anshino23

I am still not sure what your actual symptoms related to the prostate are. Can you be more specific? Do you have a weak urine stream, do you have after-dribble, do you have pain when urinating or ejaculating? What sort of symptoms? I am a licensed medical doctor so I am speaking directly from experience these questions are part and parcel in evaluating prostate issues. In fact we use something called IPSS to evaluate prostate issues as a questionnaire. Attached here below for your information. Also, a good thing to test is your PSA and to get a thorough medical examination including a digital rectal examination. I hope this helps. DISCLAIMER: INFORMATION IN THIS POST IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT INTENDED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE ADVICE PROVIDED BY YOUR PHYSICIAN OR OTHER HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL. YOU SHOULD NOT USE THE INFORMATION IN THIS POST FOR DIAGNOSING OR TREATING A HEALTH PROBLEM OR DISEASE, OR PRESCRIBING ANY MEDICATION OR OTHER TREATMENT.

If your TSH >1.3 in a morning test most likely your thyroid functioning is unoptimised. You can add free T3 and free T4 to the test as well. If you want to be really sure, get anti-thyroidperoxidase enzymes as well. The thing about candida is that it grows in low body temperature. Try to measure your body temperature using an ear thermometer (a high quality one). If it's consistently around 36.3-36.6 then no doubt you will have issues with digestion and metabolism, including things like candida overgrowth. If it's 36.6-37.0 generally then your thyroid is most likely doing well.

"At the current time, Damo continues his practice of Nei Gong within three distinct lines of training. For the time-being Damo wishes to keep these lines and the teachers involved to himself. One teacher wishes to remain anonymous – this is quite normal for Daoist teachers, especially those who do not wish to teach publicly any more! Newer students progress through the public system of Nei Gong based in the Quan Zhen traditions whilst seniors study from within deeper and more challenging lines of this internal process. Damo is classically initiated into the Longmen (Dragon Gate) lineage of Daoism as well another Quanzhen branch of the tradition. He is also initiated into a line of esoteric Chan Buddhist practice and this line also influences his teachings." (from: http://lotusneigong.com/damo-mitchell-6/)

Neigong prepares for alchemy. It is stage 2 in the below. It is not alchemy. From Damo's publically available instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CMeN872JeJ_/

@daojones Most likely your issue is not candida but in fact a poorly functioning thyroid. This is very commonly seen in clinical practice within functional medicine. What are your symptoms that make you think you have candida?

I assume you mean the Microcosmic Orbit course he published freely? Activating the lower dantien and building it is included in the internal arts academy in the weekly neigong classes where you gradually learn how to build the field and the mechanics behind it. Safety is encouraged at all times.

Martinus is pretty cool. Has a bench in Dyrehaven named by him. Incredible energy at that place. Ever been? Are you danish yourself? If so, rart at møde dig!

I haven't found any discrepancies in what Damo has taught, it's pretty clear based on the above for me? But maybe because I've already activated my LDT? Can you explain a bit more about what your confusion is? I'm not sure I quite understand.

