Aetherous

Care to share your magickal workings that preceded the events here? Also, I'm a Christian...and someone who believes in helping those who don't deserve to be helped...so of course I disagree with such forms of magick (especially if they are effective), but I'm not going to judge you. Will just listen and learn. I hope you don't judge me in saying who I am, either.

Oh also, if you develop your "qi" to the point where you can sort of hit people with your energy...try to avoid doing that. It disturbs your shen, and the karmic repercussions seem to be worse than if you were to simply harm them physically. Pray for anyone who disturbs you, instead of acting in the typical way. Then you don't cultivate the darkness from within, which is worse than simply being open to negative entities, IMO. The only entity you should be controlling is your own soul. Jing-qi-shen...these are inseparable. The supreme medicine. Using it on spirit fighting is wasting your medicine. I feel like, you will literally die sooner if you fight with your qi. Okay, enough from me.

Virtue, awareness, qi...these are a light. They are your protection. If your mind is focused on mercy and helping others, it isn't focused on the dark forces that harm us. Those dark forces are literally gone at such times. Also, if you know who you are...say for instance, you like watching soccer. That (or any other example) may be a part of who you are, who you've become. Who you are, what you love doing, that's another boundary that these things can't cross. But when you try to dissolve yourself completely, as spiritual people try to do sometimes, then that obliterates the boundaries that were there and opens up your field to the dark things. When you become really angry, maybe act out on it, then you can see them flying around...if you go out at dusk, you can see them appearing here and there, literally appearing to your eyes. So try to cultivate yourself to the point where that isn't happening. This is just my experience. People have used sage smudge wands to kinda clear their field, but the protection really comes from a loving heart, I think. Don't just take my word for it, I barely know anything.

Looks pretty good! Although, beware the psychological warfare happening with this movie. It will be one to think clearly about...don't take it at face value, in any way! What are its implications for you watching it in real life?

It's quite easy to see through the excuses for greed, bro...

Excellent, will check it out! Here is a two page article detailing foundation practices of Baji... http://www.wutangcenter.com/wt/bajipigua.htm

Best flowchart ever!

Yes, yes, yes. Having good friends around is a great thing for the spiritual path. They get you out of your head...whereas isolation simply empowers the monkey mind, and negative sense of self, and can bring a lot of suffering. The purpose of Buddhism is to decrease suffering, not increase it, so drop what doesn't work. Relax, have fun.

No offense taken at all.

Aaron, Real personal growth is challenging. If you're feeling challenged, consider that something good might be happening...and not just that I'm trying to torture you for no good reason. There is a very good reason! And no I don't have to try, this comes naturally to me. Well, I'm not certain at all about that...you should actually prove it. Not just to anyone here, but to yourself. Doing, and finding out the truth, is better than blindly believing in anything. Looking up the info on wikipedia, it says that Tibetan monks could raise the temperature of their fingers and toes by "as much as" 8.3 degrees Celsius. So to be fair, lets say that the standard for success in this is a change of 6 degrees Celsius. Or...if you can be in 40 degree F temperatures, sitting motionless, have a cold wet towel draped on your shoulders, then cause it to steam and dry completely...that also counts. Go for it! Until then, I consider your 'hypnosis being the same as tummo' idea to be laughable. Seriously. These Tibetan monks actually did this...they didn't just talk about it and claim they could, without even trying. The purpose of tummo is not to raise the body temperature...that's like a side effect. You should actually look into what the practice is, and what it involves, before saying a word about it. It's more virtuous to only speak about things you actually know about.

I wish we had the means to put Aaron up against those Tibetan monks who were tested a few years back, and see if his self-hypnosis could actually produce the same result in temperature change. I guess a makeshift way of doing this would be for Aaron to take his normal temp, do his hypnosis meditation, and then take his peak temperature and compare the two. See if it comes anywhere close to the results that the Tibetan monks produced. Also do the cold wet sheet test, and see how fast he can dry it or if he can cause it to have visible steam. It could be said that the monks had years of mastery of this "technique"...so I'd even be willing to give Aaron years of trying to raise his temperature (which is not the point of tummo, by the way) through self-hypnosis, and when he was ready, again see if it compares...because I truly don't think it would. There is more to tummo than simply self-suggestion.

About the OP...depends on what meditation you're doing. Some produce trance states, while others produce awakened states. Maybe in some cases...but the truth is that siddhis and qigong happen in objective reality. How do you know this? Well for one thing, you're done meditating. Out of the trance. And there is sometimes lasting proof of what happened...like in news reports that you can go back to and look at, if you're "lucky". In qi healing, for instance...maybe forum member Ya Mu imagines that he benefits a majority of his clients, or maybe it has actually happened. If over 90% of people somehow were really benefited by something that's totally fake, I think calling it just placebo or suggestion is a joke. Speaking of the brain...there is something worth thinking about. Most of us assume that the mind is contained within the brain or that they are the same thing, but if you look at it truthfully from your perspective, the mind contains EVERYTHING. Everything you have ever been witness to is either a product of the mind, or is filtered by the mind. We literally don't know anything for sure. A person may hallucinate something as being completely real, but no one else sees it...how much more of our reality that we take for granted each day is like this? Do you think every person you see in a day is absolutely real...or perhaps you're not fully seeing what they are. What about animals...are you absolutely certain that they all exist simply as animals, or might they be spirits appearing in the physical at times? No one truly knows. Or, who is experienced enough to say that objective reality cannot be changed by someone's pure will, as simple as 'desire it and it becomes so'? I am experienced enough to know that I lack experience in that area...but I imagine that someone with much less experience would consider themselves an expert in how the laws of nature, as the common man has defined them so far, are absolutely irrefutable. They have seen no proof otherwise, so proof must not exist! "The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." - Socrates A lack of belief reveals more clarity, than even a belief in something true.

