Chinese Translation: 论神通或悉地，以及过去世

Also See: The Children Who Should Not Know

"'Supernatural' is a misnomer, and moreover is a materialist straw man fallacy. Not to mention a semi-pejorative term wielded by materialists that is rooted in the concept of 'superstition.' In actuality, there is no such thing as the supernatural in Buddhist teachings, only subtle aspects of dependent origination [pratītyasamutpāda] that are usually obscured or misunderstood." https://www.reddit.com/r/Buddhism/comments/sph1qt/buddhism_and_the_supernatural/hwff9pf/?context=3 - Kyle Dixon [krodha], 2022

"My advice is knowing our nature does not require us to "rojak" [Soh: turn quantum physics and spirituality into an eclectic mix] them at all and the benefits of practice is something very tangible. It can be realized, known and experienced including the supramundane abilities of buddha and bodhisattvas, the sambhogakaya body and buddhafields to those that are serious in practice. They may be myth to some but not myth to me, at least it can be verified by first person experiences (imo) regardless how science think and that are already enough for me to cope." - John Tan, 2022

Jared K Jones:

I would say that after thorough investigation, there are reasons in terms of philosophy, physics, and direct observation to think that these sorts of phenomena are not mere descriptive fancy, nor so-called “skillful” lies to gain followers.

For practical examples, look at monks who do Tummo. They generate heat in a part of the body where there is no physical basis for such heat. Then they manipulate that heat at will and move it up the spinal column.

There was also a case of a very old Hindu yogi who attained Samadhi and stopped eating or drinking. He was studied by doctors in a continuous isolation chamber for 10 days, who concluded that - not only was he not dying of starvation or dehydration - he was in great health.

Further, we now have - thanks to the Dalai Lama - brain scans of yogis who have held themselves in the post-death state for several weeks. They didn’t decompose and had brain activity after death for extended periods of time, indicating consciousness when the body is medically dead.

The marathon monks of Mt. Hiei who have committed to the 7 year cycle only eat one small meal a day, a starvation diet of 900-1,200 calories, while hiking between 6-16 hours a day. They should be dead, medically speaking.

We also have accounts from modern times like those found in “Yogis of Tibet” where high lamas exhibit extraordinary miracles, like leaving footprints in solid rock.

Milarepa famously did this same demonstration many times for students, to show that the external world is merely a manifestation of mind. When the mind is fully tamed and awakened, the external world is entirely fluid. His handprint - from one of his meditation caves - is attached.

Great masters often also generate relics and signs in the ashes of their funeral pyres: pearls, handprints, pieces of jade, and so on. Having known people through the grape vine who have been involved in the collection of such relics, it is done with the utmost integrity.

When you read Vimalakirti, this is not allegorical or simply a creative narrative, in my view. In relativity, the observer is at the center. Events are different physically for different observers: different numbers of particles, different speeds in time, different sizes, different sequences of events, and so on.

For one observer, x happens first, then y. For another, y first, then x. For another, xy happens at the same time. And in one perspective, neither happens. All four can occur simultaneously with regards to the same so-called “external” thing. This is just Western physics!

So, when Vimalakirti causes the room to expand or mountain chairs to appear from other realms, there is no reason that this should effect the perception of the surrounding people living in the city around him. It’s simply the activity which is possible for a mind which has realized the objects of experience are inseparable from a creative-knowing factor.

....Honestly, it took me a long time looking at emptiness, the conventional nature of mind, and modern physics - as well as examples like the above - to say that these things are most likely true. I’m about 80% convinced.

....

Andersine:

Thank you! It saddens me to see Buddhists rejecting these ideas based upon our current scientific-materialist mythology.

Stanford professors are literally saying, “Is there a universe when we aren’t looking?”

And saying “Information is what the universe is made of, and information is merely mental. So, the universe is fundamentally mental.”

And we have Einstein saying (paraphrased), “The physical properties of the events depend on the observer, not only the event itself. The event can happen physically in two different ways simultaneously, depending upon two different reference frames.”

This is our own culture telling us it’s non-dual! It’s empty of self-character. The physical matter is empty and only arises with the observer. Time is empty and only occurs from a reference frame.

There is no “past event” which determines what happens now! It’s physically a different universe for all observers. Western physicists at major universities are (quite literally) saying these things.

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The purpose of practicing dharma is for awakening and liberation, not siddhis. See Chinese video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaHEmOz4b-M

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John Tan commentary on Lankavatara Sutra, 2007:

https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/p/normal-0-false-false-false-en-sg-zh-cn.html

When we look at Buddhism, Buddhism is very consistent. Why do I say that Buddhism is very consistent? Not because I like Buddhism. You see, a person saying that I have experienced Presence, and I AM the Eternal Witness, I AM God, I AM all powerful and I AM the First Cause, and yet, they see a dualistic world. This is in total conflict; this has totally no logic at all. Because, you see, in Buddhism when we talk about Non-Duality, we are saying something like the Dependent Origination. Because of This, That Is. This arises, That arises. This ceases, That ceases. We look at the entire formation, there is no “Who?” Where is the “Who?” When we ask “Where?”, there is no “Where?”. When we ask “When?”, there is no “When?” It can be 10 million miles away. It can be in another planet. The teaching is consistent. It does not require a “Who”, a “Where”, a “When”. Condition arises, it is there. It is not stored in any place, or anywhere. This is the teaching. The entire teaching is consistent when it comes to the practise. They didn’t say Concentration can lead to Insight. They tell you, Vipashyana Meditation can lead to Insight of what Reality is all about. It does not teach that there is a Self. The Buddha taught the three dharma seals: there is No-Self. So the teaching is consistent in terms of philosophy, in terms of meditation practice, and in terms of the truths that is being preached.

And also in terms of spiritual powers. When I say something like Clairvoyance... I can see, not bounded by distance. I can hear, not bounded by distance. How come? Why? If we were to take other religions, they can’t explain. But if you were to take Buddhism, Buddha had never told you, has never taught, something of an Ego, something of a Where, something of a When. It is not bounded by Time and Space at all in the entire philosophy. Never has he taught anything like that. And therefore, when we talk about spiritual powers, it is consistent. It is knowing without the need for a Space and Time, not bounded by Space and Time, because the entire teaching is so. And what is being said about this? It is the Nature. This is your nature. Reality is like that, it is so. Therefore, when we understand the teachings, we understand that yes, it is not right to be attached, therefore we cannot say we want to seek spiritual powers, like Nub. But we have to understand, this is our Nature, this is our Reality. Because the teaching has never contradicted itself. If you want to know about your reality, you have to practise. That is the teaching. And the practise has always been telling you to observe these 3 universal characteristics. So when we see the link between the practise, the philosophy, even something spiritual and something that is not scientific. This is important.

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Sim Pern Chong's article from 2008

taken from https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2008/06/non-solidity-of-existence.html

(Post last updated: 15th June 2008)
http://www.dreamdatum.com/non-solidity.html

The non-solidity of existence

This article describes a spiritual insight. It may be quite hard to understand.

