liminal_luke

I think we´re saying the same thing in two different ways.

What strikes me about the image is the delicate grip on the staff itself. Not the most comfortable way to hold what I assume to be a heavy metal staff! But this gesture -- index finger and thumb connected in a circle -- is almost a cliche among meditators. Just ask a seven year old to do her best imitation of a meditating yogi. I imagine her sitting in full lotus, loudly humming "ommmmm," with index finger and thumb touching exactly as positioned on that staff. It´s a terrible position for holding something heavy but a great position for subtlely attuning fine streams of internal energy.

It´s said that the eyes are the "windows of the soul" and eye-gazing is an effective way of merging energies. It seems likely to me that the two snakes represent two polarities (yin/yang, side channels, etc) and that by looking at each other they alchemically combine their energies into a unified neutral force (central channel in Taoism).

That´s what I keep telling the friendly women who keep calling me about supposed "past due notices."

...some more entertainingly than others.

Human beings are imperfect, even those responsible for creating and maintaining spiritual traditions. So it´s inevitable that cultural prejudices creep in to traditional systems. Elsewhere on the board someone is offering to teach a method for developing the lower dan tien and @Taomeow asked if he there were any modifications for female practitioners. For better or worse, I think her question reflects the standard way of looking at things in neigong circles: the "standard" practitioner is thought to be male and modes of practice appropriate for females are seen as deviations from this standard. There´s an injustice there. But I think it´s important to remember that any cultural prejudices embedded in teachings are about the teaching and not about the Tao. The teaching is only useful to the extent it helps an adept to embody the Tao. The goal is to connect with who we really are and who we really are is neither male nor female. Traditions are imperfect and there´s a time and place for pointing out their imperfections, but it would be unfortunate, in my opinion, if we get so distracted by what´s wrong that we miss our Original Spirit.

Maybe I´m missing something (like maybe the entire thrust of Chinese history in general and Taoist history in particular) but I can´t imagine any genuine spiritual tradition valuing Yang over Yin or vice versa. It´s my understanding that the two qualities only really exist in relation to each other. They give birth to each other. Inside the deepest yin there´s a spark of yang; inside the fiercest expression of yang there´s a spark of yin. How could a gazillion yin-yang key chains be wrong? I´d go so far as to say the truest part of yang is it´s yin aspect, the truest part of yin is it´s yang aspect. Yin and yang are intimately interwoven, inseparable. Alchemy happens when male and female aspects come together in loving embrace. It does not happen when the male aspect beats it´s chest like Tarzan and sends the female aspect to the kitchen to make soup. Modern society is pretty messed up about yin and yang. We´re doing so many things wrong and people are getting upset and expressing their upset in both functional and dysfunctional ways. Whole books can and are being written about the topic. But to feel yin and yang one has only to close ones eyes and direct attention to the body. Blocked and seemingly broken though we may be, yin and yang are both there. We belong to both of them equally and they to us.

Take care, Earl. Thanks for the update.

Creeping non-dualism, it´s a perrennial problem, especially in this heat. Or at least that´s what my dermatologist tells me.

So strange. It´s almost as if you know me, Nungali.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. Laura Lund said that at the beginning of her Zapchen training that if you asked her where in her body "she" was, she´d point to her head. I think this is the way it is for most of us. We identify with our heads. But she said that now she experiences herself as being more equally spread out throughout her body. That´s not my experience so I´m not sure what it means exactly. Perhaps, as you say, the palm has no awareness of it´s own. I¨m agnostic on this one pending further investigation.

Honestly, I´m seeing my palm. But that´s just because I´m messed up in the usual western way and identify myself too exclusively with what we call the "mind." There have been times, I´m not proud to say, when I´ve felt as if I´m not in my body at all. But of course I´ve always been embodied, whether or not I felt like it. Maybe someday if you ask me where I am, in what part of my physical self my awareness resides, I won´t point to my head. (To be accurate, it´s not that I don´t want to be in my head. It´s that I don´t want my head to unjustly claim some kind of predominance it doesn´t deserve. I don´t have internal organs -- I am my internal organs.)

I can´t speak to this question from personal experience, but my former Zapchen coach, Laura Lund, told me that it´s possible to ask your liver a question and get an answer back. Which leads me to think that maybe yes, realization can take place in the liver, kidneys, etc. I´m told that the Taoists view the various organs as having (or being?) spirits -- hun, po, etc. From a western medical perspective, it seems to me that researchers are increasingly discovering hitherto unknown connections between the vital organs and what we call the "mind" -- the gut-brain axis, cardioneurology, etc.

