Cameron

water...fire on occasion. Know the Yang but keep to the Yin, right?

I think Lions are so cool. Power, presence, amazing eyes. But I like cats in general even though they are like the only thing I am allergic to. i love how cats move. How if they fall from a tall place they easily land on all fours without any harm. Snakes are pretty cool but I don't want to own one. I like them as s ymbol for going with the flow, kinf of like effortlessly moving wherever. Of course Dragons.

Check this guy out http://www.holylemon.com/CoolMartialArts.html

Yeah the taoist thing would be probably just leave nature alone to balance itself . But then probably alot of people think shark fin soup is tasty and then it becomes a business and human greed moves in and then it is probably not something people will stop. Sort of like the oil companies from what I understand they figured out how to make cars run off of electricity or solar power but too much money is at stake to just stop the flow of all those billion dollar oil cartels. Then you hear people say that none of it matters. Naure will just find another way to balance out. Funny what you said I was watching george carlin on Bill Maher's show on HBO last night and he was saying that humans are like the disease of planet Earth we have caused more destruction and pain on this planet then any other creature. This is pribably true but we have also probably caused the greatest joy and enlightenment for the planet also. Probably as long as there are some enlightened or atleast virtuous people to balance out the evil and greedy ones it will work out. But we really desperately need better leadership on our planet the people that run countries don't even resemble what a leader is supposed to be to me.

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker.

I am on a discussion list about yiquan. One of the Chinese guys sent me some pictures that I put up. I havent gotten too deeply into it but he also offers a correspondence course I beleive that you can check out at yiquando.com if you are interested. Enjoy.

I deleted the album. I am pretty sure Li Jiong would be cool with posting them but I never asked for permission to do so and he has all the pictures up on his site(yiquando.com). I will probably post some of the Yiquan discussions occasionally. I don't even know his actual credentials except he seems to be sort of a scholar/practitioner of Wang Xhiang Zhai.

Nice insights Y.

Also, does it blow anyone elses mind that Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for like hundreds of millions of years before humans even existed? The Megalodon's tooth is like the size of a human's arm!? We are just a recent addition to the story of planet earth and think we are so great. Dinosaurs owned this planet for hundreds of millions of years we don't even know what humans were doing over 10,000 years ago! There are some serious gaps to fill. Maybe it's just that the earth is so old it's hard to conceptualize it.

True, perhaps you could say mental clingning and attachment is the disease and greed is a symptom of the disease. Either way, excessive greediness is and always has been an issue for men on planet Earth . Probably women to for that matter. In his Taoism audio cassett course, Ken Cohen says the commandment 'Thou shalt not covet' is the most important of the 10 commandments. Perhaps that is the western equivelent to the eastern teachings. which I also find taught in Taoism.

One thing that really struck me when I met Ken Cohen last year was when he mentioned our government he said ' I beleive our government is presently being run by the worst terrorrists of all.' It kind of struck me because here is a guy probably known for being balanced, emotionally together etc. and he was very upset about our present leadership. He wasn't yelling or anything but just expressed a deep unhapiness of what 'these people' have done to 'our country'. I try to stay neutral so that I can see issues clearly but I can't say my practice makes me beleive any of the far fetched things you are mentioning. it probably just boils down to greed. the root of suffering that Shakyamuni Buddha talked about 2500 years ago.

Stop playing Sean you know vampires exist. Wasn't the movie Underword a documentary? The Red Cross as the symbol of the Knights Templar(are they masons or something?) . If I was the supreme ruler of the world I would disban all secret societies and force all nations to learn to get along with eachother. We would settle any disagreements with international grappling tournaments twice a year. Yup.

Good points. I was thinking maybe the best charity is to give your time and energy .Like helping some Special Olympics kids train for an event or feeding homeless people at a soup kitchen. More hands on stuff .I am pretty busy but might look into giving a day or 2 a month for something like this. One of my customers is the Chairman of Special Olympics in Az so maybe I will see about that.

