If there's no God, who they praying to?

(Buddha's Wisdom) If Buddhism has no Creator God, who are some Buddhists praying to?

Mindful versus Gnostic 'Noble Silence'

(Buddhism Podcast) What is "noble silence"? The power of mindful speech in Buddhism

(Gnostic Talk) I tried the Gnostic Silence Test, and what answered was not the highest GOD (the Monad).

• Introducing the real GOD of the Universe

I'm Jewish and know better than Jesus

If "God" (GOD, Brahman beyond the God Great Maha Brahma) is the Monad, what is the pleroma? Pleroma (Koine Greek πλήρωμα, literally the "fullness") generally refers to the totality of divine powers. It is used in Gnosticism, as well as in Christian theological contexts. The term also appears in the Epistle to the Colossians [1], which is traditionally attributed to Saint Paul (aka Jewish Saul of Tarsus) the Apostle [2], the real founder of modern Christianity (yes, not Christ, after which it is named).

I'm a Jew and I know better than Jesus (Paul)

The word is used 17 times in the New Testament [3]. In Valentinianism it represents as virtualities of the Son [4]. ETYMOLOGY: The word literally means "fullness," from the verb plēróō (πληρόω, "to fill"), from plḗrēs (πλήρης, "full") [5]. More

• Yaldabaoth: "Child of Darkness/Chaos," the Demiurge
• The Monad (Gnosticism) is highest, unknowable GOD
• Pistis Sophia (Gnostic Wisdom Text)
• The Apocryphon of John
• Who are the Archons controlling the process?
• The [Gnostic Lost] Gospel of Philip

What is Buddhist "noble silence"?

Who are the "noble" ones? (Greco Buddhism)

Noble silence ("enlightening quietude") is a term attributed to the historical Buddha. Practitioners are advised to calm heart/mind by letting go of internal and external chatter.

The Buddha also responded to certain useless or harmful philosophical questions about the ultimate nature of reality. One such instance is when he was asked by a wayward monk named Ven. Malunkyaputta the 14 unanswerable questions.

In similar situations the Buddha often responded to antinomy-based descriptions of reality by saying that both antithetical options presented to him were inappropriate. To answer one way might be true but misleading or comforting but untrue, so that simple silence was a better option until the questioner was ready to receive a direct answer.

A specific reference to noble silence in the Buddha's Teaching (Dhamma or Dharma) involved one occasion when the Buddha told his monastic disciples to discontinue a discussion, saying that in such a congregation the discussion of the sacred Dharma is proper or practicing noble silence [1].

This does not indicate misology or disdain for philosophy on the Buddha's part. Rather, it indicates that he viewed such questions, though popular, as not leading to true and liberating wisdom [2].

The Pali canon

While silence is generally thought to be something visible on the outside of a person — an external state, such as whether or not one is talking — in the Pali canon, a "noble" (enlightened, awakened, or enlightening) state is internal — one synonymous with the stillness of absorption (jhāna).

"What is noble silence?' The thought might occur, 'In one instance a monastic, stilling applied and sustained attention (vitakka and vicara) [knowing without verbalizing or pondering], enters and abides in the second absorption, characterized by rapture and pleasure born of stillness, unification of mind, free of applied and sustained attention — internally certain. This is called noble silence.'"

• 

  Flapping and pushing vs. allowing and gliding

  An analogy is given to explain and distinguish vitakka from vicara as a function of what the mind does with its attention (adverting/turning attention towards, bare awareness, MINDFULNESS, vigilance, calm persistence). It's misleading to use the English word [discursive] "thinking," but it is mental activity:
• Say a big bird on a branch wishes to fly. It will first leap or thrust itself into the air and flap its wings with great deal of effort then eventually just soar and glide almost with no effort at all. So in tranquility meditation (samatha), one first struggles or wrestles to bring attention back and back again to the object but eventually is fixed on it with no apparent effort.

