Mandrake

Aah, sorry for being so vague cloud recluse. To raise ones Kundalini is indeed a marvelous thing to do, and not the easiest thing obviously. In yoga it is a prerequisite for samadhi so it is a thing that you will pass on the way to the absorptions. Basically, you let your body transform to a more suitable spiritual vehicle. One misconception is that of Kundalini(also called gTummo) being very violent. What happens in those cases is the sometimes very painful initial purification of the body, but when that is done with, you get the blissfull, warm Kundalini energy in your whole body. After your Kundalini have risen, you enter Samadhi - a state of extremely (relaxed) concentration and awareness, detached from the senses. You use it to observe your underlying, fundamental nature. You then work with going to finer and finer samadhi-states from where you hopefully can make the leap to that fundamental nature, tao. Usually our awareness and insight is so entangled and obscured by the physical realm, so you want to detach from it. Kundalini is a stepping board to these realms. Then, how you practice, of course depends on what your aim is - increased health, find out spiritual truths, or both. In either case it's good to meditate, energywise, will give you concentration in your MArts and more benefits. All my understanding All the best! Mandrake

Yes, I think one of his strenghts was his openness. But, I actually threw his books away, why? They're just packed with his own misunderstandings and misconceptions, such about Kundalini and enlightenment. That raising kundalini isn't enlightenment, rather a small (very good) step toward it, isn't too unknown in cultivation, yet he promotes this idea in pathnotes. Another comments was about religious texts, not reading anymore those who didn't describe how to reach the goal painted - his favorite was patanjalis yoga sutras. Now, this is strange as well. In yoga, yes, they speak about kundalini, but the real weight is the samadhis which are praised over all. Again, the whole absorbtion/jhana issue is very lacking in pathways. But off course, during that time it was hard to find good teachings in the west, so he tried his best. The positive is that his books probably opened up the idea of spirituality to a lot of martial artists, and got them going. Mandrake

Emotos water crystal book, now, hasn't that book been slaughtered allready? How anyone can believe in that stuff is beyond me - people beleive in crap because they want to. Where is the scientific backing of this - it has not been backed up by other laboratory studies by other scientists. The only thing we have to go for is fancy claims from one guy. Why not listen to all the other quackers as well? Respect Mandrake

@neimad The sin thing, I would argue, comes from you living in a country with a christian heritage. On the buddhist forums I've participated, the whole sin concept is immediately refuted whenever it turns up. Besides, to my knowledge you can't find support for it at all in the sutras. I would guess that asians wouldn't have these kinds of thoughts (sin related) in general. Karma isn't sin - it doesn't divide us from a god who needs to save us. We don't have to surrender and give us self to a said saviour. We aren't miserable because of any inherent sin. There's just consequences, like in nature (an apple falling from a tree isn't sin), and we have responsability for our action, and that is actually wonderful. Things pass. We are perfect as we are - well, if you wish. At least we don't have to change, it's ok. We can choose to do other things, affect inner/outer causes etc. but is that the real question?

But the more you think about it, at least for me 'good energy' means very little - exactly what? So if we manifest something, it doesn't pop out of thin air. If I would like to manifest for example 1 kg of gold (or something other limited) more gold wont be created, just directed to me, instead of someone else. Or say money - it's not that money is there in a 'manifesting' account waiting for someone to intending it into their life, it will come from someone else. There's no God (I believe) that will print money for you, ok, maybe the government, but then you actually have issues like inflation and productivity, so, the same thing. If I would speak about energy, I wouldn't think there being a stream of 'good' energy and 'evil' energy, just energy put to different use. And obviously an infinite supply would make it possible to change everything. What we are striving to overcome is maybe our view of and insight in what happiness is and what it comes from. my 2 cents Mandrake

Sorry for the late reply. Exams are over, and in addition an internetless week of holidays at my parents place. Basically, check out Yogacara stuff. Some stuff: http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/Buddhism/Yoga...siccontents.htm "What is and isn't Yogacara" some history, but the interesting stuff comes further down: http://www.acmuller.net/yogacara/articles/intro-uni.htm A book to read is "Doctrine of Mere Consciousness" by Xuanzang. There's a translation by Francis Cook, dunno how easy to find. It's in a collection called "Three texts on consciousness only: Demonstration of consciousness only". And, there are allways various sutras. Those discussing the five skandhas may shine light on the topic. No pro myself, but hopefully this helps. Mandrake

