Orion

Winning and losing are an arbitrary hierarchy of values, so are the notions of perfection and imperfection. The truth is the truth, it has no "proper placement". If you believe it's possible to refine your personality to the point that you never die, or if you believe that you are separate from Divinity and therefore perfectionism is needed in order to attain something, then that is your path. You speak in terms of a zero sum game, which is how most people throughout history described their search for immortality before they eventually died. If you're using logic to assess your immortal nature, you may want to consult your other faculties. Saying you don't want to die is assuming "you" were ever born. The personality arises from a set of presumptive values. It is neither here nor there. What you really are is already permanent. Good luck in your search.

Why must self-cultivation be tied to immortality? Are you looking for a reward? The fundamental thing driving the pursuit of immortality - whether it's the search for the holy grail or for daoism's immortals - is fear of death. You mask it under the guise of wanting to retain your memories and experiences so that you don't have to start over. Everything dies eventually, even the gods. I did indeed watch my grandparents die, and some friends. I was also clinically dead and resuscitated a year ago. I've also experienced physical degeneration to the point of near death several times over. The only thing driving the search for immortality is an ego that is resisting the truth of its own redundancy. I wish it were possible for everyone to have an NDE before they committed themselves to such a perilous and illusory journey. When ego is softened or dissolved, all you experience is Wu Wei, which is all you are anyway. An ego striving for immortality is the most ironic thing ever. Like I said, life extension is possible, maybe even for hundreds of years, but immortality is an illusion. I've heard all the stories about transformed bodies and what not... but that's all they are: stories. It's always someone who knows someone who knows someone who saw it, or it's an old story written in a book, or you have to be part of a secret society in order to eventually find out (also known as human power games and hierarchies). Eventually you have to let it all go. And if not... if maybe immortality is a thing and you're the 1 in 1 billion who gets to experience it, then your path will lead you there anyway because your eternal spirit has already done the work over however many lifetimes, against all odds, to achieve it. But part of you is already immortal. Why be so obsessed about transforming this physicality. There are many paths to Rome.

Yes, yes... there are always secret tales reserved for secret circles and special people who jump through enough hoops to be worthy of them. Those circles are always convinced that there are immortal humans out there walking the earth, and if you're privileged enough you'll get to see them some day. You're already immortal. No special koolaid is required. All the texts and secret teachings about attaining immortality are not taught by people who are hundreds of years old. Your only rebuttal is that immortals exist but they are so far removed from society that they have no use for us, thus we will never meet them. How convenient. You're talking to someone who has seen and believes in many esoteric things that the mediocre world readily dismisses, but I do not believe immortals exist as a physical embodiment. At least not human ones. The fact that we live and then die is a gift.

There are no immortal humans walking around, aside from some tales that they exist. So we can safely conclude that it's not possible to replenish yuanqi in a meaningful way. Life extension/maximization is possible but that's it. There are no secret techniques. Anyone who claims there are is lying. IMO people should use all the esoteric methods they can to prepare themselves for what comes after death, kind of like soul planning. I wouldn't bother focusing all my efforts on preserving this specific body.

I have a theoretical question about the kundalini pathway for all you Dao Bums out there, and I'd appreciate replies from people with direct experience or at least a good grasp of the textual theory. If someone has, at some point in their life, built their antakharana and successfully experienced the kundalini pathway from root to crown in full connection, could those pathways ever been shut down or locked again? By abandoning the spiritual path, getting lazy, getting deluded again, etc.? Or are the gateways permanently unlocked, and the person is merely choosing not to access them?

Yes... Five years ago I had my first full kundalini experience. It was a time in my life when I was living pretty close to my true path, but it was being done in a non-sustainable way. I could even do it at will. Eventually it could no longer be maintained and my life became a lot more mundane. Then I became very ill for a couple of years, and when I recovered I didn't have full kundalini rising anymore. I feel what dwai is saying is true, about how kundalini and the true self are one in of the same. When I engage in activity that relates to my path I find it much easier to access higher energy states. I have had kundalini experiences recently that spanned the full body, reminding me that, in my case, the pathways don't ever truly close up. It's just a matter of clearing and accessing. But as I am only one person, I wanted to know if this is a universal thing or just me. It seems like the kundalini accomplishments of years ago are still accessible now, but perhaps I am learning to do it in a more sustainable way rather.

Thank you both.

So are you saying that if we begin to identify with the body as self, and identify with the various egos, the antakharana can move to a lower state again? Or is it the opposite, that once evolved it never goes away? You say that the antakharana is always there but how is that true if people's kundalini gets stuck there?

I come here to get away from that non-sense. I know it will be everywhere because naturally Americans want to swallow the entire planet with their infantile political problems. But as I am a spiritually focused person, comments like "dumb liberals" are distractive. Their only intention is to stoke antagonism without compassion.

