Lao Bum

Dream Bliss, there are a few avenues of confusion you might not have considered! A Course in Miracles, The Urantia Book, and Vedanta Science. All joking set aside, if you want to get down to the essence of Christianity, do yourself a favor and get the book,'A Course in Miracles.' It is a psychology and Is considered the pure teachings of Christ and what he was trying to convey 2,000 years ago. It even states that in the forward somewhere. The whole book is considered to be compiled by an atheist scientist and her co-worker in New York. She maintains that the 'voice' came to her in her sleep. Whether one believes the ascertion that the information is really from Christ or not is beside the point. It is truly one of the most powerful teachings on spirituality I have ever come across, if not the most powerful. And when I read it I get an overwhelming feeling of peace. It's well worth the money. And you can really see the weaknesses in the Bible. It's lacking sooo much. It's definitely the most important book on Christianity to my knowledge, and should be on the shelf of any seeker's library. The other one you should consider on Christianity is 'the Urantia Book.' (Compiled for over 12 years before and after W.W.ll by Dr. Kellogg and associates from a man in his sleep that was channeling spirits-I.e. Arch angel Michel, etc.)Don't laugh at it until you've read a good deal of it. This makes the Bible look like paragraph 1. This book goes into detail on the relations of energy of different realms of matter. The relationship of the human species, the (Urania mortal) to the archangels, the divine Creators, the eternal Creator, the son of God. It goes into the nature of the Eternal Island, or the different levels of Paradise, as seen from this book's point of view. It goes into the 'real' story of Adam and Eve, which does make more sense than the Bible's version. It goes into the life of Christ. The story of the ark, etc. It claims to set straight the watered down version of the Bible, what was left out, etc. It goes into detail the history of the earth(Urantia), the universe, etc. from the aspect of a collective conglomerate of spirits. A must read! A few brief excerpts, if I may: "Jesus founded the religion of personal experience in doing the will of God and serving the human brotherhood; Paul founded a religion in which the glorified Jesus became the object of worship and the brotherhood consisted of fellow believers in the divine Christ." And:" He (Christ) taught men to place a high value upon themselves in time and in eternity. Because of this high estimate which Christ placed upon men, he was willing to spend himself in the remitting service of mankind. And it was this infinite worth of the finite that made the golden rule a factor in his religion. What mortal can fail to be uplifted by the extraordinary faith Jesus has in him? Jesus offered no rules for social advancement; his was a religious mission, and religion is an exclusively individual experience." I'll finish about this book with this: "And God consciousness is equivalent to the integration of the self with the universe, and on it's highest levels of spiritual reality. Only the spirit content of any value is imperishable. Even that which is true, beautiful and good may not perish in human experience... The father is living love, and this life of the father is in his Sons. And the spirit of the father is in his Sons-mortal men. This last excerpt sounds uncannily like Taoism. If I haven't lost you yet, please consider Vedanta. In terms of Hinduism, it makes the most amount of sense in regards to the relationship of God with material manifestations ( the how and why of causality). The science explains how and why God is too infinite to effect finite causal relationships. Brahman – the ultimate metaphysical reality. Ātman / Jivātman – the individual soul or self Prakriti – the empirical world, ever-changing physical universe, body and matter Over time, Vedanta adopted ideas from other orthodox (āstika) schools like Yoga and Nyaya, and, through this syncretism, became the most prominent school of Hinduism. Many extant forms of Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Shaktism have been significantly shaped and influenced by the doctrines of different schools of Vedanta. For some good compilations on Vedanta, watch James Schwartz on YouTube. He has a comprehensive 15or 16 lessons that he taught in Germany. He makes a lot of sense. Maybe check out his website, too. He's written a couple of books. So, there a few links to the puzzle. All things are possible that can be perceived by the mind. I enjoy reading everything I can get my hands on. I haven't gone into Alice Bailey's books yet. She compiled information from aTibetan monk. This person is only known as the 'Tibetan.' They discuss the relations of energy rays that effect all life force, intuition, sex, metaphysical psychology, human spirit, etc. I do, however see a similarity between all these teachings, Taoism, Buddhism, Judaism, etc. They are all simply pieces of the great puzzle of existence. They are simply chapters that some smarty discovered and compiled either through the intuition of Akashic records, channeling through spirits, or awareness of existence. Or possibly a gift from the heavens, Christ? Who really knows or can say...I keep coming back to Taoism. In Urantia there is a sentence that says something to the effect that when you understand energy, you understand the universe. One aspect of Taoism is just that, the practice of and cultivation of energy. But as I understand it all ways lead to the Truth, eventually. And it depends on grace, practice, being ready. A fast track is being around enlightened beings, with readiness, grace, and spiritual practice and if the time is right then it will be your time for the confusion to lift. In the mean time read everything you can. That's why I read all these crazy tomes. A scientist must have an open mind to all things.

If using trees for grounding: plants do have emotional responses and memories. If you collect their energy for special methods, you are robbing them of their life essence for your self-interest. When you are doing this you are injuring a life form and building up negative karma. So, most orthodox schools of Qi-gong utterly forbid methods of plant energy gathering, as some techniques are deisirable and some are immoral! Understand the differences and draw the distinctions between them. Be aware that gathering and collecting energy from another living being is stealing and the usurper will loose virtue by doing this! Although, orthodox Qi-gong schools do advocate energy interchange and exchange between humans and plants that have a vast storage, such as trees. Exchanging energy while practicing Qi-gong under trees, such as pine trees, in the prime of their lives or in the prime of the trees life is very healthy for people. Different trees will give off different energies. Some are too yang or harbor an energy that may exacerbate the issue and will therefore be unhealthy for the practitioner! If you are looking to cool your heat built up, look into evergreen arbors for their water nature. Trees are also divided into five categories related to the five elements theory. So, in order to correctly exchange energy with a tree we must know the root issue to exchange with the right family of tree. So, basically, the trees energy will adjust the function of the corresponding internal organ that is creating the imbalance. So, your dan tien is 'full' and it's spilling out into the meridian channels. You're in for a ride now! Be careful with medications. The activated Qi does not like opiates, tooth medication will have serious side effects well after the use of them. So, take care of your body. Damaging it and repairing it will take on a different level energetically.

Well, I've taught kung-fu(Sung Lung Miu) and Shoto kan karate mixed m.a. with juijutsu, aikido, and ninjitsu, I'm now teaching Ashtanga yoga asana practice and couple that with meditation and pranayama. I don't teach Taoist meditation but I practice that more than anything at home. As I find it is the most comprehensive and effective way to increase chi flow. And it appears to be the one umbrella that offers more about this subject than any other that I've encountered. Goes well with iron sand palm training too. Many good ideas on this subject, but for a beginner I'd start with simply putting a cold wet washcloth on the nape of your neck. Now that's simple! But there's the finger hold just in front of the hui yin that works as a last resort. This is if the semen has already started to leak out. Put the middle finger on the vas deference the fore finger on one side and the ring finger on the other to cradle the v.d. and push with the middle finger before it reaches the shaft. Push with just enough pressure to stop the flow and then massage with silk to keep the v.d. from being damaged. You may loose about 20% of your jing but it's better than loosing all of it. Best to use one of the ideas above first and keep the meditation internalized without falling into the trappings of the senses.

Would the Stillness-movement method have any similarities to the water method of ba-qua?

Hello everyone, I was doing some searching on line regarding Taoist alchemy and gathering the inner alchemical agent for the elixir of immortality and stumbled onto your forum. I hope to offer experience and learn from your collective insight and experiences mutually.