Pietro

Did David ever came to study with you? Because all those people are David's teacher. By the way, I am not convinced that he "pissed off" Mantak Chia. I left the HT too early to see the end of the story, but my understanding is that they were close, and as it is in any relationship people fight then they make up. My understanding is that they parted ways, but still are in good relations. Am I mistaken?

I do it with my dick. I just raise it with the power of my thought. Now that is a great idea. You should refine it a bit, with ideas, and examples and then suggest it. Or see if you can build yourself a plugin that works to all those brain waves technological devices. By the way my mind modulation toy was never sent. Sigh. We got trouble here in Europe, and Amazon would not post it to here.

Four things convinced me that AIDS was real: 1) a talk on TED that explained how the behaviour of people (if they use a condom or not) can be linked with the life expectancy. If you think you are going to die anyway, then why bother: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/emily_os..._in_africa.html 2) my father went to Botswana to work and he described a situation where people on weekends would go to funerals, being them so common. And here you have a talk again from ted that shows how Botswana had a really high infection: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/hans_ros..._about_hiv.html 3) then reading the page of all the people who believed that AIDS was not lethal, did not cure it. http://www.aidstruth.org/denialism/dead_denialists 4) And then there is this other talk, again from Rosling, that shows population growth over time. And you can see how in Africa the population went down. If really HIV deaths were due to malnuritment (as some have suggested) you would NOT see this different behaviour in population growth all of a sudden. After all malnutrition was there from before, and povery has decreased in percentage in the last years. Here is a comment from an AIDS researcher on this movie. If you see the movie, please read also the comment to get a balanced perspective.

Dear sir, welcome! I understand you have been invited to present your book here, and you have accepted. Thank you very much. Really. This community is quite composite of different people, coming from different experiences, and having legacies in different lineages. So you will need to take things from the beginning to make sure you are well understood. Do you think you could tell us something more about yourself, about the school and lineage where the teachings you are sharing are coming from, and in general what kind of practice are you teaching and advocating. For example, what practices should a student do? how many hours a day should a person practice to obtain some good results? How does the practice changes with time? And so on. You don't need to enter into the details to the point that is would be useless for a student to buy the book, but at least enough that we can evaluate how well would those practice integrate with our life. I think we are all very very interested in what you have to say. Many thanks again for having accepted to come here, Pietro

Please enjoy R9g3Q-qvtss 6 different styles of conductig from the most controlling to the most wu wei. The last one is... wow

I like what my first yoga teacher use to say: doing is the greatest magic or doing is the only magic

are the kids any different? Is the experience less traumatic for the babies too? In Bruce book it is mentioned how a whole mindset of a warrior can just be generated by being born through a difficult childbirth and feeling strangled. So much, he explains, that there are practices to release the blockages generated before being born (I think in Bagua). It wouldn't be a bad thing if those babies were to come out in a more relaxed way. Also it would be interesting to know what chinese medicine has to say. Chinese medicine is really strong against having any sex when a woman is pregnant. First of all I am not sure how this relates with sex where the partner (any partner! ;-) ) is not involved. I think it was said that the hormonal craziness that happens during sex was not good for the baby. So I wonder if in this case the situation is being considered differently.

Thank you. I have been following this thread from the incipit. You gave words to my feelings. I fully support your statement. Pietro

hmmm, interesting, but something does not add up. There are people who have mental problems and do not remember the early past. It is quite a common synndrome. Those people remain fixed at one day in the past. They believe that they are still in 1975, or in 2003. They can tell you extensively about events before that day, but they cannot remember or process any new memory after that day. If what you say would be true, then those people would age much less. But I never heard of something like that. So I am dubious, and would ask for the experiment to be done a few other times, under slightly altered conditions to make sure it is true and reproducible.

Max, you surprise me. You mean that when you are near a pregnant woman you don't feel there are two human beings in front of you?

