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Past life experiences: A place to share (with a warning)

A place to share your past life experiences. Here is Daniel to start us off:

Daniel M. Ingram, Arahat:


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


RE: Past life experiences: A place to share
Answer
12/22/13 3:21 AM as a reply to sawfoot _.
sawfoot _:
A place to share your past life experiences. Here is Daniel to start us off:

Daniel M. Ingram, Arahat:


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

be wary those seriously wanting to share an experience of whatever (regardless of how other's see validity in such claims) as sawfoot has posted this thread in the humour section and may have an agenda to have a laugh at your expense if you are serious about your experience.
Nick

RE: Past life experiences: A place to share
Answer
12/22/13 3:19 AM as a reply to sawfoot _.
To lighten it up some...
This is the humor section






RE: Past life experiences: A place to share
Answer
12/22/13 5:14 AM as a reply to Nikolai ..
Nikolai .:
sawfoot _:
A place to share your past life experiences. Here is Daniel to start us off:

Daniel M. Ingram, Arahat:


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

be wary those seriously wanting to share an experience of whatever (regardless of how other's see validity in such claims) as sawfoot has posted this thread in the humour section and may have an agenda to have a laugh at your expense if you are serious about your experience.
Nick


be wary in sharing your agenda in a thread in the humour section as the correctness or incorrectness of your agenda in assuming the agenda of the poster may or may not lead them to have a laugh at your expense

RE: Past life experiences: A place to share
Answer
12/23/13 3:51 AM as a reply to sawfoot _.
:-) Aw, c'mon sore tootsies...it's no good expecting babes to bring a passport/driver's licence and two utility bills with them from the last life...for one thing, the photo would look nothing like them and you know it (-:

RE: Past life experiences: A place to share
Answer
12/24/13 4:03 AM as a reply to Dream Walker.

RE: Past life experiences: A place to share
Answer
12/24/13 5:18 PM as a reply to sawfoot _.
A brief history lesson, for those who are too young and/or ignorant to remember such recent events.

It was a relatively few years ago that the world of online forums for discussing hardcore meditation practice didn't exist at all.

The best those of us who were into it had to choose from were essentially totally hostile to the notion that anything in the world of enlightenment and even the jhanas could be achieved by mere mortals in this lifetime, with the rare and possible exceptions of some of the most famous of the world's spiritual superstars, none of whom posted there.

Attempts to post on these forums would be met with about 95% flames, about 4% confusion, and about 1% interest, but that 1% interest was a sign, a hint, a fleeting glimpse that there were a few others out there that would appreciate something more. Most of us were very isolated, even when we went on long retreats, even when we showed up for local dharma groups, even when we talked with people who claimed to be meditations teachers, most of whom didn't know nearly as much dharma as we did.

So, based on those few glimmers of hope, Vince Horn and myself founded the Dharma Underground. It rapidly attracted a group of about 40 extremely strong practitioners, the type that you almost never saw posting on any online forum anywhere before that, and in a degree of concentration that I had never seen before and honestly haven't seen since.

Still, in that protected, members-only, hidden space, most didn't use their real names, as despite being extremely strong adults with very deep practices, the public reactions to disclosure of the details of practice was so near-universally toxic, and that conditioning took time to undo.

So far as I know, I was one of the very few that had been "out" on the internet, having had a website since 1999 or so that discussed meditation openly. It was a lonely place to be.

After some period of time, this amazing group got braver, and having found each other and having had time to normalize discussing these things amongst ourselves, and finally the decision was made to create a public forum for some of these discussions for those who would brave public attention. In this way, the Dharma Overground was born.

For a while, there were two forums, the Dharma Underground, for those who were still very closeted and still often under a fake name even there, and the Dharma Overground, for those who were public. Some made the transition, some basically didn't.

Finally, the Dharma Underground traffic basically dried up and nearly everyone transitioned to the Dharma Overground, albeit with many still not using their real names, which should tell you something about what it takes to get out there and discuss these intimate, personal, usually-kept-private, taboo and sensitive topics. Notice this place both in modern times and previous times with just the first names that come to mind: Dream Walker, ByPasser, Tom Tom, BCDEFG, End in Sight, etc. Lots of good practitioners, very few real names among them. Notice then number of people who are here who are too scared to even use their real names who aren't even talking much about anything to do with the expressed purpose of this forum: sawfoot comes to mind.