The things that we experience are registered by all the sense organs. The eye sight registers vision, the ears register sound, the body registers sensations. These perception, sensations and experiences are not happening in some places. They are the experience of the arising of certain conditions. There is no solidity and physicality in the actual experience.

What we experienced is not universal and common to all. Here's an example to illustrate that: We know that as human beings, we see in term of colours. Some animals are however colour-blind, thus they see differently from us. But none of us, is really seeing the truth nature directly. The senses of different species of sentient beings experience things differently. So who is seeing the real image of an object? None.

Likewise, the various planes of existence are due to different conditions arising. In certain types of meditation, one is said to be able to access these planes of existence. This is because they are not specific locations. They are mental states and are thus non-localised. In these meditations, our consciousness changes and 'aligned' more with these other states or planes of existence.

All the planes of existence are simultaneously manifesting, but because our senses are human-based conditioned arisings, we only see the human world and other beings that shared 'similar' resonating arising conditions. But nevertheless, the other planes of existences are not elsewhere in some other places.

What we think of as places are really just consciousness and there is no solidity whatsoever. Even our touch sense is just that. The touch sense gives an impression of feeling something that is physical and three-dimensional. But there is really no solid self-existing object there. Instead, it is simply the sensation that gives the impression of physical solidity and form.

OK, that all I can think of and write about this topic. I will revise and improve this article where the need arises.

For your necessary ponderance. Thank you for reading.

These articles are parts of a series of spiritual realisation articles.

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Thusness/Passerby's comment on a related/largely similar post by Longchen in the forum:

Originally posted by longchen:
Hi Friend,
Just my understanding only. For discussion sake. Also, I find this topic very interesting.
What appears to us are registered by all the sense organs. The eye sight sees some thing, the ears hear something, etc ,etc. There are not happening in some place. They are the arising of certain conditions.
To illustrate that what we experience is not standardised, we know that human beings see in term of colour range. Some animals are colour-blind. so they see differently. But none of us, is seeing the truth nature directly. The senses of different species of sentient beings experience things differently.
Likewise, the 31 planes of existence are due to different conditions arising. In the jhana meditation, one is said to be able to access these planes of existence. This is because they are not specific locations. They are mental states. In the jhanas, our consciousness changes and 'aligned' more with these other states or planes of existence.
All the planes of existence are simultaneously manifesting, but because our senses are human-based conditioned arisings, we only see the human world and other beings that shared 'similar' resonating arising conditions. But nevertheless, the other planes of existences are not elsewhere in some other places.
What we think of as places are really just consciousness. .. no solidity whatsoever. Even our touch sense is just that. It gives an impression of feeling something 3D with textures and so on so forth. But there is no solid self-existing object there... it is simply the sensation that gives the impression of solidity.

Hi Longchen,
I can see the synchronization of emptiness view into your non-dual experiences --. Integrating view, practice and experience. This is the essence of our emptiness nature and right understanding of non-dual experience in Buddhism that is different from Advaita Vedanta teaching. This is also the understanding of why Everything is the One Reality incorporating causes, conditions and luminosity of our Empty nature as One and inseparable. Everything as the One Reality should never be understood from a dualistic/inherent standpoint.

This also explains the nature of 'supernatural power' like clairvoyance and seeing things far away, etc.

Indeed! You can see the how the view, practice and experience leading to the understanding of non-locality in terms of views, practices and experience.

Stage 6. The nature of Presence is Empty
Not only is there no ‘who’ in pristine awareness, there is no ‘where’ and ‘when’. This is its nature.
When there is this, that is.
With the arising of this, that arises.
When this is not, neither is that.
With the cessation of this, that ceases.
-- the principle of conditionality
The self-luminous awareness from beginning-less time has never been separated and cannot be separated from its conditions. They are not two -- This is, That is. Along with the conditions, Luminosity shines without a center and arises without a place. No where to be found. This is the emptiness nature of Presence.

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Facebook Discussion Thread

Soh Wei Yu: Supernatural powers does exist and is not just magical thinking. But whether all stories are mythical or actually happened is another story. But as for siddhis, many people including John Tan has had experiences with them, various kinds. I have only very limited experiences with them compared to the other yogis, and mainly of a clairvoyant nature. I shall digress and just refer to others on this matter.

https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/.../on...

Excerpt:
Daniel M. Ingram wrote: https://www.dharmaoverground.org/discussion/-/message_boards/message/318001#_19_message_319167
...As to crazy-ass experiences, here's a very short list: moving flames around with my mind with very Ghost-Busters-style energy blasts that accompanied the force that moved the flame, endless OBE stuff and lucid dream stuff, some of which was straight off the cushion and back to the cushion, predicting my wife having a car accident 4 years later accurately, hearing and seeing all manner of stuff (from British women chatting in their parlor about the news on the tele to pit preachers on Sunday morning talking about how the Buddhists in the monastery I was staying in would all go to Hell, and much, much more), have very profound and powerfully explanatory past-life experiences, have some bilocation-type experiences, being able to put my "ghost-hand" through a wall with all awareness and sensation perception then embodied in that rather than my usual body, being able to call up beyond-orgasmic bliss to roll through my body, being able to know to hit the breaks to slow down before I could possible see the deer about to run out in front of me on the way driving home, being able to make people do or stop doing various things (very grey morality territory here), being able to see and manipulate the energy channels in my body, being able to know who has called while the phone is ringing sometimes (lots of people can do that, actually), banishing a demon or two (whatever that means), and the endless crazy A&P stuff with my body exploding into energy and fire-works like experiences, bright lights, seeing through closed eye-lids, shaking, traveling, and many other strange things like that. There are more subtle magicks: long-range formally-cast intentions to have certain situations resolve within certain parameters, being able to feel what the person I was giving a back rub to was feeling and where the pain was, resolutions to have various jhanic experiences happen or to get stream entry or whatever, general subtle-energy manipulation in my body, rooms, situations, interactions, conversations, and even more subtle things: strange intuitions about how things will go, about what to do or not do in a certain situation. Even at times the musical things I write that just show up and seem unbidden seem magickal, but that's probably not what you were after.

While obviously this stuff is quite interesting, in the end, as they all say and are right, it is actually things like finishing the process of insight and being kind, wise in a relative way, and helpful that make the most difference in terms of how good your life will be, though those things can help with that, if used properly and kept in perspective, which for some, like me, takes seeing them so many times I finally got somewhat (though not completely) bored by them. In short, if you have some powers experience, don't quit your day job.