From the book: Almost every system of internal work from within the Daoist tradition will, at some point, discuss the importance of the lower Dan Tian. It is generally the start point for all other energy practices and considered to be the first aspect of the energy body that a person should learn to work with. This sounds easy enough in theory – placing the awareness on the lower Dan Tian – but it is generally more challenging than that. A great number of practitioners fall down in the earliest stages of their development, either because they don’t know how to locate the lower Dan Tian, or they work with it in the wrong manner. If you miss the lower Dan Tian with either your body mass or, later, the mind, then this will obviously slow down the practice, and if you focus on it incorrectly, it can lead to the development of internal stagnation. The exact location of the lower Dan Tian will vary a slight amount from person to person. This is partly due to body shape and also due to people’s energetic nature. Within textbooks it is usually said to be a few centimetres below the navel, when in fact it is a little more complex than this. In order to locate the lower Dan Tian, we need to follow a few steps. We first use two key acupuncture points as references to locate the lower Dan Tian. These points are Qi Hai () (Ren 6) and Hui Yin () (CV 1). Qi Hai sits in the front midline of the body, two fingers’ width below the lower border of the umbilicus. Hui Yin sits on the base of the body between the opening of the anus and the edge of the genitalia. Figure 4.20 shows how these two points can be used as a cross-reference for locating the lower Dan Tian’s location. Alongside the diagram is the Chinese character for Tian, as in Dan Tian. Looking at the character, we can see a nod to cross-referencing these two points in order to locate the lower Dan Tian. The point at which these two lines cross each other gives the rough location for the centre point of the lower Dan Tian. From here, we then need to move our awareness around a little until we find the exact location. When attempting to understand how far back in the body the lower Dan Tian is located, remember that it sits directly upon the line of the vertical branch of the Thrusting channel. This channel travels like an upright bar through the core of the body. This is why the lower Dan Tian sits directly above the Hui Yin (CV 1) acupuncture point. The majority of Qi Gong practitioners I have met actually place their mind too far forward within the body and so miss the Dan Tian by quite some distance. The awareness is a curious thing, as it likes to have certain locations to ‘grab onto’. If you ever try to put your awareness into a single point within a large space, you will see what I mean. Those of you with enough internal sensitivity to know where your awareness actually is will find that it quickly seeks to attach itself to a physical point of reference within that space if there is one. If you want an easy experiment, just extend your index finger and then try to focus on the air an inch or two from its tip. What you will find is that, in the majority of cases, your awareness is very keen to shift across onto the tip of the finger, and only a focused level of concentration will keep it where it is. If your mind wanders for just a second, your awareness will be on the fingertip. Locating the lower Dan Tian can be similar, as within the space of the lower abdomen you basically have two points which the mind will be able to attach itself to. The first is the true lower Dan Tian and the second is the false Dan Tian. These two points are shown in Figure 4.21. The false Dan Tian corresponds with the Qi Hai (Ren 6) meridian point.

That's all fine and dandy. But how do you trust a teacher who says they've entered all four dhyanas and eight samadhis (or just the four dhyanas) if they do not have the very fruits of the contemplative life as described by the Buddha? (https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.02.0.than.html). You think they're metaphors or something? Insight Knowledge, The Mind-made Body, Supranormal Powers, Clairaudience, Mind Reading, Recollection of Past Lives, The Passing Away & Re-appearance of Beings and The Ending of Mental Fermentations It's not really about ascetic extremes. It's just a question about what can be realisticallly be attained. Would you rather move goalposts, or would you rather know the truth? Or do you think everything is just relative? I mean if I know what something requires, I'll at least be able to work toward it with the proper methods and not fool myself thinking I'm some great samadhi-jhana master and that I should now teach people and get paid to do so! Even if it'll take a thousand lifetimes, it's better than fooling oneself IMHO.

I haven't trained with Damo in person yet unfortunately due to the COVID situation which delayed everything, but I've trained with a highly attained teacher within the same underlying lineage in person (who has trained lots with Damo) which has been quite incredible. There's no substitute to face-to-face interaction. That said, the online program is really great - I can't believe how much Damo is sharing openly to be honest. Have you read his latest book - the Comprehensive Guide yet? It's truly excellent. It's really tough work though... Like, to get anywhere in these arts you have to dedicate at least a couple of hours a day up towards 4 hours of practice every day for proper progress (building the foundation which takes between 3-7 years of consistnet practice depending on effort and prior development). Hope this helps? If not, just let me know and I'll say happily elaborate more.

The book I quoted had a source. Maybe look at that? I guess Padmasambhava's words weren't good enough either? Sad that's the only thing you got out of it, but to each their own. I personally just get a distinctly bad taste in my mouth when people downplay Dharma and give some sort of watered-down version of it that makes you think that enlightenment, shamatha, samadhi, jhana and awakening is something you do on a weekend retreat or it can be easily achieved. I can't even mention how many people on reddit and various buddhist forums think they've attained all four jhanas and eight samadhis. Boy do we have lots of enlightened peeps around.

