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Daniel M. Ingram, 10 hours ago.

Liferay 7.3 Upgrade Done! Please us know in if it is working properly. Important

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Dear All,

The remarkable Manish has managed to upgrade Liferay, the platform the DhO runs on, to version 7.3! This is a remarkable accomplishment, as Liferay upgrades have proved mind-boggling difficult, with each one we have done taking teams of people over a year each with many errors and failures along the way. Many thanks to Manish! If you find any errors, glitches, problems, or areas for improvement, please let us know in the dedicated thread below "Liferay 7.3 Feedback." Thanks!

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idea: digitalKasina

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John P, modified 7 Years ago.

idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 155 Join Date: 1/24/12 Recent Posts
I have been wanting to get my concentration up lately, but it is kinda hard since people usually interrupt me during meditation. Personally I'm a fan of kasina meditation, but it's a bother to find a candle or a disk with good contrast or a private place to meditate.
But usually my family don't interrupt me while I am at the computer, so I have been thinking, and got an idea.

What if I made a software that draws a colored disk on the monitor (with a black background), and maybe made some white noise, so I can practice kasina meditation more easily/frequently.

I never made something like this before, but I figure it wouldn't be so hard.
Anyway I am looking for more experienced meditators that have done kasina before to see the viability of this project, and so they can help test and improve this.

Let me clarify, what I'm looking for are not developers to help program this. What I'm looking for are meditators experienced in kasina meditation so they can compare using this software with using a normal object, and help improving this project with their feedback.

Of course I would accept help to program this too, so I am going to be using github to develop this project.

And it almost goes without saying, this project would be freely available when ready.

EDIT(2013-12-29): The project is already in development, and can be accessed here.
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sawfoot _, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 507 Join Date: 3/11/13 Recent Posts
Well, you don't really need to develop any fancy software - just play some white noise in the background (if you need to) and show a jpeg.

I am curious though if anyone has used something more elaborate, like a moving spiral

e.g.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.heptamind.hypnospirals&hl=en
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John P, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 155 Join Date: 1/24/12 Recent Posts
The main features of such a software would be to easily resize and change the color of the circle. Other interesting features would be default recommended colors and their respective reference to the Visuddhimagga.
Perhaps a needed feature will be automatic adjustment of the monitor's settings to comfortably see the kasina.

Other perhaps unnecessary features would be automatic logging of sessions, and timers, and who knows what else.

But yeah, it probably would be a really simple program.
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Richard Zen, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 1624 Join Date: 5/18/10 Recent Posts
John P:
The main features of such a software would be to easily resize and change the color of the circle. Other interesting features would be default recommended colors and their respective reference to the Visuddhimagga.
Perhaps a needed feature will be automatic adjustment of the monitor's settings to comfortably see the kasina.

Other perhaps unnecessary features would be automatic logging of sessions, and timers, and who knows what else.

But yeah, it probably would be a really simple program.


This youtuber has some kasinas with different colours:

Eg.

Bright light kasina

Earth Kasina
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John P, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 155 Join Date: 1/24/12 Recent Posts
@Richard Zen
I had found this before, but forgot about it, thanks for the link.
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Nikolai ., modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 1648 Join Date: 1/23/10 Recent Posts
Richard Zen:
John P:
The main features of such a software would be to easily resize and change the color of the circle. Other interesting features would be default recommended colors and their respective reference to the Visuddhimagga.
Perhaps a needed feature will be automatic adjustment of the monitor's settings to comfortably see the kasina.

Other perhaps unnecessary features would be automatic logging of sessions, and timers, and who knows what else.

But yeah, it probably would be a really simple program.


This youtuber has some kasinas with different colours:

Eg.

Bright light kasina

Earth Kasina


BRIGHT LIGHT KASINA (Endless loop)

EARTH KASINA (Endless loop)

RED KASINA (Endless loop)

YELLOW KASINA (Endless loop)

GREEN KASINA (Endless loop)

WHITE KASINA (Endless loop)

WATER KASINA (Endless loop)

SPACE KASINA (Endless loop)

WIND KASINA (Endless loop)

FIRE KASINA (Endless loop)

FIREPLACE KASINA (No need to put it on an endless loop as it's 5 hours long)

CANDLE FLAME KASINA (with relaxing music which you can turn off of course) Approx 1 hour.

