Aetherous

How do you know that it's while they're asleep? Is it also while they're awake? What makes you think it's them? Does this ever happen outside of communication with this person? Maybe you're prone to taking naps. Do you feel like the person does it even without communication with you? What is the work that you do? Does this person effect you emotionally for some reason? Maybe it's emotions that are draining your energy rather than the person, which is kind of what the other posters have been pointing to. Having non-attachment to all things or being in a state of peace and free flow is a good protection against outside forces...so it's good to have times during the day when you're not thinking about having your energy stolen, which simply arouses fear internally. The fear, or whatever you want to call that feeling, drains the energy. During those times when you're free of such feelings, you can rest, and then there will be protection of your energy. What are these spaced out moments? I've been taught that if you lose your awareness while awake, those are the times that spiritual things can affect you...but if you are awake and aware of what's going on, that is spiritual protection in itself. Awareness is like a fire that dark forces can't even be near. Also, the spacing out and expanding reminds me of the hun soul...perhaps it's overactive, and that's what is draining your energy. When you're spacing out, what's on your mind? I think sometimes it does, but if it doesn't then perhaps you are already spiritually protected, but the issue isn't spiritual. Could be emotional, or physical, in which case further exploration is needed to figure it out. You can ask for guidance in figuring it out, in addition to the protection.

A general rule - within 2 hours before or after the treatment it would be good to take it easy. Also I would say, don't do high intensity workouts that day, but moderate is fine. ... "Treatment should be delayed for patients who suffer overfatigue. This precaution also applies to patients who come for treatment immediately after heavy exertion. In addition, patients should not undergo hard labor or heavy exertion immediately after treatment. Physical strain shortly before or after acupuncture treatment can weaken the Kidneys." - Robert Johns in "The Art of Acupuncture Techniques...he also precautions to avoid sex by 2 hours before and after treatment, which is where I got my number above from. "Do not needle a patient who is fresh from hard labor. Do not engage in hard labor if one is fresh from needling... ...If a patient comes by foot, let him sit down and rest for the duration that it takes to walk 5 kilometers before needling him.... ...If you needle a person with these contraindications, their qi and blood in the meridians is unstable, and it can cause diseases. The result is that the patient will feel fatigue, the brain marrow will be consumed, and the body will fail to produce and transport body fluid." - Ling Shu chapter 9

You're right...but it was posted here because the Russian group which teaches Wuliupai also teaches Yuxianpai.

Just reflecting on what I heard a teacher say, recently..."It's what you do day in day out that brings the result, not what you do every once in a while." This was said in regard to self healing...for instance, you can heal with diet and lifestyle done like 90% of the time. It doesn't matter if you have a pizza twice a month or something...the result comes from what's done consistently. What's done once in a while does not sabotage your efforts. But if you consistently eat pizza, then bad results will eventually come. I felt like sharing this brilliant idea. When thinking of healing, cultivation, spiritual pursuits, I think most of us have this tendency to go all in. Give 110% toward it. Vegans can't even stand to think of eating eggs; it's disgusting. Some Christians could never skip church on Sunday. Etc. It reminds me of the usual posters that show up at this forum, wondering about male sexuality and celibacy. Those of us who have been around a while know that the hardcore pursuit of this can lead to some damage. It is repressive for most people to try and suddenly become celibate. Not using it, you lose it. The prostate can get a kind of stagnation. Etc. So, in all things, just apply the rule about consistency, rather than being absolute. Go a few days or a week of doing what you do, and then allow yourself to indulge a bit once. This is in regard to anything...spiritual practice, healthy diet, going to bed on time, exercise, etc. "Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself?" - Ecclesiastes 7:16, ESV Daoists have the policy of only doing something with like 80% effort (I forget the exact percentage, using only 80% of my recollection abilities). To do more than that, we're running ourselves low on energy...our Kidneys take the first hit always. Our life shortens as a result of our hardcoreness. "The way of nurturing life is to constantly strive for minor exertion but never become greatly fatigued and force what you cannot endure." - Sun Si Miao, Tang dynasty physician and Daoist So, in addition to cultivating consistently rather than constantly, we are to cultivate with less than our full amount of force. Take it easy. I speak from experience - it can be hard to know when enough is enough. It's a learning process to get in tune with the body and listen to its signs, and obey them, when you need to take a break. To sum this up...it's said that to be moderate is one of the three virtues of Daoism.

