SHAKTIPAT or ENERGY TRANSMISSION in BUDDHISM

So.

I had some interesting questions that People are gave me.

Uh.

So one was is there anything like shop teapot in Buddhism.

So.

How many People know what the word for what the word shut Depot' meats just curious?

Not as many as I would have thought.

Well, shotty is Sanskrit word meaning Energi.

And pot means to fall or confer.

So shock teapot is a sort of ZAP of enerji that you get from a teacher.

Often within a Hindu context, but I think it could be.

Generalized from that usually done in some sort of ritualized way.

Oh.

The most famous example would be students. Common the teacher touches them with Peacock Feather or something like this puts her hand on them looks at them does something to cause shop T to arise within that person.

So the question is, is there shock teapot in Buddhism found that actually.

Can be answered in a whole bunch of different ways?

First of all shop T is.

Related to Kundalini Shakti. So where does that fit in Buddhism.

Where does this energie, which is sometimes expressed in terms of heat, sometimes expressed in terms of a movement up the spine and so forth? Where does this notion fit in terms of Buddhist practice well.

The simple explanation is it's an aspect of what I call flow and when I call flow is just my way of talking about impermanence.

So.

There's two ways that People can relate to impermanence. One is well. It's what happens when you bring a lot of concentration clarity and equanimity to ordinary sensory experiences.

Then they present themselves in a wave paradigm as opposed to a particle paradigm so there is no special Energi.

Separate from any ordinary experience In other words, the so-called Materi Ality of the world, but carnality of the ones body. The something Ness of ones mind all of these just turned out to be? What happens when you don't have a complete experience of seeing hearing and feeling.

And when you have a complete experience which is just another way to say have a very clear concentrated and quantumness experience.

When you have a mindful experience In other words, beyond a certain critical value of mindfulness. Those ordinary experiences become extraordinary. They show you their wave nature as opposed to their particle something this nature, so there's no enerji separate from what is ordinary or metaphor that might be?

Taken from Einstein is he said that matter is just frozen enerji so ordinary sensory experience.

Internaut are seeing inner and outer hearing in outer body that's just.

Flow that's just enerji that has been coagulate. Eed Biwott Well, it's been coagulate eed by incomplete experiencing of it.

The other way to relate to the energycap thing is that there's this energie and then there is in contrast to that.

The material world.

And then the goal is to somehow get beyond the material world and to get to this energie, which is desirable that leads to a rather different paradigm, which is that well. There are ways of manipulating this energean, causing this energie to be transferred and enhancing it and so forth so certain traditions like Kundalini Yoga.

Qi Gong neck on in China and so forth, they sort of work from a perspective of well. There's this thing called shotty. There's this thing called Chi. It's this energie thing and we cultivate it with manipulate it. We work with it make it stronger and stronger and we can actually use it for doing stuff.

That's one paradigm and I think that's a legitimate paradigm. There's nothing wrong with that. Then there is the paradigm that I would use which is that there's sensory experience and E equals MC squared and so the.

By fully experiencing the Materi Ality of things, the non Materi Ality becomes evident.

Now there's nothing to say that a person couldn't work with in both of these paradigms someone when I was once at a conference of western teachers with the Dalai Lama and someone asked about mixing practices because a lot of Western.

Buddhist, a lot of Western Buddhist teachers.

Have more than one linneage that is influenced them.

So the question was put to His Holiness, the Dalai Lama and he said. Well, it's OK, but you just when you do one practice. You do that practice and you know in the afternoon. If you do some other practice, then you did that practice.

So as long as you can understand the complementarity of them and use each system as its own system then that's OK. So there's nothing to say that you couldn't do Kundalini Yoga or Qi Gong, which involves manipulating.

Big quote Enerji and also do V possible where you simply paying attention to what is an inflow becomes evident?

You have the option to pay attention to it. And yes, indeed the more you pay attention to it. The more prominent it becomes that does tend to create a feedback loop in that way.

