Actual Freedom – Mailing List ‘D’ Correspondence

December 30 2012

RESPONDENT No 32: Indeed, the whole spiritual enlightenment thing in India is one of the biggest, corrupt money-making markets out there and every now and then you get to hear some sex-scandal or some other money-making scam exposed by these so called ‘babas’ and ‘gurus’..I’m surely not impressed by any of that.

RICHARD to No. 32: Then why on earth are you aspiring to become one of them – as in being awakened/ enlightened – such as to actively participate on another forum where that very goal is (purportedly) the outcome of their practices?

RESPONDENT No. 32: My intent is simply to end suffering , whatever it takes me to..

RICHARD to No. 32: With your [quote] ‘end suffering’ [endquote] words you are obviously referring to dukkha-nirodha ... as expressed in, for instance, the Anurādha Sutta. Vis.:

‘(...) pubbe cāhaṃ anurādha, etarahi ca dukkhañce va paññāpemi dukkhassa ca nirodhanti’ [endquote]. (SN 22.86; PTS: S iii 116 & SN 44.2; PTS: S iv 381).

And here are four regular online translations (with the word dukkha re-inserted where they used an English word):

• [Mr. Geoffory DeGraff]: ‘(...). Both formerly & now, it is only dukkha that I describe, and the cessation of dukkha’.

• [Mr. Jeffrey Block]: ‘(...). Formerly, Anurādha, and also now, I make known just dukkha and the cessation of dukkha’.

• [Mr. Maurice Walshe]: ‘(...). As before, so now I proclaim just dukkha and the ceasing of dukkha’.

• [Bhikkhunī Upalawanna]: ‘(...). Even earlier and now too I point out dukkha and the cessation of dukkha’.

First, I will paraphrase that fourth rendition: Even earlier (in 1997 when I first went online) and now too in 2012 I do *not* point out dukkha and the cessation of dukkha.

In fact (to paraphrase all four of them) nowhere at all, on The Actual Freedom Trust website, do I point out and/or proclaim and/or make known and/or describe dukkha and the cessation of dukkha.

Never have done and never will do.

And in order to explain why not, I will provide an example of your further above sentence with the word dukkha similarly inserted where you used an English word:

• [example only]: ‘My intent is simply to end dukkha, whatever it takes me to..’ [end example].

Now, quite evidently, when your intent to simply end dukkha succeeds it will take you to nibbāna (because that is the whole point of ending dukkha), right?

Put simply: the end of dukkha = nibbāna.

Yet, it has already been demonstrated that nibbāna is *not* the actual world (the world of the senses, the sensate world, the sensorial world where flesh-and-blood bodies already reside, as is experienced in PCE’s).

Ergo, the end of dukkha does not = the actual world.

Put differently, the end of dukkha does not = an actual freedom from the human condition.

And because I already knew that, when I first went online in 1997, there was no way I was going to point out and/or proclaim and/or make known and/or describe dukkha and the cessation of dukkha.

No way at all.

What I went online in 1997 for was to inform my fellow human beings about what lies beyond nibbāna ... namely: this actual world (the world of the senses, the sensate world, the sensorial world where flesh-and-blood bodies already reside, as is experienced in PCE’s).

(Incidentally, the English word suffering does not have sufficient explanatory power to be useful for translating the Pāli dukkha). [...]. Richard to No. 32, 21 December 2012

RESPONDENT: The DhO seems to be in a sordid state of affairs. Their situations can be readily summarized in three points:

1) They have divorced the Dhamma-Vinaya from morality.

2) They have divorced the Dhamma-Vinaya from its benefits.

3) They have divorced the Dhamma-Vinaya from the actual words of the Buddha.

As such their Dhamma-Vinaya can readily be described as the not-Dhamma-Vinaya of the Buddha. What follows is an ordinary account of a DhO experience:

‘Today I was labeling phenomena intensely (a practice not found in the Pali Canon), then I felt a rush of energy come up my spine (probably contrived), it exploded in my head and I blacked out.’

That account is made up but it reads like most DhO accounts. The point is, when it is readily read, there is no Dhamma, Sila, Vinaya or any such related topic you can extrapolate from it. It is nothing but literal mental illness. And completely unrelated from the Dhamma of the Buddha. Furthermore, they hallucinate, experience extreme suffering and have all sorts of bizarre experiences. Yet they still seem convinced... of... IDK, that they are doing something revolutionary, (an old and outdated viewpoint that was done away with when it rapidly became obvious that everyone at the DhO was basically deluded). They have also divorced the goal from its benefits, making the goal, useless. They have also, used the teachings of the Buddha to enforce their viewpoints, whilst ignoring the fact that much of the practice is not found in the Pali Canon but contradicted by it.

