dwai

In the Hindu tradition we have four pillars of humanly attainments. Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. Dharma is the way of being in harmony with nature, and upholding the natural order of the universe. Artha is the pursuit of value — things that provide value (including wealth). Kama is the experience of the senses - including sexual fulfillment. Moksha is the attainment of liberation from the bondages of worldly life — namely craving and revulsion. When Artha and Kama are viewed with the context of dharma, they will help us attain moksha. Following dharma, the individual experiences the ups and downs of life, without any attachment or revulsion to what happens. Eventually when there arises perfect detachment, moksha is attained. The 8 winds are called the four thieves - kama, krodha, lobha and Moha. Here kama is Lust (for anything), Krodha is anger, lobha is greed (wanting beyond what is needed), and moha is delusion (being enthralled by transitory phenomena). By following dharma, when one participated in samsara in the fields of Artha and Kama, the four thieves cannot rob them of their peace of mind. And little by little the four thieves become completely powerless.

There are five types of prana Called the panca vayu. of these the one that I would call Qi that flows through the extraordinary meridians is prana vayu. Others have other functions, like running the mind, heart, excretion and so on.

Has to be next time. I’m flying back to Chicago now. I’ll reach out when I’m there next time

Thought you might enjoy this — I’m in LA currently, and had the good fortune of meditating in the Lake Shrine temple yesterday. It is a powerful place and perhaps one of the most powerful places I’ve visited in the US. Sitting there in the temple hall, I was pulled into a deep stillness along with expansive awareness. Little by little I merged with the temple and all the people there. And then after a while as I came out of the stillness I saw a gigantic form of Lahiri mahashay standing in the hall. Im certainly planning to visit again When I visit LA again

Dispassion is the cessation of rāga-dvésha or the duality of craving and avoidance. When and as we understand what we are, dispassion rises correspondingly. it is a sign of maturity for sure, but only if understood in the context I presented above. It is a consequence of letting go of mentations.

Hi Brian, First of all, so wonderful to see you back here again! I am honored and happy to see your note. I hope I won’t disappoint my fellow Dao bums with what I’ve written. Your support means a lot to me. Best, Dwai

The tongue touching the upper palate (right in the ridge where your tongue touches When you say “life”) results in splitting your energy into yin and yang. When you don’t have your tongue up, yin and yang are “mixed”. When you have your tongue up, yin and yang are separated. Some types of practices require the separation of substantial and insubstantial for cultivation exercises. Some don’t. I do some meditations with tongue down when I’m working on the mind aspect (letting the mind settle). I have the tongue up when I’m working on the energy aspect (taijiquan, neigong etc).

Subject object duality has to disappear in order to realize the oneness of all being. And once we are well settled in the fact that all being is one, we can simply let go of artificial separation of subject and object. What I’m referring to seems to be the same thing you’re describing.

Direct perception is a very interesting concept — in order to perceive one has to use the mind. If the mind is involved it is no longer direct. Mind and five senses interplay — that’s why Qi is felt as different things by different people. As someone who has synesthesia, the role of the mind and how it interprets and interplays with the five senses is only too clear to me There is another “direct cognition” or “knowing”, which is what ting to me is — but that is simply the result of experience (to call it intuition would be incorrect but somewhat close — but the words in the English language aren’t sufficient to express many eastern ideas). It transcends time and space — simply knowing the oneness with another ‘person’ one can know what’s going on at an energetic or even a mental level.

Over the summer, my brothers and I were outdoors practicing taiji and meditation. We got started talking about nonduality, and one of them looked like he was going to collapse with pain in his chest. it was the middle of a big park so it was going to be a while If we called an ambulance. So the remaining three of us started working on him. We used the taiji hook to triangulate the problem area, and started pulling what each of saw/sensed or felt as a dark blob of energy from there. After a few attempts it started trying to escape. It was looking to find a way to get out of his system and eventually it exited. We called for our teacher and he created a vortex into which it fell and disappeared. The interesting thing is, just as you mentioned, each of of us perceived it in a different way. Two of us saw it as a black blob, while another felt it like a staticky, icky energy!

What I’m suggesting is ting is a natural extension of listening. But it was interesting to learn that your system trains ting differently. In the system I’ve learnt, ting is developed by working with other people in push hands.

