![]() |
| What is the Way of the Tao? Flow like water |
Showing posts with label stillness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stillness. Show all posts
Monday, October 19, 2026
Wednesday, August 12, 2026
Ram's advice to quiet the Monkey Mind
| The Great Seer's gained samadhi |
The mind may never stop thinking [except deep in the eight Buddhist meditative absorptions, in samadhi], but if we turn our attention to what or who [the Witness, the Watcher] is listening, suddenly the inner voice may pause or stop.
The method to follow, the practice
![]() |
| The voice doesn't bother me. I need stimulation! |
Ramana's voice was gentle but firm, "You cannot remain as the Witness. You are already the Witness. The question itself comes from the mind. The seeker's face tightened, "I do not understand."
Overthinking: Why am I even alive?
![]() |
| More stimulation, more stimulation, more!!! |
"The practice is simply to notice. When the voice speaks, what hears it? Do not fight the voice. This creates more noise: 'I should not be thinking this, I am failing at meditation, I must try harder!' More voices, more struggle."
A thought arose in the seeker right then, "This is too difficult." Instead of believing it or fighting it, he asked, 'What is aware of this thought?" The question itself dissolved the thought. For a moment, there was only silence, only presence.
![]() |
| So the method is not a method, not a practice? |
"In your relationships," Ramana said, "the voice says, 'They do not love you anymore.' Ask, 'Who is unloved?' The answer? 'I am.' Then ask, 'Who is this "I" that can be loved or unloved?' The story collapses."
He paused. "And [of] that shame, the sense that you have not progressed, that others have arrived somewhere you cannot reach, ask, 'Who is the one who has failed?' The answer? 'I am.'
"Then ask, 'Who is this "I" that can succeed or fail at [meditation] practice?' Its owner cannot be found. The shame does not to be argued away; it simply has no ground to stand on.
But "I am that I am," right?
![]() |
| Don't Feed the Monkey Mind |
The seeker sat with this. It was so SIMPLE, it felt impossible. He had spent years trying to improve his mind, control his thoughts, become a better meditator.
And now Ramana was saying, "Just notice what is already aware [mindful]. Every example leads to the same place. The voice has an owner that cannot be found. And what remains when the owner [ego, atta, atman] disappears, that is what you are."
"Bhavagan," he said quietly, "what is the purpose of the question, 'Who am I?' if it cannot be answered?"
Ramana smiled. "The question, 'Who am I?' is not meant to be answered by the mind. It is meant to DISSOLVE the mind.
The seeker closed his eyes. The voice had nothing left to say.... He no longer needed the voice to stop.
Monday, August 10, 2026
Mindful versus Gnostic 'Noble Silence'

(Buddhism Podcast) What is "noble silence"? The power of mindful speech in Buddhism
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).
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.
(Gnostic Talk) I tried the Gnostic Silence Test, and what answered was not the highest GOD (the Monad).
| I'm Jewish and know better than Jesus |
| 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) |
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.'"
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:Flapping and pushing vs. allowing and gliding - 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.
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.Points of sail when tacking during sailing
Of the eight absorptions (the jhanas or profound meditative states), that in which the inner dialogue goes silent is the second absorption. More
Saturday, August 1, 2026
Ecstatic absorption: Bliss of the Jhanas

- Jhana: meditative "absorption" ("meditation") chiefly refers to the first four meditative absorptions of form
![]() |
| I want to enter that bliss, but how? |
At this time there is a complete (albeit temporary) suspension of fivefold sense-activity and of the Five Hindrances (pancha-nīvarana). However, this state of consciousness is one of full alertness and lucidity and, it is said, singlepointedness (ekagata) of mind/attention.
![]() |
| Gandhara: meditating Buddha |
This degree of concentration becomes a fully absorbed state. It is generally developed by the practice (cultivation) of one of the 40 subjects of tranquility meditation (samatha-kammatthāna, see bhāvanā).
There are four higher (more refined) states of absorption called the Four Formless Attainments of the immaterial Spheres (arūpāyatana). These are called the four absorptions of the immaterial sphere (arūpa-jjhāna or arūpāvacara-jjhāna).
The usual text, often met with in the Pali canon sutras, runs as follows:... More: jhāna
Ask a Buddhist teacher. Most will say, "There's no way to do it, so just do it." And that's pretty good advice as far as it goes, but it will only get a few there, the "naturals."
