mouse

Hi all, Just to take a break from the serious posts on the forum. Here is a little something I found on the web. Enjoy your practice.

Hi all, Just to take a break from the serious posts on the forum. Here is a little something I found on the web. Enjoy your practice.

Hi mat black, thank you again for sending me a link for the textual references. But the website is down. With wrong view, I mean many points in the Sutra do not seem correct. Like the following paragraph: "Lord of Heaven, if someone hears this Dharani even for just a moment,he will not undergo karmic retribution from the evil karma and severehindrances accumulated from thousands of kalpas ago, that would otherwisecause him to revolve in the cycles of birth and death - in all kinds of lifeforms in the evil paths - hell, hungry ghost, animal, realm of King Yama,Asuras, Yaksa, Raksasa, ghosts and spirits, Putana, Kataputana, Apasmara,mosquitoes, gnats, tortoises, dogs, pythons, birds, ferocious animals,crawling creatures and even ants and other life forms. Owing to the meritsaccrued from hearing for a moment this Dharani, once this very life is over,he will be reborn in the Buddha lands, together with all the Buddhas andEkajati-pratibaddha Bodhisattvas, or in a distinguished Brahmin or Ksatriyafamily, or in some other wealthy and reputable family. Lord of Heaven, thisman can be reborn in one of the above-mentioned prosperous and reputablefamilies simply because he has heard this Dharani, and hence be reborn in apure place.""Lord of Heaven, even acquiring the most victorious Bodhimanda is aresult of praising the meritorious virtues of this Dharani. I have not come across a sutra or teaching like that in the theravada tradition which is why I ask if this is a mahayana text. If this was true, wouldn't there be no sentient beings in hell or lower realms of rebirth? I mean no disrespect but I wanted to get some clarification from you as you reccomended it. Is this a practice you engage in and can you give us more insight based on the teachings/instruction you received regarding this sutra?

Santiago, Would like to hear your views on this issue as well. I have seen some of your clips and they are similar in the lineage I train in but in Taiji. Especially the clips on deflecting blows. Are the mechanics similar to my lineage where we use active relaxation to sink energy to displace energy beneath us which causes it to rise up and over us and then back down again creating a field? Enjoy your practice. I can see the evolution from your old to new videos.

Xuesheng, You are correct in this aspect. A humble nickname I must say. On another note, one method of storing energy if needed to be stored like, the healing vibration of Buddha light is to store it in the thighs. It is big enough to store a large charge and it not close to the internal organs. It is good for people like me as I do not have good enough concentration to continually access Buddha light for continual channeling. So just charge and release when needed. On other energy, they can all be manifested from the 'void' if in Jhana.

Hi mat black, Thank you for sending the link. I am not sure where the information originated from, but it seems to me that it has wrong view in there. "Then the Buddha told Lord Sakra, "The above Mantra is known as the ' Purifying All Evil Paths' Usnisa Vijaya Dharani'. It can eliminate all evil karmic hindrances and eradicate the suffering of all evil paths." " I am not very well versed with all the suttas and canons but the first "feel" I get from it is "wrong view". Is it a Mahayana text? Would like to know more into this pali translation of the mantra. Do you have any insight into it? Regards, Mouse

Rolf, Sorry? What do you mean? If you meant the teacher bronzebow is talking about, we have communicated via pm. We believe he may have met someone in the lineage. Spectrum, I do not really study much into classical texts although they are considered to be a must for some. Reason being, I follow my teacher's direction and to me that is sufficient. Why add confusion to practice? Sometimes the texts can be interpreted in many ways and then I need to seek clarification. You can sometimes go down the wrong direction until you next meet your teacher. With packing of chi, again, it is done in many traditions but housing it is different from packing it. One is forced, the other is natural. In the earlier stages of my practice, I was packing and condensing chi from surrounds and the dantien was like a overinflated ball. It is hard to describe but daily I packed and it was so forced. Like trying to continue inflating a basketball. Was tough and energy kept leaking back out the same channels they were pumped in. In taoism, one taoist teacher always said, "Don't Struggle". Struggling is against the Tao. It will be interesting to hear about other people from these traditions who do pack/condense into bones/marrow/dantien etc and hear their experience. To all, enjoy your practice.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors...i/wheel248.html Right thoughts, speech and action all generate good karma. Meditation practice with the intent for liberation will generate merits which is normally dedicated away to all sentient beings to help alleviate their suffering. This generates good karma too. This is not just sitting but the very action of sitting practice to guard and train the mind towards liberation is right action. Keeping the precepts, following the 8 fold path (right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration) generate merit. Remember that all is mind. The very thought whether it is physically manifested or not is already in itself generating karma. Karma means "action". The result of this "action" is the fruit of karma. It is the way things are. The Tao if you will. My 2 cents worth.