Those who have been around a little while longer will remember those who are not here now and not posting anywhere or rarely posting anything about their own deep and impressive practices. The reasons for people basically vanishing back into the closet are many, but part of it is still definitely the reactions to people's strong practices, most of which are bad.

Notice the other private forums that have shown up to meet that need for privacy, such as the Dharma Refugees Forum, which is still private and only accessed by approval by its diligent guardians and contains many ex-DhO people and ex-KFD members.

Notice also the ratio of posts about seriously deep meditation practice to basically everything else. I would guess it is somewhere in the rough ballpark of 1:100 more just based on a cursory inspection of various threads, and even at that around 1% range, this place is routinely recognized among the best of the best in terms of places to discuss real practice. That shows a deep need for the real deal. It is a need that I, its founder, also share.

My skin is tougher than most. I have been willing to be out there about things that most people won't share even with their closest friends and maybe not even with their best meditation teachers. However, most people aren't like that, which is totally understandable, even some extremely strong practitioners. It is still a very hard thing for many to talk about, and I have been noticing that I myself share very few of the details of my own practice here.

A recent example I didn't even bother to post about, as I thought that there wouldn't be much interest, and it shows me that I personally am getting a bit turned off to this place at the moment (something that will be remedied shortly). It is the sort of thing I would have shared immediately at points in the past.

Here goes:

About 2 weeks ago I was laying in bed trying to sleep between night shift, having not gotten on a proper night schedule yet, as it was too early into my run of shifts.

Suddenly and for no obvious reason, the jhanas started shifting strongly in the standard order, first, second, third, fourth, boundless space, boundless consciousness, nothingness, NPNYNP, out, then the first Pure Land Jhana showed up just dripping with immense gratitude, and the second Pure Land Jhana showed up, filled with that wide and deep peace it does so well, and then there was something new, at least to me.

It felt like there was about a 3x1cm cylinder in the center of my brain that was just beaming out the powerful feeling that I would describe as the very best part of the strongest new teenage crushy-love, but stripped of the weird achy parts and the nervousness and fear. It was without object, meaning there was no person associated with the feeling, it was just the feeling itself, and it was totally awesome.

It lasted about 5 minutes and faded out to something else. The afterglow as very short lived. It hasn't shown up since. I initially thought: wow, was that some weird A&P variant, but I haven't noticed anything else around it to give support to that theory, but you can see why I thought it. It seemed to have been its own thing. If it shows up again, I will let you know more about it. Anyway, one more interesting data point, and the sort of data point that you don't see a lot of out there in the rest of the world.

Back to business: one of the forum posters noted that some here might be creating a space that was not as conducive to reports of deep practice. It is an ominous warning and a very good point. I totally agree. It is also a reasonable critique of my moderating style, which has been too lenient of things that would create any space that hardcore practitioners don't feel comfortable sharing in.

Spaces that are safe for disclosures of deep practice are rare and must be preserved. They are the reason for this place, its founding reason. For those who don't feel safe, let me know, and we can re-open the Dharma Underground, which is still actually here, a part of this website and platform, but just hasn't operated in a while only due to the lack of people posting on it. By failing to advertise it, I think that some have been lost to other venues, continuing the splits that began in the First Great Schism of the DhO.

Other options include removing those barriers to more open disclosure (which was the dream upon which the Dharma Overground, as opposed to the Dharma Underground) was founded, meaning removing whomever and whatever those barriers might be. I presume there are lurkers who appreciate that there is good dharma that shows up here at times that would feel they were missing out if the good stuff went back Underground. If any want to chime in one time to give their support for those who feel the real thing should be seen somewhere beyond the closed doors, don't hesitate to share your good opinion.

If anyone thinks that was too subtle for those who clearly haven't gotten the message before, let me know. There will be no other warnings, just action.