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Also see interview: DY 008 – “Meditation, Magick, and the Fire Kasina” – with guest Daniel Ingram
Thusness liked this article: http://integrateddaniel.info/magick-and-the-brahma-viharas/

Soh Wei Yu: Also, check out this book: https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/.../dying-to-be-me...
She was not a trained yogi before her nde but her nde itself and recovery was very miraculous
It is an interesting book a new york times bestseller

Soh Wei Yu: A post by Daniel Ingram this year -
“Might check out the book Real Magic, by Dean Radin, as well as some others, such as Supernormal and Entangled Minds, that is if you are interested in entertaining arguments that this stuff has long been proven and people just continue to reject it for fixed-paradigmatic/dogmatic reasons.
Might get your concentration strong, like really strong, and see what happens, as there is nothing like doing the experiment yourself to inform questions and views. That is always more satisfying than reading some words on an internet forum, and can lead to other benefits as well. Basically, if you actually care about this stuff, care about it in a way that gives you the benefits that deep, caring practice leads to. If you don't actually care that much, consider moving to a forum that is more for theoretical discussions and skepticism than practice. Talk is cheap but also typically unsatisfying in these areas for all concerned.
Haven't had anything in particular to do with Actualism in years, but did derive some interesting results from my experiments with it, and definitely don't regret that period of my practice, though I am happy that politics isn't happening now like it was then.
Best wishes,
Daniel”

Soh Wei Yu: Powers are possible due to dependent origination. If things were inherently produced and fixed, it would not arise due to causes and conditions and be immutable and fixed, and all appearances will be impossible. Then powers will be impossible, also. So the OP is correct. On the other hand some people like Jesus interpreted their miracles to have come from other power, like an omnipotent God. This is not how Buddhadharma understands siddhis. Likewise, siddhis does not arise due to an all powerful Self or agent, as there is none. In buddhism, powers arise due to the dependent origination and cultivation of the four bases of powers. As Malcolm said years ago, “Nevertheless, Buddhism is a species of naturalism, asserting that everything that occurs can be explained without resort to supernatural explanations.” Of course, he is not negating powers, but he also pointed out that even siddhis were “produced” by causes and conditions, particularly samadhi.

Soh Wei Yu: More on the naturalism part, Malcolm wrote:
“Meanings are invented, consensual and conventional.
As for your second sentence, it is very questionable that metaphysical naturalism is necessarily grounded in utilitarianism — I think you are making too broad a claim. For example, take this definition in which there is no species of utilitarianism mentioned:
Naturalism, in recent usage, is a species of philosophical monism according to which whatever exists or happens is natural in the sense of being susceptible to explanation through methods which, although paradigmatically exemplified in the natural sciences, are continuous from domain to domain of objects and events. Hence, naturalism is polemically defined as repudiating the view that there exists or could exist any entities which lie, in principle, beyond the scope of scientific explanation.
Buddhadharma [and Jaindharma] in this respect is also a species of metaphysical naturalism — in Buddhadharma there is no mystery precisely because "whatever exists or happens is natural" and there does not exist nor could exist "any entities which lie, in principle, beyond the scope of Dharma explanation."
In other religions however [sans philosophical Taoism and Confucism], there is a profound mystery, God, through whose agency all things are created.
Indeed, this is one of the reasons why Buddhadharma is so appealing to westerners with liberal educations. The naturalism of Buddhadharma and philosophical Taoism fit well into our already metaphysically naturalist predilections.
HH Dalai Lama exemplifies this view with his confidence that indeed science can explain confirm, and justify any and all Buddhist beliefs, but even more than that, he recommends abandoning any Buddhist tenets that are directly contradicted by scientific explanation and found to be definitely false from a scientific point of view."

Soh Wei Yu: Also as I said to JT:
[5:11 PM, 11/10/2020] Soh Wei Yu: I think those who experience all is mind but not anatta and especially total exertion are more prone to solipsism and idealism
[6:50 PM, 11/10/2020] John Tan: Yes.
[6:52 PM, 11/10/2020] John Tan: No privileging into either pole.

Soh Wei Yu: Not implying the OP is falling into that trap though, but my previous discussion with Mr. A 2 years ago gave me an impression that his view is skewed towards that.

Soh Wei Yu: One of the first 'students' of John Tan realised anatta in 2006 after being stuck at I AM for many years prior to meeting John Tan. Previously he was into a mystical group belonging to the Rosicrucian, the teachers were quite deeply experienced in the I AM to non dual and impersonality but not into anatta. The teachers were psychic and confirmed Sim Pern Chong's memories of his past lives (that is, they could see Sim's past lives as well). That mystical group's website: http://www.plotinus.com/
(Sim Pern Chong's writings: https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/search/label/Simpo%2FLongchen)

Sim Pern Chong remembered many of his past lives in incredible details as he relived his past lives and not merely recalled vague scenes. He also knew how his current life wife, daughter, etc were related to him in his previous lives, also his daughter exhibits psychic ability even at a young age (John Tan commented the child seems just like the father). He actually was a Nyingma monk who practiced Dzogchen two lifetimes ago. I think he told me before about practicing in the Tibetan highlands overlooking vast expanse. This life, he got acquinted with Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche again in 2012 when I told him to join me for that retreat. But it explains his interest in Dzogchen even way back in maybe early 2000s.

Being a Tibetan monk in that lifetime, that means he surely had taken refuge, made bodhicitta aspiration etc in his previous life. But that didn't mean he could attain liberation in that lifetime, as most people do not. Nor did he realise anatta or emptiness or attain first bhumi, etc. In fact he remember that he only attained the I AM realization in his Tibetan monk lifetime, which was the first life he was into spirituality (the previous lifetimes before that had events leading up or causing his spiritual search in subsequent life but I shall digress).

In the immediate past life, he did not encounter Buddhism but was reborn in western Europe, I believe France. He was fighting in world war 1 in the trenches in a scene which he relived, meaning it was incredibly real and vividly experienced as if he was 'there' again, and in that scene he could recall running across trenches, pausing for a while and thinking of his wife (I think), a sad scene. This caused some trauma for him and explained his anxieties about war in this life, and his past life recall helped solve his traumas. In that lifetime, he also realised I AM only and was involved in mysticism, which explained his current lifetime links with the mystical groups prior to meeting John Tan.

Having I AM realization does not ensure some kind of mastery of rebirth or something like that. It is not even the first bhumi. That being said, Sim Pern Chong did recall some subconscious level (which he call 'Alaya') planning or blueprint of rebirth prior to appearing in this life. I actually had that sort of impression before, a brief one, of the spiritual purpose of my incarnation, as if there was some kind of plan or purpose. But I certainly am not a conscious emanation of some high level being, flawless, that was enlightened from birth. (Update: Regarding being emanations, Ven Hui Lu Fa Shi 慧律法师 expressed it very well when he said something like this:
"Those masters and teachers are committing a serious misdeed by creating, or knowingly allowing, the impression—whether they state it outright or permit their students to continue saying it—that they are great Bodhisattva emanations solely to inspire 'faith.'"
I agree with him, and I find it cultic and disgusting. I will never let anyone deify me.
I refuse to give anyone the impression that I am some kind of emanation—such behavior is utterly cult-like.
John Tan concurred when I mentioned this to him, he himself said "this is important" and even advised me to ensure that I never deify him when I make statements about him.)

This life, he came to know John Tan through an internet forum in 2004 and realised anatta and emptiness.

Malcolm said those who encounter Dzogchen teachings have had past life karmic connections with the teachings. Most practitioners that do their due diligence will attain liberation at the bardo. The very "lousy" ones will attain liberation within three lifetimes, so it does not mean you know Dzogchen then that means we are 'advanced' or special. It means we are the most lousy practitioners and didn't get liberated in the bardo or attain rainbow body in the previous life. Maybe we all had such links from previous lifetimes.