So so shotty so now we know the shopping part what that means so is there transference of energy.

Well, from a teacher to a student in Buddhism.

And the fact is in Tibetan Buddhism. Yeah, big type and it's formalized as initiations and there are whole ceremonies built around it. And so forth. So yes, there certainly is that structure within certain parts of the Buddhist world.

But what I like more is the way shut teapot is done in the Zen tradition. At least in ring size at, I'm not that familiar with Soto Zen, so those ends a little different.

Album in photos and the the row, she sits with you.

And in Soto Zen, you you face the wall.

OK.

Uh.

About the Roshi faces out and sees everyone.

So that means everyone that's fidgeting or doing what at size open practice right now, I guess in some sense. Maybe this is a little bit of a Buddhist guilt trip It's like you know, maybe you're not going to Fidget so much 'cause you know you're like.

Impacting on the row, she's see out.

But you get.

Uncomfortable enough and lost in your own misery pretty soon. I don't think that guilt trip really helps very much so you know, People do move and Fidget at whatever, so the gift of the Soto Zen Roshis is that they just.

Taking all of that an metabolise it as part of their city, but it's done in the Zendo because that but the cool thing that you've actually got not just a roshi, but maybe a bunch of hope. She's sitting with you in Zenda.

In Rinzai Zen as far as I've ever experienced it that the Rose. She doesn't go to this and you go to the roshi, but you have one on one interactions.

In which you are given Co-op switch all heard about and I've talked about.

So that one on one interaction with the Roshi.

Is in fact shopping pot but it's never talked about that way?

You either catch on or you don't.

Um.

So, in the interaction while you're.

On the surface, seemingly working on this Co op.

At the depths that Master is grabbing your belly button.

And how did they do that?

Well.

Some of you may remember the?

The teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda.

So it's about this after apologist from UCLA that goes to Arizona and starts to work with his Yaqui Indian.

An loses all objectivity an gets sucked into.

That culture's way of experiencing things and this is true, it actually it actually happened. It's really interesting and cool story.

So at in the 1st book at one point this, the anthropologist Carlos.

Asks Don Juan, which is the fictitious name of the oci shaman that he worked with.

Uh.

Whenever I'm around you all this weird shadow.

What is it?

And he said, You're just seeing the power of my not doing.

Now, when I read that understood.

I don't think the anthropologist understood not at that time it was just another.

Mysterious weird thing that this guy said you're just seeing the power of my not doing.

Those ro she's they don't do anything to grab your belly button OK. In fact, it's the opposite.

There it's their emptiness that scrapping you.

Their pure doing this, the fact that they are flow whether they're laughing or whether they balling you out.

It's just wind.

Of nature.

And you pick up on their body language. You pick up on all of those things and that is indeed Chucky excepting see that's the sort of the difference between the post and then there's a lot of differences. I mean, obviously they come from different cultures. Historically, etc, etc, but practice wise.

Um.

A gross oversimplification gross oversimplification would be that in Vipasana, you observed sensory experience until you.

Realize.

It's

Impermanent nature and maybe that's as far as you go or maybe if you're lucky you go beyond that, to not only experience.

The senses as flow, but to actually ride on the flow, meaning that the bounciness avoid starts to speak through you and move your arms and so forth.

Uh.

So that's you might say that.

That's impermanence affecting the motor output In addition to the sensory input.

So, in the personal use you work with the sensory input and.

Some of the personal teachers, it effects their motor output and they have that bouncy liberated quality that you get in zed, but other vipasana teachers. It doesn't affect the motor output and then more.

Inert I guess would be the way to put it, whereas in Zen. This is like once again like don't get me wrong. This is a gross oversimplification, but in, then they first train you to train your motor circuits into how to flow within permanent since the Zen schedule and it's the whole enerji of the interaction that you have let the Roshi, who is like moving in certain ways. And then you find yourself moving in those ways so you sort of training your output?

To flow with expansion and contraction and then hopefully at some point.