Remember the DhO will be down for much of tomorrow, the 5th day of Saturnalia (aka Christmas), so hold off posting until we inform you that it has come back up.

Merry Christmas to all. I will be working the night shift in the ED saving lives and stomping out disease.

Daniel

RE: Past life experiences: A place to share
Answer
12/24/13 11:28 AM as a reply to Daniel M. Ingram.
Daniel M. Ingram:
Back to business: one of the forum posters noted that some here might be creating a space that was not as conducive to reports of deep practice. It is an ominous warning and a very good point. I totally agree. It is also a reasonable critique of my moderating style, which has been too lenient of things that would create any space that hardcore practitioners don't feel comfortable sharing in.

Spaces that are safe for disclosures of deep practice are rare and must be preserved. They are the reason for this place, its founding reason. For those who don't feel safe, let me know, and we can re-open the Dharma Underground, which is still actually here, a part of this website and platform, but just hasn't operated in a while only due to the lack of people posting on it. By failing to advertise it, I think that some have been lost to other venues, continuing the spits that began in the First Great Schism of the DhO.

Other options include removing those barriers to more open disclosure (which was the dream upon which the Dharma Overground, as opposed to the Dharma Underground) was founded, meaning removing whomever and whatever those barriers might be. I presume there are lurkers who appreciate that there is good dharma that shows up here at times that would feel they were missing out if the good stuff went back Underground. If any want to chime in one time to give their support for those who feel the real thing should be seen somewhere beyond the closed doors, don't hesitate to share your good opinion.

If anyone thinks that was too subtle for those who clearly haven't gotten the message before, let me know. There will be no other warnings, just action.

Remember the DhO will be down for much of tomorrow, the 5th day of Saturnalia (aka Christmas), so hold off posting until we inform you that it has come back up.

Merry Christmas to all. I will be working the night shift in the ED saving lives and stomping out disease.

Daniel


Would you remove people who are more on the scientific materialist view of the powers?

the moderators of the Dharma Overground will warn folks who aren't following the basic guidelines of this site to cease and desist. If there are repeated behaviors which undermine the health of the community you will be asked to leave. Though again this isn't common, we've found it necessary from time-to-time to ask someone to leave, in order to preserve a safe and rationally-grounded space for discussion.


Will the above still continue?

RE: Past life experiences: A place to share
Answer
12/24/13 11:34 AM as a reply to Daniel M. Ingram.
Daniel M. Ingram:
If anyone thinks that was too subtle for those who clearly haven't gotten the message before, let me know. There will be no other warnings, just action.

You might want to a) be more explicit, and b) post this in a thread whose title has at least something to do with the contents, as it is now it seems buried in a pretty unrelated place.

RE: Past life experiences: A place to share
Answer
12/24/13 12:07 PM as a reply to Beoman Claudiu Dragon Emu Fire Golem.
@BCDEFG: I will be more explicit. Thanks for the suggestion. An email that is explicit has been sent.


As to scientific materialism: I myself have held that view as my primary paradigm at points and still use it as one of the various modes of conceptualizing various things, as it has its uses, and also its limits. At work, it is one of the primary lenses through which I view patient care, as it is expected and helpful in that environment, but I bow my head in solemn reverence when families pray with me for their deceased loved ones, etc.

Hopefully you can see the difference between someone holding various views and openly mocking people again and again for sharing experiences from their practice and sharing various different world views and doing so without at least contributing some counterbalancing thing that gives sufficient merit to the whole.

Hopefully you can see why a place to discuss high-level practice needs some protections and some enforced culture when common courtesy and a sensitivity to the delicate and fragile nature of discussions about these things is lacking.

If the history lesson above wasn't clear on that, I can give further and less generic examples to help clarify the point.

Were I to mock those in the emergency department who pray for their family members, I would rapidly lose my job and rightly so. Were I to just pray for patients rather than giving them the expected medicines and other treatments, I would similarly lose my job. There is some rough parallel here. Respect for these various paradigms that people find useful and conducive to their well-being and happiness is key, and various circumstances may benefit from various points of view.