(2024 Update by Soh:
Sim shared: For the benefit of whoever is reading this... I share my personal experiences of relived past life occurrences.
In a previous life, I adopted a stray dog as a young boy. Then WW1 broke out and I got conscripted as an infantry soldier. The dog at home died due to no care. In this life, a dog becomes someone that I have to take care of. This is how karma works. It doesn't really take into account that I was forced to leave in a drafted war.
In another ancient life, I am in a group of medical trainees. A captured or slave woman... I really don't know... I just watched the scene as a first person... was dissected alive. In this life, this woman becomes someone that I have endured hardship with. This is karma... and it again did not take into account that the trainees were forced to perform the dissection.
Those that use their mouth to direct the orders... they do not incur the direct karma of the 'hands-on' task of the subordinates. This is how dark forces manipulate karma for god knows how long... possibly even before there were modern-day humans.
These are not well articulated in traditional religious texts... because I believe many 'teachers' do not really go deep into the alaya. Most 'teachers' are just parroting 'teachings'. Realising no-self can be experienced in the sense sphere.. the alaya is a different kind of penetration .. it is penetration into the unseen realms of consciousness. Nothing beats the knowledge from direct perception.
... Hmm... I really don't know. My approach is just a fine balancing act between finding insights and yet keeping the mind open-minded. That is how I progressed.
On a certain level, the knowledge of these are already there... it is just blocked from the regular attention. I am at times also frustrated that the full awareness is not available. As a side note, I have been rebuked by a Being conveyed through a very weird encounter where someone called me and then suddenly says his mentoring spirit guide wants to talk to me. And then the spirit guide took over the other guy and told me how much I have forgotten and need to recover fuller memories.
I think Achan Brahm has direct understanding of this area.. but he is kept by samaya to not reveal any psychic ability. I saw in one of his recent videos that he mentioned that he is frustrated by not being able to talk about past lives of his own.) note: Achan Brahm = Ajahn Brahmavamso

Soh Wei Yu: Ken Wilber, Integral Meditation:
“These examples also point out that some of the “narrative” forms of religion that we talked about earlier are holdovers from this early Magic period in our evolution, because they take quite literally the miraculous stories in the Bible, for example (such as Moses parting the Red Sea). Even to this day, some adults are attracted to magical elements in their religion—they likely got involved with the religion in the first place because they are drawn to acts like magically walking on water, raising the dead, making the blind see, turning water into wine, and multiplying loaves and fishes. The religious practices of some sects might include things like handling live poisonous snakes, with the belief that their faith will magically protect them. (Unfortunately, a leader of one of the largest of these sects recently died, in his early 40s, after being bitten by a rattlesnake in one of these rituals.) And some present-day spiritual approaches, such as those described in The Secret and What the Bleep Do We Know? contain a heavy dose of this magic, which appeals, as we will see, to what’s called the egocentric or self-aggrandizing aspect of ourselves. This fantasy magic is a hidden map in much of the “law of attraction” and several other New Age notions. Now, this infantile word-magic is quite different from actual paranormal capacities, such as real ESP, precognition, or telekinesis, or the value of a strongly held intention in achieving one’s goals. Strictly controlled scientific experiments have demonstrated, beyond a reasonable doubt, that some of these capacities are indeed very real.2 (footnote reference to Dr Roger Walsh, researcher in consciousness studies and related fields) But the success at these paranormal capacities seems to dramatically go down when the person is motivated by purely selfish, egocentric, narcissistic, or power drives. There’s a big difference between fantasy magic and real psychic capacities, so do keep that in mind. Now, you might have some of these essentially magical superstitious notions, but you can easily tell whether they are magical hidden maps, and not real psychic powers, by noting how many self-aggrandizing motivations are also occurring around the magic notions. If they are wishes for nothing but your own glorification, your own success, your own specialness, or for beating out all others for the prize, and you are using magical practices (which are essentially a form of exaggerated wish-fulfillment), then you might very well have a fair amount of your awareness stuck at this early stage, this magical, fantasy, egocentric stage. If so, you will take up meditation to marvelously increase your own greatness, or magically bring you boons (getting the girl, the car, the new house, the promotion), or cause you to automatically lose weight and become irresistibly gorgeous, and miraculously give you all your own egoic desires just like that!, and basically put you first and foremost in all the world (yikes!). If you have a fair number of these magical beliefs, the recommendation, of course, will be to recognize them, to recognize that hidden map in your life, see how much of your life these superstitious magical beliefs are governing, and then hold them up to direct awareness, bringing them under the sunlight of pure mindfulness and radiant presence, thus turning them into mere objects of awareness. See these beliefs as objects in your mindfulness field instead of using them as subjects, as hidden maps with which you see the world. Look at them, not through them. Look directly and intensely at them—stop looking through them or with them. Videotape them to death.”

Soh Wei Yu: Sim Pern Chong also foresaw this covid pandemic in a meditation vision more than a decade ago which he posted in sgForums - I still remember that post, a vision where all airplanes and transport stopped (as happened during the lockdown). He also had visions that preluded the 2004 tsunami, and this time he had another vision about the impact of global warming. It is catastrophic and I shall not divulge too much details. Humanity must work/cooperate with nature to survive this ordeal, it is existential. Personally I only knew from my meditation about a month+ before the worldwide outbreak of covid as I wrote in https://www.facebook.com/cyberlogy/posts/10163337237870226 . I forewarned a few people.
I used to have more dreams of clarity and such visions in practice in the past during army days when I had much more time to meditate.
Speaking of which, I shall go meditate now.

(Another update, 2024: Sim Pern Chong shared also, “ Sound also may seem to have a finer counterpart..
I also have bleed through of other lives.. That is why I post a lot about wars.. e.g. Ukraine-Russia conflict. End of last year, tracing unknown anxiety, I literally relived a seemingly medieval setting where I was a defender and then the 'enemies' rushed forward.. but instead of seeing able-bodied combatants, all I saw were old and crippled men.. This is the cause of the anxiety... what should I do? Strike them ..but my conscience says otherwise. This is the cause of anxiety.. I don't know what to do next. Next moment, the main enemy force comes from our side... fast and furious. End of vision.
What frustrates me.. is that a thousand years later, the same tactic and shit is still being used in the Ukraine-Russia conflict. The fact that nothing has changed tells that samsara is hopeless..”)

Cheng Chen: Soh Wei Yu bro, this is the best post you’ve written yet!

