Michael Sternbach

Better believe it.

In my opinion, "opening" of the chakras (purification, raising of their vibrational frequencies etc) is part of meditative/cultivating practices, whether the practitioners are aware of it or not. Much like most meditation methods will create alpha brainwaves, no matter if that terminology is being used. And particularly significant spiritual experiences ("enlightenments") do often occur in tune with chakra "openings".

Welcome Mik! I am confident you will get a glimpse of a wide variety of cultivation practices on TDB.

In response to Gendao and DreamBliss: I agree with you, DB. During the years I was doing Zazen, my preferred posture was indeed the Lotus. It is in fact something like an ideal posture, however, not everybody has the prerequisites to assume it, much less comfortably for a prolonged period of time. And it's NOT simply a matter of their being too tensed. If you can't do a full Lotus (yet), don't worry, there is a lot more going on in meditation. The best posture FOR YOU is one in which you can relax, yet remain aware. Any force will be detrimental. Remember, you are in no contest, and if anywhere, in meditation, the way is ever the goal.

For a good systematic training program to reach the alpha and theta state, I recommend the Silva Method: http://www.amazon.com/Silva-Method-Home-Study-Course/dp/B000EVIDKO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1440100647&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Silva+Method%3A+Home+Study+Course http://www.amazon.com/RARE-11-CD-INSTRUCTIONAL-PROGRAM-Instructional/dp/B001A7GNIA/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1440100501&sr=8-6&keywords=silva+ultra

Meditation is an umbrella term that covers a lot of different approaches and methods. Some are more suitable for a particular individual than others. A method that generally helps one relax is to sit in an upright but comfortable position or even lie down flat. Then pay attention to each area of your body and consciously completely relax them. I recommend starting from the head ("I relax my scalp; I relax my eyes", etc). Inhale and exhale deeply but softly. Take your time. To achieve a deeper state of relaxation, you can use "stacking". That means you use more than one method. You may start with muscle relaxation, then imagine you are in some beautiful, calming place, then slowly count from ten to one, with each step going deeper. When you feel very relaxed, you may commence some visualization exercises, depending on the aim of your meditation. Meditative music, candles, fragrances may be useful as well. And I too recommend using guided meditations as they keep your mind focussed.

I was taught to do Zazen with the left hand resting on top of the right. I have never heard that this should be the other way around for a woman.

Thank you, Marblehead. While I consider myself lucky not having had any experience of war, I did and do give some thought to strategical thinking (oops, pun) and most certainly, there are many parallels between martial arts philosophy and the AoW. It seems likely that the book even influenced the development of MA to a degree. The interest of the AoW for most people lies not so much in its being an instruction manual for the battle field, but in its applicability in many other fields.

A few further comments on chapter 3. An application in the business world could be to unite with a rivaling company rather than trying to destroy them (by pushing them out of the market). As we saw already in the last chapter, Sun Tzu advocates turning enemies into friends. That way, not only won't you have to fight them any longer - they will even add to your strength. Among other situations, this principle can be useful in self-defence. In particular, I remember how I was once sitting in a bar, waiting for a friend: While letting my thoughts wander, I was playfully hitting the table in front of me with some light chops. Somebody passed behind my back and pushed my chair. I thought to myself: "Yeah, good you go home, dude, you seem to have had enough...", but didn't pay any further attention. However, the dude (a strong and aggressive looking young guy) decided to pay some more attention to me. He came back and yelled: "How dare you hit the table?!" "Excuse me?" He repeated it. I wondered if he misunderstood my hitting the table as a challenge; quite possibly, he was just looking for a fight! I turned to look at him and said calmly: "That has nothing to do with you. It's just between the table and me." All the while, I kept his whole body in my peripheral vision, ready to react to his slightest move. I also took note of his vital spots. I am still not sure what it was: The way I looked at him, the tone of my voice, my body language or perhaps something more intangible. Anyway, all of a sudden, the guy lost all his fighting spirit. He gave me the impression of a deflated balloon. He seemed confused when he stuttered: "I see... Well, have a nice evening." And took off rather quickly then. Another important principle, to be sure: Prevent or disrupt the junction of the opponent's forces. Martial arts that advocate rapid multiple strikes (like the Kenpo styles and the Filipino arts) apply this principle - an attacker who is aching in several spots at once can no longer direct his aggressive energy towards you. So opting for a siege can in fact make sense for a party that is far stronger than the opposition. Given enough time, the latter may even surrender without a fight. Or the stratagem of the Trojan horse could be applied to that end... In the latter case, it's: Divide and conquer! This is another instance of scattering the enemy's forces, using the same principle like above. A number of martial arts advice avoiding (evading) a greater force and countering from an advantegeous position, possibly even using the opponent's own force against them. Yeah, that sounds like good advice under such circumstances... A mouse should run and take cover when a cat shows up. Well, really always?! History doesn't support that, it would seem... In each case, the problem is that the ruler (comfortably sitting in his fortress) is ignorant of the reality of the battle field, thus he makes insensitive and inappropriate decisions. Then our author sort of summarizes what he said in the chapter: Taking the initiative is often of great advantage, not only in battles. A principle that holds true regarding all kinds of "battles", even the ones at family meetings on Christmas eve. Understanding how both you and others are looking at things, and what possibilities each of you possess, is key to preventing or resolving many a conflict. But it's also crucial to other kinds of situations, like winning and satisfying customers, if you are business person.

