gendao

Page 22 of Foundations of Internal Alchemy mentions this "Southern Lineage" interpretation, as well as several others... In Opening the Dragon Gate, another possibility is introduced in which the dantian's location varies holographically with your latitude on the planet. Therefore, when at the equator - it would shift towards the level of the navel. But the further north you move, the further down on your body your dantian would drop. Since Daoism originated in Northern China - the dantian would be a bit below the navel at that latitude. Whereas in Southern China, it might be up closer to the navel (according to this postulate). The other factor is that traditionally, you only start off with an "empty" xiatian and have to actually "build" a dantian there. Which takes a long time and so you wouldn't likely sense anything there to begin with for a long while..

Well, go back a little further first... Why do you get angry in the first place? Again, it is usually because someone pushes your personal hot button - triggering your core unresolved issue in life. Case-in-point: When you get overemotional about something - the real problem always lies within YOU. In your case - you obviously have a complex concerning gender polarity. So, any remarks or events that press on that emotional trigger point will hurt (and anger you) the most. Of course, this is only life's wonderful way of forcing you to confront your karmic life lesson - via the "Law Of Attention" - where events (aka "sh*t") will manifest specifically to attract your due attention. So, instead of worrying about how to channel your anger - the better solution is to transcend that dilemna altogether and work on resolving the issue UNDERLYING your anger. Then, you won't get angry anymore to BEGIN WITH. That's the REAL solution. Anger is merely the symptom, not the root cause here. Again, this is all a journey of self-inquiry...

Well, usually the students also start out picking teachers who have already proven themselves at large to begin with. In fact, someone's reputed level or ability is usually what draws willing students to them to begin with, no?

Bingo! That was probably confirmation from "the universe" of how it works like that.. It spoke through that guy to you. I suspect that the "Law of Attraction" might actually be backwards. That life happens and events get orchestrated to ATTRACT our conscious attention to problem areas in our souls. There does often appear to be a nonrandom correlation here - but which is really the cart or the horse?? Clearly, I think this link rationalizing the LOA for a variety of outcomes - shows that it is actually hardly a sure bet, to say the least... Well, if you find yourself suffering from a repeating pattern in life or constantly focused on the same issues - then those are what need to be resolved within you to make that stop. You may not have direct control over these events - but you do have indirect control through your ability or inability to resolve such issues.. Resolve the issue and you will stop the pattern. This all seems to be based upon some hidden relationship or feedback loop between our conscious selves and "superconscious" selves or souls pulling the strings and pushing our buttons in life.

Physiologically, when does this transition actually occur? At first ejaculation? First time having actual sex? Puberty? Taoist Yoga says that "yang qi & jing" (kidney jing?) starts declining at age 16 in 8-year cycles...which would seem to imply around (or at the end of) puberty?

Interesting, how can you tell and why do you think he isn't? I would assume that he has experienced nonduality. Isn't this at least the first step or stage of enlightenment? And there was a long build-up to this awakening as he suffered for many, many years from depression prior to this. So, I would agree that the whole process itself is often anything but "instant."

Actually, what's clear from this thread is that this is an exceedingly complex problem set that men seem rather collectively unclear upon. Everyone here is recommending different approaches based upon their own unique perspectives and locales. However, there is not really an integral theory here that ties everything from evo-psych to inner game to outer game to energetic development to spiritual progress to soul lessons, etc. together, lol. Dude, it's all about your soul messing with your head to force you to evolve! Dude, it's all about being alpha! Dude, it's all about your looks, jawline and test level! Dude, it's all about self-gnosis and just being your self! Dude, it's all about your chakras, man! Dude, it's all about menstrual cycles! I don't think Non is the only one confused here... Maybe we could try reverse-engineering this from a bigger picture here. WTH is the point of relationships and mating??? On one end of the spectrum some may say to experiece "love"/karmic bonds/soul growth/etc. On the other end some may say brutally "soulless" Darwinistic survival of the species. So, that's quite a contrasting dichotomy there...lol. Question is - which is it?

