Miroku

Hehe, again responding to rainbow body. But the Buddha didn't achieve rainbow body. Do you think he didn't achieve buddhahood?

My qigong teacher advices to stand longer in ZZ and also do bone marrow breathing in winter. Also strengthen the kidneys.

I am very sure I woke up from my sleep unable to move, everything kinda hazy and something sitting on the end of my bed (the feeling of weight pressing the mattress).

Well I know that in a lineage of white manjushri I have received there is supposed to be a master who achieved rainbow body through the practice. That is all I know. But I wouldn't be surprised if there were some practices to integrate with elements, but seems like most probably there are not, so dzogchen is the only vehicel that leads to it for sure.

Oh, I didn't know that. I just knew that it is possible, but didn't know many details. Thank yo uvery much for you corrections, Wells!

Hm, I am not the right person to answer probably, but I hope my two cents can help a bit. I am not sure if the becoming the observer is the right thing to do, but I don't know. I have noticed what helps me a lot is to try to relax in the feeling and realize how everything is impermanent and just like a dream (meaning in is gone quickly and we have only fading memories). The fact that everything is impermanent is not sad fact, it is just a fact, no reason to be depressed from it, it actually makes one feel more free and happier a bit. From my experience death is a horrible thing to deal with and it takes years to really process it. This year it will be 5 years since my father's passing and I still sometimes catch myself missing him and hoping he could see how far I've got. What I would suggest is laughter. I remember I was soo frustrated with everything for few weeks after his passing until I made a very dark joke about my mother talking to his ashes, that made me laugh for solid several minutes. And it was one of the most relieving experiences in my life. Humor is a process of healing, unless of course it is hurting someone. Also I think you could try reading Pema Chödron's books she writes a lot about dealing with sadness anger and other emotions. Also Tibetan book of living and dying by Sogyal Rinpoche is a good piece of writing (despite the horrible things he has apparently done). Anyway. Don't expect to things go back the way they were. Don't expect yourself ot be the same. Things change. Be kind to yourself, loving to yourself and give yoruself time and space to heal. Do your best to be happy. Also, contact Garchen Institute, I think they do rituals for deceased people so you can give them info about him and also maybe photos. Garchen Rinpoche is called a mahasiddha and he really is. Greately compassionate teacher. https://garchen.net/ So if you want you can also try to benefit your spouse this way. Or, if you have different religion try rituals in that. Rituals are here to help us and the ones we do them for, so do not underestimate them. Best wishes, hope my ramblings helped

No it is not AFAIK. Buddha realized the correct view and didnt achieve it just like many other great masters. What you need to do to achieve rainbow body or even great transfer just like Guru Padmasambhava is to stay in retreat and practice either very advanced tantric teachings from vajrayana or thogal or yangti methods of dzogchen. Then it is possible.

My teachers taught me that without bodhicitta when you meditate on peaceful deity and die you become a deva enjoying for some time and then fall down. If you meditate without bodhicitta on a wrathful deity you become a harmful spirit after death. If you get stuck by focusing too much on emptiness (not sure how concretely however it is not the same as a chan meditation) you can spend a pretty long time in a formless realm, in some void. Maybe they meant that. However liberation is beyond samsara, beyond categories, beyond any spirit/ghost.

“Careful man, there’s a beverage here!” — The Dude

Sorry for the loss. It is a tragedy to lose such a great master.

Well, those are desperate people in desperate conditions. I think they should know better. Especially monks who do that. It is an incredibly stupid thing to do, however to me Dalailama's stance on this makes sense. Telling them what they do is wrong could take the last pieces of their hope and left them feeling helpless. Yes there are better ways to fight against chinese, however this is what they chose to do. And how Blue Eyed Snake said, feeling like their loved ones did something heroic can ease the pain of the people who suffered the loss.

In an interview with John Oliver Dalailama speaks about self-immolation and says he doesn't like it, however he won't speak out against it, because he doesn't want to hurt families of those people even more. If he said it is wrong then those families could be really sad and hurt so he is not speaking on the issue.