It will go beyond your motor circuits and start to infect your perceptions of self and world so that your senses began to flow with expansion contraction and you get liberation so there. It's almost like they do the same task, but in.

Opposite order twist.

To a certain extent, so when you?

So that that for me is a kind of shock to pot because they roshi is conveying the activity of emptiness that put the nature of the activity of impermanence to you and it. It's not talked about. But if you know how to pick up on it.

Then.

You carry that with you back in the Zendo.

So the difference with this kind of shot Depot' versus the Hindu formalized ceremonies or the Tibetans, formalized ceremonies. The difference is first of all. It's not talked about. That way you either pick up on it or you don't.

And there's no formalized ceremony ostensibly it's just you interacting with this weird person.

And and doing these weird things.

But if you so that I like that because there's not all this, I don't know.

Specialness about it or

What happened?

But.

What I really like about it and once again what?

Represents a very significant difference from say the normal shotty pop thing that you get from some Baba OK. Well, not not distant that I'm just trying to describe the situation the.

Normally, what's going to happen, you get your shop keep up from the Bob and then what happens after that, where you all eat. Prasad you sit around you. You chat buttons and everybody feels great, and you all talk about how great the Guru is.

You leave and when you need your next fix you come for your next fix.

Um, however, in the Zen form shop teapot you go in you have this incredible experience with the Roshi and then Watt then you go back to the zendo an if it's in the winter it's not heated and it is freaking cold if it's in the summer. There's no fan and there's mosquitoes and it's hot and you just want to sleep. But then beat you and yellow, too, and potentially going back to the summer I torture chamber.

And.

There you get to test to what extent you have truly metabolise the shopping.

Can you now apply it to the summer I torture chamber?

So the goal here is to create equals not the cycles.

Every guru worth is Marla should want equals not a cycles.

For real not lip service for real. In fact, as I implied yesterday every guru worth is Marla or her marla should want students that are better than them.

End of story.

So that form of shot D Pop. You gotta use it. You gotta use it for something real, aching legs. Sleepyhead OK emotions running up the Yin Yang because you're being abused, all day and it's pushing every button that can be pushed OK now how real is that shopping can you experience that as flow?

And that's how that Roshi got to be the way they are, and so it goes. So yes, there's that kind of shot D Pop.

In Buddhism, and then there's

The daily shot depart that we all have now totally because we're always sharing energy with each other.

Everyone.

To the extent that a person has a practice to that extent, the People around them pick up on that.

Uh.

And so you're all giving shop teapot.

Two other People, whether you're aware of it or not, it may not be as powerful because number one People don't necessarily have the expectation and the expectation is of course, a big part of it.

And #2 well, you are shocked you might not be quite as intense as something that's meditated 80 years in a monastic training. But she got something OK and you're also getting shot depart from other People.

And in fact, this is going to sound a little weird, but you get it from animals.

Who very much are in the flow and you get it from your children until they develop?

I talking itself.

In the 1st few years of life. What does infant infonews infant in English in fonts from the Latin Infans, which is the present participle of farming which means to speak.

Samru does Confabulate and so forth so the infant is the one that doesn't speak yet.

Has not acquired external language has not presumably acquired internal language. But there's a certain magic period, there where the intended to Neo Nate and so forth or I don't know how far the magic extends on average, but probably.

You know the first year at least we're basically.

Your infant your child is a roshi.

They are just space.

Expanding and contracting and if that's then parenting every time you take care of a baby.

I think nature intends that to be a sunset.

A shock teapot for the parent to recharge their batteries, which are straight to the Max by parenting Endeavour.

So that's you know there's that.

Yeah, it's interesting about the no self than not doing.

This this is a really weird story, OK, but they tell me that I'm supposed to tell stories so.

That's supposed to make a good Dharma talk so this is a true story so.

Many years ago.

I was driving through Santa Monica.

With a student of mine who has since passed away. I don't know if any of you remember it all mightiness, but anyway, this is way back there.

Oh, so we were driving in Santa Monica.