I may have something. Will check it out. I'll PM you later. Mandrake

I just found this book by Joe Fisher: The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts: A Riveting Investigation Into Channeling and Spirit Guides Check out: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/193104402...5Fencoding=UTF8 Will order it soon, it looks as if it confirms what people allready told me and what I've suspected for long. Anybody know this book? Otherwise, I'll just post my thoughts when I've read it. Mandrake

In Theravada, it's as you say Cameron, can't kill, but can eat meat (although the details are argued about I think, buying vs. offered). I Mahayana it's very clear though, eating meat is forbidden, together with other animal products. Mandrake

Trunk - couldn't have said it better. Meditation is a very special type of skill, which, like the others, need effort and time to be mastered. If you're serious about learning an instrument, you could read a beginners book, and then "play" and be proud of being a musician - no, rather, you would seek out a teacher who would press and motivate you, teach you the right technique and posture so that you don't hurt yourself, push you with harder pieces that teach you something new, give you the "secrets of the trade" when you get ready to understand them, and so on. Now, meditation is a bit harder than learning an instrument. It takes years and years of practicing when playing an instrument before you reach a plateau, a breakthrough, where the outer form dissolves and you begin working with music directly, with a more direct contact with the heart of music. This is also why I like to have at least one practice that I stick to, religiosly (well chosen off course), so that I have the chance to get into the depth with something. Just some rantings Mandrake

Yoda - I get it, green tea pill, right? Never heard of it before. Across the atlantic we tend to get much of the health stuff later. Well, that explains it. Speaking about vinegar. I remember I had a period when I discovered that I just loved pure apple-cider vinegar mixed with salt. I sipped on it until it started corroding my tongue, nice! The end. Mandrake

Sai baba, TM's maharishi, and so many other gurus out there that deceive people. I saw a poster where I live about the latest "miracle spirituality" - sahaja yoga. Well, take a read and peak behind the scenes: http://www.sahaja-yoga.org/ Sad that people are so gullible. Just about anything goes to take the attention away from one's pain, like a drug. M

Strange - you get heartburn from green tea? Do you drink it solitary or with food?

Wow, really nice wording - well put Yoda! Maybe, deep deep inside, some people want to be screwed, but they refuse to admit it to them selves.

One thing that has probably striked several of us, is that many of these New Age people are the most miserable you can meet. Often you can, by a quick glance, even when they're smiling, see all that sorrow and junk they are carrying around with. It's really sad. What annoys me is that they don't go to a psychotherapist first. Spiritual practices aren't a quick fix - are you going to build them on top of insanity? Mental un-health? I believe that you need a sound grounding before you embark on deeper esoteric journeys, otherwise you just won't have the clarity needed. There is also the fact that people with supernatural accomplishments could be manipulating people. So again, it boils down to your own practice. If people only get "improvements" (read experiences) while around their guru type - beware!

I too have too many interests. Some friends join up in my jealousy of those that have a single interest which they're passionate about. No hesitation about what to do in life. Of course you have to do things that resonate with your self and not force anything on you because of others - it's perfectly ok to just be ordinary. But then we live our lives, and to master life, there are many paths to walk, all in their due time, that will further evolve us and open up our mind (blablablah). I think there's a huge reward in mastering a field/skill that is impossible if you dabble a bit here, a bit there and so on. There's an entirely different perspective and gratification in mastering a skill than you find in easy, instantly accessible experiences. Besides, gaining proficiency produces momentum and insight that spills over in other parts of your life, so the gain is exponential in many ways. I myself have had to realize that too much energy is spent reviewing options, struggling, wavering on and on, and finally just had to decide to do X 'cause no bad will come from that (X), just good. It's funny, 1 hour a day on a subject will bring you some real skill after a while. Mandrake

Hahah, whatever, the "shut up you, I've heard it all before" is a little gem. So much of humanity's suffering is made up in the individual. I'm bewildered that not more people just drop the garbage. Yeah, why're we using our suffering muscles??!! Mandrake

