Затеялся читать online книжку по Ваджраяне

[dmm]

Есть такой замечательный человек по имени David Chapman, который пишет всякие философские интернетные книжки, и вот он недавно сделал "tweetstorm" на тему о рисках медитатации: twitter.com/Meaningness/status/1357113012356714497

vividness.live/meditation-risks

Надо сказать, что в реальности, в которой я обитал, не было никаких рисков, связанных с медитацией, пока Пелевин не выпустил осенью 2018-го "Тайные виды на гору Фудзи", в которой риски медитации - центральная тема. Тут-то сразу пошли статьи в разных местах про риски и побочные эффекты, связанные с медитацией, и я, вдруг, оказался в реальности, где уже лет 10, а то и больше, люди пишут разные тексты про эти самые риски и изучают эту тематику. Вот что Пелевин животворящий делает с реальностью (и это не в первый раз).

Система медитации, которой я занимаюсь примерно с лета 2012-го года (хотя в последнее время менее систематически), по книжке "The Presence Process" by Michael Brown, она, как раз, не переходит ту границу, за которой начинаются риски, но, при этом, крайне эффективна (Дэвид Чапмен, как раз, пишет про то, где "граница безопасности", и, замечательным образом, книжка "The Presence Process" как раз живёт в точности на этой границе). И она вполне в западном мейнстриме по определению Чапмена.

Но, в общем, ясно, что надо бы найти новую систему, в дополнение к той, которой я занимаюсь, и вот, эта книжка Чапмена, как раз, выглядит как то, что нужно: vividness.live/

А та сложная книжка, про которую я писал некоторое время назад, к ней, как раз, применима критика Чапмена (я посмотрел-посмотрел на неё, и решил, в итоге, "на фиг, на фиг"; и Чапмен как раз хорошо вербализует, почему я так решил, а "Тайные виды на гору Фудзи" это прямо-таки живописно и в ярких красках объясняет): dmm.dreamwidth.org/21712.html

UPDATE: It's a very good book, but it's not a "self-facilitated practice book" (I don't think the author even believes in self-facilitated tantric practices).

What is good about "The Presence Process" book is that one can use it for a rather far-reaching self-facilitated practice. (It's not even "officially Buddhist", it's a very secular and rather effective practice.)

But this book, while quite remarkable, can't be used to build a self-guided practice (as far as I can tell at the moment).

UPDATE 2: Actually, I think, some subset ("Yidams" and "Pure Land") should not be too difficult to transform into a self-facilitated practice (the author does not like the idea of self-facilitated practices, but so what; a lot of us don't like the idea of dependence on a "spiritual teacher" even more): dmm.dreamwidth.org/37665.html?thread=97057#cmt97057

Comments

(frozen comment)

[is3]

Ваджраяна - это Нью Эйдж. Несмотря на декларируемую древность всё это разработки, особенно в плане психопрактик - последнего столетия.
Судя по всему самой традиции, без учёта всех этих новомодных психопрактик, неболее 200 лет, а активно продвигаться она начала усилиями теософов:

К примеру, всего 130 лет назад на территории всей Британской Индии (то есть с учётом Бирмы, Непала, Бутана и многих других территорий, сейчас считающихся исторически буддийскими) - насчитывалось всего 8млн буддистов (по сравнению с 50млнами магометян)

Продвижение буддизма в западном массовом сознании - это, прежде всего, заслуга агента ЦРУ Лхамо Дхондруба:
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v30/d337
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_Tibetan_program
Он уже многие десятилетия получает крупное финансирование от госдепа. Которое, судя по всему, направляет на связи с общественностью. Благодаря обильной голливудской продукции (в духе "Семь дней в Тибете", "Маленький Лама" и т.п.), а также деятельности смежных newage-агентов (в духе какого-нибудь Ричарта Алперта) инфильтрующих масс медиа культуру - у доверчивых масс постепенно складывается искуственный образ особых "тибетских монахов".
Насколько я понимаю, успех этого предприятия вызван именно подобными связями с общественностью, многие западные люди, не получающие конкретные выгоды от западных религиозных институтов, разочаровываются в родительской традиции, и, етстественным образом, чувствуют отторжение ко всему этому некрофилическому христианству с толстыми попами и митрополитами-педофилам. И невольно попадают на эту "восточную" newage наживку (чаще всего триггером к инициации в будизьм, индуизьм и етс среди западников - является какой-нибудь психоделический опыт, но не всегда). Но если отбросить связи с общественностью, Лхамо Дхондруб оказывается лучшим другом нацистов:

Dalai and his life-long friend “Dr”. Bruno Beger, a hard-core and life-long Nazi convicted of medical experimentation on concentration camp inmates​

Lamo Dondrub with Jorge Haider

Dalai’s life-long friend Heinrich Harrer a life-long and unrepentant Nazi close to Adolf Hitler

Lamo Dondrub and Chilean Nazi Party Head Miguel Serrano

Неудивительно то, что нацисты до сих пор так дружны с ламаистами, учитывая:
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Налог_на_уши_и_нос
Далай-лама наложил налог на все, даже на уши. То есть тем, кто хотел, чтобы его уши остались, пришлось заплатить, иначе их отрезали.
Многие рабы вырезали себя глаза или отрезали себе ноги не из-за непослушания, а по соображениям безопасности.
То есть те, кто желал, чтобы его уши были оставлены у хозяина, должны были платить налог, с другого они отрезали.
Были наручники всех размеров, включая крошечного малыша, инструменты для срезания носа и ушей, ломки рук и ног, подколенного сухожилия.

В Тибете менее 100 лет назад была абсолютная теократия, даже не было светской власти.

Примечательно, что до сих пор ведутся активные разработки в этом направлении, например, новомодные феминизированные варианты ламаизма:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chöd
Но если отбросить связи с общественностью, то все это оказывается вбросом последних десятилетий, график упоминаний главного ключевого слова этой традиции в английском языке наглядно демонстрирует, как эту новоиспеченную тему пару раз пытались вбросить задним числом:
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Yundrung&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&case_insensitive=on&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2CYundrung%3B%2Cc0#t1%3B%2CYundrung%3B%2Cc0
Насколько я знаю, идеологом этого прогрессивного непатриархального развития тибетской средневековой духовности был этот предприимчивый итальянский командир 3-го класса (тибетского происхождения):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namkhai_Norbu
Помимо танцев и песен, это авторитетнейшее учение предлагает благочестивым буддистам регулярные "ганапуджи" - особый вид благородной медитации, во время которой они употребляют мясо и алкоголь в высокодуховной манере на благо всех живых существ.
Обратите внимание на музыкальный инструмент, которым пользуются на фото выше:

Это так называемый "Ганлин":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangling
Kangling, дословно переводимое как "нога" (kang) - "флейта" (ling) - тибетское название духового музыкального инструмента, изготовленного из человеческой берцовой кости или бедра, используемого в тибетском буддизме для различных обрядов чёд, а также для похорон, исполняемых чёпой. Предпочтение отдается кости ног преступника или лица, умершего насильственной смертью. В качестве альтернативы может быть использована кость ноги уважаемого учителя.
(что на мой взгляд прямо указывает на тождественность преступника или уважаемого учителя)



И медитация юнного ламы:


Также можно было бы поднять тему традиционной педофилии среди высокоранговых лам, но думаю и без этого информации для ревизии достаточно (но если потребуется уточните - предоставлю соответствующие ссылки). Хотя, ещё пожалуй дополню этим, для полноты картины:
Дхаммапада — одно из важнейших произведений буддийской литературы, составленное, как говорит традиция, из стихотворных изречений Будды Шакьямуни, произносившихся им по поводу того или иного случая.
Пример "перевода перевода", широко распространённого среди русскоязычных буддистов:
206. Хорошо видеть благородных. Жить с ними – счастье всегда, ведь, не видя глупцов, ты постоянно пребываешь в счастье.
207. Тот, кто связывается с глупцами, страдает долгое время. Связь с глупцами горестна, словно связь с врагом. Но связь с мудрым благостна, словно встреча с родными.
208. Потому следуй, как луна по пути созвездий, за тем, кто хороший и мудрый, твёрдый и мудрый, знающий, терпеливый, преданный долгу, благородный.
Звучание того же отрывка латиницей и первый прямой перевод с пали на русский:

206. Sāhu dassanamariyānaṃ, sannivāso sadā sukho;
Adassanena bālānaṃ, niccameva sukhī siyā.
206. Хорошо увидеть арийцев и всегда приятно быть с ними,
Хорошо бы дураков вообще никогда не видеть.
207. Bālasaṅgatacārī hi, dīghamaddhāna socati;
Dukkho bālehi saṃvāso, amitteneva sabbadā.
Dhīro ca sukhasaṃvāso, ñātīnaṃva samāgamo.
207. Тот, кто живет с дураками, будет долго страдать.
Больно быть с дураками – это как с врагами.
Приятно жить с умным – это как встретить родственника.
208. Tasmā hi-
Dhīrañca paññañca bahussutañca, dhorayhasīlaṃ vatavantamariyaṃ.
Taṃ tādisaṃ sappurisaṃ sumedhaṃ, bhajetha nakkhattapathaṃva candimā.
208. Поэтому –
Умный, знающий, образованный, религиозный ариец –
Вот за таким хорошим и умным человеком надо идти,
Как луна идет по дороге звезд


Я думаю всё это можно смело назвать ньюэйдж крипто-нацизмом...с приписанной тысячелетней древностью и активными связями с общественностью через финансирование ЦРУ.

(frozen comment)

[dmm]

По-моему, это всё абсолютно по фигу...

Все эти теории заговора можно настраивать, сколько угодно, это только отвлекает от сути дела...

[dmm]

So, one of the most interesting functions of this book is disambiguation and deconfusion, in particular, this section:

https://vividness.live/yanas-are-not-buddhist-sects

I don't know yet how practical this book would turn out to be, but its educational function is impressive.

[dmm]

https://vividness.live/yana-shock

[dmm]

https://vividness.live/unclogging

"Energy is blocked by fixed meanings: when narrowed perception insists that things must only go one way."

[dmm]

It's a very good book, but it's not a "self-facilitated practice book" (I don't think the author even believes in self-facilitated tantric practices).

What is good about "The Presence Process" book is that one can use it for a rather far-reaching self-facilitated practice. (It's not even "officially Buddhist", it's a very secular and rather effective practice.)

[dmm]

So, because this book does not seem to have a part which could be considered a "self-facilitated practice book", I am going to approach it less systematically, and more randomly, jumping back and forth, and omitting quite a bit.

The book covers a number of paths and systems, and emphasize that they tend to not be logically compatible with each other, but one can switch back and forth between them.

This section is interesting:

https://vividness.live/no-cosmic-justice

"Dzogchen rejects the Law of Karma. This is the main reason Dzogchen is condemned by some Buddhists. Even for Westerners, who have no cultural belief in karma, it can be difficult to let go of hope for cosmic fairness. However, genuine ethical action is impossible if we are motivated by reward and punishment."

"Dzogchen is unique in biting the bullet and admitting that there is no Law of Karma. According to Dzogchen, there is no cosmic justice. Dzogchen does not deny karma altogether, but denies that its operation is certain, eternal, external, constant, or universal. The Dzogchen view is that karma is a matter of habit—and therefore empty. If we habitually act in particular ways, we tend to view the world in corresponding ways. If we act aggressively, out of anger, our victims are likely to retaliate. Then we will find the world dangerous. Our anger and paranoia are likely to increase, and this may escalate indefinitely. If we are generous, others may be inclined to reciprocate. So we live in a world partly shaped by our actions and perceptions. However, there is no guarantee in this."

"The assumption underlying both Buddhist and Christian ideas of cosmic justice is that the universe is about us. Because it is about us, it would be screwed up if it were unfair; and the universe shouldn’t be screwed up, so there must be some cosmic balancing that we can’t see. But the universe is not about us."

[dmm]

https://vividness.live/nobility

https://vividness.live/power

( https://vividness.live/mastery )

[dmm]

https://vividness.live/magic-in-buddhist-tantra#play

[dmm]

Base => Path => Aim : Yana

Aim is this Mastery-Power-Play-"Nobility" sections

Base:

https://vividness.live/tantra-base

"Passions—strong emotions—connect us with what matters."

"Spaciousness is freedom from fixed meanings."

"Curiosity is spacious perception."

"Ngakpa Chögyam’s full formulation is “spacious passion in passionate space.” That is an expression of the sexual dynamics of tantra, in which space is feminine and passion is masculine, but each reflects and contains the other. When one speaks of the union of passion and space producing electric energy, and of passion being in space, all double entendres are intentional. (Mostly, in tantra, if there is any possibility that something could be understood as a sexual allusion, it should be.)"

[dmm]

https://vividness.live/the-power-of-an-attitude

' What I find most valuable in Buddhist tantra is an attitude. It’s the attitude I’ll call “spacious passion.” '

' “Attitude” is an interesting word. Attitudes cross the internal/external, subjective/objective boundary. An “attitude” may include an emotional or mental state; but it can also refer to a bodily posture. It may be defined as a tendency toward a particular action or response.

This is key to Tantrayana. Some Buddhisms treat both their path and goal as primarily mental, internal, or subjective. For Buddhist tantra, external action is more important. But accurate action requires blurring the subjective/objective boundary.

Usually, one has an attitude toward something or someone. Again, this is key for tantra. While some Buddhisms emphasize objectless emptiness, tantra is about this world and its inhabitants. While the Buddhas of the other leading brands sit around in the sky being holy, tantric Buddhas act. They act on the basis of their “attitude toward.”

The path of tantra consists simply of maintaining the attitude. '

' The tantric attitude is valuable regardless of how you come to adopt it. On the other hand, the tantric practices and doctrines have no intrinsic value. They exist only to promote the attitude.

If you have some other way of maintaining the attitude, you could—in theory—fully accomplish tantra without using or knowing anything about the traditional teachings. Ultimately, any and every activity is tantric practice, when accompanied by the attitude. '

Anuyoga

' Anuyoga is a distinctive, uncommon form of tantra, found only in the Nyingma branch of Tibetan Buddhism. It is different enough from “mainstream” tantra that it is considered a separate yana. Its texts, practices, and doctrines barely overlap with other tantric yanas, although it is similar enough to count as tantra rather than something else entirely.

Anuyoga skips most of the complex ritual of “mainstream” tantra. Instead, its approach is: Just Do It®. You go directly into being a Buddha, with only minimal technical support.

Anuyoga flourished mainly during the “Tibetan Dark Age” around the year 959. This period was considered “dark” by later propagandists, because the Tibetan state and the established church lost control over tantra. From my point of view, it was probably something of a Golden Age. (I’ve written about that elsewhere.)

After theocracy was re-established, anuyoga became almost entirely theoretical, forgotten, fictitious, or extinct. (Jacob Dalton wrote a fascinating PhD thesis about this, if you want to learn more. I may summarize that in an upcoming post.)