Hello, Lately I have been reading and trying to find some good and easy source of information on essence. I kinda understand how important it is, however I am interested if there is a way how to tell if one has lot of essence or if it is deficient and one should take good care of it. The reason why I want to know is because I am 22 and already I am loosing my hair quite a lot and it is slowly getting grey too (around 20 grey hair on both sides) and people usually have hard time believing I am 22 as I look to be around 27 to them. Does it mean I have low prenatal essence? What should I do to not keep wasting it? Also I have heard that coffee can weaken one's essence. What about black or green tea? Black tea is also a stimulant, does it mean it also weakens the essence? Another thing that bugs me is ejaculation (I have noticed that this topic is quite popular at daobums :D). I have noticed that I feel significantly weaker after ejaculating. Also my libido is not the biggest. What should I do with it? I am trying to do it not as many times and usually take few days without it so I don't waste too much. However I have a boyfriend so it kinda is expected from me to do it from time to time. So I would like to ask, is there some easy way for beginner to use his sexual energy and not just abstain (I have been warned about Mantak Chia)? I have heard about male deer exercise, what does it do and would you recommend it?

Thank you! I have found that the best thing for me is doing zhan zhuang and few relaxing movements from the eagle in the nest qigong and that helps me a great deal and I feel full of energy. Since I started doing zhan zhuang almost everyday I do feel tired but usually only near night and sleep helps with it, which is completely unlike how things were before when I got tired very quickly and my body hurt for half of the day and sleeping didnt help at all.

Hi There has always been something that has bothered me concerning daoism (except for the fact that you can also spell it with T). And that is the importance of a master. How much is master actually important? You see I am coming from a tibetan buddhist view point where you are basically screwed without a master or atleast some form of guide. How does this work in Daoism? How do new people get into the real doist stuff? Only through books, or are there some well known masters and organisations that one can trust? Are daoist masters always associated with taichi and qigong and other chinese arts so if one wants to meet a doist master one has to search for a taichi masters, etc? Would you mind sharing your story of meeting your daoist master? I have always been kinda interested in daoism, however totall lack of teachers around me has prevented me from exploring this tradition. Don't take it like I wanna change anything I am just simply curious, how one can begin.

This interview is amazing. It shows Ram Dass from his "queer side". I didn't know this about him and am quite surprised as it is quite rare to see a queer spiritual person, moreover a master. What do you people think about this? Does it change your view of Ram Dass? What do you think about his contemporary Allan Ginsberg who also was gay and was a follower of Trungpa rinpoche?

Could you please elaborate? I mean on the brainwash and fooled thing.

After about a week of doing daily atleast a hundred of prostrations I can say that after practice I feel like after a session of qigong. Body is light and there is huge joy from every movement and a I feel full of energy. It is quite amazing. Thank you all for your contributions.

Thank you Steve! That was quite insightful.

That is a good tip. Thx!

Yes it is. And to make things clear I dont really need to lose weight (my BMI is normal) I just have all the fat around belly and am generaly kinda weakish tho so finding a way to change that. Yes it is extremely humbling. Chatral Rinpoche even did it 14 times! Hope I can accomplish atleast one or two sets, but hey I am 22 y.o. I might get the chance.

With a teacher but she is far away and sangha is far away too, so thought I might ask about this small thing here. Yes I am aware they are important and Jigten Sumgon even said they are the main practice and since he is the father of the lineage I practice in I try to approach it from this point.

Thanks Apech! I just started doing prostrations as a part of ngondro and am quite interested in benefits of the whole thing. In some books from Lama Ole Nydahl books I have read that throught prostrations part of ngöndro you open up the channels or sth in that sense, would you agree with that? Thank you for you advice it is appreciated! Heh thanks for sharing that ancient wisdom Wells. I did stop drinking as much as I used to but the belly is still right there. Thank you for the other advice tho.

Thank you guys. I will do kidney exercises that I was taught and also try to relax, breath deeply and abstain from sexual activity for some time. Also plan to visit my friend who is a doctor of chinese medicine.

To a certain degree you have to improvise from the beginning. My teacher of qigong teaches us that it is essential to respond to current situation. for example when it is hot outside we don't do too much standing meditation but do movements more and meditate and relax more. When on the other hand it is cold it we do more zhan zhuang and etc. Afaik qigong is about finding a balance so your practice must correspond.