Beautiful

Occam’s razor can be used quite effectively to cut through bs that one will invariably have to deal with in spirituality. A general rule of thumb I found to be effective is that any spiritual teaching or system that overcomplicates it’s understanding or practice is less effective than another which employs less complexity. The materialist model of reality is the most complex of all models out there. This employs lifeless matter organizing itself into complex patterns which mysteriously come alive and produce consciousness. On the other hand the traditional Spiritual eastern models of reality almost all suggest that consciousness is the basis of the universe and matter merely appears and disappears in it. IMHO the eastern models are less complex and require less assumptions. On that basis, the materialist model is less likely to be ‘correct’. Would love to see more discussions on this topic

agreed... btw I read the “building blocks” you wrote as “building bollocks” and was chuckling under my breath and then re-read it correctly

The complexity in the very first premise of materialism trumps all other details. Eastern systems that are more complex in theory are inherently less plausible than those that aren’t imho.

In our system it stems from that Qi ball. The Qi ball can be condensed, made into various shapes and given different characteristics (jin). It can be used as a blunt instrument or a sharp cutting tool. Maybe for beginners, sword finger is a bit harder.

Ting is feeling (There isn’t any difference between feeling and listening) To listen is to know. To feel is to listen (or see or hear...it manifests in many ways)

A double edged sword — how does one train without feeling, how can one feel without trying. The problem is with trying too hard, or getting caught up in sensations. for the OP - imho, better than sword finger, is to generate what we call a taiji ball (energetic ball) between your palms — like you are holding a basketball or soccer ball between your palms, with the center of Palms aligned. Breath in, expand that ball, exhale, contract that ball. you have to be very soft in your movement and gentle in your intention. After a while you will feel the two palms push apart when squeezing the ball (like two like piles of a magnet push apart when brought too close). And when you expand you’ll feel a magnetic attraction between your palms (like pulling apart two like poles of a magnet).

Those of you who’ve got the book and read it, please do leave a note here and also amazon or goodreads If you can. Your support and help is much appreciated

I’m Honored! Hope you enjoy it

Thank you so much for your support! Please leave a comment on amazon if you like the book All Lahiris come from the same common ancestor - Lokenath Sharma of Kanyakubja. But that was almost 2000 years back... That said, I’m not from the same branch as Lahiri Mahashay

Here’s an interview about the book — http://www.thenewsnow.co.in/newsdet.aspx?q=97358

Between 12/21 and 12/25 the kindle ebook version will be on sale for 99 cents Happy winter holidays

Sometimes we just need to create some distance between the self and the mind. When/if you realize that you are neither your mind nor your body, you will be in a better position to observe and not constantly react. I'm not suggesting that you do (constantly react) -- but more as a generic statement which can be beneficial to most modern human beings. Some days, everything works like clockwork, and things naturally fall into place -- people, work, feelings, thoughts, emotions etc etc. Other days, nothing seems to go right. Most days are a mix of the two extremes. Similarly, with establishment of distance between Self (awareness) and mind, we will notice that just like everything else in the universe, in the mind too -- some days are 'good' while others are 'bad' (as observed). This is perhaps not what your OP was about, but I sense that this might be a useful reminder -- "Whatever you are able to observe, is not you". Just like the mind has good and bad days (or moments), the body, energy, etc etc all have good and bad days. Another observation you can make is with the correlation of the mind and energy. If you are feeling mentally overactive, your energy is agitated (and vice versa). If you are feeling energetically weakened, there is an effect on the mind. Again, whatever you can observe is not you. You are not the body, you are not the mind and not even the energies that animate the body. Fall backward still...deeper and deeper into your own being. From the perspective of your own being, body, mind, energy, emotions, etc all rise and fall -- forms and names appear and disappear constantly -- playing a game of hide and seek. Just remain as pure being...the mind will resist. Watch even that resistance, and it will settle down. Little by little, everything will settle...just be...do nothing.

It comes from not having a bonafide teacher imho. I won’t call it stupidity, just lack of knowledge. Most people are so scared about “energy” that they imprison themselves in dubious conceptual prisons about what they read or (misread) in someone else’s book. If there was no life force/energy/Qi/Prana already in play, we’d be dead So instead of being afraid of energy and energy work, we should rather approach it with a healthy dose of pragmatism and positivity, imho. avoidance is not the key, having a good strategy on how we can work with these energies is...