It is important to note that Sun Tzu's first aim is to avoid war, such as can sometimes be done by the use of stratagems. If it cannot be avoided, he recommends to conduct it with the least amount of force possible. To that end, it should be waged as intelligently and decisively as feasible. That's why he is talking of the Art of War. Sun Tzu's underlying philosophy is indeed Daoist. It is also the philosophy of the wise martial artist, in essence.

Could it be that the USA are advertising themselves quite well?

What's the difference in your opinion? In Lois' opinion?

Next, Sun Tzu shows that he also understands the "yin side" of warfare (as does every experienced spouse or parent - LOL): The sneaky art of using stratagems.

And the correct way to pronounce and spell the words of a language would be defined by what or who? Languages are in a state of flux over space and time. You could say that all the different accents/dialects of a language are variations over a common prototype or "Archetype". It is being expressed according to local cultural particularities. But, as Jung explained, Archetypes per say remain invisible, they can only be observed via their various manifestations. In a sense, they are the sum of all their existent and possible manifestations, in another sense, they are independent from them, outside space and time.

I like to think of plans as providing me with a certain direction to go and something to resort to in case no better option presents itself. However, planning ahead too meticulously leaves one vulnerable to unexpected moves by the opposition. The overly systematic fighter may not be able to cope when faced with a seemingly chaotic (non-linear) style of combat. Interestingly, Sun Tzu therefore recommends the latter in certain chapters as we shall see later.

So wu wei is only good for play times? Wouldn't we have to think of it as the most appropriate way of action under the most challenging circumstances? Isn't this what martial arts teach? Telling from personal experience, I have been in some tricky situations unexpectedly before, and I kept my head while others lost theirs. So while they were behaving like hysterical chicken, the best course of action occurred to me spontaneously. In Sun Tzu's recommendation of meticulous planning versus Chuang Tzu's spontaneity lies a dichotomy that is not easily resolved, again talking from my own life experience.

Interesting. I would like to see some elaborated examples for the application of AoW principles in real life on this thread. Could you give us some details?

The atomic number of arsenic which could be seen as a Solar element in alchemical terms.

Okay, now the heat is on. The general thrust of this chapter is: Engage the enemy economically. Meaning, with minimum expenditure for yourself, and maximum expenditure for them. Needless to say, this principle can be adapted to many kinds of conflict. A related tenet comes to mind: Let the opponent make far detours, while you are only making small circles. (Aikido demonstrates this nicely.) Some repetitions in this chapter. Therefore I will skip some paragraphs in the following. The same holds true for any ongoing "static warfare" situation in life. Right, another reason to avoid strenuous delays: There can be opportunists just waiting to take advantage of your overexertion. It goes without saying that what is to be considered "extreme" depends on the circumstances. Probably not a country. But there have always been individuals or industries profiting from it, as MH mentioned before. The true reason for many a war in the first place, one might assume. Profitable war... Here Sun Tzu starts reminding me of Machiavelli. More "Machiavellian" stuff. Hoping that the enemy can provide you with your favourite nachos! Address your people's lower instincts, in other words. A humane note; Sun Tzu seems to remember that many opponents in a war are not there of their own device. And/or that today's enemies can be tomorrow's friends. Oh. Rather the latter then. As a martial artist, I observe that the same holds true in self-defence. No room for competition style hopping and acrobatics there! Make every strike count. And as soon as you have the opportunity: Get out of there. They should better remember that one well.

