Meditation the Power...Another Buddha...

Meditation has great power. The suspension of though as in Buddhist mediattions or the one-tracking of the mind after learning to silence all the disturbing thoughts-this takes years to achieve if you are a novice- is possible and unleashing a lot of energy from within. One must experience it to feel this flow of energy. It is difficult to get at, if you just rationalize on this or look up to the way of Rational Arguments, to understand the flow of this energy. IMU the rational sciences do not as yet have a way of integrating what is called as Direct Perception(DP)[Unmediated by the Mind/Brain or The Senses. Sometimes this is called as Intuition]. The primary problem of using DP as a reliable, repeatable process in epistemology has to do with having a statable method of transfering/teaching this DP to another person. Till such a time this happens we are forced to leave it in the realm of inexplicable and call it names like dogma, why even put it down to pig-headedness. Years ago, I wrote an article in our Officers' Club House Magazine entitled: Science and Non-Science: Is there a confluence? From many of my colleagues, I got a response like: What sort of a crazy writing is this to write something that is deliberately opaque? But I heard from just 3 or 4 of my colleagues who had a good grounding in Abstract Reading, very encouraging and appreciative remarks like: You Rascal, you have made your point courageously! I was just 27 then. As regards fasting or generalizing it more, all sorts of mortification of the body, is frowned upon in Buddhism and even in Sanatana Dharma- the argument in SD is that there is no need for this with a Benevolent God. But Jainism, lays great stress on this. Personally I am not against this much in contrast to the faith of my birth- SD. The great Rishis we are told (of course it is perfectly normal to brush this aside as mythology) had some who practised great austerities. To confess I do believe in [B]tapas[/B] which has to do with putting the senses through, some very harrowing experiences, though its efficacy has been questioned by Shankaracharya - the Guru I adore. That is why I have become an eclectic and I pick and choose from practically all the religions of the world. In fact befroe the First Sermon Jesus had gone into a 40-day fast. So, did Mohammad(PBUH). The Buddha inadvertently had done it before He was Enlightened. Perhaps The Buddha was the only Teacher who rejected mortification after having gone through it. None of the Tithankaras[Great Teachers of the Jainism] have condemned self-mortification. Hence I do believe there is tremendous power in restraining the Senses. One must not attempt it if one is not cut out for it though. nzal, I did not take a look at the youtube video you have posted a link to, for I do not need such "evidences". But I have read in the media. I only wish to have a face to face "darshan". I am certain that much can transpire in Silence if the person is Enlighetened[In a state of Nirvana]

Well, yes, meditation is power and it was the power that let Lord Buddha go on without food and water for long time and is also the reason that this boy, u talk about, is surviving (so i believe) . But i doubt that he will gain any knowledge like this. Lord Buddha, too, didn't get any knowledge by doing such hard type of meditation. After all those month he finally broke his meditation to find him back to square one. After that he started eating and drinking and meditating, not twenty four seven, but in routine. Like this his brain was nourished and after another long time, i don't know exactly how long, he got enlightenment. So if this boy is not eating and drinking, then i doubt he'll get enlightenment.

Hi nzalheart, Thank you for bring this to our attention. I watch all five of the Discovery videos as well as some others before deciding to respond. I Am very impressed by what I've seen and intend to follow all I can get on this. I watched the video of the Buddhist monk who burst into flames and burned during the Vietnam war demonstrations and hundreds witnessed it. If nothing else this is a remarkable boy, but I think there is a lot more to it than that. There is so much the rest of the world could learn from the Buddhists. Blessings.