Soh Wei Yu: I think it should be common that many of us have practiced for many lifetimes, although not always.
I think back in 2012, the moment John Tan saw Kyle Dixon on skype video the first time back then, he psychically intuited that Kyle had a past life connection with Milarepa. In recent years John Tan reminded me about it again. According to wiki Milarepa lived in the 11th century. If this is true then maybe kyle has been practicing dharma for many lifetimes. John Tan also psychically knew a lot of things about me just by looking at me (things in this life or recent events that happened to me that was unspoken, which I could confirm was true and was shocked he knew about them).
On the other hand some like Daniel Ingram claimed not to have been very spiritual in recent lifetimes.*
Even some other people like j krishnamurti remembered being a student, a monk of Buddha - http://www.buddhanet.net/bvk_study/bvk22a.htm
P.s. this is not a superiority contest of who has practiced for more lifetimes, just sharing some interesting stories.
*daniel ingram:
“As to world-cycles or the like, my past life experiences line up along the following lines, if you believe in such experiences having validity:
1) This life human.
2) Last life some sort of moderately powerful, clearly somewhat debauched male jealous god/sorcerer of some kind that was stabbed in the back with a dagger by a woman who he had wronged in some way, I think.
3) Some sort of mother skunk-like animal that was eaten by a large black dog or wolf.
4) Some sort of mother bat that was killed when the rock it was clinging to at the top of the cave fell to the floor.
5) Some sort of grim, gigantic, armored skeletal titan-like thing that ran tirelessly through space swinging a gigantic sword and doing battle nearly continuously without sleep for hundreds of thousands of years that was killed by something like a dragon.
6) Some gigantic, gelatinous, multi-tentacled, very alien being living in a very dark place for a very long time, probably under water, I think.
Other than some sense that the skunk-thing and the bat-thing were virtuous mothers, I have no sense that there was any profound previous dharmic development at least back that far, and, in fact, have the distinct sense that the previous one was a bit of a cad and not very ethical. Take that all for what you will.”
Daniel

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Jacobo Grinberg

Kyle Dixon shared：

Jacobo Grinberg is the Mexican scientist who found the link between Science and the Paranormal:

He assured that it was necessary to accept reality as a miracle, as a creation that is part of consciousness, sanctify the everyday and observe how everything is filled with love.

Viridiana Herrera | The Sun of Toluca
The neuroscientist Jacobo Grinberg recovered the essence of Mexican mysticism from the sharp and critical view of science, risking his career and his credibility. He started from the need to unmask charlatans through scientific rigor and little by little he found a red thread that, far from disproving these paranormal phenomena, reaffirmed them through possible connections between them and the brain.

The renowned scientist began his curiosity to explore the human brain at the age of 12, after the death of his mother due to a stroke. From that moment and coupled with his extraordinary intellectual capacity that has been compared even to that of Einstein, his journey reached a point of no return.

After studying Psychology at UNAM, Psychophysiology at the Brain Research Institute and obtaining a doctorate focused on the electrophysiological effects of geometric stimuli in the human brain, the distinguished doctor founded INPEC (National Institute for the Study of Consciousness) and He set up a laboratory at the Anáhuac University that would later be taken to the UNAM with the help of CONACYT, where he carried out most of his research and experiments.
With the passage of time, his investigations took on an increasingly inclined course towards events that, until then, science classified as simple quackery or superstitions typical of the need to believe in something that goes beyond the material world.
As an example of the above, in each of his vast investigations, terms such as: telepathy, extraocular vision, shamanism, hologram, witchcraft and self-alusive meditation emerged.

Shamanism and science

Without a doubt, one of the events that most strongly marked the point of analysis of Jacobo Grinberg was the study of shamanism and his experience spending a few years with one of the most recognized "specialists on the subject" in Mexico: the shaman Bárbara Guerrero, better known as Pachita. A woman who was born in Chihuahua and who participated in the Mexican revolution, moving from one place to another and performing various jobs; but, it was not until her arrival in the State of Mexico that Pachita acquired great fame due to her unorthodox healing methods.

During this time, the doctor had already unmasked some supposed shamans who, through various farces, defrauded many people, however, upon arriving unannounced at Pachita's house, he himself told his friends that he was received by a deep voice that from the back of the house exclaimed: "Jacobo, hurry up. Why are you coming so late? I was waiting for you." From that moment on, Jacobo Grinberg witnessed countless surgeries and medical procedures that seemed physically impossible.

Pachita asked her patients for bandages, a sheet and alcohol; She performed the surgeries in her house and used only a hunting knife with which she opened the body of the patients to later extract damaged organs with her hands. She materialized a new organ and deposited it to replace the previous one. Pachita called this “Contributions”.

Later she passed his hand over the wound and it was closed again, without any mark. In other cases, Pachita had the ability to perform transfusions with blood that flowed from her mouth.

In his book Shamans of Mexico, Jacobo recounts his experiences with Pachita and the way in which she lost consciousness of the present while performing surgeries or cures. In fact, when he read her the book she had written about her work, she was completely amazed as she didn't know what was really going on.
She justified this by saying that the spirit of Cuauhtémoc possessed her, she even called him Brother and attributed the authorship of each healing feat to him. For Grinberg, this had a much deeper explanation: By connecting consciousness to the informational matrix, high energetic vibrations allow significant modifications of reality to emerge. For this reason, Pachita even changed her personality, since the point of connection with the hologram acquired a purer character in which the conventions of acting are stripped of social influence, just as with meditation.

Some other modifications in reality consisted of altering the weather at will, even eradicating a drought in a town and making it rain until the surrounding rivers overflowed. All under the gaze of Dr. Grinberg.

Despite the complexity of this type of work, Pachita never charged for her cures and remained highly selective about the people who could study and analyze her work. Numerous writers, politicians and scientists came to witness the works of the shaman, or request her help. Even the renowned author of Psychomagic, Alejandro Jodorowsky was her patient.
From this coexistence with the shaman, Dr. Grinberg developed his Syntergic theory, which could explain the prodigies of Pachita and other shamans with scientific foundations.

The Syntergic theory: Do we live in a hologram?

The Syntergic theory reaffirms and challenges quantum physics at the same time because, based on a reinterpretation of what is known in physics as Lattice , Dr. Grinberg raises the possibility that, through consciousness, the human brain can being able to have control over the universe in which we live.

The Lattice, in the field of physics, is the structure in which space-time is found. For Jacobo, this proposal acquires a new meaning and it is then that he postulates the term Syntergy, which is nothing more than the neologism between synthesis and energy.

His theory proposes that, from the process that the human brain performs to decode perceptual reality, it is possible to establish links with the Lattice , and with it, make changes in space-time.
He postulates that we live in an informational matrix which he calls "the hologram", in which there is the possibility of interacting with perceptual reality not only as a spectator, but as an active participant in the construction of said reality.

He explained that, if a person has a highly syntergic neuronal field, that is, a brain in which the coherence links are greater, he or she will have the ability to modify the hologram at will, thus achieving feats that defy the laws up to now known from physics, just as Pachita did in her shamanic surgeries.

This opens the doors to the investigation of other phenomena, such as telepathy. Grinberg carried out various experiments in which, through meditation, he managed to demonstrate synchrony between two brains exposed to different stimuli that finally produced similar results.

This theory has crosses with some of the fundamental approaches of postulates such as the law of attraction, the influence of thought on reality, linguistic relativity, among others.

The most enigmatic point of this theory indicates that, if through consciousness we are able to influence the informational matrix, and that, if everything is connected from the energetic interaction of both atoms and thoughts, then there is the possibility of that we inhabit a plane that is not the total reality, that is, in a Matrix into which we have been thrown with a brain capable of understanding the operation of its physical laws, but not its origin.