No - you have to do a lot of "root cause analysis" self-inquiry to identify and then resolve the root of your suffering. I like Byron Katie's simplified commercial method as a good starting point for this. Obviously, you've already closed in a lot on it - in the area of gender polarity and balance. But you have to keep digging and zeroing in on exactly what YOUR issue with it is, so that you can resolve it. Karma and past lives may be involved - but I think this just means you haven't resolved an issue over lifetimes and so have to keep repeating the pattern until you do. The bottom line is that you must resolve your own issues, regardless of their origin. My life has been similar to yours and effilang's, apparently. Which is no coincidence either - as it seems our souls often use suffering to force us to seek spirituality and illness to force us to become healers, etc. Make us weak to force us to become strong (like many martial arts masters). You catching on yet? Life is a total MINDGAME. In fact, they should just call it "mindgame" instead of "life." Happiness in this world is but a mirage. It's more like a video game for our souls. "Positive thinking" by my conscious, egoic self for me is also a delusional effort. It's like the surfer trying to control the wave, instead of just trying to surf it. Like a fart in a hurricane. I'm becoming more of the opinion that it is our "superconscious" or souls that create and manipulate the overriding situations in our lives that our conscious selves then must deal with. I mean, I can't count the number of girls I've met in the last few years where things started out very promising...but they all suddenly just flaked out or circumstances intervened like there was some cosmic kawkblock. Along with various other events in my life.. Anyhow, I think how your egoic self reacts does make a difference indirectly at least - because then your "superconscious" will choose different scenarios based upon that. It's just that I don't think your ego has direct control and lacks executive decision-making authority. But this is all just speculation here...lol. However, I did just have a conversation with a lifelong spiritual adept the other week about all this - and we both agreed on how life's suffering is rooted in confronting portions of ourselves we fragged off because we didn't like them for some reason. So, a spiritual practice must include reintegration of all these cast-off pieces of ourselves for full SELF-ACCEPTANCE. On the bright side...he also mentioned an old "Japanese" saying that, "great confusion precedes great insight." So, I'd say you're getting warmer...

You are supposed to feel this way per your soul plan. A yin male is supposed to suffer in this world. Because he is relegated to slumming at the bottom on the sexual hierarchy (and much of the overall social hierarchy by extension) - below any other gender blend. Even a yang female doesn't get stigmatized like a weak male does and can still get laid at will. But a yin male is an out-caste at the bottom of the sexual pyramid scheme. So, you are feeling how someone in your position is "supposed" to feel. It's not a coincidence and there is nothing wrong with that. You are not alone. Many others in the same position felt the exact same way... The relevant question then is why you incarnated in this position??? Karma? Soul lesson? To force you to seek liberation from this worldly matrix? All of the above? I'm betting at some level, this external stimulus pushing your biggest hot button is designed to force you to resolve the deepest core issue in you. The part of yourself you rejected and projected onto others because you couldn't accept it as part of yourself. Because, maybe as important as nonduality in spiritual progress is FULL SELF-ACCEPTANCE - or reintegration/defragging your whole self. Which means you have to take and accept back EVERY single part of you that you ever fragmented off in this life, or any other.. These parts you have such a strong love/hate relationship with - are precisely the missing parts that must be reabsorbed in order to resolve such intense self-conflict. This issue is now staring you right in the face screaming, "Deal with me, love me, take me back...or I will keep tormenting your very soul until you do!"

As SZ said - dreams are very individuated. But based upon archetypes - tigers represent sexually-aggressive females - perhaps "yang women." Big psycho apes could represent macho bad boy thugs - perhaps very "yang men." These 2 groups have forged a strategic alliance in this country and tooled and oppressed "yin nice guys" to their benefit. Artificially exacerbated by feminist legislation and pop culture propaganda, this movement has reached an extreme yang state now. This imbalance thus threatens the very health of our society - like a blazing inferno with no water. Since TCM principles applied societally would threaten to douse this yang fire to alleviate the imbalance - these special interest groups are carefully guarding application of them for this purpose. Hence, anyone who dares question the status quo driven by their agenda gets immediately flamed. Yet still, you persist - in the face of all negative peer pressure to just give up & CONFORM. As far as the thread topic - I think that has a small effect - but will pale in comparison to the larger events and current situations in their life. Again, a lot of it is driven by Game Theory and more undefinable "chemistry."

