Thrice Daily

I learned recently that the early Christians had a code that they used for the first few hundred years after Christs death. it enabled them to pass information of him and his teachings with much less of a risk of getting persecuted or killed for it. Apparently that’s why we see the fish bumper stickers symbolising Christ. In this secret code Jesus was known as Fish… I know some people still debate the existence of Jesus. I’m not sure why though, there is just too much first hand evidence of his existence. One of the reasons I believe in him is because he has stood the test of time for the last 2000 years, being possibly the words most popular and enduring message/symbol Even if it’s been a hypnosis of the masses it has still happened and the message has endured. Ive been working on a book that is written on a pretty simple level that discusses The Tao and Christianity . Hopefully I’ll be able to share it here in the footer of my messages and admin will be cool with me promoting it here. I think many members of this group might like it. 3rd draft and it’s nearly done

Oh boy RIP

It’s good I like it. When I have time I’d like to do a little study. It’s a fascinating way for written language to develop, through ideographs. Awesome additional meaning otherwise lost to mundane fast and modern communication.

Hmm yes, quite... Do like the way you use Chinese Characters in your posts by the way. Do you speak Mandarin, I guess you know Traditional Chinese and not just Simplified. Is that right?

I have practiced with people yes. And Chi Sau also as it is done with Wing Chun, when it is very relaxed this can be a little like push hands. The key thing I remember about push hands with a partner, it was not about winning or losing, but it was very much about maintaining attention . Attending to grounding and balance sure. it is almost like there is some mystery at play who will lose the balance first, but with a great sense of fun and fair play it can get very interesting but much like tennis or or racquet sorts with two players if they go for the smash shot every time, it’s not so much fun for anyone

Nice, it’s good to have you on the thread. I’ll check yours out when I get a minute. Yeah I know what your saying about the variety within threads. And this one. The question is more of a pattern interior really to see what people might “really” think about the key importance of their practices. I wanted to see if I could get a shortcut to the real kernels. There are some great posts on here. Really fantastic. I’ve been having a click around and some of the advice is stunningly helpful. Hopefully more people jump on this thread and kick start it back up for more conversation. I’d love to see some of the old boys like @joeblast and @SonOfTheGods jump on and say hello 👋

I like the concept of letting the universe do it Not so much ego. Its like doing something without doing something like having a game of chess at the same time as not having a game of chess Strange. My experience has been like this, lovely because really if I try push hands, I arrive as me with all my judgements and preconceived ideas of who I am and who I think the partner is. Then the more I can let go of all of this , the better the push hands is easier said than done I only tried it a little bit though. and you @ChiDragon ?

“Dust, Wind, Dude”

For too sensitive A myriad of things not just one only

That’s good, do you play push hands ever. And practice your Fajin with a partner?

To Chi or not to Chi that is the question?? Sometimes you go on holiday but you get something deeper than a suntan…

That’s all I wanted to hear, ChiDragon use the word Chi in a decent manner. Thankyou we can move on now. When I use the word better it has different connotations too. More effective. With the feet first, it’s not quite what I meant, I meant more send the chi down to the earth then back up through the structure The feet down have to move much, maybe the bones a little and pressure can change, weight can shift. From foot to foot helping add more power through the movement. The Sacrum power and scapula power, important too no?

In Wing Chun it's called Turning the Horse, it starts from the feet though or even the ground beneath the feet. I gotta ask you @ChiDragon respectfully I have you ever felt Chi, yourself or other people's for example? I ask respectfully, you talk a lot about science but have you never had an experience or a knowing that seemed to defy science?

@Shadow_self … What is the most basic Ming - Xing practice you would introduce to your younger self if you could travel back to meet with him… as a safe introduction to the art of cultivation. What would you say if you could be his only teacher? for an introductory daily practice, that would be safe and productive and even though basic and foundational, it would be a sound practice for life to cultivate his Ming and Xing

Where about are you based? I meditated a little on and off, an hour here an hour there. Then I found Vippasana. 10 hours per day for 10 days. So practical, came away from there feeling so confident about my ability to sit and develop whenever.. And for as long as I wanted. it’s such nice training, and free. There is also the option to work at the centres , serving the others that sit on the next course us a great option. I can’t recommend this enough. The teaching is basic there , still if you have questions you can ask and will soon get the point about questions and how to treat phenomena that arises in the minds eye. Yeah that would be the totality of my advice. There is no bells or whistles with this system it’s very clear cut and straight forward, no nonsense and basic. Yet it prepared me to go sit for as long as I wanted. If scanning gets too much return to Anapana. That simple hope that helps, and one day you give yourself the gift of Vippasana too…

What is Fajin? Stillness + Chi + Movement = Fajin Add better Grounding, better knitted together joints better muscular co ordination better Kenetic Firing better peng and song better practice and loads of it. and yes @ChiDragon dude, better breathing. = Better Fajin but Chi is the great transmission between stillness and movement it’s where we come from it’s where the material universe comes from.. it has to come from somewhere. think about all the power it takes to power the universe . that’s where Fajin comes from to it gets its power from the same place CHI - AKA - ENERGY

