29 July 2014

JOSHU SASAKI ROSHI IS DEAD AT AGE 107!

The last of the great teachers of the Golden Age of Zen is dead.

All of that magnificent generation is gone: Kapleau, Kozan, Maezumi, Thien-An, Seung Sahn. All dead.

Sasaki was among the greatest.

But Westerners seem obsessed with a the specter oe was alleged to have sexually "abused" female students for 50 years but was never charged with anything, except financial fraud when he was a monk in Japan running a temple.

People know do not know what Self is, or self-realization, or Satori, easily get fixated on ethics and behaviors.

In my opinion, Sasaki was among the greatest of the Zen teachers in America, if not the greatest. He was like the backbone of Rinzai Zen transmission in America.


27 July 2014

SATSANG TODAY, SUNDAY JULY 27, 2PM CALIFORNIA TIME (PACIFIC)

Go to http://satsangwithedj.weebly.com.

Sign in whenever asked with the password:   edji

Go to "broadcast" to get on screen.

Topic:  Self

21 July 2014

Email from Steve

Hi Sri Edji,     Your dearest Charlie is really blessed having you and Kermia as kindred spirits. And a Belated Happy Birthday to Kermia.

I didn't realize the immense changes that took place when my Heart opened at your's and Deeya's retreat last year.  I think all my unresolved conflicts smoldered like a seething volcano -Vietnam Experiences mainly- started on an upward journey.  The overflow caught me off guard and threatened my mind to the point that it wanted to escape the world.

Slowly it has settled in that the mind has lost control and most of the day to day activities are from the Heart Center. The thinking, masculine, aggressive, planning, logic, busy mind has given way to the feminine, heart felt, loving, emotional and feelings of the heart.   This war by the mind  because its power was challenged fostered it losing control had almost cost me this body as the fear from the mind shook me to the core, day after day. 

The darkness was just Black, empty, unexpected, fearful, controlling, and full of the threat of death.

On occasion out of this hell a bliss would surface that would propel me into the highest states of happiness,  pleasure, delight and ecstasy that would balance the scale.  

Translated into what is happening today is:   Emotion and tears that words cannot even fathom.

A Moon that is constantly radiating its white light right into my Heart Center.

A Sun that slowly creeps into my awareness and throws beams of Joy and energy right into my soul.

I hardly move this body because the beauty to behold has always been right in front of me. Its paralyzing in its virtue.

Just a pair of birds flying by, the wind caressing my face, buds on the lilac and new things every day just create a state of perfect happiness that has been there all along.   
The eyes could never see this.  The mind with all its logic and rationalizations couldn't see it either.
  
Such beauty the Heart Center is aware of.  This Heart can see beauty and wonder anywhere it looks, anytime and any place.

The Mind has never met the Heart Center....even though they are both within this essence they will never be aware of each other.

But down the road I can see where the Heart and the Mind are two sides of the same coin...duality at its finest. 

I want to thank you, Guru Edji and Master Deeya for providing such an opportunity that opened the gates of my heart. Words cannot begin to describe the deepest appreciation and respect I have for you both.

Deepest Love,  Steve E.

P.S.  Edji,   Your excellent Satsangs spin the energy even faster.

20 July 2014

NO SATSANG TODAY!

NO SATSANG TODAY, SUNDAY JULY 20!

I got up too late and do not feel well. I exercised too much yesterday and lots of muscles are just screaming at me.

Also, Charlie needs lots of tending. He has maybe a week left alive.  He is still eating, and still kneading the rugs and us, but he is in pain managed by medications.  Feeding him and giving meds take lot's of time in the morning.

Lastly, it was Kerima's birthday Friday and we are celebrating today.

I need to change the time of Satsang back to 2 PM.  Few people are coming at this 1 PM time.  Moreover, few people are reading the blog--only 1/3 as many as two years ago, and a lot fewer are visiting my posts on FB.  SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE.

Anyway, I will sit in silence with any of you who choose to meditate at the usual 1pm time today.