Third, there is the powerful suggestion of Leigh Brasington that these absorbed states of ecstatic composure, concentration, focus, or coherent mindful awareness can be brought about by a method. The method is simple to understand, a little less simple to implement. Attend a retreat, smile, stay calm, slow down, be comfortable, send metta to all in all directions until the heart/mind is restful and at ease then begin to meditate. When meditating, it will be the case that some part of the body is or begins to feel blissful (piti, one of the Factors of Absorption), pleasant, pleasurable. When it does, turn attention to that and just that. Seemingly on the maxim that "where attention goes, energy flows," that bliss (joy, happiness, sukha) will expand and overtake the entire body, bringing one into absorption. Leigh Brasington teaches, or taught, on Cloud Mountain and should be consulted for the details of this method. My coauthor, Virginia Tech Prof. Lori Marsh, attended a Brasington retreat and attained it.
How can I know if I was in an absorption during my meditation? And if I can know, how can I know which absorption (Jhana 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8) I was in? There is an answer. In the teaching method of the renowned Buddhist Meditation Master Pa Auk Sayadaw, one will not know it when one is in it, but one can be sure which jhana one was just in. How? By reflecting and counting the Jhana Factors, that is, the Factors of Absorption present during the meditation, one can know which it was. As one moves up towards higher and more refined absorbed states, factors fall away.
- Pīti: rapture, bliss, joy
- Upekṣā: equanimity
- Pancha Nivarana: The Five Hindrances
What if there were a way to enter jhana?
| The Eight Levels of Absorption |
For a long time in this round, most of us are not the naturals, not inclined to even try. But when we finally "try," that is not a good sign of getting there. A person letting go, not aspiring, not striving, not anticipating, or doing nothing more than beginner's mind will is more likely to experience "beginner's luck."
That seems to be the Taoist approach advocated by Zen. How many Zen practitioners, however, ever get into a Zen state, a jhana, dhyana, seon, or absorción?
Not many. No one speaks of it, perhaps because of the threat/injunction that, "Anyone who knows doesn't speak; anyone who speaks doesn't know."
That may be true insofar as successful practitioners are not inclined to be worried about what anyone else does or does not do. But as a thinker, I am keen to figure out a practical way of teaching those cannot to be able to. There are a few ways that make sense or have some sort of logic.
First, we know that someone in an absorption has characteristics and is missing others. Things are present, and things are absent. How now if one were to include (cultivate) what is present for them and exclude (abandon) what is absent?
What is present? The Five Factors of Absorption (jhana-anga). What is absent? The Five Hindrances. Does it therefore not stand to reason that by such cultivation, one may very well fall into it? Drop away the obstacles, erect the parallels (those things present along with the wished-for state of heart-mind), and viola there it is!
Second, it is certain that what the Buddha taught was a pyramidal path with virtue (sila) as the base, stillness (samadhi) as the midlevel, and a capstone of wisdom (panna, prajna). So anyone who reaches the second level of "concentration" or singlepointedness of mind, or quietude, stillness, absorption does so on a base or foundation of Precepts and wholesome karma of skillful thoughts, words, and deeds or calm, noble silence, and restraint.
| Right Concentration: A Practical Guide to the Jhanas (Brasington) |
Now this opens up a question that is difficult if not impossible to settle. What is "jhana"? What qualifies as "absorption"? If Prof. Marsh says she attained such a state, can anyone say any different? Because it is a direct and personal experience, can she even know? Does Brasington certify that retreatants are reaching it?
Fortunately, this question can be answered to some extent, but not completely because so much will depend on self-report. The most important thing is that a meditator not be self-deluded. One can know for oneself, and one's teacher can know, but as to whether or not anyone can say, who can say? One might have to possess psychic (abhinna, siddhi) powers to know what another is thinking or experiencing. Fortunately again, we are not concerned with what others are or are not attaining, only with what we are reaching.
How can I know if I was in an absorption during my meditation? And if I can know, how can I know which absorption (Jhana 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8) I was in? There is an answer. In the teaching method of the renowned Buddhist Meditation Master Pa Auk Sayadaw, one will not know it when one is in it, but one can be sure which jhana one was just in. How? By reflecting and counting the Jhana Factors, that is, the Factors of Absorption present during the meditation, one can know which it was. As one moves up towards higher and more refined absorbed states, factors fall away.