The interesting thing is that you're kind of reading into this what you want. If you read someone like Alan B. Wallace's Fathoming the Mind - Inquiry and Insight into Dudjom's Lingpa's Vajra Essence or Attention Revolution, you'll find the following mentioned: “In order to derive the full benefits of vipaśyanā, the essential preparation is the practice of śamatha, with the goal of rendering the body and mind serviceable: relaxed, stable, and clear. On this basis, one is well prepared to venture into the profound discoveries and insights of vipaśyanā, which, unlike śamatha, invariably entails an element of inquiry.” “Here is a brief synopsis of the stages of this practice as given in the Sharp Vajra of Conscious Awareness Tantra. Entry into taking the impure mind as the path is defined by the experience of distinguishing between the stillness of awareness and the movements of the mind. Ordinarily when a thought arises, we have the sense of thinking it, and our attention is diverted to the referent of the thought. Similarly, when a desire arises, there is a cognitive fusion of awareness and the desire, so awareness is drawn to the object of desire. In such cases, our very sense of identity merges with these mental processes, with our attention riveted on the object of the thought, desire, or emotion. In this practice, we do our best to sustain the stillness of our awareness, and from this perspective of stillness and clarity we illuminate ” “Continuing in the practice, four types of mindfulness are experienced in sequence. First is single-pointed mindfulness, which occurs when you simultaneously experience the stillness of awareness and the movement of the mind. This is like watching images coming and going in a movie and hearing the soundtrack, while never reifying these appearances — that is, taking them to be inherently real things — or getting caught up in the drama.” “As you grow more accustomed to letting your awareness rest in its own place — accompanied by a deepening sense of loose release and nongrasping, together with the clarity of awareness illuminating the space of the mind — you enter into an effortless flow of the simultaneous awareness of stillness and motion: this second stage is manifest mindfulness. Eruptions of memories, desires, and mental afflictions surge up periodically rather than continuously, and over time, your mind gradually settles in its natural state, like a blizzard in a snow globe that gradually dissipates and settles into transparency.” “In the third stage of mindfulness, awareness of the body and the five senses withdraws into single-pointed awareness of the space of the mind, and you become oblivious to your body and environment. Prior to this stage, thoughts and other mental appearances become fewer and subtler, until finally they all dissolve and your ordinary mind and all its concomitant mental processes go dormant: this corresponds to the absence of mindfulness. Bear in mind that the terms translated as “mindfulness” in Pāli (sati), Sanskrit (smṛti), and Tibetan (dran pa) primarily connote recollection, or bearing in mind. Now you’re not recalling or holding anything in mind; your coarse mind has gone dormant, as if you’d fallen into deep, dreamless sleep. But at the same time, your awareness is luminously clear. The coarse mental factor of mindfulness that allowed you to reach this state has also gone dormant; hence it is called the absence of mindfulness. ” “When you are in this transitional state, you are aware only of the sheer vacuity of the space of the mind: this is the substrate (Skt. ālaya). The consciousness of this vacuity is the substrate consciousness (Skt. ālayavijñāna). Here is a twenty-first-century analogy: When your computer downloads and installs a software upgrade, it becomes nonoperational for a short time before the new software is activated. Similarly, when your coarse mind dissolves into the substrate consciousness, the coarse mindfulness that brought you to this point has gone dormant, as if you had fainted — but you’re wide awake. This is a brief, transitional phase, and it’s important not to get stuck here, for if you do so for a prolonged period, your intelligence may atrophy like an unused muscle. This is like being lucid in a state of dreamless sleep, with your awareness absorbed in the sheer vacuity of the empty space of your mind. That space is full of potential, but for the time being, that potential remains dormant.” “Finally, there arises the fourth type of mindfulness: self-illuminating mindfulness. This occurs when you invert your awareness upon itself and the substrate consciousness illuminates and knows itself. In the Pāli canon, the Buddha characterized this mind as brightly shining (Pāli pabhassara) and naturally pure (Pāli pakati-parisuddha). This subtle dimension of mental consciousness is experientially realized with the achievement of śamatha, corresponding to the threshold of the first dhyāna, or meditative stabilization. Resting in this state of consciousness you experience three distinctive qualities of