There are lots of great meditation techniques. Lately I've found two things have caused a clarity of mind to come on suddenly: 1) Keeping a simple and very easily digestible diet...a Chinese Medicine spleen deficiency, blood producing, anti-dampness diet. Why does this work? Any dampness from the diet sinks to the lower jiao, interfering with the mingmen fire, which then flares up and makes the heart/pericardium and the shen overactive...what Li Dong Yuan called yin fire. For me, it was kind of shocking once clarity came, after eating strictly like this for a couple of days. 2) Slowly walking for long periods of time, like at least 30 minutes at a stretch. Walk so that you're not trying to get somewhere on time, but you're living in the moment, taking in what's around you, with no where to be later on...and basically doing nothing other than that. Just walking. We tend to live fast these days, needing to do this and that, be this or that, go here or there - so, to be forced to stop all of that allows the mind to settle a bit. In addition to those two things, I like Tibetan Buddhist methods, which kind of obliterate the mind or let it release into spaciousness, rather than methods which suppress the mind. Although it is good to do a little bit of calm abiding, which is more suppressive.

Some spiritual traditions teach that all debts of any kind must be paid in some way, in order to progress spiritually...and that a good deed cancels out a bad deed. The truth is that nothing is ever really canceled out. Our bad deeds have their effect upon the world, regardless of how much good we do. Lets say Bob kills someone's first born son, and then proceeds to feel deep remorse and become the greatest most beneficial person who ever walked the face of the earth after that, in order to make up for it...performing so many good deeds that they should absolutely get him good enough karma to cancel out the murder he ignorantly committed. That doesn't take away from how the parents feel, whose son was murdered. Perhaps they still hate Bob, and at the end of his very beneficial life, would seek vengeance for it against him. Or maybe they won't, and whatever is required for making amends for that just hangs over his head and follows him. Good deeds have good results, bad deeds have bad results. Yes, the more good results you have, the better you are doing in general even if something bad comes to fruition. But the effects of our bad deeds aren't erased by the good. That being said...what to do with this info? We all commit bad deeds at some point; no one is actually truly good and perfect. But look at what's beneficial, once you know what you have done and are trying to be good...is it helping you and others to feel shame and guilt, to be suicidal? Actually, aside from the awareness of not doing the wrong thing anymore, that's just causing more destruction. Negative feelings aren't healthy. It's okay to treat yourself kindly, despite what you did in the past...that's adding good onto a small amount of bad. Don't make the situation worse by punishing yourself...that doesn't erase the bad deeds, it only adds more on top of them. The "universe" will make amends for your bad deeds in some way; it's not up to us to torment ourselves...doing that ends up being a punishment for others, not only ourselves...if you commit suicide, then certain people will feel a huge loss. That's an incredibly negative thing to give to the world, even if you think no one cares about you. So...just treat yourself well, try to do the right thing in life, try to be aware of not doing the wrong things, remember that no one is perfect but that we're all deserving of better things and being better.

"Happy" is just an easy word to use, but the meaning behind it is deeper, and it's important to view it in light of the deeper meaning. For instance, happy doesn't mean that their bliss is dependent on something in particular...it's supposed to arise spontaneously. The happiness that depends on something to happen isn't what's being spoken of by any means. Especially not a kind which would negate the "happiness" of other beings, such as only being happy at their expense...the prayer wishes for happiness for ALL. I think an easier way to understand it would be by saying "inner peace" instead of "happiness".

Well, there were multiple other factors that definitely could've played into this illness. I do not discount that these practices might have done it, although don't want to blame it without actually knowing. Currently healing the problem through diet, exercise, and Chinese medicine. Once I'm back to 100% health, which might take half a year, I'll be able to test some of the other things and see what the true cause was.

In TCM, zhen qi is ying and wei...that's not confused with yuan qi.

I did probably half of daogong, which was required before the yuxianpai 5 element exercises...then was exposed to shengong and also part of the liver one. In my very limited opinion, much of it was similar to what's in most qigong practices...even the way that the yuan qi is worked with is similar to other forms of qigong, despite what may be claimed. Although some of it was unique, and the order it's done in might be necessary for their effects. I did notice with shengong that it seemed to have a pretty powerful and deep effect on the manifestations of the Water element in TCM, although I barely practiced it for a few days prior to experiencing a strange illness (which most likely originated from other things happening at the time), and so have quit since then. My view on the school is that it's best for people who enjoy the training. For everyone else, there is a plethora of other schools which may be more fitting to the individual, and you shouldn't be made to feel like you're missing out on anything. I think it's only because the students and instructors of that school are so impressed with their results, that they want to help others find a good way. But there are other good schools.

