harvesting the apples of the apples and oranges

a little help from a jedi reader

Received an email from a reader with a question about tones or sounds, in particular about a meditation aid called holosync. I have looked at it and listened and think it could be of use. There are tones that are perfect for meditation, just the right frequency or wave. There are other noises that I am not sure about, but there seems to be plenty of testimonials on their web site, and I doubt that it will hinder, and quite possibly will be an advanced aid. Advanced as in Giddy-up HI HO Silver and away. For those of you youngsters out there this is what the Lone Ranger (old TV series) said to his horse when he wanted to travel fast. Which reminds me of the Lone Ranger and Tonto, his Indian sidekick, joke. The Lone Ranger said to Tonto “Tonto, it looks like we are done for, surrounded by Indians and out of ammo.” Wherein Tonto replied “What do you mean WE?”

I wrote a book about Symbolism in Tibetan Buddhist Art. Lots of nice images, full color stuff, but not a best seller. It is somewhat expensive as full color images are expensive to print and the paper used is also more expensive. The book also went against some of the “common” knowledge that has been printed about Tibetan symbolism. This knowledge comes from foundation backed writers in the west, using western sources, although some Tibetan expats. My sources were the Tibetan monk and lama artists that painted the symbols. I also used some past life knowledge for the more obscure symbols, in particular the tortoise. I also communicated with Tibetan scholars in Tibet teaching at universities there. One particular reliable source was the administrator of a Tibetan artifact museum. So a whole different set of references.

Here I will include part of that book, it concerns the cymbals and tones or waves as I like to refer to them. Plus I get to insert two images which always makes things more interesting and colorful.

Cymbals

Cymbals, or tingsha in Tibetan, are shown in the figure below flanking a mirror. The sound created by the tingsha is a plea to the gods to remain. This is the beginning of true teaching or meditation, asking god to be manifest in your life. The tingsha is used at the beginning of meditation to focus awareness, and clearing the mind in preparation for concentration. The flat cymbals are a sense offering to peaceful deities and are joined with a silk cloth or ribbon as shown in the next figure, where the cymbals are sitting on a champaka throne.

The Tibetan tingsha are unique in form and function from other cymbals used by other nationalities. Both cymbals are intended to be uniformly matched to produce the same tone. Historically they were produced from special bronze alloys. While today they are commonly used in musical recording, their true purpose is for rituals, such as setting the stage for meditation.

These musical instruments remind and help us to focus on the present. Digressing a bit into some personal experiences: my late mother suffered from dementia or Alzheimer's before her death. She seemed to be stuck somewhere in the past. When I would visit her in the memory care unit she would not know who I was, mistaking me for a person from her childhood. When I took her over to the piano and we played together she would then come into the present and we could engage in meaningful conversation. I asked her about where her mind goes when we were not playing the piano. She replied that her brain starts to spin in time and stops somewhere in the past and she has no control over it. I reasoned that the tonality of the piano had a profound effect upon her mental state and that this played into the use of cymbals in Tibetan Buddhism to initiate or set the correct environment for meditative chanting that focuses our consciousness to the present.

Cymbals are also used in tantric rituals such as offerings to hungry ghosts. Hungry ghosts are the souls of deceased persons whose egotism, greed, miserliness and attachment in the life just ended now prevents their moving on. They have huge stomachs and pin-hole throats. They become hungry ghosts in the on their third day in Bardo if they cannot see the light, and wander about with an unsatisfied ravenous desire. Bardo literally means “in between”. Bardo is the soul’s state after death where one has awareness freed from the body; it is a realm of the mind or consciousness; only existing in the consciousness of the individual.

I will say that for myself, I used no tones in my meditation to find the Apple connection. Just me and the quiet of the wilderness, mostly late at night. I did not know what I was looking for, but looking just the same and found it. I have been fortunate that most everywhere that I have lived, the wilderness was a short or not too far walk away. It is why I did not mention it in the previous email, just going by my experiences and take them for what they are. So a thank you to emma for her heads up help.

Now some political musings. The terms King, Queen, Emperor are quite negative in most people’s minds. Yet we have brand new Kings, Queens and Emperors now, but they all prefer the title President. Career politicians are the new dukes, earls, and other designated royalty. In the USA and a few other countries the Kingship rotates, but in many other countries, these presidents go for the lifetime achievement awards/titles. Think about Putin in Russia and Xi in China, lots of others in the 3rd world and elsewhere. Power is so corruptive and lucrative financially. There is a person, Denny Heck, that I knew in high school that wanted to be president of the USA and went directly into politics, never had a real job that I am aware of, always something elected or possibly appointed. He is now a multi-millionaire, the 100th richest member of Congress last time I looked. How does this happen that he becomes so rich as a public servant?

When I was in high school I used to joke with my friend that I wanted to go to a 3rd world country and takeover so I could exploit the people and resources and become rich, little did I realize that I could have done this in the USA without all of the inherent dangers of those 3rd world countries. Just needed to get into politics. This does beg the question, what is the difference between a politician and a pirate? Looking for answers.