awareness: it is blissful, luminous, and nonconceptual. Most important, this awareness is called serviceable; both your body and mind are infused with an unprecedented degree of pliancy, so they are fit for use as you wish.” “The Buddha explains the profound shift that takes place upon achieving this first dhyāna: Being thus detached from hedonic craving, detached from unwholesome states, one enters and remains in the first dhyāna, which is imbued with coarse investigation and subtle analysis, born of detachment, filled with delight and joy. And with this delight and joy born of detachment, one so suffuses, drenches, fills, and irradiates one’s body that there is no spot in one’s entire body that is untouched by this delight and joy born of detachment. A similar point is made in the Mahāyāna discourse known as the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra: Lord, when a Bodhisattva directs his attention inwards, with the mind focused upon the mind, as long as physical pliancy and mental pliancy are not achieved, what is that mental activity called? Maitreya, this is not śamatha. It is said to be associated with an aspiration that is a facsimile of śamatha.” “Even when you emerge from meditation, this body-mind upgrade is yours to employ in your dealings with the world. It’s a radical psychophysiological shift; although not irreversible, it can likely be sustained for the rest of your life. The five obscurations of hedonic craving, malice, laxity and dullness, excitation and anxiety, and afflictive uncertainty are largely dormant. There is an unprecedented pliancy and suppleness of both body and mind during formal meditation sessions and between them. Such refinement of the body’s energy system can be cultivated to some degree with controlled breathing and physical exercises such as prāṇāyāma, chi gung, and tai chi. The Buddha knew well the many ascetic disciplines of body and breath practiced in his time, but they are not taught in the Pāli canon; instead, he strongly emphasized the simple practice of mindfulness of breathing. This is a profound practice for settling the subtle body, the energetic body, in its natural state, and it is closely related to settling the mind in its natural state." For a good idea of exactly what it takes to reach such refined states using the Buddhist methodology, the Attention Revolution is a great read. From his book on Stage 9 (before authentic shamatha): “With only the slightest exertion of effort, you proceed from the eighth attentional stage to the ninth, known as attentional balance. You are now able to maintain flawless samadhi, effortlessly and continuously for at least four hours. Due to the power of deep familiarization with this training, you can slip into meditative equipoise, free of even the subtlest traces of laxity and excitation, with no effort at all. This is not to say that your attention is irreversibly balanced. If for some reason you discontinue the practice, you will find that laxity and excitation erode your attentional equipoise. They have not been irreversibly eliminated. But if you maintain a contemplative lifestyle and keep your attention honed through regular practice, this wonderful degree of sanity can be yours for life. To reach this point will almost certainly require many months, or even a few years, of continuous, full-time practice. You’ll never succeed if you work at this even very intensively for only brief intervals, taking many breaks in between. Likewise, the higher stages of shamatha practice will not be achieved by engaging in many brief retreats of weeks or a few months at a time. It requires long, continuous practice without interruption. There are no shortcuts. Contemplatives who have achieved this ninth stage of attentional balance describe the quality of this experience simply as “perfection.” The mind has come to a yet deeper state of stillness and serenity, likened now to Mount Meru, the king of mountains. It would be understandable to conclude that you have now fully achieved shamatha. You are almost there.” “Flawless shamatha is like an oil-lamp that is unmoved by the air. Wherever the awareness is placed, it is unwaveringly present; awareness is vividly clear, without being sullied by laxity, lethargy, or dimness; wherever the awareness is directed, it is steady and sharply pointed; and unmoved by adventitious thoughts, it is straight. Thus, a flawless meditative state arises in your mindstream; and until this happens, it is important that you settle the mind in its natural state. Without genuine shamatha arising in your mindstream, even if awareness is pointed out, it becomes nothing more than an object of intellectual understanding. So you are left simply giving lip-service to the view, and there is the danger that you may succumb to dogmatism. Thus, the root of all meditative states depends upon this, so do not be introduced to pristine awareness too soon, but practice until you have a fine experience of stability. ~ Padmasambhava” Excerpt From: B. Alan Wallace. “The Attention Revolution”. Apple Books.

