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Old 11-21-2011, 09:16 AM   #22
Eric in Denver
Dojo: Ronin
Location: CO
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 103
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Re: Ueshiba's Golden Lights

Quote:
Demetrio Cereijo wrote: View Post
So the golden light thing is a signal of enlightnement?
Demetrio, thank you for your thoughtful posts. I have a lot of questions along these same lines.

I am not sure about this. According to the quote attributed to Ueshiba, it seems that this is so. But I am not sure if this is what he actually said, or if it is just his son's recollection. It would be great if someone with more information about this could help out (anybody? anybody? )

From my readings of Buddhist literature, seeing golden lights would seem to be more of a step along the way, and perhaps a distraction that one could get bogged down in. This would be in keeping with the Chinese text I first references in which the golden lights are explained as a secondary result of moving Qi to the brain, not necessarily a mystical experience, although I guess it would be spiritual if one believes Qi is spiritual. Although, the same book distinguishes between Qi as energy and Shen as spirit, so calling Qi spiritual might not really be appropriate.

I wonder how safe or helpful it would be to distinguish "spiritual" (as in Shen and/or Qi) from "mystical" (as in practices geared for reaching enlightenment.)?
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