WisteriaWinds

Why is compassion a feeling? Who taught you that?

In my experience, Kundalini is what "happens" when you become attuned enough to become aware of the Intelligence permeating ALL energy. The universe is pregnant with Intelligence. You can tell the people who have it because they surrender to the Intelligence. They stop treating their energy cultivation as if they were doing a controlled set of pushups, freaking out about proper form and perfect diet and not "losing" energy. Instead there's an understanding that they're housing an infinite Intelligent Energy who flows in and out of them at will and they would do best to surrender, listen, and have fun.

Me too. On both points.

Hakuin would probably agree Zen is a worthless practice.

^^^This.

I don't reverse breathe unless it happens naturally (often in deep horse). I also don't pay attention to anything but the bottom point of my breath in my belly. All other sensations are distractions as far as I'm concerned. That's just me. Others have differing opinions.

Jesus was quoting psalm 82 in which the priests were being chastened for having a religious attitude with the people rather than a spiritual orientation to God. They were leading astray a people who saw them as the embodiment of God's divinity the way children view their parents and so were mimicking their mere religiosity. The priests Jesus was speaking to were being accused of the same thing their Levite ancestors had done. It's an expression, not really a statement that they are actually gods.

The irony is once your LDT truly becomes powerful you'll feel a strong, blissful magnetic sensation in the middle of your head. So the way up is down.

Don't visualize. Actually use the gut nervous system to feel it. Inhale straight down. That point where your breath stops is your LDT. Just focus on the sensation of it--in and out. No chatter necessary.

ALL religions sell perfectionism.

In all fairness Jesus clearly taught in many places that consciousness survives death. Here he is talking about quality of existence. Everyday we witness our actions produce outcomes and varying degrees of life quality. There's no good reason to assume that principle magically stops playing out somewhere down the road.

Missed the part about sharing. Hard to explain, but basically Self is experience itself. Not an experience, but raw experience. In such a manner that if "I" stopped existing, I'd still exist wherever experience itself was being had.

Yes

Taoism is the only major path I know of which openly supports the warrior paradigm. Taoists believe in looking at things for what they are. Many people consider conspiracies to be crazy right off the bat, which is odd because its not that strange to believe people could organize together in an effort to come out on top--especially in our interconnected world. Chuang Tzu had a major distrust of government. Being a citizen of a participative government might make people slightly more aware of shady dynamics. How would you handle it? Look to the hermits and study your Sun Tzu.

They live in the now and adjust themselves as necessary to best enjoy the moment, but they lack the higher functions which would allow them to fully recognize what they're blessed with. So they've got it, but they don't. Most humans do the same thing in reverse.

You don't become.

You're talking about happiness resulting from objectivity. That's different from someone trying to be happy and expecting to achieve an unbiased understanding of "how things are". Cultivating certain energies or States of consciousness is common in many traditions, including shamanism, but to be authentic with Buddha's teachings we would have to let go of these things. Most TB practitioners will disagree with this even though it's honest. But then again, my experience of reasoning with TBs is akin to reasoning with fundamentalist Christians and the Mo Pai crowd...because ghd dynamics are the same in all those paths. I do believe it's useful to cultivate joy, compassion, and plenty of other states, but the lack of dogmatic structure and lack of unquestioningly elevating saints in my walk has helped me see those the nature of those things with clarity.

Cultivating happiness, joy, etc. is not true objectivity. You're purposely creating a reality filter because you believe it's beneficial. You're deciding things ahead of time.

Economics is simply the study of how energy flows in nations. If my body was operating like our current system (to include the stock system) I would die soon...

I don't think anyone can become perfectly objective, but it's worth becoming highly objective in reasoning. Like all things, if you take it too far it becomes bad. Research shows people who don't engage in defense mechanisms suffer from chronic depression. If you become too equinimically balanced you might end up depressed and kill yourself and then for thousands of years your obsessive followers might blame your death on being poisoned while claiming you were a "perfected being"... Taoists and Christians both cultivate things like joy and happiness for good reason.

Quit deciding what "spirituality" is and just stand totally relaxed.

And stand in the Wu Chi from Tai Chi. It's called that for a reason.

Very astute of you. Visualization makes the infinite finite. Your training yourself to focus on the omaginary, which is only good for magick, not awakening. Put your mind in your lower dan dien, using the pressure of your downward breath to anchor your awareness. When you exhale, squeeze that point back to your spine. Don't think about it, just feel it. Consciousness on that one point, seamlessly, in and out and in and out. Sitting practice can help develop the concentration big time.

Welcome! This is a great place to keep learning. You won't find enlightenment on Dao Bums, but you will find it here.

Zhan Zhuang on the mat. Mindfulness the rest of the day, off the mat.