http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/puett/files/puett_ge_hong_0.pdf

It's a start by simply browsing the forum and seeing what people have discussed over the years. The search box is great. It might take a while until you get acquainted with the scope of the spiritual marketplace. Once you have an idea of what's out there, then you can consider what you're looking to get out of this stuff. Health? Peace? Esoteric knowledge? Insight or greater intuition? Immortality? Resolving problems you have in life? Once you know what your goal is, you can "begin with the end in mind". If you want health and well being, you can choose those schools of thought which are more geared toward that. Then you try them out, and see if they work over a period of at least like 5 years. Not everything that says it's good for you, is. In the meantime, I think it's best to contemplate what the word "cultivation" means. It might be the case that many people spend decades using the word to refer to all of this stuff at the forum, but don't really grasp what it means. Cultivation has to do with what we focus on in our lives...what we surround ourselves with...who we want to become, and taking action toward that. So, cleaning your room and placing things around in a pleasing way, is cultivation...you're cultivating a pleasant environment. We are each individual, and have individual needs in our practice. So it's best to start off on the right foot - knowing yourself. What you like, what you dislike. Understanding what cultivation is. Then cultivate what you like in your life. Your path of cultivation will lead you to your destiny, and you'll be better off than having done some routine which wasn't even beneficial to you. So, just follow what seems good, and try your best. Learn. Welcome!

Definitely had my ass saved before. Also seem to have had lessons that I've needed to learn, in which my ass isn't quite destroyed, but it seems to be...perhaps even in those times I've been saved, but not from some pain.

It helps to cultivate a lot of real honesty with yourself...regarding what you feel is right or wrong in relation to other people (or animals, or the environment, or whatever else), and also what you are willing to accept for yourself, or not. That tells you what's important in your life...and acting on that information is where you find your purpose. Lets say you don't like it when your best friend gets sick...so you decide to become a doctor. It's especially more purposeful when you find something about other people, rather than simply focusing on making yourself happy (which is fine, too). Also, in your cultivation of honesty, it helps to let go of being overly "philosophical". Actual philosophy is good most of the time, but not to lukewarm type of overthinking that nullifies everything, and disconnects us from the truth in our hearts. Your concepts have been blocking you...they are useless! All wise people see through our attempts at being intellectually clever for our ulterior motives...it's a waste of time, in comparison to focusing instead on other more useful things. Honesty.

Perhaps Heaven and Earth aren't the Dao. Perhaps the Dao is the most benevolent "thing", because it permits Heaven and Earth to continue on as they are.

Rest in peace, and best wishes to her.

It sounds like you're on the right path with therapy. And don't get down on yourself about the Dao...there are times along the way when we have to simply focus on taking care of ourselves, rather than being anything in particular.

If you are improving your health and are increasing your lifespan, then you are definitely slowing down the aging process...although of course it's not the path of xian. We, in our secular society, are unaware of people actually living forever. Therefore, common sense tells us that improving health and living longer are worthwhile pursuits, whereas doing obscure things in order to live forever is not. It's better to be well than to have an illness. It's better to live a full life than to die young. It's better to spend time doing practical things that work, than untested things. Perhaps alchemy should be considered a spiritual matter, rather than an extreme-longevity matter. Why confuse the subjects of being healthy and long-lived, with the subject of becoming a xian? It's like confusing math with literature. Different fields! Also, isn't attaining health a prerequisite of higher spiritual matters? Physical healing is considered a lower level aspect of the Dao. We are at the lower level, and haven't passed the prerequisites...so perhaps our focus should be on breathing and herbs.

I look forward to the article...I am the type that would love hundreds of quotes! Pretty busy in my life and new at reading Chinese, so I'm not yet able to find them on my own.

Could you please share some sources that point to this being true?

Genuine question: is a yidam not considered a bodhisattva in the Vajrayana context?

That's one argument.

I prefer to "concentrate" on things that are interesting to look at...like instead of a second hand on a clock, I would rather look into the distance at mountains, or look up close at the details of a leaf. When you find something that captivates you, then it's easy to pay attention. I think it's not good to have something too boring.

Aside from divination, which not everyone is into...some believe that the Tarot is used as a meditative tool that alters the mind with symbolism, for various reasons. Others believe that it was designed to simply show magical correspondences, while perhaps being mostly just a card game.