Sebastian

Otherwise said, there is no Big Daddy up there that is creating everything. No religion can claim the Big Daddy for themselves. Rather the impersonal Tao, or Truth incarnates as Saints or Gods. Then people fight about these Gods, or try to claim them, and miss Tao in the process. God is such a charged word. Most of the time, "God" is just a conception in people's minds or a gross simplification of Tao. I agree with your point of view. And at the same time I also think you can follow the teachings of various Saints without the associated religious trappings, in a very sober way. And get closer to Truth that way. But this is not the mainstream approach of organized religions unfortunately. It's mostly about having guarantees in the after-life and making their God the Big Daddy. The quote was from Sri RamaKrishna. He was one of the most famous Holy Men of the East and was known for saying he found the One Truth through many religions. He actually tested them one by one after he enlightened. He was completely uneducated and couldn't read, so his approach was sincere and authentic. No BS, no religious trappings. His third eye was open too, and he could physically see the different Masters' energy - so that's mostly how he learned. And he found out the core of all religions were true, at least the one he tested. This is all documented in his book, the Gospels of Ramakrishna, and it's beautiful.

Just wanted to clarify my position on the forum structure.... When I said that Truth was independent of organized religion, and we were all researchers of Truth, I didn't mean that as a cop out to mix everything under the name of Truth. No, not all. I'm all for having a forum with a specific sub-sections including Taoist, as suggested. We have members here like Tao-meow and Walker who know a great deal about Taoism and need a platform to exchange. And of course, other beautiful traditions and approaches deserve their sections too. We are also "TruthBums" or researchers of Truth like I said, but at the end of the day, we all need a path. I think Sri RamaKrishna puts it in a beautiful way. He says: "God can be realized through all paths. All religions are true.The important thing is to reach the roof. You can reach it by stone stairs or by wooden stairs or by bamboo steps or by a rope. You can also climb up by a bamboo pole..." Then he cautions that you obviously can't reach the roof if you try the wood stairs for a few steps, then come back down, then try the stone stairs, come back down, go outside and try holding the bamboo pole. A lot of people here have chosen the Daoist path which is awesome, so we should have it. It would also be nice to have two other sub-sections, one for for Christianity and Buddhism, since these historically had some decent activity in these forums, but if you're wanting to simplify, I also understand the three-fold structure with "every that is not Taoism". And the general section would be like the "WWF Royal Rumble", everything goes. You can compare the stone stairs to your bamboo pole, and also complain that the creaks when people walk on the bamboo stairs are hurting your ears/meditation time. But you can also help other people take better steps, have more balance when using the bamboo pole, because everyone sees your efforts to climb to the roof through a different vantage point, and everyone (I think) wants to be helpful on Bums. Technically, there is also the path of no-path, or complete spiritual sobriety that is focused only on Truth. But this is not popular, I don't know anyone who teaches this (currently, or any members on Bums that are presently active) so we could have this in the Other approaches that are not Taoism.

So TheDaoBums is like this .... And Sean invented it all ! We're all beings from the Garden of Sean. Sean only did it in 3 days by the way, much respect sir !

This is not just for Jeff (not picking on you) but about energy reading in general.... I think a more honest and balanced statement about this art could be captured by .... "Energetic readings are helpful, I have some proficiency and trust in them, while at the same time I realize that there is always an element of misunderstanding in energetic reading. Sometimes it might be the primary element, sometimes the secondary, or sometimes tertiary.... but in energetic reading, I realize there is always an element of mis-understanding." Because .... Have you ever met anyone who understood everything about the nature of their presence on earth ? Only one thing is for sure, and that is that person is living in mis-understanding. I know you work with chakra readings personally, but is morality a factor in your reading ? I met very powerful Masters with all chakras opened that abused people. In that case, I would choose a person with weak Qi and good morality over a person with strong power and poor morality. And then why is a strong signal better ? Doesn't refinement lead to subtlety ? Would someone who keeps unconditional love in their heart emanate strong energy that dazes you or lights a piece of paper on fire ? From my experience, the most refined energies are the subtlest. I'll close this by saying the Universe expresses itself in Union. The intellect expresses itself in division. Energetic reading is the disintegration of that Union in order to bring understanding to the Mind. How then can you or anyone claim to capture an accurate picture looking at disintegrated pieces through the lens of the intellect ? You can use it as an indicator sure, I take no issue with that. But personally, when deciding the worth or "level" of a person, I make a decision based on my *whole being* : mental, heart, energetic, everything. Not looking through any one lens, which would make a disservice to that person. The person "who has no juice" may have done something wonderful for someone today, or even for you, without knowing it.

