Ever since I heard about Hypnodog from Kevin & Bean, on MTV's former casting office, KROQ radio (Los Angeles), I couldn't believe it. He'd gone missing. They were reviewing British news reports: "If you see him, don't look him in the eyes. That's how he hypnotizes people!" I always dreamed it was true but feared shock-jocks Kevin Ryder and Bean Baxter were just pulling our chain. But it is true! There really is a dog that can hypnotize even skeptics and put them into immediate trance. If only he could come to the Zendo and do the same for me.
Is jhana (Japanese, Zen; Chinese, Ch'an; Sanskrit, dhyana; English, "meditative absorption") nothing but self-hypnosis? Jhana is far more than hypnosis. It's a fully lucid and concentrated state of mind that does not waver from the chosen object of attention, whereas hypnosis is a level of sleep. Maybe all states of waking reality are just levels of sleep. The way to Awakening (bodhi or "enlightenment") passes through stages of profound tranquillity and serenity. They purify the mind of the Five Hindrances that obstruct insight and wisdom.
Emerging from them, one turns the now wieldy mind to objects of liberating-insight (vipassana) with amazing results. One can see subatomic particles (kalapas), or traces of them, and even more subtle mental-processes (cittas and cetasikas). These are necessary to examine and reveal the true nature of materiality and mentality. Seeing things as they really are -- radically impermanent, disturbingly unsatisfactory, and utterly impersonal -- the mind pulls away from them. And light arises, knowledge arises, enlightenment blossoms. These liberating-insights lead progressively to knowledge-and-vision of nirvana here and now, in this very life.
O where, O where is Hypnodog to soothe my monkey mind?
(StorytellerMedia) Oscar is a 10-year-old Labrador-Retriever, but he's no ordinary family pet. He has hypnotized thousands of people across Britain. Hugh Lennon and his animal companion have toured venues around the country confounding sceptics and sending volunteers into a deep sleep. Just one look into Oscar's deep brown pools and participants go under. Hugh Lennon puts Oscar's talent down to his special stare. Even when he was a puppy Lennon noticed Oscar sitting and staring at him while the other dogs in the litter ran around. Dogs are well known for their special ability to sense things about people and put them at ease. They are often used in hospitals to lift the spirits of the ailing and calm the nervous. Oscar uses his huge eyes to relax people [and hold an intention or feeling] as they are hypnotized. But this sort of behavior isn't restricted to the stage. Animals in the wild are known to hypnotize other creatures with a threatening stare. Lions make their prey feel vulnerable with a hypnotic stare. And the mongoose is known to be able to hypnotize snakes.