Ww, how interesting. Thanks for sharing. Feeling at peace in a the middle of a war; really is very taoist. Let me share something: It reminds me of a similar serendipity in 1989. I had just ended high school, and my mother brought me to a long trip in south east asia. We were at the time in Indonesia, in the island of Sumatra. We were doing a many days visit to some tribes, by jeep. Very interesting. At some point we stopped to visit some tombs. Those were in the side of the street, in the forest. The land was going up, into a hill. I remember sitting on those rocks, in the middle of the green. Maybe they even told me that some shaman has been buried near there. Who knows, after so many years. I only remember this sensation of extreme peace. Of no time. Of being able to stay there for ever. Eventually I got up and joined the others on the road. There was no war in this memory. But I have always wondered if somehow in that occasion I was seeded by the spirit of some eastern shaman. Btw, at the time I was already interested in Taoism from a couple of years, but only in an intellectual way. This was one of my first spiritual experiences after childhood.

Marblehead, you know, you keep on mentioning it... you are really begging for the question... please tell us more about your experience in the army, what have you done, in what ways was it good, in what ways was it not so good? What people have you met? Reading your descriptions look like it was rather positive. Yet most of us would rather practice standing for 8 hours straight than join the army for one month. And still there is a long tradition of Taoists in the army. Some of the greatest generals, from Sun Tzu to one of the eight immortals. And of course there is a long trail of people teaching martial arts in the army. And an analysis of Mao strategies under the light of Taoism. And more. All this is there in the intersection between Taoism and the Military service. And of course hexagram 7 is there too. so, please, share with us this precious baggage you have so nicely advertised :-)

I was wondering how come you were here only for 6 months and already had 2000 posts, hehe ;-) Hugs, Pietro

ditto I am tempted to buy the download version, but I know I would not have the time to practice it right now. Anybody has the time to test it and give us some review?

Hello Leon Basin. Thanks for the question. I enjoyed it immensely. I found also quite interesting the answers, as if there was an answer to such question. I think that if you keep on asking yourself this question, and keep on reading, and following people you feel have something to teach you, eventually you will find an answer that satisfy you. So what I wanted to propose you is just a simple exercise. An exercise that will not make you live life as a taoist, but might make you live life a bit less as a non Taoist. BtW, why do you want to live life as a Taoist? Don't you have enough troubles? This exercise, this game, has some rules. Rules are important. So it is important that while you do the exercise you follow them. First you need to ask yourself a question; here are some examples: Should I make love with the girlfriend of my best friend? or Should I live as a Taoist? Then you remain with the question, and find the answer. (yes/no/...whatever) But then in life (as in journalism) the important is never the first question, but the second one... And the second one is: why? And I told you that there are rules. and the rule is that as you answer the why question you are not allowed to refer to any authority figure. You cannot say because this book/this website/this text/this dream/this teacher/this guru... says ... . Whatever a book, a website.... a guru says, you leave it alone. The answer must not contain it. This is how traditionally, in our school ethic is being trained. Once you have the answer you change the question: what if he is not my best friend? what is I am angry with him? what if she asks me to? and what exactly does make love mean? Does that imply penetration? What if she wants it, she asks me, and we don't penetrate, but we look into the eyes, and let the energetic bodes copulate above? And so on. All this will not make you a Taoist, because honestly I don't think it is possible to become a Taoist, but might help you to drain some of the mud that covers you heart (nothing personal, we all have it), and let that internal wisdom that you have shine through. And when you have a connection to that... you will probably not ask yourself even how to become a Taoist. With great respect, Pietro

That's settled:2020. honestly the real annoying thing are all those smart ass who come up with mental excuse for why the world did not end. So far I heard: but of course it ended, don't you feel different? but of course it ended, it just that it was recreated immediately? It ended... you just can't feel it. ... For me the end of the world means: everybody is dead. The world explodes. All animal goes extinct. this as a start. Additional planets blowing are a possible, but not required addition.

