taoguy

i'd like to know more about this too. I know a very advanced cultivator who literally stays lucid in his dream cycle, to the point that he sometimes cannot differentiate dreams and reality. He trained it by increasing his intensity in meditation throughout the day, and then staying lucid for the dream. He did astral projection as well, which he says can happen during the dream cycle too. Recalled many past lives too. The way he explains it is to hear the inner sound ringing, then ride that sound all the way until all the other things appear (tingling, lights, etc)... Then one eventually pops out when all of them become intensified.

I do not know about "opening" it that way, but I find that it only opens when you get that "emptiness feeling", as if you were merged with the void. When I was meditating a few years back, I realized posture was very important, because if you're hunching over, it is a subconscious instinct to "hide away" from others, while if you notice the lions who lie down on the plains with their entire necks and bellies exposed... Also, there's a higher tendency to feel duller... If you're talking about electrical conductivity, I know Yang Jwing Ming talks about how it improves if one relaxes both the front and back, allowing the fascia (that corresponds to the microcosmic orbit) to conduct bioelectricity more easily. That's why physical relaxation is so important... I always thought the heart center was the second dan tian, which should be in the middle, rather than the front though.

Yes, just like how Tai Ji is "Grand Ultimate", I suspect that the Sun, meaning Tai Yang means "Grand Yang". "Yue" was referring to the chinese word for Moon (Yue Liang) or Month. Very interesting, because I find that some masters seem to like meditating on a full moon's day too. Thank you for this explanation, it clarifies things. So the absence of the Sun (Tai Yang) leads to yin - that makes a lot of sense.

Also... avoid blue light 2 hours before sleep. LED screens give off blue light - so your laptop, phones, etc should be kept away, or at least, placed with a blue-light filter. (They have apps! Like this for android or iphone or windows) I like doing the martial arts exercise where you place your palms on your ears, then drum the back of your head (celestial drums), as well as massaging the occipital condyles in a rotational manner (the two bumps at the back of your head). I don't know if it helps you, but it gives me a more restful sleep... Then as I practice maintaining lucidity in sleep, I also tended to notice that we have to look at the 'mental screen' so that the dream images surface. Or perhaps you can pay attention to the 'inner sound' that is this very high pitched ring. Then you might see some kind of kaleidoscopic, dream-like, spectral images... or nonsensical/illogical scenes that flash by... Usually at this moment, I find that if you wobble the attention, such that it is unable to focus on anything, you fall unconscious and fall asleep in the hypnagogic phase. I used this trick to go into torpor since I was a child... It's kind of like when you are so bored, and you have nothing to do and then you have no brightness in the mind and just ... poof, you're unconscious. But if you focus your attention, then you might stay lucid. However the problem is that we tend to tense our muscles too much and not ride along with the process, so we keep intervening with it and then we never fall asleep. I don't really know much other than my own personal experience, so ... yup.

That makes sense. I'll disclaim that I have no idea and it was a mere suggestion. However, I was not really thinking of the notion of a creationistic intelligence, but more of intelligence as in nature's capability to consolidate information and display them in various forms... Isn't that what intellect is? Maybe I'm wrong. I'm thinking, more of a re-ordering, a movement between order and chaos, the process of unwinding and winding.

I think it's about the effects of its gravity on the Earth, rather than its light. In the full moon, the tides are pulled upwards, I think? Since the body is 70% water, we can also probably feel some kind of gravity pulling away from the earth, however subtle it is... I think the moon kind of accentuates whatever is pre-existing... Madness swells if there is... Love swells if there is... Perhaps that's why a lot of people found inspiration on a full moon... Compared to the yang of the Sun (tai yang), what would the moon be? I mean, if it was truly yin, then wouldn't the ancient chinese have called it "yin" instead of "yue"?

Hmm... Given that energy is convertable between any form and is uncreated and indestructable, wouldn't it also mean that it doesn't really matter what the "form" is? Everything that ever existed came from some form of pre-existing energy... and energy already exists within the void... But rather to me, it seems to be some kind of intelligence/probabilistic waveform that can be converted into any kind of form. It can be light if it wants, heat if it wants, sound if it wants, etc. Well, just my opinion, I feel like these various forms (gravity/heat/sound/light/etc) are just manifestations of some kind of intelligence, which is qi...

