Tommy

I am Chinese and grew up with the culture of Yin and Yang. Hot air and cold air. I-Ching. Fung-Shui. I do not reject my culture rather that I look at it from a different view. To me, it isn't absolute ... the be all or end all. It is as Ram Dass once said, "It is all grist for the mill". If one gets entangled in it then one misses the other things that are available. Of course, my parents and some relatives use to swears by it. And in fact, my marriage was governed by it. No one cared what I thought. Note: Hot air and cold air refers to the kinds foods one eats and it effects upon the body. It is all about balance. Can be better explained in this Youtube video

Please do not take offense. That is how you see it. Ying and yang. Your opinion. That is fine. Yes, an Eastern concept. It seems that you have adopted it. That is fine too. Heat expands, Yes, and cold contracts. But cold is the lack of heat. Opposite? Without light is darkness?? Gravity attracts as a force and is everywhere a person is. To create a force to push one away from the earth is not a natural force like gravity. So not opposite. Not really yin nor yang there. In magnetism, there is a north pole and a south pole. No real monopoles. There are negative charges by itself and positive charges by them selves. It is however called electro-magnetism. Weird?? However, there is matter but have not found antimatter in the same quantities. See, just examples. Yin and yang is where you wish to see it. No, nothing to believe or dis-believe. These are concepts. Things thought up by a person. Understand them if you wish. Not everyone has to understand them. It isn't a requirement for anything. You are hung up on this concept of Yin and Yang. What do they call that? Being hung up on opposites? Duality?? Light and dark?? Right and wrong?? An object is neither right nor wrong unless I think it so? Again, please take no offense. I am not here to argue. Like the atheist who believes in a sprit or soul. You can believe whatever you wish. But, to force it upon another is cruel and unusual propaganda. I apologize if this upsets you. It is only meant to present a different point of view.

Did not have to go into such detail but thanks. Me, immigrant family. Grew up in NYC. Hung out with wrong crowd and got into a lot of trouble. Long story short, I straightened myself out. Got married and had a daughter. Retired and ready for the old life. Wish I could sit all day but wife has projects for me. Welcome to the conversation/forum

Doesn't Shikantaza carry with it some caveats? Such as without the crutch of watching breath, the mind can wander more easily? That over time, the attention is easily lost in the midst of ideas and thoughts that arises while sitting with no focus? IDK. It is not an easy practice for me. Probably some will find it as good a method as any? Still, there are plenty of methods available. Guess it depends upon the person?

High to low is system looking for equilibrium. Entropy. Yin and yang are Eastern concepts. Heat expand. There is no cold. Only a lack of heat. Gravity attracts and there is no force that pushes apart. I neither believe in yin and yang nor do I disbelieve. As I said, I like to play in the shallow end. Less headaches.

Time is a function of memory. Without memory, there is no knowledge of past, present or future. And because we remember, we can see a past and the present and may be what is to be. So, in this perpetual unfolding of the now, we make preparations for the future from our knowledge of the past. Motion is a function of change in distance over the change in time. To say it is an interplay of yin and yang is to say there is something that we do not see or feel but confers change in time and space to our lives. Is it wrong or right? I have no idea. Too deep for me, I like to play in the shallow end.

Doesn't answering this kind of question require one to have experienced Kensho in order to be able to answer it? I have noticed that while doing beginner's breath meditation that the words "In and Out" sometimes drops out and I am just focused on the breath. But, once I noticed that, I am back to saying the words. It is like a reflexs from becoming alert to the mind wandering or following thoughts. The attention is switched back to the process of watching the breath and saying the words "In and Out" with the breath. I do not know if it is being done right. But, it is what I have chosen to do until I can become effective in quieting the mind and focus my attention.

Are you saying that working with the mind of the individual to get it to align with the physical genitalia is currently considered abusive? Is it working with the individual or is it working against the individual? What kind of treatment are you talking about?

