Eden

Is Kundalini Shakti the same concept as Preheaven Chi in Taoism? In my experience the Hindu is opening themselves and aligning their subtle body for this torroidal kundalini energy to start flowing through the central channel... Taoist is accomplishing the same thing just in a different manner, like cultivating the Jing electromagnetic energy field that holds that body in alignment... Shakti uniting with Shiva in the crown and their outpouring of divine love producing amrita... same phenomenon of microcosmic orbit and sexual energy (jing) rising as Chi to nourish Shen in the brain to produce the golden elixir... like its same process just different method of cultivation? and slightly different physics of how everything is working... Like all spiritual paths more or less aiming for the same final goal, but their methods and ways of getting there are different... and cause of that there is different effects and scenery and phenomena that show up along the way, and not necessarily will you reach the "final goal" with your chosen path.. as some paths have different obstacles to overcome... like with Taoist path for a guy they have to overcome leaking sexual energy to even really begin to part of laying the foundation and building their Jing and Chi in order to nourish Shen... Or the Zen Buddhist may have some ability to rest in a no-mind state during their meditation, but maybe its never "deep" enough to really lead to any profound energetic awakening. Hindu Yogi may cause their kundalini to stir but then they may experience kundalini syndrome and have it fall back down?

Yes but everything is interconnected, interrelated and interdependent... so those who achieve some sort of spiritual awakening through a more meditative path, inevitably will have energetic shifts and transformations of the body, mind-body-consciousness-spirit-chi-nervous system-physiology-brain chemistry-prana-kundalini.. all interrelated. maybe there are different depths to how deep realization can be? or how deep spiritual realization has been integrated?

Where does Kundalini (or Candali as tibetans call it) tie into Taoist Qi Gong? To me they seem like different energies, Chi vs Kundalini... I have spent months doing Qi Gong, abdominal breathing, sublimating Jing to Chi... but it doesnt really seem to invoke Kundalini energy... where as with a more hatha yoga type practice it seems to directly be stimulating kundalini energy.. These seem like mutually exclusive paths and are in no way complemetary except maybe Taoist Neidan is to create a healthy body to engage in kundalini yogas.

idk never mind

what is your diet like? that has a huge role on health and consciousness... also worrying about jing loss is a leak of jing... the worrying is spilling the neuronal electricity.. so we need a practice that helps our nervous system slowly relax into deeper and deeper levels of ease and carefree.. this will begin to stop the leakage of jing and allow it to start accumulating again... obviously stop all ejection of sexual fluids as that is a huge tax on jing... and id recommend quitting sugar, coffee, caffeine, tobacco and alcohol if you do any of those... stick to low glycemic foods that burn slowly release of carbs over longer period of time instead of sugar and refine carbs... eat plenty of health fats... ghee is a great food for replenishing jing.. as well as eggs and organic meats.. something about the cholesterol and lecithin in eggs that allows the nervous system to build healthy myelin sheathing.. also eat lots of greens, raw and cooked.. the green energy really helps with opening ones heart.. but you have to be careful as animal foods also increase desire so the desire to release the jing you do start to build will increase.. so you need healthy outlets to move the energy so the pressure doesnt just build down below and get released. highly recommend developing a sitting meditation practice where you are tuning into the angst or worry.. feel it and feel into your heart and gut and be present with it... breath into it... imagine yourself is your child you are consoling and you are loving awareness , like a loving mother that is sending yourself love and compassion... this is a great practice of self-soothing and slowing down the nervous system and racing thoughts and allowing your nervous system to do some actual healing and restoration... id also recommend a light hatha yoga practice to help align and rechannel your energy winds so they are flowing in a balanced fashion... which has significant effects at changing ones thoughts and mind-stream to more peace... doing a sequence of asanas for 15 minutes followed by some alternate nostril breathing and meditation can help tremendously... you can also lay in savasana after and just rest. developing some sort of heart based meditation is probably the fastest, safest and most gentle ways to shift ones mind, body, health, and world view... you could even do a metta practice of wishing "may I myself be happy, may I be free of suffering"... really really being sincere in wanting this for yourself... its not selfish as this benefits not just you but whole universe... start with yourself then when you feel the good vibes extend it your family members and friends.. and then to people you maybe have problems with in life... the Heart's electromagnetic field is way stronger than the brain's... so if you amplify your hearts field the whole body, the DNA, the cells all that entrain to the heart's frequency hope that helps

