(Part 2) Top products from r/TheMindIlluminated

Siddhis absolutely exist, but not in the way that the self wants them to be true.



Social Domain

I have had experiences similar to u/whuttupfoo - the degree of social intuition you can develop is Jed-like; far beyond what you would expect. As he stated though - there is nothing magical about this really. Humans are social beings, so your degree of receptively and influence has the potential to be very high. Mental defilements, attachment to worldview, and self, blocks this natural receptively and influence.

u/whuttupfoo mostly talked about his degree of receptivity. One's social influence can hit pretty high levels too though. When you have no ill-will and see nothing as a threat, people become rather pliant. When I complete an Insight cycle - my state of mind is substantially more powerful than ordinarily, and I have had experiences of deeply influencing people in these states. Again, there is nothing magic about this though.

Some dating coach was involved in a media scandal, whereby the pressure of it enabled him to attain a degree of self-realization, after which he began teaching his own variety of "dharma". He demonstrates what I would consider siddhi-like social influence abilities here.

I consider Tony Robbins healing abilities to be Siddhi-like as well.

Manifestation

People call manifestation of material things "magick" sometimes. There is no need for that because there is nothing magical about it. I wrote about this already here a few days ago.
Despite the fact there is no actual magick going on with manifestation, understanding nuances of motivational psychology and actively working to improve those skills can give you abilities that do indeed seem magical. But there is no magic - the normal mode of viewing motivational psychology is just very out of accord with how the mind actually functions, it therefore can seem like magic. You have the ability to manifest WAY more than you would think possible in the external world. I can promise you that.

Physical Acts

I'm sure people already know of Wim Hof and the miraculous abilities he attained through his own meditative training. Again, nothing magical here. Just aspects of human experience we do not understand.

Sidenote: I don't have the clip, but I remember somewhere Wim Hof mentions he practiced Samadhi and said he looked into Siddhis. He didn't go into much more detail than that though. Interesting stuff.

Collective Consciousness

There is definitely a collective consciousness. The question is the degree of it. Is it something, akin to what Carl Jung writes about in-terms of symbols? Or is it something where we are all connected via consciousness itself? I have no experience with the latter but seeing the former is quite clear. If someone does have experience with this, I would love to hear your thoughts. My opinion on this is undefined for now.

Long story short - us humans are very arrogant and we think we see the world how it is. The world is however, very different from our natural mode of perception. All true "suddhis" are not really magical - but rather are just representative that we are seeing an aspect of reality in a more accurate and refined way that allows for more optimal behavior.

And finally, I will bid you farewell with this quote from A Course in Miracles, which sums up the issue beautifully:

> 1 The answer to this question is much like the preceding one. There are, of course, no "unnatural" powers, and it is obviously merely an appeal to magic to make up a power that does not exist. It is equally obvious, however, that each individual has many abilities of which he is unaware. As his awareness increases, he may well develop abilities that seem quite startling to him. Yet nothing he can do can compare even in the slightest with the glorious surprise of remembering who he is. Let all his learning and all his efforts be directed toward this one great final surprise, and he will not be content to be delayed by the little ones that may come to him on the way.

> 2 Certainly there are many "psychic" powers that are clearly in line with this course. Communication is not limited to the small range of channels the world recognizes. If it were, there would be little point in trying to teach salvation. It would be impossible to do so. The limits the world places on communication are the chief barrier to direct experience of the Holy Spirit, Whose Presence is always there and Whose Voice is available but for the hearing. These limits are placed out of fear, for without them the walls that surround all the separate places of the world would fall at the holy sound of His Voice. Who transcends these limits in any way is merely becoming more natural. He is doing nothing special, and there is no magic in his accomplishments.

> 3 The seemingly new abilities that may be gathered on the way can be very helpful. Given to the Holy Spirit and used under His direction, they are valuable teaching aids. To this the question of how they arise is irrelevant. The only important consideration is how they are used. Taking them as ends in themselves, no matter how this is done, will delay progress. Nor does their value lie in proving anything—achievements from the past, unusual attunement with the "unseen," or special favors from God. God gives no special favors, and no one has any powers that are not available to everyone. Only by tricks of magic are special powers "demonstrated."

