Achieving Nirvana

ü     Floating in a pool

ü     Sitting in hot oil

ü     Sitting in a room screaming

ü     Walking for weeks without lying down, not even to sleep

ü     Staying awake for three days

ü     Sitting in a box with pythons

ü     Sitting in a coffin

ü     Sitting next to a rotting corpse

ü     Total silence for ten days

These are some meditative paths to Nirvana as practiced by Buddhist monks, nuns, and laypeople in Thailand. [Details from an article by Bryant Rousseau: "Corpses, Pythons, Sleep Deprivation: Meditation Rituals in Thailand Can Be Intense," New York Times, Aug 30, 2016.

---o0o---

mantra: Sabbe Satta Sukhi Hontu

-----o0o---

The dangers of startling the hypnotized or meditating

By Mona Goldwater, Religions Ed.

Jack texted me tonight from Yosemite:  Can't get to the blog due to spasmodic wifi connection.  But post this: /xoxo jack

You know, I have a lot of friends & family who are devout meditators.  When I was a kid I remember people telling stories about the dire consequences if you startle or arouse people in a hypnotic state.  A great pop culture reference to this is the movie Office Space, when Peter Gibbons is hypnotized.  His therapist dies of a heart attack before releasing him from the hypnotic state and his personality is transformed, with hilarious consequences.

I am at this family shindig in Yosemite and I realize you have to tread lightly if you walk into a room or somewhere outside and someone appears to be deep into meditation.  I mean, if you break their meditation, they could end up like being stuck in neutral forever, right? /Jack in central California

---o0o---