Right, well my point was simply that Mother Teresa was a bad example of this. And that what she was actually a better example of is how much the mass media can distort a person in the mass consciousness - not how one can find tarnish on even the most sterling silver if they look hard enough.. Mother Teresa was never really that sterling to begin with. This just highlights how different a worldview someone spoonfed by the mass media can have from someone weaned off of it. For example, Amma blows Mother Teresa away in terms of humanitarian services - yet is nowhere near as publicized for it. I don't think I've ever seen her on TV - unlike Mother Teresa. Yet, here is an evacuation bridge and houses she helped build through her charities soon following a tsunami in this region. She helps build many (a truly staggering amount of) medical and civic projects and it seems all her works are very wisely distributed and judiciously allocated. But, I guess the difference is that she doesn't have the Catholic PR machine mass-promoting her like a religious Miley Cyrus..

So, if free electrons can help neutralize free radicals...could one also absorb them by hooking up to a Van de Graaff electrostatic generator? This is actually a very interesting topic - "electron medicine." From my understanding: Anion = negative ion = atom with more electrons than protons = electron donor = "free" electrons = antioxidant Cation = positive ion = atom with fewer electrons than protons = electron taker = free radical = oxidant This is why various health detoxing/purification devices are essentially negative ion generators: air purifiers, ionic foot baths, etc. Now, a Van de Graaff electrostatic generator essentially works like lightning. It strips electrons off of atoms - creating both free electrons and cations. Plasma then, is an extremely free radical substance.. Anyhow, you would have to connect to the lower roller on a Van de Graaff generator to get its free electrons (not the sphere which is positively charged). I think another interesting factor is the triboelectric scale. Where materials are more or less prone to give or receive electrons. Interestingly, human flesh is most prone to donating electrons and synthetic materials generally most prone to taking them. Human hands (usually too moist, though) Very positive Rabbit Fur Glass Human hair Nylon Wool Fur Lead Silk Aluminum Paper Cotton Steel Neutral Wood Amber Hard rubber Nickel, Copper Brass, Silver Gold, Platinum Polyester Styrene (Styrofoam) Saran Wrap Polyurethane Polyethylene (like Scotch Tape) Polypropylene Vinyl (PVC) Silicon Teflon Very negative So, now you know what happens when you wear a lot of plastic clothing and use plastic cookware! You are giving all your electrons away!!! Now, let's see how the more familiar pH scale also fits in here. Or IOW, acids are electron takers and bases are electron donors. Hence, an alkalizing diet is often recommended for general health and anti-aging. So, this all just boils down to electrons!!! Where I think in general - free electrons and negative ions (antioxidants) help fight against cellular degeneration. But positive ions (oxidants) can also be used selectively as a disinfectant to kill pathogens (with cellular stress as a possible side effect). (Although both extremely acidic or basic substances can actually do this.)

To hell with n00bs, lol. The entire pop Tao American market is already full of generalized books for them... What's missing from the English language market are good translations of classic neidan source texts for aspiring adepts. This is exactly the desperate void that Fabrizio is thankfully filling now. I recently ordered "Foundations of Internal Alchemy" and "Awakening to Reality" - and have been very duly impressed. Unlike many other translators - Fabrizio includes all the original passages in Chinese, lots of pinyin for key terms and also tries to explain all the meanings based upon his overall ken of the subject (that extends beyond just each single text). Now, since many of these neidan texts are encoded like Nostradamus prophecies, there's actually a double translation required to really decipher the inferred meanings here. So, including all these various angles is key to triangulating and clarifying the original intent. (Still not really possible without the oral transmission...but every bit helps!) Anyhow, I'd love to see Fabrizio translate all the neidan classics, mijue from powerful lineages and books by select modern neidan masters with his very comprehensive, holistic approach! The bar has just been raised!

Points taken - I have no problem only taking whatever is useful from any person, no matter how flawed (who's not?). Cool, here is his calendar of events. Looks like most of his programs are regularly set in LA, with a few out in some other places. Would definitely be VERY cool to meet you too if I happen to be able to make it out there! The June 24-26 Retreat in Kripalu, Stockbridge, MA sounds interesting though since it's a full 3 days...hm. Wow, what's up with the exorbitant room rates there, though? $95/night for a DORM room with a HALL bath??? I can get a dorm room with private bath in China for $9 USD or a hotel room here for less!

Chinese have traditionally walked barefoot inside their homes for eons now. And masters stood in zhan zhuang outside for hours at a time. Other Americans thought these customs were totally bizarre. But now, they are finally coming full-circle and making them sound like the greatest discovery since sliced bread, lol. Anyhow, the interesting thing is that basically, unwanted oxidation is caused by an electron shortage. So, more electrons = better health?

