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The Eightfold Path
Siddartha Gautama, the Nirmanakaya, did not concoct the Eightfold Path -- he rediscovered it, and, according to Wikipedia, stated that many before him had used the path to obtain the Buddha Nature. It is commonly given in the form of:
Right Understanding
Right Motives
Right Speech
Right Behavior
Right Mindfulness
Right Effort
Right Livelihood
Right Contemplation
Shyam Ghosh, in the introduction to his book, The Original Yoga, gave this translation of the elements of the path as it was originally given by the Nirmanakaya:
Samyaka Dristi -- clear insight and equipoise
Samyaka Sankalpa -- complete non-atachment and non-hostility
Samyaka Vaka -- complete control of speech and strict practice of truth
Samyaka Karmanta -- complete rejection of evil thoughts, non-craving and non-acceptance
Samyaka Ajeeva -- right living and right means of livelihood
Samyaka Vyayama -- conation , or constant endeavor to maintain the path
Samyaka Smriti -- constant mental alertness and continence
Samyaka Samadhi -- complete samadhi
The Eightfold Path is one of the most powerful keys that humanity has been given. Earth is a low, slow planet, and error abounds here. This path will bring a person closer to actual reality, and will muchly liberate him from delusion. If you begin to demand right motivation and right mindfulness of yourself, using simple punitive discipline such as is commonly used with children, you will very soon find that most people can no longer keep up with you.
Is this a right motivation or a wrong motivation? If you know that a motivation is wrong, you must immediately abandon it and adopt what you believe to be the right motivation in that case. Otherwise, you should be committed to applying effective punishment.
Is this right mindfulness or wrong mindfulness? Any neurotic conceit, such as a paranoid notion, any acceptance of faulty-cause illogic, any regrettable descent into emotion -- all must be abandoned in the same way.
Craziness such as paranoia does not leave you -- you have to leave it. Even if the paranoia has a basis in reality, it is wrongfully mindful, besides being a small, mean, self-centered way of being.
The righter our mind becomes, the more effective it is, and the realer.
In time, the discipline becomes stricter, and offenses such as indulging naughty thoughts become punishable. As we perfect this, our divine favour increases.
Right Contemplation
It is telling that the Nirmanakaya gave right contemplation in the form of Samyaka Samadhi, which means complete samadhi. Samadhi is a state of advanced trance, in which the focus of the mind is so intense that it has a life of its own, and we are carried along in its wake, almost as a passenger.
Trance is a natural state of the mind. It is normal for a person to experience the first degree of trance state several times a day. Something unexpected happens -- a flamingo has suddenly lit on the lawn -- your attention is riveted -- looka that!
For a moment there you forgot yourself. You were pulled out of your customary self-consciousness and were perfectly concentrated. You were in the first degree of trance.
Traditionally, the condition is attained by a dhyana meditation that passes from concentration to meditation and then proceeds into the state known as contemplation, which is actually a more developed trance condition than the initial one, and much more prolonged.
Jack Schwarz, a Belgian who taught himself to manifest samadhi by biofeedback training, could stick a knitting needle through his bicep, in one side and out the other, and say, “Wanna see it bleed?” and it would bleed. “You wanna see it stop bleeding?” and it would stop bleeding. “You wanna see it heal?” and it would start to heal, and in three days you could not see a mark.
Jack has passed on now. We are informed that he would throw himself into samadhi when he wanted it to stop bleeding or heal, and out of it if he wanted to show it bleeding.
The mind-mirror is a biofeedback device invented by C. Maxwell Cade, who wrote The Awakened Mind. The device, as it has developed, is available for I think under $2000. My higher self won’t let me get one, because it prefers that I develop in a more independent way.
In higher degrees of samadhi, breathing can actually cease. The 1:4:2 rhythm of classic pranayama can be greatly expanded, and when this is done, levitation can occur. Ernest Wood writes that he actually witnessed this.
I saw an exhibition by a yogi who crammed himself into a small box. Before he did so, he rapped his forehead lightly with a knuckle. The commentator stated that he did this in order to put himself into samadhi.
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