宁

Oh, I know something about Mohist philosophy, I was wondering about the difference in method/training, between Mohist and Daoist. Of course, in general terms. Culture question. What's their flavour?

Moist? What does this mean, more precisely? Thanks!

Yep, used to ~ but I kinda discovered the link to it in my mind. IME, it's the influence of the people you're involved with. Especially if they're into religious stuff, or 'spiritual' stuff... Many such groups use strong psychological triggers like the above, for obvious reasons. IMO, if your practice leads you to that kind of dreams on a regular basis, you should consider that maybe it's not what you really need. N.

Culture is a double edged sword, isn't it. It can liberate and enslave you just as easily. You get edumacated and then need even more culture to break out of it's strong grip... In the end, did culture make people more happy? Apparently, the most simple cultures, the aborigenies, are the only people left on the planet that still focus on the original purpose of our human life: happiness. There was a documentary on Discovery Channel, about some aborigenies from Vanuatu coming to visit Great Britain, to deliver a message to a person from the Royal Family, don't remember who exactly, but apparently had some connections with that tribe. Anyway, they contemplated the Western society, and said that it's most striking feature is that people forgot that the purpose of existance is to be happy, and be happy now(, not in Heavens). They were envolved in many mundane activities, as normal Westerners. Couldn't help comparing them to Crocodile Dundee )

Which reminds me Lady, you should be more careful when sharing advice about the full lotus pose. I read one of your posts where you suggest that the better way to sit is to move the heels as close to the hips as possible. I tried that, and mind you, did it in a gradual manner, with the outcome that it hurt my left knee. Now it 'pops' everytime i want to get into the posture. I need breaks of two weeks up to a month, because sometimes it gets really unconfortable. Note that before that i had no problem whatsoever, and could sit in the lotus pose for up to an hour and a half. Actually i'm scolding myself for trusting internet sources without carefully considering the information provided. It sounded good in the beginning, however what it seems and what it really is proved to be two different things... Bottom line, from this experience I can say that maybe our bones and ourselves have a different way of understanding what 'gradually' means. Maybe to them improving your pose means to let it develop naturally. I wouldn't have done that if I knew what it would mean for me. So, just offering a second opinion (which, of course, you shouldn't trust, coming from the internet and all), trust your own judgement and experience (for lack of reliable sources, that is) good luck, 宁

me too. guess it's not that uncommon

yes it seems so, apparently even more recent developments of the energetic principles of that particular philosophy cc, cleargreen & comp have been poorely represented here, so i'm happy

IME this is true. I don't know what were the original reasons for banning the making of profit from exploitation of daoist tradition, but i can think of a few, also with regards to destiny (yuan fen) playing the major part in choosing who teaches who/what: (also it is something that i've found in past studies of many other traditions. usually the teacher met the student via a certain set of events - that usually influenced the further development of the teacher/student interaction.) - the student doesn't play the major role in choosing the master or the teaching, he's not a client this impedes the influence of expectations; many of which are responsible for wasting alot of time, from both the student's and the teacher's part. many of us are not meant to be involved into these kind of things, yet are stubbornly insisting, thereby neglecting other more important (and REAL) issues of their life/destiny - the master doesn't play the major role in choosing the student, he's not a businessman this impedes the corruption of the moral character, corruption of the teaching and corruption of the tradition. someone once said rough quote: 'once upon a time, the master was master, and the student was student. since payment became an integral part of their interaction, nowadays, the master is the student, and the student is the master' - meaning that the master has to rise to the student's expectations, after all, he paid.... L1

i would suggest a medical check-up, and professional advice, just for the heck of it. as a practical advice, you may try 1 hour long daily leisure walks. and shark cartilage supplements. good luck L1

of course. however you should not underestimate human stupidity, it can turn a very normal and functional practice into someting extremely hazardous.

living in china for a while now, and can attest these above are quite true. unfortunately until today noone came up with a plausible explanation, other than the 'take it or leave it' policy, which i consider unspiritual and businesslike - and not even that, in china everything is negotiable. this is even more sad as there are people out there teaching authentic real practice and not charge one dime. but alas, in china, in most cases, money is god, and god is money. btw, i know for a fact that the lodgings are of poor quality. however don't mind me, i'm just expressing my own dissapointments. and i already know enough about the chinese policy of teaching 'secrets' to the general public (even more so in the case of foreigners! actually it's well expressed in the book that made liping famous, but who cares to look), to figure out if this is or not worth the trouble. sorry, i'm not here to stirr up controversy, just my 0.2

Firstly I have to say that I agree with most if not all the critics regarding Jim's book. The writing style just hurt my eyes really bad in some places. It needs to be rewritten, with the help of a competent editor, imo. However I find it really annoying that noone sees the benefits of such information published in the West: - there you have the case of a man in his middle forties practicing a traditional and difficult method, and having an incredibly good results afterwards - the outline of the specific practice although it's not fully covered in the book you can at least have a refference point, together with Kosta's information, it can guide one to stay away from unreliable sources.. There's nothing more painful than wasting time with a 'practice' that leads nowhere.. better to go clubbing everyday if you want 'sensations'. - the practice of Mo Pai methods can indeed induce some side effects, be it from the intended lack of clear information from the teacher's part, or from the inability of the student to understand the method completely. To me these three issues make the book interesting and worth a read. Cheers L1

A little more than 100 years! Science per se is very young, really. It's fundamental methods have been universally established only during the last century. If science is capable to make sense out of mystic truths, to me that means only one thing: a rigurous and coherent approach is a must, in any field of research, be it physical or non-physical. But of course, Flower Power culture had it's role and purpose at the time - maybe it's high time we stepped forward, though.. Good news, YM!