TRIPPY LOLLIPOP KASINA WITH FREAKY MUSIC (Endless loop)


Here are the Bright Light, Earth Kasina and others by the same youtuber (and other youtubers) on an eternal loop as it's a short 1 and half minute video. I like it a lot. The light subtly moves so it pulls thought towards it in a naturally curious way thus easier to sustain thought which will eventually subdue the 5 hindrances enough for pleasantness and resultant overlay of joy to arise. Wuala, you have the 1st jhana getting established. BTW, to repeat any video on an endless loop, type in 'repeat' directly after 'youtube' in the url.
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tom moylan, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 896 Join Date: 3/7/11 Recent Posts
...since we're getting freakey here..instead of "white noise", try gnaural to create your own "Binaural Beats" background noise.

Warning: use with caution. i summoned up a few demons (really) in the form of "sleep paralysis" events while experimenting randomly with Binaural Beats.

tom
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John P, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 155 Join Date: 1/24/12 Recent Posts
tom moylan:
...since we're getting freakey here..instead of "white noise", try gnaural to create your own "Binaural Beats" background noise.

I can add it as an experimental feature, but I'm not sure it would work out well. I tried brainwave entrainment audio such as binaural beats and isotonic tones in the past, and while they had positive effects, my concentration didn't increase during that time.

I'm not sure which one I could add though, do you have some recommendations?

Thanks
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John P, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 155 Join Date: 1/24/12 Recent Posts
Nikolai .:
Here are the Bright Light, Earth Kasina and others by the same youtuber (and other youtubers) on an eternal loop as it's a short 1 and half minute video. I like it a lot. The light subtly moves so it pulls thought towards it in a naturally curious way thus easier to sustain thought which will eventually subdue the 5 hindrances enough for pleasantness and resultant overlay of joy to arise. Wuala, you have the 1st jhana getting established. BTW, to repeat any video on an endless loop, type in 'repeat' directly after 'youtube' in the url.

I might be able to do some subtle center movement on a gradient kasina.
I will try it later, not sure how it would turn out.

I will add a link somewhere to these videos, so people can have them as an alternative.
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sawfoot _, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 507 Join Date: 3/11/13 Recent Posts
hmm, I don't know your level of commitment to this idea, but "can't be too hard" sound like famous last words...

So it would probably take less than an hour to create a bunch of different colour and sized kasinas (though if sufficiently high resolution, users could zoom in or out to change the size) in a simple graphics program (titled from the viddmuzaugawhatdoyamecallit), then zip them together, and put them on the internet somewhere to be downloaded. And the simple approach would have 2 big advantages over a program: 1. It would exist and 2. It would be cross platform, so I could use them on my pc, on an ipad, and android phone etc...Maybe later down the line a program could be created, but in the interim you could gauge if you/others found them useful.
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John P, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 155 Join Date: 1/24/12 Recent Posts
@sawfoot_
I didn't mean to take only the title from the visuddhimagga, but to actually reference the whole passage dedicated to the color. I know it's not something you want to take a quick glance of, but it's just and idea I'm throwing here.

I decided to simply to do it in a self-contained html page, it would have no disadvantages to images, and you already can zoom in/out, since it uses scalable graphics(The zoom might be limited, but that's why we need to test this).

I still haven't added any features to it, but attached to this post is a beginning.

Something I might have to look at is if I can make the monitor stay awake without user input.
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sawfoot _, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 507 Join Date: 3/11/13 Recent Posts
by title, I just meant something like - earth-small-1 or fire-large-2...

Cool.

So at a minimum you could just create and find some (free) hosting for a simple website that had just had links to a few of these. And it would be cross platform as well. Some with suble textures might also be nice.

Maybe make the default a little bit smaller, as otherwise there are limitations on how far you can zoom out (and how small it can get).

I find if I turn down the brightness of my screen it is easier to stare at.

If you are concered about fire hazards, then just try this!

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John P, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 155 Join Date: 1/24/12 Recent Posts
sawfoot _:
So at a minimum you could just create and find some (free) hosting for a simple website that had just had links to a few of these. And it would be cross platform as well. Some with suble textures might also be nice.

