Sloppy Zhang

Some spiritual traditions say that the soul leaves the body when asleep, so in that sense dreaming and astral travel are one and the same. A high level practitioner of Bardon's system said, however, that when the body sleeps the astral body (the part that "astral travels") only really displaced by a few inches. So it's not astral travel in the true sense, but it's not like nothing happens. But in a certain sense it also depends on your paradigm. For instances, B.K. Frantzis describes the subtle energy bodies as bodies that become more subtle (you have to go deeper to feel them), but also more expansive. So the qi body is within you but also extends out of you. A "dream world" that mostly consists of your thoughts and emotions would be within you, but to a certain extent be outside of you as well. Any "astral travel" would technically originate from inside you as well- but since those bodies are also significantly more expansive, you could think of it as "traveling", even though from a "meditative" viewpoint you are really just going "deeper and deeper", rather than a more "up and out" sort of direction. But that's just my take. I experiment a lot with lucid dreams, not so much with OBE's, and in fact, I actively try to avoid OBE topics, mostly because I want to do it as fresh as possible. If it really is possible to have a legitimate out of body experience, I shouldn't have to read about it BEFORE it happening to get all the experiences. I should be able to research about it AFTER it and find out about it. That's a bit of a tangent though...

I would say so, going from this quick rundown on Siddhasana:

ld4all.com is an excellent start to lucid dreaming from a non-religious related perspective. Here and there you see it written about how various cultures had various spiritual interpretations of dreams. I do a lot of lucid dream stuff. Interesting experiences. If anything it's fun, and I suggest everyone do it.

Can't speak on enlightenment, but I do know that your body posture affects many things- how efficiently your body can do stuff, your attitude, where you wind up focusing, and where your energy winds up flowing. Just stuff I have found through my own experimentation and observation, so I definitely think there might be something to it. We are humans who have bodies!

I've had experiences where I just can't look at peoples' faces, both in real life and in dreams. Never heard this, but it's quite interesting, thanks for posting.

I'm sure someone's gonna come in here and post some good stretches, and I don't know any good stretches anyway, so I'm just going to say this: Focus on actually relaxing the muscles and stuff, rather than trying to stretch. Because if you just stretch it will take you significantly longer. If you get the Qi Dao book it talks about it, and B.K. Frantzis talks about it here. Also helpful for lotus is to work on opening and moving from the kwa. This little bit was also in one of B.K. Frantzis' books, and it helped my lotus position tremendously. Everyone focuses on the knees and how you gotta stretch out the knees, but really, the kwa helps a lot. Even if you can moderately stretch, good kwa control will help a lot.

The dorm I live in is right next to a graveyard (I literally mean right next to, there is a sidewalk and a one car lane driveway, then the graves) and I don't really have any problems. Not to go against feng shui but... yeah.

durkhrod chogori, you make a lot of fabulous points and say a lot of fabulous things. I just want to say this though: There can be a difference in what we say we are doing, and what we are actually doing. I would hope that a spiritual practice that allows us to see what is real and what is illusory in the world would allow us to do so with our own behavior, otherwise I would reevaluate that practice.

I have started keeping my awareness in my dantien, and moving from my dantien, throughout the day. I have found that this really helps me energetically (keeping me grounded), emotionally (prevents from getting too stuck in the head), and physically (understanding how my body moves, especially helpful in understanding internal martial arts and keeping full body coordination).

I agree. To a certain extent, you must feed the vampire, and allow them to take energy. If you see someone acting in a manner that they usually do to draw attention, or you recognize a certain patter or behavior which you know is a downer to the forum- don't respond, simple as that. Also, it's helpful to recognize that, again, there are many different types of people here. Not all of us have the same goals, or think the same things are important (some people would rather get sex powers than attain enlightenment, they're perfectly fine with playing in the wheel of reincarnation or whatever you want to call it) So it helps to recognize who you are talking to as well, and tailor your responses (written or emotional) to the situation. Yes, durkhrod chogori, I don't want to seem like I'm targeting you (I know how this sounds already ) but since you have put it out there I'm going to say it up front: there are a lot of times in which you, yourself, act as an emotional vampire. There are occasions when you come into threads and pretty much say everyone participating in them are wasting their time, they aren't seeking a true goal, or something like that. I believe that falls under the category of not being helpful. If you see a thread which you think is pointless or not worth commenting.... then there's no need to leave a comment saying you don't want to comment the very absence of any comments indicates that you either don't care, or don't have anything to add. I also find it funny how you seem to get away with casually calling people out, almost insulting them, while not actually coming right out and saying anything. "I don't want to name any names.... but some people aren't acting the way they should be.... if that offends you it's not my fault, it's your ego's fault that you got offended. If you recognize that you have a problem and are willing to change (to something I think is better), I will help you (because I'm such a great person)".......... Maybe we should just change the insult policy to "it's your own fault if you are offended because you haven't gotten over your ego" And that is the extent of the energy that I will feed to this energy vampire thread (kind of ironic how a thread about stopping energy vampirism can actually start it )

I have a new category: People living in glass houses that throw rocks with false humility while blindfolded.