• 

  Points of sail when tacking during sailing

  Instead of force or struggle, great interest (zeal, delight, piti) holds the mind/attention to the object, with stillness and calm. Any movement of mind or body is likely to disturb it. This might also be compared to paddling and sailing. When one can skillfully sail, one is not a victim to the direction of the wind because one can engage in tacking (steering into the wind), that is, choosing one's direction so as to not have to go in the direction the wind is blowing, countered by jibing.

Of the eight absorptions (the jhanas or profound meditative states), that in which the inner dialogue goes silent is the second absorption. More

Scientist: Superconscious AI coming soon

(Animated) Beavis and Butt-Head become A.I. tech bros to do homework | Mike Judge

(Decoded Genius Clips) AI isn't conscious; it's actually much worse | AI scientist

• (Inner Motion Core Logic) The disturbing truth about AI that nobody tells us

Balancing effort in meditation: going for it?

Balanced effort in meditation

(Beth Upton) What is the importance of balancing our effort when we meditate. These videos are only made possible by generous donations (bethupton.com/support). Consider supporting this work on Patreon: bethupton. About my work: bethupton.com

Contentment and relaxing?

Upton's teacher Ven. Revata

When I sat a long retreat with Beth Upton (formerly Sayalay Anutara, a very successful student of Ven Revata, a direct disciple of Pa Auk Sayadaw, my teacher), she told me the same thing Ven. Revata told her: "I want you to practice contentment (santosha)."

"But, but," I argued, "if I were 'content,' why would I k*ck a*ss? I'm here to out-sit everyone and get still there faster."

She shook her head. She might have laughed if it weren't so pathetic and common among us Yankees. She's British, so I thought maybe she didn't understand the American will to muscle and speed through everything. Oh, she understood it and dealt with it with many students. I thought she must not believe how much I wanted to succeed. I tried telling her.

"All the more reason for you to slow down, relax, take it easy, enjoy it."

"'Enjoy' watching the breath?!"

"That's right, it should be enjoyable."

"I don't remember anyone ever saying that. I'm here to be an ascetic, to skip meals, get into hard yoga poses and hold them, to sit until my bum is numb or aching, until I can't sit anymore."

"Then take some time off."

We were talking at cross purposes, because everything I said to win her approval was causing her to look sad. "There's piti (joy, bliss, keen enthusiasm), you know?"

No, I didn't know. "Not for me there isn't. This is all about suffering and overcoming suffering."

She smiled and shook her head. She's quite intuitive but doesn't tell you that at first. "Maybe that's the problem. Take this retreat to treat yourself extra nice, remembering that your goal is CONTENTMENT. And when you're content, I think you'll see that this is much easier [effortless] than you've been making it or trying to make it."

Oh, she was so right. We Americans, we just won't listen. A lazy student should probably be told to shape up. But a rigid student, an over-eager one has to be calmed down, way down. Persistence is much, much more valuable (profitable) than valiant effort. More than 99% of people who read about how the wandering ascetic Siddhartha became the Buddha will misunderstand what he did to succeed.

Ask yourself, American. What did he do that finally did the trick? It's right in the story, the allegory of his life. Prince is born rich in a kingdom, living in three seasonal-capital palaces, shielded from all hardships by loving (doting, overly concerned and sheltering) father who wants and needs his son to grow up and take over the family business -- ruling this Kapilvastu.

The prince is raised very delicately, receiving all the pleasures one could want, sees the signs at 29, realizes there is suffering in the world (aging, sickness, death, not getting what we want when we want it, getting what we don't want, and never being able to find satisfaction or fulfillment in anything) for everyone including him. He, too, will grow old, get sick, and pass away. This so shocks him that he renounces the throne, leaves the lap of luxury just on the night of having been told the beautiful spouse he married years earlier just had their first child, whom he is sure to love and be held in bondage (rahula) by on account of his love. This whole family bonds thing is going to ruin his quest for truth, enlightenment, and liberation. He will not, as king, be able to save his people from their real problem in life -- suffering (dukkha, disappointment, ill, all that not-getting-what-we-want coupled with getting-what-we-don't want). So he takes the decision to let go and leave it all behind. He sets off for the East. (He was not in India when this happened, and no one else was either as there was no "India" yet, and he almost certainly wasn't in Nepal either, but try telling anyone that. He was in Gandhara, what today is the northwestern frontier of the future Empire of India under Ashoka). He finds a yoga teacher, trains, learns meditation as this teacher believes it to work, reaches the pinnacle, and asks, "Is that all there is?"