In my humble opinion, new age, or "old age" doesn't matter. The Truth is ageless. TheDaoBums is about Truth, and hence about the many ways leading there, past and present. You know the saying.... "all roads lead to Rome".... Well, you can trace back all true religions to Tao, even if they have distorted the Truth by adding dogma and cultural color. I mean, all true religions were the result of real Saints gracing our planet. Many years after their passing, we see their blinding white Light through the prism of religion, creating projections of different colors. In my opinion, being a sincere researcher of Truth is not the same as identifying with the lens of one religion and claiming the others don't lead to Tao. It is seeing the original Truth and beauty of each religion. Instead of following the various man-made religions, you follow the Saints from which the various religions were created. You can appreciate the value and teachings of Christianity or the Coran without becoming fanatical about them. And to me, to be a Taoist or a "Man of Tao" is not the same. Jesus, for example, was a "Man of Tao" in my book. According to a contemporary Master, that also disliked the "Taoist Master" moniker people gave him, Master Ni Hua Ching, there is no other being on earth that exemplified Tao in the flesh like this person. Yet he didn't wear a robe and identify as a Taoist priest. He was a teacher of Tao, of Truth, and not a "Taoist" or a member of any institutionalized religion or philosophy which he rejected. That's why I personally welcome diversity here. As researchers of Truth, we can learn from everyone. It's the "DaoBums" or the "TruthBums", not the "TaoistBums". Of course as I write this, I also secretly believe that one cannot possibly achieve enlightenment without reaching Mopai Level 5 ;-) I think it's fine to toss out parts of the Bible using common sense and a rational mind, without being diminished in any way in your experience of God, Truth of Tao. You don't need "to believe anything" to rest in Being or Tao or Christ. I know some people toss out the argument that you can only be a Christian if you believe everything in the Bible. This is only operating at the intellectual level. It's fine if people call you Christian or not, that's their projection, and none of our business as a researcher of Truth. I mean even if you never set foot in a church or read spiritual texts, your spirit can still be greatly benefited just by the fact Jesus or other Saints lived among us. Isn't not wonderful and inspiring ? Would they force us to believe blindly in various texts if they were here ? I doubt it.

People hold the illusion that their Master holds human form, and that only their energy can lead them to the Truth. While this mindset is helpful to some extent, I think it can take one further away from Truth. Because is it not the Truth, That something owns your Teacher's energy, Something far greater than they will ever be ? When you ask yourself, Who guided me to my Master ? That question is closer to the Truth. In fact, it's a rhetorical question, asked by Truth to Truth. When we say, "I follow Master A" or "I follow B", aren't we limiting the full range of our experience ? Who is Master A, Who is Master B ? They are simply God's servants, placed as stepping stones in our way. Everyone does the work that God gave them to do, if they are a true Teacher. So we should be thankful to Master A and Master B, even if we moved from A to B. Maybe it was Master A that planted the seed in you, and Master B that made it grow. The one who plants, or the one who waters, doesn't matter. It is God who matters, because he makes the plant grow, he knows the perfect plan for your development. God will reward Master A, Master B, and everyone according to the work they have done. Truthfully, we are all partners working together for God. Who Guided me to my Master ? That is the only question worth worshiping. Such a question, comes your beginner, innocent mind, the part of you that is led by the Divine. By asking such a question, you become a student of the Divine, on top of being a student of your Teacher.

