dwai

Taiji does encourage peristalsis…

Why don't you do this as part of your practice? Stand in wuji, skin the qi down to the lower abdomen. Why do you need to take herbs to do this? Just make the proper postural alignments and stand with no other agenda, motivation, or impulse. Stand until you feel a pouring sensation flow down from your upper torso towards the lower belly. Let it keep pouring downward.

As someone who’s spent a lot of time on cultivating the subtle body and can demonstrate some realistic applications thereof, as well as many interesting experiences, I humbly disagree with your perspective on Neidan (and I’ve shared the same views on other threads as well). It is not as is often misunderstood as being something being created/birthed etc. it is about nondual/Self realization, but couched in symbolism and symbolic language.

To claim that the “Self” has any particular seat in a physical or subtle body is not accurate. It is often presented to be in the spiritual heart or 3rd eye or above the crown point but really they are just methods to help focus the mind. This is very common in esoteric traditions where contradictory/paradoxical things are taught based on maturity of the practitioner. The Self permeates everything. It doesn’t have any particular seat.

The root is in fear of death. Every position we hold establishes a layer of our identity. To be proven wrong is mistaken to be a blow to our self-identity, hence akin to a mini-death. That’s why people don’t like to lose and always try to win. If they can’t, they will resort to violence of one form or another.

There is a daoist sequence that I found very helpful. I was taught it as follows - “let it be”, “let it come”, “let it go”. It is done while holding a specific posture in dao gong. It works on making the individual “empty”. “Let it be” implies cultivating the state of mind in which whatever is, should be left as is. Don’t interfere. “Let it come” or “receive” implies whatever arises, let it come. “Let it go” implies let go of any attachments. Doing this over a period of time, certain things, like self judgement, guilt, etc were released. The mind and subtle energy/body work together/in tandem.

I would also save some electricity and turn off artificial lights in the bar. why shouldn’t everyone get to bask in effulgence emanating from said person?

Good to know that. Please go ahead and add them to the spiritual seekers' category. Every chance I get.

why is that? Anyone who doesn’t have interest in spirituality is an “ordinary” person (maybe better to say “non-spiritual person”). Those who are interested in exploring and practicing the multitude of spiritual traditions.

why? Ordinary people vs spiritual seekers. FWIW, I consider you and all who participate on TDB as spiritual seekers. come on now @ralis - don’t try misconstrue my words to “win” in what I consider to be a one-sided argument.

I usually don’t in a “normal” setting. It is usually wasted on ordinary people. It is best kept for those sincerely seeking, or suffering terribly and thereby looking for peace. I think we’ve explored that quite a bit. It is how it usually pans out, irrespective of how hard/less one tries. I don’t think this is the same - it might seem that way to you, but it is not as I see it. No one is proselytizing - just that many misconceptions and strawman arguments about nonduality are being dispelled. It might seem harsh or “hammer-like” at times — but they are necessary. Because, without proper understanding, what kind of meaningful exploration is possible?

Get well soon Apech!

I'm not a Buddhist and don't teach Buddhism I would think of it as an alternative perspective that one can choose to try out or not. In the spirit of open discussion here on a public forum dedicated to this kind of subject, it is natural to find this kind of discourse.

I wouldn't think of it as "hammering" but rather as "pointing to". In different ways, different examples, metaphors, allegories etc. This is exactly what you will find out being played out in the Upanishads etc as well. How much of this "forceful character" is perceived rather than intended or implied? If I want to go from Chicago to Florida, but instead of going south I go east, west or north, and the GPS keeps redirecting back towards Florida, is that "forceful"?

These things can’t be forced. I think we forget that this platform is not meant for teaching, but exchanging of ideas and views. Can that act as teaching? Maybe - depends on the individual.

A hypothetical scenario - imagine that you have to cut a branch on a tree that is very high above the ground. You climb the tree to the height where the branch is at. Would you rather perch on the branch you're cutting, or on another, more stable one, so you can chop down the branch you wanted to cut? Your "personalities" etc are the branch you want to chop down. The method of neti-neti immediately puts you in progressively more stable ground, from where you can clear up the obscurations one layer at a time. Why don't you give Drig Drishya Viveka a real chance? It might help you avoid unnecessary labor.

The difference seems to be in you thinking that a “new” vine grows in place of the old. Whereas I am suggesting that there never was an old and gnarly vine. It was always the “new” vine. To extrapolate a bit more, based on what you’ve shared vis-a-vis your preferred path - do you need to “know” the old structure to let it go/topple it? What some of us here are suggesting is that all you need to know is the point of this apparent union between the structure and the vine. Once you know it, simply rip the old structure off. That is precisely what Advaita Vedanta and other nondual traditions prescribe. * First separate your Self from all constructs (concepts and percepts) using neti-neti * second recognize that all concepts are percepts arise in you the Self * third, recognize that you are the space in which all duality appears and disappears - there is nothing to avoid or chase after. When you do that, it is the end of suffering.

Btw I was amused by the difference between bindi’s interpretation vs my own interpretation of her dream. In my mind the dream clearly is pointing to the non-dual Self. Just think about it. An old gnary vine/tree and a structure so closely intertwined that it is difficult to tell them apart. And yet, once the structure collapses, it turns out that the tree was always green and young (which could be nice interpreted as ageless). The toppling of the structure points to the conceptual framework that bindi relies on for support. The old and gnarly vine is her perceived self-identification with her mind. The green and youthful vine is her True Nature, awareness which was always there, but seemed to appear as a gnarly old vine (reflected consciousness in the mind) due to its dependence on the conceptual structures she relies on. Of course there might be details of bindi’s dream that she hasn’t told us about yet.

Once the TV screen is realized, does the movie end? (Modern times zen koan).

And yet everything changes at the same time. A great “relaxation” occurs — a big sigh of relief, a letting go of all positions. Many fall away immediately, some take a bit longer.

Not a part, an appearance in the nondual reality. Every thing is. Always. Think of any dream you’ve ever had. There is an entire universe that appears in it. Even you appear as a character in the dream. With a dream body, and a dream mind, doing dream things. Is there a separate dualistic “you” and a “dualistic universe” in your consciousness? Yes. It is very much dualistic. You interact with things, feel emotions, act, react. But all of it is happening in your consciousness alone. You forget that you are the dreamer, and are deeply engrossed in the dream universe, living your dream life, experiencing your dream experiences. Where is the dualistic dream “you” when you wake up? Now if you become lucid in this dream. You now know that you are actually a dreamer - this is the recognition. There was never a moment you were not that - that is like your nondual true nature. But you are also the dream character. That is your dualistic appearance in your nondual true nature.

Duality and nonduality are not mutually exclusive. Duality appears in the nondual reality. So what is the percentage of duality left in me? All of it. How much of it is nondual? all of it.

Everyone is already that - there is nothing to attain. What’s missing is the recognition in many. And yes — some of us have that recognition/realization. Fact is, it is paradoxical — when the recognition is missing, it seems implausible/absurd even. After the recognition it seems absurd and implausible that it was ever not there.

There IS only the Self - there is no half-way in or out. Only thing missing is the recognition of true nature as being that. Once recognition happens, it is irreversible.

The “via negativa” (Neti neti) way is the way. Whatever one is not, let it go. It is not easy (almost impossible) to get out of the labyrinth of personalities without learning to discern between what is an appearance and what is not.