Kanji's 'Universal Mind' Theory

One should not accept any practice on faith alone or on the reputation of masters but, after practising diligently with an open mind, to assess it to the best of our understanding and experience. The best approach is to use the mind, but the mind has to be tamed and trained before it will follow one's bidding. An untrained mind is like a monkey, always restless and never still, even for a moment. Some masters believe that your mind is the real you. We need not debate here whether the real you and your mind are exactly the same; you can investigate that question in your training. The trained mind is focused, clear, and tranquil; then it expands and eventually leads to spiritual fulfillment. Form is emptiness; emptiness is form. Many people will find this line puzzling. They are equally bewildered by basic belief that the phenomenal world is an illusion, and ultimate reality is tranquil and undifferentiated. In our ordinary consciousness, an opponent is real. If he or she attacks you and if you fail to defend yourself there is no illusion to your being hit. But suppose we look at the situation from the very high level of consciousness of an enlightened being who sees reality as it ultimately is and not as it is grossly modified by a set of conditions. Suppose you were able to look through a gigantic, super-powerful electron microscope. What would you see? Your opponent would have disappeared! What you thought was the form of a person would turn out to be almost emptiness; you would see patterns of subatomic particles as far apart as specks of stars in outer space. If you looked at yourself you would be equally astonished; your body too would have disappeared! If the microscope were more powerful, like the wisdom-eye of a psionic, you would realize that the so-called subatomic particles are actually not particles; they are concentrations of energy without any definate boundary. But more importantly, you would suddenly be awakened to the great cosmic truth that as there is no boundary separating one subatomic particle from another, there is also no boundary separating you from your opponent or anything else. In other words, the whole universe is actually a continuous spread of energy or consciousness, without any differentiation. You will be awakened to the greatest truth of all- the discovery that great masters of all beliefs and mystical disciples have made- that the physical body in which, owing to your ignorance, you have imprisoned yourself; is an illusion, and that your personal mind is actually the Universal Mind. You may ask whether your or anything else is real. The answer is yes and no, either yes or no, neither yes nor no. When psionists say that the external world is an illusion, they do not mean it is imaginary, but that it is only relatively, not absolutely, real. And the fact that all possible questions cannot be answered through any observation or speculation by any intellectual means percievable, but that every real answer must be experienced rather than explained.

I hope this was insightful, but this is just my opinion. There is so much more to my theory to post, and maybe I will in the future, but this will do for now. Each to his or her own opinion. I just like to anticipate, 'all is for the best, in this best of all possible worlds'.

Very ineteresting but Its only looking at one side of things. TO see the universe on that level is to ignore this one, which I believe has as much value as any reality. These "prisions" you call our bodies are what we deal with everyday. Just seeing the iniverse on a diffeent level does not make it superior. What is enlightenment? WHy is it such an important goal? If you're chasing enlightenment, then you are seeking to change the universe, which is not total acceptance of the universe, which is not enlightenment.

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There is so much more to my theory to post, and maybe I will in the future, but this will do for now.[/b]

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As you can see, this is only one partial view of my theory.

Well I dont expect you to cram all your conclusions onto a post :) Just responding to what was written. I used to be quie obsesed with "enlightenent" and the "illusion of self" and things like such. But I eventually came to realize that, though fascinating, these concepts don't help me in my daily life. Well, thats not entirely true, but I now try and accept whatever reality is here, including the reality that I don't see all perspectives of the universe.

Ever read Siddhartha? An excellent book in my opinion and I love the way the book concludes.

In other words, you're accepting universal reality based on faith?

not quite. I no longer feel the need to uncover all the secrets of the universe. So I accept my experience ,which is ultimately all I know. So where does faith come in? I don't need to have faith in anything outside myself.

I think people often make the mistake of assuming that enlightenment only exists through an altered reality or spirituality alone. I believe that true enlightement is the integration of the physical with the spiritual. So that both are matched in perfect harmony. There are always two sides to this reality of dualism. You cannot focus on only one experience and not the other. It is through the combined effort to evolve both aspects do you begin to find true enlightenment.