Well, Chinese scientists are far more agnostic in general about spiritual and paranormal phenomena like various theories on the origin of life, UFOs, etc. because they have no real vested interest in them either way. So, they're a lot more open-minded and free-thinking on these topics. Whereas in the West, everything is very heavily polarized one way or the other by Christian Fundy ideology. The whole "Christian" Creationism vs. "scientific" evolution debate is thus essentially just a proxy for Deism vs. atheism. IOW, what people are really arguing about here is whether there IS or is NOT a "God." Of course, that is often an irrational emotional belief to begin with - which the person then tries to rationalize through his religious or scientific position chosen out of confirmation bias. IOW, people don't believe in "God" because they became Christians - they became Christian because they already believed in "God." And people didn't become atheists because they became scientific - they became scientific because they were already atheist.

"Ram Dass" describes his brief encounter with Muktananda in his fantastic new book, "Be Love Now." In it, he got the impression that Muktananda was very powerful - but had chosen the path of power over the path of love. Which he believed his own satguru, Shri Neem Karoli "Maharaj-ji" Baba, had chosen instead. This tends to square up with various rumored accounts of Muktananda's habitual indiscretions. Not to totally discredit him - just noting that while he had accomplished a lot, he still had some work left to do. I wish I could have met either guru - and would love to meet Mark Griffin too! So, are his sadhanas open-invite to people who have to fly in, or what? How does he handle out-of-towners? Does he have special workshops for those? I'd really like to experience his transmission in person as well!

Goes to show what? How the press can deify or demonize (extremely polarize) anyone beyond their more balanced reality? And then anyone who dares question such heavily-polarized portrayals automatically gets dismissed as a "hater" - instead of any legitimate questions getting taken seriously? There have always been some very realistic criticisms of Mother Teresa. It's just that they never gained much airtime because she had already been crowned an untouchable sacred cash cow and household brand name by the popular press. I'm not saying she didn't do any good - but a fair analysis of her life and behavior will reveal that she never lived up to her hype, is all. Namely, that she cleverly worked her image as a penniless Catholic nun (even after accumulating $50 million in just her NY bank account) in order to amass immense sums of money. Where did this money go? I don't know - it was never audited? Perhaps the Vatican got a large kickback - hence they actively promoted and sanctified her larger-than-life public persona? And this money apparently didn't go to building any new hospitals or improving medical care. She basically just built many primitive homes for the dying - but allegedly didn't do much to keep any of them from dying. Although when she herself experienced health problems - she only went to the finest clinics in the West. In addition, she loyally toed the Catholic line about only using natural birth control - which some felt didn't address one of the root problems of poverty in Calcutta - overpopulation. Christopher Hitchens On Mother Theresa (Interview) Christopher Hitchens's criticisms summarized Now, I don't think any of this makes her a "horrible" person - just nowhere near the "angelic saint" that the Catholic Church and others self-promoted her as. But original point being - you don't have to look very hard in this (and some other media-driven) cases - you just have to LOOK yourself, period.

I agree. I've believed this for ~10-15 years now.. Remember, the answer is not found at the level of the false dichotomy. You have to transcend the paradox in order to solve it. In this case, the solution to the Creationism/evolution debate is that it was actually a combination of both.

Cool, thanks! It's always interesting to hear how people actually made their own breakthroughs - because they were often through less-methodical means (sometimes even somewhat spontaneously) than the more systematic ones they later may be teaching. Anyhow, it sounds like your various exercises did nonetheless focus a lot on the spinal column, even if it wasn't traditional "kundalini yoga." Perhaps of greater significance is the intense period of practice you performed them in (4-6-8 hrs daily for up to a year). This amount of daily practice seems to form the critical mass needed to make big internal breakthroughs..

The answer is simple. Humans are the result of both natural evolution and genetic engineering ("creationism") by alien "gods." Essentially, aliens took Homo erectus and spliced in a few hundred of their genes or so.. Thus, creating Homo sapiens and artificially "accelerating" evolution by millions of years. We were basically created as a "slave race" to mine gold for our overlords.

Nonsense. Obama already declared the cleanup effort successful months ago back in August, 2010! I'm sure if there were lingering problems, he'd be publically addressing them! Quit watching those conspiracy vids!