Vajra Fist

Has anyone had much experience with this chap? I've started reading his book 'Becoming Supernatural' and it's pretty fascinating. At first I kind of wrote it off as kind of kooky self help, but there's a heck of a lot of juice in his meditations, which lends a bit of authenticity to what he says. His Facebook group is utterly full of people who've had kundalini awakening in a very stable and positive way. Would be curious to know if anyone has given his system a go.

It was a private consultation, and the readings were specific to me. In other words, your mileage may vary. Present moment is kind of unique, in that you basically lay down your entire concept of self and your awareness of your environment and meditate on space/the void. I've practiced it on and off and each time arrived at very deep samadhi. Its pleasant but somewhat disconcerting, as you're effectively switching off your higher brain function and temporarily forgetting your entire concept of self.

I've been practicing this dharani before bed for a few months now and it has replaced my Vajrasattva evening practice. Anyone else practice it regularly?

I bought a few of the blessing of the energy centres and while I found them powerful at first their effect tapered off. A reading by Eric Isen confirmed this. One that had a really good reading, and I had a great experience with is the 'generous present moment' meditation. Very beautiful practice.

Had an experience close to this in my late teens. Had just started meditating and somehow I got really really deep. Had a dream one night that I'd found the holy grail and had drunk from it. I woke up and for the next two days was in a semi enlightened state. The dimensional world seemed like a veneer, like it was painted over a greater reality. I could sense the molecules that made up objects, and my mind was utterly quiescent like the morning after fresh snowfall. Later when this state had receeded, I read a bit more. I'm pretty sure that when I was sensing particles of matter, I was sensing the Buddha fields. And the state of mind was of falling snow. It's been 20 years and I'm still nowhere near my attainment in that week, reached after just a handful of times meditating.

No offence implied. I know there are good people here like yourself who practice this style. I don't know a great deal about the system and it's possible my teacher at the time may have misinterpreted some of those spontaneous movements. I will edit my post accordingly.

The lines you've quoted above are from lectures in the mid 90s to small audiences in the US on a number of niche areas. They're not part of the main text of Zhuan Falun, so they don't represent the main teaching of this school. Moreover the parts about mixed race children is definitely more descriptive than prescriptive. When I was practicing I met my wife, who is Japanese, and we had a mixed race child. There are many other practitioners who have similar circumstances.

The movements in fragrant gong have always appeared as pretty shamanic, compared to zhineng which is clearly grounded in TCM. Would recommend other TCM based systems. Wild goose is excellent. Spring Forest is good too.

There's an excellent tutorial on udemy for lift qi up pour qi down. One of the teachers Jeremy Colledge was here on DB at one stage. He's fairly near me geographically and seems like a thoroughly nice chap. I practiced Zhineng for a while but not in any depth. Seems like a great system.

Apologies if you've addressed this, but what happens to you after death in this system? Do you become a hu fa shen for someone else, in order to accrue good karma and continue ascending? I've been thinking of these issues for around two years since first learning of this system, and I wonder if such a fate is even desirable?

I get my exercise from a 15 minute Ashtanga yoga routine on a David Swensen DVD (yoga short forms). Great bodyweight exercise, aerobic, stretches all major muscle groups and it's meditative to boot. Most bang for your buck and perfect for the time poor like me.

Where did you hear that? The amitabha mantra for instance leads to rebirth in a pure land at death, as do many other sutra methods.

For some mantras in the vajrayana tradition you need transmission. But generally anything from the sutras is fine to practice without transmission.

Buddhist mantras, as far as I understand it, are considered to be the essence of that particular Buddha. As such, all of them can lead to enlightenment, but all of them have different side benefits on the way there. For instance the Mani will generate great compassion, while the Medicine Buddha mantra will heal illness. The Tara mantra will lend you fearlessness etc. These are the different aspects of enlightened activity that these Buddhas represent. But the end goal is the same. I have no idea why they work as they do. I believe that perhaps the sound has a particular vibration which corresponds to a particular energy. But it's way beyond my ken. It's enough for me to know they work.

I was curious so I gave these zhineng qigong wall squats a go. They're very difficult! Can barely do more than two. I'm sure when you can do 100 it will be pretty good for your health. Personally I find the most powerful, fastest acting practice is the wim hof method. It's great for health and increased energy.

I did the one by Yan Lei for a while and while he's a very good martial artist, I'm not sure what he teaches is authentic internal shaolin work. And then, whether shaolin qigong itself is authentic. The exception is generally Heng Yi from the Shaolin Temple Europe, who teaches a very good 13 luohan rou quan, as well as learning some super traditional gulun stuff. Bit of a tangent there. As far as BDJ I'd stick with Lam Kam Chuen. I know some students of his here in London and they speak very highly of him.

