dwai

We can see our own past lives when a certain degree of freedom from conditioning happens. It is strange when it happens, because it's like watching something in a dream. Our problem is that we think we've become "smarter" because we use more technology. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We are grotesquely out of balance. We're like body builders who only do left bicep curls and nothing else. Our rational minds are like that left bicep. Disproportionally oversized and overwhelming all other aspects of our being

How interesting. My friend recently posted this -- http://www.mukti.world/2018/05/what-happens-after-death.html

Mostly what you wrote about taiji is what we consider “Park taiji”. Dance. the way I practice (been taught) is single form practice (dan tsou iinm). It is zhang zhuang, qigong/neigong rolled into one. He’s from the yang family, but my master and our grandmaster met him in person too. Our style pretty much does similar things. It is a powerful healing system. It works on the body and mind. Deep cathartic releases etc... taiji is a lifestyle thing imho. Little by little rewiring your mind, body, personality...cultivate Ziran. It’s not a short term fix modality, it is really life altering. Of course a good taiji person can do healing, pulling out junk, clearing the channels, putting good stuff in.

Why is qinna a requirement for classical taiji fajin? We can use Long power to bounce someone away 10-20 feet. Or use short power to stun them/break bones if needed. I understand. I used to think like that too...and those tools are long power, Short power and Cold power. Nothing else is needed. For control it is sticking (Na) power. For neutralizing, Hwa.

Who me? Never... Ive done hard style karate and aikido (specialize in joint locks), so qinna is not alien to me. In temple style I’ve asked my teachers many years ago about qinna, when I was more enamored by martial prowess. I was told “there’s no need for qinna”. I agree with that assessment. This video does a good job of showing why...pretty much for the same reasons. The more peaceful way to end a fight is to knock someone out. As one progresses to higher rungs of prowess, the presence itself can deter violent alterations. I have had no desire to destroy anyone’s joints (even though I know how to), so it’s a moot point imho. It’s more like we have to shed the baggage of fear-based approaches to grow spiritually. If we stay stuck in existential angst when there’s no need for it, our growth will be stymied at that level. This is of course my 2 cents worth

Not the way I practice Taiji. The Energy work is huge, albeit the stretching is very subtle. I discovered this interview recently and it talks about how Taijiquan is really meant to be practiced -- https://taiji-forum.com/tai-chi-taiji/tai-chi-interviews/shi-ming/ In it, the way Taiji for health works is explained (small aspect).

Taijiquan is a specific form of qigong. So same rules apply imho

I look at Jing, Qi and Shen from the perspective of Three Gunas of Yogic theory. Jing is Tamas (greater inertia), Qi is Rajas (Active) and Shen is Satva (Empty and tranquil). As we transform Jing to Qi to Shen we are actually going towards emptiness and tranquility/harmony. So negative patterns will need to be released/dissolved in order to cultivate more Shen. But the more the Shen becomes, the easier it will be to dissolve negative patterns of mentation. My 2 cents worth

This interview with Master Stone is very insightful as well, pertaining to emptiness -- https://taiji-forum.com/tai-chi-taiji/tai-chi-interviews/shi-ming/

http://www.mukti.world/2018/05/the-heart-heals-head.html

http://www.mukti.world/2018/05/the-absurd-truth-hiding-in-plain-sight.html?m=1

I too found it to help bring energy down from the Crown. Try doing it without touching your palms together. Get them as close to each other as you can without making contact

It is not inner door wise. Temple style doesn’t rely on or teach chin Na. It is about application of the jins only. Temple style is a very subtle art, and it’s main edict is to become empty. Empty out physical strength, the mind and personality. It’s main goal is spiritual development via martial skill, and not martial skill for the sake of martial skill. So chin Na happens to backfire on the applicator of it, against a good taiji player. But not because he/she can outmaneuver the chin Na person, but rather because the taiji person doesn’t operate from a physical level. My master told me that power development is a gate we have to walk through so we can boost spiritual efficacy. history wise, my research shows that temple style actually comes from the San Shi Qi style of taiji, as developed by Xu Xuanping