I'll give you an example of internal power that is very simple to comprehend. There is a component of the will, the mind, the intention . Of course there are muscles, joints, sequential firing, vectors of power and combined forces. But also there is the will for this. The antecedent, mostly it's largely unconcious, but sometimes very conscious. The mind directs its will to the body. these impulses are deeply internal. Sure it is by way of nervous system firing up. But how fine tuned and improved it becomes with Qigong training. energy work with the body and breath, it's simple, always it's body and breath. But what precedes movement? Stillness... and what emerges in this stillness . Your intention of course, this is manifest and makes manifest your movement. this is internal, this is your qi at work. you are not seeing the wood for the trees. If you see the body as the body and the movement only as muscles you miss the answer to the puzzle. that answer is in the stillness and your right science is king, even with this. Physics. Look how still we can appear when we are in bed sleeping, but we are shooting through the universe at 3000 miles an hour, at least !!! Look at the wheel on the moving car, it moves so fast... yet what is happening at the centre, from where All movement is issued. STILLNESS. So both right both wrong at the same time. That's ok that is life. You are right... but so are others, @Taoist Texts @Sahaja say internal power is a thing. Of course it still works through the body. You are right and will always be right. but it's only part of the story @ChiDragon you can't have one without the other, you are forgetting antecedents, every consequence has one, every body has energy that precedes it (predates it even) Just like every movement... It's preceded by stillness, there is a great power there... just like every portion of the universe, including me and you, have movement and stillness... And stars are born and have this incredible power emerging somehow from the centre, We are like that too, and conscious Savvy?

It's quite easy just try it. lower - First part relax abdomen (abdominal breathing) middle - depress diaphragm feel expansion of middle torso (diaphragmatic breathing) Upper - breath into upper chambers of lungs by clavicles (clavicular breathing) Then release part by part till lower abdomen, This is one full breath. you can practice th an separately too to get an idea of what's going on in the body. In yoga it's called three part breath Dirgha Pranayama . It's just a way to take a complete breath.

There is a lot of talk about 'steam entering in books written by Vippasana monks. I remember reading while working at the centre in England. They have a very interesting library of books with monks own accounts. Very gifted and in terms of their circumstances, also blessed with lives that made things easy for them to be full time in meditation. @Shadow_self have you read any books from these monks accounts from the Burmese tradition ?

For me I like practicing day ding against a wall, rolling the spine up against it, flattening the back, with knees bent then I use three part breath. Breath in to lower, then middle , then upper. (At this point I feel the breath strongly around the clavicles) The breathe out from upper, then middle then lower, I Do this for just give or ten breaths it's quite effective. another cool way to open the breath I do lying down. I imagine a balloon inflating under my hand. I do many hand placements left and right over entire lungs region and the back over kidneys. I just place hand and imagine a balloon inflating u nderneath, directing the air there. It's quite effective.

I’d argue it helps people get closer to the deeper levels of the practice , eventually. The collective consciousness I believe has tipping points , as well as individuals minds. Revealing deeper levels of truth about existence, creates a long term benefit for humanity. That’s what I believe anyway, the complex and the simple, both ends of the spectrum are beneficial to share about.

Nice 👍

Agreed, better starting young for the vigorous practices. I’m 42 now and would like to have trained harder when younger but I at least did a bit. Getting a nice strong base in Karate younger I think would have been a nice move. Yeah good advice I think to younger self, concentrate more on the physical while you are young, and leave the cerebral stuff for later in life. Make yourself strong first and go on the adventure of life, no need to sit in your cave just yet. Not for too long anyway. Training in China also would have been the way to go for me. I booked into a kungfu school in Wudang for three years. And literally the money I had ready for it fell through. I was 27 yr old at the time with a few years experience in qigong so it would have been good. For traditional kungfu training though 27 yr old was literally the oldest they would take students. Yeah if I could go back I reckon I’d have told myself to just get a one way ticket to Wudang and see what happens. Life’s too short not to take chances.

I looked at sex and sexual partners very differently in my mid 20’s. That’s when I was doing the most qigong. Sadly I looked at girls largely as an interruption to my practice. Energy goes where it’s needed most doesn’t it. I would find in bed laying next to a partner at that very moment before falling asleep when my defences were down I would feel energy leave the body suddenly. With one partner it was always from the heart centre. People are different of course. I just think it’s difficult being a cultivator in a relationship and helps to have the best partner possible. Would be a good topic for a thread that would. I wonder if there is an older thread that really gets into the subject. Partner or no Partner?

I can relate to that I really can. I was ready to take up robes at one point. It was certainly the sad reality I faced when I was practicing for many hours a day. I would get with a female and my energy would completely degrade and practice would be pretty much reset (if you know what I mean) My problem I think looking back is I never found a girl who was cultivating herself in a strong way to complement my own practices. I wish you luck In all of it whatever path you take , sex , no sex , robes , cave , forest (sounds cool) etc For me it’s best to keep in balance, health, sexual, martial, meditative/religious. Fill up each of those jars a little bit each day