Taomeow

Little1, I think you've been reading my mind and discovered that what's really going on there has nothing to do with the current thread, and much, with the poem you decided to post as a comment. Keep working on your psychic skills, you show true promise.

Churka, in Russian: A block of uncarved wood. First metaphoric meaning: someone with underdeveloped human sensibilities and poor judgment. Second metaphoric meaning: Russian racists may use it to refer to a non-Russian of Asian descent. Since I don't know your nationality, am not a racist, and know you know Russian (and a thing or two about you in addition to that), I used Churka in the first metaphoric sense. You are someone as human as a churka. I rest my case. Otzyn': "leave me alone," Russian slang. Why, did I miss something?

For a few years, I was very interested in blood type research, mostly from the medical/genetic perspective, with a bit of psychological implications on the side. It appears that people do inherit clusters of genes (hundreds, possibly thousands) for all manner of traits together with a particular blood type, because hundreds if not thousands of genes responsible for other things are linked with this one into a "cluster." So people of a particular cluster of genes will have more things in common than people of a certain different cluster, and the blood type is what determines who is the closest or the farthest human being to your own type to a much greater extent than pretty much anything else. Race doesn't; all four blood types are encountered in all races, although some have higher concentrations of one and others, of some other blood type. E.g., B is fairly common among Asians but rare among Europeans; AB is rare everywhere but is more common in Japan than elsewhere; O is ubiquitous everywhere but nearly overwhelming in Native Americans -- all tribes but the Cherokees (who have, surprisingly, more Bs than Europeans though fewer than Asians) are almost exclusively Os; Jews have more Bs and ABs than non-Jews they live among -- unless they live among Asians, who beat them to it; A is the second most common type and you are likely to find it anywhere you look; but again, the split of the population into what percentage has which is different for different regions. Anyway, I was surprised to find hard biological evidence in support of the shocking fact that any black guy who has my blood type is BY FAR closer to me genetically than my own kids, whose blood types (and therefore clusters of thousands of other genetic traits) are different from mine and from each other's. What a hoot!

Pietro, since you wrote a lengthy post explaining that basic human decency extended toward members of other races or creeds is made-in-America political correctness and nothing but, I would like to put your mind at ease a bit: not everyone in America is guilty of that, some think exactly the way you do. You will be thrilled to know that those who do refer to someone of your descent as a "dago" or a "guido." I think the older generation folks go with "dago" and the younger ones with "guido," but I can't be completely sure, since I haven't always lived here. The connotations, however, are the same for both terms, far as I've been able to discern. They denote someone who is, because he was born of Italian parents and for no other reason, a poorly educated, cheap sleazy character with criminal tendencies, a loud mouth atop a lower-than-average IQ, with a penchant for loud tasteless clothes, extreme shallowness, unpleasant and/or ridiculous but very funny mannerisms of gestures and speech, and chronically lacking in honesty, common sense, and personal hygiene. I've heard both terms used by whites, blacks, Jews, homosexuals, men, women, anyone who is of the same views as you are, on more occasions than one, always with casual contempt and with no second thoughts. Yes, they too learned when they were kids that that's what you are. You reminded me of them, they remind me of you. Perhaps you're right and I'm wrong. So... which term would you like me to use when addressing you, "dago" or "guido?" -- you will have gained one more non-politically-correct supporter in the USA then, wouldn't it be nice?..

Do you work for the government by any chance?.. Blame the victim, change the subject. A time-honored manipulative move most governments and some individuals use for all purposes to resolve a controversy. Bad one, IMO.

It's not a requirement, it's the nature of tao. Benefitting all beings is one of the "virtues of tao." "A sage comes like the spring, benefitting all beings." Someone who "ti tao," embodies tao, has the same effects as tao herself. It's not something one "does," it's something one "causes to happen" by his or her presence.

Ninja folklore.

But it has to be predestined. If it is, the signs are there early on. The three magi show up at your doorstep when you're born, this kind of stuff. Biographies of taoist immortals are full of such signs. If it isn't predestined, however, then what passes for enlightenment out of sequence, without power of all other levels having been actualized -- is, more often than not, a symptom of a mental disorder. Sometimes it's a mild delusion, sometimes it progresses to a full blown grandeur mania. The real thing is nowhere near as common as people tend to believe who happen to have had a glimpse of level 9 here and there (I'm sure many have... but with no discernible subsequent benefits for anyone anywhere -- which is how you can tell it wasn't it -- if no one benefited from your having experienced it, it wasn't it).

No, what you really needed is for someone to offer you a hug and then, as soon as you open your arms, tell you, "no, I'm not doing any filthy peaceniks any favors. " Consider it done. There, you feel better now.

Face it. Look it in the eye. Make it blink.

No, I suppose a computer virus must have its fans too, and a serious practitioner or two supporting its cause is probably normal. However, if the majority were to invest their effort in helping it prevail, I'd ban myself.