One of the 24 rules of Qigong practice by Yang Jwing Ming . I will copy all 24 rules onto my journal. Regulate your Sexual Activity You should not have sexual relations at least 24 hours before or after practicing Chi Kung, especially martial or religious Chi Kung. The Essence-Chi conversion training is a very critical part of these practices, and if you practice Chi Kung soon after sex, you will harm your body significantly. Sex depletes your Chi and sperm, and the Chi level in the lower portion of your body is lower than normal. When you practice Chi Kung under these conditions, it is like doing heavy exercise right after sex. Furthermore, when your Chi level is abnormal, your feeling and sensing are also not accurate. Under these conditions, your Yi can be misled and its accuracy affected. You should wait until the Chi level regains it normal balance before your resume Chi Kung. Only then will the Essence-Chi conversion proceed normally and efficiently. One of the major purposes of Chi Kung is to increase the Essence Chi conversion and use this Chi to nourish your body. Once a man has built up a supply of Chi, having sex will only pass this Chi on to his partner. As a matter of fact, many Chi Kung masters insist that you should not have sex three days before and four days after practice. During sexual relations the female usually gains Chi while the male loses Chi during ejaculation. The woman should not practice Chi Kung after sex until her body has digested the Chi she has obtained from the man. There are certain Taoist Chi Kung techniques which teach men how not to lose Chi during sexual activity, and teach women how to receive Chi from the man and digest it. We will leave the discussion of this subject to Chi Kung masters who are qualified and experienced in it.

Matt, I have read you say several times that you have experienced the Tao using Internal Alchemy and then going beyong internal alchemy. If it interests you, I am sure people would enjoy it if you wrote an essay all about your experiences with the different practices and where they left off. Perhaps put it in the personal essays or create your own online cultivation journal. One of the drawbacks I have experienced from those in your position(Eric Yudelove also told me he had achieved Immortality) is there is alot of talk about "being on a higher level others can't understand" just "Trusting the Tao" or some other way of explaining which honestly comes off as interesting but not neccissarily helpful. Like when we had a chat in the chat room one night and I told you I do mostly Standing Meditation and you told me you don't really need Standing Meditation or anything when you merge with Tao. In any case, didn't mean to hijack the retention thread but this seems to be something you keep bringing up so if you care to ellaborate that would be interesting. If not, that's fine too.

However, I don't want to ignore your point that many people probably get into Taoism or qigong due to things like Chronic fatigue, weakness. What I think of mostly as depletion. Then, of course they need to rebuild there jing, practice qigong and take herbs and good food and give the body time to build the jing back up. But I still think if you would ask long time Qigong practitiners the primary reason why they don't ejaculate is probably becasue they are so senseitve to the energy loss.

I don't think you have a clear understanding at all. It is not that Taoists who are into retention or into meditation are weak. It is because they are into meditation or qigong in the first place that they can even feel that there is a loss. Young people ejaculate all over the place and don't feel a loss because A). These people don't cultivate in the first place and They don't really know what it means to have alot of qi. It is not that someone who does qigong and does retention is weak, on the contrary they are probably mostly very strong . I am far stonger than most people becasue of qigong and excercise so if I ejaculate I can FEEL THE LOSS. If I stopped doing Qigong today and never worried about it again I would have probably a normal level of energy and never feel a great loss from ejaculation. Actually, it's probably too late for me becasue I have felt Fullness of qi. Energy throbing up and down my channels so I couldn't just accept a 'normal' level of qi devleopment. I want to have a full supply of Qi as much as possible. Most advanced qigong people say once you develop in qigong retention is better not because you will lose more qi than an avergae, non pracitioner but ebcasue you become so SENSITIVE TO THE LOSS . People who don't do qigong or meditate have no clue they are losing any qi frome ejaculation and it doesn't matter anyway since they dont' know what having a full supply of qi feels like. Athletes have alot of eenrgy through excercise but it's not the same as qi develped through Qigong or meditation. I am talking about subtle energy. Anyway, fun topic that's good we can start to clarify these things.

damn

Steve Cotter is THE MAN. His posts are always awesome . He is also one of the only guys I know that does Qigong and is a legitamate MA badass. His Kettlebell workouts are sick. Definetly on my list of stuff to check out.