With this, the idea of an awakening also arises, of taking consciousness further and dominating the hologram. Under this premise, by fully understanding the operation of the matrix, we would simply disappear and reach a state of purity within the true reality.

This could not be verified and, like his studies on extraocular vision in children or telepathy, his projects remained unfinished after he disappeared at the most momentous point of his prodigious career.

A mysterious disappearance?

On December 8, 1994, Dr. Jacobo Grinberg disappeared without leaving any clues that could help locate him. His absence has given rise to innumerable speculations; from a crime of passion or an alien abduction, to situations linked to the CIA, NASA or anyone who could be extremely interested in what he was developing and discovering in his laboratory.

The first inquiries focused on finding out from the people closest to him the reasons why he stopped attending his laboratory without prior notice. Who was his wife at the time argued that he had gone out on one of his many impromptu trips. Thus, during the first period of his absence, there was no major stir. Until his wife also disappeared. Therefore, it has been speculated that she, who also practiced shamanism, was a participant in her disappearance.

This situation has covered more headlines than Dr.'s own research, leaving aside his extensive bibliographic production, to make way for conspiracy theories and morbidity. In the voice of his half brother, the renowned actor Ari Telch, the case of his disappearance is closed by the authorities.

https://www.elsoldetoluca.com.mx/doble-via/jacobo-grinberg-el-cientifico-mexicano-que-hallo-el-vinculo-entre-la-ciencia-y-lo-paranormal-7412119.html (translated from Spanish)

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John Tan, 2006: "Life is like a passing cloud, when it comes to an end, a hundred years is like yesterday, like a snap of a finger. If it is only about one life, it really doesn’t matter whether we are enlightened. The insight that the Blessed One has is not just about one life; countless lives we suffered, life after life, unending…Such is suffering.

It is not about logic or science and there is really no point arguing in this scientific age. Take steps in practice and experience the truth of Buddha’s words. Of the 3 dharma seals, the truth of ‘suffering’ to me is most difficult to experience in depth.

May all take Buddha’s words seriously."

Buddha's recollection of past lives:

excerpt from https://suttacentral.net/mn36/en/bodhi?lang=en&reference=none&highlight=false

“With the stilling of applied and sustained thought, I entered upon and abided in the second jhāna…With the fading away as well of rapture…I entered upon and abided in the third jhāna…With the abandoning of pleasure and pain…I entered upon and abided in the fourth jhāna…But such pleasant feeling that arose in me did not invade my mind and remain.

“When my concentrated mind was thus purified, bright, unblemished, rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability, I directed it to knowledge of the recollection of past lives. I recollected my manifold past lives, that is, one birth, two births…as Sutta 4, §27…Thus with their aspects and particulars I recollected my manifold past lives.

“This was the first true knowledge attained by me in the first watch of the night. Ignorance was banished and true knowledge arose, darkness was banished and light arose, as happens in one who abides diligent, ardent, and resolute. But such pleasant feeling that arose in me did not invade my mind and remain.

“When my concentrated mind was thus purified, bright, unblemished, rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability, I directed it to knowledge of the passing away and reappearance of beings…as Sutta 4, §29… Thus with the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, I saw beings passing away and reappearing, inferior and superior, fair and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate, and I understood how beings pass on according to their actions.

“This was the second true knowledge attained by me in the middle watch of the night. Ignorance was banished and true knowledge arose, darkness was banished and light arose, as happens in one who abides diligent, ardent, and resolute. But such pleasant feeling that arose in me did not invade my mind and remain.

“When my concentrated mind was thus purified, bright, unblemished, rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability, I directed it to knowledge of the destruction of the taints. I directly knew as it actually is: ‘This is suffering’;…‘This is the origin of suffering’;…‘This is the cessation of suffering’;…‘This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering’;…‘These are the taints’;…‘This is the origin of the taints’;…‘This is the cessation of the taints’;…‘This is the way leading to the cessation of the taints.’

“When I knew and saw thus, my mind was liberated from the taint of sensual desire, from the taint of being, and from the taint of ignorance. When it was liberated there came the knowledge: ‘It is liberated.’ I directly knew: ‘Birth is destroyed, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more coming to any state of being.’

“This was the third true knowledge attained by me in the last watch of the night. Ignorance was banished and true knowledge arose, darkness was banished and light arose, as happens in one who abides diligent, ardent, and resolute. But such pleasant feeling that arose in me did not invade my mind and remain."

Reddit Discussion and Video: Hiker Lost in the Himalayas Found with Help from a Clairvoyant Buddhist Lama

Also see this Reddit discussion shared by Kyle Dixon [krodha], together with the related YouTube video: https://www.reddit.com/r/Buddhism/comments/1ra5ckb/interesting_story_of_a_hiker_lost_for_weeks_in/?share_id=oSYZFK6IbIWf9Wk0U4HEx

Video: Man Lost in the Himalayas Tells Horrifying Story

Evidence for the Afterlife

See: https://sites.google.com/site/chs4o8pt/summary_of_evidence

For all those skeptics/materialists out there who think siddhis are woo woo, superstitions, etc, the CIA takes it seriously and has very interesting findings and research: https://www.vice.com/en/article/7k9qag/how-to-escape-the-confines-of-time-and-space-according-to-the-cia

Chi Kung Master Burns Paper With His Hand - John Chang

Reddit: Chi Energy Documentary / Proof of Chi
u/tool-94: Holy shit, I have heard of this before but never thought anyone has got it on film. It’s very rare to be allowed to film this stuff, so naturally I was always skeptical.
[deleted]: Go read The Holographic Universe for a lot more examples of this kind of stuff.
u/tool-94: By Michael Talbot, I have read it a few times. One of my favourite books actually.
https://www.reddit.com/r/HighStrangeness/comments/k87iec/chi_energy_documentary_proof_of_chi/

The Boy With Divine Power - Documentary (Discovery Channel Documentary)

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Continuation of Facebook Discussion Thread

Soh Wei Yu: Actually people you met do also have past life connections and causes. Like Sim Pern Chong, the guy I mentioned above, he can recall exactly why he met his wife this life... actually in a past life he was a scientist who operated on his current wife, he was forced by the Japanese government to do cruel tests on subjects. This guilt led him into Tibetan Buddhism and spirituality the next life and he realised the I AM in that life, and from that life he formed a connection with Dzogchen teachings which also manifested in this life his interest in Dzogchen even before he became a Buddhist. In his previous immediate life he was living in France and could relive with his whole body the whole scene of fighting in WW1 trenches, which was really traumatising. But remembering it somehow helped him release some karmic patterns and traumas this life including a fear of military.

So those intuitive people, they can sense karmic patterns and sense these connections and conditions. In the life in France he also realised I AM and was involved in western mysticism, which also is why he was involved in Rosicrucian and western mysticism before his encountering of John Tan.

Update: Sim Pern Chong wrote, "I had a vivid memory of a scene as a soldier running across a mud field while its being bombarded. The cold of the European dawn and the panting of running with a rifle being held by my right arm... I can still remember. I wore a uniform and carry a rifle similar to the French infantry as shown in this video clip... which also summed up the insanity of war. https://youtu.be/8zcL0PuvYWo. From lifetimes to lifetimes, I find a recurring theme of certain human existence .. that is that of 'living live without the freedom of choice'。。 '人在江湖 身不由己'."

