Astral Projection

[marquess]

Has anyone out there managed to astral project on a regular basis? For about 8 years I have been trying it with mixed results. Using various methods, but none of them working a regular basis. Any advice, experience or suggestions???

[andyinkat]

Hi Marquess,

Interesting question. Not sure why you're asking on the Buddhism board - I'm guessing you want an answer from a Buddhist perspective, but I can guarantee you it won't be the one you're hoping for!

The short answer is find a teacher.

This would probably mean seeking out a Tibetan siddhi.

Reckon on about a decade seeking to find such a teacher.

Next you'd need to convice him you're intentions are serious and that your mind is sufficiently prepared. Reckon on about 20 years of intensive spiritual practices.

Then you might be ready and he might give you instruction. Bank on about another 20 years in a Tibetan snow cave before you achieve a breakthough.

If you think I'm joking go read some biographies of highly realised masters.

The Buddha taught his disciples that if in the course of advanced meditation practice they were to tap into such pyschic abilities they should ignore them as they are likely to distract one from the path to enlightenment.

Or you could just do drugs.

[Darknight]

some sound advice andy

But i would like to say that he probably won't be returning to his body when he does that on a trip

Ah well, just another druggie dead then, but of course it could be a ###### of an experiance

[dr_Pat_Pong]

That last 20 years in the Tibetan snow cave is the stopper for me. A carton of red wine instead of drugs and I'll be right.

[marquess]

Undoubtably it is difficult to undertake, but I had no been aware of anyone who has spent 20 years in a cave. I need some serious responses here, preferably from those who have undertaken it or are attempting to.

[sabaijai]

Undoubtably it is difficult to undertake, but I had no been aware of anyone who has spent 20 years in a cave. I need some serious responses here, preferably from those who have undertaken it or are attempting to.

Why do you want to astral project, if i may ask?

[marquess]

I wish to explore creation, to see what is beyond here, to what was also.

[sabaijai]

I wish to explore creation, to see what is beyond here, to what was also.

To even acquire an astral body -- considered in Buddhism to be a man-made/artificial/acquired and of course temporary entity -- requires many years of passage through intense jnana (asborption states) stages. The astral body appears as a side effect or, if you will, side benefit, to the jnanas.

According to Thanisarro Bhikkhu:

Of particular interest here is the Buddha's treatment of the three "acquisitions of a self." The first -- the gross self -- refers to the ordinary, everyday sense of identifying with one's body. The latter two -- the mind-made acquisition and the formless acquisition -- refer to the sense of self that can be developed in meditation. The mind-made acquisition can result from an experience of the mind-made body -- the "astral body" -- that constitutes one of the powers that can be developed through concentration practice. The formless acquisition can result from any of the formless states of concentration -- such as an experience of infinite space, infinite consciousness, or nothingness. Although meditators, on experiencing these states, might assume that they have encountered their "true self," the Buddha is careful to note that these are acquisitions, and that they are no more one's true self than the body is. They are one's acquisition of a self only for the time that one identifies with them.

The Buddha goes on to say that he teaches the Dhamma for the sake of abandoning every acquisition of a self "such that, when you practice it, defiling mental qualities will be abandoned, bright mental qualities will grow, and you will enter & remain in the culmination & abundance of discernment, having known & realized it for yourself in the here & now."

potthapada

[britmaveric]

Love to do that myself- when away from LOS, astral project back!

[eyespan]

He he... beam me up Scottie.

But seriously, I heard that in China there are monks who seat in meditation for years without food or drink. Wonder very much if they are just sleeping like Rip Van Winkle or is their soul really someplace else.

[andyinkat]

Ref. my comment about meditating for years in a cave. I said I was serious but the OP wouldn't believe me.

"Beam me up Scotty" seems to be what he's looking for!

But seriously, I won't comment on what is really happening in the minds/bodies of these practitioners - the OP is asking about extremely advanced mental techniques which are transmitted from teacher to student when the teacher judges that he/she is ready. By definition the practices are esoteric - secret. If anuone does practise such a method or knows someone who does they are not going to blab about it on an all-comers website.

[eyespan]

These stuff are so little known by the man on the streets that I don't believe it is either effective or wise to experiment on your own.

I think that is why tibetian buddhism stresses heavily on empowerment. Without the help of a highly realised master, you can be wasting your time forever.... just too many paths to choose from.

[andyinkat]

Eyespsn,

I'm sure if the OP goes ahead and has a go he will merely waste his time, no harm done.

But the reasons for the empowerments and all that paraphenalia in Tibetan Buddhism is that without proper supervision such powerful psychic/mental techniques are extremely dangerous.

In my time in the monastery I was given special permission to take empowerment and practise with a wrathful deity that is normally out of bounds to anyone without years of preparation. I can't tell you anything about it but I can say that in six months all theshit in the deepest recesses of my subconscious was rooted out and burnt. But it was very scary and i can quite see how another person could have gone completely crazy.

[eyespan]

You are right Andy. I am familiar with what you are talking about. Although I've never been to the Himalayans, I spent years learning and involving myself. That's why I also said that it would not be wise for the OP.

Marquess, be patient and search for a good teacher. But anyway, why should AP be so important to you? It is just one of the attainable gifts.

[Paleface]

Can anyone teach me to pull a rabbit out of my hat?

[sabaijai]

Nothing in the Theravada Tipitaka mentions empowerments or teacher-student transmission of astral body movement, rather it's a simple -and temporary - by-product of the jnanas and every bit as illusory as believing that the body is the self, the skin is the self, the hair is the self, etc. I'd go so far as to say that astral travel has no known benefits within the Buddhist sphere.

The idea of magico-religious traditions being transmitted from teacher to student appears to have entered Buddhism rather late in the history of the religion, when Tantric Buddhism arose in Bengal. The pre-Buddhist Bon religion in Tibet may also have harboured this notion.

In modern times, in the West at least, the popularity of the idea of astral travel grew largely from the charlatan novels about Tibetan Buddhism written by a Brit author who used the name "T. Lobsang Rampa". More myth surrounding Vajrayana Buddhism was generated by this writer than probably any other writer in our time, although Mme Blavatsky comes close.

In '74 the Tibet Society devoted an entire issue of its journal to an essay called "Fictitious Tibet: The Origin and Persistence of Rampa-ism".

The essay is available online here.

hocus pocus

[marquess]

Marquess, be patient and search for a good teacher. But anyway, why should AP be so important to you? It is just one of the attainable gifts.

From the little bit of projection that I have done, I have found it to be very rewarding, there is an inner peace and satisfaction. That is diffcult to express in words. I will seek out a teacher in time, but in the meantime, will continue with those excercises that have proven worthwhile.