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I have some experience in the subjects you are discussing. I will give some of my thoughts. First, it is impossible to speak about these subjects without sounding "preachy", and being wrong. What I say here, is me lying to you, while trying not to be dishonest. First, mediation is a universal solvent of the mind. It works for everyone, though some people are better suited for different "paths". The goal of each "way" is for you to discover who you really are. The way to know this, is to un-learn the things that prevent you from seeing this truth. The truth is simply reality, but we can't see it because we obfuscate it with thoughts and expectations.
The only way to know the truth, is to be the truth. There are different kinds of meditation. In typical Zen meditation, you sit. Beginners focus on their breathing because that is an activity you can control consciously or unconsciously. When you are experienced, like in maybe 3-9 months, you will not need to count your breaths. When meditating, thoughts will spontaneously arise, let them float away. Do not indulge them, or resist them. Let them float. As you sit, the dream machine will slow down, and gaps of nothingness will be between them. This nothingness is the state of "samadhi". When you are in this state, there is no "you". Experienced mediators regularly enter this state. So do people on LSD, though they are usually not prepared to learn from it. Enough time spent in "samadhi" usually erodes away a persons hangups, leaving them effectively "enlightened".
There is a lot I could say about "Enlightenment", aka "The Big E". Brad Warner is a Soto Zen priest, in Soto they do not believe in "Enlightenment". They believe meditation ITSELF is enlightenment, and when you are meditating, you are as enlightened as anyone who ever was, including the Buddha. Rinzai Zen believes you have to have an "Enlightenment experience" (satori), usually proceeded by smaller experiences (kensho).
Meditation is not the only "way". Karate-do, is a "way". So is flower arranging. There are as many ways as there are people. It was said that the Buddha had 84,000 students, and taught 84,000 ways (or something like that). Spiritual enlightenment did not start with the Buddha, though he was to spirituality what Elvis was to rock. Taoists have an organic view of the world, and there was a "philosophical Taoism" movement which was a precursor to Buddhism. In the world of Buddhism, most Westerners are familiar with "Zen Buddhism", which emphasizes sitting ("zazen"). The Buddhist branches that went through Thailand, China, Japan, and Korea are all different. Each emphasizes someother way of taming the mind. For example, the Thai Buddhists have a lot of intricate ceremonial methods.
After studying Buddhism for a while, I got interested in Advaita, or "non-duality". Which is a lot less organized than Buddhism. There is a Western non-duality movement involving Barry Long (deceased), Sailor Bob, John Wheeler, and Eckhart Tolle. Most of them learned from the Indian Advaita masters. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj is my favorite, he cut right to the chase. The Indians have a lot more easy-going approach than the Japanese do. The American master Robert Rose was a hill-billy from West Virginia who was the real thing. Also, listen to anything by Alan Watts that you can. He took the approach of "fake it until yo make it", but after his 2 satori experiences, he started speaking for himself rather than regurgitating DT Suzuki. All these masters spoke from the same place of "no-mind", but what they said is usually incompatible and contradictory. There is no truth to be found in their words, but in their saying it. Barry Long was a self-enlightened sex-maniac, he had a method of meditation that contradicted the Zen method, and he would say (about Zen),"If it takes you 30 years to get enlightened, just maybe you are doing it the wrong way!" If he wasn't enlightened, he was at least entertaining. I think Eckhart Tolle spent some time with Barry Long, but Tolle was already spontaneously enlightened. He had same spontanteous-type experience as Buckminster Fuller, who was reborn as he was about to throw himself off a cliff because his baby daughter had died.
One last thing I will mentioned is, meditation will work, so do that if you don't know what else to do. You can think of it as giving your mind a bath. I suggest meditating for the same amount of time you spend in the shower. If you meditate before you sleep, you will probably have lucid dreams. If you meditate in the morning, the first few hours of your day will be more vibrant as your brain slowly revs back up.
Well, I could write a ton on this stuff, so I will just stop here. I can try to answer any questions with my opinions. I never even got to Quantum Physics
The only way to know the truth, is to be the truth. There are different kinds of meditation. In typical Zen meditation, you sit. Beginners focus on their breathing because that is an activity you can control consciously or unconsciously. When you are experienced, like in maybe 3-9 months, you will not need to count your breaths. When meditating, thoughts will spontaneously arise, let them float away. Do not indulge them, or resist them. Let them float. As you sit, the dream machine will slow down, and gaps of nothingness will be between them. This nothingness is the state of "samadhi". When you are in this state, there is no "you". Experienced mediators regularly enter this state. So do people on LSD, though they are usually not prepared to learn from it. Enough time spent in "samadhi" usually erodes away a persons hangups, leaving them effectively "enlightened".
There is a lot I could say about "Enlightenment", aka "The Big E". Brad Warner is a Soto Zen priest, in Soto they do not believe in "Enlightenment". They believe meditation ITSELF is enlightenment, and when you are meditating, you are as enlightened as anyone who ever was, including the Buddha. Rinzai Zen believes you have to have an "Enlightenment experience" (satori), usually proceeded by smaller experiences (kensho).
Meditation is not the only "way". Karate-do, is a "way". So is flower arranging. There are as many ways as there are people. It was said that the Buddha had 84,000 students, and taught 84,000 ways (or something like that). Spiritual enlightenment did not start with the Buddha, though he was to spirituality what Elvis was to rock. Taoists have an organic view of the world, and there was a "philosophical Taoism" movement which was a precursor to Buddhism. In the world of Buddhism, most Westerners are familiar with "Zen Buddhism", which emphasizes sitting ("zazen"). The Buddhist branches that went through Thailand, China, Japan, and Korea are all different. Each emphasizes someother way of taming the mind. For example, the Thai Buddhists have a lot of intricate ceremonial methods.
After studying Buddhism for a while, I got interested in Advaita, or "non-duality". Which is a lot less organized than Buddhism. There is a Western non-duality movement involving Barry Long (deceased), Sailor Bob, John Wheeler, and Eckhart Tolle. Most of them learned from the Indian Advaita masters. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj is my favorite, he cut right to the chase. The Indians have a lot more easy-going approach than the Japanese do. The American master Robert Rose was a hill-billy from West Virginia who was the real thing. Also, listen to anything by Alan Watts that you can. He took the approach of "fake it until yo make it", but after his 2 satori experiences, he started speaking for himself rather than regurgitating DT Suzuki. All these masters spoke from the same place of "no-mind", but what they said is usually incompatible and contradictory. There is no truth to be found in their words, but in their saying it. Barry Long was a self-enlightened sex-maniac, he had a method of meditation that contradicted the Zen method, and he would say (about Zen),"If it takes you 30 years to get enlightened, just maybe you are doing it the wrong way!" If he wasn't enlightened, he was at least entertaining. I think Eckhart Tolle spent some time with Barry Long, but Tolle was already spontaneously enlightened. He had same spontanteous-type experience as Buckminster Fuller, who was reborn as he was about to throw himself off a cliff because his baby daughter had died.
One last thing I will mentioned is, meditation will work, so do that if you don't know what else to do. You can think of it as giving your mind a bath. I suggest meditating for the same amount of time you spend in the shower. If you meditate before you sleep, you will probably have lucid dreams. If you meditate in the morning, the first few hours of your day will be more vibrant as your brain slowly revs back up.
Well, I could write a ton on this stuff, so I will just stop here. I can try to answer any questions with my opinions. I never even got to Quantum Physics
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