The teacher, so impressed with his progress, offers him co-teaching status, but Siddhartha is a seeker and not interested in that. He needs to find why we suffer, and nothing this teacher (Yogi Alara Kalama) has taught him has led him to that. So he takes off again. He meets another reputable yogi (Yogi Uddaka Ramaputta), who takes him under his wing, teaches him, and he reaches the pinnacle, and asks, "Is that all there is?" He gets the same offer, feels the same dissatisfaction, and leaves. This time he sets off on his own to practice what all great wandering ascetics have practiced: penances and austerities (tapas) to subjugate the "evil" body and liberate the "pure" mind/heart/consciousness/spirit stuck in the prison of the flesh. Five others see how hard he's been working and think to themselves, "If anyone's going to make it, it's this guy." So they follow him deep into the woods -- forest groves and lonely wildernesses to fast, meditate, and practice according to their own intuition or as they have learned to do.

The less he succeeds, the more Siddhartha doubles down. He's been fasting and that hasn't worked, so he fasts even more. He's been mortifying the body and that hasn't worked, so he punishes and mortifies it even more. The others are impressed, until he goes too far, falls on his face, exhausted, and near dies. He gathers himself, goes off alone, finds a better tree. And it is there that two women (Sujata and her servant) feed him. He takes food directly from their hands, and the other guys are disgusted and turn away. "He's given up." They restore him to health, he bathes in the river, and eventually he realizes this whole roughing it and blaming the body just isn't the way. He sets off again, finds a better tree, and starts to reflect, "If this hasn't worked, what have I been doing wrong and what would be more spiritually profitable and bring me to my goal of awakening and finding a solution to the problem of suffering?" It isn't his suffering he's worried about. He's lived so well that he hasn't experienced much suffering. It is the suffering of all his relations and subjects back in his kingdom that he's worried about, so he has to succeed.

Suddenly, he spontaneously remembers something that happened to him when he as 7-years-old. He was left in the shade of a tree during the annual Ploughing Festival as his caretakers went off to join the party. Alone for once, he sat cross legged and fell into a very profound meditative absorption (jhana). It was pleasant, absorbing, and so deep that legend has it, as he sat, a miracle occurred. Even though the sun moved through the sky as usual, the shade stayed still protecting him. He may have levitated a bit as well. (And let's say these two things didn't happen, it almost certainly felt that way, that time lost all meaning, he started in the shade and emerged still in the shade feeling that a lot of time must've elapsed, and he felt so light and elated that it was as if here were floating). So powerful was this memory, that Siddhartha wondered if this weren't the way to awakening. A strong intuitive sense came upon him that it indeed was.

And then he takes to wondering why he hasn't allowed himself this pleasant way. After all, he studied and quickly mastered these stages of absorption under his two yogi teachers (in addition to having practiced them a great deal in many past lives). He realizes that this way is full of pleasure (piti, joy), and he's been fearing pleasure. Having had so much of it in the first part of his life, he knows that didn't do him any good for realizing the ultimate truth about life, the universe, and everything. But why be afraid of supersensual pleasure, he reasons, given that it's not wrapped up in the body or tied to lust or anything to do with the world and worldliness? That's true, he realizes, and starts practicing them.

