exorcist_1699

Can Enlightenment be an object /target studied by science or psychology ? Let me raise a metaphor : A 2D " creature" once discovered that a strange object appeared in its 2D world , which was in fact a cross-section of a 3D creature as it was passing through it . Although this is a phenomenon happens repeatedly and can be observed from time to time , do you think , the 2D "creature" can understand what happens before its eyes ? It seems , no matter how hard the 2D " creature " thinks , how much data it collects , how many instruments from its world it uses , its effort is doomed to be fruitless . And, can you say the 3D creature ( in fact, only its cross- section) is being studied and understand ? Once the 2D creature has become a 3D creature itself , then everything about it will become very simple, any expanation seems superfluous.

Enlightenment can never be the research target of psychology as some people may try to do . Any such an attempt will be futile . How can a big Wisdom be studied and sliced by a limited, trivial discipline ?

Every moment of our life is composed of living and death ; in Hegelian terms, it is the dialectics of life ; in taoist terms, every moment consists of yin and yang where yin stands for death, and yang stands for life. Awakening , a status of extreme yang , of course, stands for life . Any moment of awakening you get a plus towards eternity ; any moment of non-awakening you get a step towards death. That is , change of our mind implies the close and open of the Magic Gateway. A taoist saying tells: " What is esoteric and critical is just few words ; what is general and superficial can be found in thousands of books. "

From mindlessness to awakening , there is a big leap .But how? Of course, when talking about leap ,it means some "energy "is needed to apply . Maybe mindlessness is a state you can maintain for hours, but the arrival of awakening does need endless patience , it depends...

Afterlife eternity, although a spiritual one , is a yin way full of uncertainties and submit-to-destiny character , which is not what we should pursue . Contrary to it is a yang way : by obtaining complete , pure qi in the yang form , another way of eternity is possible . Taoism never worships death or transmigration of soul as some elements in Tibetan culture.

Asking," who am I ?" is a Zen Buddhist way towards Enlightenment ,suitable for real genius or talents , not for ordinary earthly ,married guys .Seldom can you nourish the vigorous dragon from that pool of static water by following this path.

Never do I think that "Who am I?" is a question that philosophy can answer, so ,right from the very beginning I have been talking about it in the context of Zen Buddhist's treatment of it, ie, using it as method attaining Enlightenment.So, some of the arguments from Xuesheng just sound pointless to me. I always think that as a taoist, there are two areas of knowledge we must grasp : one is TCM , another one is Zen Buddhism. I have talked about TCM's importance in other topic on this forum , so there is no need to repeat here. Regarding Zen , I always think that all the best sayings regarding spiritual cultivation are spoken by the Zen masters. However, as many taoist Masters already pointed out , the Zen preachings , in fact ,deliberately skip many explanations on the physical part of cultivation . As our spiritual cultivation deepens , our body also experience huge changes, sometime even dangerous, but the Zen masters just seldom talked about it , at least , publicly . Why? You think they achieve it just by asking "Who am I?" ? Anyone who has some knowledge on the history of Chinese Zen Buddhism knows why Zen recedes and its outcome. We can't go into details here. My understanding is ,simply speaking , it was a system too superb but there were too few talents to sustain it . The Zen cases, asking "who am I" is one of the famous among them, finally degenerated into some kind of philosophical bullshit , a vulgarization of a superb system not because of the system or method itself has problems , but because of incompetence of the people , the followers. No reason ,up to this moment, persuades me to believe that the westerners will do it better than the Chinese. I am also accused of barring people from trying or practicing a valuable way of cultivation . But is it true? If I am preventing people from testing a funny sports , a new kind of hobby , or a school of kung fu ,or as MYthmaker put it : "I define the success of this method as people being worried and unhappy immediately smiling or laughing and no longer worried or unhappy after using this method." then maybe I have to admit my "crime". However, right from the beginning I said " Seldom can you nourish the vigorous dragon from that pool of static water by following this path.". So, I was talking about something whether it can make you have a huge jump from just experiencing calmness and some happiness ( which unfortunately is still in that pool of dead water ) to experiencing something really dynamic and immense. Why the taoist masters repeatedly preach: "grasping the universe in our hands"? You think it is just an artistic expression ? .

Only can genius get rid of those trivial,layers and troubles, and, reach the core of Enlightenment in one stroke; others , by following the same path , unfortunately are likely led to some kind of philosophical reasoning bullshit.

In general , healthy people can't die so easily. Seldom do people die in sleeping or long time sitting. They get tired not killed As long as qi is still in your body , Shen (spirit)does not leave; as long as Shen is there , you are still alive. Of course , if Shen grasp qi together ..... I think ,it should be considered in the jin-qi-Shen framework.

Taoism is the source of TCM ( Traditional Chinese Medicine ) .People who know some basic knowledge of TCM are definitely having the upper hand over those who are ignorant of it in practicing qi gong . For example, knowing how the DU channel runs is always beneficial to practitioners , not because it allows you to lead qi running , but because it makes you a little more prepared. People who are familiar with the zhen-qi-Sheng framework , definitely , are more capable of dealing with strange and unexpected problems/troubles arising from our body or mind in the process of cultivation .