Anuyoga developed as a style of practice suitable for dynamic social conditions. It is ideal for independent, part-time practitioners who have real lives. On the other hand, the style of tantra taught in Tibet in the past few hundred years was designed to support state power and institutional stability. It is suited mainly for monks, i.e. indentured religious factory workers.

Social conditions for Buddhism in the contemporary West are more similar to the “Dark Age” than to the theocratic feudalism of recent Tibet. I think the anuyoga approach is more attractive and useful for most contemporary Westerners than the other tantric yanas. Unfortunately, those other yanas (particularly mahayoga and anuttara tantra) have mostly been all that is available. '

' Anuyoga forms a “bridge” between mainstream tantra and Dzogchen. '

[dmm]

Вот, я боюсь, прочитав эти два текста

https://vividness.live/tantra-techniques

"The point of this page was that the details don’t particularly matter, because techniques are not centrally important. I wanted to discourage readers from getting hooked on the hope that I would eventually deliver a practical manual, which I didn’t intend to do."

"Occultism mostly doesn’t do anything, so people are always looking for something “more extreme” that might. But the kinds of specific, practical outcomes some people want simply aren’t available. Once they realize Western esotericism is mostly lame nonsense made up a few decades ago, many try to cross over to tantra as a time-proven set of more powerful techniques. That doesn’t work either, and often causes unnecessary annoyance for all concerned."

https://vividness.live/a-killer-app-for-modern-vajrayana

что это всё - сырой полуфабрикат, непригодный для использования (хотя я попробую внимательно просмотреть последовательность между этими двумя текстами).

[dmm]

https://vividness.live/free-flowing-energy

"Fortunately, this is not a one-time choice. It is possible to take both approaches at different times, depending on your ability to cope with more and less intense circumstances. You can practice both tantra and sutra—but you cannot practice both at the same time. The choice is exclusive, because they do point in opposite directions."

"You begin tantra by practicing in a sandbox: a relatively safe environment in which you can intensify passionate energy and free it with spaciousness. There are specific methods for intensification and unclogging while sitting quietly on a cushion, for instance." (spaciousness - freedom from fixed meanings)

"The aim is to experience emotions unreservedly, as brilliant multi-colored biological energy that has no inherent implications. When the psycho-physical energy of the emotions is liberated from concepts, you can feel them without suppression, analysis, judgment, fixation, or needing to inflict them on others."

***

"Passion, energy, and spaciousness correspond to the trikaya: nirmanakaya, sambhogakaya, and dharmakaya respectively." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trikaya

"The doctrine says that Buddha has three kāyas or bodies, the Dharmakāya (ultimate reality), the Saṃbhogakāya (divine incarnation of Buddha), and the Nirmāṇakāya (physical incarnation of Buddha)."

***

"According to tantra, you are always already enlightened, so you have the trikaya yourself. That means they have to be a practical explanation of actual aspects of your experience. So the trikaya are much more important in tantra than in sutra.

Tantra is particularly concerned with the sambhogakaya—energy—because that is neglected by non-tantric Buddhism."

[dmm]

https://vividness.live/tantra-and-flow

TANTRA VS. FLOW (similarities and differences)

"It is somewhat dated (published 1990) and problematic; but I still recommend it highly. It’s at least worth reading the first four chapters, which summarize Csikszentmihalyi’s research. (After that he starts to get philosophical, goes far beyond his data, and tries to make flow into a General Theory of Everything.)

How flow and tantra are similar

Enjoyment

Flow research began with the question: what makes for long-term happiness? The answer was: enjoying everyday life; and psychologists found that enjoyment is best provided by flow experiences. Apparently, the more flow people experience, the more likely they are to say they are satisfied with life. This was the first of two major results of Csikszentmihalyi’s research.

Enjoyment is not the same thing as pleasure (which is one reason hedonism doesn’t work). Enjoyment requires attention and active involvement, and has a transformative effect on the personality. Sense pleasure, by itself, does not; and according to the research, it doesn’t lead to happiness. (It is helpful, though, because it’s easier to enjoy pleasure than pain.)

Enjoyment is also central to tantra, where it also is considered to transform your personality. In tantra, enjoyment is only a tool, though; in positive psychology, it is an ultimate goal."

***

"Attention and energy

The flow research, like tantra, concerns non-mystical “energy.” Energy is what flows smoothly in the flow state.

Csikszentmihalyi found a close connection between energy and attention. Flow occurs when attention is closely controlled. The activities that typically produce control are those that demand highly-practiced, intense concentration of attention.

Tantra produces enjoyment through attention control practices. Tantra directs and manipulates energy through visualization and physical yogas. Unblocking energy flow is, in fact, its essential method."

***

"Details and perception

Research found that flow depends on total involvement with the details of a situation. This requires skilled perception. Tantra is also all about total involvement and developing perception."

***

"Time consciousness

In the flow experience, you are totally “in the moment,” and your perception of time may change radically. It may speed up or slow down. Tantra is also about now, and has methods specifically for altering your perception of time to force you into nowness."

***

"Loss of self

In flow, commonly you lose your self. Activity becomes spontaneous, almost automatic; you stop being aware of yourself as separate from the action. Musicians report that “the music plays itself.” Footballers feel their body as part of a joint organism, the team, which acts as one. In sex, you may lose track of whose body is whose.

This is, of course, a common theme in all of Buddhism. Psychology sees loss of self as a temporary illusion, though; whereas Buddhism sees the self as a temporary illusion."

***

"Mastery and power

Flow both requires, and helps produce, mastery of skills. It leads to a sense of power and control. Ultimately, according to Csikszentmihalyi, it results in “extraordinary individuals.”

Csikszentmihalyi sees social conditioning as a major obstacle to life fulfillment. He writes that “the most important step in emancipating oneself from social control is the ability to find rewards in the events of each moment” (p. 19).

All this is also true for tantra."

***

"Flow-producing activities

The activities most likely to produce flow are athletics (Csikszentmihalyi discusses particularly yoga and martial arts); artistic performance (such as music and dance); sex; play; and ritual.

These are all specifically used and elaborated in Buddhist tantra."

***

"Ritual is a highly-practiced, creative performance, which demands total concentration and sensory involvement, while channeling intense energy. That makes it an ideal flow-producing activity."

***

"The conditions of flow

The second major result of the flow research is a series of conditions that are required to produce the flow experience:

* A task that you are reasonably likely to succeed at
* Difficult enough to demand total attention
* With clear rules and goals
* Immediate feedback
* And an absence of distractions, so you are able to concentrate

(As I’ll explain below, tantra does not share these conditions—so this is the point at which we begin to see how tantra and flow differ.)"

"In the flow channel, the action goes smoothly, and you feel like you are in control, yet it is demanding enough that you have to shut out all distractions. You do not have enough energy left over to indulge in self-concern or worries. You have to be in the present, letting past and future drop away.

Flow produces mastery because it motivates you to develop a skill. As you get better at it, you have to take on increasing challenges to stay in the groove."

***

"Video games and flow

Video games are designed to produce flow, which is what makes them enjoyable. They are engineered with clear rules and easy-to-understand goals, and give immediate feedback (such as a score or damage bar). They present a long series of carefully calibrated, increasing challenges, with skills to develop. They demand intense attention control, as you have to keep track of numerous monsters and constantly scan the screen for threats and opportunities."

***

THEN HE IS EXPLAINING THE DIFFERENCES MORE FULLY

"Buddhism after modernity

Spaciousness is being comfortable with meaninglessness. Passion is the spontaneous arising of meaning from empty space.