Hi Pranaman again. I used to do 0 pullups and was pretty sad sight. within 4 months I was up to 18 but never passed that before I stopped trying for more. Now I'm back to 10. You can give this a go if you are keen. I can't comment on how well it would work vs other methods but here is from my experience. from 0-4 pull ups I did push ups. After 4 chin ups the number of pull ups did nothing to help. I think it may be one of those things where I needed the reverse set of muscles to balance the lats and biceps. From 4 to 8 do as many chin ups you can. Initially, you'll be doing more chin ups (those with your palm facing you as you pull). This allows you to use more biceps to assist to get the numbers up. up to 8 I hit a wall again no matter how many chin ups I did it seem to stagnate at 8. Now at this point, I changed to pull ups (palms facing away from you as you pull). This pushed me to around 12 before I hit another wall. From here on to 18, I stood leaning against the wall upside down doing press ups with whole body weight. Slowly try to stop using wall for assistance as it strengthens the core muscles. I peaked at 18 and didn't continue doing anymore. My body weight was not sufficient to stimulate further growth. At that point my body weight was 74kgs and I am 1.81m if that serves as a reference compared to your own body. If you wish to continue pushing past that point, I can only suggest hanging weights as you do pull ups. This increases the load and shocks the muscles to grow. However, as you are doing taiji exercises too, be mindful that you will always have to keep doing loosening exercises. I believe Chen style has got their own set of loosening warm ups that work from the head down. This is important as tense muscles do not make for good taiji or any taiji. Enjoy your practice.

Hi. Been reading taobums for a long while and have always been unwilling to post something in the midst of all the paths here I'd call delusional and a merry go round in the karmic sense. It seemed to me only a small number of people here are on the right path and sometimes have pointed some people who are doing themselves harm in the right way. For that, this forum has its moments however rare. However, I think most times the advice is overlooked due to many clinging on to concepts and also the mental faculties are not yet ready to accept such truths. This is the main reason for not wanting to contribute to the forum as many are not ready to what Taoists would call "wu4 dao4". Won't go too much into my background but am lucky enough to have noble friends who are once/non-returners to guide my practice. Still a long path to go though. I just wanted to post a message to one of the latest posts so I guess this is a formality. Enjoy your practice.

DarinHamel, videos actually have their limitations too. Energetic work must be felt to be understood. Some issues can look very powerful like Master Yeung aka Lama Dondrup Dorje but do not give the full picture. He is very skilled though as I have met him twice before. Sometimes when students fly off in a direction or bounce, it is due to not rooting the energy properly. They may be taught form but not proper structure/rooting hence once the teacher can get an energetic lock on the student, he can pull their energetic/astral body out from the physical body and then the body has to follow. Once the two bodies merge back together, you'll see the relief/bliss on their faces as they are in a place where they feel comfortable. Many, me included are still very much tied/attached to this physical body. Proper taiji push hands that have very clean issues throught the energetic center causes the opponent to "pop" both feet off the ground. The better your rooting, the more clean it looks. Students with no rooting will stumble rather than pop as their structure collapses everywhere else rather than at the Kidney-1 spots on the soles of the feet. This is the bubbling spring or Long2 Chuen2 where most taiji folks draw energy from ground. Clean issuing will not look like a shove. The limitation with videos is that sometimes when dealing with energetic bodies rather than physical especially when training sensitivity, it looks like it is fake. Sometimes when the opponent is uprooted and their energetic body is sucked into the vacuum left behind from the sinking into the ground, it feels like they are being sucked out of their body then "pop!" you've been issued upon. This video can give you some overview of what the different energies can look like when manifested on the astral body. There is minimal physical movement so as to train the sensitivity of finding and hiding your energetic centre. Enjoy your practice.