These are my ramblings.... I can't take credit for them because they are inspired, from the energy that I'm feeling at a given moment, to my Masters, to my family, to the environment, to what books I am currently reading. In this case the Bible. I think the following quote from one of my Masters sums up what I'm trying to say. On Monday for example I wrote a business email, and after reading it, it read like one of my Masters had written it. It as wan odd experience to say the least. The energy was so similar, even though the content was business related and not spiritual related. Then it felt the Master was there looking at me, so perhaps he did give me a visit at that time. But it took me by surprise, and it made me feel the above quote is really true. Maybe we can work with this book analogy too. The author is the Divine, and is helping us find our voice, our narrative by the experiences it is lining up for us in our lives. When you go forward and write your book, you don't know where it's leading, but when you look back, you notice that all the experiences/masters/authors you encountered helped you take the next step, and the next one, until you are where you are now in your life. What is it that strung all these experiences/masters together ? It's the author of every author in the world, the Divine.

Agreed. By worshiping the question, I meant you worship/value your innocent mind and not any conception about Truth. You offer your innocent mind to Truth, not knowing what Truth is, to discover the real Truth.

My Master once shared that when you place your attention in the throne, you are in effect placing your attention at the UDT/MDT/LDT at the same time - because the Heavenly Heart contains all the energies of the body. Hence it is a special point to access the Oneness of your Being. From my own understanding and experience, it is not only a third eye practice. The Flower draws its roots from all three Dantians, your body is like the compost, and it's an organic unfolding. When you truly relax, eventually the Light will enter the center of the head by itself, and your lower Dantian will naturally have some activity to support this phenomenon. The three Dantians will become alive, connect and become one. You will forget completely about the Dantians, the throne, the Light as you'll be in the Oneness of Spirit.

Agree with everything you wrote, and good advice ! Here's my understanding. Deep within your eyebrows, There is a house, with a majestic throne. This throne, is like a spiritual altar, In the temple of your being. Light, sits on this throne, as The Master of the House. When the doors of the house are all open, it's easy for the Master to go outside. The Golden Flower reminds you, To bring the Light back. When the Master is back, The Father will be one with the Son, For Light is born of Spirit.

I don't know much about trees, but I know one thing... and that is that Freeform writes from clarity and experience. He takes time off everyday from his practices to help people out, and he does it for no reason, so for that we can all be grateful. By not defining the experience, he lets you discover it for yourself, without pre-conceived notions. Everyone is a valuable member here, even people we disagree with. We can learn from everyone. My rule is not to tap the fish-tank... just let every fish do its thing, and watch all the colorful movements. Enjoy everything. Don't get caught up in any one fish or thing, but try to be helpful to everyone in the aquarium.

Hey FreeForm ! Welcome back.... How was your one month retreat ? Great to have you back -Seb

Haha ok.... Takes some acting skill to be a good corpse for sure. I'm sure you where in some famous series too... Respect. I think I see who you are now (with this added information). Thanks

By the way, JohnDoe2012, your sound very familiar...... Didn't you go to Virginia Tech with my cousin InsertSurname2019 ?

It is experiential for me too, but I didn't get there on my own efforts like you. For me it was an experience revealed by my Master, through some careful verbal cues when looking at the LDT one day. It was a bit like magic, he was saying things and they were becoming true, energetically, one at a time. The LDT opened up a void (behind the navel) and a very pure Qi that feels unsubstantial sprang forth from it, almost feeling like Light. Then this Pure Qi travels through the central channel and then the rest of body. We only had to do this once, and now I can access this space you are referring too, effortlessly. But it is in the early stages as you said and I'm still coming to grasp with what this is... thanks for your words. It's true the physical seems to disappear, relative to the energetic. At that point it feels like the energetic is "wearing" the physical like an article of clothing, if that makes sense. I'll keep playing with it.

This rings very true, from my experience and is a wonderful description of the mechanics of true centered meditation. Embodied, and integrated. The energy is no longer floating (the key point), and the central channel helps for that. Another way to say what you wrote is the entire body becomes the lower Dantian. For me, I first tap into the lower Dantian, then this opens up a void where I can access the central channel. Then I just rest in that space from the center of the head to the LDT. I'm not sure I would say I box my awareness into that space, but I reside there. The way I was taught is to merge my awareness with the wholeness of my body, evenly. That's why the phrasing "location of awareness" is a bit strong to me. We keep our awareness open, diffuse, and let it trickle down from the head to merge with the body, evenly, by itself. Practically when I enter the central channel, I feel a kind of mist inside, or a steam of Qi, something buoyant that is radiating from the central channel and removing blockages as it expands to the rest of the body. Then I stay focused on the sense of wholeness in the body. This is what Master Ni Hua Ching refers to as "natural meditation". In his book Spring Thunder, the describes it as merging your "pure form" with your physical body. It does feel like we have an inner self in the body - to me it kind of feels like the central channel with limbs and a head, if that makes sense, haha.... So the way I view this is the "mechanics" part is residing along the axis, but the flowering of the meditation is the integration of awareness and body that ensues, naturally, without manipulation or engineering, as the Qi and awareness come down and diffuses naturally and evenly. You have a great Master and it's incredible you can benefit from almost 1 on 1 instruction with him. It's also wonderful what he said about you...

