rideforever

He is indicating what he is doing. Probably merging the heart-solarplexus-ldt together in the central channel. And then he uses that as his centre of gravity ... that is the kind of path that he likes. If you ask me his "wuji" looks like somebody "clinging on" rather than letting go. The real wuji is through letting go, unwinding unknotting, as you dissolve something is revealed, as you disintegrate you are "nourishing life" what remains is eternal. In another approach : people are carefully building up layers of energy, focussing on the minutiae of alignment and clever energetic work. This is not letting go. I think he is right that many people engaged in all sorts of exotic practices, if they reach awakening just reach "awareness" which is not got much to do with their other practices. And imo the exotic alchemy also has little to do with awakening; because the human structure is full of many forms of energy there are countless things you can do with that energy. But energy is not awakening and it's uncertain if any of this exotic energy survives death. Awakening is about identity, not energy. Pure Taoist practice leads to awakening through becoming the identity of the ldt, then of the central channel, and surrendering down into the void, that's my understanding ... and you don't need a lot of energy work for that. In fact if you have massive amounts of energy wrapped around you it can be a barrier to letting go. But on the other hand you have to do something to learn and grow, so energy work can take you "inside" quickly, so it can be useful as a learning tool and also improves your health.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Body-Never-Lies-Lingering-Parenting/dp/0393328635

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In Damo Mitchell's book, in Ch12 (preview on Amazon) he distinguishes between Spiritual Practice which he says is rare, and which destroys the self. And all other cultivation practices which build a self. Nearly all taoist practice that is done is to build a self and is not spiritual, according to him. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Comprehensive-Guide-Daoist-Nei-Gong/dp/1848194102/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=damo+mitchell&qid=1576529918&sr=8-1 I have heard other senior 'masters' say similar things. I think they are right. And I think he has wasted too much time building a self rather than learning what it means to dissolve yourself, and learning that if you reduce then you become something new and eternal. Time is short, it's time to think of the endgame. "Those who lose their life for my sake will keep it, those who save their life will lose it". I am not sure how many traditions actually lead you to enlightenment. Will you be disappointed if after decades of cultivation and practices, your grandmaster turns around and says, "and now if you want enlightenment go find a Buddhist because I don't have it." And then you start again, this time age 70. This is stupid, start now on the real thing.

How can there be an incomplete perception ? That is duality. And there is duality. Why ? If everything is always one how can there be a duality ? Well it's not that complex really ... an acorn if you plant it becomes an oak tree. Is it no longer an acorn ? Well it has grown up. And everything is growing, everything that lives is growing. Everything that lives is breathing, it is assimilating air, it metabolises, it is growing. And the universe is divided into many beings of many wondrous forms. Imagine if it was "just one thing", a dot. You would have to kill all the trees, all the music, all sex. Life is growing, flowing, creating, part of that is separation and re-unification. Breathing out and breathing in. Sexing out and sexing in. It is the in and out movement that creates ... joy ? Knowledge ? Communication ? Growth ? And it's great fun to grow. How can there be an incomplete perception ? Easily, because when the One is such a vast garden of creativity, these parts of existence are in different places, how boring it would be if they would be just the same. Every tree just the same. Only one species in the universe. How dull. The universe is trying very hard to make many things. And we feel our Oneness from time to time, the origin, the dao, the centre ... it's beautiful, coming together, back home. And then out we go away to do our crazy shit. Our own personal brand of crazy shit. And then we return to port. We feel, we return, we fight, we burn, we breathe out, we breathe in. Cycles and cycles and cycles.

And then, there was silence. It must be Christmas ... Merry Christmas to you all.