"Guilt led him into tibetan buddhism" he was a tibetan monk in that lifetime and could remember meditating overlooking vast expanse in mountains.

Adam Holt: So you mean to say that past lives is actually a "valid mode of arising" conventionally. Right?

Soh Wei Yu: Yes.. also Sim Pern Chong had many very interesting accounts. He could remember in details his past lives and how his wife, his daughter and his experiences in this life were all linked to specific karmic causes and relations in previous life and how they were related in previous life and why they meet again etc.

Adam Holt: Is this not same as past life regression therapy?

Soh Wei Yu: Not the same. There are two types, there is past life regression therapy that leads to trance like hypnotic states. That is also one way of retrieving past life memories. But for Sim Pern Chong, his is also by way of entering samadhi and jhana, and when recalled through this way the memories were hyper vivid and real through whole body remembering, as if he was reliving the event.

Adam Holt: Brain Weiss stuff?

Soh Wei Yu: Or as John Tan also said about another practitioner in 2006:

Soh Wei Yu: Also taking this chance to share something John Tan said recently about Buddhahood although not very related to this topic: "If there is alternation between +A and -A, that is arya along the path. If there is no alternation, that is buddhahood. That is just my opinion." I did not share the whole paragraph in full because he told me to avoid doing so, as he does not want to give any impression of sounding superior.

Soh Wei Yu: Here's another excerpt by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal, in Clarifying the Natural State: "During these three stages of One Taste, for the most part, keep to secluded places. From time to time, participate in group gatherings and you will progress. Even though you think that it makes no difference whether or not you meditate, it is essential to keep to seclusion and train in the true mindful presence. Even though you have attained the realization of greater One Taste, if you fail to have some degree of clairvoyance and receive signs from the dakinis, you must be tainted by damaged samayas. Therefore, make, for instance, a thousand tsa-tsas or the like, and offer a flower to each of them. Make the request, "May my defilement utterly subside!" Perform the dharani-ritual for purifying defilement, as well as any other suitable virtuous practice. If you get involved in pleasure or displeasure when signs occur, you are influenced by Mara. Consider that being benefited or harmed, assisted or hurt by Mara, and so forth, are all your own mind and that this mind is limitless and centerless, like space."

Adam Holt: Do you accept everything that is said about the tathataga in this Sutta? Maha-sihanada Sutta: The Great Discourse on the Lion's Roar. Do you think that the focus within AtR leads to this fully? Or is AtR more of a sravaka system?

Nafis Rahman: Although there aren’t any Buddhas/Arhats in this group, John Tan has always aimed for Buddhahood since the very beginning. This is a basic classification:

• Anatta realization/ATR Stage 5 = Sutta Stream-Entry
• Anatta Actualization/Freedom from 10 Fetters = Arhatship
• Actualization of Twofold Emptiness + Omniscience + Freedom from Cognitive Obscurations (in addition to emotional obscurations attained upon Arhatship) = Buddhahood

“[To attain Buddhahood], you must free [yourself] from 2 obscurations and 4 mara.” - John Tan, 2020

*Rigpa Wiki: Two obscurations (Tib. སྒྲིབ་པ་གཉིས་, dribpa nyi) — emotional and cognitive obscurations.
● Emotional obscurations are defined according to their essence, cause and function. In essence, they are the opposite of the six paramitas, as described in the Gyü Lama: "Thoughts such as avarice and so on, These are the emotional obscurations." Their cause is grasping at a personal ego, or the “self of the individual”. They function to prevent liberation from samsara.
● Cognitive obscurations are also defined according to their essence, cause and function. In essence, they are thoughts that involve the three conceptual ‘spheres’ of subject, object and action. The Gyü Lama says: "Thoughts that involve the three spheres, These are the cognitive obscurations." Their cause is grasping at phenomena as truly existent, or, in other words, the “self of phenomena”. Their function is to prevent complete enlightenment.

On the four maras, “According to Sutrayana:
1. the mara of the aggregates (Skt. skandhamāra), which symbolizes our clinging to forms, perceptions, and mental states as ‘real’;
2. the mara of the destructive emotions (Skt. kleśamāra), which symbolizes our addiction to habitual patterns of negative emotion;
3. the mara of the Lord of Death (Skt. mṛtyumāra), which symbolizes both death itself, which cuts short our precious human birth, and also our fear of change, impermanence, and death; and
4. the mara of the sons of the gods (Skt. devaputramāra), which symbolizes our craving for pleasure, convenience, and ‘peace’.

Soh Wei Yu: In addition to what Nafis said which is correct - Regarding powers like recalling past lives and so on, that depends on individuals practice. There are at least 4 persons in AtR that realised anatta who developed past life recollections in their practice. But not all. However, with the development of samadhi, these are quite common. Having these powers however are not an indication of awakening.

In Buddhism, everything, including omniscience and siddhis, have their causes and conditions, as Malcolm said before. For example the development of samadhi is a primary cause. So it would be magical thinking if one thinks that having insight alone will magically produce siddhis. As Malcolm said, Buddhism is a "Buddhadharma [and Jaindharma] in this respect is also a species of metaphysical naturalism — in Buddhadharma there is no mystery precisely because "whatever exists or happens is natural" and there does not exist nor could exist "any entities which lie, in principle, beyond the scope of Dharma explanation." In other religions however [sans philosophical Taoism and Confucism], there is a profound mystery, God, through whose agency all things are created." https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/.../on-supernatural... Therefore the so called 'magical' powers are in fact not exactly magical but causally arisen.

For example Susima Sutta gave examples of great numbers of arahats who had zero siddhis: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/SN/SN12_70.html Also, even in Mahayana and Vajrayana paths, these powers may not manifest immediately for those who follow direct path towards insight*.

Likewise, Acarya Malcolm told me a decade+ ago:

xabir wrote: I was wondering then is Shakyamuni Buddha a "complete" or "inferior" Buddha, and if he attained complete Buddhahood does that mean he too practiced Dzogchen or Mahamudra or something similar, or did he truly walk the three aeons Mahayana way to Buddhahood? Also, I have heard lamas who say those who attain Buddhahood in one life (through Dzogchen, Mahamudra, etc) will not manifest all powers, omniscience, etc within their present life but will do so after death. What is your opinion?

Malcolm: The Buddha was an emanation of compassion, so not inferior. As to your second question, yes, such people do not necessarily manifest all qualities of realization in this life, but do so after death.

Soh Wei Yu: *As John Tan also said before, "ATR insight is seeing through self nature except the praxis as in way of practice is direct approach via vipassana -- special insight. The seeing through of self as a background is not through analysis. When that is seen through, one becomes effortlessly non-dual in experience as there is no subject to "dual". Both essencelessness and non-dual dawn in a single leap but that doesn't mean one has thoroughly eradicated proliferation. Hence mmk helps to do that. So it is not about doing away with conceptualities but a special insight that sees through self nature."