13 July 2014

Online Satsang today, Sunday July 13, 1 PM California time.

Go to http://satsangwithedji.weebly.com/

Sign in with the password "edji" on 2 different screens.

Go to broadcast in upper left corner and sign in to come on video.

12 July 2014

The ultimate goal of the NSA is total population control--The Guardian article


At least 80% of all audio calls, not just metadata, are recorded and stored in the US, says whistleblower William Binney – that's a 'totalitarian mentality'
William Binney testifies before a German inquiry into surveillance.
William Binney testifies before a German inquiry into surveillance. Photograph: Getty Images
William Binney is one of the highest-level whistleblowers to ever emerge from the NSA. He was a leading code-breaker against the Soviet Union during the Cold War but resigned soon after September 11, disgusted by Washington’s move towards mass surveillance.
On 5 July he spoke at a conference in London organised by the Centre for Investigative Journalism and revealed the extent of the surveillance programs unleashed by the Bush and Obama administrations.
“At least 80% of fibre-optic cables globally go via the US”, Binney said. “This is no accident and allows the US to view all communication coming in. At least 80% of all audio calls, not just metadata, are recorded and stored in the US. The NSA lies about what it stores.”
The NSA will soon be able to collect 966 exabytes a year, the total of internet traffic annually. Former Google head Eric Schmidt once argued that the entire amount of knowledge from the beginning of humankind until 2003 amount to only five exabytes.
“The ultimate goal of the NSA is total population control”, Binney said, “but I’m a little optimistic with some recent Supreme Court decisions, such as law enforcement mostly now needing a warrant before searching a smartphone.”
He praised the revelations and bravery of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and told me that he had indirect contact with a number of other NSA employees who felt disgusted with the agency’s work. They’re keen to speak out but fear retribution and exile, not unlike Snowden himself, who is likely to remain there for some time.
Unlike Snowden, Binney didn’t take any documents with him when he left the NSA. He now says that hard evidence of illegal spying would have been invaluable. The latest Snowden leaks, featured in the Washington Post, detailprivate conversations of average Americans with no connection to extremism.
It shows that the NSA is not just pursuing terrorism, as it claims, but ordinary citizens going about their daily communications. “The NSA is mass-collecting on everyone”, Binney said, “and it’s said to be about terrorism but inside the US it has stopped zero attacks.”
The lack of official oversight is one of Binney’s key concerns, particularly of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (Fisa), which is held out by NSA defenders as a sign of the surveillance scheme's constitutionality.
“The Fisa court has only the government’s point of view”, he argued. “There are no other views for the judges to consider. There have been at least 15-20 trillion constitutional violations for US domestic audiences and you can double that globally.”
A Fisa court in 2010 allowed the NSA to spy on 193 countries around the world, plus the World Bank, though there’s evidence that even the nations the US isn’t supposed to monitor – Five Eyes allies Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – aren’t immune from being spied on. It’s why encryption is today so essential to transmit information safely.
Binney recently told the German NSA inquiry committee that his former employer had a “totalitarian mentality” that was the "greatest threat" to US society since that country’s US Civil War in the 19th century. Despite this remarkable power, Binney still mocked the NSA’s failures, including missing this year’s Russian intervention in Ukraine and the Islamic State’s take-over of Iraq.
The era of mass surveillance has gone from the fringes of public debate to the mainstream, where it belongs. The Pew Research Centre released a report this month, Digital Life in 2025, that predicted worsening state control and censorship, reduced public trust, and increased commercialisation of every aspect of web culture.
It’s not just internet experts warning about the internet’s colonisation by state and corporate power. One of Europe’s leading web creators, Lena Thiele, presented her stunning series Netwars in London on the threat of cyber warfare. She showed how easy it is for governments and corporations to capture our personal information without us even realising.
Thiele said that the US budget for cyber security was US$67 billion in 2013 and will double by 2016. Much of this money is wasted and doesn't protect online infrastructure. This fact doesn’t worry the multinationals making a killing from the gross exaggeration of fear that permeates the public domain.
Wikileaks understands this reality better than most. Founder Julian Assangeand investigative editor Sarah Harrison both remain in legal limbo. 