Please let me know if you need further clarification, as it is an important paradigm that needs to be transmitted well.

RE: Past life experiences: A place to share
Answer
12/24/13 3:23 PM as a reply to Daniel M. Ingram.
Daniel M. Ingram:
@BCDEFG: I will be more explicit. Thanks for the suggestion. An email that is explicit has been sent.


As to scientific materialism: I myself have held that view as my primary paradigm at points and still use it as one of the various modes of conceptualizing various things, as it has its uses, and also its limits. At work, it is one of the primary lenses through which I view patient care, as it is expected and helpful in that environment, but I bow my head in solemn reverence when families pray with me for their deceased loved ones, etc.

Hopefully you can see the difference between someone holding various views and openly mocking people again and again for sharing experiences from their practice and sharing various different world views and doing so without at least contributing some counterbalancing thing that gives sufficient merit to the whole.

Hopefully you can see why a place to discuss high-level practice needs some protections and some enforced culture when common courtesy and a sensitivity to the delicate and fragile nature of discussions about these things is lacking.

If the history lesson above wasn't clear on that, I can give further and less generic examples to help clarify the point.

Were I to mock those in the emergency department who pray for their family members, I would rapidly lose my job and rightly so. Were I to just pray for patients rather than giving them the expected medicines and other treatments, I would similarly lose my job. There is some rough parallel here. Respect for these various paradigms that people find useful and conducive to their well-being and happiness is key, and various circumstances may benefit from various points of view.

Please let me know if you need further clarification, as it is an important paradigm that needs to be transmitted well.


I have noticed a reluctance in myself to share my own practice due various reasons. One of them is that I don't feel the DhO conducive for it anymore. And when i have shared recently it was at another forum which is private. I've asked myself why I don't have the urge to share here and it is because the current perception of it is that there would be interruptive reactions from others who may lurk or have a presence here who I think would try and use my sharing to prove or bolster their agenda. Honestly for myself, I think my reluctance to share is due to the hangover tension left by the actual freedom vs dharma friction which has made this place be about yogis getting to the tipping point mostly and not much about post tipping point practice as you also feel reluctant to share.

My own projection (which of course could be completely wrong) is it's like there are sentinels just waiting to pounce on any perceived encroaching on their perceived territory of 'experience'. Whether or not this is true, it is my perception and projection.

I'm all for letting this tension go. A place to discuss practice without that actual freedom vs dharma friction would be more conducive for myself in sharing, but that is just my own conditioning. It may not be like that for others. But being honest, it triggers a lack of urge to share.

It is of course for me to work out by myself, though I'd be interested in joining a dharma underground if I was free to talk about my practice without having to fend with what I perceive as just a turn off to sharing.

I'm also on board with avoiding the mockery posts. They are also a turn off to sharing.

Merry Christmas everyone!


RE: Past life experiences: A place to share
Answer
12/24/13 3:15 PM as a reply to Daniel M. Ingram.
Daniel M. Ingram:
@BCDEFG: I will be more explicit. Thanks for the suggestion. An email that is explicit has been sent.


As to scientific materialism: I myself have held that view as my primary paradigm at points and still use it as one of the various modes of conceptualizing various things, as it has its uses, and also its limits. At work, it is one of the primary lenses through which I view patient care, as it is expected and helpful in that environment, but I bow my head in solemn reverence when families pray with me for their deceased loved ones, etc.

Hopefully you can see the difference between someone holding various views and openly mocking people again and again for sharing experiences from their practice and sharing various different world views and doing so without at least contributing some counterbalancing thing that gives sufficient merit to the whole.

Hopefully you can see why a place to discuss high-level practice needs some protections and some enforced culture when common courtesy and a sensitivity to the delicate and fragile nature of discussions about these things is lacking.

If the history lesson above wasn't clear on that, I can give further and less generic examples to help clarify the point.

Were I to mock those in the emergency department who pray for their family members, I would rapidly lose my job and rightly so. Were I to just pray for patients rather than giving them the expected medicines and other treatments, I would similarly lose my job. There is some rough parallel here. Respect for these various paradigms that people find useful and conducive to their well-being and happiness is key, and various circumstances may benefit from various points of view.

