dwai

Admin
  • Content count

    8,286
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    70

Everything posted by dwai

  1. I'm not an analyzer but I would like to point out that the bagua video and the tai chi video are separated by many years (bagua one is older). In between that, I think Bruce underwent several accidents and broke his back and put on weight etc. From what i've heard, its almost a miracle that he is able to do tai chi again (and testament to the healing power of the internal arts). That said, one of my taiji brothers attended a seminar by Bruce at Chicago last year (or was it this year). The feeling he got was that Bruce does a lot of talking (down) at people. I've been influenced by Bruce's books initially in my tai chi training. However, if he indeed was condescending like what I've heard him being described as being, I don't think I'd enjoy taking direct lessons from him. That being said, who knows how our consciousness interprets someone else's personality. I know I've been wrong about people a few times and I'm pretty sure people have been wrong about me as well...
  2. I'll +1 that. Wu style is pretty effective. I know a few Wu stylists and they have very good game. It looks strange because Wu is taught and learnt in small frame. But as we know, we can practice taijiquan in medium, large and small frames, medium, low and high stances (and slow, medium or fast speeds as well).
  3. Defusing a thread with humor

    I'd rather people enjoy anything I posted with humor rather than read inanities by trolls
  4. Ignorance is not bliss

    The suffering is not real. It's a dream and we mistakenly consider the dream to be real
  5. Ignorance is not bliss

    Suffering in this samsara is hell
  6. Ignorance is not bliss

    Just to clarify. Knowledge (jnAna) in this case is referring to knowledge of the Self. This is not like phenomenal knowledge that we use in the regular world. Unfortunately syntax makes it difficult for us to articulate that which can only be alluded to in metaphors and similes
  7. Yes I've been practicing Temple style for about 15 years now, tai chi in general for about 17 yrs. Temple style is a complete Daoist system...not just Taijiquan.
  8. Long forms are nothing but a sequence of these single forms put together. I do practice long forms but usually at the end of my practice. The idea is to be able to continue the full-body integrated feeling and flow of energy from form to form, including through the transitions between forms. The cleansing develops short power and cold power. It also cleans the channels as the jin will quickly go out and return back to the body.
  9. Ignorance is not bliss

    This is a good description of a Sage
  10. Ignorance is not bliss

    This is but one translation/interpretation I like Master Liao's translation, I'd recommend you read Nine Nights with the Daoist Master to see his perspective. Hindu traditions don't actually contain cessation of the Self at all. Rather it focuses on cessation of identification with the false self (non-self). The non-self is the personality - phenomenon and objective. The Self is noumenon. What is being said in the DDJ about the sage choosing this or that is that the Sage does not rely on his ego/ego-mind to grasp at objects. Rather he is non-different from the Dao, and all his actions are the Dao's actions. He does not choose to be a "super-man", rather, he is not a person at all anymore, though appearances will deceive those who haven't let go of the false thinking -- of grasping at objects, clinging to this or that thing, irrespective of whether it is the idea of freedom to act how he pleases or material objects. He is Dao.
  11. Ignorance is not bliss

    In my humble understanding, what he is saying is that the sage becomes "empty". Therefore he/she is free to come and go as needed. But that is not their own "will". There is no doer-ship anymore. To the rest of the world (except other sages) he seems like the doer, because they identify his body and mind as his Self. But the sages know that neither the body nor mind are ultimately separate from the Dao; ie does not have an independent existence, and therefore it is the Dao that is doing through the sage.
  12. Ignorance is not bliss

    So you are dreaming that you are suffering and not knowing that you are dreaming makes the suffering "real". If you were to realize that it is only a dream, would you continue to suffer? In my experience, realizing the dream-like nature of our waking world really neutralizes the suffering. Sure body will continue to feel pain as long as it is there, but it is not suffering (as in anguish and torment). We create our own suffering through our misidentification.
  13. Ignorance is not bliss

    Here ignorance is only lack of knowledge of the True Self. It is the mistaken identification with the mind and body. Knowledge is the dispelling of the ignorance. It is one and the same as Lao Tzu's teachings of the Dao. This "knowing" is attained by giving up knowledge of objects and phenomenal things. It is actually not-doing. When one knows the Self, one doesn't do anymore because there is no doer. Only action happens as it is meant to happen...
  14. Heart Language

    Beautiful. Sri Sri Ravishankar expounds on this too -- https://www.artofliving.org/wisdom-q-a-8-may-2013-qa-2
  15. Ignorance is not bliss

    They are needed to live a life such that one may dispel avidya
  16. Ignorance is not bliss

    It is pointless to try to understand it. Just know it is and continue.
  17. The Perils of Meditation

    It's better for such people to do moving meditations like Taijiquan or Bagua or some flavor of Qigong.
  18. Maya

    I woke up at 3:30 AM this morning with a song playing in my head - "Maya maya"
  19. Tai Chi: long form vs short form

    When I am done with my single form workout, usually is 50-60 mins.
  20. Tai Chi: long form vs short form

    When it calls to you, you should answer
  21. Tai Chi: long form vs short form

    Do any mechanical process enough times and the mind will wander Imho, meditation is in being present irrespective of whether one is twiddling the thumbs or doing a long form...
  22. The Perils of Meditation

    People with psychological problems should not meditate. They should work with a mental-health professional to resolve their issues first.
  23. In my experience (and I have not read the threat mentioned in the OP), the facing of inner demons has to be the most challenging part of my practice. As stillness grows, the contents of the mind (conscious as well as subconscious rising upward) tend to do a serious number on most people. A few years into serious practice it happened to me, so much so that I wanted to stop practice and give up on meditation and taiji altogether. But I am grateful that I stuck with it. When I was not judging and feeling guilty about the contents of my mind, the stillness and emptiness (and the falling into deeper and deeper levels of it) was absolutely the antidote for the suffering. We all have to go through the process (maybe some don't and if so, congrats :)), and come to the conclusion that who we are is independent of the mind and the body. We have always been the Te wrapped in a personality. The personality is artificial. The Te (Shen) is real. Dissolve the personality and uncover the Te. Slowly. The transformations we undergo are also artificial, just the dropping away of the personality...