Yoda - you're absolutely right! Gosh, sometimes this world is so upside down! Lozen - I've heard that stuff about milk as well. On the other hand, there's plenty stuff out there that claims that heating milk is the cause, i.e. raw milk don't have these negative effects. Remember when I lived in Australia and first saw UHT - Ultra Heat Treated milk - Absolute EVIL! Never saw that before. Why not boil water and calcium powder instead? Mandrake

I would warn against excess calcium intake. In fact, excess calcium would be deadly. Why? The muscles use calcium ions to function (contract and all that stuff), so if you've got too much of this wonderful substance in the blood - the heart, lungs and less critical muscles (such as the bladder's or those "I can move the ear!" muscles) stop functioning. To prevent you from a stop over to the other side, the body stores the calcium in the bones. Bone = 2 types of cells - osteoclasts and osteoblasts. The osteoclasts will absorb the calcium, dying in the process, and would under normal circumstances be replaced by osteoblast cells (bone builders). However, due to excess calcium intake, there's an imbalance - osteoclasts die faster than the osteoblasts are rebuilding the bone -> Tadaa: Osteoporosis! So, moderation thanx! The irony is that in the west, with our big diary industry and all, we have the biggest problem with osteoporosis, due to mentioned products making it easy to consume tons of calcium. Just some rant! Mandrake HEALTH DISCLAIMER This adviced has not been reviewed or approved by FDA Blaah blaah blah. If you decide to start a nutrition sect and rip people off their money, I have no liability, only the right to 5% of the revenue.

Haha! En garde: http://idleriot.com/media/videos/Funny/146..._Dirt_Bike.html

Not the same. Can you read chinese? Most of Nan Huaijin's stuff isn't available in english. Dunno 'bout the other guy - can't give any recommendations.

Well, not technically my first post. Made a post about 9 bottle wind a while ago, but the net has it's own tricks and my user id disappeared. Anyway, haven't made an intro, so here it goes: Male, currently 24, studying economics. Trying to learn chinese in my spare-time. Play the piano whenever I get hold of an instrument. Enjoy Pirates2 by Sid Meier, non-britney music with thought, belgian beer and strange culinary experiences. Have studied all over the place, Paris, Australia, Scandinavia. Have meditated daily for 1.8 years now - chundi mantra. Recently, I started doing a bit shikantaza - will be interesting. Couple of days ago ordered Winn's Primordial Chikung video. I'll have a taste and see whether it goes back or (hopefully)not. Started looking into eastern philosophies 5 years ago along with other more esoteric traditions. Took a while before I got a good overview enough not to accept any nonsense. This is my stance now - not particularly thrilled by people arguing over stuff they haven't experienced. Why fight over something that can turn out untrue /partially true? So, off and practice instead of wasting too much time online. Mandrake - in discussions to come... Mandrake

@Cameron @Sean True, some people seem to think they can talk themselves into some spritual accomplishment! Hahahah! If it's possible, I'll teach my mother that - WHAM, instant enlightenment! Gradual for at least me. I really like buddhist thought, but as you (Sean) pointed out - the forums are sometimes hilarious. I have one I visit occassionally and there are some really good threads, but all these people who have too much freetime!? I just feel, since I left xianity 5 years ago (I study atheism from time to time - helps with exposing some nasty personal views) that you should run as hell from any dogma. The buddhist scriptures, IMO, has a lot of valuable stuff, but people seem to shut their eyes when they encounter the passage where Buddha warns against blind faith and tells everyone to personally verify everything. I don't have any belief in taoist immortals, not necessarily in buddhas either. If they pop up - nice. As to all the other stuff: if 1 happens, I'm open to that 2,3,4,5, can happen too, but no religion thanx! My relatives have been some quite amazing stuff - but it rests on you, allways. "we get nutty on TTB from time to time" eh.. understatement? Imagine someone not well versed in our rather odd practices pop in and see... "aneros device"... hmmm. @Jeremiah (cool , we share name!) People allready commented, but yes, your avatar rox! Love the blue color. The PCKung will arrive in a couple of weeks. What is your experience with it? Did you notice things from the beginning allready? Why do you keep doing it (if you do)? Lastly - a lot of people who don't post/have an account browse on these pages, browse the discussion here and benefit enormmously - so, keep them up!