Mike, With packing of chi in dantien it is practiced in many traditions. I used to do it as well under a taoist teacher by gathering chi from surrounds and circulating around body through daoyin exercises and storing in dantien. Through my time with this teacher, I found my emotions amplified. My meditation was what kept me in check as I was aware of the changes in emotional states. Good for noting in mindfulness practice. Over time, I saw past the powerful displays of chi like moving people with 'Shen' (actual dragging of student across floor without touch), paralysing students into seizures with a touch behind the neck, creating a shield at areas to be protected and felt like you were kicking a wall etc. He was very good with what he did. But I also found a teacher who had no capable students. No one could issue. No technique was taught beyond the superficial, his emotions were brash and abrupt and had other emotional states which were unstable in my view. I had the priviledge of meeting two other masters in that year who ascribe to the no packing of chi modal of practice. Both could issue through sinking (chen2) which causes a rising or floating energy of the surround or opponent which puts your energetic center off balance and a touch would make you fall due to yourself being taken 'off center' already. Other traditions can choose to pack chi and is the fundamental part of their practice. It is their choice. You quote John Chang's practice, I happen to have bought the book the earlier stages when I first started energetic work as I was enchanted by the raw power displayed. If says that many die in the process to go from level 3-4. And even in level 1, students are discouraged from touching hands as their power is so raw and cannot be contained and could maim or kill my the energy being unleashed as a reaction. I do believe that these practices have their place in someone's hands who have a spiritual practice for moral guidance. However, as I said before, the practice is in my opinion not worth doing. Other methods can achieve the same results as chi is all around us. Intention leads. Uprooting someone in another building is possible by sending astral body out and sinking to cause rising in other person then issuing. Happens in no touch issues but many have not felt before. The real question is "is there a need to do so?" Over my time in practice, I started to see how the greed for this power had blinded me. It was pointless to be able to drag someone across the floor with intention, or condense their energy in their dantien my using "compressing" chi to disable them from disrupting their energy flow etc. I choose to remain mindful of my thoughts, speech and action and use my practice for liberation or healing others. One saying my current teacher/friend has stuck with me is: "Dhamma and healing are the two best gifts you can give anyone... Healing comes second." My intention to replying to Pranaman if you read from the start is to point him in the right direction. I cannot choose for anyone their choice of practice. A teacher I respect very much and is no longer in this realm has once said that, "no matter how much you eat, you can never satisfy another person's hunger." This is to mean that you cannot help another person practice. They have to do their own practice for liberation. He was Ajahn Lee's Disciple if you are familiar with the Thai Forest Tradition. I take the time to answer each point not to feed an argument but to clarify some thoughts I have on the original question by Pranaman. To each their own, I wish you well and enjoy your practice. PS: I had a look at Master Wang Peisheng's youtube videos. Thank you for it. He teaches genuine Taiji and his issues are clean and refined. Dao Zhen, you have had good fortune to have had his instruction. Many people do not have the chance to study under such a teacher.

Pranaman, these principles your teacher is teaching you are correct. Knees never past toes, nor to the side. However, keeping within these principles knees are often rotated in Chen style. The grinding of knee joints are not natural. The natural knee movement is front and back only. I have read Gregory Fungs articles from another post on the boards. He has good principles in there and though I never met him, his writings are genuine in my opinion. May you become good yourself. Remember, many masters do not give proper transmission be it oral or energetic due to fear of student surpassing them. A very good indication of a good teacher is when their students can reach the same level or surpass him/her. It means teachings are given in whole and complete. Do note that in his articles he makes reference to Huang Hsing Hsian. He is part of the lineage I train in. He is an accomplished meditator and a true Taiji master. He surpasses Chen Man Ching and it is very clear to watch from his Youtube videos that CMC's issue is not as refined. You may like to watch Ma Yue Liang as well. Believe he might be under Wu Style but can't be sure as I do not train under that lineage for Taiji, Enjoy your practice.

