email October 14 2006

Bhante Vimalaramsi wrote (in his book):
>> Note: Breathe without making any sound (even those hardly heard) is very
>> important. Noisy breathing is a sign of an unhealthy body. If you are a noisy
>> breather, you should try to find out why.
R wrote:
> The sleeping breath IS at least slightly noisy, because our soft palate
> relaxes in sleep. Snoring is merely a further 'resonance' of the airway all
> the way from the septum to the trachea. Tracheal resonance is practiced in
> Tibetan deep--pitched chanting, and personally I find resonating the trachea
> an important exercise. Why? Because the trachea is a solid tube that divides
> into the lungs right behind with the upper vena cava and aorta enter the
> heart. Blood being an excellent conveyor of vibration (like water), it takes
> only ten or so tracheal resonances via the purr/snore/snarl (with a smile)
> or an 'inhaled' OM for my fingers and toes to start tingling. I take this as
> a indication that I've dissolved all lateral tensions and there is excellent
> 'vibrational circulation' in my body.

> > For these reasons, I would ask why you consider noisy breathing a sign
> of an 'unhealthy body?' I can see where noisy breathing in a monastic or
> group meditation setting might be distracting for others, but in the privacy
> of one's own home?

> > My definition of nirvana is delta-wave deep sleep, but remaining conscious.
_
Bhante Vimalaramsi wrote:

> Dhamma Greetings Ramon,
>
> In my experience if one has noisy breathing they are not being very aware of
> what is happening in the present moment. The cause of this is one-pointed
> concentration which if you have followed this site for very long, you know
> that this kind of concentration does not lead one to the deeper understanding
> of what is happening in the present moment.
>
> Are you relaxing the bodily and mental formations on the in breath and the
> out breath? It doesn't sound like you are. This extra step of relaxing helps
> one to see, more clearly, if there is any sounds coming from breathing. I knew
> a monk who snorted with each sitting he did, the teacher at that time told him
> that he was getting into sloth and torpor rather than improving his
> meditation. The teacher told him that he was indulging in this and gave him
> suggestions on how to stop.

Dear Bhante Vimalaramsi:
Thank you for your detailed responses! I would like to ask again for your
thought about my particular suggestion that "nirvana is where we go every
night in delta-wave deep sleep but now, to truly achieve it, we must go
there while remaining conscious."
If this is true, then the relaxation of the soft palate, which triggers
the 'sounding breath,' must also be considered a part of total relaxation
and not 'falling into concentration.'
After practicing this for some years now, it only takes three or four
'sleep breaths' to drop my awareness into my heart, which also has been
remarkably 'softened' by this exercise to the point where it only takes 4 or
5 to trigger very pleasant sensations all the way to the fingers and toes.
These sensations I believe are caused by the fact that resonating the
trachea triggers a sympathetic resonance in both the aorta and upper vena
cava, both of which enter the heart just in front of where the trachea
branches into the two lungs. (see attached graphic).Blood, like water, seems
to be a good sound-conductor!.
Of course I understand that this practice is not mentioned in the suttas,
at least to my knowledge. The closest exercise I have observed is the very
deep-pitched chanting of the Tibetan Buddhists, which also will give the
same effect. Actually, any chanting or singing resonates the chest cavity in
a very pleasurable manner. As a composer who has worked over the years with
many singers, I have noticed that they tend to be quite heart-centered as
opposed to other musicians (head-centered, like most other folks).
My main teachers have been babies and domestic animals. Observing my
own children as infants triggered an, interest in the sleep-nursing mouth movement, basically sucking on the
soft palate/uvula that triggers peristalsis waves that give
the chest an internal massage. This and the noisy breath (purr-snore or, with a
smile, a 'snarl') all dissolve what the founder of Orgone Therapy, Wilhelm Reich,
termed 'armoring' - the lateral tensions in the body that block energy flows.

I'm not suggesting that any of this has anything to do with what the
Buddha taught, but just are observations I have made during my 70-plus years
on this planet. The above-mentioned exercises truly dissolve me daily in as
much bliss-joy-pleasure as I am able to tolerate!

With many thanks for your suggestions and viewpoint,

Ramon

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Sunletters October 11 2006

Ramon wrote:
>> I believe that the sun is the source of our spirits. Soul equals Sol.
>
W:
> Technically, the source of human incarnational spirits are the Higher
> Selves. Each incarnation is an energy stream which is projected from
> the Higher Self, also referred to as Oversoul.
>
> In the Monroe book that you said you acquired and have read ("Ultimate
> Journey") he refers to his Higher Self as "I-There".
R:
I believe the I-There Oversoul exists on various solar planes.

R wrote:
>> The Sun is God appearing in our neighborhood. I don't believe in an
>> 'invisible' deity.

W:
> The Sun is one of the many aspects of "God". Evidence of "God" is
> everywhere, and is not limited to the Sun.