Tantric Buddhism, I hope and believe, offers resources for living after modernity—after we have abandoned the futile search for stability, unity, certainty, order, and ultimate meanings."

[dmm]

https://vividness.live/unclogging

"The method of tantra is:

Unclogging energy by uniting spaciousness and passion."

"Energy is blocked by fixed meanings: when narrowed perception insists that things must only go one way."

***

"Unclogging internal energies"

"The tantric alternative is to unify spaciousness with passion. Spaciousness loosens the causal links between perception and emotion, and between emotion and action. Spaciousness reveals the absence of inherent meaning in all three. Your boss’s selfishness, arrogance, and idiocy do not force you to feel anger; feeling anger does not require either expression or suppression.

Since emotions have no inherent meaning, and there is nothing actually wrong with any of them, there are no reasons to reject any. Spaciousness dissolves the fixations of passion in the high-energy strategy. It undoes the denial of passion in the low-energy strategy.

Tantra releases the energy that was bound up in fighting other energy, or that was dissipated into depression. It removes the dams and dikes and sluices you have built to divert energy from its courses. Freed from conceptual constraints, each energy manifests vividly, and they dance together as the full-spectrum rainbow of human biological potential.

This may be experienced as turning up the brightness knob on perception, turning up the volume knob on emotions, and kicking action into high gear.

Of course, unblocking energy does not necessarily solve the problem of unwanted actions. Liberating anger without finding spacious freedom from pointless violence would be a mistake.

This means either tantra needs to be gradual—unkinking pathways carefully over many years, only as you gain sufficient spaciousness—or it needs to be practiced in a bomb-proof container. Both approaches are available."

***

"Unclogging the energy of situations"

"You can unclog the energy of external situations, just like internal ones, by loosening causal links that appear fixed. Here, as a tantrika, you work with other people’s perception of meaning, their emotional responses to meanings, and their emotionally-driven actions.

The process begins with “spacious activity”: undirected exploration of a situation. The tantrika has no agenda; no hope of accomplishing anything in particular. He or she is just curious.

Then the tantrika begins to poke at things playfully, to see what happens. From observation and little nudges, he or she gets a feel for the pattern, for the ways the energetic flows balance. Over here there is an obstacle to one potential flow; over there, an energy is forced to take a circuitous route through a series of kinks in the channel."

"High-energy stuck situations"

"In a high-energy stuck situation, people have fixed ideas about what things mean. There are intense passions in conflict, and a spaciousness deficit. Here the tantrika feels for alternative possibilities that have been overlooked by the participants; for other meanings that can be found in the situation. Because the tantrika has no preconceived ideas about what should happen, his or her attitude is free of arrogance.

Then, he or she jumps into the gap. Ideally, the tantrika finds a place to stand where applying a slight force at precisely the right time and angle causes the whole structure to settle into a new, more productive arrangement, using its own energy. [...]"

"Either way, the intervention is at the level of meaning. The tantrika inserts a new interpretation—whether subtly or bluntly.

The tantrika becomes the space in which reconfiguration occurs. The tantrika’s mind expands to encompass the situation and all the energies in it, and the other actors play out their dramas inside the space he or she provides. The tantrika brings freshness, humor, and grace to the situation. If the other participants lack spaciousness, the tantrika’s activity may be incomprehensible. It might even seem a little like magic.

(I hope this doesn’t sound mystical; there’s nothing supernatural about it. It’s not exactly metaphorical, either, though, because there actually isn’t an objective boundary around individuals.)"

"Low-energy stuck situations"

"In low-energy stuck situations, there is a passion deficit. Whatever energy flows into the situation is immediately dissipated, because potential meanings have been denied. Everything is flat and dull."

"Here the tantrika can liberate the situation by supplying passion and meaningfulness. Again, this requires a detailed feel for the workings of the situation, and skill in intervention. The force of despair driving the dissipation of energy may be far stronger than you. Opposing it directly would fail. The tantrika reaches into spaciousness to locate a specific passion, latent in the situation, that can overcome the force of dissipation. The tantrika becomes the passion that is needed, and the situation reconfigures itself around that passion.

The tantrika’s tools here are inspiration, art, ritual, creativity, and leadership. These are ways of demonstrating passion in order to bring it out in others.

Creativity is central in tantric Buddhism. However, the goal is not “self-expression.” (Selves are not particularly interesting.) Nor is it to make something new just because it’s new. Nor is it about connecting with the Absolute Infinite.

Creativity means allowing the spaciousness of specifics to express themselves. It means being the space in which latent meanings coalesce into visible forms.

In both high- and low-energy situations, the tantrika unclogs energy by increasing passion or spaciousness (or both), and by unifying the two. Energy flows freely when no passion is denied, and when no meaning is fixed.

There may seem to be a paradox here: passion naturally seeks changes; spaciousness means allowing things to be as they are. The resolution is that the tantrika works with the energies that are already present in a situation, and frees them to be as they naturally are. The aim of tantra is not to fix the world. The world is unfixable. The aim of tantra is to liberate it from imposed meanings."

[dmm]

https://vividness.live/unclogging-consensus-buddhism

"Annoyingly abstract

If you have not practiced tantra, and find what I’ve said about it interesting, you may already have felt impatient. “Sounds good—now what to do I actually do?” In that case, the “unclogging” page may have been spectacularly unhelpful. It probably sounded totally vague and mystical.

What I would like to write is a practical tantra manual for beginners. “Here’s a series of simple, specific exercises that anyone can do, and that can get you well started on the path of a shiny new tantra, suitable for 2012.”

***

"For example, the best-known tantric practice is yidam. If you don’t have the background to understand how and why that works, your reaction is likely to be “yuck, that’s insane and stupid.” The short version is “pretend you are a sky god”; that doesn’t sound promising, does it? Yet yidam is among the most useful of the traditional tantric practices. (If you’d like to learn more, I recommend this modern introduction by Ken McLeod, or Ngakpa Chögyam’s book Wearing the Body of Visions.)

The methods of tantra that work most explicitly with energy are supposedly secret; but in reality, information is readily available. The best-known practice is “tummo”; Google will turn up thousands of pages about it, including detailed instructions. But tummo is “self-secret”: you can read all about it on the web, but it will make no sense, and probably you’ll learn nothing. That is another reason not to discuss traditional practices here.

The context necessary to make traditional tantric practices useful is difficult to recreate in the West. This is why it seems innovation is called for.

I can’t do that, though. Whether such a manual is possible, or even desirable, seems an open question."

***

"I do believe there are unclogging methods that are specific, direct, simple, quick, and effective. (I will point to the windhorse practice from Chögyam Trunpga’s Shambhala terma as an example.) It is possible that something like it would suitable for complete beginners."

***

"Consensus Buddhism feels to me like a complex pattern of blocked and kinked energy flows. It is constricted by niceness, unconscious class assumptions, and unconscious modernist assumptions. It’s distorted by a series of dubious alliances and enmities—with other forms of Buddhism, and with non-Buddhist systems. It alternates between listlessness and irritation at its narrow demographics, its failure to suppress sexual misconduct among its own teachers, its love-hate relationship with tradition, and the sense that spiritual goals that seemed within reach thirty years ago remain elusive."

"My last page addresses a specific blockage. Buddhism in the modern world naturally wants to flow into tantra, because tantra’s goals are aligned with modern goals, and tantra’s worldview is mostly compatible with the modern worldview. However, the way into Buddhist tantra was closed off in the early 1990s.