Unless you deny the existence of qi, otherwise the most delicate theoretical system that built on it, ie, TCM, has to be comprehend . Qi ,when it is outside of human body , looks simple and pure ; however ,once it is materialized in human body , it changes into a complicated system . Many layers arise ; we have qi split into male and female, qi embodied in different functional organs: heart, liver, stomach... ;Also, we have to consider how qi moves in a time frame, ie, the effects of seasons and daily hours on it . During your qigong practice, why sometime you can be sleepless for several nights without feeling tired; why sometime you can keep on eating endlessly without being stuffed; why taming the" white tiger" is crucial , otherwise, your effort , no matter how many years it has been , is doomed to be fruitless; why you always look young for decades , and others decade just in few years ; why understand the movement of the moon is important....all these issues are mentioned , more or less , in the writings of TCM , not necessarily directly, but sometimes in the form of medical cases. The deeper theoretical insight you have, the higher level of pratice you get.

The best way is the natural way , so ,any deliberate manipulating of your breath can hardly be a correct thing we should do . Similarly , embryonic breathing is a natural phenomena definitely will appear when your practice reach certain level [/b]

The most common way being taught ( mentioned by many books and can be talked publicly ) is as follows: Try concentrating your mind patiently and slightly ( the strength /degree is difficult to grasp at initial stage, this is the reason why I say "skilfully" ) at the position 3~4 inches below your navel for 30 minutes or more , and , see what will happen. Please do not imagine it even you did hear of how it may look like for every individual does get different feeling... If qi , no matter how minor it is, does arises ,then some effect on the disease will be seen after your having practiced it for several weeks . Of course, if the psoriasis is developed near the abdomen area, it will be cured easier ; however , if it grows on limbs far away from body, then it will take longer time because the qi you initiate at earlier stage definitely is not strong enough to affect a larger area /longer distance . Anything afterwards will then depend on your fortune....

A proper mind and having a physical body capable of sitting for 1-2 hour are preconditions for initiating qi . The more powerful and delicate qi you can initiate , the easier your illness be cured, which, unfortunately needs your manipulating your mind " skilfully " . So, in order not to place your own destiny in your doctor' s/other people's / fate's hands , you had better make up your mind asap.

It seems that the keep-coming taoists asking for an already dug cave was some kind of planned tests for Hao's disciples and it lasted for 40 years. Maybe some people think that such kind of test is too harsh and demanding that unlikely can you find people to meet it .Or, you may doubt whether it is worthy of it . However, just thinking of the following question , then , the answer seems clear : Why in this world billions of people are predestined to death and you few guys get the privilege to live forever ?

The issue is not whether qigong can cure it or not ; the issue is whether the patient is fortunate enough to come across it . There are too many unnecessary sufferings and deaths in this world.

Psoriasis, to Qigong, forgive me to be candid , is just a piece of cake ...I wonder why people not asking something more fatal here ...

Imagination or Visualization is never a good method to starting a taoist practice. Maybe some people find it easier to have such a starting point ; it seems , at least they can find something to begin with , and , it appears to be a little more interesting : imagining flower, fire ball, tai chi ball , moon.. ..etc arising from their bodies or coming from outside. However, once you are accustomed to it , you are entangled by it and it is difficult to get released. The real , what should naturally come up symptoms ,will then be replaced by your imaginations; truth mixed up with falsehood , illusions intermingled with real feeling ... it spoils many gifted guys' lifetime practice.

Real "Wu Wei" will inevitably give rise to qi, an omnipotent medicine against most disease and aging; it does not imply in any sense doing nothing , which , can only lead us to a dead end. The said truth is , we are like people who live in a place with a gold-mine underneath , but ignorant of it , and always complain about how poor and miserable their life are.

A taoist master said : " When I was asked about how to cultivate Tao, I pointed to the moon far away hanging in the sky "

Capable of initiating qi from the bottom of your body is the first step towards eternity, however, to most of the people, even minor feeling of the existence of it seems unlikely . There are many reasons for it , part of the factors we have to consider are as follows: 1) Gender : male will be easier; after all, we are talking about a crusade which definitely needs independent mind and fearless spirit. Technically speaking , "slashing the red dragon " is not difficult , but who gets such a resolve? 2) Your age: age around 30-40 is the best period; if you are too young to meet it , then you may not have a serious attitude towards it ; if you are too old, then it is always difficult... 3)Single or married : If you are single , it will be much easier. 4) The social and cultural context in which you were born .Needless to say it is very important; all methods , experiences , secret keys are linked with it

Of course , without having the "Magic Gateway " opened to you , " a priori " qi is always difficult to understand . And, without having the " a priori " qi fully grasped in hands, life and death issue will anyway remain undecided .

I did come across some strange figures when I was traveling across China.... anyway, I mainly rely on reading the taoist and Zen Buddhist classics thoroughly and personal cultivation .

Hi. Procurator, I do not belong to any school ; the original idea is even not mine. I think it just tells you the influence of Confucian qigong on taoist practice ,which , is positive for most of us really can't get away from the society. The taoist masters also think that only after our cultivation having reached quite a high level , will we then be forced to retreat into the deep mountains. Without having ourselves"tortured" in the society , it will likely that we get "it " in the deep mountains , and lose" it" after returning to the society;

The highest method/way is something natural as we are already told in " Laotse" , yet people always forget it . Simply speaking, if qi can rise naturally , why we bother adding our subjective , deliberate effort to make it faster or work as what we like ? Imagination may give you an impression that you can get qi quicker and manipulate it more freely, however,its drawbacks are always larger that its benefits. People who already experienced how qi behaves under the condition of mindlessness , of course ,can hardly endorse the imaginative way .