anshino23

Very cool. Thank you

Is that where you're flooded with sexual imagery as a sign of the jing cleansing itself over several sessions, like a purge almost? I've read that mentioned in Damo's books.

Please Thanks in advance.

Perhaps look into writings about Ming and how to change it. Bodri has some good stuff on changing destiny with the famous lesson from Liao Fan’s Four Lessons, written by Yuan Liao Fan. Here's the story as explained by Bodri. Full post here: https://www.meditationexpert.com/self-improvement/s_Liao-Fans-Four-Lesson-Benjamin-Franklin-Bettger-change-your-fortune.html Hope that can be of help

So... what is Jing really? Some say it can be increased by doing certain things like horse stance. Some people seem to think it's the same as hormones like testosterone. Other seem to think it's the potential of cells or something like stem cells if it had a homologous physical attribute. Others say it is more related to letting go of habits and becoming deeply still. Would love to hear your thoughts! Thanks!

I've found real life conversation the best with women I think a lot of guys probably had a "PUA" phase going through puberty, hopefully they moved on and realised the futility in seeking satisfaction in shallow relationships and constant sexual reward. It seems OP here has embraced the A&A (agree-and-amplify or reductio ad absurdum) method from pick-up as his go-to method in conversations. I think he would probably call it something like "bemused mastery" or some other ridiculous notion. Anyway, long-term relationships have been the best for me. Stability over novelty. Even though the mind is intrinsically addicted to novel information - this is something that is trained in meditation for one to let go of. This is in some Daoist traditions also known as Heart-Mind fasting. Without this, there's no real development in the internal arts - there's no peace or stable platform to move forward. There's a perpetual searching for something outside of yourself to satisfy your craving, to remove boredom. Since we're on a Daoist forum, I think that's appropriate to mention. As for the conversation shared in the opening post, it was (1) rather plain and boring, (2) didn't show some magnificient artistry, (3) doesn't seem to serve any other purpose than plain-ol' "look at what I did" attention seeking. What exactly was the point with uploading those images? You say share experiences... so does that mean you want us to post our chats with women in our lives? And that we collectively somehow use that .. for what? Discuss strategies on how to bed women? This isn't a pickup artist forum. It's a Daoist forum. If you wanna discuss the importance of relationships on the spiritual path, now that's a different story...

And how much (how little!) do you sleep? Seriously impressed you can get an hour of stretching in on top of all your other internal training...

Sure. But if you watch the video you'll see it's pretty much recommended for everyone to support their immune system. I'm pretty sure if it would be damaging instead of nourishing, Damo would have said that in the video. As long as you don't practice it immediately before or after some other energetic work, I can't see how it would damage your organs. I could be wrong of course. But perhaps @freeform knows a bit more, and can chime in and say if he deems there would be any dangers/risk of doing that with said exercises? In any case, best wishes for your healing