Since my name was mentioned in this thread, I feel I have to make a public statement of sorts. I agree with NONE of the views expressed by Strarjumper in regards to Max and Kunlun. I feel very misplaced mentioned in the same context with these views. Please fellow kunluners and everybody else, make a note of it. Amicus Plato, sed magis amica Veritas. (Plato is a friend, but Truth is a greater friend.)

Indifference to others being deliberately hurt as long as it's not you is bingo?..

yes or at least something along its lines, they never reveal the solution and just state that whoever has/grasps these as the same indivisible whole is worth being friends with.

There lived three old men in one of Zhuangzi's stories who once got together for a drink and one of them riddled this riddle: What has nothing for the head, life for the spine, and death for the tail?

What I think could happen if one gets to level 2 without sufficient time spent at level 1 is the same thing that happens to your muscles when you give them a stretching challenge of, say, top level hatha yoga without your tendons having been gradually stretched into pliability and softness with beginner- and intermediate-level yoga -- only with kunlun, it could happen to one's mind, not one's muscles. If you mean what I think could happen at levels 2 and 3 proceeded to gradually, with sufficient preparation, that still seems scary to me -- from what I've seen and from how I understand the techniques, they can un-silence some of the silent DNA and this would bring "unconscious" potentials of function into action, make parts of you active that are usually dormant and held down by suppression mechanisms. (More than 70% of the human brain is busy at all times keeping almost all of the remaining 30% suppressed, it's basic brain physiology in our species as we know it today, shockingly enough.) I know of two ways to go from here: the conscious continuity-of-memory route, which is the one I've utilized till now for most of my purposes; i.e. whatever happens that is a new unblocking event is systemic (not just the mind without the body knowing what it's up to, and not just the body without the mind understanding what it's experiencing); is sequential, not randomly unblocked; i.e. before I get to, say, genetic memory, I have to have continuity of this-here life's memory stretching to its beginning, and in this-here life, events that happened to the 3-year-old come into systemic consciousness and get processed adequately, become part of the continuous uninterrupted conscious memory, before events that happened to the 3-month-old; and the unconscious route, which I mostly avoided by avoiding most practices leading there (out-of-body trips, deliberate lucid dreaming, forced breathing, "guiding" or "projecting" energy or placing myself on the receiving end of such guiding or projecting, and so on). With unconscious unblocking, parts that become activated are chronologically random, non-systemic (i.e. happening in the mind as "intellectual understanding" without the body participating, or happening to the emotions without the mind or the body remembering the original event generating the now-perceived, unblocked, but still unconscious, unintegrated emotion, ets.), and do not form a continuity of memory and consciousness -- they can be chronologically, mentally, emotionally, or physically "anywhere" on the spectrum of your personal developmental history, anywhere in this life or in your genetic history or in your past or perhaps future lives, and do not amount to a continuous "systemic you" that you can systemically recognize and integrate. I am of the opinion that all "qigong psychoses" are the outcome of such random activation, and most non-qigong ones, ditto. I see realistic potential for such random activation in kunlun of all levels (as well as in scores of other practices, the more potent the practice, the greater the potential for this happening), but I'm taking my chances with it because the time seems right for me to take them; however, the precaution of at least adhering to the sequential continuity of the levels as prescribed by the teacher seems well justified to me. Whether it's enough for the process to unfold in a natural integration-friendly rather than haphazard, random fashion, I don't know yet, but I have some experience recognizing things in me that might get activated and come into play "before their time" and the know-how as to what to do about them, and I'm falling back on this prior experience. Perhaps others gain this know-how via kunlun practice itself as they go, which is a good reason too to give it enough time for your integration capacity to "ripen." Getting flooded with more than one can integrate at any given time is not a good idea, IMO, with this practice or any other. So I'm in favor of slowing down rather than speeding up the unblocking mechanics, but of course one's baseline capacity for integration will always be the biggest factor. Individuals might be ready faster or not so fast; the six months is an "average," a guideline -- a sound one, AFAIK.

Yes, this seems to be the case. I've been wondering if any "total virgins" cultivation-wise ever tried kunlun as their first-ever practice? I've a feeling the answer is no... one of those "when you're ready the teacher appears" situations, he just won't "appear" if one is not prepared, or rather, he won' be "seen" for what he is by any unprepared eyes. Heavy guns, this practice. Really surprised me, didn't expect something like this in mass circulation, I'm pretty used to everything in mass circulation being quite profusely watered down. Not the case here. Serious heavy guns. I've started level 1 and it's pretty intense, but I shudder when I look at level 2 and 3 descriptions. What it's gonna do to me. Yikes. In any event, I won't start till the time I'm told to -- after 6 months minimum of level 1 -- and I've a hunch nobody should. Gestation takes as long as it takes, this is a fast track as it is, I wouldn't make it any faster, not by a day. FWIW.

You lost me more than once. I described a practice I did and mentioned its source. I didn't take an oath of upholding the cause of the Upanishads or suchlike. I just meditated. I described the meditation, not the British colonial transgressions. Thanks for demonstrating that anyone can have a problem with anything anyone else says on any subject in any shape or form if they so desire.