If that is your impression after hearing Damo's talk, then IMHO this is a complete misunderstanding. It is not about collecting experiences -- in fact, the daoist approach is very much a pragmatic bunch. They say "all these things (nyam/experiences/touches of qi, whatever you wish to call them) may happen, but they're useless, what we want is real transformation" - the real transformation here talked about leads to actual psychophysical changes that cannot be faked in any way or form. They are what allow you to sit down and then enter actual absorption - entering absorption you can then reach insight (vipassana). But in most cases people cannot achieve authentic samatha. Authentic samatha is not just calmness. Authentic samatha leads to a profound change of the energetic system. This change can occur through retreat-like practice and direct overseeing of an authentic master; or alternatively, you can use neigong/qigong to prepare the body for the extremes of meditation. From what I can see most that think they have attained samatha or authentic jhana or samadhi are lightyears away from that. People can simply not generate enough concentration - and even if they can, they often get lost in various mental realms because there is not enough energy to guide their consciousness in the right direction for higher development. In other words, without bodily transformation, it is very difficult to reach these high levels of consciousness, next to impossible unless you happen to be a stream-enterer from a past life (which 99.9% of the populace is not). Padmasambhava could place his hand on a rock and leave an imprint. Others can disappear in a flash of light. The point is that the concomittant change in consciousness also changes physicality as the body is the gross manifestation of the subtle. As the subtle changes so does the body, vice-versa. Authentic jhanna the way it is described you must be able to enter and stay in samadhi for several days on end. Unwavering focus without any pushing or straining and with complete absorption. To be able to even begin to do that you must have a lot of energy, your energetic channels all need to be cleared. Your Shen needs to be radiant and your physical body must be strong and resilient enough to withstand such a thing. So you can use consciousness-only Buddhist methodology and have very slim chances of authentically freeing yourself from rebirth, or you can use a mixture of energy work on top of consciousness work, which increases your chances of stabilising the mind and body enough to develop further (either in the direction of "simply" awakening or in terms of enlightenment - which is different).