Devotion "Oh unfathomable source of 10,000 things". "Our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name." Salvation or Destruction Heaven and Earth are impartial; They see the ten thousand things as straw dogs. The wise are impartial; They see the people as straw dogs. "Wide is the gate that leads to destruction and most find it, narrow is the gate and straight the road that leads to life and few find it, enter through the narrow gate." Loving Others Loving all men and ruling the country, Can you be without cleverness? Opening and closing the gates of heaven, Can you play the role of woman? Understanding and being open to all things, ... + Accept disgrace willingly "Love your neighbour as yourself" "If a man slaps on one cheek turn the other cheek to him" The Weak Overcomes the Strong TTC : The weak can overcome the strong; JC : "The meek will inherit the earth" Between Excess and Deficiency Better to stop short than fill to the brim. Oversharpen the blade, and the edge will soon blunt. Amass a store of gold and jade, and no one can protect it. Claim wealth and titles, and disaster will follow. Retire when the work is done. This is the way of heaven. Parable of the Sower (The way things grow and don't grow) That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.” From Seeds to Yields The sage never tries to store things up. The more he does for others, the more he has. The more he gives to others, the greater his abundance. The Parable of the Talents (I won't paste it here) ... is about not doing too much or too little. Just in the middle. Too little is done because of fear or false asceticism ... but without a yield it is wasted. Too much leads to squandering and indulgence. But in the middle the seed is planted grows and yields fruit. Do not store things up. On Frauds and Hippocrites Matthew 23, Jesus talks about the fraudulent Rabbis : They do everything to be seen by people. They increase the size of their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. TTC Therefore the sage works without recognition. He achieves what has to be done without dwelling on it. He does not try to show his knowledge. In looking at these two, can you read these things as if for the first time? There are many similarities but also differences; in my opinion the differences relate to the particular aspects they wish to emphasise. The One is vast, you cannot learn everything at once. Training methods work on certain areas. Chinese culture emphasises things different to the Middle Eastern cultures. Jesus seems more personal, more of this earthly world, farmers and crops. The Tao more abstract. Jesus more active, the Tao more surrendering.. ... but that is only a surface reading, because both poles are required ... earth and heaven. The active and passive. Both need to be worked on. Reading from one to the other is very informative and helps to slew off the accumulated dumb ideas attached to these tradition, it is very good. Because only the truth counts. Jesus says that before anything love God with all your heart might and soul. Laozi says stay close to the Tao.

In my opinion, Christianity and Daoism are working on very different aspects of the One, and so there is not a great deal of relation until you get higher up the mountain where adepts open up other areas of development. In Eastern Christianity there are a couple of interesting things. The first is the Russian Cross, take a look at the third bar, it's special quality ... this could indicate the Tantien. The second thing is the Black Madonna, the black feminine.

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The nameless is the beginning of heaven and Earth. The named is the mother of the ten thousand things. Ever desireless, one can see the mystery. Ever desiring, one sees the manifestations. These two spring from the same source but differ in name; this appears as darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gate to all mystery. The Tao, the mystery, the same source, the gate. This text is pointing to one thing ... call it what you will. Jesus is also pointing to one thing, the Father, the Creator ... call it what you will. The Son of God is analogous to the microcosm ... once transformed we become a small reflection of the whole. Therefore the path has two poles of development, the development of contact with the Whole, and the development of contact with the reflection within us of that Whole (the microcosm). There are also different aspects, or slopes on the mountain : the emotional aspect, the energetic aspect, the aspect of intelligence ... the One is very large and full ... each tradition has chosen a particular aspect to develop. The Sacred Heart, or Pure Consciousness, or this or that. It chooses to work on the Universal Aspect (macrocosm) or the Personal Aspect (microcosm). But all chose to exit the human confusion and unhappiness, and return to the path of real evolution. At the level of development where humans lives there is a huge amount of corruption everywhere.

@Everything Hey. I often have found myself conflicting with people's threads. And this is what I suggest, if you want to post on a thread where maybe the OP is not going to like it ... then okay make your post. Once. And if you have other thoughts later on, or you would like to respond to newer comments ... then just go back into your original post, the first one, and add your new comments. That way you can say what you feel ... but also recognize that maybe the OP is not going to like it and just limit yourself to one post in the thread. And go back and edit that post again if you need to. Then you can express yourself and be heard, but also respect that the OP doesn't want his thread derailed. Especially if it is Earl Grey or some of the other members who are particularly bothered by it.

