Jainarayan

I recite mantras in the language of the tradition I'm practicing. That is, Sanskrit for Hindu mantras, and some Buddhist (like the Nilakantha Dharani and Usnisa Dharani), or Tibetan, or Chinese. They don't seem to transition well to English.

I don't know if this was mentioned anywhere, as I didn't go through the entire thread: Zhunti = Chundi in Buddhism = Chandi(ka)/Durga in the Devi Mahatmya in Hinduism. In the Devi Mahatmya Goddess Durga defeats the demon Mahishasura. This is her fierce form. So, the Zhunti mantra is to meditate on the fierce form of Devi. Not to say that's a bad thing, as she is the Universal or Divine Mother and protects her devotees much as a mother bear or wolf will protect her cubs and savage an aggressor, then gently and lovingly nuzzle and nurse her babies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cundi_(Buddhism) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandi Just my .02

Karma is so intricate as to be unfathomable. Was Helen Keller born the way she was because of some evil she committed in a past life? Perhaps not... she may have deliberately taken birth as she was in order to help millions of other people. Did an animal who was abused and neglected do something as a person so bad they were born this way? Maybe not. The jiva could have deliberately taken birth to help the karma of its rescuer. Would the jiva know what is going to happen? Maybe... time may not be linear on different planes. I once used the Hitler and Nazi analogy to comment that out of great evil can come great good, and damn near got my tongue ripped out and shoved up my... well, it was a pretty bad chastisement. But it only serves to show that it's definitely not a direct cause and effect. The person didn't understand that I was trying to point out the intricacy of karma.

Karma does indeed mean action. There are many categories of karma, however, that do refer to cause and effect. I'm taking this from Wiki's explanation, saving me from typing it all out. These are the main ones: Sanchita is the accumulated karma. It would be impossible to experience and endure all karmas in one lifetime. From this stock of sanchita karma, a handful is taken out to serve one lifetime and this handful of actions, which have begun to bear fruit and which will be exhausted only on their fruit being enjoyed and not otherwise, is known as prarabdha karma. Prarabdha Fruit-bearing karma is the portion of accumulated karma that has "ripened" and appears as a particular problem in the present life. Kriyamana is everything that we produce in the current life. All kriyamana karmas flow in to sanchita karma and consequently shape our future. Only in human life we can change our future destiny. After death we lose Kriya Shakti (ability to act) and do (kriyamana) karma until we are born again in another human body.

This may be an odd question... if the altar or shrine is more for honorary or decorative purposes, that is, honoring and respecting the religious representations of Taoism such as San Qing, the Jade Emperor, The Eight Immortals, do the rules for a worship altar hold? I have a fusion Hindu-Buddhist altar on which I have a small picture of the Jade Emperor and a small brass statue of Guan Gong, because they have correspondences in Buddhism and Hinduism. Is it permissible to have a small table with images of San Qing or other deities, the candles and incense, out of respect but not worship or offerings? Or is there anything wrong (from a Taoist perspective) with simply putting these images on my main altar? The reason for that would be because I equate the Tao with Brahman, with all deities as manifestations of Tao/Brahman. I make offerings of sweets and water to all deities. I found this, and wonder how acceptable it is http://chinese-gods-of-wealth.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-to-set-up-taoist-buddist-altar.html As for a talisman, all I have is a blessed and energized Mahāsudarshana yantra that represents Lord Vishnu.

Wow, I knew there was a universality to the Lord's Prayer that was hidden, either intentionally or unintentionally (I suspect the former). This prayer could be said to virtually any deity.

The old saying: "Misery loves company".

That movie? Definitely! But not as bad as Sharktopus or Two-Headed Shark, SyFy Channel movies.

Suspension of disbelief. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_of_disbelief

I stopped reading the link when it mentioned carbon dating, man, dinosaurs. Carbon dating is useful only to a few thousand years. Other methods of radiocarbon dating are used, and are what have proven the gap of 65 million years between dinosaurs and man. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiometric_dating#Modern_dating_methods

I'm not sure if this is the right section, so if it's moved that's great. I see a lot about preserving and channeling sexual energy. If I understand correctly release is the loss of qi. I always thought it was those pesky hormones prolactin and oxytocinthat caused the sleepiness. If this is tmi, I apologize; it is also a little embarrassing to talk about. You see, I absolutely love to masturbate. Given the chance I'll do it a couple of times a day, when I can. Now, this may be an effect of my testosterone replacement, because not many 56 year old guys have the drive I do. It doesn't interfere with my life or job, and I don't give it a thought except in light of losing energy. But if this is causing a loss of energy, is learning how to meditate properly the answer to controlling it? There are probably a million answers here if I search, which I will probably do for more in-depth learning, but I thought there might be a quick and dirty answer.