11 July 2014

Be like this.




06 July 2014

S. REACTS TO TODAY'S SUNDAY SATSANG ON THE SUBTLE BODY AS THE OPENING DOOR TO SELF

Thank you for just focusing on the Subtle Body descriptions. IVe been there in the Subtle Body during meditation in the past, not knowing where I was. Even though words are going to fall short of the actual experience, your ability to describe your own experience as well as the teachings you received on this, is so helpful to me. You've given me some sign posts on the way. No one ever talked me about the importance of exploring and knowing the inner world in a clear way in order to find our true depths. I always had an intuitive sense of wanting to know my inner being in a meticulous but not abstract or philosophical way. Your teaching helps me in a very practical way to do this. I feel real excitement again, beginner's mind, about meditation as self exploration. That's all I've ever really wanted, to explore, to find out what I am. 

I'm both smiling and crying as I write this, happy beyond words for your 'map' and pissed off for all the time I've been floundering around. Thank you, Edji, very much.

05 July 2014

SATSANG ONLINE, 1PM SUNDAY, CALIFORNIA TIME, JULY 6

SUBJECT: JOURNEY INTO SELF: STEP ONE, FINDING AND IDENTIFYING THE SUBTLE BODY.

Go to http://satsangwithedji.weebly.com

Sign in on two different screens with the password  "edji"

Go to top left of video box and activate broadcast in order to get on screen.

THE JOURNEY INTO SELF

This talk is about a journey into your Self.  It is about discovering what you are and it is not about becoming anything other than what you are now.

I feel both sorry for and angry with teachers who preach that there is no self, that the self is only the figment of society, conditioning, and thought. They state that that is necessary is to look within and you will “see” that there is nothing, no internal object, that the word “I” points too.  There is only inner emptiness and a “presence,” of beingness that fills that emptiness, calling this the One, or even the Absolute, and stating this is the “unchangeable” essence of your being.

I am sorry for them because they do not realize how unimaginably short-viewed their vision is; there is so much more to them and to you that they cannot even fathom because they have stopped at no-self, presence, or newness, and they wait for things to “unfold” because they believe there is nothing deeper than beingness.

I am angry with them because they can only take their students as far as they have gone, which is not very far, but it is easy to get where they are and doesn’t take that much effort.  Therefore, they have lots of students who likely will remain at this level for a long, long time because the teaching says there is nothing beyond or prior to beingness.

But I want to invite you on a journey into your Self that will take you much deeper, a journey through “levels” or increasing subtleties of who you are until finally you reach the most subtle level of your own manifestation and knowing- ness, each of which feels more “intimate” and closer to one’s primary sense of existence, one’s essence: the Self.

The first body is, of course, our physical body which interacts apparently with an external world.  The body is a machine, so to speak, a living entity that translates sensual stimulIi into electrical nerve network impulses that the brain turns into a representation that allows us, at a deeper level within, to know, act in, and explore the physical dimension.

This second body, which I’ll call the Subtle Body and is also called the Energy Body, is entirely different from the physical world.  Out of the electrical network and brain, a subjective world of consciousness is created complete with a subjective representation of the external world.  That external world is a figment, or creation, of the consciousness generated somehow by the body, which communicates with the so-called external world through our nervous system.

In this sense, consciousness is self-contained. We, who we are is consciousness and can only know objects in consciousness including the external world. In this sense, we have to trust that there really is an external world independent of our bodies which our representation accurately mirror.  That is, we have to assume as true that there is something external to me, which I cannot see, hear, touch or feel in truth—as I can only experience what that thing appears to be in my consciousness.  I have no idea of what the broccoli that I am eating is really like independent of how it tastes and has texture to me.

