Opening the book at random I read now....pg 54 Anam Cara
"The Mystics are among the most trustable in this area of sensuous love.
The Mystics have a lovely theology of the sensuous implicit in their writings.  They never preach a denial of the senses, rather they speak of the transfiguration of the senses.  The mystics recognize that there is a certain gravity or darkness in Eros which can sometimes predominate. 

The light of the soul can transfigure this tendency and bring balance and poise.  The beauty of such mystical reflection on Eros reminds us that Eros is ultimately the energy of divine creativity.  In the transfiguration of the sensuous, the wildness of Eros and the playfulness of the soul come into lyrical rhythm.....

The beauty of Eros is its passionate thresholds where light and darkness meet within the person.  We need to reimagine God as the energy of transfigurative Eros, the source from which all creativity flows.

Pablo Neruda has written some of the most beautiful love lines.  He says: 'I will bring you happy flowers from the mountains, bluebells, / dark hazels, and rustic baskets of kisses. / I want / to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees.'  This thought is so beautiful;  it shows that love is also the awakening of springtime in the clay part of the heart.  Yeats, too, wrote some inspiring love poetry. 

He has lines like:  'But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you / and loved the sorrows of your changing face.'  These poems show a recognition of the special depth and presence within the beloved.  Love helps you to see the Other in his or her own unique and special nature.'

From the book Anam Cara - Spiritual Wisdom from the Celtic World by John O'Donohue

Phase 7.  When the mind of red-orange increase-of-appearance and its wind dissolve into the mind of near-attainment and its wind dissolve into the mind of near-attainment, a vivid black appearance dawns of its own accord.  Now it is like an autumn sky free from dust and clouds and pervaded by the thick darkness that falls right after dusk.  Nothing else appears to this mind.  During the first part of the mind of black near-attainment, you are still aware, but in the latter part you become unconscious in a very thick darkness like fainting.  This phase is called "near-attainment" because it is close to manifestation of the mind of clear light.  It is also called "greatly empty", because it is beyond mind of increase-of-appearance and the wind on which it rides.

Physically: (1)  The upper and lower winds inside the central channel gather at the heart, loosening the six-fold knot of the right and left channels.  (2)  At this point, the white drop originating at the top of the head further descends, and the red drop originating at the navel further ascends, with both entering into the middle of the indestructible drop at the heart (3)  When these two meet, the vivid black appearance dawns.

Phase 8.  The mind becomes even more subtle than it is during the unconscious second part of the mind of black near-attainment;  the movement of wind becomes weaker, and the state of the subtlest wind arrives.  At this point, unconsciousness is cleared away, and the mind of clear light, the subtlest of all minds, noncenceptual and totally nondualistic, is manifest.  At this juncture all conceptual activity has ceased and the three "polluting conditions" - the white, red, and black appearances or moon, sun and darkness, which prevent the emergence of the sky's natural color - have dissolved.  A very clear openness dawns.  Like an autumn sky at dawn, before sunrise, free from any sullying factors, nothing else appears.  This deepest consciousness is called the "fundamental innate mind of clear light" and "all-empty"
because it is beyond the eighty conceptions and the three subtle minds.

Physically:  (1)  The white and red drops dissolve into the indestructible drop at the heart - the white dissolving into its white top and the red dissolving into its red bottom.  (2)  Thereupon, the winds inside the central channel dissolve into the very subtle life-bearing wind.  (3)  This causes the very subtle wind and the mind of clear light to manifest.


For most people death occurs when the subtlest level of mind manifests.  The most subtle consciousness usually remains in the body for three days, unless the body has been ravaged by disease, in which case it might not remain even a day.  For a capable practitioner, this is a valuable opportunity for practice.  Those who are conscious of the mind of clear light can remain in this state for longer periods and, depending on previous training, can even use it to realize the truth of the emptiness of inherent existene of all phenomena, including cyclic existence and nirvana.

from the book by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

From the book "Advice on Dying and living a better life" by the Dalai Lama

The final four phases of death begin with three levels of subtle mind and conclude with one phase of very subtle mind.  The gross levels of consciousness having ceased, three phases of subtle mind emerge.  As you proceed through these three levels, your consciousness becomes increasingly non-dualistic, since there is less and less sense of subject and object.