Sorry double post

Thanks for the reply. So, meditation changed the desire to have family? The Buddha's story is that he had all the luxuries. Wife and son. But, he left them anyway to seek enlightenment. Personally, wife and family have always been a desire and meditation had no affect upon that. It only became a side dish (so to say). Meditation, for me, was just something in addition to life. Well, thanks for the information.

Q&A? My question, hopefully does not sound insensitive, is ... may be better I just shut up ... did transitioning change any desire to have family? Raising children? Having a partner? Or does this belong in that is too personal category? I apologize for my ignorance in these matters.

I thought the teachings on house holders is the same for everyone. Be good. Do good. Live a good life. Practice meditation. As to where the house holder goes, I did not know there were different heavens. From what I see here today, the sun shines on everyone, the good, the bad, and the indifferent, everyone. Just like the rain, it falls on who is there. Is there someone at Saint Peter's gate to judge one's merits and atrocities? Can sinners at the last minute repent and find entry to Heaven? Personally, I believe, the place you go to is the same. It is just how you experience it is different. That pretty much depends upon the person.

Irrelevant. The Universe is bigger than the last Bbang. There is more to the universe than can be seen with light. What caused the last Bbang? The infinite warping of time and space. What exist beyond is what came before. The Bbang did not cover the whole universe. It only covered our space of the universe. 13.8 billion light years across. Sorry, time and space are just aspects of each other. Just like energy and matter are in an equivalent equation. E=m(c squared). The missing factor is the speed of light. Travel at the speed of light and time stands still. Distance becomes meaningless. Motion while traveling at the speed of light is impossible. Time is a function of space. Space is defined by the matter in it. Matter is just energy. Energy gives rise to motion. Motion is time and space. One can not know the speed and vector of a particle if one knows its position. Observing a particle affects its properties. Double slit experiment tells us so. Consciousness matters and affects it to the point of illusion. Yes, now I am just rambling on because I can. Haha.

Too long, did not want to read all the posts. Drugs? Some are good and some are bad. Some are both good and bad. In the beginning, it may help to experience something else. Slowly it doesn't help and becomes an addiction. The old joke, I am not addicted to pot. I can quit anytime. Addiction, proof is one still smokes it. Addiction can be subtle or an all out blood sweat and tears fight to get off it. Ram Dass used drugs to alter his conscious awareness. This allowed him to experience a different conscious mind or perception. That allowed him to move forward, knowing that there is something else. But, his teacher warned him that it will be come a hindrance if taken too long. It is likened to the story of the hermit, he goes into seclusion and practices. His mind becomes quiet. But when he goes into the city, his concentration is lost. So, the question becomes, what good is your practice if it must be only certain conditions?

I said it the answer resides with the person asking the question. You have answered your own question. Personally, I doubt that I would ever be with ten thousand women. I have a wife and am satisfied with her. So, in the end, it really is the person who is asking that holds the answer. The mind's true nature is no-thing. You will not find it on or near the body once the life is gone. It did not arrive with life and it does not leave when life leaves. But, one will not find it if life does not exist (Ooops). Of course, you could say life is an illusion. But, then whose illusion must it be? And what is real beyond what one believes? And Self? It does not exist according to the Buddha. Note: These talks can go round and round. I believe this is why Buddha did not like discussing thing like this.

I guess that the answer to that question would reside with the person asking the question. Everyone eats. But not everyone eats the same thing. A man can love a woman but not all men can love the same woman.

The person whose thoughts bubbled up and wondered, "This is why I ask why am I not enlightened?". There is no mystery here. And nothing so enticing as to draw my mind to one focus. I am like everyone else, sleep walking thru life and having a good time. At one time, I asked a person if they would like to escape birth, death and being reborn again into suffering. He said, "He wants to do it all over again. Why stop?". Then, I thought that everyone thinks they want one thing. But is that just is what the propaganda wants us to believe? Does one just eat one meal for the rest of their lives? We dance this dance and we dance again.