I interpret it as... trance (forcibly stopping) and flow (running along with guidance by nature). So flowing until it naturally rests is like stirring a cup and letting it rest on its own momentum, or perhaps letting a top spin until its momentum is done... Did I get it right? I learnt in a lecture from Ajahn Brahm, who said that concentration is not tensing up, but rather, it is about tranquil stillness of the mind. So I think I understand what you mean by 'no effort' to a small degree... I also find in practice that when I surrender or give up, it allows this blissfulness to rise within me. I really liked what you said about how "effort" is to break up negative patterns. It really made it clear for me, thank you. --- Just another question, if you don't mind.... What is your view on sexuality? Sex? Masturbation? Lust? Is it purely biological and natural? Or is it really founded upon some kind of love between beings, just expressed in physical form? Given how many texts frown upon masturbation or wasting of 'seed' (while the Bible and Buddhist sutras only state sexual misconduct), I'd love to know what's a healthy viewpoint to look at it. Thank you again for taking your time to explain!

Thank you Spotless, for that explanation. I will deeply reflect on what you said.

I am genuinely confused and thought that you could help reconcile what are seemingly different paths (that makes it impossible for me to choose just one path since they all seem different in principle). Perhaps you read that I am not confused from the psychic signature of my post, but I am not trolling and do wish for your insight in it... Firstly, the jhanas (in the Buddha's sutta pitaka) are achieved by cultivation of a wholesome mental state and mindfulness of body, sensations, thoughts and mental states. Secondly, spring forest qigong is about having this goal in mind (like saving others) and then cultivating through form-based qigong to manipulate energy. Thirdly, NHJ talks about going into extreme stillness so that yang can increase. He talks about the gap between in-breaths and out-breaths elongating into cessation like kumbhaka breathing. I just can't see how mindfulness ties into deliberate manipulation of energy, and into emptiness practice. One is about cultivating a joyous, ecstatic state, one is about moving energy around and the last one is about letting the energy do what it naturally wants. So I'm definitely in a dilemma about this. Then I wanted to know what you advocate, so I read the thread and found the video (the one that starts with breath observation until it stops at the third-eye). Then there was another confusion... NHJ says yang qi rises, but then the video says it is descent of cosmic energy - So with all the facts going here and there, I'm quite confused on what to follow on for my practice. Just wished you could help since you should have a bigger picture of the whole process...

Hi Spotless, since you are able to see more, and I guess, are able to tell the effectiveness of many practices, I'd like some advice on some of these things... 1. Jhanas. According to the Pali Canon (not Mahayana texts), the Buddha repeatedly talks about moving from first jhana to the fourth jhana, and so on. When one reaches the fourth jhana, abilities like the third-eye, astral projection and so on are achieved. The jhanas are characterised by traits such as blissfulness, joy, equanimity, tranquility, etc. According to your practices, have you reached the first jhana and so on, and how did you achieve them through the breath meditation video that you showed? The several methods listed by the Buddha included breath observation, body observation/contemplation of death, morality, etc. But he has never talked about being empty, which is why I am confused. 2. Spring Forest Qigong. I started practice with this form of qigong, which is based on Chunyi Lin. For standing meditations, he advocates the Moving of Yin and Yang & Breathing In of Universe (Level 1 exercises). He also advocates consciously visualizing the movement of the Microcosmic Orbit (visualizing taking in of energy at the various points, along with a guided tape where he says "ohmm" and "myooo"). He also advocates reverse abdominal breathing. For level 2, it is mostly about healing practices. For level 3, he talks about opening the third eye through Sun and Moon meditations. I was wondering if you know about these practices, and comparing with your previous post about "not doing" - Do these exercises contradict what you say? 3. Emptiness practice. Lastly, I followed Nan Huai Jin's instruction for a while. He talked about anapanasati as focusing on the gap between the breaths, so that one eventually reaches breath cessation and "yang qi" rises. However, in the video you showed, it said that one reaches cosmic energy from the Bai Hui. Therefore, I am confused - Is it the awakening of yang qi or reception of cosmic energy from the universe? Thank you for help, but I've been confused between these practices and I was hoping you could tie it into context since you are more experienced and have better insight...

Spotless told me to ask the question here:

So lately... I've been getting orgasmic feelings throughout my body. Sometimes it fades, but it always comes back when I still the mind. Sometimes I can walk and halfway through I feel a rush of orgasmic pleasantness through my body and i need to stop for a while to recover. My mind is mostly clear, with very, very few thoughts rising (unless I find that the mind becomes anxious or sluggish). Sometimes the orgasms travel up my neck and burst like fireworks in my head... I'm not complaining because it feels very blissful, but sometimes this enjoyment and drunkenness feels very counter-productive when I want to do serious work. Other times, it bursts from my heart area. It feels a little similar to when I hear beautiful music and I have this feeling of delight and enjoyment within. I can hear a slight whistling or scintillating sound in my head, almost like tinnitus, except it becomes louder when I meditate. I'm starting to love nature a lot, and while I used to go for a run, I would not just sit under trees and on the grasses so that I can sit there... and sometimes I go into a meditative state. I meditate daily... and I rarely get any sexual thoughts now... so I've not ejaculated for 2 months (since this post: http://thedaobums.com/topic/38923-preventing-jing-loss/). Sometimes I feel heat in my skin pores, intense itching while meditating, then I find that when I relinquish attachment to the physical sensations I go into a state of non-duality. It's a bit like falling asleep? My breath sometimes gets very subtle... then this wave of weird, slightly uncomfortable joy just rises from within... and I grow increasingly uncomfortable, until I get out of the meditation voluntarily. I could feel vibrations in my left leg (I sit in Burmese posture so it's the one with heel in between penis and anus). Just wondering if someone can put this in perspective for what progress I have, and where I can head towards?