A Hindu is an adherent of Hinduism. What did you think it was, a nationality? A Hindu practice is a practice created within the scope of Hinduism. Similarly, a Hopi practice would be one created within the tradition of the Hopi, and a Sufi practice is a Sufi practice, not a "Sufist" practice, and a Bon practice is a Bon practice, not a "Bonist' practice. Darn borrowings from goddamn foreign languages... why couldn't they all just keep it simple and follow the "Buddhist" pattern?.. but no, they don't! And darn Hindus, why couldn't they be a nation, the way so many good hard-working law-abiding citizens from sea to shining sea believe they are?.. but no, they aren't!

"Universally condemned" by whom? In female alchemy, the crystal chamber plus breath awareness are the universal key, and what is considered dangerous is "developing the lower dantien." Go figure. Max warned against visualizing color in the head, which was the first time I ever heard this "safety tip" from anyone. I've done scores of meditations from other sources that do all kinds of things with the brain, notably a set of Hindu practices where you not only visualize color but scenes with sounds and smells alternating between the left and right hemispheres, one by one and then going simultaneously -- e.g., a black dog barks in your left brain while a white tiger roars in your right one, a plum tree blossoms in your left one but you're smelling red roses in your right one, and so on. I did the taoist Purple Rose meditation quite often, with lots of vibrant color in the head involved, and the worst thing that happened was, I couldn't move the colors to all the meridians where they were supposed to go and gave up. This one can really drive one nuts, 'tis true. But RP? Well, I think ANY practice can drive someone nuts, the term "qigong insanity" refers to, not a specific kind of practice but to an unfortunate combination of just about any practice with a certain specific kind of practitioner. Nothing is "completely safe," but I would say the more dangerous practices are the ones that move the energies upward. A downward flow is, as a general rule, quite a bit safer. However, "safe" is a good bet for when one is after preserving the status quo. If the status quo itself starts moving from under you, the way it is these days, one might land on one's ass precisely as a result of trying to stay in a safe zone.

You reckon RP is more dangerous to experiment with than a mukhomor?

Have you been practicing?

Where the grass is greener than that which nourishes yours.

Well, it's not for me to say whether it was a transmission, you're a better judge of it. As a general rule though, shifts of consciousness happen WAY more often than transmissions. OK, let me give you one example of what would qualify as a transmission. A Song dynasty emperor, Qinzong, was very young when he inherited the throne, very ignorant, and controlled by his corrupt ministers. Using the opportunity, a competing tribe of Jin declared war in 1125 and started gobbling up larger and larger parts of his kingdom. Eventually the Jin entered the capital, Yenjing (known today as Beijing) and captured the royal family. The young prince Zhao Gou managed to escape. All alone and lost in a dark forest, however, he started losing heart and thinking of surrender and death as a welcome finale. He came to the conclusion that his father and grandfather failed as kings, and that it must be for the better if he dies and puts an end to the dynasty. With this decision, he came upon an abandoned temple hidden in the forest, walked in and, tired as he was, almost immediately fell asleep by the altar. Suddenly, in his sleep, he heard a voice that said, "Get up! The Jin will be here soon." The prince saw a man of striking appearance standing before him. The stranger drew the characters of "Song" and "obstacle" above him and said, "Many obstacles lie ahead. Are you willing to overcome them and revive the kingdom of your ancestors? Or are you going to abandon your own fate, your family and your people to the Jin conquerors?" The prince replied, "If I am given a chance to escape, I will overcome the obstacles, revive my kingdom and bring peace to my people." The man said, "You will find food and wine on the altar. Outside, you will find a horse." At this point Zhao Gou woke up, smelling freshly cooked food and sweet wine. He got up and ate in a hurry. Then in the moonlight he saw his dream visitor standing by a fresco of a white horse painted on one of the temple's walls. Zhao Gou recognized him. It was Cai Fu, the judge of the living and the dead. He bowed and promised that if he lives to become emperor, he would build temples dedicated to Judge Cai Fu throughout the land and uphold justice the way he did. When he looked up, he saw that both Cai Fu and the fresco of the horse had disappeared. He heard neighing outside though and saw a white horse tethered to a tree. He mounted it and rode away, barely escaping a Jin patrol. The rest is history -- the Song dynasty ruled for another 150 years till they were conquered by the Mongols -- and the above is an example of a "transmission."

Tibetan buddhism of the Badmaev lineage which is what you didn't want to find out anything about when I offered an explanation as to how come it's a "pout pourri" (by your definition) where I come from is not the same as the buddhist beliefs of various online adherents. On the latter, I'm no expert. Matter of fact, I'm no expert on the former either, nor ever tried to be -- it just happens to be part of my teacher's lineage and has been mentioned in this context. If you can't do better than go personal on an ideological/experiential disagreement in this pathetic fashion, you're cheaper than my initial appraisal. Where's your de? dignity, self-respect?.. common sense?.. something better to do with your time?..