I was on the verge of ordering it yesterday but didn't. I am getting back into BJJ and doing CC and that is probably enough for now. Besides, I still have the Body flow videos sitting on my TV that I havent even gotten into yet .I honestly don't know that I will either I have sort of made an effort to getting into Scott's stuff but think it may be something for down the road. For now, Matt Furey and Dragondoor stuff is what I prefer. Prasara looks pretty advanced also.

BTW, I didn't mean to imply the first gentleman was lying or full of crap if that is his experience fine. beleive me, If I could ejaculate all day and night without worrying about the ramifications to my cultivation I would do so also!

Ok a couple things. To the guy who mentioned Ken Cohen, I met Ken last year and for a 55 year old guy he appeared to be in great shape to me . Now, he is not ripped and chiselded like Pavel Tsatsouline or Randy Couteur or anything like that but he had alot of vitality, a brightness in his eyes that showed his glowing health, and a lightness of heart and sense of humor that was almost childlike. Besides, he teaches QIGONG. Relaxing meditation and maybe a little Tai Chi . Yoga as a practice is much more physical than qigong. If Ken or other qigong teacher get to a state of radiant health through there practices who cares if they have a little bit of a belly? That is more cosmetic than healthful I can go to the gym and find you 20 guys who are ripped to the bone and muscualr with out anywhere near the vitality Cohen has. As far as retention. I have no doubt that retention is required to develop what you might call FULLNESS of Qi. Jing is the essential energy and foundation energy(the candle) if you don't build up alot of jing through retention how can your qi and shen develop? Besided this is no theory if I don't develop my Qi to a state of fullness(which i would define as building up your Qi through Qigong, Tonic herbs etc. that allows the 3 treasures to develop naturally) You are constantly cutting off the root of the tree . How can your tree grow without a root? I don't think complete retention is necissary(Unless perhaps you are a monk or something) but ejaculating 3 times a day without restraint? No. And it is not akin to a 90 lb guy telling a strong guy he can't lift a heavy weight . Please.

I was on the ropes thinking of ordering it but that has helped me decide not to. I will just do the deer excercise Ken Cohen teaches to keep that area in check. Thanks.

Also, to borrow Ron Teeguarden's explanation of the 3 treasures which I love, Jing is akin to a candle, qi to the flame and shen to the light produced. If we as men ejaculate several times a day without restraint as this gentleman suggests, this might be like taking a torch to the candle rather than letting it gently burn. Perhaps it is true that by torching the candle more light might be momentarily produced but this would severely hurt the LONGEVITY of the candle. Taoists figured out by not hurting ones jing but protecting it and taking care of one's body, this would allow a person to have great health and longevity and allow them to naturally develop the 3 treasures. Higher awareness Taoists call 'Shen' and this shen is the unconditional love and acceptance in our heart. It is our higher nature. It is our light. It is hard to judge one's health over a discussion board and I have no doubt there have been people that achieved levels of shen realization without necissarily practicing retention but that does not mean that that way is better or there health was not effected. Your flame may be burning brightly and alot of light may be realized but that may also mean you are burning up jing reserves. I remember when I used to do drugs as a stupid teenager and having all these so called higher experiences and mind blowing visualizations but then waking up feeling depleted and physicially drained. But perhaps this gentleman has tapped into the "Exemption clause" Douglas Wile was talking about.

In his chapter on sexuality in his book " The Way of Qigong" Ken Cohen states that serious qigong practitioners should practice retention and only ejaculate every so often(depending on your age and health). Excessive loss of jing through ejaculation makes it hard if not impossible to develop the other 2 of the 3 treasures. I think the way Ken says it is for optimul qi development ejaculate only every so often. However, and this is as big a however as I can think of, he then goes on to say " If ejaculation is immenent, instead of trying to inhibit the natural process, it is better to seek a harmonious exchange of energies with one's partner. This way no energy is lost. Rather, each individual becomes more whole:the man accumulates yin and the woman gathers yang. It is also important to remember what Wile calls the "exemption clause" in the Chinese sexual classics. The more the harmony and chemistry between the man and woman, the less need to be concerned about losing semen".