Therefore, the impulse has had to flow into psychotherapy, New Age nonsense, and Hindu tantra instead. Those offer other, non-Buddhist methods for energetic transformation. Consensus Buddhism has incorporated some of their practices and beliefs. (I will write more about this in a post titled “Looking for transformation in all the wrong places.”)"

***

"To reopen the tantric Buddhist path, we must combine spaciousness and passion.

The spaciousness here is openness to new ways of understanding Buddhism. The passion is our love of meditation, our gratitude for what we’ve received from tradition, and our determination to make them relevant and available to as many people as possible."

[dmm]

https://vividness.live/unclogging-and-traditional-buddhism

"In the past couple of pages, I described the path of tantra in terms of “unclogging.”

Most often, descriptions of tantra center instead on “transformation.” Tantric methods transform “poison into medicine”: negative emotions such as anger into positive mental qualities like clarity. It’s useful to understand that explanation. (If you’d like to learn more, I recommend Ngakpa Chögyam’s Spectrum of Ecstasy.)

“Transformation” is the language of the generation approach to tantra. “Unclogging” is the language of the less well-known completion approach. They can be understood as different descriptions of the same process.

According to the completion approach, it is only possible to “transform” anger into clarity because they are already the same kind of energy. There is only a superficial appearance of change. At a deeper level, clarity is just anger whose channel has been unblocked, so it runs clear. Or, more accurately, anger is only clarity that has been bottled up so it turns stagnant and rotten.

There’s several reasons I’ve described the “unclogging” framework rather than the “transformation” one [...]"

***

"Any system of practical methods classifies situations and actions, and suggests which sorts of actions are useful in which sorts of situations.

There are many different classifications used in different tantric systems. For example, a common classification of energies is in terms of kleshas (emotional “defilements”). Tantra reveals those to be wisdoms gone stagnant due to blockages. Different tantric systems give different lists of kleshas. In generation tantra, each klesha has a corresponding family of yidams, which are methods suitable for transforming that klesha. (Spectrum of Ecstasy has more about that.)

One common tantric classification of actions to apply to external situations is the four Buddhakarmas—pacifying, magnetizing, enriching, and destroying. Ken McLeod explains this pragmatically as four ways of resolving conflicts (for example in this podcast).

In “Unclogging,” I used a simple classification of internal/external, and high energy/low energy. This is not particularly traditional, and probably it’s too crude to be of much use. I invented it just to help explain tantra in an abstract way.

Because different traditional tantric systems offer different classifications, this is clearly an area in which innovation is possible. Future tantras will classify energetic situations in entirely new ways, with corresponding new tantric methods.

The innovative tantric systems of the 1980s offered just such new classifications. For example, Chögyam Trungpa’s Shambhala terma classifies enlightened activities into “meek, perky, outrageous, and inscrutable,” each with a distinctive energy. The Aro gTér lists “nihilism, eternalism, monism, and dualism” as blockages yidams can overcome. (This set appears elsewhere in Buddhism, but not as a central theme.)"

***

"Smashing the chains of karma

Karma, if the idea makes any sense at all, is about causality.

Sutrayana tends to see karma as an external system of moral book-keeping. If you squash an ant in this life, that causes a brick to fall on your head in some future life. The way you achieve liberation is by “accumulating merit”; if you are nice enough for long enough, you are magically rewarded with enlightenment.

This is stupid. There’s no coherent explanation for how it’s supposed to work.

Alternatively, you can understand karma as habitual emotional patterns. For example, if your anger leads to violence, that generally makes other people violent in response, and your situation worsens. Here karma is not external, but a causal interaction between your psychology and the world.

Spaciousness can then be understood as breaking the links in the chains of karma. You let go of dysfunctional patterns of emotion-laden perception and knee-jerk action, and your situation improves. “Merit” is not required.

Sutrayana describes itself as a long-haul path. It takes billions of years (literally, billions, according to scripture) to accumulate enough merit to gain liberation.

Tantra describes itself as a quick path. You can gain liberation in a single lifetime, by unhooking the train of perception→emotion→action.

This explanation of karma at least makes sense. I doubt that it’s actually useful; I’d be happy to lose the word “karma” altogether. But if you insist on karma, why not go with a version that needs no cosmic magic?"

[dmm]

5 done, 5 section remain:

https://vividness.live/our-buddhism-goes-to-eleven

"Most tantric practices crank it.

Tantra has a gonzo, over-the-top attitude. Increasing passion motivates extreme action. Increasing spaciousness gives room for extreme weirdness. Increasing energy fuels extreme emotion.'

***

"Intensity incinerates meaning

“Spaciousness” means letting go of the compulsion to make experiences mean something. Those meanings are mostly created conceptually.

Sufficient intensity actually overwhelms your ability to conceptualize. When you stub your toe, for a couple of seconds there is no thought; there is only pain. Or, you can be so angry, or so turned on sexually, that you can’t think. Usually this is considered a problem, but for tantra, it is an opportunity to experience reality without your concepts getting in the way."

***

"Any intensity will do"

"It doesn’t matter what experience you intensify. Early tantra mostly used sexual pleasure. That is inherently intense, and has the happy byproduct of being enjoyable. Pain is just as good, and may be easier to arrange. It’s used a lot in Hindu tantra, but much less in Buddhism. You can use intense anxiety or desire or even boredom.

Recent Tibetan tantra makes extensive use of paranoia. The lama creates intense paranoia among his or her students, over totally trivial issues. The advantage here is that—because nothing real is at stake—it’s safer than working with rage or lust.

It’s pretty unpleasant, though. Also, inevitably, not all the paranoia gets successfully transformed into constructive activity. As a result, there is a strong undercurrent of paranoia throughout Tibetan Buddhism. This can be quite ugly and problematic; I’ll discuss that when I write about Tibetan politics."

***

"Over-the-topness

Tantra promotes outrageousness—not from violating norms for their own sake, but because deliberate intensification is not normal, and takes you places most people never go.

The outrageousness of tantra is related to, but different from, the outrageousness of the 20th century bohemian artist. It shares a willingness to go into creative madness, and to accept terror and revulsion.

The slogan of the romantic rebel is épater le bourgeoisie: “let’s scandalize the middle-class squares!” This is aggressive and smug; the attitude is “we’re better than them because we can tolerate more weirdness.” That comparison is quite unnecessary.

Usually, tantra is outrageous in order to explode the limited conceptions of tantric practitioners themselves—not for the effect it has on other people. Occasionally it’s useful to shock the public, but only if that leads to some genuine benefit."

***

"Going too far

In tantra, you may take it way too far, until it breaks. (Whatever “it” is.)

If it breaks, the breach reveals the underlying structure of experience, in the manner of breaking. Conceptual mind smoothes over the grittiness of experience, so long it is able to cope. When coping fails, you can see the machinery grinding away beneath that.

If you can maintain some spaciousness through the breakdown, what it reveals is likely to be very funny."

***

"Tantra is big and stupid. It’s like a wildly enthusiastic but not very bright St. Bernard puppy.

Sometimes it’s good to be stupid. It’s endearing, and it cuts through intellectual complexity that may just be a psychological defense against experiencing the rawness of reality.

But the amped-up stupidity of tantra can get tiring, tiresome, and stale—like heavy metal.

In that case, you might want to try Dzogchen, which is approximately tantra minus the big and stupid. I’ll say more about that later."

[dmm]

https://vividness.live/yidams-a-godless-approach-naturally

"As an atheist, I rejected Vajrayana for several years when I was told that it’s mostly about gods and demons and magic and stuff.

