dwai

This popped up in my FB page today --

That is my experience as well. The mind seems to rise from the spiritual heart, which feels like it's located in the middle of the chest area. I think Brian explained it very nicely in another thread a while back (how the guru chakra and the spiritual heart forms a massive energetic/spiritual heart, like a flower in full bloom).

Words vary but the truth is the same When we let go and go real deep into our awareness, there is no memory of awareness, yet we know awareness is. All that we label and describe is the boundary between that which is knowable (by the senses and the mind) and the unknowable (by the senses and the mind). The nuance is so subtle and yet so simple that we often overlook it. That which we are looking for, can never be found using our senses and the mind. The senses and the mind are tools that go outward and grasp phenomena that rise and fall, as objects to the subject, which one is. Best Regards, Dwai

We were conceived, developed from a zygote into a baby in our mother's womb, and after nine months we entered this world, crying and screaming. Then we grew older, progressively, our bodies and minds changed. We say the bodies "aged" and the minds "matured". There is however one thing that didn't change. The feeling of "I". When we identify ourselves, we say "I am so and so" and then further "I am son or daughter of so and so" and then further more, "I live in such and such a place and belong to this or that group". Further we say "I am a doctor, an engineer, a teacher, and so on". It seems that our identity is hinged something other than our own self. We look at our body and say "This is my body". Our mind formulates thoughts and our body acts accordingly. But when we break all of that down, cut away all the material trappings of country, language, profession, property, religion, etc; it is "my mind, my body" that we come down to. Yet, we don't say "me mind, me body". The mind and the body belongs to me. Who is that me? The answer comes back - "I am". So tell me, you, this complex being of bones, flesh, blood and gray matter, grew from a zygote into what you are today (young person, middle-aged person, old person). Yet your "I" sense has remained unchanged, when you strip away all the "I am this, I am that" kind of thinking. All the cells in your body, even the cells in your brain, where you think your "consciousness" exists have died and rebuilt themselves entirely, over and over again. Yet you, the "I am", remains unchanged. How then can you say, that your consciousness is a function of your body, made of matter. Matter that is impermanent and ever changing... So ask yourselves this, my friends - "Who am I?" and listen for the answer.

My Sifu tells us that GDS guys were very powerful martially. And yes their full contact fights were brutal and lethal...they were not ineffective nuts...they were extremely dangerous and martially powerful nuts (most of them). Sifu tells me when he met his Sifu (our GM - ML ) for the first time, he was asked to fight him. He attacked and as his strike hit ML's body, he activated the Golden Bell and my sifu went flying several feet backwards, airborne! In those days not many people knew taiji as we know it now. It was just another form of Kungfu. My Sifu said he was sold immediately and started learning taiji from that point onward.

Good points. I didn't want to go there (spiritual level/mind level) because people who don't know about the "powers" think it's all "woo woo"...

Taijiquan is very potent and very powerful. We can't base it's martial viability on the failures of a self-proclaimed, dubious origins "master". We see it's power in ordinary interactions (just applying a short power punch through padding) with 0 distance between a fist and the body of the recipient leaves us gasping for breath. I don't know however, why professional taijiquan practitioners (i.e. masters who train students as a full time profession and those taijiquan artists who participate in world push hands and taiji competitions) should NOT participate in a contest such as this just to show that the system is still effective martially. The old Masters used to do so. Why not now? My Sifu used to be part of a kungfu organization called the Green Dragon Society in the 70s and they had many many fights (underground). When he left that group and started learning Taijiquan from the Grandmaster of our system, many people from GDS used to challenge him and his sifu. These guys would leave in ambulances or get knocked out with a single palm strike to the head etc. Taijiquan power and skills are legit. The problem is most people don't put in enough effort into it to get good at it. First thing to do in order to develop Taijiquan skills is let go of the idea of muscular strength. There are many factors involved in being a good taijiquan fighter. Being present, being empty, etc (all spiritual concepts) is what gives the mysterious power of Taijiquan. If people don't put in the time doing standing meditation, doing single form practice, doing push hands and san shou, it is just slow speed calisthenics and self-deluding ego-pandering...

Yo! Dath wathup!! (Quoting the great warrior scholar mike Tyson)

why stop at being that imagined subset? Let that imagination dissolve and disappear. Then what remains?

Why not "we are" then?

Were you asking me to debate something? What? I don't understand. Could you please explain what the issue is to me? IMHO, the topic of "True Self" or "Absolute Being" is beyond both what we would consider being or non-being. So if someone wants to call it "True Non-Self" or "Absolute Non-being", it is just a use of words that cannot represent that which is beyond all duality. I don't see any issues either way. I don't think the Buddha or Nagarjuna were wrong. Oh and the bit about "You" being used, is because this is something I posted to my friends on Facebook...not with the intention of talking down at anyone. I'm sorry if it came across that way...

And trying to do something before one is ready often leads us down the longer road. But then, who can say that the longer road wasn't what was needed to be ready for it to be the "right" time and place?

This is the direct method. To go straight to the source. The aim of this type of inquiry is to do the following -- make you analyze about your "being" and realize what you are NOT as you do this type of inquiry, as you get closer and closer to the source, the "I am", the mind begins to quieten down, and eventually by tracing every thought that arises back to the source, by responding to each thought that arises with a "who am I?", the mind becomes still. People use pranayama and other methods too...but those are indirect methods. Not everyone can do the "direct method" and for some people preparation is needed to be able to do the direct method of inquiry. For me personally, when I tried the direct method first, it didn't work. After a 15+ years of taiji, neigong and meditation, I was able to do this direct method.

I thought I noticed this Topic in one of the recent threads I was reading and participating in. Iinm it was posed as "is the Self self aware without objects?" And "can there be something called a pure subject, without any objects?" Rupert Spira, who's becoming quite a favorite of mine, explains thus --

Of course you should, until the limitations have been lifted. Then you won't need to ride a motorcycle anymore

I remember when someone had once picked up a rock to bash my head in, back in the bad old days...It makes your ability to fight a bit more limited and have to take a step or two back to figure out how to deal with such situations.

Your head is made up of consciousness, as is your body and everything around you.

Suffering is one of the primary causes for seeking. Seeking eventually leads to liberation.

The first guy is Chen Zhonghua who reaches the practical method of Chen taijiquan. He is legit.

The guy who was beaten, did the exact opposite of what a taiji person should do. He backpedaled and tried to maintain distance between the boxer and himself. He should have entered and got into push hands or grappling range. It's pointless talking about this guy because he is not really a taiji master...just some bs guy who got promoted in a tv show.

Oops misread your question It is everywhere and nowhere. It does not exist in either space or time