I can definitely agree with that in terms of shame. Here's a beautiful post by a friend of mine on the topic that I've found helpful when considering these things. Perhaps it can benefit others as well, so I share it here. "The first message you must understand is: what you suppress, you impress. One who has sex freely, thinks of sex lesser than one who forcibly represses sex. When one represses lust, it is like stuffing the mess of clothes into the cupboard. When one day, the cupboard gives way, the mess pours back in. You cannot block the light of the sun with your palm. There are many reasons for having a heightened sexuality, and this must be explored. In a past lifetime, you may have taken a pwoerful vow of celibacy, or perhaps have been traumatized in a certain manner. That is one possibility. A more recent possibility is that modern society is hyper-sexualized and as all things exist in polarities - its opposite, sex-shaming has also risen. You see sex-shaming especially in religious institutes and places where the practice is not right. This results in all the news about supposedly-religious people succumbing to sexual misconduct. Sex is perfectly natural. It is a beautiful way for nature to produce more of its organisms. It has such power - to pull a being into a body and generate a life. It is sacred and close to the Divine. However, the problem comes when one comes addicted to it. One who has transcended lust is immensely interested in sex. However, this one is also immensely interested in everything else. The stars, the moon, the Sun, the trees, the people around him, the bugs crawling in the Earth - they are a reflection of the wondrous, beautiful cosmos. One who is above lust, is one who no longer sees lust as the solution to one's satisfaction. This is a great difference from forced suppression. Yes, there are energetic costs to losing sperm, especially for a male. Losing one drop of semen is like losing blood. The power contained within to produce a life is as such. There is no doubt about it. However, to suppress one's lust is wrong. To shame oneself out of sex is also not the way. To control, restrict - This is only the way of one who does not understand the Dharma. Even the Buddha himself, as he sat under the Bodhi tree, encountered the temptation of Mara's most beautiful women. Have you asked yourself why most sages talk about this temptation? It is because through the Buddha's asceticism, he suppressed this desire - and it surfaced as a subconscious desire. To understand why sex is so addictive, you must firstly understand exactly why it gives one so much bliss. Orgasm is the very cause. What exactly, is orgasm? In orgasm, one's mind suddenly stops. At the point of time, one is unbounded by time and space. At that point, one sheds the ego, together with one's partner. At that one point, man reverts to nature, and all facades, appearances and self-deception dissappears. However, orgasm ends - beacuse the very nature of it is that the ego continues its clutches. Attachment resumes. Thoughts come back in. Having a taste of this blissfulness, one craves it. In true jhana, one tastes exactly this blisfulness. This is because it is the same - one is unbounded by space and time, giving rise to one-pointedness. Ego is shed. Facades fade to nature. One becomes innocent. So do not go down the wrong route of suppressing sex without understanding why it is so. One who has transcended lust is one who embraces everything - everything reminds that one of the Divine - emptiness - the void. If you treat your partner with selfless care, with non-addiction, with respect, love and care, then sex is perfectly wholesome. If you want to have sex, then have sex the right way. However, you must understand the energetic costs of doing so. That is all. If you have sex, do not lie that you are cultivating your energy for higher purposes - it is very simple. Be honest with yourself. It is better to be honest than to lie to oneself and push it into a repression. It is not a repression, but an embracing of everything else, and the understanding of why sex can be blissful. Then you can understand how this connection to the Divine, this blissfulness, can be sought in one's meditation. Sex is a connection of the sacral chakra between two partners. However, true tantra is when one connects all the chakras - not just the sacral chakra - and both partners are purified and capable of eliminating blockages within the energetic body. It is a highly sacred art that is not easily mastered - only possibly by guidance of a master. Allow yourself free expression, with careful investigation of oneself. When the Buddha said - "Speak truthfully", what did he mean? When all the masters talk about not even letting lust arise in the mind - it is this understanding. It is not repression. It is the natural state of being one with all. It is the freedom from afflictions and addictions. It is spontaneity in the Tao."

I can confirm that Eric Isen has my issue down to detail that was also directly correborated by a CCM (classical chinese medicine) specialist, so he definitely knows his stuff and his insight into medical issues is really astounding. I can definitely recommend him for a view into one's health condition. As for your issues @GreenCord, do you have a good diet and exercise routine? In my own case, spleen qi deficiency and thus candida was/are the biggest energy hogs and trouble areas for me, also related to my own energetic make-up (Bazi). Eric will be able to help you more in detail about your issues, but if you're short on money for an analysis at the moment or seeing such a type of doctor, looking into diet, exercise and Yang Sheng Fa (healthy living principles) is very important for overall energy and is where I would look first. During this time of COVID-19 crisis worldwide, Damo Mitchell has been generous enough to teach two quite powerful and simple exercises that will help both the spleen and kidney Zang-Fu organs using very simple breathing techniques. So perhaps those can help you, too. I've posted the video here below. The techniques are explained toward the end. I hope this helps. Best of luck on your path.

What'd he do? And was the stuff done because of the Qi deviation? The reason I ask is because I imagine particular types of Qi deviations are not unlike psychosis? So in such a case, can we really hold people during a "psychotic break" accountable for their actions? Honestly, it's a big conundrum for me. As you say yourself, the causal-effect relationships that exist on multiple levels are mindbogglingly complex. That's where the question of free will comes in. Is there an agent deciding these things? To use an extreme example, if someone poisons you with some drug that causes psychosis, in a crude way, karmically speaking, it is simply cause and effect at play, but you killing someone while being psychotic on said drug - was that the drug, or was it you? Would the drug causing the psychosis lead to killing unless you had the karmic seeds of anger in your unconscious mind ready to manifest? And secondly, does an individual's intention during the act matter or not in terms of karma? These are all really big questions (at least for my small puny human brain). And I'm not sure they're easily answered outside of genuine samadhi and higher levels of wisdom. It seems, at least from my perspective, that basically everyone that is not enlightened is effectively trying to emulate enlightened behaviour. But it's like emulating a professional foot baller. Only someone that has truly entered the stream would be someone who no longer produces karma, or only produces karma that is neither-bright-nor-dark. "Monks, these four types of kamma have been directly realized, verified, & made known by me. Which four? There is kamma that is dark with dark result. There is kamma that is bright with bright result. There is kamma that is dark & bright with dark & bright result. There is kamma that is neither dark nor bright with neither dark nor bright result, leading to the ending of kamma. "And what is kamma that is neither dark nor bright with neither dark nor bright result, leading to the ending of kamma? right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration [samādhi ]. This is called kamma that is neither dark nor bright with neither dark nor bright result, leading to the ending of kamma." ~ Ariyamagga Sutta