Please let me know if you need further clarification, as it is an important paradigm that needs to be transmitted well.


I have no problem with this if legitimate criticism/skepticism/doubt is allowed. If people are sore about irreverent humour (humour involves irreverence) and yet claim to have so much equanimity then their claim is wrong. Secondly, just get rid of the humour section because humour always pokes fun and often at the expense of other people. It's easy for someone to make fun of something in Buddhism and then someone will get bothered, PM you, and then posters start disappearing.

I don't want this place to be a "night of the long knives", "Soviet purge" type moderation and I don't think you want that either.

I think an area like a Dharma Underground is a good idea if people are sensitive to criticism of more fantastical elements of Buddhism (The Powers/Deities/etc) because people like me will want to question elements of that and would hate any limitations on that. Do I want people to stop practicing? Absolutely not, and I don't think Sawfoot wants that either (unless there are some posts of his I didn't see).

Another thing that needs to be cleared out is this entire Triple Think situation. His current posts seem perfectly fine but I can tell the backlash from people here (related to his other posting style) rubbed you and Nick the wrong way. You guys defend him and know him but to many here it looked like there was exactly what you are saying now, a lack of controls, except on him in particular. Those two diametrically opposed perceptions are what caused a lot of the fighting and disappointment.

As long as it isn't a situation where posters you like can do whatever they want (nonsenscial posts/swearing/threatening) and those that call them out are hit with a chilling effect. Your latest post does seem to hit at a common sense middle ground where name calling and hostile behaviour isn't tolerated, and nor should it be. Apply that with no double standards.

I love this site for the pragmatic side that allows people to decide for themselves what is phenomenologically replicable and just pure faith or speculation. God knows if I was in a typical traditional Sangha I would be kicked out for the probing questions I would ask.

It's probably difficult to get a list of banning offences and expect everyone to read it so I think just one email warning and banning afterwards is totally fair.

This site has been remarkably absent of major trolling compared to other sites I've seen and I believe it will get back on track again.

EDIT: Oh and one more thing. We've seen from time to time people with Dark Night reactions post on the forum and swear, complain, get mad at everyone only to think differently the next day or some period of time after. The only way I can how that would be dealt with is probably nothing, since diagnosis of that could be vague enough that trolls could pretend.

RE: Past life experiences: A place to share
Answer
12/24/13 3:23 PM as a reply to Richard Zen.
Richard Zen:
I have no problem with this if legitimate criticism/skepticism/doubt is allowed...

...I don't want this place to be a "night of the long knives", "Soviet purge" type moderation and I don't think you want that either.
Look here baby dolls, I've already said what I have to say many touchy feeley nambey pambey ways as I know how or care too. There is one way left to carve this bullshit up and that is the hardcore way!

So if you are willing to be my demo Lennon I'm willing to be your butcher Stalin.

Take your legitimate criticism, skepticism, doubt, cynicism and incredulity and go fuck yourself with it. Then come back and tell us all about how it turned out.

T3

RE: Past life experiences: A place to share
Answer
12/24/13 4:24 PM as a reply to triple think.
Well, that makes for numerous points of view.

The Dharma Underground rises from the dead yet again, as it has before.

Daniel

RE: Past life experiences: A place to share
Answer
12/24/13 5:57 PM as a reply to Daniel M. Ingram.
Daniel M. Ingram:
Well, that makes for numerous points of view.

The Dharma Underground rises from the dead yet again, as it has before.

Daniel


LOL! Hey you summoned him and into the humour section no less.emoticon

RE: Past life experiences: A place to share
Answer
12/24/13 6:15 PM as a reply to triple think.
triple think:
There is one way left to carve this bullshit up and that is the hardcore way! Take your legitimate criticism, skepticism, doubt, cynicism and incredulity and go fuck yourself with it. Then come back and tell us all about how it turned out.

T3


What is inappropriate?