It sounds like what they used to tell us as teenagers about sublimating, redirecting it. It sounds like it all comes down to discipline.

Good insight and advice. I knew you all would know.

I've been looking up SFQ and ZZ. I was seeing an acupuncturist but it didn't do anything for me. I may need to try someone else. I wouldn't do anything advanced without proper guidance, which is pretty lacking in this area. So the videos, meditation and some self control might be the ticket. The testosterone is a therapeutic dosage because I have secondary hypogonadism from hypopituitarism. I wish I didn't have to use it. I agree about the dangers of using it for reasons other than therapeutic dosages, i.e. bodybuilders using anabolic steroids. It's nothing like that. My testosterone is now actually in the normal range with the replacement.

I'm on testosterone replacement because I have hypopituitarism. My pituitary doesn't work properly, because it's damaged from a beating when I was a teenager. My GH was low, and I am hypothyroid also.

Heh! This I didn't know!

USA, NJ.

No guilt (left that behind with the Roman Catholic Church years ago ), just wondering if it's affecting loss of qi or anything like that. If it's not then I'm OK with it.

Hi Zed, welcome. I'm kind of new to this site and learning about Taoism, myself. The folks here are a real bunch of characters. I'm a Hindu-Buddhist-Taoist hybrid syncretist too. I've also recently discovered that Yemayá, the Yoruba goddess is none other than a manifestation of the Divine Mother; there's so much to discover and believe and "say" the same thing in different ways. I have a lot to learn about preserving and channeling sexual energy. Though I often use a visualization technique during my *ahem* "sexual meditation" that I use to try to guide me into a particular direction. It needs work. Anyway, the point is that here, I've found that pretty much all bets are off, and as Marblehead said, there are "lots of those animals here"

I have a brass Mahāsudarshana yantra which is representative of Nārāyana (Vishnu), and a green jade Śrī yantra representative of Goddess, that were blessed and energized by Hindu priests before I received them. They are said to also channel energy. I don't have any other talisman. I'm waiting for delivery of a brass Guan Yu, but I have no way of having it empowered, energized, consecrated. Keep in mind my altar is quite the syncretization and fusion of traditions. I'm intrigued by the Ye Ming Zhu. I think one can never have too much positive energy running about.

I'm inclined to agree. I'm probably off the mark, but New Age represents to me in part, and this is only my perhaps misconception of it, a co-opting of eastern beliefs and practices. I envision dim candle-lit rooms filled with incense smoke, strains of sitar music, and chanting om, surrounded by crystals and trying to get "in tune" with the universe, other planes of existence and the ākāśa, when the practitioner has no conception what it means to chant om or any of those other practices.I think it takes bonafide beliefs, puts them into a blender and comes out with the most god-awful concotion.

OK, so I'm doing some reading up on SFQ and Chunyi Lin. A lot of stuff I'm reading here at TTB is coming together for me. For that I offer namaskars. I like the SFQ site and the simple descriptions. I forgot who, in another thread recommended the Small Universe Meditation cd from SFQ. I'm not sure whether it should be the 30 or 60 min. cd. Anyway, I found the SFQ Fundamentals Course http://www.springforestqigong.com/index.php/sfq-fundamentals-course So now I'm deciding which is a better way to go... the Small Universe Meditation cd from SFQ and Master Kam Lam Chuen's http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-way-of-energy-master-lam-kam-chuen/1112272856?ean=9780671736453&itm=1&usri=9780671736453 or just the SFQ Fundamentals Course. I kind of think that mixing approaches is not such a good idea and should go with the SFQ Fundamentals Course.

Btw, sorry to be a pain in the ass about all this. I have no access to a teacher where I am (central NJ is culturally bankrupt); there's only 3 Hindu temples and 1 Buddhist temple in a 40-45 mile radius, and this area is called Little Delhi). You guys are all I have for learning anything, for which I am very thankful.

So how does Master Lam's The Way of Energy compare to SFQ Fundamentals http://www.springforestqigong.com/index.php/sfq-fundamentals-course ? Similar, different, one better than the other? I understand Master Lin is also a good teacher.