Is practiciting Hatha yoga asana and pranayama to awaken Kundalini different to the whole Taoist framework of Jing Chi Shen? Does a Hatha Yogi cultivate these 3 treasures on their path of awakening Kundalini, or do Taoists experience their kundalini awakening? For me lately Ive been experimenting with these two paths... and they seem mutually exclusive... the idea of a Hatha Yogi is eating a very simple, bland, moist easy to digest sattvic diet (no eggs or meat or garlic, etc), and they are working primarily with the Solar and Lunar energy currents in the body, bringing those into balance to bring the Prana to flow in central channel to awaken Kundalini.. but kundalini path is hard cause she can easily fall back down or fall back asleep.. Its a very particular energy not like jing chi or shen at all... its more like a current of vital energy that begins to flow through central channel when its balanced and opened Taoist is more about "building" Jing and Chi to help open the meridians for better Chi flow, ie microcosmic orbit... but it doesnt really ever feel like I am working with Kundalini. For me my results of cultivating Jing and Chi lead to similar phenomena as Kundalini, but its more like a basins of water filling... first with Jing becoming full and overlfowing into Chi.. then Chi overlfowing and nourishing Shen, etc These paths also seems very different way of cultivating energy than Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism of working with Tsa Lung and Thigle...

Is there a limit to how much Chi you can compress into the lower dan tian? An example: I am experiencing some free floating anxiety from doing some mantra or asana work, like too much energy in the system and its causing some fear or anxiety. I can compress the energy into the DT, sort of stabilize it there into a chi ball... Im just curious if there a limit to how much you can store there, and what the best way would be to lock in place there so it doesnt come back up to the head to create anxiety. Thank you

Would a Buddha have a "perfected" Shen? Idk if "perfected" is the right word, but their minds are said to be absorbed in contemplation on non conceptual voidness or empty clarity 24/7 365 and because of their Clarity or Omniscience they have Bodhicitta or the boundless Compassion and Vigor to help others... so wouldnt that translate into a perfected Shen? It seems the Taoist approach is to build from bottom up, ie to prevent leakage of Jing as a pre-requisite, then through meditation and right breathing the Chi becomes full and this eventually begins to nourish the Shen... But what about a Buddha, how does it work if someone suddenly attains Enlightenment, how are the three treasures affected ? Would it be a top down approach where the Shen is full and this nourishes the Chi and the Jing? Does the Jing Chi Shen only apply to a human body? Do Devas have Jing Chi and Shen? Or is it only when in a human body that these things can be cultivated and nourished?

Would a Taoist Immortal be considered a Buddha? Or would they be considered more like a Bodhisattva or even an arhat?

Do you ever feel like knowing all the intricacies of cultivation could be like a hinderance to deepening in ones cultivation? Like having too much knowledge or belief systems? I feel like there is a point one has to forget everything they think they know about how to tread the path.. like having certain ideas of how cultivation works is actually an obstacle, cause you are constraining yourself in a way, imposing certain limits on ones self.

WHy do I feel more vital when my mind is clear/bright/present/wakeful?

does anyone else notice how building energy is easier with a more fat protein diet than a higher carb diet? I almost feel like my gut and belly are a battery and when I eat carbs it sort of surges the battery too much.. my hara contracts . But fats and proteins feel different energetically in the belly and my belly feels alot more relaxed and open... like that Fat Happy Buddha with his belly hanging over his waste strap. Eating carbs and higher glycemic carbs sometimes feels like my gut is being electrocuted My brain feels remarkably different as well when running on more fat/protein foods than carbs. I am utterly fascinated by this cause its like the OP saying, the difference is night and day and just a few days or few weeks of different diet will result in a completely different person. Its almost scary how different of a person I am depending on my diet.