The proscriptions against lust seem more relevant to pre-awakening. In post-awakening you realize you've always been awake and that the levels are meaningless ego games. You realize there is no supreme being to try for, you are it and so is everything else. It is everything and it's all right here. You can't get anymore into it than you already are. You can be angry, happy, sad, screaming, fucking... it doesn't matter. The whole thing is already perfected. The realization amalgamates mind, body, and spirit. Mind works in cooperation with it. So does the body. So I say go ahead and be lustful if it's the inclination. Abstaining when it's not what you really want or obsessing when you'd rather be free of it are both attachments that are just going to cause suffering; but whether attached or not, you're already free and nothing is wrong. Nothing is right either. All of the hierarchies can sublimate into it nicely.

Dairy, wheat, gluten... probably more to do with how contaminated these foods are now. Pretty much all wheat in North America is GMO now and they saturate it with glyphosate prior to harvest. No wonder people are having eroded guts? Back before the Green Revolution, all these foods were safe. People had raw milk, heirloom wheat. Gluten is a dense molecule and non-celiac gluten intolerance is likely related to a weakened GI. Nobody should be getting a hangover from eating food. Food is not all you need to do better, but it's a big part. When I see what industry and out of control global capitalism are doing to the world, I wonder how humans will ever stand a chance at higher levels of cultivation. There will always be masters who emerge from the muck but beyond that, how do you enlighten when your environment is polluted and your food is poisoned?

It's like any system... the originators had insight and were probably psychic. Then the message got spread out to the world of mundanes and it got turned into systems.

If Dao Bums is now going to be trolled by this kind of partisan baiting crap, I'm going to have to re-evaluate my presence here.

This is why political science isn't a real science, anymore than economics is. You can't just hone in on a few golden factors and then proclaim that a country is on the rise. Human social systems are largely unpredictable. China has a lot going for it but it's tied into the same complex interdependent web that all nations are, nations which are, in of themselves, illusory constructs. We all exist within nature, a nature that we still don't really understand, and that's going to call the shots. I lived in China for 2 years and every day I saw 100 things that showed China could become a superpower, along with 100 things that showed China could collapse at any second. Frankly I would not want to see a world run by China. They are too stuck in their status quo traditional lifestyle, even the modern people. The world is already out of time but we don't have anymore time to waste on waiting for another country to rise from feudalism into post-capitalist maturity. The ecological burden is too great. Everyone on this planet is living on a razor's edge and nobody is the wiser. I wrote my undergrad thesis on China and at the time the whole "China rising" thing was cutting edge. Now it seems like an old trope that people keep dishing out without any real understanding of how overwhelmingly complex modern globalism is. Their entire economy is gamed. Their books are a big black box. Their currency is fixed by the state, supported by years of unstable growth. Their environment is teetering on the brink of collapse and no short-term engineering feat can pave over that. People with money and privilege are getting the hell out ASAP because the writing is on the wall. If the economy there collapses there won't be uncontaminated land and water to run to for support. The U.S. is in an identical position. China is rising, OK -- but to where? Nobody is talking about the end game of consumer global capitalism. Nobody. Everyone is acting like this shit show is just going to continue indefinitely. The world's ecology is likely beyond the pale. China, like every other blind capitalist state, is rising to its own oblivion. Economists are too infatuated with their short-term models to see it.

I agree that the more flexible and open your pelvis is, the more the energy will flow in your body, but I do not associate this with grounding, necessarily. There are lots of people in the yoga community who are airy fairy, and they can assume all manner of perfect positions. Grounding is just as much about your psychospiritual disposition as it is your ability to draw awareness of your physicality into the Earth. There are a lot of people who can do full lotus after years of disciplined stretching who are still totally in their heads about it. I guess what I'm saying is, lotus positions may offer an opportunity, but you still have to do the inner cultivation... and you can do that even with cross legs. Personally I don't do traditional meditations anymore because I can enter that consciousness even when I'm in motion, but when I used to meditate while sitting I did it in chairs, or crossed legs, or half lotus, or full lotus, or some variation.

Those are some interesting responses, but a lot of them are esoteric. I think the most practical explanation is that ancient people didn't sit in chairs as much, they tended to squat. When your pelvis is naturally that open, the lotus pose would be a lot more comfortable than sitting cross-legged. As a kid I always sat in half lotus, all the way to adult hood. Then when I joined spiritual communities for the first time they thought it was some amazing sign that I am meant to be doing spiritual work, lolol... For me personally I find lotus more comfortable because my tailbone touches the floor and I can really straighten my spine, but my legs still go numb after a while. Regular crossed legs never worked for me because I am tall and bony with not much butt fat, and when you sit cross legged you're basically sitting painfully on your seat bones. IMO it's about personal preference. It's not that the Lotus is "more spiritual".

I don't understand why people are so obsessed with hyperflexibility. It causes joint instability down the road. Is there something wrong with only sitting in half lotus, or crossed legs? I have treated so many people over the years who have yoga injuries. You don't need to be hyperflexible to have good qi flow.

It's easy to tell him to stop feeding them with material but if you live with people it's a lot harder to avoid their crap. It makes it unsafe to even open your mouth and that makes it stressful to even live there. Sometimes people are cruel and go out of their way to be antagonistic no matter what you do.