Vipassana is not found in the canon, the maps are not found in the canon, fruition is not found in the canon, none of it is found in the canon. The canon rarely talks about meditation, but more often talks about right attention, right view and faith. They also ironically banned me, the only authentic Buddhist among them, Vis:

I possessed the four factors of stream-entry, the five indriya, the noble eightfold path, was scrupulous in morals, strong in faith, went for refuge several times.

I could discern the four noble truths, the anatta of the six sense bases and five aggregates.

And just recently realized the nature of dukkha.

RICHARD: G’day No. 34, I have positioned the (further above) section of my No. 12054 post, which focuses on the topic of dukkha, before your No. 120xx post, which finishes on the nature of dukkha, so as to provide context for that terse ‘just recently realized the nature of dukkha’ report of yours which you posted a little over four hours later.

For the sake of convenience, here again is what I wrote at the end of that (further above) section:

• [Richard]: ‘Incidentally, the English word suffering does not have sufficient explanatory power to be useful for translating the Pali dukkha’. [endquote].

If you could expand upon that ‘just recently realized the nature of dukkha’ report of yours it will be most appreciated.

Regards, Richard.

November 1 2013

Re: How to avoid vibe violence.

RESPONDENT: Back when I was in the whole spiritual game, I was immensely aware of the push and pull of affective vibes. Being thus affectively pressured is quite painful, people with degrees of awakening have particularly strong vibes, so the violence experienced from people with inflamed emotional identities is POWERFUL.

It actually really hurts, as I can recall from the whole trolling shebang that occurred on the DhO (if you don’t know who I am, then you don’t read enough of the DhO, true story). But when I dropped out of the game, the pain in my chest that plagued me for ‘all eternity’ (hyperbole here) disappeared forever. So the switch from one playing field to another, actually is what lead me to become free from the psychic pressure that followed me all the time before.

Of course now I encounter another problem, I’m still an extant entity, and I still experience vibe violence. So, because you guys seem especially good at this stuff, I ask you for some tips to avoid affective-vibe-exchange with other entities.

RICHARD: G’day No. 34, Just for starters, I would suggest accessing the following post of mine from June this year: (Message 14538).

In the first paragraph of my reply I provide a link to a post by Claudiu (plus a short quote from it) which is well-worth a re-read in regards to what he called ‘feeling- tones’ or ‘affect’ vis-a-vis the written word (Message 13996).

In the second paragraph of my reply I provide a link to another post by Claudiu (plus a short quote from it too) regarding what he at-the-time referred to as ‘an amorphous blob of whatever (for lack of a better word)’ (Message 13787) and my third paragraph provides a brief explanation for it which should throw considerable light upon why ‘the whole trolling shebang that occurred on the DhO’ was ‘quite painful’ for you (to the point you recall that it not only ‘actually really hurts’ but how it ‘sometimes cripples people’).

In short: that which is crippling lies behind/ under the vibes.

RESPONDENT: As this shit, is so powerful that... well it sometimes cripples people, and prevents them from functioning.

RICHARD: Indeed so ... it is not for nothing I have oft-times pointed out that the psychic network connecting all feeling-beings is where the real power-play takes place.

For instance:

• [Respondent]: (...) I was reflecting on the state of malice that exists around me. The malice seems unintentional.

• [Richard]: Both malice and sorrow are, at root, involuntary aspects of ‘me’ ... behind all active vibes (to use a colloquialism) lie the psychic currents, or energies, which is where the real power-play takes place. (Actual Freedom Mailing List, No. 102, 22 September 2005a).

The word ‘involuntary’ is the key to comprehending what takes place behind/ under/ beyond the (affective) vibes ... for example: can you recall what you experienced viscerally, upon reading #157xx, such as to prompt you to write #157xx/xx/xx (and maybe even #157xx because of #157xx)?

If not, it may be worthwhile making a point of watching out for it, in any future exchanges where the potential exists for a repeat of similar ilk, as it is empowering just to get a handle on what is going on affectively/ psychically.

In years gone by it has been helpful, for example, for those peoples I have spoken to extensively who suffered from paranoia to know/be aware that it is not *just* a figment of their imagination, that others are ‘out to get them’, given their experience of same is so real for them ... albeit with imaginary layers added to it (mostly out of ignorance of that extrasensory network).

Regards, Richard.

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