He gets up, goes to the river, places his alms bowl in the river, testing his intuitive sense that he's on the verge of success. If the bowl goes against the stream (opposite the flow of the current) that will be a sign and good omen of impending success. It goes against the stream. Buoyed by this auspicious sign, he goes and finds a better tree, takes a seat under it, and makes a strong determination that he will not get up until he succeeds in his quest even if "his blood runs dry and his body shrivels up." It is success or bust, supreme enlightenment (maha bodhi) or nothing! And with that strong determination, sure enough, he sits, lets go, goes deep, emerges purified by this profound stillness and is able to see things as they really are, taking up the successive stages of mindfulness (satipatthana), considering the question, "Why is there this present suffering?"

• He realizes in successive stages (paticca-samuppada) that on account of this, that came to be, and on account of that, this other thing, and so on through the 12 causal links, tracing back this present suffering to past ignorance that led to karma that led to karmic results that led to so many rebirths that led to this present rebirth, being here now, suffering. And that if it weren't for that unbroken chain of causes-and-conditions this present state would not be arising. That's the answer! Take the lynchpin out of this revolving wheel that leads again and again to suffering!

There is an amazing breakthrough waiting

With this purification and realization, he gains the superknowledges and psychic powers (abhinnas and siddhis), and breaks through to understanding. He recalls his many past lives with their general outline and details, sees how karma has been shaping this all along, sees how this has been happening to all other beings who have for the most part been in the dark about it, and realizes he has answered his question. "Light arose, knowledge arose," and he comes upon the great realization that all states are conditioned and caused, and share three universal characteristics.

They are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and impersonal. And with that, through the night, he comes to the dawn, and is now the "Awakened One," the Buddha, replete in knowledge and conduct, full of insight and understanding. He remains around that tree that helped him to this realization for seven weeks, sometimes staring at it in admiration and wonders if it would make any sense to try to tell others what he has realized. He decides that it would not because this world, being so enamored of sensual pursuits, has no time for setting that hedonism aside and purifying their hearts/minds to see what Truth he saw and thereby be liberated by that direct knowing-and-seeing because, you know, the Truth sets one free.

Now, we all know that story, more or less. It's an ancient tale, the "Hero's Journey" as Joseph Campbell called it and Hermann Hesse alluded to in Siddhartha (1922). One could go into far more detail, but that's not the point. The question is, how did he do it? What is the KEY turning point in the story that led to his success, American reader?

One need not go back and look through the story. One already knows (or at least imagines that) one knows the answer. Why? It's because of the way we're wired or the way storytellers have been telling it down through the centuries that more than 99% of people will point to the magic line, "He made the strong determination that he wouldn't get up from this seat, even if his blood dried and body shriveled..." But that's completely wrong.

"Well, it can't be completely wrong," people will say, "because it's in the story." But it is completely wrong because he didn't need to say or do that. But he did need to realize and do something else that comes a little earlier in the story. What is it?

He needed to relax, be content, let go, enjoy the ride, stop over-efforting, and remember that the way was through the absorptions (jhanas, another word for which is the "meditations"). Since nearly every American will necessarily try to muscle it, the only people who make quick progress are the ones who don't, the ones who don't know enough to make the mistake of thinking that they know. They practice with beginner's mind, set no goal up for themselves to reach, and allow themselves to just sit rather than scheming and striving, struggling and suffering.

Ah, happiness leads to absorption.

They take the way of the Tao, as spoken of so much outside of Taoism in Zen. They follow the Buddha's actual advice that this is a "gradual training" that leads to the goal of enlightenment (bodhi) and liberation (nirvana). Craving and grasping at a "goal," as we do with worldly things, just doesn't work in this context. It is counter-productive.

So Upton gave me great advice in promoting contentment. I often forget that in practice as I start to tighten and strain and become exhausted by effort and despair. But there's no telling those Americans to take this up with a light touch, with a playful attitude, with confidence that the historical Buddha well understood what he was talking about and talked about it from direct experience.