My bad!

They are constantly winning. They are bi-winning.

Other people are not our concern? Then why did you post that, in response to me questioning Aaron? Just wanted to call someone a noob? It's okay, I understand.

Who says qi can't be detected by science? Are you a scientist? Have you studied science in a legitimate and comprehensive way? Have you actually looked into the studies that have been done regarding 'qi'? Do you realize that the idea of a subtle energy that pervades all things, that you can play with, use to heal, which is associated with the breath and with life...has been a completely worldwide phenomenon for all of our recorded history? Not trying to convince you of anything, except that you might not really know what you're talking about!

I agree with you.

Love is an action...to protect someone, to serve them, to give of yourself, to make their situation better, etc. It's not inaction. It's not allowing the destructive forces at play to conquer you and all of the other innocents, including the earth itself. How could you call that love? There is a good form of letting go, and then a negligent form that is basically acting as an accomplice to evil...a vast difference between the two! Whereas, "fighting with fire" (maybe the symbolism is getting too confusing here)...like becoming informed about politics and social issues, voting or even becoming part of politics, spreading the word through various means like the media, doing your part to protect the environment by watching where you put your money...you consider these actions to be the opposite of love? Apathy is one of the ugliest things about most people's conception of spirituality, and is NOT what love is. Anyway, I agree with you to an extent and see where you're coming from.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Falun_Gong

You go into the mountains to forget about all of the corruption and cultivate something good. Ignorance is bliss. When your seeds yield sufficient fruit, you "leave the mountain" and fight corruption. Ignorance is not the path of those who are compassionate and aware. This is just my personal view. "One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." - Plato There is definitely truth to this perspective. Too much "fire", like how the Weather Underground or the Earth Liberation Front behaved, can backfire. But also, too little fire, and the power hungry and destructive will evaporate you and simply trample upon you. Sometimes, you must fight...the key is to do it in a smart way.

Well, you might not think it's complicated, but I still have no idea what you were trying to say. I also don't see a point in arguing, so have no idea why you came in here acting all argumentative and then refusing to explain yourself. So far, I have little to respect...I hope that can change. In the meantime, I'm taking another break from this forum.

I have no idea what you're talking about... You don't know what I mean by mind? How is it admitting to theoretical duality? Saying that there IS an external world would be admitting to it...thinking that the external world is separate from an internal world. It is not. I disagree with this view of both you and White Wolf. Why make it so complicated? It's not. Read the book in my signature.

"We experience the moment in this non-thinking state of awareness, a direct awareness of reality which leads to a spontaneity. Ultimately is born a joy which is no longer dependent on external circumstance. In this manner we are liberated." - Daniel Odier IMO, the mind is really the cause of dissatisfaction. Not what is "external". A cup of tea can be deeply satisfying...in fact, much of real life is very rewarding and fulfilling. The sense of being unwhole, or not yet satisfied is a product of the mind itself. No mind, no problem. In order for this idea to mean anything, it must be made experiential, through practical means. The practical means are: anytime you are thinking or feeling something, pay attention to novelty in the external world instead. Constantly disempower the mind. It's an opposite approach to the usual advice of "go inward", but it achieves the actual intended result. Going inward to most people means to enter the mind, to strengthen it...not pacify it. For instance, a beginning meditator finds a whole new slew of problems...not the inner peace they were actually seeking. Attention is drawn "within" to their painful butt, numbing legs, to random thoughts popping up, to emotions that they didn't know were there. This can be cathartic, but it also probably isn't what they were actually after. I agree with the idea of transcending the rollercoaster ride of success/failure that most assume is the path to happiness...but "the external world" (there is really no such thing, since awareness is inseparable from experience) is not the problem. The mind's tendency to attach to certain material things is the problem...that which is "within" is the problem...it's why Kim Kardashian freaks out if you don't give her the 24k gold facial she wanted. Or when she finally discovers that it doesn't improve the ugliness that goes along with spending 80 grand a year on beauty, or the fact that she will age and never look as good as she once did, for example. Those are the products of an individual mind grapsing at this and that. Products of being spoiled most of the time...products of the "control freak"...all has to do with her mind. There is nothing wrong with gold or money...those can be used for good things (to be clear, Lucky, I think we're pointing to the same thing). When inner peace actually arises, outer causes of temporary happiness are seen to not be as fulfilling. Or at least, you are more resilient in letting go of those things you inevitably lose. If my favorite thing to do is "not as fulfilling" it doesn't mean that it's unenjoyable...not at all, it's still awesome...it just means that I am not going to throw a tantrum if I don't get to do it when I want to. Being happy and whole in each moment, pretty much regardless of what occurs whether internal or external, is the point of all of this. So overall...it's good to have no mind. "The mind is ultimately unsatisfactory".

I'm with you. Good to be open to possibilities...but still, I haven't visited these places in a real way, so as they say in Missouri..."SHOW ME".

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/fatal-infections-linked-neti-pots/story?id=15170230#.UDvbKaOCdlc ^ Do neti pots the right way!