awarenessrules

No teacher available in my country for Tai chi or Bagua or Qigong. Where did you learn it and who was your teacher? Also if I don't have teacher what if I just do walking meditation? Would it benefit me? The sitting meditation alone is very ungrounding tbh.

I have read that shikantaza is just sitting meditation. But the nature of mind is to always look for something to focus on or wonder about. So when one master's the breath meditation what should be next step rather than moving to insight practice? How can one achieve just sitting state? You are no longer focusing on breath and also not watching thoughts or sensations (insight, Vipassana etc), so what should be the practice then? I am asking this because I recently met a person who was deep into meditation for 20 years and now tells everyone that meditation is not a normal practice and it destroys the mind and body over time. Because it is exactly the opposite of what a normal mind should do. It leads to detachement, lack of empathy, delusions, lack of responsibility towards family etc, . He was deep into breath focus meditation and he achieved several concentration jhanas. He said he was so addicted to pleasurable states that he lost his job, his family, hated responsibility for anything, just meditating 10 hrs per day. It was like heroin or cocaine addiction. Also a few years later he went into dark night of soul and developed several mind And body health issues. He spent lots of money on his chronic health issues but doctors had no idea whats wrong with him. So he left meditation and then more suffering started because he craved those pleasurable states. He said that it took him 4 years to completely quit meditation and he slowly regained health but some health issues became permanent due to extensive damage to organs. We are being told that meditation has lots of health benefits so I am curious what actually went wrong with him. He now tells everyone to stay away from any type of meditation. Is it because he did not switch to insight or just sitting (zen) practice at the right time after achieving breath focus mastery that he endured so much suffering because he lacked wisdom. Also can you kindly recommend books for practicing shikantaza or silent illumination after mastering breath focus? There are tons of books about insight or Vipassana but very few authentic books about shikantaza or silent illumination which are zen practices. Thanks

So you mean zen meditation is the original meditation that Buddha taught? Vipassana or insight was later invented? Also when you reach a certain stage that you are only focusing on breath with no distractions, what should be the next step? Most Buddhists say to switch over to insight practice, what does Zen Buddhism say when you master breath concentration?

@Gerard I have read that bagua has a lot more benefits than Tai chi which is popular in west. Sadly the authentic bagua teachings are not available online as compared to Tai chi. Can you kindly point out some good lineage teachers in west that teach bagua online?

@stirling what's the difference between the traditional Buddhist insight meditation and zazen practice? I am a bit confused because both practices teach "watching your thoughts" Can you kindly clarify the difference?

Thank you for your suggestions. If someone is mostly in his head or having lots of mental chatter or anxious thoughts or somewhat ungrounded etc, Is it okay to stick with walking meditation only for some months to settle in the body and get grounded before moving on to sitting meditation later at some point? What I have found that doing lots of walking meditation only each day for such a person is highly beneficial as compared to 50:50 approach. It can calm the mental chatter, sink the energy and help in grounding. Once settled and balanced he can move on to 50:50 method that you mentioned above. For some people starting with sitting meditation even if combined with walking meditation can destabilize the mind especially the ones with psychological or traumatic or spiritual issues. Doing walking meditation only for hours during the 24 hr period can be game changing for such cases. You know better than me since you are quite experienced in this stuff. My 2nd question is, what are your thoughts about replacing the Vipassana type sitting meditation with Mantra meditation or chanting using the same 50:50 approach i.e. 50% mantra or chanting while sitting and 50% walking?

You emphasize a lot on walking meditation but most of the meditation books whether Buddhist or Hindu prefer Vipassana meditation only mostly centered around the breath or sometimes mantra. Some Buddhist meditation books do mention walking meditation but do not give it much importance. Is there something special about walking meditation that you mention it a lot. Though I have read on a few meditation forums that connecting to earth or doing walking meditation one can avoid the dangers of long-term sitting meditation or spiritual crises by having a strong base. Also it enhances physical health. What are your thoughts?

What specific Buddhist tradition or sect these days do you think is closest to the original Buddha's teachings? Any authentic books or authors you can recommend which are closest to the true teachings of Buddha on jhannic states, samadhi, nirvana etc?

You said the best time to practice is around 11 PM but most people have a hard time sleeping after doing intensive physical exercise i.e squats etc. What's the best day time to practice? I think morning 5 am to 7 am is also good. Any thoughts?

Thanks for this amazing info. Just wanted to ask does walking meditation also come under grounding exercises category? I have read in several books that you have to combine walking meditation with traditional sitting meditation to avoid burnout or more chi in head. Basically the instruction is 50% sitting meditation plus 50% walking meditation to balance the energies. I think If someone is already ungrounded then he should do only walking meditation and squatting. What are your thoughts?

What is spontaneous gong? Is it both sitting and standing exercises?

How to practice true emptiness?

Dear Rudi, I have sent you an email 2 days ago regarding the level 1 workshop held on coming 9-10 April. I would really appreciate if you can read my email. I used the email ID on your website for sending the email. Thanks

Do you teach full Neigong system? Can you teach online? And what lineage do you teach? Thanks,

So which one is Authentic Buddhism, There are also others like Theravada, Hinayana, Mahayana, esoteric Buddhism etc. Any Teachers recommendations from both west and east that teach the authentic practice would be really appreciated.