This is the basis of the idealist’s viewpoint: all that we can know is consciousness, so why assume there is an external world?  Ramana does not believe there is one, nor does Nisargadatta or Robert Adams.  There is only “me” for them, and every other sentient being is only an object in their consciousness.

Another viewpoint, the realists’ viewpoint, is there are others outside of my consciousness, each of which is and utilizes the same type of consciousness as I do.  Each is a bubble of consciousness somehow aware of other bubbles of consciousness.  There are other variations than this found in philosophy.

But the second body is not really “of” the first body.  It is in an inner, subjective dimension as opposed to the ourward, worldly, physical four dimensions of space and time.

What does this second, or Subtle Body consist of?  It is made up of mind, thoughts, intelligence, images and imaging, the container of emptiness, the sense of presence, the experiences of the body from the inside, like pain and pleasure, movement and stillness, and the experience of inner energies, Chi, Prana, Kundalini, and Merridian energies.

It has an existence as a separate felt body, something like an inner entity, almost ghost-like in form, that spreads throughout the physical body and extends beyond it.  When perceived as a whole it feels like an inner being, inside the body, made of light, energy, and most of “sentience,” being aware of itself, our bodies and the world, but it is not of the world, because it is not made of matter, but of energy and consciousness.  The world is made of matter and consciousness while this Energy Body is made of energy and consciousness.

Becoming aware of this Subtle or Energy Body is extremely important.  Subjectively is feels more “intimate” and closer to my sense of being me than the body.  At this level the body is only a machine, and interface between the Subtle Body and the world.  This is your first proof of Robert Adams’ and Nisargadatta’s assertion that you are not your body.  You are much, much more than that.  Before you know this body intimately, Robert’s assertion that the body and world are unreal is, for you, only a concept and maybe a belief that you hold.

When you know the Subtle Body intimately for a long time, and have explored it and know all its secrets, pleasures and pains, you will identify with it and concerns about the physical body tend to disappear. But you still have to take care of the apparent physical body for it sustains the Subtle Body and allows the Subtle Body to interact and communicate within the physical dimension of space and time.
However, the Subtle Body still is not you.  Though it feels more intimate and closer to “you” who is watching and experiencing it, there is still a you that lies deeper, or perhaps it is better to say, is even more subtle than the Subtle Body, a deeper dimension so to speak.

I will save discussion of the next two dimensions for later.  For a while I will concentrate on meditation and techniques to help you really become aware of and then identify with the Subtle, Energy Body, because it will thus prove to you that you are not the physical body and free you from it and give you increased control over it if you so desire.

If for have found this post valuable, or Satsang, or the techniques offered, please leave a donation to support both my teaching activities, but also my animal rescue work. We are a 501c3 Religious, non-profit organization, and all donations are tax free.



03 July 2014

In You, Are non-Physical "Bodies" Far More Intimate Than Your Physical Body

We Are the Subtle Body even more than the physical body.

We have read that Ramana, Robert Adams, and Nisargadatta say over and over, “You are not your body.”  But for most people, this is just philosophy—a belief.  For most of us, we identify with the body and don’t have enough direct experience of other aspects of ourselves to serve as alternative identifications.

Many advanced meditators after years of practice know both the inner emptiness of the space within, also called the Void, that many identify with it and call it the substrate, the absolute, or newness and beingness: that is the container or screen upon which phenomenal objects appear.  However, this inner space, lighted by itself, is still a phenomenon, and although it does not appear to change, it comes and goes with the states of consciousness (deep sleep, dream sleep, waking), and can disappear when the objects grab hold of out attention.

This inner space is an aspect of what Nisargadatta and his teacher called the Subtle Body, which is the dwelling place of all inner phenomenon, including the I-sense, and all inner energies, such as prana, Chi, Kundalini, etc.

One marked step towards Self-Realization of the manifest Self, the Atman, is to lose primary identification with the physical body when we experience ourselves as an energy body while in ordinary waking consciousness.