Today I found myself contemplating Tao, neutrality and perspective. It seems our conditioned minds are constantly looking to establish a position to hold on too. For example - "I accept this, I reject this. I surrender myself to you, I close myself to you. I embrace life, I despise life. Things should be this way, things should be that way. This person is a Master, this person isn't..." In this thread, I just wanted to venture the thought that to embrace Tao, we don't need to establish anything. By not establishing anything, we are free to simply respond as natural beings. In other words, to embrace Tao, we simply learn to be neutral. By being neutral, we respond outside of conditioning, naturally and gracefully. We learn to move without the constant pressures and demands of our minds When we operate from a conditioned perspective, we inevitably draw conclusions. These conclusions greatly simplify things for us, but at the same time they take away from our curiosity. Neutrality usually gets a bad rap. It seems to be the weakest option out there. It can't satisfy the hunger of the mind in its quest for exactness. It is also the lowest number 0. It is also like admitting "I don't know". But I was thinking today, that neutral doesn't mean indifferent or inactive. Neutral doesn't mean passive or weak. Neutral simply means reacting naturally with intelligence. That's why I used the word "respond" instead of "react". To me, Tao is returning to the all-embracing innocent mind of a child. The original mind of a child is "0". Such a mind is curious, elastic and flexible. It doesn't try to elevate itself, it is content with being 0. It doesn't draw conclusions. A tree is not a noun to a child, it is a living thing, it can even change. Sometimes we even forget that people can change.

I really loved this quote from Master Ni's Mother, from the book Entering the Tao.... page 92. "If love is true, the experience of love and deep joy occur in the same moment. It is not joyful to reminisce about a particular moment of love in the past. The enlightenment of love exists in each moment. There is no search that can find love, nor any occasion that can create love. You know love when your heart is open. The music is silent, but its harmony pervades your entire being. In that moment, there is no separation. Love is the golden light of the sun rising within your being. It is the rose which has just opened its eyes. It is the freshness of the dew or the caress of a wave on the shore - all within you. In our tradition, we can enjoy the sunrise within us every moment. Our love is as free as the blowing wind and as enduring as a flowing river. Since we continually renew ourselves, we do not fear losing love. Our cultivation becomes our lover, for our love is Tao. Thus, love never withers, for it is continually refreshed."

Just came across an amazon review of the yellow book that I wanted to share because the review was really wonderful. This rings true from my experience. Just by touching these books I benefit from them. I keep the yellow one as a treasure in my home, and thinking that it's there makes me feel safe in a way. It's funny I posted this in between looking for the eternal light book today, lol. I need to be more organized. But yeah you'll just keep coming back to these books. Here is the review link. He went on to say if he could choose only one book, for him it would be this one. This person's sincerity is really beautiful, just reading his review gave me goosebumps today.... and his energy is so clear and beautiful too. A testimony to the book's effect on him.