I like the timeline on this site. It shows that the Mahayana was established in the 2nd century (after Gautama's death) and Vajrayana was developed after the 3rd century. There are huge contradictions between Mahayana (even Theravada) and the original Pali Canon. From what I understand, the original suttas are something many monks do not even read. They simply pick a few suttas, commentaries and base their practices off it, so this was a delightful video to watch, since he does demonstrate good knowledge of the Pali Canon. But I did have some issues with what he says as "using his physical body to fly, separate to many bodies, dive deep, etc". The actual Pali Canon did not say "physical body". It was more likely the mano-maya (mental body), which is akin to what people call the astral body (or Yin shen in taoism), which would make a huge difference to the whole interpretation, since in the mano-maya, you can certainly do all of these siddhis. But then again, there is the concept of the Yang-shen emanation in Taoism, which is of physical nature. Another thing is that the Mahayana do have a Chinese Tripitaka, meaning that they actually do have translations of the actual Pali Canon, so it is not that their suttas do not match the Pali Canon, but that they have extra suttas such as the Diamond/Heart/Surangama suttas (also: yogacara). Their explanation is that the Buddha taught his disciples to the level of Arahants, but when he started talking about "mahayana path", many of the arahants got up and left because they "clung to their emptiness". According to the Theravadans, they do not have these records. It might be worth noting though - There is a master I know who talks about how some liberated beings continue to come back to help others get liberated as well (reminiscent of the Bodhisattva concept in Mahayana). He is a strong advocate for the original Pali Canon and treats Vaj and Mahayana as distorted teachings though. I know Nan Huai Jin, a Zen/esoteric master, talks about the importance of the Pali Canon and how if even this foundation is not accomplished, one cannot even hope to utilize the Mahayana teachings (or something like that). Thank you for sharing. _/\_

That makes sense... However I am not sure if I doing the right things as I don't have a teacher. Grounding and self-pacing, got it. Hmm... so are you saying that I should balance it out? So if I am too active, I should calm it; and if I am too sluggish, I should arouse energy? Hmm yes, I definitely felt that before. When trying to detect blockages in other people, i can feel the difference in 'texture' and 'heaviness'. Hmmm, this sounds very similar. It's not that I put the heart as the focal point though, is that what you mean? I don't put my focus anywhere, but simply just on the energy flow inwards and outwards through breath meditation. Then the orgasms rise, sometimes to the back of my head and so on. Emotional frankness is something I also experienced... Hmm I'll try to follow your advice and do more grounding too. I recently started a qigong practice that focused on the lower dan tian, so i hope that will work. I also exercise on a trampoline, so that will give more awareness to the gravity of the earth. Am I practising wrongly? What do you mean by deviation? Am I deviating from the Tao? How can I improve my practice?

I believe that everything originally is in perfect harmony. When there is an imbalance, this results in movements struggling back to the balance. But sometimes... it's like how you want to go back into the flow of the river... you stop swimming against the current and go where it takes you. I experience orgasms in my body, again and again - But it is not sexual nor is it "coarse". For me, it is like taking a bath in the clear spring waters of a deep forest, where you feel refreshed and alive. It feels like life. The bliss intensifies and the orgasms culminate to a point where it shifts away from the coarseness to just peace and equanimity. The first step for me was to deal with my mind... What was I unsatisfied about? Why do I not feel content and happy? Why do I not feel peaceful? I asked myself that. Then I realized my mind flickered to anxieties/worries (of the past), to fear/expectations (of the future) and cravings (of the present senses). So I gave up on them, surrendered and stilled my mind. My mind is the problem anyway, so why not just be content right now? I felt that opening myself up and feeling deeply content allowed this happiness to rise, as if I was tucked into bed by my parents in my childhood and feeling loved. Then I opened myself more, and each time I did, I gave in more, I surrendered more, and the more I did, the fewer the thoughts. Then there was the space between the thoughts. Pure bliss. When I meditate, I let my body go, then it reaches a point where the breath becomes subtle and eventually stops. Then there is rising of energy from within, often joyous and vigorous in nature.