No, I'm not talking about Wu Wei I've never been a big fan of raw diets and I've never done juicing before, but I thought I would give it a try just to help add more enzyme activity to my body. I'm not doing a fast or special diet... I'm still eating meat and other rich foods as well. I've just decided to increase my veggie intake in the form of juice and more salads. I'm finding that there's something about drinking the juices that is making me feel more empty in my center, kind of like a weakness. It's not due to reduced calories, it's more of an experience in my qi. My absorption seems to be fine and my bowel movements are normal, but I have this empty feeling. My pulses are normal too. It's a vague feeling of something being stripped away... like an insulation. My insides feel "bare". I know this is a really unclear explanation but I'm having trouble putting my finger on it. In TCM they say to avoid raw because it's cold and damp in nature, both of which injure spleen. I've considered that maybe it's something to do with that... but it's not like I'm terribly deficient in the first place. And we're not talking insane amounts of raw here, just 8oz of juice a day (that I make myself) and maybe more servings of veggies with my other meals. I add warming spices to the juice and my other meals are hot. Thoughts on this?

I discovered that I had an underlying candida problem that I thought I had nixed in the beginning of summer. It has been affecting my absorption and probably my gut permeability. I'm going to try juicing again after this issue is dealt with. Interesting re: beet juice, and also I never thought to add veggie juice to pre-made soup and then reheat. That's brilliant! A friend who is a health practitioner recommended that I start taking digestive enzymes, a very basic supplement. I have always been wary of those but I decided to give it a go. A few days in I had some kind of herx reaction that is hard to define. My face broke out and I had scaly skin and flakiness appearing everywhere, but it didn't feel like a traditional herx die off. The reaction was very similar to what happened when I dove into the juicing, minus the blood sugar spikes. I'm wondering if the enzymes have broken down something that has been inhibiting my digestion, like some kind of metabolic garbage. I have been eating cooked food for months and maybe I needed to re-introduce enzyme rich foods more slowly. My face is really clear now and even old scars are starting to turn pink and heal. I'm certainly absorbing better. I'm celiac so I never eat gluten, and dairy is a no-go because of casein. I make home made kefir and separate the curds and whey so that I can use the whey for probiotic content here and there, but I can only do small doses. I used to be able to eat dairy and gluten no problem but since the gut issues of the past 3 years I have many food allergies. Dysbiosis really is a B and it is the root of all my woes, but it was 7-8 years in the making so I'm not going to fix it overnight. This all started because I ignorantly took antibiotics while I was in China, vaccines before I went there, and then subsequently exposed myself to many gut infections from the poor sanitation there. I have been reeling ever since. I feel like my body has gone back to infancy in its gut development. I was thinking recently about how mother's milk is part of what introduces the initial gut flora into an infant's body and initializes the digestion. I'm wondering if maybe somewhere down the line I should drink raw goat's milk or raw cow's milk to get a similar effect happening. I know how the immune system works though... the memory B cells that remember food allergies hang out in the bone marrow for years and even one exposure restarts the immune process all over again. So I'm concerned that if I suddenly do dairy again I might walk into an inflammatory situation.

Living your life from your heart means that when you die you will have already been in the process of completing your life mission. Talking to dead people helps, especially your ancestors. They know what dying is like and can give you some tips. They also make the transition a lot easier because they'll be there to help you. I generally find the living rather useless at expounding upon this subject and most of the reliable literature on this subject from throughout the ages was given to the living by the dead or non-corporeal. Might as well just go to the source. *shrug*

The link contains a lot of critique but it doesn't open a gateway to suggest another better kind of learning process. When I read this diatribe, my heart shuts down. That's all I need to know. The most evident result that someone is part of a "true lineage" is that they have transcended these petty divisions and are a lot more in their yuanshen heart space.

Make sure the back of your neck, the top of your head, and any weak points are protected... like anywhere that you have an illness. Those are the most common attachment points. When we meditate our field changes... for lack of a better word... and in successful inner plane work we sort of light up and become more interesting to them. I personally would not believe anything an entity tells you, especially if they seem divine, blissful, intelligent, or whatever. If they aren't invited then there is a boundary/consent violation happening and that is the first sign that they are not actually there for the highest good. Entities like human energy and that's all there is to it. But... to be honest... we don't need to know the origin of the entity, the mechanism, the science, whatever. It's all irrelevant because the perception is arising from mind. If you aren't distracted and return to centre, it's less likely they will stick around. They successful lure people in with fear, lust, and even intellectual discourse that engages the mind. Like anything that arises in meditation, let it dissolve... just like you would ignore an incessant person trying to talk to you while you're clearly meditating. They're just nuisances.

The silence of the mainstream media on this issue is really disturbing. It barely gets any coverage yet it's one of the biggest protest events in recent history. Anyone who's aware of what's going on knows that we can no longer possibly believe any of the values our government espouses about democracy, freedom, respect, or even basic humanity.

To me it's more of a bait and switch dynamic. Hollywood is run by people who are familiar with real occult... you can tell by the images and symbols they use in everything, as well as their understanding of subliminality. I've also heard quite a few insider tales over the years. The blatant misrepresentations of the occult and their targeted audiences are purposeful in order to keep people in lower levels of consciousness (like fear or covetousness) so that the real power remains unseen. That's why most real occult belongs to lineages and secret groups. It's basically one big slight of hand.