Seeking attention in a personal manner, speculating about half-understood concepts, guessing instead of finding out, and being dogmatic and closed-minded. Though uncommon, the moderators of the Dharma Overground will warn folks who aren't following the basic guidelines of this site to cease and desist. If there are repeated behaviors which undermine the health of the community you will be asked to leave. Though again this isn't common, we've found it necessary from time-to-time to ask someone to leave, in order to preserve a safe and rationally-grounded space for discussion.

Additionally: don't post personal information about people that they wouldn't want posted, and don't violate basic laws (e.g. posting private health data, committing libel, telling malicious lies or even needless malicious truths that don't further the goal of promoting skillful practice). Not only should you not do unto others as you wouldn't have them do unto you, but also don't do unto them as they wouldn't want done to themselves regardless of whether or not you care if it was done to you.


It's up to you Daniel, it's your website.

What Sawfoot does seems minor in comparison.

RE: Past life experiences: A place to share
Answer
12/24/13 10:22 PM as a reply to Daniel M. Ingram.
Hey Daniel,

From a different point of view, I'm sure you must of thought something like this was going to happen...and was going to continue happing.

I can understand why the ancients had so many rules for the monks and it (from my understanding) was created to prevent things like this from happening.

I like the idea you had going for this site, but maybe you should put some limitations on what people can do... for example:

-instead of giving everyone the ability to reply to one's post you only give qualified individual the access to help those that are still walking the early part of the path. Otherwise, in my opinion, stuff like this will continue to happen no matter how many people you delete from this form. (On the flip side, every action you take/don't take (as the leader) will push someone away in the idea that was meant to bring people together) <<based on experience and books on leaders.


We are all here to help each other but everyone won't have the same beliefs as you and the individual who has cause this unbalance is just another fly next to your ear.

Ultimately this is your site and you are in control of it so just do what you think is right for the whole and let us get back to the true problem.... suffering.

Your friend,
John

RE: Past life experiences: A place to share
Answer
12/24/13 10:30 PM as a reply to Daniel M. Ingram.
7,000,000,000 people plus, yet only a handful practicing, nowhere to go, no one hears or cares, people hear but don't listen, there is this site Daniel, thank you for your efforts, and all involved. Sometimes when seeds are started it takes humanity several centuries to wake up just a little, maybe it is truth that humanity will backslide and teachings will be lost for future generations. We can only keep trying to stay on the path, we fall off, we dust ourselves off, some keep going, some fall away. Some of us perpetually replay our negative habitual tendencies , over and over and over, I know I have in this life, there is a way out, and this site and others like it help more than one might know, like the tip of the iceberg.

Is it no wonder that monks and nuns would go to secluded places away from the yammerings of the crowd, after all one's own mind is enough to train without contending with other's minds.

I probably shouldn't be writing, but life is short, and.... I just want to express appreciation to everyone for being open and sharing their personal experiences.. I have always felt that people could learn faster and progress forward if truth and experiences were openly shared, there is much more to reality than meets the eye.

Anyway, thanks to all beings that have been open and honest, this is very noble.

Bryan

RE: Past life experiences: A place to share
Answer
12/26/13 5:14 PM as a reply to Daniel M. Ingram.
The best those of us who were into it had to choose from were essentially totally hostile to the notion that anything in the world of enlightenment and even the jhanas could be achieved by mere mortals in this lifetime, with the rare and possible exceptions of some of the most famous of the world's spiritual superstars, none of whom posted there


The first dharma post I ever made was on a now extinct website called esangha.com. I posted a descriptive account of a meditation where I believed I had attained the first samatha jhana. I was met with extreme hyper-skepticism where people told me I had no idea what I was talking about or doing as well as ridiculous statements from forum regulars about how jhanas are impossible for lay-persons to attain. In fact, I later found out that it was this incredulous attitude and systematic intolerance that led to esangha's demise. People even began to use extreme dictatorial-like terms such as the website was engaging in "thought control." In fact, the website was eventually shut down due to a defamation lawsuit. See http://www.newkadampatruth.org/e-sangha-is-being-sued

Back in 2008-2009 there were much fewer Buddhist websites/forums in operation as the spin-offs from Daniel and Kenneth's efforts had not yet arisen: such as dharma refugees, buddhistgeeks, kfd (though its original site is also extinct), liberation unleashed, buddha at gas pump, and high-quality blogs that have spun-off such as The Hamilton Project and awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com.