What is the significance of Blood in Taoism/ TCM/ Qigong ? Does it contain the soul ... or some essential part of our existence ? I ask in relationship to other traditions views on Blood ... Judaism on the non-consumption of Blood because it contains the soul of the animal. Christianity on the consumption on JC's blood for communion. I have heard that some Qigongs mix Qi and blood, and that that is good. But I don't know the underlying theories.

Thanks. How about External Alchemy using blood ?

Got this audiobook really enjoying it. It's a reprieve from the always-super-happy prozac society. Fully feeling, fully breathing, fully digesting your own experience. The Tao Fully Feeling, Pete Walker. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tao-Fully-Feeling-Harvesting-Forgiveness-ebook/dp/B017I3NRRO

I would be interested to know which country he is in, and which branch of Christianity, and which monastery if that's not revealing too much. Thanks !

Sounds nice, but one can never be sure of anything on this planet. Best is to try everything, masters or non-masters, teaching or being without teaching, the white and the black. Only after trying many things will you know more. And of course there are many charlatans, perhaps there are only charlatans ... but of different grades. When you are truly helped or truly help ... such experiences change your perspective.

Yes they seem to be isolated from cross connections on the mother board. Also I have read that on some mother boards there are restrictions on the use of the mic due to DRM concerns. Another amazing thing is that you can connect the speaker to the mic directly with this usb device and record ... with no feeback at all.

I have had problems with my microphone & speaker (the ones that come with my laptop) which sound a lot like that !!! Solution was to buy a small usb widget which has addition speaker / mic ports. It's cheap and works. You might have to go into ControlPanel> Sound to set them up correctly although they are usually identified okay. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-2-0-To-Mic-Speaker-Audio-5-1-Ch-Channel-3D-Sound-Card-Adapter-Virtual-For-PC/361119815373?epid=562098264&hash=item54146b16cd:g:E4sAAOSwAL9UavH7

Look I think the most important thing is to consider what I said about the tantien, maybe that means something to you, if not we are just following different things. Anyway you take care.

Well Walker ... why did you jump on me in the fist place ... that wasn't very honourable. But anyway, as for what you say. You have a lot of academic knowledge stored up in the data banks, but this is inferior to understanding. You talk about "focussing" on the tantien. What does that mean exactly? In instructions I gave, it emphassed being inside the tantien and falling from it. That is the correct way. Like many practitioners of these arts you don't differentiate between focussing on the tantien (resting your awareness onto this area) from shifting to being inside the tantien. And yes if all you are doing is resting awareness on tantien it is a big problem; correct. Such practices do not actually embody the tantien so you don't even begin the taoist path, you don't leave the head. That is the why, that needs to be attached to the academic guidance. And all academic guidance needs to be attached to the why. Not just "don't do it" or "it may be bad" ... but why, specifically. How does it function internally. For sure many schools that you mention do many things, they may call themselves daoist and practice from the head or call themselves zen and practice from the belly. The guidance I gave is the practice to enlighten the belly which is what Daoism points to. Of course not everyone follows the rules, there really doesn't need to be many schools or more than one teacher for the entire tradition ... but mankind likes to make a mess. And others like mess because it becomes a long academic story which they cultivate. But practice is simple if you know what you are doing, and why. Anyway aside from that, let's just say you have a "different approach".