My teacher would say something like : Lets put a little effort in an meet God halfway.. By this I think he means that the bottom--> up awakening of cultivating the jing and chi and shen is like reaching out toward God/BuddhaNature/Emptiness/The Natural State , and it eventually gets to the point in cultivation that Emptiness reaches out to you and pulls you in. The see saw tips and there is less effort of trying to reach a certain State and more just resting in Being. Then that resting in Being continues all the physical/emotional/mental/psychological transformations that were already taking place. Or there are some that discover their Natural State and all the transformations happen just from resting and not being anxious or agitated and leaking all their energy away.

Just reading the sutras and his discourses, the guy seems like a genius. He knew so much?

water fasting is known to help with opening of chi channels, alternating eating and just periods of emptiness... I think this is why the Buddhist monks eat one meal a day at noon, to help the chi channels open and clear. Other things ive observed in my own body in regards to kundalini/awakening, sugar and simple carbs exacerbates it beyond a manageable point, it can lead to symptoms like that electric feeling in the body and the nervous system in overdrive and nerves getting worn out and the chi channels getting worn down, very depleting to the Jing/Ojas . So are you eating lots of sugar and simple carbs? What are you eating? Fats and minerals are also very helpful and soothing to the nervous system, the way fats metabolize is very different than sugar/carbs and doesnt amplify the kundalini, it can help tone it down and bring balance. If you are going to eat carbs , slower releasing, slow glycemic carbs are probably better. Also idk if you are vegan, I was vegan for many years, and only recently introduced some meat into my diet, and even though I find meat sort of gross, a little bit does have an effect of dampening the energy so its not just ripping through your system causing all sorts of unpleasant symptoms. Meat is also known as a jing building food in Traditional Chinese Medicine, its nutritional potential is transformed directly into post-natal jing which can add support or stability during intense periods of awakening... you arent just chugging soda and eating candy all day are you? Correcting your diet and also having the right forms of exercise are about all you need on the body end of things.If your system is in a weakened state, then long gentle walks or some dancing or gardening... I would recommend against yoga asanas or things that will amplify the energy flow. Your mind is also the real culprit to any energetic disturbances cause kundalini/energy/chi is nothing but just unconscious/subconscious layers of mind activity... I recommend learning how to relax into your Hara, relaxing your breathing into your Hara, your lower belly area, and relaxing your mind from your head region into your lower belly region... Our mind can get super zoomed into all this mental stuff , disturbing mental states and thoughts and emotional stories happening in our head region, the Chi pools in the head and leads to unpleasant symptoms. You can help the bring the energy out of head by just feeling your belly with feeling awareness, bringing attention to your belly, and breathing into this area. Your Chi can be directed by attention and by aiming attention in this area, and feeling your belly and feeling any tightness in your belly, and bringing it to the surface will help it open back up. Your breathing is a very good source of healing chi, and the Hara is a good battery. But there is alot of suppressed material that we store in that area, and in the Heart region as well.. alot of tension. But feeling it and bringing it to the surface and not shying away from it... just touching on the belly area or heart area many times in a minute, will help move the chi in these areas... Trust me that if you can get your belly and heart to relax, your mind will just naturally begin resonating with your relaxed heart and relaxed belly and become relaxed too, your breathing will calm down and become very nourishing. Its inner work, learning how to systematically relax your whole body and unconscious.

what is your diet like? for me diet has a huge affect on awakening and kundalini... maybe you need a diet shift to tone things tone to manageable level

In my experience, noting or objectifying Mental States , such as sadness, fear, anger, confusion, blankness, dullness, joy, excitement, etc... this seems to bring or focus the energy to the upper dan tien, ... even watching thoughts as not your own does this For me its led to some really liberated states, more spacious mind, cause im disembedding and dis-identifying with all the states of mind.