> 4 Nothing that is genuine is used to deceive. The Holy Spirit is incapable of deception, and He can use only genuine abilities. What is used for magic is useless to Him, but what He uses cannot be used for magic. There is, however, a particular appeal in unusual abilities which can be curiously tempting. Here are strengths which the Holy Spirit wants and needs. Yet the ego sees in these same strengths an opportunity to glorify itself. Strengths turned to weakness are tragedy indeed. Yet what is not given to the Holy Spirit must be given to weakness, for what is withheld from love is given to fear and will be fearful in consequence.

> 5 Even those who no longer value the material things of the world may still be deceived by "psychic" powers. As investment has been withdrawn from the world's material gifts, the ego has been seriously threatened. It may still be strong enough to rally under this new temptation to win back strength by guile. Many have not seen through the ego's defenses here, although they are not particularly subtle. Yet, given a remaining wish to be deceived, deception is made easy. Now the "power" is no longer a genuine ability and cannot be used dependably. It is almost inevitable that, unless the individual changes his mind about its purpose, he will bolster its uncertainties with increasing deception.

> 6 Any ability that anyone develops has the potentiality for good. To this there is no exception. And the more unusual and unexpected the power, the greater its potential usefulness. Salvation has need of all abilities, for what the world would destroy, the Holy Spirit would restore. "Psychic" abilities have been used to call upon the devil, which merely means to strengthen the ego. Yet here is also a great channel of hope and healing in the Holy Spirit's service. Those who have developed "psychic" powers have simply let some of the limitations they laid upon their minds be lifted. It can be but greater limitations they lay upon themselves if they utilize their increased freedom for greater imprisonment. The Holy Spirit needs these gifts, and those who offer them to Him and Him alone go with Christ's gratitude upon their hearts, and His holy sight not far behind.

Both of what you describe hearing from the neuroscientist and ex-nun sound much more like a few off the cuff anecdotes than actual well researched positions that you should count on as meaningful in deciding whether you personally continue with the practices described in TMI.

To start with the ex-nun. In what sense is she a meditation expert and what is her understanding of TMI? As has been already stated elsewhere on the thread TMI is not a novel system that has been dreamt up complete with trademarks and a mystical backstory. It's a modern synthesis of very well established meditation approaches from both Tibetan and Theravadan schools that have a long historical pedigree. Mindfulness of breath, body scanning, metta, walking meditation and the like are all staples of Buddhist meditation across the world. In that regard stating that there is no enlightenment to be gained by following it really needs some further clarification on her part. What about the system makes enlightenment impossible?

On the neuroscience front maybe Minsky is considered outdated, I have no way of knowing personally, but I do know that the attention/awareness distinction is what Culadasa considers the core of how his approach differs from others. If your ex boss failed to comment on that then I'm sceptical he's given the book a thorough reading. The scientific backing for attention and awareness being separate but related in the way Culadasa describes is discussed in great detail in The Master and his Emissary so you could look into that if you want.

What role science can or should play in your decision is seems very important to you. Some of the blurb for TMI may have bigged up the science side of things a bit much. Certainly prior to the recent unpleasantness that was the main criticism that we heard about the book and Culadasa. However, those of us who are familiar with the system know that TMI is a meditation book that also contains some very well thought out theoretical models to explain what you experience if you follow the meditation instructions. Currently science has great things to say about the benefits of basic levels of mindfulness but is not ready to endorse ideas around awakening. If you want to do practices that are rigorously evidentially backed up then you can take a course like MBSR or MBCT. However, these courses are short and they do not offer a detailed long term progression. In fact, the aim is that at the end of them you go off and seek out your own personal practice. You'll also note if you take a course that they are teaching you the same basic techniques you find in TMI: mindfulness of breath, body scan, metta and so on.

The scientific speculation that is in TMI is useful insofar as it can help demystify the experiences that occur in deep meditation and thus help people find a clear and well mapped route through the territory. Ultimately the book has become popular through word of mouth because it delivers on what it promises and so each copy sold inevitably leads to a high number of personal recommendations to others. If you want to pursue the benefits of advanced levels of mindfulness then it is still one of the best options out there despite Culadasa's recent controversial behaviour.