Awareness is like the ocean and consciousness (of objects) like its waves

I found that we can't sustainably live in both worlds. Maybe you will find differently. For me, going from a position of extreme skepticism, like Horatio, I too learnt, that there truly are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt up by the modern logical perspective

Guys...there is no white crane in Temple style as I have been taught it. Nothing against White Crane. I prefer to take the words of my teachers, whom I know and have practiced with for years, over the words of someone who's had no contact with the lineage in the past 38 years. Can any one point out what part of Temple Style "power generation" comes from White Crane? Who even knows how Temple Style power generation works? There is no Chin na in Temple style. Like Fabie pointed out in an earlier post, "Swallow and spit" is there in many martial arts.... Yes, in Taiji swallow and spit happen at the same time if you want. In the beginning stages you have to learn how to take in and then expel the incoming energy.

Consciousness that you refer to, is consciousness with objects. That is just the mind. Sure, the mind can stop functioning. That doesn't mean awareness is absent. For instance, people often challenge the non-dualist idea of awareness being the basis, in the form of - "well...you say awareness is all there is, but where is your awareness in deep sleep?" This is similar to your statement. The answer is - There is no absence of awareness in deep sleep, or when one is "unconscious". There is rather, awareness of absence. It is perfectly normal to be aware during deep sleep. I know a few folks here, myself included who are totally aware in deep sleep. There is no mind, but there is awareness.

This is found to be based on an incorrect assumption that your consciousness/awareness rises out of your body. It is the other way round actually -- your body appears in your awareness. The problem is the we have been brought up to believe that body comes first and then comes awareness, that it takes a lot of effort to see beyond that. It is really a matter of how we view these "changes". Usually we are resistant to changes that inflict pain or take away pleasure. There is resistance usually only when our attachments (or aversions) are challenged.

So do you belong to the "consciousness rises out of matter via a strange and happy accident of the universe" category of people?

What does anyone know about anything without awareness? By Awareness, I mean "that which makes knowing possible". It takes awareness to conceptualize this too. The universe is just a dream. Is our suffering controlled by the physics of the material universe? We suffer because we resist change. We stop suffering when we realize there is nothing to resist. Liberation is freedom from suffering. In a round about way, you are reinforcing the gist of the OP. There is no need for liberation, because no one was bound in the first place. The bondage is a misidentification.

Yes

That is a very dualistic mode of thinking. And it’s okay if you believe that. But it’s not the Truth being alluded to in this article.

Please share your thoughts

I'd prefer if the cosmology topics get split off into another thread. On second thoughts...cosmology plays a big part in the OP...so perhaps not However, wrt. Emptiness, it is important to understand what the difference between Daoist Wu and Shunyata is. I don't think they are different at all, but are different perspectives from different vantage points. Wu as Ontological nonbeing -- It is the opposite of "being", as in Being, where there is a sense of existence. It is Non-being, as in no sense of existence. Wu as personal experience - Emptiness, as I understand from my daoist practices, is a condition that is cultivated to release all bondages of personality, all egoistic colorations. It is a state of freedom from likes, dislikes, desires, nondesires, etc. It is a state of non-attachment to concepts and percepts. This leads to wu wei. Compare that with Buddhist Shūnyata, and we see the following -- Shūnyata the term is coined from the phrase Sva-Bhāva Shūnya, or empty of independent self-nature - This is an ontological aspect. However, in Buddhist meditation practices, there is also the personal emptiness experience, where there is similar relinquishment of personality-based colorations. Experiences rise and fall, but there is no egotistic identification with any doership, etc. Neither Daoism, nor Buddhism, or for that matter Hindu Advaitic traditions (Advaita Vedanta, or Kashmir Shaivism), consider emptiness to be a dead void space.

http://www.mukti.world/2018/04/dao-and-brahman-they-are-non-different.html