Very timely thread with Mercury retrograde in Scorpio at the end of Oct. This is when secrets, or parts of ourselves that we don't know a great deal about come to the surface. I will be rereading Feeding your Demons by Tsultrim Allione and practicing her modified version of Chod. Incidentally, I also had a dream recently where I was hunting for spiders' eggs around the house, which is apparently about unacknowledged or repressed desires and emotions.

Gary is easily contactable on fb messenger, via his WBBM group. I've spoken to him a few times and I wouldn't say he's evasive, he's just of the old school mentality of 'practice it and find out for yourself'. It might be because he perhaps hasn't had much higher education and doesn't have the words or concepts to express some of the profound spiritual or physiological changes that these practices can bring about. That doesn't mean he doesn't have a high attainment, it's just more of a body-level understanding than one based on conceptual knowledge.

Haven't read through the entire thread but if you're worried about weight gain, minding what you eat is the most important thing. Generally exercise increases appetite and people are more likely to treat themselves with rich food as a 'reward' for a heavy workout. The only reliable way to lose weight is to practice intermittent fasting. Start by skipping breakfast and eating only between 12pm and 8pm. And then narrow the window down so you're eating one meal a day (preferably at lunch when agni is at its peak).

I remember reading in Glen Morris' pathnotes that the only awakened person he's met who doesn't practice martial arts, is the Dalai Lama. And that was all martial arts, not just internal arts. Spoken from my own experience, I find karate katas both very energising and meditative, on a par with the qigong I practice in terms of effect. This internal effect has been confirmed by a medical intuitive.

Sogyal Rinpoche wasn't a monk, as far as I know, so had no prohibitions on girlfriends and stuff. I think he just struggled to keep his head when his book sold millions of copies and he was being courted by celebrities. That's just my understanding though, I don't know all the details of this teacher.

I was reading his book 'Tibetan book of living and dying' not too long ago, and I found it actually quite helpful. So it was pretty shocking to read some of the stories from his former students. I felt pretty disgusted with him. Strangely enough, when he died, I kept having an image of him in my mind's eye. Part of me felt like he should suffer for undermining the dharma and harming students. Then I read somewhere that Garchen Rinpoche was advising students to recite a particular sutra on his behalf (I forget which one), so he might have a good rebirth. It occured to me that this was done precisely because whatever is waiting for him on the other side was terribly sad for a man who - for all of his flaws - strived toward Buddhahood throughout his life. One day, as I finished my recitation of the Mani I decided that instead of dedicating merits to all beings, I would dedicate the merits for this one day to him, so that he might have a more fortunate rebirth. I don't pretend to believe that it might have been enough to help him, but after I did so, his image in my mind's eye dissolved in light, and hasn't reappeared again. Think his passing is a lesson for all Buddhists to overcome the 'cancel culture' mentality, whereby a person becomes unforgiveable, and practice the true Buddhist teaching of well-wishing to all sentient beings.

Yes, I listen to a recording of the Medicine Buddha sutra most mornings and it sounds weird, but I'm generally 'better behaved' on days when I do (it is very focused on morality and the consequences of being a bastard). I'm also really, really peaceful after listening to it. Like I've been meditating for an equivalent amount of time.

I've never heard of this before, might he have just had a frog in his throat? In my view, the qigong you'll find on DVDs and in books is all limited to the level of healing and fitness. I'm sure there are exceptions, but I think it's pretty rare to find a qigong practice that offers a complete path all the way up the mountain. Most publicly available stuff stops at the first 'base camp' of healing the body and calming the mind. Many teachers though do have very high levels of attainment, and Chunyi is very well respected (although I have never met him). I think most qigong is great if you go in aware of what you'll likely get back in return. But if you go in hoping to find a practice that will unwind all of the centuries-old karma that is tied up in your every thought, just by waving your arms or breathing in a particular way, then you might be disappointed. If you want that then you really need to spend some serious time in quiet sitting, and later vipassana meditation. (Or else do what I do, and realise that attaining enlightenment in this life with my limited ability and poor character is simply impossible, and practice Pure Land instead). Qigong has its place, and I practice it myself, but mostly only for a healthy body and a peaceful mind.

When my wife was sick with flu over Christmas I read a blog about the immune benefits of chewing a clove or two of raw garlic a day. Since I didn't catch anything at the time. I've kept it up as a daily habit. Aside from the obvious (paint stripper breath) does anyone know if there are any health draw backs from this?