Can we really distinguish between mind and body? Perhaps they are two doors that open into the same chamber. That working on the mind effects what we call the body and vice versa. If work with the mind hasn´t yet transformed the body, there´s more mindwork to be done. If work with the body hasn´t yet transformed the mind, there´s more bodywork to be done. Or am I missing something?

When contemplating a course of action, consider the source. Does the impulse towards action spring from muddled emotions, fear or greed? Or does the potential action emerge out of a quiet, still, spacious connection with our larger Self? I think of this later category of action (or inaction) as Wu-Wei. The wisest actions are not performed so much by us as through us.

Years ago, I remember reading impassioned screeds on the forum about obscure (to me) philosophical differences between adherents of various eastern spiritual traditions. Perhaps that was the Buddha wars people are talking about? There was a lot of jargon I didn´t understand but the level of discord seemed silly to me at the time. Why not just sit and be aware of something -- or nothing in particular -- and be done with it? Given how forum discussion has evolved since, those discussions now seem almost saintly.

Thanks @dwai! I´ve never before been the subject of a ditty and can now check that off my bucketlist. @Yueya Thank you -- your words humble me. And your observation that I was feeling anguished over the coronavirus discussion is spot-on. Years ago I wrote an impassioned post about some aspect of gay rights. I don´t even remember exactly what I said anymore. The post received many likes and I felt good about it but @Spotless said it revealed "the bars of my prison." Although his comment offended me at the time, I´ve come to see the wisdom in it. Whenever we identify too strongly with an opinion -- any opinion -- there´s the danger of getting crusty and calcified -- or, as Spotless put it, imprisoned. It´s a subtle thing. I still believe some things need to be said strongly. But no matter how fiercely an idea is put forth, it can be taken lightly on the inside. That´s more easily said than done, of course. Most of us have to put in a lot of serious work before we´re able to stop taking things seriously. @steve recently reminded me that none of us are, in our deepest essence, a decision about vaccination. Touche! I´m stepping back from the more controversial newsy subjects we´ve been discussing lately to see if I can relearn that truth. I understand it intellectually but now I want to pattern it into my body so I get it deeply, from the inside out. Wish me luck!

Gosh so much positive feedback -- I should quit things more often! I appreciate my many friends here and the community we´ve built together. Yes, I will be sticking around though perhaps posting less.

@freeform How do you feel about the breath holding that was originally part of Max´s second level of Kunlun? Are you also concerned about the possibility of this being depleting? (Feel free to skip this question if you think it takes the thread in a direction it would be best not to go.)

Will Nuralshamal and Freeform ever find common ground? I wouldn´t hold my breath.

Robert Peng teaches something called Xi Breathing which involves breath holding after the exhale. There is some breath holding in "level 2" of Kunlun as Max used to teach it, although I´m not sure he still includes it in his system.

@steve Stunning!

@Yueya Oh, I love that song! And yes it does speak to me so thank you. I used to play it over and over. For clarity´s sake, I should say that I wasn´t physically abused. My dad was very rageful and scared me often but he didn´t physically beat me, like so many others have experienced. I think most people have suffered some kind of trauma in life, often very subtle, and sometimes not subtle at all. It´s natural to compare ourselves to others and ask who had it worse, but in general I don´t think that´s a useful question. The thing that I´ve always found difficult -- but also useful -- about spiritual practice of all kinds is that it brings me up against my pain. Meditation and qigong show me where I´m blocked. This is never pleasant but this awareness can be a gateway to an underlying freedom. We are all more than the bad things that have happened to us.

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My dad wanted a son who would stand up strong and be a man but his ragefulness taught me to submit. His ragefulness taught me how to scan a face for danger and talk in soothing tones. I learned how to use the appearance of weakness as a survival strategy, that I could calm my environment down by making myself small, that the only way to win the family game was to lose it. Spunkiness would get me punished. I´m 55 today but the scared little boy I once was is still very much with me. He´s with me when I allow injustice to go unchallenged or clamp down on righteous anger. He´s with me when I don´t groom myself properly or keep my apartment clean. Though I will always carry that scared little boy in my heart, I can no longer permit him to run my show. His way of approaching life no longer suits my purposes. Today I want to live big and bright, with purpose and intention and courage, to stand in the naked light of my own spirit and claim my right to life. Sorry kid. I love you but I can´t live in a tiny room boxed in by fears. Can you remember the Before Time? A time when you were overflowering with the power of your own juicy desires? My loyalty is to that Luke, a Luke who felt deserving, confident, present. The Before Time Luke still exists – I am certain of it. Sometimes, after a long meditation, I sense him whispering to me still.