Birch

"have detached emotions" Why would anyone want that????? I wonder if there might not be be a confusion here between the interpretation of an emotion and the actual bodily event(s) of the same. I'm personally in favour of alignment of interpretation AND emotion - of what has been previously distorted. IMO and IME, the distortion is the source of suffering. And I think I have an inkling of how that comes to be so in the first place and how it gets subtly perpetuated. And I think (and through practice and tries and fails) that I mistrust Buddhism in this respect for some reason, something not quite "right" about it IMO. Or maybe it's just not my thing and my thing is more of a Taoist thing Oh, then there's this stuff http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claims_to_be_the_fastest-growing_religion

"I think Kate, what you are doing is interpreting it in a Nihilistic fashion, which is not conducive to understanding what the Buddha taught at all." Nod to Vaj learning to say "I think what is going on is..." Perhaps I am. Still, I keep musing it and I much prefer the life-affirming (IMO) Taoist (IME) perspective. Coming from a "non-life-affirming" culture (technologically advanced, materially-advanced, emotionally and "spiritually" impoverished) I guess could explain the direction I'm going.

Neat post! I'll never look at tinsel in the same way ever again

Thanks! You too

Thanks Susan!

Thanks for the replies. The musing continues on. The teaching of "no-self" is a human (moral) religious construct that to me seems harmful, however on the flip side, telling someone who they "are" and should "be" from the cradle and reinforcing that with cruelty when the being doesn't live up to par is also harmful IMO because it sets the stage for the being to wish to resolve such an issue (or series) and so it stocks it all away to be carried out to resolution over the course of it's life - sometimes with disastrous results for itself and other beings. Telling that same being that it doesn't exist is just another insult IMO. Further, IMO the "ego" itself is the "false" self that has been thrust upon one so I have no qualms with getting rid of it. I guess I'm not good at explaining things but you just are and any attempt to "be" otherwise seems to me to be a bad idea. I wonder if we'll ever get to a society which is "being"-friendly...

"one who is practicing Tao reaches this state is by understanding that he is attached to everything in existence, while a Buddhist seems to come to this understanding by concluding that they are detached from everything in existence." I like this.

"The ecstasy ends. You can have Chi flowing all over the place, or you can raise your Kundalini every day, but it means nothing" Agree it ends. I wouldn't say it means nothing in one sense, because I do think that having a coherent mind/body/environment system is healthier than having one that is out of synch. But I agree that it technically means nothingin the interpretative "here's the big picture of what it all means" sense that so many people rush to others to be happily (or unhappily) told.

No, no going back

"a bunch of old white dudes with money and psychopathic tendencies can't stop me from being fully liberated." Sure, but they can play havoc with your mind and body on the way. So until you are indeed fully liberated, you've still got to take care of your vehicle. My opinion anyway. The other thing I find somewhat distasteful about this statement is that it doesn't seem to express any compassion for your fellows who are presently undergoing the nefarious effects of the "old white dudes with money". But I could be wrong (as usual).

Reminds me of another (couple) of images that map out the human internal energy system with 3 dantiens and a free-flowing MCO.

I voted you a +1 because you sound like you're accepting it. In some very small ways I still haven't really. I figure if I'm "good" enough or "mindful" enough, or "something" enough then that will have the desired effect on them. What is that, if not an attempt to manipulate them on my part? Not very "Taoist" What's the "desired effect"? To receive some respect and some appreciation and some love. Has it "worked"? No. Not so far. So, as the old sage said "I'm not holding my breath". Also "I'm outta here". Sending you some good vibes for New Year

Dang. You go away fer a few days and come back and suddenly someone is enlightened. Pfff Now, just be careful what you do with that I say "congratulations" to whoever it was and may the road rise up to yer back and...

Oh yikes, I agree with some of this Except the parts about gifts from gods because in my time there are none. None at all. So why are all those people fighting over the ideas of whose god is better? Because they're insane. Edited: typo

"Sadly, I think most people aren't really interested in the Tao so much, as finding a philosophy that helps them to justify their behavior. They see Taoism on the surface and say, "this is for me. I never have to be moral again! Yay!" Well, I think that's the case. I don't think it's necessarily unfortunate. But I suppose in some respects it is, both for the people who decide to be suddenly "immoral" as well as those that bear the consequences of the latter's actions. I reckon part of the "problem" is that people arrive at "Taoism" after having lived "under the law" and so they swing left instead of right and don't realise how similar the two are. Another reason to practice. IMO, IME.

And since I get to salvage tunes from there. I thought about it and decided to save the following: And then the TTB's interface said i posted more media files than I was allowed to. Oh well. I guess that's how it works

Since I dumped my PFF music thread, I'll post it here! thanks!

The way I see it is that such "talents" are naturally "innate" within people and over time and (mis) handling have been "lost" (or misplaced, or denied, or left to wither). Ya Mu, what (in your experience) is LOVE? And why would this incredibly vague term (unless accompanied by an actual, singular, correspondance) be key to opening up so much of our (human) potential? In other words, if humans have it innate, seems to me they'd have to remove, rather than add to "get there".

I like this board because when people disagree with me they don't (can't) come flying at me with fists and feet - however much whatever I have said offends them (which I never intend to do here BTW). There are no consequences here, whereas, everywhere else in my life, there are and have been consequences. Some of them violent. In fact I rarely intend to use disagreement as offense. There are a few areas left in which I will do it, knowingly, a very few. Unknowingly? I don't know

Hey Otis, I think it's once and again something that is up to the individual. Not every child in a family reacts the same way to the "way things are" - maybe there's fire where there's smoke? At worst, at the very worst, you could ask why? I probably, at this point, should justify the years and multiple attempts and re-attempts I've made with my own family but I've realized that it's probably not to anyone's benefit. Happy Christmas

"There are / were, I'm told, special places in China dealing with these cases" What kind of places? Nice places? Helpful places?

"Hamstrings?" Yes, I've been wondering (and working a great deal) about those recently. Glutes are hell too. Plays havoc with lower back and tailbone. Thanks for the post TaoMeow. Illuminating indeed.

Huh? Oh, you were actually really asking for forgiveness?? I could do it to please you, but it would be dishonest.I don't need to forgive you because you didn't do anything. Unless you did something? My Te seems to be alright, my K is gnarly and I'm looking forward to some time off.

Sort of a hodge-podge. I guess I learned a few "principles" from books, and tries and fails, one teacher (KAP) and then I went about doing some more things as and when they presented themselves. Definitely got a lot wrong the first time round. I suspect this way of going about things means that some things don't get done/covered, but as I said to another bum, I like knowing (more or less) what's going on and I don't want anyone else playing with my consciousness TVM- or someone with an agenda "giving" me practices that don't fit with what I want to do. I'm not into "gurus" or "sanghas" but I do like everyone sharing their "what works" ideas on here.

My main "issue" with information overload is the toxicity of some of it. Add to that, the notion that some information that would be very useful to know for lots of things (like health for example) isn't being shared a whole lot, or is being voluntarily altered (I believe the term is "spun") or withheld entirely. I think that's what annoys me the most.