Now.

We had this weird psychic experience.

It was like a truly psychic experience.

So we're driving down the street and we we both started to look at this homeless person.

Who was

They were just on the street corner and they?

It was evident that there was some mental illness there.

But they were just sort of like.

You know just sort of like moving OK.

And we looked at this guy and we looked at each other and we knew we that we had had exactly the same thought.

And it was true.

And the thought was.

If you clean this guy up.

Put white robes put him in front of a group of People and don't let us say anything People would have shut the pot.

Yeah.

I mean that's a fairly complicated.

Because there was just no self there, OK, he was just part of nature.

Now apropos of stories.

Years later.

Um.

I was I was at another student's house.

And uh.

Uh.

So I see this.

Uh.

I see this book.

And it's one of these like photo books. You know that People would put on like a coffee table or whatever this was on her piano.

Uh.

And.

I'm hesitant now 'cause I'm trying to remember the exact title of the book. Unfortunately, she had.

I don't plan these talks very much so.

OK, anyway. It's a picture book it's just pictures. It's like this huge book of photographs.

And I start to look through these photographs.

And what's interesting is that there's nothing by the?

Photographer the person the author of the book. There's nothing at all but what there is, is intro, preamble by Toni Morrison.

Now that's a fairly important person in.

The world of art and literature and so forth so that tells you well this is.

The is somehow a significant book but there's nothing by the person who actually took the photos that says anything about anything at all. In other words, the photos have to speak for themselves. This big book and I'm floating through this book.

An I'm like freaking out.

Because it's very evident to me, but these are all portraits by the way.

It's very evident to me.

What this book is about?

And.

That I had never seen a book like this ever.

Um.

And.

So this is I think some of you know, Mark L. This is at Markel's house, so anyway. Go to Mark Ellen. I say like this book is amazing.

And she said, Well, you know, Birdman, the guy that wrote it, or that photograph not because we lost our power.

The photographer is distant relative of mine.

So.

I think well can you get his telephone number, said sure I got his telephone number?

So we called him up.

And he was there an I said, I told him what I thought his book was about.

And he freaked out he said that I was the only person.

Who ever understood what the book was about?

Of all the People that you want to check this out.

Of all the People that had seen it and exhibitions and whatever, so now. I'm sure you're quite curious as to what it's about now I don't want to get the title wrong, let's.

Let me just see if I can find it.

You're surfing the web. Let's just try here. I was going to do something else with the Internet than this.

I'm very klutzy and slow.

I don't think that's going to work.

You got it working OK.

OK let's see if we find it.

OK, I found it that's just amazing here it is.

Connect give them time to get this fixed.

Untangle and be free.

Divide and conquer so I give them a more politically correct way to say it.

OK.

So it is by Robert Bergman.

Blue.

And the name of the book is a kind of Rapture.

So what it is, is he went through.

The Rust Belt of the United States.

The old decaying cities.

Photographing St People.

Who for whatever reason?

Usually a combination of a hard life and physical and mental illness.

Had been thrust into a no self state.

In other words, People for whom the blows of life had driven them.

And yourself a rapturous no self experience, he went around the country looking for those kinds of People.

Catching them at the moment where they manifested than an ego that their hard life had taken them, too.

And.

You get picture after picture after picture so that the message you know you see one or 2 pictures like that.

It doesn't have the same impact, but if you see 50 pictures like that.

Then it hits you.

What the whole thing is about?

So the reason I thought there was so extraordinary is that?

Although there's a lot of books.

About.

Enlightenment or no self coming about through practice.

And there are a number of books of People written by People that have had spontaneous enlightenment experiences.

Um.

What no ones looked at is this whole thing this whole other aspect?

And so it's

In terms of its subject matter is very unusual.

And then in terms of the so the message is very unusual and the medium is unusual instead of writing a book talking about this phenomenon. He shows it to you and you either get it or you don't.

So anyway.

That's a whole other little riff, but apropos of.

Where you might go for your shopping pot?