AtR direct path into anatta and its approach is similar to what the famous Mahamudra teacher Thrangu Rinpoche said about the Vajrayana approach:

Thrangu Rinpoche on Nature of Mind: In the Vajrayana there is the direct path to examining mind. In everyday life we are habituated to thinking, "I have a mind and I perceive these things." Ordinarily, we do not directly look at the mind and therefore do not see the mind. This is very strange because we see things and we know that we are seeing visual phenomena. But who is seeing? We can look directly at the mind and find that there is no one seeing; there is no seer, and yet we are seeing phenomena. The same is true for the mental consciousness. We think various thoughts, but where is that thinking taking place? Who or what is thinking? However, when we look directly at the mind, we discover that there is nobody there; there is no thinker and yet thinking is going on. This approach of directly looking in a state of meditation isn't one of reasoning, but of directly looking at the mind to see what is there.
Source: Shentong and Rangtong

...If we look for a perceiver, we won’t find one. We do think, but if we look into the thinker, trying to find that which thinks, we do not find it. Yet, at the same time, we do see and we do think. The reality is that seeing occurs without a seer and thinking without a thinker. This is just how it is; this is the nature of the mind. The Heart Sutra sums this up by saying that “form is emptiness,” because whatever we look at is, by nature, devoid of true existence. At the same time, emptiness is also form, because the form only occurs as emptiness. Emptiness is no other than form and form is no other than emptiness. This may appear to apply only to other things, but when applied to the mind, the perceiver, one can also see that the perceiver is emptiness and emptiness is also the perceiver. Mind is no other than emptiness; emptiness is no other than mind. This is not just a concept; it is our basic state.

The reality of our mind may seem very deep and difficult to understand, but it may also be something very simple and easy because this mind is not somewhere else. It is not somebody else’s mind. It is your own mind. It is right here; therefore, it is something that you can know. When you look into it, you can see that not only is mind empty, it also knows; it is cognizant. All the Buddhist scriptures, their commentaries and the songs of realization by the great siddhas express this as the “indivisible unity of emptiness and cognizance,” or “undivided empty perceiving,” or “unity of empty cognizance.” No matter how it is described, this is how our basic nature really is. It is not our making. It is not the result of practice. It is simply the way it has always been.
Source: Crystal Clear

Soh Wei Yu: In Moonlight of Mahamudra by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal (all texts by Dakpo Tashi including Clarifying the Natural State are highly recommended, by myself, John Tan, even other teachers like Daniel Ingram, and Malcolm who are not Mahamudra practitioners), it states:

"Even among the Arahats There are two kinds: Adorned and unadorned ones. Even among Bodhisattvas There are two kinds: Renowned and unrenowned ones. Even in the mystic tradition There are two kinds of mystics: The ones practicing secretly and the ones doing it amidst an assembly. With regard to those who have attained realization There are two kinds: Those who can describe [knowledge] and those who can demonstrate [it]. Regarding those who have attained the grounds and paths There are two kinds: Those who have understood the grounds and paths And those who have achieved them. As for the great meditators who have knowledge of the grounds and paths And those who have realized [can demonstrate] them, Some have fully achieved great powers of psychophysical transformation While others have failed to attain them and others have achieved mixed abilities. Some of them fulfill the needs of sentient beings, While others fail to fulfill them. This is due to the greater or lesser intensity of their practices. I shall now sum up these sayings. The great qualities associated with the grounds and the paths, according to the treatises of the vehicle of dialectics, are revealed skillfully out of some higher motivation. The paths [of the four yogas] are not the same as these. Even the inner signs of realization on these paths are different. Just as there existed adorned and unadorned Arahats and renowned and unrenowned Bodhisattvas, there are different types of great meditators, some possessing the sublime power of transformation and others lacking this power, due mainly to the difference in the quality of their practices. It has been said that in order to achieve the sublime power of transformation and other great qualities, one must strive hard on the path of the transient world and the higher path of mantrayana."

Soh Wei Yu: Regarding the Chi demonstration, Chi demonstrations are very common in Asian countries. My own family has experienced the 'electric shock' currents from Chi masters, they were public demonstrations. How it works is the moment he puts his hand on someone, and the people behind them all chained up by putting their hands on the shoulders of each one in front. When he 'passes Chi', all felt the electric current shocks. Although the burning paper with hand we've not seen yet. Also, this is Sim Pern Chong's father, he's the teacher of one of our past foreign minister, this one is Tai Chi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPAmScOHCYQ

Ajahn Brahmavamso: Buddhism and Science

https://www.dhammatalks.net/Books3/Ajahn_Brahm_Buddhism_and_Science.htm

If you had just one person who had been confirmed as medically dead who could describe to the doctors, as soon as they were revived, what had been said, and done during that period of death, wouldn't that be pretty convincing? When I was doing elementary particle physics there was a theory that required for its proof the existence of what was called the 'W' particle. At the cyclotron in Geneva, CERN funded a huge research project, smashing atoms together with an enormous particle accelerator, to try and find one of these 'W' particles. They spent literally hundreds of millions of pounds on this project. They found one, just one 'W' particle. I don't think they have found another since. But once they found one 'W' particle, the researchers involved in that project were given Nobel prizes for physics. They had proved the theory by just finding the one 'W' particle. That's good science. Just one is enough to prove the theory.

When it comes to things we don't like to believe, they call just one experience, one clear factual undeniable experience, an anomaly. Anomaly is a word in science for disconcerting evidence that we can put in the back of a filing cabinet and not look at again, because it's threatens our world view. It undermines what we want to believe. It is threatening to our dogma. However, an essential part of the scientific method is that theories have to be abandoned in favour of the evidence, in respect of the facts. The point is that the evidence for a mind independent of the brain is there. But once we admit that evidence, and follow the scientific method, then many cherished theories, what we call 'sacred cows' will have to be abandoned.

...If you want to look at the scientific evidence for rebirth, check out Professor Ian Stevenson. He spent his whole life researching rebirth on a solid scientific basis at the University of Virginia. Chester Carlson, the inventor of xerography, (encouraged by his wife) offered funds for an endowed chair at the University to enabled Professor Stevenson to devote himself full-time to such research. If it weren't for the fact that people do not want to believe in rebirth, Dr. Ian Stevenson would be a world famous scientist now. He even spent a couple of years as a visiting fellow of Magdalene College in Oxford, so you can see that this is not just some weird professor; he has all of the credentials of a respected Western academic.

Dr. Stevenson has over 3000 cases on his files. One interesting example was the very clear case of a man who remembered many details from his past life, with no way of gaining that information from any other source. That person died only a few weeks before he was reborn! Which raises the question, for all those months that the foetus was in the womb, who was it? As far as Buddhism is concerned, the mother kept that foetus going with her own stream of consciousness. But when another stream of consciousness entered, then the foetus became the new person. That is one case where the stream of consciousness entered the mother's womb when the foetus was almost fully developed. That can happen. That was understood by Buddhism twenty five centuries ago. If the stream of consciousness doesn't enter the mother's womb, the child is a stillborn. There is a heap of evidence supporting that.

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Also See: The Children Who Should Not Know