Prior to the age of 20 I mostly ate unconsciously... just ate what tasted good... THen when I got to the age of 19 and 20 I happened upon ganja and mushrooms and altered states of consciousness and meditation and yoga and eventually raw foods diet. I did like 6 years of fruitarianism cause I felt great from being so clean but in the last few years I switched to a heavier diet and more balanced diet cause I was experiencing negative effects from kundalini.. It was like fruit diet was turning the voltage up on the energy flow and my body and the channels werent built enough to handle it so it was burning me out. Now I really appreciate more balanced diet with more fat and protein and less carbs, and hardly any sugar. I stick to WHOLE ORGANIC as that seems the universal rule for any diet... no processed crap or anything with large chemical names I cant pronounce... just get as close to what its form is found in nature. Lately ive been eating things like quinoa for a carb source, nuts and seeds and eggs for protein and fat... and i try and eat some form of green in my meals as well , either steamed or raw stuff like lettuce. ANother big thing I notice is that food, especially eggs and more rich fatty/proteiny foods are good for building the sexual energy, but for whatever reason sugar in any form, even fruit, seems to interfere with the process of Jing to Chi, that process where the sexual energy is transmuting to chi... for me it just never happens if I eat sugar... Another thing for me has been the difference in how carbs feel vs fat... for whatever reason fats feel alot more gentle and restful in my system compared to carbs... I feel more at ease eating Ketogenic type foods, but I do notice that some carbs is necessary in my meals to help with the upward movement of Jing to Chi... curious if others have experienced this. If I just eat keto foods I feel very restful and peaceful but there is no upward momentum of the sexual energy rising and converting to chi. But I also dont want to overconsume carbs as carbs in general burn similar to fossil fuels and create byproducts from that combustion, free radicals... In a way food and fossil fuel is really obsolete way of getting useable energy as it creates tons of pollution for the environment and we have to rape and pillage the Earth to extract food/fossil fuels.. Maybe one day we will be fully transitioned to getting energy from more sustainable sources like wind or wave motion or sunlight or fushion energy...

Why is it the Dao "Bums" and not something like Dao "overachievers" ?

Why does Jing get nourished anyways? What nourishes it? If the whole Taoist Jing to Chi to Shen to Emptiness to Tao alchemy happens.. its cause one has stopped leaking their Jing and the Jing eventually evaporating into Chi and the Chi eventually reaching the head and Brightening the Shen. Is it just the state of rest that one achieves in meditation that stops the leakage of Jing or that state of rest is what allows the Jing to be nourished?

I definitely have realized how powerful "imagination" is since taking up energy and qi-gong practices...

how do you define hard jhana?

You'll have to explain how positive thinking supplies metabolic energy... Obviously that much rice at once would be a very heavy meal

Shamatha is honing your attention to one object and leaving it there, Vipassana is seeing all the objects coming through the six sense doors (hearing, tasting, seeing, thought, etc) and noticing them, noticing their characteristics. Shamatha sets the stage for true vipassana to happen in an unbroken manner... You can also develop shamatha simultaneously with developing vipassana and insight... an example is Mahasi Sayadaw style noting of sensations arising and passing, and just doing that in a concentrated and unbroken manner will develop shamatha/concentration... but having a dedicated shamatha practice is a bit easier, as you are simply choosing just one object, like the breath, or a candle flame, and concentrating on that... If your mind wanders from the object to other objects of awareness, you just bring it back... eventually the mind becomes settled enough that you can become absorbed in the chosen object... Thats when you wield your concentrated mind and like a flash light that lights up sensations more clearly, you begin to notice the characteristics of all sensations... i.e. no-self, impermanent, not ultimately that satisfying. They seem to be happening on their own, not necessarily to anyone... just twinkling in and out of existence and not lasting for but a moment... this changes the whole game with disturbing emotions if you see that they don't really exist but for a moment... Rather than being stuck in a depression for minutes, hours, days, weeks, months... vipassana dis-assembles things into their parts and somehow that is really liberating.

you sort of answered other questions I had for sure... but it didn't really address the question of what allows for the most "efficient" replenishment of Jing/chi/shen... what are the conditions or whatever... what do some people seem to be full of inexhaustible energy and some are sort of low and tired all the time? This seems to be related to the whole Jing Chi Shen which is central to a human body. Something that seems to set a Taoist "Immortal" apart from just your typical sentient being is they are deeply involved with deep meditation. I assume that has a lot to do with it... achieving that state of rest or ease, off the hamster wheel of stress and whirling emotions... which can be exhausting... If one is always sort of resting and cozy, no matter the circumstance they happen to be in... its likely they are using up way less Jing/Chi and maybe even continually nourishing these, despite going on with daily life activities that can potentially be stressful