Thread: What are you reading?

Originally Posted by FallenAwake

I just started reading The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and Mark Dahlby. It includes practical applications for lucid dreaming, very exciting to me!

Spoiler for Bits of the book and "THE FOUR FOUNDATIONAL PRACTICES:

In Tibet, new leather skins are put in the sun and rubbed with butter to
make them softer. The practitioner is like the new skin, tough and hard with
narrow views and conceptual rigidity. The teaching (dharma*) is like the butter,
rubbed in through practice, and the sun is like direct experience; when both are
applied the practitioner becomes soft and pliable. But butter is also stored in
leather bags. When butter is left in a bag for some years, the leather of the bag
becomes hard as wood and no amount of new butter can soften it. Someone
who spends many years studying the teachings, intellectualizing a great deal
with little experience of practice, is like that hardened leather. The teachings
can soften the hard skin of ignorance and conditioning, but when they are stored
in the intellect and not rubbed into the practitioner with practice and warmed
with direct experience, that person may become rigid and hard in his
intellectual understanding. Then new teachings will not soften him, will not
penetrate and change him. We must be careful not to store up the teachings as
only conceptual understanding lest that conceptual understanding becomes a
block to wisdom. The teachings are not ideas to he collected, but a path to be
followed.



THE FOUR FOUNDATIONAL PRACTICES

Changing the Karmic Traces
Throughout the day, continuously remain in the awareness that all experience is
a dream. Encounter all things as objects in a dream, all events as events in a
dream, all people as people in a dream. Envision your own body as a
transparent illusory body. Imagine you are in a lucid dream during the entire
day. Do not allow these reminders to be merely empty repetition. Each time you
tell yourself, "This is a dream," actually become more lucid. Involve your body
and your senses in becoming more present.

Removing Grasping and Aversion
Encounter all things that create desire and attachment as the illusory, empty,
luminous phenomena of a dream. Recognize your reactions to phenomena as a
dream; all emotions, judgments, and preferences are being dreamed up. You can
be certain that you are doing this correctly if immediately upon remembering
that your reaction is a dream, desire and attachment lessen.

Strengthening Intention
Before going to sleep, review the day and reflect on how the practice has been.
Let memories of the day arise and recognize them as memories of dream.
Develop a strong intention to be aware in the coming night's dreams. Put your
whole heart into this intention and pray strongly for success.

Cultivating Memory and Joyful Effort
Begin the day with the strong intention to maintain the practice. Review the
night, developing happiness if you remembered or were lucid in your dreams.
Recommit yourself to the practice, with the intention to become lucid if you
were not, and to further develop lucidity if you were. At any time during the
day or evening it is good to pray for success in practice. Generate as strong an
intention as possible. This is the key to the practice.

Wow this book sounds pretty awesome. I'm definitely gonna have to check it out, good find

Originally Posted by hashmash89

Wow this book sounds pretty awesome. I'm definitely gonna have to check it out, good find

I'm glad it looks inspiring to you. I'm enjoying it so far, though I haven't read very much yet.

I did find a pdf version that appears to be the entire book for people who can't afford to buy it now.

Originally Posted by FallenAwake

I'm glad it looks inspiring to you. I'm enjoying it so far, though I haven't read very much yet.

I did find a pdf version that appears to be the entire book for people who can't afford to buy it now.

Sweet thanks for the link. I'm quite interested in learning about dreams from a yogic perspective could have some nice insights. It would also be nice to have some spiritual experiences in lucid dreams, like your last lucid. I still want to meditate in a dream too, its one of my first goals

Originally Posted by hashmash89

Sweet thanks for the link. I'm quite interested in learning about dreams from a yogic perspective could have some nice insights. It would also be nice to have some spiritual experiences in lucid dreams, like your last lucid. I still want to meditate in a dream too, its one of my first goals

Heck yeah! I want to meditate in a lucid dream again too; for a more prolonged period this time. I listened to a talk (Sleep as a Spiritual Journey) with the author, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, on Buddhist Geeks that addressed dreams Buddhist teachers have had that taught them new meditation techniques, as well. So, I'm guessing the book will go into more depth on that topic too.

