Birch

Yes it is annoying, I get stuff blocked as well. Have you tried an "anonymizer.com" or similar?

Interesting. Thanks

Interesting take. I've read that elsewhere. Hell, I've read all kinds of things elsewhere "Over-glamourization" - could be.

Yep, I've experienced those things too. And not necessarily in practice. Often before sleep or fully waking up. "Kundalini" is classically described as a "freight train" up your spine (if that's where it's going) so I suspect you're more likely experiencing "prana". But worth checking in with more experienced folks, because if you're due for "K" and it's a "pre-cursor" then it would be worth gaining skills ASAP - maybe even holding off "going there"..In addition, "kundalini" IME brings with it a whole set of insights whereas chi-movement by itself does not.

"I noticed a while ago that most people on here who have actually attained anything - did train fanatically hours a day for some period before their breakthroughs." I'd cut to the chase and suggest "most people on here who have actually attained anything - did train" IMO (and small experience) doing so "fanatically" is potentially (although not obligarorily) a sign of "something up" in the "pre-training" situation. A life less-lived perhaps? Yup, I'm speaking for myself, but I wonder. Still, if you're going to do it (as opposed to to reading about it, or chatting about it, or pondering the idea of it. Which I am of course also guilty of and I quite enjoy all of that stuff too ) might as well do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXhBRQEqp-A&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EN5P_wTLKc&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=MLGxdCwVVULXcSRvk4JoBscFkwv_TzhcDq

"Well if you know it, then you have perceived it. If you don't, well you haven't perceived it either in thought or in experience. So why worry about that?" I'm not worried. Overly-simplistic-dualistic I am not

Good question I tend not to want to go "meet" any such things. But that's because I'm a) a wuss and happier to divide my time and perception between emptiness and the (relatively) consensual world. Ok, maybe some brief forays into "elsewhere" when I feel like I want to lock something into my current life-stream, but I'm not particularly gifted for it so I tend to hang out where I, euh, hang out Like with people. Mostly. A few cats...no multiverses.

"Thus there is a simply a discrepancy between appearances (thoughtforms) and reality." I know that.

"Are you separate from your thinking?" So far, yes and no. "Can you know the world without perceiving?" I don't know the world enough. Although I'd like to get to know it

"Think about President Obama. In a way he only exists in your mind as a thoughform." Well, if you ask me to think about him, yes, agree. But if I don't think about him, does he still "exist" and if so, in who's mind? (Thought I'd throw you an ole "tree in the forest" thing). "Similarly you exist as a thoughtfrom in your own mind" Yes, and your point being?

Good. I was more concerned with the other mantras and mudras. You know, the ones that send "hails" and whatnot to specific thoughtforms? In a recent post about "bridging" realities (like a voice calling "your" name in a crowd) there was quite a case made for the idea that "this shit is real" (to borrow a movie quote) - that thoughtforms can in fact be invoked and maintained and have an effect on people because the latter "keep them in business" (so to speak). I know it's a bit more complicated than that, but hopefully you get my drift? You know, it's supposedly "however many years" after the "death of Jesus" and the dude is "sticking around" in iconography, in thought (although not in action... ) all over the place. Hell, I even bought some "Jesus" sticking plasters for fun when I was in Texas. I actually wondered if they would heal faster, bizarrely I haven't cut my finger since...

Not if you get a water-meter plugged in... Any way, how much and what kind? And what about "qi-gong" on water, does that stuff work? I know the whatshisname experiments with ice-crystals and I'm not especially convinced, but it would be very useful to learn to zap your own water IMO I've read up a bit on magnets and vortexes and crystal water but haven't gotten round to doing the experiments. Much like I haven't gotten round to buying an orgone blanket or a cell-phone tower hack or a cloud-busting pyramid or a rain-water filter pump and barrel...not to lump them all together. And the "green" thing isn't necessarily all it's made out to be either. I know we all want to do well by the planet and each other but so many "green" things are bogus and some just don't have any net effect (except to make you poorer) - man it's a jungle out there

Oh, that. Thanks Mr V. ----moves on to investigation of less boring things

"Emptiness is simply negation of another person's claim of self" Right, but why bother going around negating other people's claims of self?

Wasn't there the "there is such as self" teaching from Buddha as well? That was what I was referring to. Which "others"? And why would one set of folk have to "defend" a claim more than another? It doesn't seem to ring true for me on this board at this point. I read more "buddhists" "defending" their perspectives (and attacking others, incidentally) here than anything else. I expect the counter-argument to that to be something along the lines of my obviously flawed and personal perspective that can't be other than projection... But if that's the way that you define "reality" then it would make sense that you wish to impose it on everyone else. Claiming something "is" or "is not" seems to me to be both equally worthy of a requirement "to defend" and one's defense in the matter IMO is NOT a sign that one is necessarily in error.

"i kinda believe in everything." Weeeellll. I wouldn't confuse the ability to entertain and test new ideas and thoughts and experiences with "belief". "belief" is IMO one of those things one can honestly do without.

I keep forgetting, is it "no-self" or "not-self" that the buddhists teach? The "not-self" stuff I'm very much in line with. The "no-self" stuff I'm in line with when it comes to "not-self" (i.e. (fake) self or "ego"). The "no-self" stuff I'm not in line with is the stuff that negates "true-self" - but then there's also the counter-teaching that there "is such a self" so I guess that gets handled there? But I guess one shouldn't teach each one of these concepts beyond the realization of the student. Plus, one should be realized enough oneself to see when a student has reached a specific realization. I wonder how many teachers of buddhism are realized, rather than just repeating the teachings?

I guess it depends on the directions in the guided meditation. Some of the more "colourful" ones might actually be more than a person could handle on a first outing. Then there's the binaurals (sp?) that add a whole nother layer to the the cake (don't move this to cake corner ) SFQ has its MCO on guided to begin with. Most qi-gong books I've read so far are very "guided" in that you learn the recipe and steps. "Emptiness" itself is something that can flower in a variety of ways and I think you can tell people about it quite well and they'll "get" it too. Still, when it comes to meditation, I'd also like to see people empowered from the get go with a good set of "emergency" techniques when they hit the more bizarre content and sensations. Stuff like progressive relaxation, dissolving, belly-breathing, grounding, self-shielding and so on.

Thanks! Interesting information. I tend, however, to get confused by the jargon. Some of the concepts themselves are relatively familiar to me (not all of them) but there's a point I've found at which sound and silence feel very similar. A point at which actual sound is jarring if it doesn't "fit" the "reality". A point at which you can feel that it's "off". When it comes to hand seals, what is their symbolic purpose? I do some to exercise my hands or for acupressure but I'm not well-versed in the symbolism of them. As I said to another Bum, there are things that I don't want to do (or "say") with my body (kow-towing is one of them). I guess I should re-thread... edit: to be clear about "symbolic" purpose of handseals. The acupressure stuff I kind of "get"

Sure, but the temptation to tinker and fiddle once you've got something going is IMO (and experience) pretty strong I have to be disciplined with that myself. The "why" of the undesired effects like Center mentions ought to be IMO explained (if people know the "why", of course). Practice itself will bring forward explanations but IMO it would be helpful to provide at least a model of understanding to students so that they can get a handle on their own practice sooner rather than later.