The Five Factors are actually six when ekagata (one-pointedness) is counted. See teachers Sayalay Susila, Beth Upton, Sayalay Dipankara, Ven. Dhammadipa (now lay teacher Thomas), Shaila Catherine, Ven. Revata, and others for detailed confirmation of personal experience. The lay Buddhist teachers Tina Rasmussen and Stephen Snyder or check out their handy guide to the jhanas first published as Jhanas Advice. The later name became From First Sit to First Jhana:
Monday, July 13, 2026
Why 'meditation' feels hard (Dr. Ricard)
(Study Buddhism) Why "meditation" [striving, straining, struggling to get into absorption] feels so hard (and what to do about it) | [Western scientist and Vajrayana Buddhist lama] Ven. Matthieu Ricard [known as "the happiest person in the world"*]. "There is no Samsara 2.0."
Who is he?
| Sure, I'm happy, but the happiest? |
Dr. Matthieu Ricard grew up among the personalities and ideas of French intellectual circles. He received a PhD degree in molecular genetics from the Pasteur Institute in 1972.
He then decided to avoid a common scientific career and instead did the daring thing and took up the practice of Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana Bon), living mainly in the Himalayas.
Matthieu Ricard is a board member of the Mind and Life Institute. He received the French National Order of Merit for his humanitarian work in the East with Karuna-Shechen, the non-profit organization he co-founded in 2000 with Rabjam Rinpoche.
Since 1989, he has acted as the French interpreter for the 14th Dalai Lama. Since 2010, he has been traveling and giving a series of talks with and assisting in teachings by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, the incarnation of Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche....
*Matthieu Ricard has been called the "happiest person in the world" [4, 5]. Why?
It is because Matthieu Ricard was a volunteer subject in a study performed at the University of Wisconsin–Madison on happiness. He scored significantly above the average of hundreds of volunteers [4].
Matthieu Ricard, however, has called the label "absurd" and untrue [6, 7]. More
Monday, July 6, 2026
The Buddha on meditative absorption
Ego (buddhism podcast) The Buddha attained [temporary mental purification and permanent] enlightenment (bodhi) from developing the meditative absorptions (jhana), not in them
Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Breathwork the Anunnaki Way (21 days)
- Memory (neuroplastic) consolidation
- Settling into stillness: samadhi?
- Buddhist Ana-pana-sati (mindfulness of breathing)
- BASIC DISCOURSE: Ānāpānasati Sutta
![]() |
| Can we do yoga as mindful moving meditation? |
![]() |
| Anunnaki: "royal [divine] offspring" |
Monday, January 26, 2026
Eckhart Tolle: suffering, drugs, meditation?
| Then ego stopped, time stopped, all was clear. |
But the mind keeps thinking!
Don't Feed the Monkey Mind: How to Stop the Cycle of Anxiety, Fear, and Worry
Psychotherapist Jennifer Shannon LMFT and illustrator Doug Shannon have 4.6 out of 5 stars (with 1,327 reviews) helping readers deal with monkey mind.
The very things we do to try to control anxiety can make anxiety worse.
This unique guide offers a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based approach to help
- recognize the constant chatter of anxious “monkey mind,”
- stop feeding anxious thoughts,
- find the personal peace craved.
![]() |
| Psychotherapist Jennifer Shannon |
Written by psychotherapist Jennifer Shannon, this book shows how to stop anxious thoughts from taking over using proven-effective cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and mindfulness (sati) techniques, as well as fun illustrations.
By following the exercises in this book, learn to identify anxious thoughts, question those thoughts, and uncover the core fears at play.
Once we stop feeding the monkey, there are no limits to how expansive life can feel. This book shows how anxiety can only continue as long as we try to avoid it. Paradoxically, only by seeking out and confronting the things that make us anxious can we reverse the cycle that keeps our fears alive. More
- Mindfulness-based stress reduction
- How to stop fighting your problems
- Eckhart Tolle; Jennifer Shannon; Amber Larson (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly
Monday, January 5, 2026
Wednesday, November 26, 2025
How to go on a drug TRIP (without drugs)
How to trip without psychedelics (entheogenic substances)
![]() |
| Use of mandala/yantra art for visualization |
This video share ten of the most powerful natural ways to access expanded consciousness without using any substances. The final one is considered the most intense of all.
These methods have shaped my spiritual journey, my art, and my understanding of the mind. Some come from ancient traditions, some from modern science, and some from the hidden corners of consciousness itself.
Enjoy exploring mystical states, inner worlds, and the nature of reality? Make sure to subscribe for more videos like this.
Thanks for watching.
![]() |
| Anjali mudra, Thai wai (devi) |
ABOUT: I am [Juliana Garces is] a visionary artist and poet on a mission to raise our collective consciousness through art.