"Everywhere" is only visible to our perception due to sunlight - well,
of course starlight too, in a much more distant sense.

W:
> Now might be a good time to review that Mellen-Thomas Benedict NDE
> material that you said you were fond of. A further understanding of
> "God" can be to some extent drawn from it:

R:
I'll look at it again, but I do think I can place his experiences within the solar
system.

W:
> A relevant quote:
> "So creation is God exploring God's Self through every way imaginable,
> in an ongoing, infinite exploration through every one of us. Through
> every piece of hair on your head, through every leaf on every tree,
> through every atom, God is exploring God's Self, the great "I am". I
> began to see that everything that is, is the Self, literally, your
> Self, my Self. Everything is the great Self. That is why God knows
> even when a leaf falls. That is possible because wherever you are is
> the center of the universe. Wherever any atom is, that is the center
> of the universe. There is God in that, and God in the void."
>
I can agree with most of this, but still place it within the solar system.
Even our cells communicate with biophotons. I wonder where they come from?
"Wherever you are is the center of the universe." - the anthropocentric
fallacy.
:
R wrote
>> I think as a species we tend to have overactive imaginations that are
>> always looking over 'the next hill'. Frankly, until we as a species
>> recognize the Sun at the very least as the Conscious and Divine
>> Maintainer (Vishnu) of our planetary existence, all else is just
>> imaginings beyond our experiential 'here and now'.

W:
> I don't think many people would argue with you about the fact that
> without the Sun's energy, there would be no possibility of biological
> life on this planet.
>
R:
That's important enough for me to acknowledge our star as God!

R wrote:
>> I think to understand our place in the scale of things it helps to
>> put away all our telescopes and toys, and just look at what our
>> unamplified senses tell us. It's not rocket science -- literally!
>> Reality I believe was constructed so as to be easily understood by
>> our 'naked' perceptions.

W:
> Those extraterrestrial visitors that frequent this solar system from
> other star systems and even other galaxies would not hold this same
> view. Evidently they are not limited to their respective solar
> systems. It is possible to go "beyond" this solar system with advanced
> enough material technology, and/or it is also possible to go beyond
> this solar system with advanced enough spiritual capabilities (which
> can be deemed 'inner technology'). Many have astral traveled and
> explored beyond this solar system. Also, Higher Selves/Oversouls enter
> this dimension, galaxy, and solar system from elsewhere and
> consciously decide to send incarnations into it. The Higher Self
> understands that it is not limited to time/space considerations and as
> part of that is not limited to a specific solar system, in the larger
> framework relevant to explorations for experiences and learning.
R:
Theoretically, I can agree with you. But factually, the input I receive says
'Nope.' Perhaps 'intradimensional' travel is a future possibility, but
'material technology' will never span the galactic voids, in my humble
opinion. At least not in a manner that will make physical space travel
possible to other star systems -- or at least not very 'comfortable.' As for
astral travel, once again I think it all occurs within the solar zones.

Higher Selves/Oversouls - just another name for Solar living on a higher
frequency.

We'll just have to agree to disagree, W. I'm satisfied with attempting to
attain Oneness with our parent star on this merry-go-round.

R

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Sunletters October 9 2006

I believe as the Upanishads state, that the spirits of
rishis and kings return to the sun. (Actually I believe we all merge
with the frequency level (plane) most 'harmonious' with ours when we
pass on, but all these planes are in the solar 'aura.'

I think we humans tend to inflate our importance in various ways...
(singing to the tune of "How Much Is That Doggie in The Window):

We're all just a flea on an elephant
And the elephant's a cell in a whale
And the whale's just a hair on Orion's Arm
And from all this hangs a tall tale...

W wrote:
> That which created the stars is That which also created all the
> spirits in existence. The Sun is not the source of spirits.
R:
Disagree. Our sun is spirit as well as matter - and to all purposes can be
viewed as God the Mother Sustainer of Allofus, the earth life form.

To 'go beyond the sun,' I believe one first has to achieve union with solar
consciousness. And even then I'm not sure how far 'above' solar
consciousness we can penetrate. We are very very very very very tiny beings!

W:
> Robert Monroe found that the etheric rings surrounding the Earth are
> where spirits move to when passing from 3rd density to 4th, upon
> physical death. Spirits who graduate from the Earth life system move
> beyond that and are no longer limited to this level, or this solar
> system, or even this universe or dimension.
R:
I admire Monroe's work a lot, but I think he never traveled beyond the
solar system. We humans tend to think when we expand our consciousness we
travel beyond the solar system, but I don't believe this is correct.

Show me one human who has achieved solar consciousness and then we can talk
about further travels. Although sometimes I ponder whether the universe
created we feisty humans as its own 'reset' button. That is, perhaps with
the new super-super-dooper-collider atom smasher, one day a scientist will
duplicate the first first micro-instant of the Big Bang and --- WHOOM! The
whole universe starts again.

But meanwhile, first things first, I think!

R