Mike, I do not have a fight to pick with you but your posts seem rather aggressive. I shall try to answer each one of your points from my knowledge. I must stress again that these are my views as my practice has brought me to. You have other experiences and of course feel differently. I am Chinese. so to answer your question on giving my view on the Chinese culture I can only go with what I grew up with. I do however, live in Australia now. Chen guys do not practice Taiji in my opinion. It is common view within Chen circles that they themselves believe that their lineage has lost it. Their push hands competitions are wrestling matches and do not hold Taiji principles save for on the surface. Many Chen masters here in Australia have knee reconstuctions due to the stress on their un-natural low stance to try and mimic good rooting. Good rooting happens with proper structure with the physical then slowly inward with the astral/energetic body. Wai4 Jing4 is not Nei4 Jing4 which is proper Fa1 jing4. I do not know Wang Peishan nor the President of the Beijing Baguazhang Institute. It is not true that genuine masters seek great sums of money for tutelage. Those on path of practice do not seek money but students with the right aplitude to be trained and also fate. As for using Dantien to house 'chi' that is correct. It is what we consider Chi4 Hai3 or "the Chi Ocean". This energy is circulated around our bodies during form work or partner work and is returned to the dantien to settle there. With storing I mean active harnesing of energy from surrounds and packing it into the dantien. It is not healthy and leads to unstable emotional states. Neigong means internal work. We use neigong or chigong to open up.clear up meridians so that chi flows through the whole body with no blockages. Neigong does not mean storing energy. I hope this clears up any misunderstanding you may have on your end. Again, my intentions are good meaninged and not a personal attack to anyone in particular here. Enjoy your practice.

Mike, I included am delusional. Anyone not yet an Arahant and have removed all their defliements (Kilesas) are subject to the cycle of samsara by attachments. There are however right views and wrong views. I used to practice with the intention of being powerful, or have access to power and did training under a master who is very good at what he does. Can paralyse people, use his "yi" to move people against their will etc. Did practice to store energy and emotions got amplified leading to imbalance. etc. Appreciate your lightly veiled sacarsm if you feel that I may be too blunt but my intentions are well meaninged. I will stop here as often many threads I have seen here go off on a tangent and some people enjoy feeding off conflict. Enjoy your practice.

Pranaman, I hope you take on board these comments. I started an account to answer your question. Dhamma (the truth) is free. Taiji can be used for the path to liberation by keeping mindfulness on the body as well as letting go. Concept of 'Song' in taiji is not really looseness in its direct translation. Mandarin has many conoctations for every word depending on situation and context. 'Song' actually means letting go. Thoughts are energy, physical tension is energy locked up/muscle tension. Throughout your form, if taught correctly, there should be a rising of energy up one leg and down the other; what we would call rooting. normally in the rear foot. The issue or 'fa jing' happens when the energy is received (Yield). sent to the ground (Neutralised), then sent under the opponent cutting off their energetic root to the ground. (Issue/Fajing) The whole process requires 'song' or active relaxation in order for the kinetic energy to flow down into the ground and under and past your opponent. This process can be utilised for training of mindfulness of body as well as letting go. The practice is a paradox in a sense. We practice because of attachment to liberation. The difference is that this attachment leads to the end of attachment. Other practices that train the storing of energy are in my opinion not worth pursuing. The only thing worth storing is Light. Storing energy is unhealthy and magnifies emotions leading to unstable states. Energy is all around you and can be manipulated without storing. Will not be easy finding genuine Taiji teachers to teach without a fee unless you are a disciple. I would suggest Heaven Man Earth Taiji for reference for proper Taiji. However, meditation is free, the guidance of a genuine teacher is hard to come by and depends on your karma. If your intentions are in the right place, one will manifest for you. Having said that, simple instruction for meditation is very simple. I will point you in the direction of this website as it is the best resource online for Dhamma. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/lee/startsmall.html Proper instruction for meditation becomes important at the higher stages where your concentration reaches higher Jhanic states. Everyone has their preference but if you would like to seek out a forest monastry, it is a step in the right direction. I have not much experience in other practices but if I am not wrong, the "quan2 zhen1" or "complete reality" sect for Taoism and the Mahamudra for Vajrayana Buddhism are all based on the same concepts only in different clothing. I wish you well in your practice.