Greywolf
22nd April 2007, 10:27 PM
I am pretty new to Buddhism from a practical point of view. Although have read bits and piece over the years, i have never really tried to put it actively into practice. Although i was fortunate to have very loving and honorable parents, and it has surprised me how many of the Buddhist principles they have instilled in me without knowing. I was lucky to have a very happy loving upbringing, i reckon Mum and Dad were nearly Buddhists and didn't even know it. .
My search for some sort of, i don't know, spiritual awakening if you like began many years ago with a couple of strange occurrences.
I have spent in my younger days (i am 45 now) many many long hours wandering around Australia. I think the Tally has now reached a little over 50,000km, half of which was in latter years with my wife and children, but the other half was on my own, before i was married. This found me able to enjoy great solitude, i would often be on the road for days and weeks with no one to talk to. I always walked and hitched in those days. It was nicer than driving i thought.
On one occasion i had something happen to me that was very strange, but very moving. I was in a truck that was traveling in the desert, somewhere south of Alice Springs, i had fallen asleep for some time. But at the moment of awakening, i had a very profound vision. For what was only a few milliseconds, i felt that i could see all around me, without even really looking. It etched an image in my head like a photograph and i can still see the horizon to my right with the dotted low trees and the endless miles of sand. It was as if i could see in all directions without actually looking. It was a very moving experience, but, very very short. I don't really know what it was, but it has caused me to visit and join all manner of groups over the years from meditation classes to the church of Scientology, the latter of which i am glad to say i escaped unharmed (barely) but that conversation is not for this place. But nothing has ever come close to that small moment in time in that truck. Until recently that is. I have been studying a martial art now for a while. This particular martial art has a fair bit of esoteric stuff in it, some of which is meditation. In the past, all meditation has ever done for me is to make me feel relaxed, but nothing else ever happened, that was until i began Ninjitsu. I have never actually been taught how to go about meditating, so i just sort of sat their and made it up as i went along. But a month or two ago, i was at the conclusion of my class, meditating under the guidance of my Sensei. His approach is to firstly imagine your body to be hollow and empty, completely black. An empty shell. Then imagine a knot of color, any color that begins an inch or two inside you but below your navel. I imagine blue/purple not sure as i am a little color blind. I use this color as it is what i see when i close my eyes. Ever since i was a little boy, i see swirling blue or purple or indigo when i close my eyes. Interestingly my son is learning Reiki, and one day when he was giving me a treatment, he had his hands each side of my head, his hands sort of cupping my head. And the oddest thing happened. The chaotic purple i have seen all my life, began to slow, then it stopped, then it followed the shape of his hands until if formed almost a dough nut shape in my head. It has never stopped in all my life. When he repositioned his hands, the color followed. It was an amazing thing. I felt very calm and relaxed when i sat up. Anyway, i am rambling. My Sensei was talking me through this and he said to let the color fill your body. Visualize it filling my legs and so on, when that was done he said to visualize pushing the color all out around me as far as i can. This is where it got weird. As i did this i became aware of crickets (small grasshopper like insects) in the neighbors yard. We were meditating outside, but those crickets, well it felt like, and this will sound silly, but it felt like my ears went out to the crickets. They become so so close, yet i knew that i did not move. There were outside noises that seemed to be so close that i was right there with whatever was making the noise. It was an amazing experience. When Sensei talked me back through the process i visualized the color receding until it was back to the small knot in my belly., Now i could hear the crickets, but they were just next door now, my hearing had come back to my ears from its wanderings. The final thing was, and this will sound silly, but it was almost like i could see with my ears. I had my eyes closed, but i think i could see next door, or at least was aware of the presence of next door in a way that was a little more than hearing it. It is hard to explain.
All this stuff was pretty weird and it has been the reason i have decided i would like to find out more about Buddhism. There must be so much more to us than we normally perceive.
Wow, just read back, sorry for the long post. I tend to ramble a bit don't i.
Anyway, just thought i would tell you all about that. Not sure what was happening but it was pretty moving for me.
Cheers
GW
My search for some sort of, i don't know, spiritual awakening if you like began many years ago with a couple of strange occurrences.
I have spent in my younger days (i am 45 now) many many long hours wandering around Australia. I think the Tally has now reached a little over 50,000km, half of which was in latter years with my wife and children, but the other half was on my own, before i was married. This found me able to enjoy great solitude, i would often be on the road for days and weeks with no one to talk to. I always walked and hitched in those days. It was nicer than driving i thought.
On one occasion i had something happen to me that was very strange, but very moving. I was in a truck that was traveling in the desert, somewhere south of Alice Springs, i had fallen asleep for some time. But at the moment of awakening, i had a very profound vision. For what was only a few milliseconds, i felt that i could see all around me, without even really looking. It etched an image in my head like a photograph and i can still see the horizon to my right with the dotted low trees and the endless miles of sand. It was as if i could see in all directions without actually looking. It was a very moving experience, but, very very short. I don't really know what it was, but it has caused me to visit and join all manner of groups over the years from meditation classes to the church of Scientology, the latter of which i am glad to say i escaped unharmed (barely) but that conversation is not for this place. But nothing has ever come close to that small moment in time in that truck. Until recently that is. I have been studying a martial art now for a while. This particular martial art has a fair bit of esoteric stuff in it, some of which is meditation. In the past, all meditation has ever done for me is to make me feel relaxed, but nothing else ever happened, that was until i began Ninjitsu. I have never actually been taught how to go about meditating, so i just sort of sat their and made it up as i went along. But a month or two ago, i was at the conclusion of my class, meditating under the guidance of my Sensei. His approach is to firstly imagine your body to be hollow and empty, completely black. An empty shell. Then imagine a knot of color, any color that begins an inch or two inside you but below your navel. I imagine blue/purple not sure as i am a little color blind. I use this color as it is what i see when i close my eyes. Ever since i was a little boy, i see swirling blue or purple or indigo when i close my eyes. Interestingly my son is learning Reiki, and one day when he was giving me a treatment, he had his hands each side of my head, his hands sort of cupping my head. And the oddest thing happened. The chaotic purple i have seen all my life, began to slow, then it stopped, then it followed the shape of his hands until if formed almost a dough nut shape in my head. It has never stopped in all my life. When he repositioned his hands, the color followed. It was an amazing thing. I felt very calm and relaxed when i sat up. Anyway, i am rambling. My Sensei was talking me through this and he said to let the color fill your body. Visualize it filling my legs and so on, when that was done he said to visualize pushing the color all out around me as far as i can. This is where it got weird. As i did this i became aware of crickets (small grasshopper like insects) in the neighbors yard. We were meditating outside, but those crickets, well it felt like, and this will sound silly, but it felt like my ears went out to the crickets. They become so so close, yet i knew that i did not move. There were outside noises that seemed to be so close that i was right there with whatever was making the noise. It was an amazing experience. When Sensei talked me back through the process i visualized the color receding until it was back to the small knot in my belly., Now i could hear the crickets, but they were just next door now, my hearing had come back to my ears from its wanderings. The final thing was, and this will sound silly, but it was almost like i could see with my ears. I had my eyes closed, but i think i could see next door, or at least was aware of the presence of next door in a way that was a little more than hearing it. It is hard to explain.
All this stuff was pretty weird and it has been the reason i have decided i would like to find out more about Buddhism. There must be so much more to us than we normally perceive.
Wow, just read back, sorry for the long post. I tend to ramble a bit don't i.
Anyway, just thought i would tell you all about that. Not sure what was happening but it was pretty moving for me.
Cheers
GW