence them. 5. So do your very best and don’t ignore the moral dimension of reality. 6. Look for the lesson in unwanted results, take them cheerfully and correct what you said or did that produced them. 7. Without compromising your principles try to accommodate yourself to the situations presented by the field of life. 8. You will inwardly react personally to what happens, but it is wise to keep negative reactions to yourself. Life is impersonal and doesn’t care what you think. In so far as people take things personally, it is best to not express negative reactions unless they are requested. 9. This wisdom and the attitude it encourages is called Karma Yoga. It works. The benefits are: it removes the anxiety for results which usually compromises your skill in action, which allows your karma stream to efficiently and happily carry you to your goal.

It is. It is your true self - impersonal awareness beyond all shapes/densities/qualities. Whereas your sense of self that has a quality and density to it is personal. It is ego. A mask. We confuse ourselves with the mask. But behind the mask there is awareness in which the dense sense of self is seen. That space beyond all shapes in which every shape arise is what would be called your true self in classical spirituality.