>
> Interesting. In many Theravada Buddhist schools it is held that the
> pure high concentration states, the samatha jhanas, while they are the
> gateway to the psychic powers, should be developed after awakening,
> because they can so easily be mistaken for the goal. Some
> concentration is necessary for insight practice (developing
> wisdom/prajna), but the high concentration attainments have nothing to
> do with insight, unless they are used as an object for insight
> practice.
I think that this is because there really aren't any "psychic powers" to
develop. What gets mistaken for them is the very acute insight of the
bodhisattva that cuts through illusion and allows for a perception of things
as they are. There is nothing "extra-sensory" about it. You simply don't
make a lot of mistakes that those with less insight are going to make, so it
seems like maybe they can read your mind or see the future.
The bodhisattva is not distracted by these illusions. Where others might
experience only a flash of intuitive insight now and then, the bodhisattva
experiences it pretty much all the time. To a bodisattva, this stuff is
just ordinary reality, not some extrasensory power.
As Trungpa notes, nobody is actually floating in the air, but, to those with
an acute sense of hero-worship, it may seem that they do.
> From my own experience, when practicing concentration meditation and
> letting thoughts and memories arise and pass without getting involved,
> some very distinct voices and visual images will become manifest, a
> bit like the way the psyche will split up when dreaming, acting out
> all the different characters. A solid background knowledge of what to
> expect and how to deal with it is essential, in my opinion. Even
> better is to find an experienced person who knows the territory.
Where those on a traditional spiritual path may be working from a roadmap,
magicians often explore by doing their own trailblazing. I think this is a
quality of shamanism, in contrast to priesthood, as Joseph Campbell
discussed them in "The Masks of God". The follower of a traditional
spiritual path, a "religion", walks a path that is laid out in advance and
the result is expected to be the same one that others get. He holds an
office and the journey is not really about him at all. The shaman, on the
other hand, has a unique relationship with the spiritual and where or how
the path will end is entirely idiosyncratic.
Magicians tend to use the methods of religion but approach them with the
attitudes of shamans.
> For years, this "energy" talk utterly prevented me from taking into
> consideration anything the spiritual crowd was talking about. I still
> think there are almost always better words than "energy" when talking
> about spiritual concepts.
Yet, the feeling is enormous excitement and strength, vividness and joy.
It's easy to see why it's described as "energy."
>> Opening, surrender.
>> Emptying, shunyata.
>> Integration, tantra.
>
> The last bit, integration, is interesting and important. Awakening
> will not automatically solve the mundane problems we have.
"True, without falsehood, certain, most certain.
What is above is like what is below, and what is below is like that which is
above. To make the miracle of the one thing.
And as all things were made from contemplation of one, so all things were
born from one adaptation.
Its father is the Sun, its mother is the Moon.
The wind carried it in its womb, the earth breast fed it.
It is the father of all 'works of wonder' (Telesmi) in the world.
Its power is complete (integra).
If cast to (turned towards- versa fuerit) earth,
it will separate earth from fire, the subtile from the gross.
With great capacity it ascends from earth to heaven. Again it descends to
earth, and takes back the power of the above and the below.
Thus you will receive the glory of the distinctiveness of the world. All
obscurity will flee from you.
This is the whole most strong strength of all strength, for it overcomes all
subtle things, and penetrates all solid things.
Thus was the world created.
From this comes marvelous adaptions of which this is the proceedure.
Therefore I am called Hermes, because I have three parts of the wisdom of
the whole world.
And complete is what I had to say about the work of the Sun."
[Text of the Emerald Table of Hermes, from 12th Century Latin, translated in
Steele's and Singer's "The Emerald Table". Proceedings of the Royal Society
of Medicine vol 21, 1928.]