First thing that came to mind is Sekhmet. Very cool. Thanks for sharing

I just understand it differently than you do - which is fine "Kamma, oh monks, I declare, is intention," which arises first in our thoughts, then generates speech and action" When I read this for instance what I translate it as is - the root of all cause is Mind. Thus, the seed/cause exists in the mind. This then manifests on the more coarse levels of manifestation such as our physical world of action. But this doesn't mean that if you kill hundreds of people even if you had a good intention that that will necessarily lead to good karma. There are consequences that exists - and those causal relationships are not always readily seen. I could clarify further and say that my main contention is the understanding of intention which often in Western view becomes sort of "as long as I have good intentions, my actions don't matter". That's not the root level - that's branch and usually dictated by a very egotistical sort of rationalization based on the acquired mind's preferences. The Buddha didn't consider the workings of karma as one of the "four unthinkables" for no reason. It's because it's som complex and far-reaching that it is not easily computable and utterly inconceiveable. Thus to say "he equates karma with intention" is really making light of things IMHO. It is not so simple.

It saddens me that someone who has dedicated their life to the Dharma still remains to see any evidence of divine just Law operating through the universe in all its manifestations. Karma is not simply intention and I have not seen this expressed in any Buddhist texts, nor was this explained this way by Master Nan Huai Chin who was widely considered an enlightened dharma master by many; this is a complete misunderstanding and a vast oversimplification of such a vast subject of cause and effect. Perhaps another author's view will be more edible "THE Universe is guided according to a purpose and a plan. There is a simple law by which the purpose is accomplished and according to which the plan is carried out. That law is universal: it reaches all entities without exception. Gods and the weakest beings are equally powerless against it. It rules this visible world of change, and it affects the worlds and spheres beyond. At present it can be understood by man only as it affects human beings, though it is possible that its operations in animate nature may be seen. It affects human beings according to the responsibility which can be charged to them; and it determines their duty, measured by their responsibility. This is the law: Every thing existing on the physical plane is an exteriorization of a thought, which must be balanced through the one who issued the thought, and in accordance with that one’s responsibility, at the conjunction of time, condition, and place. This law of thought is destiny. It has aspects which have been expressed by such terms as kismet, nemesis, karma, fate, fortune, foreordination, predestination, Providence, the Will of God, the law of cause and effect, the law of causation, retribution, punishment and reward, hell and heaven. The law of thought includes all that is in these terms, but it means more than all of them; it means, essentially, that thinking is the basic factor in shaping human destiny. The law of thought is present everywhere and rules everywhere; and is the law to which all other human laws are subservient. There is no deviation from, no exception to, this universal law of thought. It adjusts the mutually interdependent thoughts and plans and acts of the billions of men and women who have died and lived and who will continue to live and die on this earth. Happenings beyond number, some apparently accounted for, some apparently inexplicable, are marshalled to fit into the limiting framework of time and place and causation; facts innumerable, near and far, apposite and contradictory, related and unrelated, are worked into one whole harmonious pattern. It is only by the operation of this law that people exist together on the earth. Not only physical acts and their results are thus ordered; the invisible world in which thoughts originate is likewise adjusted. All this adjustment and universal harmony out of selfish discord is brought about by the action of universal forces operating under the law. The mechanical part of the operation of this law in the physical world may not be apparent. Yet, every stone, every plant, every animal, every human, and every event has a place in the great machinery for the working out of the law of thought, as destiny; each performs a function in the machine, whether as a gear, a gauge, a pin, or a transmission. However insignificant a part a man may seem to play, he starts the machinery of the law when he starts to think; and by his thinking he contributes to its continued operation. The machinery of the law is nature. Nature is a machine composed of the totality of unintelligent units; units which are conscious as their function only. The nature machine is a machine composed of laws, through the worlds; it is perpetuated and operated by intelligent and immortal Ones, complete Triune Selves, who administer the laws from their individual university machines through which as unintelligent nature units they have passed; and as intelligent units in the Realm of Permanence, they have qualified as Governors, in The Government of the world. The universe machines are perfect physical bodies composed of balanced nature units; all units are related in and organized into the four systems of the perfect body and are coordinated as one entire and perfect whole mechanism; each unit is conscious as its function only, and each function in the university machine is a law of nature through the worlds. Only the phenomena of the machinery are seen; the nature machine itself is not seen by mortal eyes; neither are the forces which work it. The Intelligences and complete Triune Selves who direct the operation cannot be seen by the human. Hence come the many theories about the creation of the human world, and about the nature and powers of gods and the origin and nature and destiny of the human. Such theories are furnished by various systems of religion. Religions center about a God or gods. These deities are credited with universal powers to account for the operation of universal forces. Gods and forces alike, however, are subject to the Intelligences and the complete Triune Selves, who rule this world according to the law of thought. It is due to the operation of this law as destiny that events occur on the physical plane in the harmonious manner which makes certain the continuance of the law’s operation so that the plan of the Universe may be carried out and its purpose accomplished. Religions have been substitutes for what a knowledge of the law of thought should be, and for what it eventually will be to man, when the human is able to stand more Light. Among such substitutes is a belief in a God who is supposed to be all-wise, all-powerful, ever-present; but whose alleged actions are arbitrary and capricious and show jealousy, vindictiveness, and cruelty. Such religions have held the minds of men in bondage. In this bondage they have received fragmentary and distorted information about the law of thought; what they received was all they could stand at the time. In every age one of the Gods was represented as a ruler, and as the giver of a law of justice; but his own acts did not seem just. A solution of this difficulty was sometimes found in an after death adjustment in a heaven or a hell; at other times the matter was left open. As the human becomes more enlightened he will find in the clear and precise understanding of the law of thought that which will satisfy his sense and reason; and he will accordingly outgrow the need for belief in the doctrine, or of fear and faith in the decrees of a personal God."

The fact that you think medical doctors cure anything is quite hilarious We don't cure anything - nature is what cures. We do our best to alleviate suffering - this is okay and should always be done to the best of our ability. We can treat two patients equally, one heals the other does not. Why is that? To compare a normal physician with someone who has entered the stream and is now operating at the "causal" plane of consciousness is a bit foolhardy in my honest opinion. If I could work from within that level of consciousness, I would immediately do so as it would benefit everyone It's not a question of "leaving people to their karma" - this is reading my words wrong, it is about transforming their karma in the most useful way for them to become realized. This can be expedited using "expedient means", as you may know of from the Lotus Sutra. The burning house analogy is quite helpful in illustrating this.

This is a very limited way of thinking. If you think that by aligning yourself with the Dao means that justice no longer exists, you can cure whoever you will whenever you want for whatever reason, you would be wrong. If you are authentically enlightened and fully aligned with Dao, it is not just you - but Divine Providence - that acts through you. There is a right time and place for everything. On top of this, there may very well be ways to cure every single disease on the planet - but everything starts from the mind. In other words, even if you treated those illnesses and removed the symptoms of them in their manifest (current) life, it would manifest again in a later incarnation. Why? The root was never cured, which existed in the mind and was never transformed. Are you then helping or hindering them? Being a Buddha or a devil? Food for thought... Depends on whether you believe we reincarnate and it's not just "this" lifetime that matters but the whole trajectory of your own development over countless lifetimes until full enlightenment.

So happy you didn't write like most that the first noble truth is that life is suffering. Unfortunately I see that notion everywhere passed of as if that was what he actually said. The Buddha expounded: "Now this, monks, is the Noble Truth of dukkha: Birth is dukkha, aging is dukkha, death is dukkha; sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, & despair are dukkha; association with the unbeloved is dukkha; separation from the loved is dukkha; not getting what is wanted is dukkha. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are dukkha."