The way I'm doing it right now, I can dynamically change the color of the circle, so I can even keep it on a single page.
I added it to my dropbox, and it is working, too bad it messes up unicodes characters. It would be better to use a proper free hosting for static pages like these. Right now I don't know of any that doesn't put an ad on the page. If anyone knows, please tell me.

sawfoot _:
Maybe make the default a little bit smaller, as otherwise there are limitations on how far you can zoom out (and how small it can get).

Ok, done.
Right now I'm relying on the web browser's default zoom feature, but in the future I plan to implement a proper zoom feature.

sawfoot _:
I find if I turn down the brightness of my screen it is easier to stare at.

When this gets near completion, maybe I should make a compilation of tips like these to better make use of the software.
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tom moylan, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 896 Join Date: 3/7/11 Recent Posts
...it doesn't need to be complicated...

a few years back i used windows graphic / drawing program to create a blue circle on a white background and set it as my background wallpaper.

with ctrl. M minimizing all programs / windows there it is, anytime. i never even though of the white noise thing but get any white noise mp3 and play it on repeat loop in any media player.

for general mindfullness a popup reminder set to whatever interval you require is also easy. javascript remiders are easy to find online.

the problem with kasina images on screen are the excessive strain the hz rates force on you. but it works.

alternatively you could just light a candle (my favorite kasina) and keep it burning behind your laptop screen and stare at it secretly so none of your loved ones will catch you sneaking medi time.

tom
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John P, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 155 Join Date: 1/24/12 Recent Posts
tom moylan:
...it doesn't need to be complicated...

Yeah, it's true, I will try to balance simplicity and customizability.

tom moylan:
a few years back i used windows graphic / drawing program to create a blue circle on a white background and set it as my background wallpaper.

with ctrl. M minimizing all programs / windows there it is, anytime.

That's a pretty nice idea. I have to admit the color isn't something that you need to change all the time.

tom moylan:
i never even though of the white noise thing but get any white noise mp3 and play it on repeat loop in any media player

The white noise is just an idea, I haven't tried it yet, so I am not sure how well it would play. Maybe I could add some mantra sound too? Well, we can test things like this later.

tom moylan:
for general mindfullness a popup reminder set to whatever interval you require is also easy. javascript remiders are easy to find online.

I actually found a really nice program that helps with that. It's called workrave http://www.workrave.org/
This program is originally designed for helping with RSI and computer eye, but what matter is that it does the best job I have ever seen at helping make computer pauses or quick reminders. It's a shame it lacks proper documentation though.

tom moylan:
the problem with kasina images on screen are the excessive strain the hz rates force on you. but it works.

That's something I'm wondering about.
Do you feel some added tension that you don't feel with a normal kasina?
Do you think that if you increased the hz rate it would help?
I do feel some tension, but I also do with a normal kasina, so I can't say for sure.
I have to admit I do see some refreshing and/or pixels.

tom moylan:
alternatively you could just light a candle (my favorite kasina) and keep it burning behind your laptop screen and stare at it secretly so none of your loved ones will catch you sneaking medi time.

I also love the candle, but unfortunately it's not really an option for me right now. I have been wondering whether it would make sense to have a moving candle as one of the options in the software, but it doesn't seem to be such a good idea right now.
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Bruno Loff, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 1094 Join Date: 8/30/09 Recent Posts
Here is one I used with some success. Just see it in fullscreen with some program that allows you to do that (like google chrome, or the preview program that comes with pretty much any operating system).

This choice of colors is cool since the inverted image, which you can see when you close your eyes, is bright on black.
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Daniel M. Ingram, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 3158 Join Date: 4/20/09 Recent Posts
I used to do a lot of computer/laptop kasina practice in the late 90's to 2001 or so during my heavy concentration/magick phase, mostly using the Zapf Dingbats font's filled in circle (lowercase L, I seem to recall), and just change the font size to something crazy, like 250 point or whatever size you need, and set the font color and background as you need it. I personally like a black background in a dark room, but everyone is different, so play around with what works for you. I would recommend starting with medium blue or medium yellow first. Red can be interesting also. Standard candle-flame instructions apply. Alternately, take a video of a candle flame on your phone (or whatever) or just a photo and watch that. It will save a lot of candles, but does lack that certain ambiance that candles provide emoticon

Zapf Dingbats has lots of other cool choices, depending on your tastes. The Kool Ding 2 font has a great interlaced pentagram character for those who like that sort of thing. For those more iconographic, there are loads of good tantric images on the web that you could just put on your laptop or phone or tablet in a dark room and turn off the sleep function on the phone and have lots of iconographic visualization fun. Tarot cards are always fun also: plenty of images available in this digital age.