This usually starts through experiencing “energies” throughout the body for a long time, which gradually grow both in intensity and frequency of occurrence, but also grow more “subtle” as time passes.

The initial energies may be experienced as tingling or heat, sometimes as vibrations, and sometimes as currents that are felt, and are often associated with flowing colors.  Then these energies can grow to be very powerful, often irritating, burning, shaking, and grow to fearsome intensity where you feel youi can’t tolerate them any more.

For me it was like this.  For many days I felt pretty useless, unwilling to move though forced to at times by my schedule.  But I was fixated on my inner world, the emptiness within superimposed or underlying my experience of my body.

For days there was a growing inner current that entirely filled my body, and not very pleasurable.  My hands trembled and inside I felt a slight vibration.  My body felt heavy, and intensely vibrating as a high frequency.

One day I awoke and I felt happier than for some time because the heaviness and vibration had disappeared.  As I drove to my morning coffee, I suddenly realized I was no longer identifying with my body.  Looking within, I saw only white light inside, and I had a second body, a body of light and sentience, of awareness, an experiencing presence within and I had the sudden knowledge that this was more me than was my physical body.  My body was just the material host for this inner being of light and awareness, which was lighter than a feather and had only a sense of joy. 

But there was also the immediate realization that even this body, though it felt more close an intimate to “me” than my physical body, was still not “me,” or at least the entirety of me, for I was still witnessing this lighted Subtle Body, and my sense of me, the I Am, though it existed here, this was not its home.  But the identification with the body thereafter began to break because the light body was closer to me, my essence.

I know this is just my experience and most of you do not have it, therefore feel free to doubt you have this Subtle or Energy body within “you.”

You know I doubt all science.  Science is just a matrix of concepts, mathematics, experimentation, and imagination.  I have never seen an atom, an electron, curved space, a photon, or even a virus.  All this is second hand knowledge to me, and mostly I accept it as truth for operational purposes, but I really don’t believe in it.

But maybe you do believe.  In that case, consider this.  You know that you do not see the object in-itself directly, but from light that originates in the object, such as from the sun, or is reflected off the object, as a chair, tree, or the moon.  This light enters the eye, hits the retinae, which generates an every changing matrix of signals in the forms of electrical potentials that flow along the optical nerves and are interpreted by the brain which creates—somehow—an inner picture of the external world.  The external world you experience is created in your brain interpreting electrical signals from nerves in the eyes, ears, skin, nose, and mouth, as well as from muscles.

Thus what you know is purely the result of inner electricity which somehow creates our Consciousness, including of our bodies’ and the world.

From this point of view, the body is really just a host for the nervous system and brain, that somehow creates our subjective world as Consciousness.

Since electricity is a form or energy, from this viewpoint, we are electrical or energy beings according to science.

But many of us know of other inner energies and have developed awareness of them through inner exploration and can more easily identify with the energy aspect of our “isness,” as opposed to relying on this scientific explanation.


Any and all of you who experience these energies now should be able to experience yourselves more “deeply” than the body and begin to experience a Self more near and dear to the essence or heart of your being, than the body. With this comes a great freedom and increasing joy and happiness that is just the beginning of an ever deepening awareness of all levels of your Self.

For that inner body, I used the term "energy," but that is only one aspect.  I also used the term "light," but by that I mean a concentrated form of the light of Consciousness that all meditators see after a while.


It is really impossible to convey the experience.  It is just sentience. the ability  to perceive, conceive, love and to know.  It is not exactly the Life Force, but she is there within this Subtle Body.  It is like a "subtle body" of sentience living within the non-sentient meat of our bodies, which supports the Subtle Body and provides the nervous system that converts the material world into Consciousness for the Subtle Body and deeper.

02 July 2014

Strange. Google Statistics Differ From My Counter

Google supplies visitor statistics for Blogger sites, and according to its measure, I am getting a far larger number of pages read than my stat counter counts.

According to Google, I am getting 600-900 page reads per day, and I had almost 20,000 pages opened during June.  This is almost triple the number than I thought.