It was about this time that I began altering my google searches so that I could find useful practice-oriented information about how to actually attain the jhanas (which were basically impossible to find at the time). This was about the time I found an obscure website called dharmaunderground.wetpaint.com. The website at the time actually did have some descriptive information about how to actually attain the jhanas which I was shocked to find. It was the only website on the internet that had such information (at least one of the only involving first-hand accounts from lay persons). In fact, in these online circles, it was literally taboo to talk about the specifics of how to actually attain to a jhana. It was like it was some secret cult-like-thing that was considered impossible and was spoke about only in hushed whispers. This kind of attitude was held about something as simple as a jhana. It was exponentially worse for meditative attainments like stream-entry, sakadagami, anagami, arahat.

Please keep in mind that it was this hyper-dogmatic skepticism that was not only the downfall of esangha, but was also what prevented earlier generations of practitioners from making any meditative progress whatsoever. Generations of Buddhists would literally sit on their butts and meditate for decades and make absolutely no meditative progress simply because they (and everyone around them) believed it was not possible.

It was solely due to the open-mindedness of a very small group of people that we now take attaining to something "as simple" as the first jhana for granted.

I have gone by my full name on this website in the past and have tried to be very open about some potentially embarrassing and far-out experiences because I believe it is extremely important information that is highly relevant to some people's practice. I have sometimes changed my handle at various points because I felt that having my full name out there somewhat limited the amount of information I was willing to give about my experiences and my practice. I found a slight pseudonym allowed me to describe situations and scenarios related to bizarre and extreme experiences that I didn't seem as willing to describe when my whole name was at the left of the screen. Daniel has a professional job and a regular life dealing with regular people and yet provides many of his far-out experiential descriptions with his full name on the left of the screen. This is not something to be taken for granted in a moderator/founder as the dogmatic-hyper-skeptic history of dharma websites on the internet easily demonstrate. A more open-minded community allows more people to be open about their practice details and experiences and hyper-skepticism allows for less people to be open and more people to debate practically useless points of dogma, a step towards the revival of esangha.com.

Merry Christmas

Tom

RE: Past life experiences: A place to share
Answer
12/25/13 4:41 AM as a reply to Daniel M. Ingram.
It felt like there was about a 3x1cm cylinder in the center of my brain that was just beaming out the powerful feeling that I would describe as the very best part of the strongest new teenage crushy-love, but stripped of the weird achy parts and the nervousness and fear. It was without object, meaning there was no person associated with the feeling, it was just the feeling itself, and it was totally awesome.

few months ago (in summer) I started to have those kind of 'cylinder in my head' kind of things but made out of pain, this cortisol infested pain essence that generate pain when even looked at. It was not perfectly cylindrical but wider at the top and smaller at bottom. It was kinda placed to ceiling of some sorts. Anyhow, it was very connected to notion of self, as it was crystallization of it in visualization plane or something like that. I was experiencing rather nice no-self states at the time and those kind of experiences were very troubling and very uncomfortable, I wished that this thing god somehow destroyed or gone or whatever that make it stop

Then after doing self+no-self merging I changed perspective to more enlightened one and after that this same same cylindrical crystallization of pain started to be made out of pure excitation, bliss, joy and source of fresh feelings, fresh energy (kundalini) and even source of love I myself create for myself and world doing things skillful way instead of chaotic identification crap I did before.

You write that there is no person associated with it and this is totally direction it took when I got my realization whereas before it also was kinda 3rd person thing but clearly associated with gravitational pull created by identification of self and gravitational push created by identification of 'other' that made this thing to be ripped into pieces. I can experience it without much concentration states involved as it is just visible to 3rd eye just as any other jhana.

That may be something different than you experienced but because some similarities I thought it would be good to share. As for other things do whatever you wish to do but it would be good to be more clear about it if you announce something. From your post I do not have any clue what you intent to change in DhO emoticon