Ian

1) Do at least one practice repeatedly every day, whether they want to or not. Minimum 100 days, preferably much much longer. 2) Accept, firstly, that in all genuine spiritual practice they are up against an adversary which is more intelligent, more cunning, and much older than they, secondly, that this adversary will never stop fighting because their success means its death, and, thirdly, that said adversary is what they think of as themself. 3) Give up, and keep going. Still on 1), myself.

Enlightenment is a word. Lots of different experiences are going to be linked to that word, because by their very nature, such experiences are not well described. So it's very hard to tell if one person's "experience described as enlightenment" is the same as another's. Every path that describes an ongoing process seems to describe various "achievements", many of which are mistaken for the "final" one. F**k, I'm even boring myself with this. Bottom line: we cannot describe enlightenment because it requires/involves the absence of the describer. We can come up with lots of cute and maybe even helpful approximations. Barry Long has said "I am the same as you, except I have nothing arising. No blazing lights, just nothing arising." I'll see if I can dig up a quote from Sifu Yap. Blah blah. If any of us gets enlightened, we'll be able to tell, because people will want to sit with us and do nothing. Sounds very similar to a practice called "who's there" from a (quite good) book called "Chaos Ritual" by Steve Wilson. You just go in yr head and ask "who's there?". Then "who's asking?", then "who's asking?" etc etc and you're left with less and less. Only tried it a few times, when I was even more lazy and feckless than currently, so not much to report. What brings an end to the emptiness you describe?

I have a site that does people little automated tarot readings. The chap who sorted out the randomising seems to have done it pretty well, but then he is way clever.

Cor! Thank you people! This old man is touched! I just got back from a weekend in seville with Sifu Yap and two days at my mum's, which is why I haven't responded earlier. Many thanks for all the good wishes. Nice to be here and apologies for all the intolerant ranting of the last year. (doesn't mean I'm going to stop!) Gotta dash now. Expect a post on contact lenses, a small report from Seville, and a whole bunch of second-hand Winn material I'd like to sell. PM me if you can't wait for the latter. Love to all, I

How about his "Living Midnight - three movements of the Tao?" I really enjoyed that one too.

I suggest that trying to manipulate your thoughts or emotions is pointless. Like stirring snakes in a barrel. I suggest simply giving your thoughts less fuel, making them less intense, so that it will be easier to smile at them or ignore them if they seem bad. And the only way I know how to do it is to keep on and on and on going back to the physical sensation of the moment, whatever it be. Reclaim your resources from the thinker, put them in your body. It's boring, it hurts sometimes and it's very gradual. But it's all there is. (imo, obviously)

Those of us with long memories will recall that a student of David's has popped up every two years or so, previously on the Healing Tao Usa board, and has always described him as the source of the only true teaching. I've always received the impression that David is a very determined practitioner, who has indeed achieved some abilities that most have not, but something about the whole thing has always made me uneasy. It's partly the fairly complete absence of a sense of humour. Maybe high-level cultivation of this type requires a kind of grim seriousness. I wouldn't know. It's mainly a feeling that the goal is dubious. I acknowledge that it would be lovely to be able to walk through walls (imagine never having to carry keys again, being effectively immune to bullets etc etc), and I acknowledge that to be able to walk through walls must require an extraordinary level of purification, such that one would be effectively desireless and thereby not a danger to all and sundry. All well and good. But the only person alleged to be able to walk through walls is Wang Liping, who is frankly, to me, a mythical figure. That apart, I get no particular vibe of purity, nor of humility, from anyone in this chain. It seems to be all about power. I remember remarking in the past that the anecdotes about John Chang's teachers, these allegedly amazingly advanced beings, showed them to have nothing better to do than fight with those of equal stature. I just end up with this vibe which suggests a group of obsessives who are not obsessively drawn to the light of immortality or enlightenment, but rather to the relief of invulnerability, of freedom from fear through power, which to me is the opposite of what it's all about. This is entirely subjective, obviously, and not meant to refer to seandenty, about whom I know nothing. As to specifics, I have much I don't like about Healing Dao. But many of its people are sincere, and some are remarkable practitioners. Dirk Oellibrandt especially. It is curious how similar David's disciples' scripts are each time. A list of six practices you never heard of, in Chinese, which are the vital first steps, and are different each time. New stuff about what's wrong with Healing Dao... I dunno. There is some sincerity there, but I always feel something misguided, also.

Pray tell. I had no idea. I thought people stood in all sorts of ways for all sorts of reasons. P.S. Trust you enjoyed the naming of the new semi-planet.

It cleans stuff. You can inject it, sit in a steamy bag of it, drink water with it bubbled through, have it bubbled up your arse, or even have your blood come out through a tube, be ozonated and go back in again. Been going about 100 years in europe, more or less illegal in America, no idea about where you are. Various people will tell you it's toxic. See Ed McCabe's book, as mentioned in the podcast/poocat thread.

Ozone.

Yup. Entirely. No point in the mantra unless it takes you into the places where the mantra isn't yet.

Dude - I used to live there! About 11 years ago. I worked at this restaurant called Momis just around the corner on 4th St. Used to go to, what was it, Upstairs at Nick's on a monday for the punk bands. Jugs of black and tan at the bar on 3rd and pizza from lorenzo's. I loved it there. Before your time, maybe.