While the main thing we experience is this physical reality so to is the spiritual realm connected to this. You can see it through the layers of the aura as well as all the chakra centers. Both are intertwined. Even some of today's Buddhist monks admit that too long have they focused only on the "mental" or spiritual aspect of the religion and not the physical. For truly they are one and the same. You cannot live only in your mind through meditation, you must also live physically by taking care of your body and your interactions with others.

This is just my opinion. :)

I dont think enlightenment exists

Well that's the beauty of this place. We all have our own "truth" and perspective. :) It's nice to be able to excersise our individual "free will" and have a choice, and not be forced or stuck with one particular belief.

I personally think everyone perceives things as they are meant to. That to me is the perfection of this reality.

Well, I think you're wrong....jk :D

You're Awesome!! Most people who disagree with me don't make me laugh :!: :!:

Everyone sees the world differently. We can figth about it or have a good time, laugh about it, and try and find the truth that we all have.

I dont think a single person is wrong in here. We just see different truths and language is very limited so when someone speaks these truths, we hear it through a filter, language, and it comes out as false. If we experienced everyone elses thoughts we would not say they are wrong...we would see the truth they are seeing and be able to build on it together.

Well said!! I agree. I'm glad to meet people like you and others in this forum. It's a nice gathering place, and there are alot of different perspectives floating around here.

Many contemporary Buddhists reject the notion of enlightment. "The path is the destination." "The key to the treasure is the treasure."

They are absolutely right!! I think "Enlightenement" has taken on a different meaning than what it actually meant. Your right the path is the destination. You don't just wake up one day knowing all the answers of the universe, happy, full of bliss and joy. It's a long, arduous, and sometimes very painful journey that only self can make. I didn't mean to make it all sound simplified in my previous posts.

Hello? Did somebody say my name? :-P

I have discussed this here before... I experienced what seemed to be "enlightenment" or "Nirvana" for three hours at the Memphis Zoo in 1991. I had the "perception" that everything is one, everything is rooted in nothing, everything is astoundingly beautiful, everything is composed of consciousness, and that things are eternally okay (Turmoil is an illusion.). It seemed to be the clearest my mind has ever been. I still think it might have been an acid flashback. (Be careful... Acid can take you in completely the opposite direction. I don't recommend it.) I am also not too sure about reaching a permanent state of this, but that would be incredible. It's worth studying.

I saw another version of what some Buddhists consider "enlightenment" when I was on mushrooms on Pensacola Beach in 1999. (I don't recommend mushrooms either. For about an hour of this mushroom experience, I was terrified out of my mind and thinking I was trapped forever in a nightmare.) There is the Zen-Buddhist (or maybe just "Zen") tale of the pupil who tells his master that he has reached enlightenment, and the master replies, "There is nothing left for you to do at this moment but laugh." In other words, enlightenment involves realizing that everything is meaningless and therefore all action is absurd, which makes it hilarious to observe. On the beach, I was tripping very hard and watching two of my friends throw a frisbee back and forth. I saw what appeared to be the ultimate meaninglessness of everything, and that made the frisbee throwing look absolutely pointless and absurd, and I laughed hysterically about it. My brother was also tripping, and he had the same perception. We were both laughing with great amusement. I made the comment, "It's so meaningless." One of the guys in our group heard me say this. He was not tripping, and I hit a serious religious nerve of his when I made the comment. He started arguing with me and wouldn't drop it. I tried to chill him out, and it didn't work, so I ended up having a temper tantrum on him (It's not a good idea to taunt somebody while he is tripping. He might really wig out and lash out.). It was a major buzz killer, and I lost the perception I had. I haven't been back to it since then. One of my goals of lucid dreaming is to reach that state again. I think that can work.

I think we all have instances that we can recall being intouch with "the flow" of the universe, or experiencing brief periods of "enlightenment." And yes some of those are drug induced :-P !

I think the key though is learning to experience those periods more and more frequently until eventually that is how you always feel. Connected. And you see through the veil of illusion. (Without drugs :wink: ) But reaching the point of experiencing this for longer and longer intervals is a very difficult path for oneself. It involves turning inward and facing every facet of oneself. Good and Bad. Evaluating all your previously conceived beliefs, attitudes, values, etc.... It involves finding your own truth. Not societies truth, or someone else's truth. It involves letting go of alot things that you kept around unnecessarily due to fear or securities. Because in the end both fear, and security is only illusion.