In fact, I am suddenly inspired to play around with those again.

Enjoy,

Daniel
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John P, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 155 Join Date: 1/24/12 Recent Posts
Daniel M. Ingram:
I used to do a lot of computer/laptop kasina practice in the late 90's to 2001 or so during my heavy concentration/magick phase, mostly using the Zapf Dingbats font's filled in circle (lowercase L, I seem to recall), and just change the font size to something crazy, like 250 point or whatever size you need, and set the font color and background as you need it.

That's amusing. Personally I never played much with these kinds of fonts.
Nowadays, for a filled circle you can already use an unicode character, like this one: ●
There is a lot of stuff in unicode characters, such as chess pieces, emoticons and a lot of icons.
Unicode characters are implemented by the major fonts, and have good support accross modern systems.

Daniel M. Ingram:
I personally like a black background in a dark room, but everyone is different, so play around with what works for you. I would recommend starting with medium blue or medium yellow first. Red can be interesting also. Standard candle-flame instructions apply. Alternately, take a video of a candle flame on your phone (or whatever) or just a photo and watch that. It will save a lot of candles, but does lack that certain ambiance that candles provide emoticon

Ok, I will also put medium blue and medium yellow when I have time.
I did practice with a candle in the past, and it was the period in which I had the highest concentration I ever had. I really enjoyed it haha. But I had some health problems and now my concentration is poor :-(, but I want to get better at it again.
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John P, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 155 Join Date: 1/24/12 Recent Posts
@Bruno Loff

Thanks for the tip, I tried to implement something like what you just showed in the last version.
Check it out (attached to this post).

PS: I forgot to mention, move the mouse's cursor above the circle, so everything else disappears with the cursor.
Go into fullscreen mode, and enjoy.
In this version, there is a countdown timer. It can't be set to anything besides the default 40min, but it will give a warning when it reaches zero
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John P, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 155 Join Date: 1/24/12 Recent Posts
New version added.
Available on the same link as before, or attached to this post.

Created a SIMPLEr, stable version, available here or attached to this post.

In this new version, you can
- hide options with a click on the circle (in case you are using a tablet)
- medium blue and yellow colors added
- now you can edit the countdown timer(click on the numbers) and play/pause it.

I didn't try to open this in a smartphone, so I'm not sure how it would look, but the SIMPLE version should work.

As always, feedback about bugs, features and suggestions is welcome.
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Bruno Loff, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 1094 Join Date: 8/30/09 Recent Posts
cool!
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John P, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 155 Join Date: 1/24/12 Recent Posts
I found a good place to host this thing.

New link here.

The old link will be removed eventually.

I am thinking of removing the ability to hide things when you mouse over the kasina, so it only happen when you click on it. What do you guys think?

EDIT: Added a new feature. Now you can specify a custom color for the circle and for the background color. If it looks like just a blank field, try adding an hexadecimal color number.
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John P, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 155 Join Date: 1/24/12 Recent Posts
Now the page will remember your last choice of color and background color.
Also added the kasina names to their respective colors.

It seems like the dropbox link changed by itself, so it's a good thing I found a place to host it (see link in previous post).
There are no plans to change the link anymore, so feel free to bookmark it without worries.
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Eric G, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 132 Join Date: 5/6/10 Recent Posts
Haven't done it a lot, but I have used
g-force
which is a music visualization software

There is usually some kind of center point to focus on, and the whole thing is ever changing in a very trippy way, so it keeps interest high. Something more stable might be more useful for some people I suspect.
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John P, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: idea: digitalKasina

Posts: 155 Join Date: 1/24/12 Recent Posts
Eric G:
Haven't done it a lot, but I have used
g-force
which is a music visualization software

There is usually some kind of center point to focus on, and the whole thing is ever changing in a very trippy way, so it keeps interest high.

I'm sorry if that's a dumb question, but did you also listen some music with it?
Which kind of music?

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