Sahaj Nath

the trouble with cynicism is that it allows people to feel superior without ever having to do the work of the people they disparage. and misspelling 'existential' while trying to come off as superior is just plain unfortunate. but whatevs. *shrugs* yeah, if i recall correctly, seth and i have both travelled similar ground in the western esoteric traditions. and IM might be a good idea. for me, the short(ish) answer would be: it's about dispensing with dogma & unnecessary reverence except when advantageous for a specific goal. chaos magick was my answer to the dogmatism of the Crowleyite societies when i was younger. yeah, i was quite the joiner back then. i was able to produce very tangible results to my own satisfaction, and i wasn't very mentally or energetically developed at that time, but the approaches resonated so well with my sensibilities that it didn't take much to give them wings. "nothing is true. everything is permissible." but alas, it didn't free me from the cycle of rebirth and death. just kidding. given the amount of work you've put into your arts, surely you realize that the nature of the practitioner is more important than the specifics of the technique. philosophical types and intellectuals tend to do well with western esoterica because the brain candy is more emphasized than it is in the east. mystical kabalah is often referred to as the yoga of the west for this reason. but yeah. iv'e done spell work and invoked & evoked beings that never really existed, and it was powerful. and even though i abandoned chaos and western magick more than 10 years ago, it has made a definite impact on my view of things, especially all the assumptions made about energy, otherworldly beings, and lineage. most of the time, they're trying to map a body of smoke. that's what i think.

HEY EVERYBODY! yeah, given what you've articulated and what you're looking for, i think this was the best suggestion so far. keep it simple. don't get bogged down in all the theories and concepts that get debated around here. Relaxing Into Your Being is a great book. short, straight-forward, and solid. if your interested in learning more about the energy side of things (which i recommend you do given how things are going for you), my standard textbook is The Healing Promise of Qi by Roger Jahnke. if you only studied these two books for the next year, that would be a very fruitful year! again, keep it simple. good luck. EDIT: oh, and Mal's recommendation of the Essential Training Course is a thorough fundamentals program, but i never really warmed up to it. Ken Cohen really does know his stuff, but his program bored me to death to be honest. Instead i would recommend Chunyi Lin's Spring Forest Qigong Levels 1 & 2.

as my body continues to mend from my recent hernia surgery, i'm loving this practice more and more. as i write this, i'm buzzing. a very pleasant joy and serenity. not overly blissed out or hyper-energized. i feel balanced, general sense of gratitude, and very effortlessly engaged in the present moment. the energy coursing through my body is very apparent, but not at all imbalanced. beauty and compassion. everything is okay. i feel as if i get the whole 'enlightenment' thing associated with it. i definitely feel a deeper connection to the great perfection of all things both during and after practice. i approach it with openness and surrender, and the forces cultivated by the form do the rest. don't be too quick to underestimate the value of this form. it is claimed to have been invented by Chang San Feng, who is claimed to be the inventor of tai chi chuan. it's nothing like the 'fist' of tai chi, but it was never meant to be. it really does have a ceremonial-type quality. simple enough for me to want to dismiss it in the beginning. now it is a practice that is dear to me. the one way in which it IS like tai chi chuan is that there's a lot more going on with this practice that you can possibly grasp with a brief examination.

not my intention to turn this into a trash talking thread. merely sharing my experience at that time. i don't have a problem with max as i once did. and when i have the additional funds, i plan to donate the money i was refunded back to them. my immaturity and arrogance were MY problems, not Max's. i've grown quite a bit since a year ago, and i choose not to discount the transmission i received from Max as being a part of that growth.

i like the folksy music on that video. is it master wu's music or something else? please do tell! =) i remember the kunlun seminar in mill valley (near SF) when max demonstrated the burning palm. it was after that demonstration that i decided to leave and go home before the workshop was over. i couldn't believe how everyone in the group seemed so impressed by it. and he was slapping the same space 7-9 times, and harder than what you just demonstrated. what i expected was for him to be able to leave a hand print without touch, like Master Si Tu did at my old college a few years ago. and he did it on a random student volunteer out of the audience. a friend of mine. his palm was at least 8 feet away from my friend's back. to me, THAT demonstrated a masterful skill. but he was kind of a jerk, though. and high-strung (what's that about? qigong masters being wound too tight? how does that happen? ) not somebody i'd want to be like. i still practice that system, though. after all, he didn't create it.

if you have the discipline to read a book on self-discipline, then you already have self-discipline. you may lack focus and organization, but you have the discipline to carry it out. set some priorities. write out a plan for the day. for the week. whatever. then just do it. commit to a set of practices and/or observances for a specified amount of time (like 3 months without changing to other stuff), and then do it. every day. DON'T CONTINUE WADING THROUGH TONS OF NEW STUFF! that will kill your consistency. commitment needs to be your guiding principle. if you commit and practice consistently, it almost doesn't even matter much what practices you choose. they will work. and if you DON'T commit, again, it doesn't matter what you choose. it won't work. keep a journal. give yourself kudos for everyday you make it happen. it will help you to build some momentum and keep it going. the secret is that there really is no secret to self-discipline. it's only difficult until it's not anymore. that's my take.

it IS Oliver Shanti. this video is what first introduced me to Oliver Shanti. the song is Mother Earth's Tartaruga Song from Buddha Bar. it might be titled Dream as well. hard to tell being that i found the song through a fileshare program. it's titled this way: Chill Out- Mother Earth's Tartaruga Song- Buddha Bar- Dream- Oliver Shanti make of that what you will.