I never said it was gonna be easy Studying contemporary Chinese is enough to make you realize why literacy would be an issue, let alone classical language Still, if you want to do it, it can be done. There are people who can do it. If it's really important to you, then you will do it.

Learn the language. The difference between literal/figurative translation is nothing compared to the difference between original language and translated. Become fluent in a language, then buy a book written in that language, then get a book translated into another language you can read. You'll start to see how stuff was translated. You'll see why it was translated, realize it could have been translated a different way, but the original conveys a different meaning entirely. Sometimes you just can't avoid translating something in a poor way because there is not always a 1-to-1 equivalent for certain words or phrases. That said, if you are stuck reading translated copies, get as many translations as you can find, read as many as you can, and pick out the ones you like the best.

Don't feel hesitant to post ever You make some good points, and I agree. Some people reach a point where it just doesn't matter- it doesn't matter whether they get power or not, it doesn't matter if someone believes them or not, it doesn't matter if they are rich or poor. You reach a point where you are looking for something "else" that nobody seems to care about but what you feel matters more. I dunno what that is, and I can't say that I'm there yet, but there are a lot of things that I just don't feel are important anymore.... like beating someone in a discussion on the internet.

If I had, say, mind control powers, I'd be must less interested in getting a shot on tv and 1 million dollars from Randi than I would be in, say, I dunno, becoming the head of a 100 company, or becoming the president. I'd be using one million dollars to wipe my ass, not trying and prove myself to a bunch of nobodies.

(bold added by me) That's the thing though, look at the rules- it's not "anyone". To pass the preliminary qualifications, you have to be someone who is known to possess some sort of ability, that's gotta be your title. Sylvia Brown, for instance, would qualify the initial phase of the Randi Challenge because she is a known psychic (though she doesn't need to take the challenge to ) The rules are also set up so that both parties must agree to the set up, what that means is that if it looks like Randi is going to lose he can back out on the grounds of the experiment set-up. Basically, Randi has it set up so that he can never lose, even to a legitimate user. Furthermore, Randi also seems to have the sort of belief that if he can recreate it using non psychic means, that you are a fraud. As someone else on the net has astutely pointed out, we have pretty successfully recreated various things through film and media (which are fake), which (using Randi's logic) means that most of real life is also a fraud...... Yeah. Randi can be seen both ways, depending on what you want to see. I do agree though that people making a claim should prove it. But to Randi? Hmm.

Ah, funny wording on my part, sorry, sorry. Here's the link to the article: http://www.kunlunbliss.com/kan.html He was paralyzed somehow elsewhere, someone showed up in his room and told him the hold the ball posture. Kan held the position and was all better.

Documentation isn't the problem. ...... I wrote 4 different posts and they all wound up getting long and not really going anywhere. I agree that someone making a claim should be willing to go the whole 9 yards in validating their claim. It's the scientific process, which is really just common sense. If you make the claim, follow through. If you don't (or can't) want to follow through, don't make the claim.

The electric car comes to mind....... There are a multitude of reasons for why something can work but not be known about by a large number of people.

What did his doctors have to say about that, I wonder? Did they even care after he said no, or did they follow his progress? It also calls to mind the story about Kan from Kunlun who healed himself after apparently being paralyzed by staying in "hold the ball" posture while watching tv. He was on some known rugby team, and I would think that healing yourself from paralysis is newsworthy- or at least article worthy, not to mention something that would have some amount of people going, "hey, how did that happen?" Or do people think it's all just a misdiagnosis or a fluke?