But Vajrayana (Buddhist tantra) doesn’t need gods anymore. We could take them to bits for parts, if we wanted; or just shoo them back home.

Or, better, we can agree to a new arrangement with them: we will treat them with the respect they deserve, if they stop pretending to exist."

***

'“Deity yoga” is perhaps the most important tantric practice. It requires the cooperation of “yidams,” who are…

Yidams are not gods

The textbook definition begins: “A yidam is a species of Buddhist god.” A page or two later, you read: “Not all yidams are gods; some are flesh-and-blood humans from history.”'

***

"What a yidam is

A yidam is someone you can consistently consider enlightened. In “deity yoga,” you relate to that person in particular ways. You “become” the yidam in meditation by visualizing yourself in their form, and by replacing your ordinary mind with their enlightened mind. Later, I’ll suggest ways to think about this operation naturalistically."

***

"Ideally, you might use yourself! If you could convincingly visualize yourself as enlightened, you’d be enlightened—or else psychotic. (The user manual has one of those exclamation-mark-in-a-triangle-road-sign icons here.) Mostly, it’s difficult to to experience yourself as enlightened, so you experience yourself as someone else being enlightened, which turns out to be easier. That’s why yidam practice—or “deity yoga”—works!

Besides gods, dead humans, and fictional humans, all sorts of monsters, demons, and miscellaneous spooks also function as yidams.

The fact that these people are all either imaginary or decomposed is a non-problem. You don’t have to “believe in” someone to practice them as a yidam. Existence is irrelevant to the job."

references: https://metarationality.com/meta-systematic-judgement and https://meaningness.com/existence-scarlet-leviathan

***

OMITTING WHAT IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWS IN CONNECTION WITH JEWISH RELIGION, BUT IT'S INTERESTING

***

"Be that as it may, many Tantric Buddhist texts particularly emphasize the non-existence of the yidams. The aim of Vajrayana is to actualize the understanding that emptiness and form are inseparable. “Emptiness” is more-or-less “non-existence” according to some Buddhist philosophical schools, so yidams’ non-existence is particularly salient. Vajrayana practice manuals often warn against the error of imagining that you can turn yourself into a concrete, actually-existing god.

So… instead of quibbling over metaphysical technicalities, let’s grant that most yidams are mythical."

references https://vividness.live/ritual-vs-mentalism

"Myths have great value, which has nothing to do with their literal “truth.” I have suggested that mythopoesis—the creation of explicitly “false” religious fictions—is the best strategy for naturalizing tantra." references https://vividness.live/strategies-for-naturalizing-religion#mythologizing

***

"We all do relate to fictional characters. They are important to us. Fiction is a powerful source of inspiration and insight. Asking “What would Aragorn do? What would Princess Leia do?” might be an excellent way to live. The same goes double for religious fiction: myths.

Once you realize being a god is irrelevant to being a yidam, and that existence and non-existence are irrelevant, and that the supernatural is as harmless in myths as in other fictions—then taking a god as a yidam is unproblematic.

But if it really bothers you, unquestionably existent (albeit dead) humans are also available, and can also do the job."

***

"Enlightenment and other aims"

If you can’t see anyone as enlightened, there’s a problem. You may doubt whether that is possible, even in principle. Is there even such a thing as enlightenment?

I think such doubts are reasonable. Every little branch of Buddhism has its own story about what “enlightenment” means. They are drastically different, and most are obviously impossible or undesirable. Some other conceptions of enlightenment may be useful for particular purposes. I think we’d do better to give those more specific names, and ask hard questions about “what is this thing? is it actually achievable? what is it good for?” (I wrote about this in “Epistemology and enlightenment.”) If you share these qualms, it may be better to ignore “enlightenment.”

Instead, in yidam practice, and in tantra generally, we might aim at developing capacities, adopting stances, and engaging in activities.6 “Enlightenment” is a vague, uniform, singular goal; but capacities, stances, and activities are specific, diverse, and plural."

6:"See what I did there? Those three are the three kayas: dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya, respectively." (I don't know, if he did this one well.)

"There are thousands of yidams—wildly different, vividly specific—who help you develop and master their particular capacities, stances, and activities. In consultation with your teacher, you can choose which yidam (or yidams) to practice, depending on what direction you want to head in."

***

"Yidams are not archetypes"

“Yidams are not gods but archetypes” is a common, well-intentioned claim, but it’s inaccurate, and I think mostly misleading and unhelpful.

It’s an example of the psychologization strategy for naturalizing Buddhism. That turns external, supernatural entities into internal, psychological ones. The problem is that meaning is neither objective nor subjective, and yidams are neither independently-existing people, nor mental structures found “deeply within” yourself.

Archetypes are supposedly abstract, general, and universal. Yidams are extremely specific. Vajrakila—the yidam shown above—has three heads, six arms,7 wings, and no legs. Instead, his torso is fused at the waist to a huge three-bladed dagger.

Vajrakila is not universal.[...]

Vajrakila is also not an arbitrary cultural creation. He has an extremely specific form, and you aren’t to mess with it. Every detail has a particular significance, symbolism, and function, which weren’t just made up.

Those specifics are utterly bizarre. [...]"

***

"Do we need Western yidams?"

"I expect yidams that reference aspects of Western culture are possible—but I doubt they are necessary. And incorporating Western deities without incorporating Western religious attitudes, inimical to Vajrayana, seems difficult and maybe impossible.'

***

"Where there are humans,
You’ll find flies,
And Buddhas."

***

"Naturalistic yidam practice: how it works"

"Body maps, yidam, and tsa lung" (Tsa Lung energy practice: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trul_khor )

[dmm]

https://vividness.live/wrathful-practice

'“Wrathful practice” is an approach within Tantric Buddhism that can dramatically accelerate your progress. However, it is only workable if you are willing to have Buddhist practice be the sole important thing in your life, under close supervision of a lama, after many years of preliminary practice. And, it comes with a steep price, and a serious risk.'

'The most negative emotion is hatred. Wrathful practice is called “wrathful” because hatred is the emotion you most stir up and attempt to transform. As part of the method, you rely on a “wrathful yidam,” or visualized enraged deity. (Dorje Phurba, shown at the top of this page, is an example.) With this practice, hatred can be transformed into the clarity of enlightenment.'

'The “serious risk” is that you will fail in the transformation—and fail to see that you have failed. This danger is spoken of frequently in Tibetan texts—and this outcome is common. Wrathful yidam practice can produce extraordinary arrogance. That is based on the perception that “I have transformed myself into an enlightened, wrathful being.” (Properly, yidam practice is the perception that “the yidam is occurring.” It is non-personal.)

It is easy to persuade yourself that you have succeeded when you have not. Then you believe you have complete, clear understanding of Buddhism, you are qualified to say who or what needs to be destroyed, and you are just the one to do it. That makes you dangerous to others.'

[dmm]

https://vividness.live/charnel-ground

"Anyway, we’re totally fucked. But existential optimism—“there must be a way out”—makes things worse than necessary. You waste effort chasing imaginary salvation, and keep feeling hurt when it doesn’t work out."

(Then plenty of too vivid nasty details)

"A tantrika takes the same attitude to reality as to a charnel ground. Reality is a dangerous, horrifying, chaotic place. No one gets out of here alive."

(Then plenty of more vivid nasty details)

"The entire universe is a charnel ground. It extends to infinity in every direction: across space, time, all dimensions. There was no glorious creation, no golden age of the past, no possibility of salvation in the future. If there are any alternate worlds, spiritual planes, or magical states of consciousness—they are also entirely charnel ground."

