Creation

fiveelementtao, Thank you for sharing the story about Odin's view of Jesus. Wow. I would be interested to hear any more you have to say about that. When I first encountered your Teutonic Shamanism stuff, I remember thinking something like "It would be great if that lineage and the Christian lineage could coexist", and I got a strong "sense" from the Teutonic lineage saying "We don't get along with the Christian lineage!" I actually started crying because it was so upsetting that spiritual lineages were in conflict like this. I figured it was because of the historical persecutions, but maybe it is something even deeper, transcending the actions of any ordinary mortals? What a thought. But the universe is a very big place. I wonder if Odin has actually met Jesus? It's one thing to criticize a person based on what you have heard of them, and/or on those associated with them, but without having met the person. It's much different to say such things if you have actually met the person. I suspect that this has an analouge for immortal/archetypal beings as well. The universe is a very big place...

Hmmmm.... I phrased things in terms of "the environment" because I cannot personally perceive the Earth as an entity. If you want to know what I believe, I do happen to believe that the earth is an entity. You express a stronger opinion than "there is a much better way to handle sick qi than by taking it to the Earth". Namely, "IMO we have no right to make Earth swallow black distorted sick energy." Reflecting on all this, I have no clue what happens to sick qi various techniques of both self-healing and healing others, whether Stillness-Movement, or anything else. I am mainly trying to understand just what type of practices you are accusing of "making the earth swallow black distorted sick energy" and secondarily why this does not happen for the beginner in stillness movement, seeing as if someone cannot transmute sick qi into light it seems like some would end up cycling back into the earth.

Ya Mu, When energy is shaken out of the body from stillness-movement practice, where does it go? Does it pollute the environment? When a healer that can't yet transmute sick qi into light pushes the sick qi out of a patient's body, does it pollute the environment? You criticize other systems so harshly for polluting the environment; I would like to know how it is different for the beginner in the stillness-movement system.

Do you mean the healer is flushing their energy downward as they project, or that they cause their patient's energy to flush downward (or both)?

I would like to quote a quote from that article which I think is very astute: So I the issue is not the physical realness of time, so much as the perception of time. I suspect that this is related to what Mila was talking about. That upon shifting to a different plane one finds that the perception of time is changed. For me, right now, the question is how to get myself healed on this plane, yet it seems that perhaps shifting planes could be relevant to that process.

What a sobering reflection. I know I am guilty of this type of thing.

Ah, this is one of those things that you don't see talked nearly as much as it deserves: a "substance" which is a fusion of jing, qi, and shen. Actually, I haven't seen this discussed on any internet forum ever. Yet I recall at least one of the alchemical classics Thomas Cleary translated defining the dan "elixer" as such a thing. Tigle "drops" in Vajrayana are things of this sort, no? I once read that the use of the term "dan tian", meaning field of cinnabar (a red mineral), comes from the red color of the innermost chamber that the thing being named. This reminds me of the red drop at the navel that Buddhist Tantras emphasize so much. But the devil in all these things is in the details. It is simple enough to see two things seem analogous, but upon digging deeper there are so many details that are different. In the above case, one notices that very rarely do modern discussions of dan tian mention this red color. The only practitioner I have seen mention this is Hagar from this forum. The dan tian is a big complicated multi-function thing, and most schools don't talk about that original "red" aspect of it anymore. Why is that? I think that the only way the science of cultivation can progress is by sorting all these differing details. What, if anything, is the use of progressing the science of cultivation is a different question.

Hi Condorfious. People would be in a better place to answer your questions if you were more specific about what you want. You mentioned wanting "benefits" and developing "skills". What benefits and skills? And what interests you about sexual practices? Is it to increase pleasure, performance, intimacy with your partner, or something else?

Hi everyone. I know Tenzin Wangyal has some fans on this board, myself included. If you haven't heard of him, he is a teacher of Bon, the pre-Buddhist religion of Tibet. I wanted to let everyone know that he will be streaming a teaching/guided sound healing meditation this Sunday, apparently with an emphasis on overcoming obstacles. And hopefully Lungtok Tenpai Nyima, the present head of the Bon community, will be present also. https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=219235751431345 https://www.ligmincha.org/retreats/live-internet-teachings-2010-series.html I am excited about this opportunity. I caught the live broadcast of a talk he gave last night and really enjoyed it. If this looks interesting to anyone here, I encourage you to tune in.

I enjoyed watching these. Thanks for posting. The third video especially had some real gems in it.

This thread reminded me of that very same song. Arya-Avalokiteshvaro Bodhisattvo gambhiram prajna-paramita-charyam charamano... Having nothing to attain, bodhisattvas live the perfection of wisdom with no hindrance in the mind. No hindrance, thus no fear. Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Swaha!

Seems to be associated with Jeff Primack's organization. http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/8757-jeff-primack/

When you received Shatktipat from those in Nityananda's lineage, what it always this "bottom up, make you go boom" apprach? Because in my (admittedly very limited) experience of getting shaktipat from Mark Griffin, it was very much a "top down" approach. In fact, he spoke a lot about that, working with the crown and the planes above the crown, bringing all of that down through sushumna, especially crown to heart connection. He did study with Kalu Rinpoche and Chogyam Trungpa after Muktananda passed on, though. mantis, I can't personally speak about the most efficient way, but you might find this interesting: http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/18071-cobra-breath-kundalini-practices/

Yes that is the question. The screaming at the top of my lungs while doing Gift of the Tao that I mentioned the other day was very much a manifestation of the voice of "Opposition". Opposition to letting go, to going with the flow, which would mean letting my guard down, connecting to a terrifying and threatening universe. Every time something starts seeming like it will actually be beneficial to me spiritually, this part of me will begin resisting it, and it is very very powerful. Does anyone have any advice to give on how to deal with this intense opposition?

