Bindi

I referred to my earlier post which has the link to the book in it here but you can get the information you need from the van Ruysbroeck link. I'm interested to hear what you think his understanding of the light is, and how it compares to your understanding.

I researched it further to answer your question better regarding context for the quote.

The full Jan van Ruysbroeck quote can be found here in THE THIRD BOOK, CHAPTER I "SHOWING THE THREE WAYS BY WHICH ONE ENTERS INTO THE GOD-SEEING LIFE."

Yes, agreed. After passing through the darkness, the abyss, the chasm, the "divine void" within, sure.

I would use the term light differently I think, the light that reveals my self is perhaps the light of consciousness, but following this light brings me to a place in my heart that is completely dark, where there are no shadows. Light as I understand it then begins to shine from within this dark place or "cave of the heart". In the abyss of this darkness [in the heart], in which the loving spirit has died to itself, there begin the manifestation of God and eternal life. For in this darkness there shines and is born an incomprehensible light, which is the son of God, in whom we behold eternal life. - Jan van Ruysbroeck (13th century mystic)

Reminds me of one of my favourite quotes: “People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular." ― C.G. Jung

He certainly sets the bar high if the biblical account is to be believed

Sorry, what does 'it disappearing with it' refer to?

Interesting possibility - a higher spiritual body that can appear in different forms including the flesh and blood form that was crucified and apparently hungry.

It is debatable whether he dropped his earthly body and left only the higher heavenly body, biblical narrative seems to be firmly on the side of resurrection of his earthly body. For example - Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” 40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence. Luke 24:36-43

This would mean that in John Jesus is saying "Destroy this heavenly body (temple), and in three days I will raise it up" - do you think his body was a higher heavenly body before he died as well as after his resurrection?

I think these two verses are saying opposite things, GOT says "I shall destroy this house and no one will be able to rebuild it", whereas John (more or less) says 'You destroy this house and in three days I will rebuild it.'

No, but my experience so far persuades me that this perspective on the dantians is valid.

The dantians are in the body though, there are no beyond body dantians. Shen is transformed into wuji in the upper dantian within the body. So unless you just jump straight to wuji, the local body dantians are a necessary process.

Butt-hurt is a term that pretty well belongs in the gutter in the first place. Dickhead is such a good description of certain people I'd have to make an exception for that one edit: my earlier post was referring to the possible origins of the term, not the term as it has come to be understood by those who use it. If someone has never heard the term butt-hurt, then their mind will make whatever association it does, and their response will be to their initial association.

I did a simple google search, apparently Taomeow isn't the first person to have noticed a rather stronger possible association to the term butt-hurt than you have presented:

And gone, gone, gone beyond, gone completely beyond...

How might you know if the pill or medicine had been generated?

I've never really asked why or thought about it too much. I was just following a very clear instruction in a dream to do this certain sort of breathing in through the crown and exhaling down into my belly, and when I started doing that I found that the energy charging action that I had been doing suddenly seemed to disrupt the healing qi, and just the breathing seemed to keep it flowing, so I stopped doing the charging action and just continued with the breathing until a couple of months later I dreamt I was to stop that and just go back to normal breathing. But I'm not really sure about the mechanics of it except to say that it works, and it never gets exhausted. This is pretty much what I did from the start, I just receive quite a lot of detailed information now about what is going on in specific channels. Mostly I don't even feel it, but very occasionally some new gift comes along that demonstrates to me that something is progressing.

Well, in one sense I just knew it was time to focus on the heart, but the real world conspired in showing me how to raise the energies from the navel area to the heart area around the same time, and it was a very specific action, it didn't rise by itself. It was at this time that I also started being able to run healing qi out through my hands, so heart work for me also entailed clearing the arm channels for at least a year, and then some channel from the crown to the heart to allow healing qi to always be available freely. But heart work also meant clearing ida and pingala between the heart and the head, and entering the central channel, and various other details, mainly setting things ready for later. This description of the heart knot might make my position a bit clearer as well:

Imagining energy coming in through the crown and going down into the earth and then up again is not actually bringing energy into the central channel though. Focusing on the sub-navel area happens to be the right place to start for me, when it is time to bring those energies up to the heart, then that is a good time to focus on the heart. It sounds to me like you wouldn't even suggest to focus on the sub-navel area in the beginning. But then that's what makes your system your system, even within a single discipline there is dispute about these sort of things, like in neidan whether you should start in the upper versus the lower dantian, and these difference of opinion will presumably never be resolved.

Interesting, the lower dantian could be categorised as being in the sub navel area, and to me it is the perfect place to start focusing to remain grounded in the body, it was the only place I focused on for a very long time. The fact that you specifically wouldn't recommend focusing there only emphasises our difference in approach. Would you ever recommend bringing energy into the central channel? I'm a big believer in the idea that where we focus our practice develops our subtle energy bodies in specific ways. What are the four different lineages?

But it doesn't fill me with great faith about the benefits of raising kundalini either. A lot of these swami's and guru's display these double standards, like Muktananda passing off sex with him as kundalini raising, and Sai Baba with his penis massaging fetish - I don't have a lot of time for kundalini preachers who can't even practice what they preach. To be able to overlook negative actions requires a degree of blind trust that I neither have nor aspire to.

Is Swami Satyananda Saraswati a true teacher though, that I should take his word on anything? https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/11273299/Yoga-guru-was-violent-sexual-abuser-Australia-royal-commission-told.html

So have you ever experienced any sort of kundalini rising, much like you can still experience sensation in your body from physical causes even after duality is dropped?