Let's give this a try. In the tradition I'm learning within Qi is necessary for transformation. Why is transformation necessary? Because without transformation all you'll have as part of your training, are experiences. Many teachers can give you this when you're near them and with them. But as soon as you come back home from retreat, everything falls back to the way it was. Why? Well, in my tradition's understanding, this is due to Qi. Now there are two (main) approaches to this - the first is top-down (or consciousness only) and the second is bottom-up. We have discussed this at length in a prior thread that I created here: The main idea is that bottom-up approaches build Qi as a vehicle of change. The consciousness-only schools requires direct access to samadhi and then making root changes at the level of the causal which then manifests downstream. This approach however usually only works for a very small majority of people due to the heavy karmic burdens that every one walking around you essentially has outside of prior stream-enterers or with exceptional past-life merit and thus meditative skill. So the idea within the lineage I'm following is essentially creating an incredibly strong fundamental change in the way the body functions - so that it works at such an efficient level that the body produces much, much more Qi. This allows for changes to occur within the mind as well - since the Daoist approach is that the physical body = mind. If you change the physical body (and energetic and higher bodies) the mind follows. This approach is also far less prone to delusion and error - as the changes are visible and directly discernable. You cannot fake the signs of having your front channel open and you cannot fake having your base nature transformed. How do we do it then? Well, we follow the principles contained within the YJJ - the tendon changing classic and the XSJ, the marrow-changing classic. All genuine neigong/qigong systems follow those principles. If they don't - they most likely have lost the internal generative capacity or follow a completely different system (for instance systems of health qigong). The YJJ changes the physical body so that you begin to change away from using major muscle groups for primary movement and instead begin to use the fascia or connective tissue and building it using various methods and techniques which then allow your body to essentially become a highly efficient Qi generating machine. During this period of time which usually lasts for most around 5-7 years (maybe 3 years for those that can dedicate 4 hours of intense training to it daily) you clear major pathogens, you build a little qi and have created a great foundation to go deeper in the art. There is of course some overlap with neigong in this case, but at the next stage, you begin to work on congenital aspects, including the central channel. Marrow Washing comes next and branches neigong and meditative practice. None of this has lead to spiritual change yet strictly speaking though you may have had fantastic experiences during your time of training. After this comes neidan - at this stage you're dealing with the congenital layers of energy that constitute your body. To use a computer analogy we can look at it like this. At first we're working on defragmenting your computer, clearing out junk, removing adware and malware and maybe doing some updates to the firmware. But when we get to neidan we're getting deep - now we're getting to the root level - the motherboard - we start messing around with how things directly function and transform. We work here with things like the congenital layers of energy such as congenital jing. At the "motherboard" level we then begin to "burn out" various causal chains and energetic pathogens that go beyond our current lifetime. And as you go deeper and deeper into this - we reach the so-called spiritual cultivation within these arts which is the cultivation of the Yuan Shen. Everything up to that point is essentially building the foundation - returning to youth and many other phrases that have been used to describe this stage. And each of the stages have discernable changes that should occur as signs of correct practice. I hope this helps!

The Buddha said the Dharma was a raft. Once you’ve crossed the river and entered the Stream of sages... you are said to enter the pathless path. You no longer need the raft. That’s why it’s always paradoxical when masters say... “To seek is to suffer. To seek nothing is bliss.”~ Bodhidharma

First we need to discern what do people mean by spirit which is different depending on the tradition. In Daoism, within the tradition I am learning from, spiritual development means to develop the spirit. This refers to the Yuan Shen or the original spirit. Everything you do up to the point of "developing" the spirit - or nourishing it - is essentially "self-development". So in other words - people have spiritual feelings and have spiritual experiences - but spiritual development means something very specific within the Daoist tradition. If you're talking about Tibet and the Vajrayana there - then they do not have those words as their tradition is based on the Tibetan language and culture so you are going to have to look at things within the context of the respective tradition if you want to deepen your understanding. If you mean what goes off as spiritual in popular culture and understanding that's a whole other discussion. According to Wikipedia... "Modern usages tend to refer to a subjective experience of a sacred dimension and the "deepest values and meanings by which people live", often in a context separate from organized religious institutions, such as a belief in a supernatural (beyond the known and observable) realm, personal growth, a quest for an ultimate or sacred meaning, religious experience, or an encounter with one's own "inner dimension". Not sure this helps?