By the way, I also agree with the first part of that statement, up to the comma. Afterwards, I think that conceptualization, by definition is a "formed" energy and can never contain or express the whole, or the unformed. It can give hints about it. No concept about God can describe God in its entirety for example. Thoughts, spiritual perspectives, can be helpful to an extent, but Tao is like the unformed energy before conceptualisation. That energy is 0, it is neutral and can go either way. It's just waiting on you. It's like when you erase the blackboard and have cleaned your conscience, and you are listening, attentive, patient, ready for anything. Brimming with intent and potential. The way I view things at this point in my cultivation is that concepts/thoughts are the intellect, or the formed energy, and originality/creativity are intelligence, the unformed. But it's true you can let intelligence animate your intellect if you want, I think it's possible. This might be great in the medical or scientific fields actually, but to express God or Tao, I think would be a slippery proposition. A lot of Masters caution about the risks of loosing your attainment that way, because words progressively take you back down. Unless the words you speak come from the heart or a higher source than the intellect. Intellect is certainly very useful, and we need it. But I think the most valuable part of us is like you said, intelligence, which is what is unique and original about us and everyone. What we didn't copy from someone else, what is authentic, new and creative. My Master would say what comes through you is intelligence, what comes from you is intellect. Often intelligence comes as a matter of inspiration, not through concepts or mental reflexion, but through release, grace, something above ourselves. I would venture to say that most of the greatest things in this world came from intelligence, like an "ha-ha moment".

Here are a few recent videos of him (at the right time stamps, when he's done speaking you can close the video because it's unrelated afterwards) - His energy is really sublime. Video 1 Video 2 Here is a video of him performing Taichi at 101... still spry !

Wow, a lot of wisdom in your post... and it rings very true. I wouldn't say there is anything wrong with neutrality, unless you make it an "ideal" that we just wear as an article of clothing and that has no practical use. I think neutrality is a very real tool that can help us become free of conditioning. Ever had a thought about conditioning ? And then some more ? It feels like sinking into a rabbit hole. If conditioning says X to you for example .... You can either accept X and live as a conditioned being, or you can reject X and live as a being that rejects conditioning. The second ones feels more free but is equally trapped doing everything opposite to a specific conditioning. By shrugging your shoulders and saying: "heh, I don't care, I want to stay neutral about X and see what X is really about" then you can respond as a natural being that doesn't get tossed around by your conditioning. And you're free to move again, organically, like a child. That's the value I see. Thanks for sharing. It's true that writing from intelligence is really difficult.

It's funny, people in Master Ni's circle simply refer to the "workbook for spiritual development" as the "Yellow book", and it is yellow in color indeed. But that is actually a very clever name, because this particular book radiates a very strong yellow light - which comes from the Golden Light invocation contained within its pages. You can attune yourself to this Light yourself by reading the book. My energy is also attuned to it, at least I try to recite it daily and know it by heart. So it's a matter of resonance, maybe look at the cover of the book and see if you feel anything. Otherwise it's true this book is a little bit dry in terms of content, it is like a list of practices and rules to live by, but it is also spruced up by wonderful invocations that can reform your energy. I love the Sun invocation and the Moon invocation in particular and do these daily as well. Let me try to think of the most helpful books.... Stigweard had a great recommendation list here in 2008. Out of these three he is recommending, my favorite was "the gentle path of spiritual progress". Master Ni keeps answering questions with such wisdom I couldn't put the book down until I was done with it. But I also love his lesser known books. If you want personal recommendations, I loved "the power of the feminine". Maybe because Master Ni has great respect for Jesus and mentions him countless times in that book. I actually have markers at every page where he mentions Jesus, but the rest of the book was wonderful too. And this very old one "the integral way of life". This book is seldom spoken about but it carries an amazing vibration too, because it details an encounter and discussion that Master Ni had with Jesus. All these books are jewels. I do like the ones about his parents a lot, his Dad and his Mom too, this one, because they are written with great love and respect. And the books contain the energy of his parents. You can't go wrong with these I think Hope it helps. Happy reading.

You bet. Just holding the book and looking at the picture on the cover will make you feel relaxed. Even if you place it on your desk, on the side, forget about it, the effect is the same. The reason is his Father's image is radiating light in every direction. One Master I know who is spiritually sensitive - his third eye is completely open - told me that he couldn't even make out the face of the person on the cover, because there was so much Light radiating from his face. It's a little bit like in the Bible.... Jesus says the Father's face is hidden by its Light. Of course I'm not saying this person is actually God, just that he is a radiant Sun. The Ni family books were the first I ever read where I felt a direct energetic transmission coming from the books. This one is particular. Really amazing books to own and study, for a lifetime. The Light will also protect you. You can take these books on trips for example.

I recommend Master Ni Hua Ching. At 102 years old this year, he is still contemporary, esoteric as you requested and thorough in his portrayal of Tao. This is a good book to get started, about his father, eternal light.