***

"Suffering

Tantra is not particularly interested in suffering.

If you complain about suffering, tantra says:

* Of course there is suffering! What were you expecting?

* You are a disposable walk-on character in a horror movie!

* You were hoping for what? Beautiful naked deities, offering you bowls of nectar and ambrosia, maybe?"

***

"No existential hope

The point of viewing all reality as a charnel ground is to annihilate existential hope: the hope that you can somehow win the game; the hope that you can somehow escape; the hope that Buddhism will somehow rescue you from old age, sickness, and death."

***

(More horrors which are supposed to liberate one) I don't think this section resonates with me, for better or for worse (in particular, because I do think one can shift one's subjective reality closer to the state one visualizes; so doing this particular practice might be not such a good idea).

***

"Et cetera

This post is meant to be read together with the next one, “Pure Land.” The two represent mirror-image approaches—nihilistic and eternalistic—to the same non-dual realization. That is hinted at near the end of this post; the following one makes it more explicit."

"Charnel ground practice has been part of Buddhism from very early on. I’ve written a little about the Sutric (mainstream) approach. Its goal is exactly opposite of tantra’s. The point is to develop “revulsion for samsara.” If you really understood how awful the world is, you’d be sufficiently motivated to escape it. (Whereas, in tantra, you absolutely can’t escape, and even if you could, you shouldn’t want to. It is only in a world of suffering that you can help others.)"

"Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche was the abbot of Surmang monastery, which was famous for chöd practice. As far as I know, he never taught chöd in the West. However, the charnel ground attitude is implicit in many of his books. Giving up all hope of salvation is the central theme in his Crazy Wisdom, for example. In fact, he defines “crazy wisdom” as utter hopelessness (page 10). (Chapter 4 is also explicitly about the charnel ground.)

My website Buddhism For Vampires draws much of its imagery from traditional descriptions of charnel ground practice. If you are into that sort of thing [...]" - no, I am not into that

[dmm]

https://vividness.live/pure-land

'That is the tantric practice of “pure vision.” [... like the previous one ...] it is a “practice of view,” which means developing the habit of interpreting the world in a particular way.'

***

'There are technical methods for developing this “divine perception.” However, as in earlier pages, I would rather emphasize the power of the attitude.

What is important is relating to people as though they were Buddhas, and relating to circumstances as though they were a “Pure Land.”'

***

'Pure vision is the antidote to misperceiving people and things as ordinary. Conceiving them as “ordinary,” you tune out their specifics and relate to them only to manipulate them for boring, necessary purposes. They lose most of their ability to surprise or delight you.

Nothing is objectively “ordinary,” and nothing is objectively “sacred.” These are strictly in the eye of the beholder. So which would you prefer to live with?'

***

'Obligatory sexual metaphor

(This is tantra, after all!)

* The six senses are six beautiful naked deities (of your sexual preference) offering you bowls of nectar, plates of ambrosia, and, um, other delights.'

***

'Tantra reverses [Mainstream Buddhism]. The physical world is nirvana. You should want to be connected to it, as much as possible, because it is thoroughly enjoyable, and because the real world is the place you can be most useful. Your emotions (stripped of fixed meanings) provide the energy that drives usefulness.

You should, therefore, honor the senses as sacred. You should also get to know them better by paying more attention to what they do and how. Personifying them as sexy deities is a tantric trick to help with that.

Of course, these deities are devoted to serving you. They bring you all the world’s wonderful experiences, offering them as gifts.'

***

'Dissolving fixed meanings

Ordinarily, we automatically interpret people and situations as intrinsically good, bad, or uninteresting; as supports or threats.[...]

The kleshas are supposed to be the cause of dukkha (unsatisfactoriness); but we can turn that around. Unsatisfactoriness is the cause of the kleshas. Habitually seeing life as a nasty problem is what makes you interpret people and things as good, bad, or uninteresting.

In pure vision’s paradise, nothing is unsatisfactory or threatening. So, you can relax. There’s no need to categorize people and situations as good, bad, or uninteresting.

This is a method for developing spaciousness, which is a key to tantra. Alternatively, you can understand this as the transformation of the tantric five kleshas into the corresponding five wisdoms. The wisdoms are the energies of the kleshas, minus fixation.'

***

'Exploding subjective and objective

It might seem that pure vision fixates everything as “good.” But that fixation is the klesha of neediness—“Gotta have it!” You take a subjective valuation (“I like it”) and project it as an objective quality (“it’s good”).

Pure vision makes everything interesting—not “good.” Interest is what makes everything enjoyable. Interest is a dynamic interaction: neither subjective nor objective, but a process that involves both self and other. Enjoyment is also interactive, whereas neurotic desire is subjective.'

***

"Is this realistic?" - an important discussion section

"the ultimate aim of pure vision is not to see anything that isn’t objectively there, nor to hide anything that is. The aim is to end the hallucination that subjective valuations (good, bad, uninteresting) are objective qualities."

"In tantric technical exercises, you do visualize things that are not there. For example, you try to see ordinary pebbles as precious jewels. The point of this, though, is to come to appreciate pebbles for their own real-world qualities.

“Ordinary” is a hallucination—an imposed meaning. It blinds you to the thing itself; to the beauty of the rock, which you can enjoy if you pay it attention. “Precious” is also a hallucination, but you can use it as a temporary antidote to “ordinary.” Visualizations are training wheels for the actual practice. Trying to see a pebble as precious, you open your eyes to what is there.

The technical practices of pure vision are probably best tried first in a safe space. Done properly, they won’t turn you into an idiot, however. The attitude of pure vision is realistic, not Pollyannaish. It does not blind you to harmful consequences.

What it can do is allow you to appreciate anything, including “bad” and “ordinary” things. There is a powerful social taboo that says you are only allowed to enjoy “good things.” (This is especially key to the middle classes, by the way. Things from your own sub-class are “ordinary,” and you shouldn’t enjoy them much. Things from the next grade down are “bad,” and you mustn’t enjoy them at all, or your status may slip and fall.)

You can enjoy even physical pain—almost always labeled “bad.” But athletes actively enjoy certain kinds of pain, as proofs of accomplishment. The same pain would cause suffering if it didn’t have that meaning. By stripping the meaning off other pains, you can enjoy them, too. (That doesn’t mean you wouldn’t rather avoid them, though.)"

***

"Is this possible?

Is it possible to see everyone as a Buddha, and all the world as a paradise?

My experience is that it’s hard work. Ideally, you are supposed to maintain pure vision at all times. I can’t do that, and I can’t know whether it is possible.

However, being able to do it even a little bit is enjoyable and useful. I think it’s certainly worth trying.

This is one of the many aspects of tantra where working closely with a teacher is invaluable. They can give advice on appreciation tailored for your personal patterns of aversion. They can give specific advice about how to enjoy particular things. You can also learn a lot simply by watching them relish unlikely pleasures."

***

"No heaven on earth

The pure land might sound like heaven, but it’s actually quite different.

Traditional Buddhism has heavens, which it considers no damn good. Everything is so blandly pleasurable that you turn into an indolent idiot. There is no motivation to do anything but soak in it. It is always mid-afternoon, and the weather is always perfect.

Nothing ever happens in heaven.[...]

A pure land, by contrast, is the ideal place for Buddhist practice. It’s comfortable enough that you can settle into meditation, but not stupefyingly pleasant. It’s varied enough to jolt you out of the mindless bliss states that can trap advanced meditators. In the pure land, the point is to wake up, train hard, and learn how to make yourself useful.