Originally Posted by FallenAwake

Heck yeah! I want to meditate in a lucid dream again too; for a more prolonged period this time. I listened to a talk (Sleep as a Spiritual Journey) with the author, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, on Buddhist Geeks that addressed dreams Buddhist teachers have had that taught them new meditation techniques, as well. So, I'm guessing the book will go into more depth on that topic too.

Thanks for the link

I recently read Markens Grøde (that's Growth of the Soil for you English speaking people) by Knut Hamsun. It was surprisingly good (that is to say, I was surprised that it was good). I also recently read the last two books of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. I don't really know the best way to describe this series, as I just haven't found the right English words. The closes I've come is "cozy", which I suspect can't be used like that at all. At any rate it's a great series to read if you want crime novels that do nothing but make you feel good.

Many Lives, Many Masters.

The other day, a co-worker lent me this book. I have a long weekend, so I thought this weekend would be perfect to read it. As I started the first page, I realized I knew these words. I don't own this book, so someone else, along the way, must have lent this to me. I read the whole thing within an hour, because I was mostly skimming...I knew these words.

So, I find it very interesting that people felt compelled to lend this book to me, twice. There must be a reason. I meditated, after this reading. Trying to figure out what I need to beat in my physical life, in order to move forward....or maybe teach in this life...

It is a good book...very thought provoking.

I've almost finished "Simplify Your life". Liked it

I'm still chugging along with the Shannara audio books, on Scions now, and also just read H.P. Lovecraft's story Herbert West: Reanimator, and today I started Steven Gould's Jumper. I saw the movie Jumper, and didn't realize how old the book was--the kid's talking about pawning VCRs to make some money

Jumper exceeded expectations. Most of the dialogue was exceptionally natural, and it was just a thoroughly entertaining and well put together story (with little relation to the movie aside from the obvious). There were three books, so I'm thinking the events of the movie may have been cherry-picked from all three.

Scions of Shannara is still my bedtime story, and I'm finally getting around to Godel, Escher, Bach--I read the introduction this afternoon, and while I'm not particularly interested in AI, I'm very interested in "strange loops," isomorphs, and the convergence of art and mathematics, so it's quite promising so far

Ah, I am currently reading "The Serpent War" by Raymond E. Feist one of my favorite fantasy/adventure writers. I have like 40+ fantasy book to read on my book shelves, it will be a busy summer!

-Evan

Robert Greens "The 48 Laws Of Power"

favorite series ever read were the "Vampire Chronicles" by Anne Rice.

hendrix is fascinating! he was so shy at first but he turned into one of the greatest performers ever. really well written with interviews from all the key people in his story

I just got a Kindle, so I've been loading it up with books. Right now I'm reading The Hobbit by Tolkien and Atheism: The Case Against God by George H. Smith.

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder. Fantastic story. I never seem to stop reading..

Just started The Time Falling Bodies Take To Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture by William Irwin Thompson

Reading The Alchemist again, by Paulo Coelho.

I'm just finishing up The Structure of Delight, by Nelson Zink.

Originally Posted by Raphael

Reading The Alchemist again, by Paulo Coelho.

I read that one. Didn't think it was all that good. What about it do you like?

Neutrino by Frank Close, inspired by one of Xei's posts. Awesome book so far, a brief documentary of how the neutrino was discovered and the events that led up to it. Not wordy or redundant at all, gets right to the potent excitement of discovery but goes into enough depth. I'm also finishing up A Reason For Hope, by Jane Goodall, an amazing book. If your at all interested in what she's done and what it was like living 40 years in an African jungle studying chimp behavior, this is a good book to read.

Graham Greene - The Human Factor.

Spy story with less James Bond and more office paranoia.

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. In addition to being an interesting book, whenever I think of the title I change it to "Crypto-omnomnom" and titter inwardly.

just started on Feast for Crows by George R.R Martin. Also just bought a bundle pack of books for my new Kindle, so will plow my way through them shortly

I'm still poking at GEB intermittently, and also read A Farewell to Arms. I know a lot of people don't get Hemingway, but I'm a big fan. Here and there he tries to say too little and ends up saying nothing, but the way he manages to tell the bulk of his stories 'between the lines' is plain magic to me.