I create artworks, poems, and videos about mystical subjects to help inspire people to find the divine within themselves.
Resonate with my work? Please check out these links:
- Prints: 🖼️ julianagarcesart.com/prod...
- Original art: 🎨 julianagarcesart.com/prod...
- Apparel: 👕 julianagarcesart.com/prod...
- Online Visionary Art Classes: 📔 julianagarcesart.com/priv...
- Instagram: 💓 julianagarcesart
- Facebook: 💙 Juliigarces
- Juliana Garces, YouTube; Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Jen B., Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Monday, November 24, 2025
How to develop Four Elements Meditation
How to develop Four-Elements Meditation
![]() |
| Full of practical info, not theory |
The brief method explained here is meant for those of quick understanding. The detailed method is meant for those who have
difficulty with the brief method.
The Buddha taught the brief
method in the Maha Satipatthana Sutta (the “Greater Discourse on Setting Up the Four Foundations of Mindfulness”): A meditator reviews this very body however it is positioned
or placed as consisting of just elements: “There are in this
body just the earth-element, the water-element, the fire-element,
and the air-element” (The Path of Purification, Visuddhimagga, Ch.XI, para. 41–43) explains further:
First, one of quick understanding who wishes to develop
this meditation should go to a solitary place. Then one should
advert [turn attention towards] one's entire material body and discern the elements in
brief in this way:
“In this body
- what is hard or rough is [to be regarded as] 'earth element,'
- what is flowing or cohesive is 'water-element,'
- what is maturing (ripening) or heat [temperature] is 'fire-element,'
- what is pushing or supporting is 'air-element.'”
As one applies attention in this way, in no long time, concentration [stillness] arises, which is reinforced by understanding that illuminates the classification [labelling] of the
elements.
This is only access-concentration* and does not reach absorption [a fully absorbed or concentrated condition] because it has states with individual essences as its object.
Alternatively, there are these four [bodily] parts mentioned by Ven. Sariputta for the purpose of showing the absence of any self in the Four (great primary) Elements:
“When a space is enclosed with bones, sinews, flesh, and skin, there comes to be the term 'material form' (rupa)” (M. I. p. 190).
And one should resolve each of these, separating them out by the
hand of knowledge, then discern in the way already stated (above): “In these what is hardness…as its objects.”
This is the method taught at Burma's Pa-Auk Meditation Centre. Discern in the body:
- 1. Earth-element: hardness, roughness, heaviness, softness, smoothness, lightness.
- 2. Water-element: flowing, cohesion.
- 3. Fire-element: heat, coldness.
- 4. Air-element: supporting, pushing [for a total of 12 characteristics lumped into four categories called the Four Elements, the dhatu or maha-bhuta].
Usually, the beginner must first be taught the characteristics that are easier [more obvious] to discern then the more difficult [subtle] ones later. The “Four” Elements are therefore usually taught in this order:
- pushing,
- hardness,
- roughness,
- heaviness,
- supporting,
- softness,
- smoothness,
- lightness,
- heat,
- coldness,
- flowing,
- cohesion.
1. To discern “pushing”... More
I don't get it. Help!
![]() |
| Author Shaila Catherine |
Fortunately for us in the United States, Americans have gone to Burma, practiced under Pa Auk Sayadaw, succeeded in attaining the absorptions and insight and on occasion written books about it. They are in America. They teach. We can recommend these seven:
- Beth Upton (British)
- Shaila Catherine
- Stephen Snyder
- Dr. Tina Rasmussen
- Dr. Nikki Mirghafori
- Katie Kalyani (Midwest Samsara)
- Thomas Dhammadipa (Czech polyglot).
There are also successful monastic disciples of the Great Pa Auk Sayadaw:
- Ven. Sayadaw U Aggañña (now permanently stationed in Los Angeles)
- Sayalay Susila (abbess of Appamada Vihari Meditation Center, Penang, Malaysia)
- Sayalay Dipankara (Burmese traveling nun)
- Ven. Revata (Pa Auk Forest Monastery, Burma)
- Ven. Mahinda (Pa Auk Forest Monastery, Burma).
- Pa Auk Sayadaw, Four Elements (Pt. 2, p. 19) re-edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)










%20greco%20buddhist%20art,%20wiki.jpeg)
.png)




_-_EnKi_(Sumerian).jpg)