Next time just dive in. No refrigeration, no hesitation. Shove that gunk in your gob and keep going till every compartment is empty. Then you've been initiated. I guarantee remarkable effects. By the third time it'll be your favourite food. Unless you're a big girls blouse , obviously....

For animated gifs there's also a very user friendly thing called UNFREEZ You just drag and drop gifs into it and press go and it strings 'em together.

Please yes, kind sir. Any chance of the briefest summary of what all the boxes round the edge are about? Year: Earth Monkey Month: Metal Rooster Day: Water Rat Hour: Wood Dragon Inner Element: Earth Constellation: Leopard Elements: Wood 3, Fire 1, Earth 3, Metal 3, Water 2

Erm, yes, I agree with all of that. I think we can get the feeling of a little bit of friction and think we're open, when being really open is a vast, empty, smooth, almost featureless, state. I don't really have any suggestions, in the technical sense. I haven't really tried putting attention there because I'm not trying to put attention anywhere. (except everywhere). "Strong reactions, sweat, emotional stuff, really a lot of tensions," I recognise, but most of that seemed (and seems) to come from just under the ribs. The only sort of suggestion I have is that we can't stop the mind's reaction and that to try is to fuel it. My aim, and I'm only just starting to grasp what it even means, is simply to abide with that which is not mind, that which is purely sensational. Thus the less I am mind, the more I needn't be entirely thrown off by its protests, however violent or cunning they be, because my investment in "something else" can continue alongside. This abiding doesn't seem to be something you can really do. You can approximate to it, deliberately, and get an increasing idea of what not to do, but I think you need to rely, ultimately, on a combination of initiation/transmission and getting so bored of trying that you just give up. Or maybe I'm just a really backward student. Anyway, I'm assuming that if I continue this process it will get to the sacrum in its own good time. Probably when the rest of me is a little more prepared for whatever will be unleashed. Cool. Can't wait to see him take a light sabre to the British Government.....

I don't have much awareness there yet. I'm getting some movements from the hip joints in the front, and often bend forward from just above the sacrum, but have yet to really have anything going on at the sacrum itself. In the movements I do, rather than in the standing, I have noticed a couple of things. There is one movement where we turn to either side with the feet quite wide. I was shown that I was turning too far and closing up the sacral area. The feeling I got when I paid attention and reduced the twist was peculiar and unmistakeable: it was the feeling that I could hold an egg at my sacrum. That sounds insane, but someone else recognised it when I said it. I haven't quite been able to recapture it since. Another thing is on the movements where one does a simple "song qua", "minimal knee bend relax hamstring" sorta thing, I've been told to stick my bum out more. This is quite against the ideas of many taoists who are tucking the sacrum under, so it may be worth playing with. Hope your tiny viking's doing well. Cheers, I

Thank you for all your kind words, people. I'm coming more and more to the conclusion that nothing is really difficult except crossing that invisible line where you actually make youself do something. Like standing every day just takes the ten seconds where you say "Yes, I am actually going to do it again" and put your feet in the right place. Then the 40 minutes does itself. Partial answers to good questions: Please don't imagine I'm present throughout. The only progress I have on that is to make much less fuss and criticise myself less every time I realise I'm off with the fairies. After a while you get bored with being cross and it's just business as usual, back to the sensation. Mainly I'm both present (a bit) and whatever else ( a larger bit ) but it still kinda works. It's a continuum, not an either or. The main issue for me is that it's not about redirecting the mind, but about starving the mind by redirecting the attention. The mind tends to home in. The attention can be diffuse. Big, but infuriatingly subtle difference. Arms are low, in front, palms radiating on hip joints. My limited understanding is that you certainly wouldn't want to avoid them, as these movements represent karma being forced to express itself away by your non-participation. This, I'm told, is what will open your channels and joints, more effectively than anything deliberate. I'm told that after a while it will settle to more internal and less dramatic movement.

No idea! Really, I don't look down. Literally just the smallest movement I can make and still get a sense of release at the hips. (This was just where I was moved to, may not be appropriate for all.)

As regards how one feels after ejaculation, one thing that seems to make a huge difference to me, all other variables being more or less unchanged, is whether ejaculation "just happens" or whether it is in any way encouraged, for example if one is trying to bring things to a close because that would suit one's partner. I find if I've encouraged ejaculation at all, by focussing in one place, or concentrating excitement, or deliberately moving faster, then I can feel very depleted, especially if it takes a while. It's as if I've thereby given more of myself than mere fluids. I can find no correlation between retention or otherwise and how meditation is. But then I'm no great shakes at meditation.

Blimey! That should keep you busy.

Yes, he's very entertaining. I know next to nothing else about him, however. My impression is that his approach seems more psychotherapeutic than pursuing enlightenment. Lots of positive affirmations. He used to have a weekly column in the Observer sunday magazine answering people's fool questions. Very into his tai chi / bagua personally. Don't know what he teaches. He was doing a weekend workshop at the Lancaster Hotel not long ago, but I don't know what it was like. I was in the room next door with Burgs and we didn't hear anything.

I can personally attest that none of the above are true. Sifu Yap has been a practitioner for over 30 years, has done 50-60 thousand hours of meditation, (work that out in terms of a forty hour week!!) is highly intelligent, and scrupulously honest, even if people don't want to hear it. Bodri?