I have read about this before. A story of the woman who thought she had lost her head. Everyone told her she has her head but she could not believe. Then she comes upon a person who knew the truth. He took a stick and hit her on the head. The woman, after suffering the hit on the head exclaimed how wonderful to have found her head. Sort of like, one does not achieve enlightenment because one is already enlightened. It is just a matter of getting hit on the head. Haha. I have had the experience of meeting people who have had certain experiences. They were terrified that they were going crazy. But, after finding a teacher and learning more, they begin to understand the experiences were manifestations of dropping this self. The Buddha said something like there are 84 thousand ways to see Nirvana. Have heard that one monk got enlightened by being ask a question. Like a monk was reciting the Dharma to his fellow monks. There is no real self. Then the teacher hit him on the head. The monk began to get angry. The teacher asked that if there is no self then where does this anger come from. Then, the monk became enlightened. There seems to be a theme of hitting on the head. Haha. But, we are not here to stop thoughts. Iron rod method of hitting the head to stop thoughts only causes concussions and maybe coma. Meditation seems to be an effort to focus attention to one pointedness. Thus to learn a different way to experience the present. But, this does not guarantee enlightenment. What does? IDK. This is why I ask why am I not enlightened?

Welcome HappyAlien, You have had experiences? What kind of this wild world? Mysteries? Please let's start discussing Tommy

I do not understand. Is Immortal4life calling out all the people who believe they have special powers? Are you a believer or a debunker like the James Randi? Isn't that like asking if there is a God or not? Special circumstances in order to show the special powers? Personally have read about these powers that the Bodhidharma showed while he was at the Shaolin Temple. Sitting in a cave for nine years without eating. Floating on a stick to cross a river or lake. Of course, the biggest one is when Moses opened up the red sea for his people to walk across. More recently, read of Ram Dass adventures in India with his teacher. And in person, I have seen people sitting in mid air holding only a pole. But, I think that was a trick or something like that. In my simple life, I have not seen anything like this special powers (videos on the internet excluded). Do I believe this? It isn't such a simple answer. I chose to stored these thoughts away. And, I try not to doubt such things. But, having never seen such things in person, I just say it is not for me. I have got to say that in the beginning, listening to all those stories of such power, thought it would be nice to zap away muggers and bullies. However, never worked for me. I had the bruises to prove it. Anyway, it is a nice story. Note: When you talk about it and hype the super powers, are you not putting out the shiny bauble for people to see. Doesn't that draw the curious and followers? I say to forget the magic powers. Just get on with your life. Because that is where the real magic is.

Hello Alexis, That is one impressive monologue. But, what does it mean? First said, "No fruit will be born of my thoughts. I know the time — eternal seducer of all men, eternal cause of all effects — offers me nothing but the blank prospect of annihilation. So, my dignity is broken and weak, in recognition of my impending defeat." Then said, "Though you promise me nothing I am still with you, I am still an atom of your energies, my work is part of your work; I am your companion and your mirror as you march on your merciless way. But I owe nothing to any one. I would be responsible to freedom alone." Are you saying that you know whatever you do that it will mean nothing in the end? And that you are here to be my friend? Stranger and stranger. Anyway, looking forward to being friends.

Hello Cobie and idiot_stimpy, Sorry for the delayed response. There is much to read here. And much that is closed to the simple passerby. Anyway, it is nice to meet you. And by looking at your post count, you guys have been here a long time. So, thanks for the welcome. Hoping to see you around the forum. Tommy

Hello all, I learned about this website from another forum. TinyBuddha.com It was in Helcat's topic Buddhism Journal. In it she mentions this place. I have been on and off with meditation since I was 16 years old. I am now 64 years old. Have an interest in Zen Buddhism But am open to learn. Would like to spend time reading but will ask questions if I do not understand. Hope all will be open to questions Tommy

Hello, I know nothing about Daoism or Daoist. Can you tell me a little more about it?

Sorry for my ignorance, is there an institution or organization that ordain shifu of Daoist? and how can I learn more about, "American Dragon Gate Lineage, a branch of the Longmen-22nd generation, Lichangdao."??? Is there a fee or sign up sheet?? What books do you recommend to beginners?? Maybe a video on Youtube??