No need to fuss over semantics here, imo. But feel free to feed my post into your MS Office and replace "Divinity" with "Dao". No copyright issues either, as long as it's only for your personal use!

33 is also the number of the paths on the Tree of Life extended by one, or 32+1. That kind if extension is an important feature of spiritual mathematics, thus we have 4 = 3+1, 5 = 4+1 etc. It is a Solar number, i.e. the mass of the Sun is 333'000 times the mass of the Earth.

We know that the matter we are made of on the physical level is completely exchanged once in seven years, yet we have a feeling of continuity well beyond that. It is obviously based on an information pattern. Does that pattern always rely on a physical carrier? No, for we have subtle bodies consisting of etheric substance. These seem to be in a state of flux much like the physical body, they are not necessarily permanent. However, they can be made more permanent by Internal Alchemy (in one of its various forms). This goes hand in hand with the attainment of extended spititual awareness. How so? The various subtle bodies belong to different levels of non-physical reality, and it depends on our awareness of our existence on those levels during our physical incarnation how far we remain "ourselves" in between physical incarnations. It is not easy to describe by words... Astral travel during lucid dreams can give some clues. On the innermost level, we are one with Divinity, which is of course totally indestructable, but few come to appreciable awareness of their innate Divinity during physical incarnation.

I strongly agree with this. As an astrologer, so many times I have a conversation like this: "She's an Aries, so she must be active all the time!" I go: "No, she loves to take a nap during the day." "What's that?!" "Moon in Pisces." "Huh? Never heard of that..." The Sun is the most radiant influence of the chart, but there is so much more involved, otherwise there would only be twelve different kinds of people... OR it's already there. That depends on where you draw the line between Pisces and Aquarius constellations. There is a similar problem regarding the kinds of sidereal astrology you mention, as different schools have defined different placements for 0° Aries relative to the stars, whereas the zodiac is always divided into twelve equal sectors; so it's actually quite abstract. Unless one accepts that there could be more than one frame of reference - which I do, although I am primarily a tropical astrologer. "As above so below" means that everything "up there" has a parallel "down here". Btw, there are also astrologers who consider the precession of the EP to proceed in regular epochs of 30° spatially and 2160 years temporally. Yes, there is also the difference between constellations and asterisms, just to spice things up further. Tropical astrology is also quite individualistic/spiritual though. I'm not suite sure yet what the two different levels are supposed to represent exactly, although I am open to ideas. Instead of employing sidereal signs, I limit myself to tropical signs, but I do consider individual fixed stars in conjunction or opposition to planets or angles. That is often very conclusive. Yes, if by "ruling planet", you mean a planet at the ASC or MC. More often, the term is used for the Lord of the sign at the ASC (if it were Sagittarius, its ruler Jupiter would be considered rather important in the chart), which does change depending on the kind of zodiac you use. Yes, pretty good stuff there, really.

<shrug> Right. Western Buddhists may actually in some cases be more devoted than Eastern ones, because they are Buddhists by choice, not by inheritance. Some Asian high level teachers are well aware of the significant role the West seems to play nowadays in the preservation of the core teachings not only of Buddhism, but also of other traditional systems. But actually, the discussion took off from Apech's statement: (I suppose he meant "Good and evil"?) I maintain that this dualism can also be found in Buddhism. I granted that it may rather be a feature of popular Buddhism, but certainly it's not limited to Theistic religions. Notwithstanding this, nobody has been able to explain to me convincingly so far how even the Buddhist core teaching are fundamentally different in this regard from the Christian doctrine. However, at least Lao Tzu seems to be universally recognized.

Okay, maybe Buddha's original teaching was somehow more nuanced, but what it boils to at least in the view of average Buddhists (some of which I happened to talk to), and actually in keeping with what you said above, is this: GOOD intentions, words, deeds = good karmic results BAD intentions, words, deeds = bad karmic results "Bad" referring to lying, stealing, killing... Hello, Ten Commandments? I don’t see any difference to the Abrahamic religions, in principle. Thanks for admitting. That's alright - he didn't know you either.