i'd like to know more about these 1-2-3-4 initiations.. from the article i got that they are universal, not belonging only to a culture.. is that correct?

the fact that you yourself became a teacher, you were looked up to, became a model for other people, this is what really changed you, no amount of meditation can replace that, because life itself takes many more hours a day of your time than any of the practices you would ever do. your own merit is that you stood up to the challenge of being a model and turned into one, over time.

i also experimented with piracetam, was working a brainy job and studying chinese at the same time, as you may well imagine takes alot of mental energy - i never considered this type of energy until i started feeling depletion. piracetam boosted it up, no doubts or maybes about that , i never took more than 1,5 g a day though. i stopped it because i had a hard time trying to sleep consecutive days after that, although i still use it in emergency situations. if i could only bypass the problem of sleeplessness to get on topic, witch, i would like to know who else you helped on this forum with.. left hand path personal terapy? it would add on to my perspective about the various people i met here haha, already had some surprises.. me, i'd only like to glance at the tigress from a distance haha

It's early morning in Kaifeng, i can see some guys outside the building i live in, they're doing some sort of taiji routine.. The internet connection is very slow, i can access foreign websites only at improbable hours. Yes, Luoyang and the shaolin guys are on my list, as it is Xi'an, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Zhengzhou, Shanghai. Kaifeng is a 'little' town, only 4 mil people haha. The advantage is that you don't bump into non-chinese every day, and you get your chance to practice the language - which is why i am here for. The cities on the coast are more clean and modern, however, and should be a little less cultural shock to go to a big city firstly, and then travel around. I managed to upload some pics on FB, some of you are already friends there, you could check them out. It's too early to say if going to China it's best, if you want to study daoism.. I like the chinese medicine books though, i think their content is much richer than what i've seen in the west so far.

for starters, i don't have a clue about what exactly is taoist alchemy, i only heard some rumours about it...

a neurosurgeon needs personal training and long years of studying with an experienced (usually older) neurosurgeon, that's why i made the comparison. you can argue all you want, it's better for us to accept this situation as it is. it's a fact of life, just as birth love and death

enzymes cannot be stored, the same goes with bile and sperm. you can use it up with moderation, though. everything ends up one day, even the almighty universe.

I seal mine with duck tape every once in a while..

Will brain surgery go open source? Of course it can, but would i trust it?

I remember i was shocked the first time i saw a Discovery documentary about the sun, which included the assertion that the Earth will die too, one day, because of the Sun. It is estimated that only the large planets will survive in this solar system, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn maybe. The Sun will explode, but not before it will engulf most of the small planets around it. This solar system will look much like a deserted house in the years to come. A small white dwarf in it's center, and the lonely giants spinning around it silently... [As a side note, i've been interested about the so called Oort Cloud, the cloud of debris that encompasses the solar system, like a mantle of rock and ice asteroids.. the reason i'm interested in it is, i want to see if there is any symbolical or spiritual connection between this giant cloud, older than the solar system, and the 'dark worlds of the Qeliphot' as described by the (authentic) Qabbalah. i suspect it is, because i believe that everything spiritual has something physical as it's basis...] just the other days i've watched another Discovery astrophysics show that said it is very possible that in the near future our Galaxy, the Milky Way, will collide with the galaxy Andromeda.. yes, that's right, and although these events will happen in the very distant future, the very thought that what i once watched and loved will be no more, makes me irrationally sad... the two galaxies will join together into a cosmic dance, whose gravitational forces will pluck stars out from their orbits and throw them into the immensity of empty space.. then... the stars will evolve and die, and because of the lack of hidrogen, after thousands of millenia, the universe will become a darker and darker place, there will be fewer and fewer stars to ignite... even more, the dark matter will push the whole of the universe further apart, disintegrating it on a large scale, then on a smaller and smaller scale, galaxies, solar systems, planets, matter, atoms etcetera... we will be loong loong gone by then... and so it will end one day, our beautiful night sky will become pitch dark... the thought that the universe itself is going to die one day, how does this make you feel? physicist tell us that time exists simultaneously, and this very moment is connected with the birth of the universe, and with it's scheduled demise. the very fact that we are here, and now, connects us with these events. once awareness takes them into account, how does this change the way you look at things everyday?

stingy!... haha, i can 'forsee' you being reincarnated as a flea! see the look on your face, while you let a 'Darn!' out your sucking pipe, then jump away merrily to the nearest furry animal (which may happen to be some bikini, haha) btw, i 'believe' there maybe live animals living in outerspace, evolving in that environment. gosh, too much sciencefiction!

On the other hand, we seem to be living on subsequent time bombs: - the Earth and Solar System: E.T.E - a couple of million years - the Milky Way : E.T.Destruction - a couple of many more million years - the Universe itself: sooner or later (sooner if you ask tulku, but don't) it reminds me of strategy videogames, when you have to develop your society and progress during several stages, each stage being conditioned by some cataclysm or destruction force that was due at a certain time in the future. bottom line: - firstly we have to develop/evolve so that our Earth with her biodiversity still remains more or less intact - second, we have to develop faster than our Sun decays, so that we may find an alternative way of survival - after which, we have to survive the death of our mother galaxy... - then survive and surpass the death of the universe... Sounds like a plan to me! Each of these stages may mean a radical change in what we now know as humanity. I watched some other Discovery documentaries, about the future of technology and biotechnology... in the near future there will surely be a fusion of the biological and technological. It seems that the Damocles sword that will push us towards this will be the gradual decay of the human body due to the advance of civilization and technology. The next step will be the fusion of technology and consciousness - at least this was 'forseen' by some scientists. Soo... we have in our sight some of the evolutionary steps that we will take, only god knows in what form...