Hmm... perhaps... I feel like the energy otherwise lost through sex seems to be able to "rise" upwards... And whenever it does, I feel the orgasms intensify. It can start off as slight shivers and culminate in ecstasy.

A cold bath does wonders and it's scientifically shown to elevate energy levels and moods... so does a light jog in the fresh morning air. Or from just a light meditation. For me, if I sit still for a while, I feel joy rising through me and this often brings about a refreshing quality of energy that permeates the rest of my day...

I'm curious... do you know about Nan Huai Jin 南懷瑾? I know he's more of a Ch'an Buddhist but he studied under a Taoist master and apparently has attained the Tao himself. Because you talked about how stillness of yin produces great yang (or original yang)... It reminded me of how he says yang rises through the sushuma in stillness of yin as well, especially in breath cessation. It was described process by process in his book "Tao and Longevity"... What happens exactly when the real yang moves to places like the back of head, etc. He also said that letting the yang chi rise frees people of disease as well. He taught a kumbhaka type of breathing known as . I would really love to read his chinese works but unfortunately my mandarin command is not that good...

Hi all, I'm currently working on preserving my jing. I try not to arouse any sexual thoughts by having detachment towards the body (anatta principle in Buddhism) and so far it's been quite successful. However, the problem comes when I sometimes ejaculate in sleep (non-sexual dreams). It's already been 2-3 months, and it happens. So I was wondering if there is any method that can help with this? Thank you. -taoguy

I mainly do Kumbhaka breathing and Anapanasati breath meditation, as well as white skeleton visualization (where you imagine the body's meat falling apart to reveal a white skeleton within, and then disperses in the end). This happens daily. I also do zhan-zhuang on some days. Thank you, I will check them out. Hmm, that makes sense. It might appear that way. So if the jing is already formed into seminal fluid, I might as well ejaculate it? Yes, I'm trying to cut down on eating too much too. However, I need to do weekly exercise because I have a commitment to keep fit, will that cause jing problems? Hmm, okay I will check out that book too.

Please forgive me if I sound ignorant, but I'm getting started on this and the variety of methods are confusing me. I've been practising watching the breath for the past few years and have once or twice reached the state where my breath has ceased, giving rise to the awareness of chi movement. I don't understand Dzogchen though, is there an essential difference? Where can I find more resources on it, or do I absolutely need a teacher? Thank you.

I'm trying to wrap my head around this huge cognitive dissonance, but i thought I'll try to reply to it bit-by-bit... Didn't expect the thread to explode into 8 pages Thank you for the replies, the posts really helped. Firstly, if everyone was enlightened from the start, why wouldn't an embryo/fetus already be a Buddha? Why would it then allow itself to develop and develop amnesia? If it was enlightened, why would it subject itself to another birth? If this is the case, I would deduce that from the start, we are not really enlightened. Instead, we are innocent - Just as what the famous 3-word poem describes as Mencius' ideology: "When a person is born, one is pure." But I do believe that everybody has the ability to become enlightened - however, it also depends on one's karma and karmic deeds. Secondly, maybe I asked the wrong question but the whole thread seems to be steered towards a discussion of Dzogchen, instead of the differences between them. I'm a follower of Nan Huai-Jin's teachings (as in I follow his writings, especially on the Diamond Sutra, his other books and videos) and he doesn't talk too much about Dzogchen, but more of Zen and Tantric Buddhism. According to the sutras, there are many methods to become enlightened and I recall that the anapanasati was claimed to be one of the fastest methods to achieve enlightenment, on top of merit. Thirdly, isn't every side of a theory just a half-truth because it is polarized? Wouldn't it be the right way to achieve wisdom by ceasing polarities - aka Zen? I remember Siddharta Gautama had learnt under several yoga teachers, and achieved their highest attainments in an extremely short time. He was also a child prodigy who could walk at birth and was learnt in mathematics, philosophies, literature, etc before he left the palace. In the end, he claimed it was the Middle path that eventually worked, and that the way to it was the Eightfold Path and the Four Noble Truths. He also awakened to the concept of interdependent origination, implying that nature was "empty". Was exactly is this Middle Way? Is it merely a "meditation method"? Or is it a way of life incorporating right view, leading to a virtuous life? I'm really confused by the thread, btw.

Hi people... I have been meditating for the past year but not too heavily because I'm in university right now and I have a workload to tackle. I'm still in the confused stage where I'm learning from various books, etc. I'm currently reading Tao and Longevity & Working towards enlightenment by Nan Huai Chin. Does anybody have any more recommendations? I'm looking towards the Buddhist side of meditation... Thanks. Winston

Thank you! Thank you for this, very good advice.