Well I suppose I should throw in my own perspective, as "powers" was (and likely still is) a huge motivating factor for me to get to begin.... All my life I've been into stuff like Star Wars, that one is probably a large influence and well known by a lot of people. There is also a Japanese comic book series called Shaman King, and that's been another huge influence on my life and perspectives. So my whole life I've been open about "other stuff." It all started in earnest when I was probably about 16 or 17, and I picked up the book You Are Psychic, pretty cool, but a lot of use for mental constructs. I decided that I needed a clearer mind, so I turned to the practice of Zen. Then, somewhere down the line, I came across a guy named Wan Qi on youtube, who goes by the name yogameditation (well he actually has a lot of names, but anyway) he got me interested in manifestation. Now, on top of being a believer, I have always been a pretty rational minded skeptic. I've heard of stuff like confirmation bias, all the effects that can go into how you experience a situation, and I've always been really careful about controlling variables, trying to look at everything and not ignore stuff I didn't want to see, and not blow out of proportion the stuff I did see. On two separate occasions I tried manifestation and against all odds they worked. It was amazing. My friends noticed these things too, and made a lot of comments about how this stuff seem to come to me "out of the blue." I was astonished that this stuff worked, mostly because I didn't EXPECT it to work. The whole time I tried, I thought "this isn't going to work", and within minutes it worked. Then I started to think of karma, of my place in this universe, of the lives and events that I have changed. I had no way of knowing the consequences of my actions. I was scared, I guess. Yes, I felt bad because, in a way, I was being selfish. But in another way, I had no idea how I was affecting others. As much as I want to get stuff for myself, I also don't want to do anything in such a way that I will hurt someone. I wanted a method that I could use in which I'd be in complete control of all the forces and work, and be able to see all the strings to know whether I was pulling on one that could hurt someone. About the same time that I got introduced to Taoism by Wan Qi, was when I came here. At first I wanted to learn the microcosmic orbit, got all kinds of things. While reading a review of one of Yang Jwing Ming's books (an author whose works I have previously read on tai chi), someone mentioned Bruce's Energy Gates book as something to read before the MCO, the book got good reviews, and I got it and started to work with it. I have always been a careful person, that if I am going to do something I was going to do it the right way. I don't want to get power that is going to screw me over. I've always been a socially adjusted person who's been pretty comfortable in my body and in my own mind. I didn't want to jump into astral projection and all this stuff, so Bruce's "slow and steady" approach in the book seemed to work. But I became dissatisfied with it when I decided I wanted a method in which I'd "see all the strings". That's when I came across Franz Bardon's "Initiation Into Heremtics." I had never seen such a complete step by step guide to pretty much everything I have ever wanted. Everything I've wanted to do was explained, it was all out there. A lot of authors (Bruce included), allude to a lot of things, hint at a lot of things, but never really explain a lot of things (though I will say that with some reflection, thought, intuition, and experience you can figure out exactly how to do some stuff that is hinted at). The problem was Bardon's stuff didn't vibe with me. At all. That was really frustrating because it was so close to everything I had wanted, but it was inaccessible. It was like there was a door I wanted to go through but there was a fence in front of me, I could reach out and open the door and see inside but couldn't get through the fence. That's when I started to deal with health problems and mental problems. I started getting more obsessive compulsive, and I started feeling like crap a lot. I figured Bardon's stuff wasn't for me. But Bruce's stuff wasn't really getting me what I wanted. I bounced around and tried to find something else, tried psi for a while. Nothing was as complete as Bardon's stuff, but nothing felt as comfortable as Bruce's stuff. It was one or the other. In the end I settled with Bruce's stuff, the stuff that "felt right" even though I don't know where it'll take me. I still want powers, haven't given that up, but I don't want to hurt anyone, that's for sure. I don't want to do stuff that is going to "rock the boat" and screw up other peoples' lives just so I can get what I want. It would be really convenient if Bardon's stuff worked out for me, but I guess that's life

Yeah, occult powers aren't that great. Kind of like martial arts. Developing skill in martial arts will only make you boastful and prideful, will lead you to commit sins, you will abuse your powers and no matter what your good intentions are you will only hurt others and wind up going to hell because of your deeds. Wait...

For those of you who don't know, there is an excellent blog here taichimaster.com that has a lot of great articles, I suggest everyone check it out.

Thanks for the tips

Some people look at Daoism and say that, well, since good and bad are both natural processes, why should I be good? Then they go off and do all sorts of things, sometimes "bad" things, sometimes "irresponsible", then when they are called out on it say things like, "on you're just judging", "oh creation and destruction are both parts of the universe, I choose destruction". While I agree with the premise of the situation, that creation and destruction are both natural, and while I agree with the assertion that you should try to stay away from always trying to fit everything into a dualistic "good" and "bad", I still have a strong feeling that you should try and do "good" things, and try to avoid "bad" things. But I can't explain why (maybe I'm just too young ) Is it societal/cultural conditioning? Is it a natural instinct to "be nice"? Do others have a natural instinct to "be nice"? Or do some of them have a natural instinct to "be good"? I personally found that if you just think about it, it doesn't always pay off to "be bad", it bites you in the end, then again, there are situations in which "being bad" only helps you and there's really no downside, then again, there are situations where if you want to get something done, you have to "be bad", does that mean you shouldn't be wanting to do the things that you need to "be bad" to get done? I don't know