In heaven, it is always 78 degrees Fahrenheit—a soothing tropical warmth. In the pure land, there are bracing autumn mornings that say: wake up!"

***

"Here is the secret key to both practices:

* The pure land is the charnel ground.
* The charnel ground is the pure land.

It is not that things you like are the pure land, and ones you don’t are the charnel ground. That’s just the dualism of the kleshas—attraction and aversion.

It is not that reality is somewhere in-between heaven and hell. It is not that charnel ground practice is the antidote to liking things, and pure land the antidote to disliking them. That might be the approach of lukewarm mainstream Buddhism; but Tantra is not the middle way.

It is not that you alternate pure land and charnel ground practice. You do that in training, but it is not the ultimate, non-dual practice.

* All of reality is always simultaneously a pure land and a charnel ground.

Everything is sacred—perfect just as it is. Everything is a nightmare, horror heaped on horror.

The charnel ground is a paradise: there are always plenty of corpses to eat, and rivers of poison to drink. (Tantrikas are required to eat corpses—of cows, at least—and to drink rivers of poison—alcohol, at least.)

Everyone you meet is a shambling undead monstrosity and also a perfectly enlightened Buddha.

So are you.

It is not that you are a Buddha when you are “being good” and a monster when you are “bad.” These are two poetic descriptions of the same whole person.

The value of charnel ground and pure vision practice is in highlighting different feelings you have about the one non-dual reality. Charnel ground is the antidote to eternalism: the delusion that the universe has some ultimate metaphysical meaning that will save you. Pure vision is the antidote to nihilism: the delusion that the universe is only dead matter, and life—full of suffering—has no purpose."

(and don't forget comments at the end of the post on vividness.live)

[dmm]

I think two of the practices he is describing can be relatively easily transformed into self-facilitated practices (despite his objections).

1) The use of Yidams

https://vividness.live/yidams-a-godless-approach-naturally

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yidam

https://dmm.dreamwidth.org/37665.html?thread=96033#cmt96033

2) "Pure Land"

https://vividness.live/pure-land

https://dmm.dreamwidth.org/37665.html?thread=96801#cmt96801

3) In principle, one can try to do the same with Windhorse, but this might be more tricky (and might make less sense):

https://vividness.live/a-killer-app-for-modern-vajrayana

'Windhorse

This is a direct, simple, quick, and effective method for unclogging energy by cutting through whatever gunk has accumulated in the channel. The instructions fit in a single paragraph. You can do the complete practice in 60 seconds, or you can do it all day long in retreat. You can easily mix windhorse into everyday life. It requires no equipment or preparation, and no one can see you are doing it. It is spook-free, woo-free, and is (or was) taught by people with no fancy title like “Lama” or “Roshi.”'

But then he starts backtracking, explaining that there are good reasons for it to be secret, explaining that there are many versions of it, explaining that if one knows it before one is ready for it, it might spoil its effectiveness for that person... All this backtracking does not jibe well with the description of the previous paragraph... So my reaction is "WTF, why you are not releasing a practice which sounds as simple and effective as this description above? Perhaps, there are many versions, but the particular version with the properties you describe in that paragraph should not be hidden like that.".

[dmm]

The "Pure Land" practice is available in many settings and traditions (especially, with "neuromodulation" assistance), and I think it is a great practice.

The Yidam practice is interesting; some versions are probably available in various traditions as well, and I am not sure that "classical Vajrayana versions" are any good for people with "standard Western secular mindset", but Chapman sheds quite a bit of new light on it and suggests that we can get creative with it.

For example, I think, one can identify with one's past self in order to reconnect with a lost skill or a lost mindset from one's past. (Whether it is 100% safe, that's another question; the answer might depend on the "true underlying structure of reality", which we don't really know.) I started doing some self-guided experiments in that general direction.

[dmm]

Ну хорошо, мой назойливый квази-комментатор привлёк моё внимание к этому посту. Есть и от него (или от неё), тем самым, какой-то толк...

Let's do a status update on this.

В феврале-марте, я чуть-чуть занимался всем этим, но быстро забросил, и фокусировался на других вещах в завершающемся году. Тем более, что у меня обнаружились какие-то философские разногласия с автором книжки (у него есть твиттер, я иногда чуть-чуть послеживал), но я сейчас даже не помню, в чём они состояли. Но, во всяком случае, у меня из-за этого пропало ощущение, что его понимание - глубокое...

Единственное, что я пробовал делать - это некоторую странную модификацию практики yidam (links from https://dmm.dreamwidth.org/37665.html?thread=97057#cmt97057 ), которую я сам же и разработал.

If we take a look at https://dmm.dreamwidth.org/37665.html?thread=96033#cmt96033

we find the following quotations:

`What a yidam is

A yidam is someone you can consistently consider enlightened. In “deity yoga,” you relate to that person in particular ways. You “become” the yidam in meditation by visualizing yourself in their form, and by replacing your ordinary mind with their enlightened mind. Later, I’ll suggest ways to think about this operation naturalistically."'

and

'Ideally, you might use yourself! If you could convincingly visualize yourself as enlightened, you’d be enlightened—or else psychotic. (The user manual has one of those exclamation-mark-in-a-triangle-road-sign icons here.) Mostly, it’s difficult to to experience yourself as enlightened, so you experience yourself as someone else being enlightened, which turns out to be easier. That’s why yidam practice—or “deity yoga”—works!

Besides gods, dead humans, and fictional humans, all sorts of monsters, demons, and miscellaneous spooks also function as yidams.

The fact that these people are all either imaginary or decomposed is a non-problem. You don’t have to “believe in” someone to practice them as a yidam. Existence is irrelevant to the job."'

***************

Итак: "Ideally, you might use yourself! If you could convincingly visualize yourself as enlightened, you’d be enlightened—or else psychotic."

Вот, я, как раз, сделал ровно это, но я взял конкретного себя в прошлом, и рассматривал не столько "просветление", сколько владение некоторой, сильно утраченной мною с тех пор конкретной способностью - искусством технического программирования (пик которого у меня давно в прошлом, впрочем, уровень моих способностей в этом плане меняется волнами, в последние годы, скорее, подъём).

И я, путём этой практики отождествления с более сильным самим собой, пробовал поднять свой технический уровень программирования. Тогда было ощущение, что это получилось, и, несомненно, этот год представляет в этом плане "локальный максимум за много лет", - я сделал вполне замечательные вещи в этом плане в уходящем году - interesting machine learning experiments in Julia, a nice virtual poster at JuliaCon 2021, etc.

"После" не значит "вследствие", но у меня есть ощущение, что это было плодотворным.

И, вообще, у меня есть ощущение, что модификация практики yidam для восстановления частично утраченных способностей путём отождествления себя с самим собой в том прошлом, где эти способности были лучше, - это плодотворная практика. (Я не знаю, насколько эта практика рискованна; вероятно, это зависит от человека и обстоятельств. Поверхностный взгляд говорит, что совсем не рискованна, а потом начинаешь задумываться, и находишь сценарии, когда всё не так просто.)

[dmm]

Я думаю, что эту линию мне надо ещё попробовать - вариант yidam, связанный с отождествлением с той или иной версией самого себя в прошлом, представляется интересной техникой.

Двойственным образом, есть всякие любопытные практики "визуализации себя в будущем"...

(Удивительный эффект искажения времени - у меня субъективное ощущение, что этот пост уже был года два назад, или даже чуть раньше, где-то "далеко в прошлой жизни", а по календарю прошло только 9-10 месяцев. Интенсивная жизнь...)