Buddhism isn't and doesn't claim to be a divine revelation. It developed out of Indian asceticism, which to my understanding has always had an attitude of utter disgust towards the world and sensory pleasures. Now, there is a definite logic to the renunciate position. Dealing with pleasures of the world does naturally generate craving, so isolating yourself from those can be an effective first step towards extinguishing craving. This is a pretty interesting read on the subject, and Buddha's rant to the poor sod who had sex with his wife once out of filial duty was outright funny. Better to stick it into the mouth of a black viper or pit of embers, indeed...

However, there are other approaches. Buddhism changed long ago on entering China, and it changed when it entered West. If I had to quickly summarize McMahan's The Making of Buddhist Modernism, I'd say that what's practiced in the West tends to be a sort of syncretic tradition with elements from traditional Buddhism, Protestant Christianity, modern psychology and Romanticism. Since we aren't talking about Divine Truth here, being different from the early Buddhism doesn't make this intrinsically wrong.

What it might be is less effective at attaining its goals, but personally, I think it just has different strengths. Sure, staying engaged with the world and its beauty will probably keep you experiencing subtle levels of craving and suffering much longer than going ascetic. Yet suffering less is a worthy goal in itself, and the enlightenment found in ascetic setting seems to be vulnerable to collapsing outside of it. If you Awaken while living in the world, in the process you've probably rooted out all kinds of dysfunctional habits and patterns of thinking that monks just don't encounter.

Tl;dr: Suttas are worth reading and thinking about, but not something to take as given truth or to imitate despite deep misgivings.

It's kind of difficult to answer that question with a simple answer as there are many forms of yoga.
I think the first thing to do is to get a good idea of what yoga is and isn't. The vast majority of today's forms of yoga were plain and simply born in the 19th and 20th century. That doesn't discard them as being real yogas as the word "yoga" was in fact used across centuries to characterize a vast variety of practices.
To better understand what yoga is and isn't I strongly recommend reading those two books which are based on thorough and recent research :
https://www.amazon.fr/Roots-Yoga-Sir-James-Mallinson/dp/0241253047

https://www.amazon.fr/Yoga-Body-Origins-Posture-Practice/dp/0195395344
Beware, you might end up having to completely change your understanding of yoga !

For Ashtanga, I agree, David Swenson's book is indeed excellent !
All the other forms of "physical yoga" are modern innovations which, without saying they have no use, could be effectively replaced with western physical therapy practices.

For pranayama this book is as precise and step by step as TMI :
https://www.amazon.fr/Pranayama-Breath-Yoga-Gregor-Maehle/dp/0977512622

If you're more interested into the energetic side of yoga you should find a ton of precise ressources and a great community at https://www.aypsite.org/
Some of the practices found in the site are very powerful and you should be pay attention as to how those influence your TMI practice.

OP appears quite happy with his current situation but FWIW it is always nice to refer back to this very short essay by Thanissaro Bikkhi: No-self or not-self?There are too many great points he makes in that essay so I'll just mention two:

- The Buddha categorically refused to answer the question of whether or not there is a self. Not-self/Anatta is a practice, its purpose is to outgrow itself. It is not a teaching on "ultimate truth".

- A unitive state (being identified as "everything") is still a self to cling to. If one is to realize complete liberation in the Buddhist sense, the Buddha suggests there's still work to be done.

​

I am all for scientific research related to meditation (I'd recommend Altered Traits for a summary of what has been done so far), but we have to recognize the limitations involved. A big one is the degree to which the researchers themselves the phenomena they are studying. The above excerpt is a good example of completely uncalled for speculation.

Here's a free PDF of Bhikkhu Bodhi's Noble Eightfold Path book. If you can get your hands on a copy of Thich Nhat Hanh's Heart of the Buddha's Teaching, it's an excellent complement to Bodhi's book, and expands on the 8fold path and other Buddhist teachings in a very accessible way.

My opinions:

There is spiritual wisdom, and there is worldly wisdom. The former does not lead directly to the latter. To serve your fellow man effectively requires worldly wisdom. What works, and what doesn't work?