@Nungali What do you know about these things: Why do planets affect us ? If the are beings with large mass, are they like uncles of the Earth .. and affect us in the same way that our human uncles affect us ? Which indicates that our family tree affects us far more than we think ... for instance the good or bad deeds of our ancestors descend into us ? And why would it matter if Saturn was North or East when I am born ? What difference would that make ? Is it the position of planets in relation to each other (Saturn was close or far from Jupiter and when they are together that means war?) or is it in relation to the axis of the universe which would indicate a secondary relation ... our orientation at birth with the whole universe. Another strange thing is full moon and new moon ... the difference is the amount of sunlight reflected ... but apart from the light the moon is really "just the same" ... why should the amount of sunlight reflected make such a difference ? One answer is that the moon is symbolic and when it is full ... I am not sure how to explain ... but it's symbolic fullness is actual ... in other words the celestial objects are symbolic and actual at the same time. In fact there is no such thing as a symbol because everything is real. Fear is a real material phenomenon, just of a subtle type and people don't sense it well enough to feel it's materiality. Likewise thoughts that we think are a type of matter, but we are not used to feeling their materiality ... we think they are non-material. I propose that everything without exception is material, of many different levels of subtlety, and all matter is alive. Another answer is that the light is not just "light", it is not a dead material phenomenon. Light is alive, it seems to be a particular layer of consciousness, possibly the elementary particle of consciousness; or alternatively the direct emanation of "god". There are a hell of a lot things happening that humans do not think about. Earlier what I was referring to was that atoms and electrons are alive .. at a very low level, they have some "freewill" of extremely low character. But as the build up into molecules, then into organic molecules, cells etc... they have developed over billions of years higher tiers of consciouness until finally you get plants animals people. At certain points you have vast step-changes in level of consciousness. This is what "as above so below means".

Interesting question. I have no doubt that astrology is functional, but there are other things in life as well ... for instance meditation and will seem to be independent of astrology. There are different channels of existence. Perhaps there is a subconscious level of life which is affected by astrology and genetics which give you a basic self ... then there are higher (beyond this universe) worlds that we can accessed through other practices. It is possible that what the celestial bodies represent to us is symbolic .. our entire environment is symbolic, meaning it is a representation in material objects of aspects within the mind-of-existence. And the lifespan of the celestial bodies represents a very long-term subtle changing in the "mind of existence". The universe slowly metamorphoses over time. And I suppose astrology would also slowly change over time with practitioners changing their teachings accordingly. I have read that in the past astrology and astronomy where one discipline because matter was not thought of as dead .. everything was considered alive and the effects of the celestial bodies like planets were considered to be factual and literal. But somehow mankind has started to consider mater to be a dead thing and no longer feels the effects ... and separated the living qualities of it into "spirituality", which is strange. Mankind searches for a way to be "free" of everything, free of the celestis ... whether being "free" is possible, I don't know.

Listen mate just copying and pasting definitions from the internet is not having a teacher or any experience. Your whole approach is of an internet amateur. Better to do some practice. The question you need to ask yourself is out of today's 24 hrs, how much did I practice? The guy is looking for Taoist meditation, instructions I have given, they are accurate. Zazen as it is practised in Zen develops awareness/concentration at the front of the head with a small amount of belly work due to its Taoist cross over, however it is not true work on the tantien. In particular Zen does not surrender or flow down. True Taoist meditation is on the belly and the enlightenment so received is of the valley flowing down into darkness, or sung : this is the kind of enlightenment that gives rise to the TTC.

I gave accurate practice information rather than stupid opinionating Walker. You talk of "texts" and "vernacular" and definitions of words ... it's obvious you have no idea, - do you actually do any practice ? Have you made any progress ? Or do you spend your time massaging your books and opinions ? I suggest you try to find a teacher and keep your mouth closed until you do.

Easiest paths might be : 1. surrendering fully to "god" 2. zazen... in order to do this Taoist wise you have to have gentle concentration on the belly and rest down from the belly on the exhalation a little like Zhan Zhuang's concept of sung, but done seated. This is the dark valley flowing down. Buddhists on the other hand do practices in the head. Each of these just needs to be constantly repeated without glamour until you are inseparable from them. Mantras seem unreliable to me, they are too easy and don't really involve you changing yourself - surrender for instance is a big change in your life. I believe the main point of mantras is that they occupy the mind so that you can feel your true nature inside ... but I doubt many people use them that way, they often want the power up from the deity and don't "give anything". Without giving something you can't get much.

There are two poles on the path, awakening and surrendering. Both are required for completion: the first creates something, and that which is created is surrendered to the infinite, this creates a channel and that is our destiny to be a channel. Thelema is geared towards the first, adding the second to that work will be complete. The other people here will be nurtured by your light, your example and your power ... without those things there is not much to offer. A great oak tree must grow for a long time and face many challenges before it offers shelter to so much life.