I think another way of looking at the Pure Lands/Abodes rather than from own personal desires and enjoyments, is to look at it like a school for Bodhisattvas and future Buddhas. In other words, you will learn skills and develop abilities that will ensure you to move on toward the road of full Buddhahood with no chance of regression. At that point you can then decide, depending on your "higher mind" desires whether you wish to manifest emanation bodies (nirmāṇakāyas) into the various realms to help other sentient beings, and enjoy your mountains, oceans, penguins, giraffes and octopuses. Another point, that I think warrants mention, is that you do not enter the Pure Abodes unless you are already enlightened, or able to -- on your death bed -- to enter a perfected samadhi that allows your mindstream to align perfectly with Amitabha's pure abode with enough mental power/Shen. I personally believe that is the case, and it's not just a question of doing the mantra/dharani enough times or accumulating some number. It's about complete transformation. The same goes for entering the Maitreya's inner court in Tushita.

Here's some stuff shared to me by someone I consider a Buddhist stream-enterer. May it benefit any genuine seeker that wish to use this Dharma-gate to enter. Namo amituofo. May the above be of benefit

Very nice. Thanks.

Interesting. Thanks for sharing Three seems to be a re-ocurring pattern... three strikes of thunder, etc. Would you say kundalini is more to do with pre-heavenly qi than yang qi?

How do you understand real kundalini within your lineage? What are the signs? Or are they secretive? Why would kundalini not be helpful if it arose from doing correct practice within a lineage process?

Yeah, Denmark did the right thing. So here's what happening. The worst thing that is happening right now is that, even though the Prime Minister said to stay calm and not to begin hoarding food because there's plenty in supply, almost everyone went directly to their nearest supermarket and is panic buying everything. This is what it looks like: I went to watch the supermarket I have very near me to see what was up ... I've never seen that many people in my supermarket. Ever. Such an eerie atmosphere.

You won't know. Self-isolate. Stay inside until you're completely symptom free.

Thank you so much. Denmark just closed down... No more work for 14 days for all governmental workers, all schools, daycare, clubs, pubs, assemblies, etc. are closed down. Our university classes have been cancelled too so remaining lectures will be held online for us. Only a question of time before all of us medstudents will be called in to help so we don't end like Italy...

I just came on here to see the reasoning made by @Taomeow on the herbs which were recommended and which were not. Now it's gone. And no copy of it on the prevention thread. Taomeow do you have a copy of what you wrote perchance?

Really beautiful and profound. May all sentient beings be benefitted by the Light of the Medicine Buddha and all negative karmas purified. Thank you for sharing @Vajra Fist. Garchen Rinpoche's video made tears fill my eyes with the compassion radiating from his heart and all the Buddhas. Much love.

Thank you Nathan. In case others on here are interested and didn't know; earlier this month Nathan Brine published a book on Internal Alchemy called The Taoist Alchemy of Wang Liping: Volume One. And it looks great!

It's a whole video in Chinese. Doesn't make for much discussion for those of us that don't know Chinese

Wonderful post, thank you. To add to this, in my understanding, once one has reached this sort of level of development, one actually begins to see at the causal level of reality; meaning, when one does something, it's for the "whole", but on such a deep level that it's really unfathomable by our current minds - since it is based on a deep knowing of what the right thing is for that person or that situation at that specific time - that will lead to the best outcome for all involved, and lead to the most spiritual growth. I think that's also where the genuine stories of Gurus (think Milarepa...) comes in - where the master calls you an idiot, or makes you travel all across the country only to come back frustrated with absolutely nothing to show for it, or having you do hundreds of hours of one particular exercise even though you experience nothing but pain and suffering from it. All of that is done deliberately because they reside on a level where they can literally see the best way to rid you of karma (lifetimes of it) in the most fruitful way possible.

Heard about PEDs?