Phase 5.  When all eighty conceptions of the gross level of consciousnesss dissolve, the first of three subtler levels of mind emerges, a vivid white appearance that dawns of its own accord. 

This is a luminous openness, like an autumn sky suffused by white light.  Nothing else appears to this mind.  Buddhist tradition uses the example of an autumn sky because in autumn in India, where this teaching originated, the monsoon rains of summer have stopped, leaving the sky clear of clouds and clear of dust.  Much in the same way that the sky, or space, is the mere absence of obstruction, coarse conceptions have disappeared, leaving a sense of openness.  The first of the three subtler states is called "appearance" because an appearance like moonlight dawns, but there is no such light shining from outside.  This state is also called "empty", because it is beyond the eighty conceptions and the winds on which they ride.

On a physical level, although it takes place outside what the dying person is experiencing, this is what happens in the fifth phase:  (1)  The winds in the right and left channels above the heart enter the central channel through its opening at the top of the head.  (2)  Due to this, the knot of channels at the top of the head is loosened.  (3) This, in turn, causes the white drop that dwells at the top of the head and has the nature of water to move downward;  when it arrives at the top of the six-fold knot of right and left channels at the heart, the vivid white appearance dawns.

Phase 6.  When the mind of white appearance and its wind dissolve into the mind of increase-of-appearance, a vivid red-orange appearance dawns of its own accord.  This is an even brighter openness, like an autumn sky free from dust and clouds pervaded by red-orange light.  Nothing else appears to this mind.  This state is called "increase-of-appearance" because an appearance like very vivid sunlight appears, but again there is no such light shining from outside.  This state is also called "very empty" because it is beyond the mind of appearance and the wind on which it rides.
Physically:  (1)  The winds in the right and left channels below the heart enter the central channel through its lower opening at the base of the spine or sexual organ.  (2)  Due to this, the knots of the channel-wheels in the sexual organ and at the navel loosen.  (3)  This causes the red drop (shaped like a small vertical line) in the middle of the channel-wheel at the navel to move upward.  As it moves to just below the knot of the right and left channels at the heart, the red-orange increase-of-appearance dawns.

Phase 7, 8, on next blog

 

Hard, yielding earth encompasses

Myriad colourful minerals

Compounds of complexity and beauty

Entrancing our ever-living eyes

 

Soft, airborne sky twinkles starlight

Cloud shapes dance

Drifting, mingling, blowing into

Mythical formations

 

Cosmic universes spiral into

Mathematical harmonies of

Colour and light, ever changing

Images through time and space ammonite

 

Dark, moist caves

Wanderings of Shamanistic Journeys

Glistening with mineral form in magical shapes

 Of the unexplored realm of now

 

We can only see what we know already

We are familiar with all that we see

 

Inner eyes explore the un-chartered territory

Of Universal Freedom

Travelling beyond the map we grow and expand

Beyond all comprehension

 

Inner travellers we are becoming

No outer world exists in reality

Our future hopes, dreams and fulfilment

Lie within our interior cosmic dimension

 

All is known in the one

Cavernous space of self

No limitation

Gazes in hope of comprehension

 

November 09
Tai

 

 

 

 

From the book Advice on Dying and Living a Better Life by His Holiness the Dalai Lama


Drops of Essential Fluids in the Body - pg 145

At the center of the channel-wheels are drops, white on the top and red on the bottom, upon which physical and mental health are based. 

At the top of the head, the white element predominates, whereas at the solar plexus the red element dominates.  These drops originate from the most basic drop at the heart, which is the size of a large mustard seed or small pea, and like the others, has a white top and red bottom.  Since it lasts until death, this drop at the heart is called the "indestructible drop". 

The very subtle life-bearing wind dwells inside this drop;  at death, all winds ultimately dissolve into it, at which point the clear light of death dawns...