We are not our thoughts: Let them pass

(Buddhism Podcast) You are not your thoughts: A Buddhist way to stop overthinking mind

• Beth Upton, Sept. 5, 2022; Buddhism Podcast, June 15, 2026; Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly

Zen and the "self" we are defending

(ECHOES OF LOST KNOWLEDGE)

Poverty is used to control us: FREE money!

(Prof Jiang Uncut) Why [the powers that be] created poverty to control us | Prof. Jiang Xueqin

Free money! Just take it

The Heavy Money Experiment

• What is "fiat" money? Money from nothing: fiat money
• Money is NOT scarce. There's an infinite amount in banks
• What is the theory of centralized banking?
• Central bank digital currencies by country

How long is 'NOW'? Intro to Metaphysics

How Long is Now? | Intro to Metaphysics 🪐

Suck it up, Devi Cup.

(exurb1a) Help Ex do this full-time if deranged enough (and thanks kindly) ► exurb1r. Anxiety anecdote: This one took about two months to make. A lot of that time was faffing around with a Word document. Not even sure what the point of the script was, but anyhow -- today, very excited to be finally uploading and being rid of the thing.

There I was doing a bit of last-minute polishing in the video editor and suddenly I notice I've deleted half the video in the timeline. Just gone. I reload the old save file, but it's too late. I've written over it already.

I am a cat lady.

About a month of work gone in three seconds of mis-clicking. I'm not sure how far back in the day I made the mistake, and did I mention that the file is so large now that the undo function locks the video editor up almost every time? There's only one option left: tentatively keep hitting undo and just pray this doesn't lock the editor up otherwise ALL GONE. And just pray the buffer remembers far back enough to restore the sequence I deleted otherwise ALL GONE. There I sat for 30 minutes hitting Ctrl-Z as gently as I could, sweat dripping from my furrowed brow.

Even the mice who live in the walls of my apartment were coming out to watch and bite their fingernails or claws or whatever it is mice have, their cheese untouched, their traps empty... Anyway, everything was fine even if I almost soiled myself. The undo function worked, and I briefly felt good about living again for the first time in ten years. I am an idiot. Please don't be an idiot like me. Back stuff up, I beg ye.

Music used ► Queen of the Night - Patrick Hawes, Grace Davidson Swan Lake, Act II - Tchaikovsky - • Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake (Act II, No. 10) Lavender Fields - Aysedeniz Gokcin Dawn of Innocence - Nathalie Bonin. And of course here's your mystery link: • Scavengers Reign S01E03 - Pollination...

New book of depressing poems: inyurl.com/27fdfh63 (may need to change your region). Other stuff: Books what I wrote, yo ► amazon.com/Exurb1a... For sending personalized insults ► exurb1a T-shirts, mugs, and sadness ► teespring.com/stores/exurb1a. I also make horrendous music ► exurbia-1.

• 10 Astounding Meditation Practices That Helped Me Achieve Inner Peace
• 20 Unique Meditation Practices from Around the World
• Ancient humans lived nearly 1 mile within this cave in Europe
• 12 Facts About Redheads You Never Knew
• Top 40 Actresses of All Time
• Waterfall discovery changes what we believed about evolution
• 12 signs of a highly unintelligent person, according to science
• Landmark discovery: Giant fossil pre-dating dinosaurs found
• Exurb1a, Dec. 5, 2023; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Now it's 1984? New 'Orwell: 2+2=5' (trailer)

Orwell 2+2=5 - Official Trailer (2025)

(PBS News Hour)

(TYT Sports) Anthony Bourdain on Trump's ego, narcissism

Alan Watts: Identifying with thoughts

DIY Ego Death in a moment (Christ)

Ego death in less than one second? You mean suicide? - No, that is not what we mean at all. Self-murder is motivated by aversion (hate, dosa) and clinging to delusion, does not solve the problem, and leads to a very unfortunate rebirth destination. If the problem is delusion, the only solution is wisdom (prajna, gnosis, understanding, insight, clear-seeing, direct knowing).

