Fixation And A Number Of Good Quotes

Playing catch-up with recent postings:

R quoted Rinpoche:
"It is much better to sit next to Indra and eat happily..."
Ramon: - and pass the amrita, please!

J-P quotes Abhinavagupta:

Concentration and calming the mind. If this meditation
is difficult, take a simple object like a stone or a piece of wood,
place it in front of you, gently focus on the object without
blinking, allow nothing else to take hold of your mind.

There's that 'without blinking' suggestion again. Not blinking sure stirs
up the solar plexus energies! And smiling widely while doing so allows
tearing to continue to bathe the corneas. (Of course I'm 'doing something'
again, but perhaps 'staring as if in amazement' is self-arising?)

Referencing J-P's Vijñânabhairava Tantra quotes, I was overjoyed some
years ago to find one of my favorite self-discoveries (nursing on the
uvula/soft palate) listed there, (right next to the 'not-blinking
suggestion again):

LIE DOWN AS DEAD. ENRAGED IN WRATH, STAY SO. OR
STARE WITHOUT MOVING AN EYELASH. OR SUCK SOMETHING AND
BECOME THE SUCKING.

Also in "Zen Flesh Zen Bones," and also published by Rajneesh

52.
A. Lie down as dead. Enraged in wrath, stay so.
B. Or stare without moving an eyelash.
C. Or suck something and become the sucking.

-=-=-=
As for item "A" above, it makes me think of Ramana's teenage experience.
Except the 'enraged in wrath' I don't understand, unless this has to do
with frowning fiercely while stiffening the body in a rigor-like state.
Hm, trying it right now, I sense an 8-pulses-per-second visual strobe
effect.

I enjoy little mnemonic devices, such as the tip of the tongue held
between the teeth. Also, sometimes nothing's happening in my mind
except a random melody, and melodies seem to dissolve other thoughts,
yes?

I also like Alan Wallace's 'Awareness in Empty Space' exercise:

"Imagine yourself as a child lying on your back, gazing up into
a cloudless sky, and blowing soap bubbles through a plastic
ring. As a bubble drifts up into the sky, you watch it rise,
and this brings your attention to the sky. While you are
looking at the bubble, it pops, and you keep your attention
right where the bubble had been. Your awareness now lies in
empty space."

B. Alan Wallace, "Tibetan Buddhism From the Ground Up"
Copyright Wisdom Publications 2001. Reprinted from "Daily Wisdom: 365
Buddhist Inspirations," edited by Josh Bartok

I've also been enjoyng Arthur Zajonc's "Catching the Light; The Entwined
History of Light and Mind" Oxford Univ Press, 1993 A quote that I found
of interest because I'd never thought of it before:
"Light itself is always invisible. We see only things, only objects, not
light."

Perhaps we cannot 'see' light in the same way that we cannot see our
buddha nature? Perhaps light IS awareness? Quoting from an 'R' posting:

The sambhogakaya is that dimension in which the
potentialities of sound, light, and rays the three fundamental
sources of manifestation, appear as the pure vision of the
mandala, the origin of the tantric teachings.

Hm, why are 'light' and 'rays' listed separately? And sound? My
happy inner melodies?

In Praise Of Soft Palate/Uvula Sucking

Last year I read that the pineal gland in the fetus forms not
from brain tissue but from the soft palette tissue of the growing
mouth. This is very interesting, because it suggests a connection
between the two areas. Thus 'nursing' on the soft palette may give
the pineal a long-distance massage -- or at least a 'message'. Add
to this the theory that the pineal secretes various ecstatic compounds, and you get the picture.

It seems that clarity/awareness after meditation continues if I
simply nurse on my uvula/soft palette. Of course if I talk, I
lose it momentarily (smile). As I mentioned here before, when I
grow up, I want to look just like Hakuin's self-portrait! – eyes
locked in Sambhavi Mudra, sucking on his uvula. Although walking my
dog in this mudra might tend to flatten me on the sidewalk. For
Hakuin's self-portrait here, see www.raysender.com/jpegs/ZenjiHakuin.jpg

You can argue that whatever state experienced while sucking
on the soft palette cannot be Dzogchen's Natural State because it's
'doing' something. But since infants relax into the nursing
reflex, it could be considered 'non-arising' – i.e. not actually
'doing anything.' And it does center my awareness four inches
below my navel (hara), thus putting my out of my mind, which can
then do whatever mind does on its own.

YEE HAW!