Bearded Dragon

Listen to what I'm about to say as if your life depends on it.... Words are cheap. haha.

You want to get to a stage where it just happens. It's presumably starting to go like that. Then you can have two types of practice. One where you do it and think about what you're doing, refine the movements, etc. Then the other one you don't want to think about it at all as you're practicing taiji in the true sense of being outside yin and yang.

Sounds interesting. Is there a preview somewhere?

I think I would die if I went 30 days without food. Honestly. It really seems like russian roulette with the body. Perhaps fasting will be ok, perhaps kundalini will leave your body in a good way. Perhaps not. Most that force it seem to mess up their body. That is just how I see it. If you're intent on doing stuff like this then just take it easy. Take the time to get the container right before you fill it with energy.

In a world with endless permutations you cannot reasonably dictate that at any future moment capital punishment will be an inferior option to another. If, in each situation, one is able to see then one would possibly find that there are better options most of the time, but in some cases perhaps not. This is a matter for the situation. Same thing as always. Be present, work with right now, have no fixed views or opinions. Unfortunately most people seem to be unable to see (and therefore also unable to judge optimally), but that's neither here nor there in regards to the message of the chapter.

It's just dealing with situations using a higher level of finesse. Using what is pointed to in the earlier chapters. Such statements as "against capital punishment" are completely missing the point of the TTC by disregarding its core teachings. You can't just throw out the earlier chapters in order to present a point of view. The earlier chapters are the structure of which the later chapters are built.

It's easy to ditch something like the christian view on the afterlife as garbage, only to adopt some other spiritual belief just because it sounds more reasonable. It's the same thing though, and just as ignorant. Beliefs are no better than fairy tales. Cheap entertainment.

The good thing about that is that if one would actually feel "one with the universe" or however you might want to phrase it, you can just be as selfish as you like and that selfishness will be all-encompassing.

It's all perspective. We all have the capacity to like the things we don't like. The more nondualistic I become the more it doesn't really matter what I do. It's great .

Nope. Spirit is uncreated. It has never changed and never will change. You can't light it figuratively or non-figuratively. Spirit sees whether you realise it or not, so in that sense it doesn't matter at all if you consider yourself to be enlightened. The only thing you can do about it is to break down the crap in the way of the seeing.

The biggest shift I've had is maybe a few months ago when I ditched the idea of enlightenment as a colossal joke. It's kind of like people going to the moon before exploring the depths of our own ocean, and if the moon didn't exist and you could never get there. Nobody really cares about what they already have and fail to see. I think it's an aspect of humanity that needs to be crushed if you ever want to be free from conditions.

Sense of oneness in the moment? Try the moment as a sense of oneness.

Visa wise you'll probably have to leave and come back every 3 months. I think you can get a business visa for 2 years or so, then you just go to Hong Kong every 3 months and come straight back. As an aussie there's no problem getting a 90 day tourist visa. I actually got one for 2 entries so I could have actually left and come back again for another 90 days (the expiration was 6 months so I could do it). I was going to do a long trip but it lost its appeal after 6 weeks. I could have stayed if I settled down somewhere (Chengdu was nice) but moving around started to feel like a chore. Plus you lose interest in learning Chinese when you're constantly jumping between dialects. Money-wise it's no problem. Was something like AU$6-7 a night at most hostels. The "going to the mountains" thing sounded good in theory but most mountains that people go to you pay a small entry fee and the adventure is quite non-existent. Some mountains are cut off for foreigners since it's quite dangerous. You can definitely wing it but if you want a real adventure you'll have to be fluent in chinese so that you can go beyond the norm. The norm is ok though. Lots to see and do. Some really nice scenery etc.

Person wants A Person gets B Person doesn't mind Don't over-complicate being free from ego. Its function is valid. Just let it be. In terms of the topic of the thread, any concept of enlightenment is clinging to the effects of becoming free and not actually the essence of what you're after. Misguided views are views themselves.

Well, you have to know why you're doing it and you have to know how to gauge success. As you let go at any level there is a letting go of bodily tension. Doing internal martial arts helps gauge improvement because you have more martial power as your relaxation improves. You can see tangible results. And let me just say, that as a beginner of qigong/neigong you are by no means doing chi practices. You're doing relaxation and focus practices. Chi flow is a biproduct of the relaxation. When you can actually directly control your chi you'll surely know about it! The alternative is just thinking "ohhhhh I can feel my dantien, I must be doing something right" when in fact you could be just creating delusions to hide in.

The information on the forum is a small part of its function. The forum itself can be used as a tool for refinement. Seeing when you want to bite, whether you do, whether you realise you're just talking crap. I think you're well aware of this. If it's no longer of use then so be it. I think an opt-in would work best for what you want. Perhaps a forum post would outline a topic and people can sign up for the topic. Could be like a chat style rather than a forum style. The benefit of signups would be that you don't get people sticking their finger up as they walk past, and that people actually want to be there. The chat could be archived if the information is beneficial. I think there would already be means to do this somewhere on the internet. There would be less discussion, but perhaps more deep and on topic.

When you use the word Love you have to know what it means, and therein lies the problem. Tolle describes it in one of his videos. I wouldn't like to attempt to paraphrase from memory. Being just is. You don't actually have to do anything to BE. How could you not be? The idea is so liberating in and of itself. The problem arises when you think you have to do something. The second problem comes when you feel "Oh man, I'm really being right now!" and you try to sustain an impermanent state that you misinterpret as 'being'. haha, it's a struggle to just go with things sometimes. You're right to drop the idea of enlightenment. It's obvious but it has taken me a long time to shake it. The idea of enlightenment is no different from the faith-based delusions of any belief system or religion. One can deal with it if it arises in the present moment, but until then it's not worth the time of day.

What are you trying to achieve?

Words are cheap. Do you know what they mean?

Part of embracing is discovery. Don't cut off the porn unless it's effortless in doing so. Just keep going in order to figure out the root of it all. Think about what you like and don't like about it, what are the triggers, how accomplished you feel, etc. You might subconsciously become uninterested through this discovery process. I have become less interested over the years because of how empty it is. Part of embracing bad feelings is having the trust that it will dwindle on its own accord. You can just say to yourself "Oh, I don't really like this feeling" then don't worry about it. After that your subconscious takes care of it over time. Not that your subconscious needs to be told though. If you can do this a bit and then see how the process works then it's easier for your conscious mind to hand over control and then chill out while things unravel on their own.

I was getting stressed out at work until I decided that it was a good situation for refinement. Then I treated it as training and eventually it didn't bother me anymore (Well, a little. I'm not perfect).

Indeed. You can layer it a bit. You can be while trying, and if that happens sometimes the trying layer falls away and you can do whatever you're doing without trying. I sometimes forget that anything goes, then I realise that I can't do anything other than be, whether I realise I'm being or not.

I cleared my cache and it started working fine again. Just a heads up in case it's been unusually quiet and you don't know why. See attachment.

I've only felt actual thin lines one time. Fingertip to fingertip. You have to be more relaxed than you realise is possible.

And any trip to China is dancing with death in that everyone from different provinces use the tones differently, to the point that you want to give up learning them altogether. haha. I stopped learning Chinese after I went to China.