"I" can't feel my hands! They have feeling, but...

What about DMT, the Spirit Molecule (or 5-MeO-DMT or Bufo)? - That might do it for a moment, a glimpse of the reality behind the apparent world we see around us (the Brahman behind the Maya, in Hindu terms). Is any entheogen like soma the solution? It shook M Shadows and some of the other members of Avenged Sevenfold to their timbers, leading them to create Life Is But a Dream....

Ego death and shrooms: What happens to self?

Well, that sounds harsh and scary. What about shamanic Ayahuasca (yage) or Iboga? - If that's the route, find a competent Amazonian shaman perhaps in Costa Rica or Mexico. Choose wisely. Anyone can claim to be a "shaman."

That sounds scarier. What else ya got? - Yoga with an emphasis on ecstatic pranayama (breathwork) is a very powerful way to move energy and consciousness. Serenity meditation is a good way to settle everything out and purify consciousness.

• What is a mind -moment" (citta) in Buddhism?

The third eye (pineal gland) produces DMT

DMT: The Spirit Molecule with Dr. Rick Strassman (with multiple subtitles)

There's DMT nearly everywhere

DMT: The Spirit Molecule is a 2010 documentary film based on a book of the same name by Dr. Rick Strassman [2]. Directed by Mitch Schultz [3] and starring Joe Rogan as narrator [4], the documentary deals primarily with the psychedelic and entheogenic drug N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) through the lens of interviews with those who have used the drug, either as part of Dr. Strassman's scientific studies or in combination with MAOIs (like ayahuasca). In 2013, Adam Winstock, working off of data in the Global Drug Survey, hypothesized that the documentary may have led to increased popularity of DMT [5]. In July 2018, Variety reported that the documentary was one of the most streamed on Netflix [6]. More

• Rick Strassman on DMT and the Mystical State
• We are responsible for our actions (karma, deeds, intentions), so we must research and take our own decisions. An "adult" realizes that no one is coming to rescue us, so we do it. Options exist for seekers to explore at their discretion. Seek out a reliable guide.

Revealed: How Jesus meditated daily

Jesus practiced conscious ego death (daily dying), healing metta, cosmic consciousness

What's the Bon "rainbow body"?

Rainbow body, Rigpa letter "A" inside thigle

In Dzogchen, rainbow body (Tibetan འཇའ་ལུས་, Jalü, Jalus) is a level of realization where the physical body transmutes into light. This may or may not be accompanied by the "rainbow body phenomenon," which is pre-Buddhist in origin and is related to the indigenous Tibetan shamanic Bon religion [1].

It is a topic that has been treated fairly seriously in Tibet for centuries past and into the modern era. Other Vajrayana Buddhist teachings also mention rainbow body phenomena that occur during or after the dying process.

In Rigpa, the "A," which corresponds to the sound "ahh" [2], represents kadag whereas the thigle represents lhun grub. The rainbow body phenomenon is a third person perspective of someone else attaining complete knowledge (Tibetan རིག་པ, rigpa). Knowledge is the absence of delusion and clinging regarding the display (visions) of the basis. More

Remove all thoughts without effort | Awakening

Time? Chronos overtakes Cupid.

(ASCENDOR) It is time to cultivate inner awareness, find inner peace, and elevate our spiritual potential. This is all about exploring the depths of our consciousness and mastering the art of meditation. Personal experiences, insights, and knowledge on topics such as meditation, inner awareness, spiritual practices, nonduality (Hindu advaita), and much more lead to true transformation and growth. These things begin from within. Let's embark on this journey of self-discovery. This will take less than a second to start. Awakening is a process. Justin_unk...

How to tell if you're brainwashed

(TEDx) Steve Hassan, former Moony Cult member, on breaking free

• CC Liu, Dhr. Seven, Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit; Dr. Rick Strassman, DMT: The Spirit Molecule (via Ginkgo Biloba); Ascendor, summer 2024; Steve Hassan (TEDx)