Hi Trunk. Tao Semko is probably best known around here as being the webmaster for and the other of the two original instructors for KAP distance learning. He and Santi trained together for many years. Unlike Santi, he still teaches more traditional tantric yoga sadhanas in addition to KAP. I don't have any of Tao's products but he used to offer free weekly classes for KAP graduates which I participated in, and I was very impressed by his knowledge, experience, and skill, and by his teaching style. He has been a pioneer in teaching esoteric arts using the internet, first through DVD correspondence courses (which is what you linked to), then through Skype and Ustream (like KAP distance learning), and most recently, deciding that technology allowed it, he launched The Online College of Tantric Yogas. About Nauli, it is standard technique of traditional hatha yoga. Here are some free instructions: http://aypsite.org/129.html http://www.yoga-age.com/asanas/nauli.html

The first thing I thought when I saw the title of this thread was "nauli kriya".

In electromagnetism, there is charge, and the flow of charge (current). Charge is the source for the electric field, and current is the source of a magnetic field. But according to the principle of relativity, current will depend on the reference frame, and thus so will "electric" and "magnetic", but you can combine charge and current into an "invariant" quantity called the charge-current and the electric and magnetic fields into the electromagnetic field and everything makes more sense. The relation of Newton's theory of gravity to general relativity is sort of like the relationship of Coulomb's law (describing only how charge produces an electric field) to Maxwell's equations (which describes how charge-current produces an electromagnetic field). What you have is that for continuous matter like a fluid or gas (as opposed to an idealized particle), there is energy and momentum associated with all parts, and the flux of energy and momentum between these parts. But in relativity just what is energy, what is momentum, and what is flux depends on your frame of reference, so to have a full relativistic theory of gravity you can't just say that mass generates gravity. But they all combine into an "invariant quantity" called the stress-energy tensor, and it is this quantity that is the "source" of the gravitational field in general relativity. When you choose a reference frame and break this quantity into pieces, you find energy, momentum, and the various stresses coming from the flux of momentum through space-time. These stresses coming from momentum flux are what I meant by "pressure". And they do, in fact, correspond to Pascal's notion of pressure as force per unit area.

Well, a little hijacking isn't so bad. Here is a podcast where Mark Griffin talks about "What is Shaktipat", if you are interested. http://www.hardlight.org/podcast/070726whatisShaktipat.mp3 The most general definition of Shaktipat in my jargon is the transmission of the energy associated with spiritual awakening. Which is distinguished from energy associated with healing, and all the other types of energy projections/transmission that can occur. When Tao taught the the KAP review class about Shaktipat, he said that anyone who has awakened kundalini can intend to send kundalini energy to someone else. But I think that traditionally, Shaktipat specifically has a quality of attuning someone to higher states of consciousness and/or higher forms of energy, that the recipient will consequently have access to. So the question is, just what energies and states of consciousness are being transmitted? That depends very crucially on the development of the transmitter. Just my take on things that I don't really understand.

Nevermind

Just yesterday, I started doing the first move of gift of the tao and found myself screaming "NO!" at the top of my lungs. I probably scared the neighbors. That kind of thing is not unusual for me. Well shit Michael, that is discouraging.

I suspect that this is not really about "shaktipat" (what even is that ), but is a result of what exactly was transmitted and how your energy body processed what was received. If someone sends you orgasmic/blissful energy to your lower chakras and your energy body expresses that by putting it "out in the open", of course women will be sexually interested in you. There are other kinds of shaktipat though, and other potential expressions of it in the receivers body.

Would anyone else care to share their thoughts on the importance of the preparatory exercises?

In your experience, what things besides neigong might help this? And what do you recommend a person do if they are feeling so foggy that they can't effectively do stillness movement practice?

Ah, this is exactly the right question to be asking! So, according to general relativity, 2 things contribute to gravity: energy and pressure. Now, relativity tells us that mass is a form of energy, a very very concentrated form. So mass is the dominant contribution. But in a situation a ton of energy and no mass, there will be non-negligible gravity produced. Pressure contributes even less than pure energy to gravity, but curiously it has a negative contribution. So in other words, besides mass, both pure energy and pressure have a small contribution to gravity. But generally they don't contribute very much. But wait, there is a hidden contribution here. What is the energy content of empty space? As in no matter, no light, a total vacuum. It should be zero right? But technically the mathematics of general relativity allows you to plug in any number, positive, negative, or zero, as the energy of empty space. This number is called the "cosmological constant". If it is positive, the universe will tend to contract even if empty, if it is zero it will be static if empty, and if it is negative the universe will tend to expand faster and faster even if empty. There is no a priori reason to pick any value; it is something to be determined by experiment. The moral of the story is that dark energy behaves like a negative cosmological constant: as though empty space has the gravitational properties of negative energy content. The other model of dark energy is some actual new type of energy, but it would have to behave basically like an omnipresent "energy of empty space".

Hi unmike. I do not buy this reasoning. Electrostatic repulsion also obeys an inverse square law. In other words, if you bring 2 protons twice as close, both the gravitational attraction and the electrostatic repulsion will quadruple. From this you can see that if the gravitational attraction is weaker than electrostatic repulsion at a long distance, it will remain weaker no matter how close you bring the protons.