senseless virtue

Buddhist Practice Is Not For Spacing Out Buddhism is very keen on emptiness and unselfishness (non-self), but it's not spaced out or navel gazing hippie spirituality. Why? Buddhism teaches that there are two merits to be accumulated: the merit of virtue & the merit of emptiness. The former requires compassionate action and true altruistic love for others because only these realize what is truly unselfish behavior. This is where many people — especially the self-initiated Western folk — interested in internal cultivation get a failing grade: they simply disregard perfecting conduct as a supplement at best or as a needless annoyance at worst. You wouldn't find any traditional Buddhist teacher supporting such disregarding notions. People who claim to understand about abiding in emptiness might just get swallowed by a false impression instead. I have seen quite a few Western yogis (even more abundantly outside of this forum) who claim to attainments and speak of their self-grasping having diminished, but neither do their conduct nor yogic accomplishments align with the traditional criteria at all. Who is fooling whom? No virtue, no bodhicitta, thus no advancing in the two accumulations. For those who wish to practice the Buddhist way: Don't go cherry picking what is easy or you may end up doing the spiritual equivalent of glue huffing or sniffing farts and thinking yourself really civilized and top of the game. Please have some grounded skepticism instead and try not to be impressed by any appearance of "emptiness" because that itself would also be another illusion.

Ok. I hope that you do keep your samaya vows intact if you have received any Vajrayana teachings like you seem to have. You mentioned about Dakinis and a portion of practice instructions that might require keeping it as secret from the non-initiated. You might want to edit your earlier post for this reason. For those wondering what is samaya and how it relates to Gurus: it's pretty strict lifetime commitment and means to not wound the love and power which Guru bestows with the tantric initiation. Abusing the vows leads to hell rebirth unless the breaches are purified. Also, abandoning one's Guru leads to the karma that one will never again meet the teachings of Buddha in any future lifetime. Sounds pretty serious, but taking empowerments and accepting Gurus is a personal choice and everybody usually is well informed about what responsibilities it carries to both for the teacher and the student.

Ok, I don't have a clear view of what you are looking for in shielding so I'm stopping here. It might be interesting for you to learn that Shuigong also has protective visualizations in its dream practice. These aren't humanoid figures though. Bodhicitta. Either you use the extra energy in pursuits of altruistic love and higher causes or it escapes through habitual vices. That's how I see it, but you might want something else per your teacher's recommendation that you quote.

Sorry, but this doesn't sound true and you might be misinformed. There are plenty of shielding practices starting from basic ethical discipline to various mantras and dharanis in Paramitayana and then deity sadhanas in Vajrayana. Even reading certain Mayahana Sutras can make for reasonable shielding. Understandable. Be mindful though that many esoteric mantras are also used in all Mayahana and plenty of these don't require going to the tantric deep end. Yet, discussing these mantras even with your Ch'an or Zen teacher can be very helpful because following a valid teacher is the way to go.

That is a technically correct answer and a very thoughtful one.

In some cases yes. Stillness-Movement Neigong, Tao Tan Pai, Flying Phoenix Qigong, and Shuigong have good pedigrees and excellent meditative results even in the modern era. All of them feature either energy transmission or traditional initiation at some point of the training as far as I understand. Michael Lomax, Sifu Terry Dunn, and Sifu John Dolic also teach online and do Q&A in case you are interested in more interaction. Why are you looking for qigong if you have found Buddhism?

My article might be useful even if not directly answering your question:

Spiritual discipline prevents loss and harm. This is its singular purpose. Without this foundation all "practice" is wishful hobbyist theory and all likely risks become realized in one form or another. That's why you don't see Michael Winn or Mantak Chia students becoming flying mahasiddhas even if they gathered all the energy and even if they practiced all the forms correctly. Freedom from error is the highest guarantee for success as far as internal training goes.

Come on! You let out a secret worth of bazillion bucks like it was nothing!

Blah.

I think it's highly ignorant to separate these two. Building qi always takes correct discipline, and to really master discipline you need to be able to discern well between what is harmful and what is helpful.

In fact the entire pursuit of spirituality is one extensive learning for to be able to spontaneously separate good and bad.

"Less more harm" sounds pretty neutral. And somehow strangely pretty. I love Engrish.

One can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. Best of luck to you.

This should be pretty obvious considering we talk about martial arts. Martial energy is meant for killing human beings. Many of the advanced Bok Fu Pai meditations and their breath sequences activate that capacity. I think you should go ask Sifu Terry Dunn or search the Flying Phoenix discussion thread if you still find my explanation hard to grasp. Sifu Terry has made numerous references to the fighting capacity of the GMDW meditative arts.

This is how GM Doo Wai learned the breath sequencing as it had been traditional for many generations. GMDW eventually became so skillful that he crafted correct breath sequencing formulas to any new martial styles that he didn't inherit from his father. From Sifu Terry Dunn's writings we can see that Eight Sections of Energy Combined (Bot Dim Gum in Cantonese) is one of these. As a closure, I want to remind everybody that Sifu Terry has brought up several times that it's dangerous to create breathing formulas on your own because it might access unhealthy energies. He also shared a personal account about Flying Phoenix advanced level that doing the movements wrong even by accident can also induce a real energy injury. Please take care and don't waste your time on yogic skills that go beyond your level.

The breath sequencing formulas can't be reverse engineered and each of them are linked to specific qigong movements. Just my opinion, but these can't be grokked without transmitted tradition or very high level of yogic accomplishment.

Due to cannabis being an active topic on The Dao Bums right now, here are Sifu Terry's thoughts about recreational drugs together with the meditative arts he teaches: I hope this helps everyone train responsibly and with dedication as far as Bok Fu Pai and Tao Tan Pai systems are concerned. My personal opinion is that no one should ever "play" with psychoactive substances and do any meditation in the same week without first consulting their physician and meditation teacher that it's absolutely alright.

Pretty good explanation as far as your own observations go, but you may be too inexperienced with meditation to really understand how recreational drugs affect the nervous system. It universally leads to worse results. Since you practice Flying Phoenix Qigong, I have quoted Sifu Terry Dunn on the topic: Take care.

You should read my previous post in this thread. Building dantian closer to sexual organs increases libido and the chance of having sexual thoughts. This can lead to energy loss if discipline isn't good enough.

There weren't scientific trials in classic China in this sense. The renown masters first attained high level through meditation and preliminary practices, which opens the capability to see how karma works out. They could see directly what helps and what not.

Not harmless if it turns you into Yin Yang french fries.

I can't imagine what sense or attainment could be found in using, even if having separate sessions, mantras from distinct traditions like Buddhism and Hinduism as if these traditions were interchangeable or philosophically in agreement. Being a Hindu on weekdays and being a Buddhist on weekends and holidays? Is commitment to a single tradition that boring?

Foundation of preliminary training. This can mean ethics of no-harm, having renunciation, altruistic love, generosity, patience, and having the correct view of cause and effect, and realizing no-self. After these comes good health and a repelling aura. Some traditions also teach how to shield from spirit threats.

You shouldn't be sharing info like this. If anyone picks it up, then they may develop a powerful siddhi without any supporting development. Clairvoyance is one the more dangerous ones. One reason is that opening spiritual vision means that the spirits can now easily see you too.