To answer that, one must go beyond the common wisdom regarding politics, economics, science, and the social sciences. All of those are spheres of power that are too corrupt to provide answers to the problems of mass suffering.

Real change happens primarily at the level of individuals working with individuals, and secondarily at the level of public discourse.

The one solution I can recommend as being the best hope for changing the world is the theory and practice of Permaculture. And the best introduction I know of is David Holmgren's https://www.amazon.com/Permaculture-Principles-Pathways-beyond-Sustainability/dp/0646418440. It's worth the price, but you will probably want to find a used copy.

Yeah, I'd suggest a simple book like this. It outlines basic daily mindfulness that a person can do. Great for getting things started!

https://www.amazon.com/Peace-Every-Step-Mindfulness-Everyday/dp/0553351397/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=everyday+mindfulness+thich&qid=1572270253&sr=8-2

Same here. Started smoking during a spiritual crisis over a decade ago, and it's been hell trying to kick this addiction. I've quit numerous times, sometimes for 6+ months at a go. Then the trigger of anxiety flares up and I'm smoking again. I've recently had some success, however. My meditation practice has definitely helped me see craving more clearly, and given me skills to deconstruct the craving (e.g., mental image, mental talk, inner tightness/tension). Judson Brewer's book The Craving Mind also helped. https://www.amazon.com/Craving-Mind-Cigarettes-Smartphones-Hooked/dp/0300234368/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+craving+mind&qid=1571317406&sr=8-1 He also has an app called "Craving to Quit" that involves a mindfulness based approach to smoking cessation. It costs money, but it seems to have a high success rate.

What helped most was seeing the suffering that my addiction was causing my wife and having her plead with me to stop. That was huge. It's been going well, but the craving still rears its head some days.

The struggle is real. Best wishes to you.

No, of course not. Let me clarify. I'm not a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, but am immensely curious about it, and have read a bit about it from various sources, ranging from Words of My Perfect Teacher to the Berzin website.

One thing that characterizes TB is the emphasis on the all-important role of one's teacher (or root guru). Meditation is a complex activity, but TB is an extraordinarily complex repository of late-stage Indian Buddhist philosophy and meditation techniques, the crown jewel of which is tantra. TB lamas emphasize that tantric meditation is can be extremely powerful, but also extremely dangerous to one's mental health if practiced incorrectly, since it involves working with the body's energy systems, exercises where you visualize yourself as a deity, etc. The root guru provides intensely personalized instructions on how to meditate in this way, provides remedies to common pitfalls and issues, generally acting as very experienced coach.

And Dzogchen is the most advanced form of tantra in the Nyingma tradition. For what it's worth, Leigh Brasington - in addition to the jhana work some here might be familiar with - has been a Dzogchen practitioner for several decades, but he refuses to say basically anything about it because he doesn't feel qualified to do so.

So the idea of someone whose expertise in meditation comes from a lineage that very possibly could have fabricated its connection to authentic tantra and Dzogchen practices should give all of us pause. Going to a self-taught car mechanic carries risks, but going to an unqualified brain surgeon is downright foolhardy.

Edit: And I don't know enough about Tibetan Buddhism or Aro or Rin'dzin Pamo enough to pass any sort of judgment. I'm just advising a little skepticism on whether her contrast of TMI with Dzogchen/tantra actually jibes with what mainstream, authentic Vajrayana lamas might say.

If I may add a book recommendation:

Check out Robert Wright's "The Moral Animal". It's an evolutionary psychologists view on what's behind our perception of morality, especially around topics concerning sexual relations.

Imho a must read for anyone considering any kind of relationship (or already being in one).

Be well.

Don't expect to get or be given anything by it. You can read a sample of TMI here.

Have you heard of this Iamthisorthat? I recommend it to You.

Edit: more relevant information

Links to the two people mentioned early on in the first video for their research:

Jeffrey Martin's website

Here is an amazon link to Robert Boyle's book.

what abhayakara said of course, but check your mindset too: https://www.amazon.com/Mindset-Psychology-Carol-S-Dweck/dp/0345472322/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2G8KIJF84G68S&keywords=mindset+carol+s.+dweck&qid=1567345157&s=gateway&sprefix=mindset%2Caps%2C130&sr=8-3