please dig it up mike..i am interested...merle Thanks Merle. I hope no one sees my post as a need for comment or, god forbid, praise. It's just that I wanted to show Joe that I concur with his statement that illumination is not just a simile, but is quite literal. I'm really tempted to dig up my post that talked about the opening of my Heart Chakra because only a few years ago I would have scoffed at talk about chakras and chi etc., or at least questioned their validity. When the mind comes home the house is given a dazzling spring clean ; )
Mike ________________________________ From: Merle Lester <[email protected]> To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, 1 August 2012, 5:28 Subject: Re: [Zen] Re: Chan and zen beautiful merle Joe, Oh yes, talk about the 'moonlight' of Wisdom and the crystal-like purity of objects is no artistic licence. I've taken the liberty of posting below an account of a mystical experience I posted on another forum many years ago. I have also posted on this forum (not so long ago) some of the experiences I've had with my Heart Chakra on Vipassana retreats (If I find it I'll re-post, if you'd like). I do this for your amusement only! (and please excuse the unsophisticated descriptions I blurted out below...): http://pub5.bravenet.com/guestbook/395054200/#bn-guestbook-1-1-395054200/prev/22 April 14th 2004 02:18:37 AM Please provide a nickname (required) Mike Give your experience a short title No-Mind How old were you when this happened? 36 Are you male or female? male Please describe your experience I had my first experience 3 years ago and I still find it difficult to put into words. Impossible, actually. Also important to mention is the fact that during the experience I had no religious beliefs or knowledge. However, since the experience I have been practicing Zen Buddhism and I can know describe some facets of the experience using Zen terminology (something I couldn't do immediately after the experience). I was watching the evening news on t.v (it was about 7pm) when I heard a kind of 'click' inside my head. Immediately, all the sound from the t.v seemed to suck back into the t.v. This left everything in the room in a state of crystal-like purity because along with the absence of sound there was also an absence of 'labels' on the objects within my view. Labels, names, concepts, abstractions, language, all had instantaneously vanished. Everything was in a state of 'isness' or 'suchness'. It was as if the atmosphere in the room had taken on a moon-like or crystal-like quality. As for me, it felt as though my head had been taken from my shoulders and I WAS the room and the objects therein. Although I had never studied Zen Buddhism up to this point I kept repeating to myself, "This is it! This is it! No mind!". It also felt as though this was the most natural and real state to be in and how foolish not to realise it before! I also really felt as though I would be able to come back to this 'place' at will. I wish! This period of discovery lasted about 10-15 minutes. What followed was a state of bliss and ecstasy. It began with a warm liquid feeling running up and down my spine (very kundalini!) accompanied by an adrenalin-like feeling of love. Very orgasmic without the sexual side. This state seemed to be preceded by a feeling of amazing discovery - no less than the meaning of life and the reason for religion. I also believe that my breathing was suspended during this time. Then the most amazing feeling of 'oneness' occured when I looked out the window and saw a tree. It really felt as though the tree was in on the whole episode! I couldn't stop saying, "Thank you!". The tree shimered in a golden, violet and blue light although I know it wasn't a hallucination. I was the tree and the tree was me. At this point everything felt dark although my eyes were open and it wasn't dark in a lights off kind of way. Also, I could feel my hands moving up into a benediction type position. But here's the strange thing. I consciously brought myself out of this unbelievably beautiful state! At the time it felt like I needed to share the experience with someone, but also I think I wasn't ready to lose my sense of self. After I had come back to earth a bit I felt 2 things. One, that this was the most holy experience anyone had ever had!! Or two, that this experience somehow preceded a mental illness. The next day I scoured the library for material and discovered 'mysticism'. That was a great relief - to discover that lots of people have had similar experiences. For the sake of brevity, of all the religions I researched Zen feels the most relevant FOR ME to pursue. I have had many profound experiences since and definately feel like I am now on a spiritual path. ________________________________ From: Joe <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, 31 July 2012, 20:48 Subject: [Zen] Re: Chan and zen Mike, Yow; definitely the clincher. There are some lovely statements by masters, or others just awakened, about the beauty of the world, calling it the Pure Land, and etc. Some I like in particular speak of the "moonlight" of Wisdom, and of the mountains and rivers of the great earth, "flowing like brocade". My teachers were patient with me when I told them about everything looking clean and brightly color-saturated, as if "wetted", and everything emitting light. Sometimes as if all is made of white candle wax, and as if Roses are made of eons old sleepy ashes. Blacks are definitely too black, and, as I walk about or stand still, shadows are more amazing than the chiaroscuro paintings of Italian renaissance old masters. The unity of things, all things participating and together essentially expounding the Dharma, is a very friendly phenomenon, and we are intimate with everything because we are one with that web, the jewel net of Indra. As I walked the streets of New York City while the soybean hung on my forehead, I could also see in people the places where their energy was blocked-up, where they were deformed internally and externally, and where they held tightness and tension in themselves. As a martial- artist, I could thus also see now exactly where they would be most vulnerable if I had to exert a defensive effort. At this point, I met a Tai Chi teacher, Master Da Liu, and became his student in that art, and never practiced the hard form again, which had been Tiger Paw k'ung fu. All of Hatha Yoga also made much more sense. ;-) Practice has had its ups and downs. I think this is good, because, for someone who has vowed to teach people, it's good for oneself to be a beginner (quite) a number of times over, and to find out what is valuable at different phases of life, or when certain physical or mental fixations as a householder are predominant distractions or obstacles, or simply must be borne and shared within one's practice-life. And then, to see the effects of practice on all this. I feel I've been re-born many times already Mike, in this one life. OK, how about a Joke: Hindu to Christian: "How many TIMES have you been born again?" Best, --Joe > mike brown <uerusuboyo@...> wrote: > > Kris, > > Well, ultimately, of course, you're quite right - there is nothing lacking > nor are there 'others' to convince [snip] > But then again, maybe that's just because I like bright and shiny things ; )