Yes, it i very common. For example when you say something funny, you need to be careful as you go from: "this guy said something funny" to "this guy is funny" to "this guy is a clown" As I write this I recall all my friends and all the judgments I make on them (this guy is funny, this is wise, this is ... and so on). How would life be if I start judging the actions and not the people... in general.

some wisdom from a friend of mine. This is coming from the yiddish wisdom: "it is an evil thing to say that someone is evil" which goes well with: We are neither good or evil, but we can make good or evil actions. My friend had 3 kids, and told me the biggest change she made respect to how she was brought up was to never ever say that they were evil, but to say that they did something bad. Actually some people might be unable to feel love, which makes them more prone to do evil. Like a person who has a physical inability.- Those persons are rare. In general if someone oppose us the most common things that happen is hexagram 6: conflict.

All those questions, how do Taoists... what do Taoists... and so on, they all start from the assumption that there is this one group of people, quite clearly identified and maybe identifiable that call themselves Taoists. And they do thing in a particular way. The fact is that things are not so clear. There are and have been in history different groups that calls themselves Taoists. And they did things not always the same. So a better question would be: do you consider yourself a Taoist? how do you cultivate equanimity? And you already had some great answers on this thread. In alchemical Taoism there is a phase which you are supposed to sit in front of a wall for 9 years. This is taken from Ta Mo (Bodhidharma ) practice, and is generally considered that in this period you practice equanimity. But it is done at a particular stage of the process. And the 9 years means until the stage is complete (9 is the number of completion). It's true that Zhuang Zi speaks about sitting and forgetting. It is also true that our school refers directly to ancient Taoism (pre Buddhist influence), so we should be using that method. When we asked to Bruce (the lineage master of the school) how was sitting and forgetting done he answered: "too advanced, there is not one of you who would have a chance in hell in doing it right now. We'll speak about it when the time will come". The time hasn't obviously come yet. There are also some teachings about equanimity in the book "seven taoist masters", about how you see and not see, hear and not hear. Which ties with all the teachings about keeping your eyes neutral. Not have them go out like a kid in a candy store, not have them go in, like a person who is under severe depression. Just neutral. Not ice cold... just neutral. But then there are also other practices. For example inner dissolving tend to bring you to a place of equanimity, where everything is the same, and everything is smooth. And so does working with the heart mind. In fact when your heart mind is open you can pretty much take in the whole universe, which is a neat trick if the situation is really nasty outside. So equanimity is practiced in different ways by different groups. And in each group there are multiple practices that connect to, develop, and sustain a practice of equanimity. Regarding me: I consider myself a Taoist, I develop equanimity through internal dissolving as my main practice. My auxiliary practice is keeping the eyes neutral, and I am working on my heart mind.

No, but would it be too much to fly to california once a year? He charges less in the US

Hi Seth, I cannot speak about the hsin at this time. I am not ready, sorry. What I can tell you is that when two Taoists greet, and they bring together the right hand as in a fist, and the left wrapped around... you know, the formal greeting. Well in that moment they both should "open" their Heart-Mind. And in this way "there is no issue on who is above and who is below, as it obvious to everyone how much each of the two is able to access the heart mind." Does this satisfy your intellectual curiosity? Why don't you keep an eye on workshops from Bruce, and see when he is teaching about the heart mind. Unfortunately those are very rare teachings. And also quite advanced, so in most workshop he either will not teach them, or only teach them to the advanced students (to which I do not belong). I was lucky that I participated in a workshop in which he was just teaching about the hsin. But as time goes by he should move more and more in this direction. yeah. you keep the tongue touching the palate. But the attention is not on the mco (usually, at least)

grrr, he is smarter than I thought

Right on! So smart! Now for a smart old boy like you, I have a great offer. Shall we bet all my money versus all your money that the year 2012 will not be the end of the world. I say that it will not be the end of the world You say that it will be the end of the world Then on the first day of 2013, whoever wins gets all the money from the other. Deal? so what the hell is all this? The extended play? The post scriptum?

Granted. You soon find that you can effortlessly, and with no limit command the weather. Soon other people realize it too, and then you start to be asked by everybody to make it rain, no sunshine, no windy. In the meantime plants start to die because you are just not good enough, and don't know when and how it should rain and stop raining. Then something bad happens, you get angry for whatever reason, and next thing you know, a tornado is destroying houses all around you. Except that by now people know of your power, and you are considered legally responsible in front of the law... I wish global warming was a scam :-(