Very nice, Lin Sifu! SO much more space than what i have. i'm a little jealous now! looking forward to going out there.

been almost a month since i last posted here. had to have a LONG-AWAITED hernia surgery. like ridiculously long. like 6-8 years long. anywho... never taken any of his courses, but i feel confident in saying that he's legit. one of his teachers is a hero of mine, Dr. Wan Su Jian (he's the one wearing all black in the picture on michael's website). he i've talked to michael a number of times. i considered training with him at one point myself, but he and i practice and teach a number of the same things, and i have no interest in becoming a taoist priest. he's the only other person i know who's teaching Wuji Hundun in california. he also teaches Master Wan's Bagua Xundao Gong (no relation to Bagua Zhang). and his foundational (level one) textbook for his students is the same as mine: Healing Promise of Qi by Roger Jahnke. i can tell you that he's disciplined and that he's no-nonsense. if you're enticed by the 'Dragon Gate' label and think he'll help you become Wang Li Ping, don't waste his or your time. if you're genuinely interested in Daoism as a religious practice, he has the real goods. he has the real empowerments from real Daoist Masters and High Priests to make him a High Priest himself. so it really depends on what you're really looking for. he's up there with ken cohen as far as depth and skill are concerned, IMO. he's younger, slimmer, more agile, and more skilled at body mechanics. Plus, he's endorsed by Master Wan! the only reason he's not super well-known is because he hasn't published any books or videos. that's the only reason. every major teacher connected to the NQA knows who he is and respects him a great deal.

i just got back home from the SF workshop. it's about 11:50am, so the workshop is actually still going on. *hint* i need to rest up for a little bit, do some writing, and catch up with my students. then i will give my honest take of Max's skill and the methods and all that good stuff.

i'll be there with you, bro!

you're right. but maturity and life experience DOES! your glib comments get thrown around this board so often, i figured it was about time i said something. you didn't use to be this way. and yeah, i feel so much more powerful for my comment to you!

kids. you have no idea the madness some of us have seen.

One day, while walking through the wilderness, a man encountered a vicious tiger. He ran for his life, and the tiger gave chase. The man came to the edge of a cliff, and the tiger was almost upon him. Having no choice, he held on to a vine with both hands and climbed down. Halfway down the cliff, the man looked up and saw the tiger at the top, baring its fangs. He looked down and saw another tiger at the bottom, waiting for his arrival and roaring at him. He was caught between the two. Two rats, one white and one black, showed up on the vine above him. As if he didn't have enough to worry about, they started gnawing on the vine. He knew that as the rats kept gnawing, they would reach a point when the vine would no longer be able to support his weight. It would break and he would fall. He tried to shoo the rats away, but they kept coming back. At that moment, he noticed a strawberry growing on the face of the cliff, not far away from him. It looked plump and ripe. Holding onto the vine with one hand and reaching out with the other, he plucked it. With a tiger above, another below, and two rats continuing to gnaw on his vine, the man enjoyed the finest, juiciest, sweetest meal of his life.

what's Master Wu doing up at this hour? just kidding. i wrote him about other stuff as well, but that stuff wasn't germane to this thread and won't be shared. but this is all he said about GM Zhang and the competing lao hu gong forms in question: (i had originally written more here, but then i realized that i wouldn't be respecting the spirit of his statement that i did decide to share. let me just say that maybe i was onto something in my thread about GM zhang.) "...Anyway, I have no interests to argue with others because I need my life energy to do something good for people." not the answer i expected, but better, i think.

Mwight, i do hope these words find you well. You are correct that I might be wrong about everything, but that statement is more accurately applied to my philosophical stance as a freethinker. I don't really "Know" anything for certain, and I'm prepared to edit and revise my world view as more evidence and information comes to light. while i have no way of holding you to this, i hope you mean it. It disagrees with my "common sense" to accept the teachings of a person or system that can't produce abilities, or think that they could help me in my goal of liberation. i think you have an extremely narrow definition of 'abilities' that keeps you from seeing some otherwise obvious mile markers among groups you may have overlooked. zazen, for instance, has a phenomenal track record of digging up and cleansing out our egoic baggage and bringing people to that pure condition which IS the enlightened state. i promise you that the profound liberation of THAT state of mind would extinguish all of your eagerness to check out of this world, and you would see everything regarding your life's purpose with completely new eyes. to be a deep ocean of expansive peace. to realize what it means that YOU are THAT which you resist. I have scanned the markets, they are filled with millions of new age fluff teachers, courses, and "ancient" wisdom. 99.999% of what is on the market is bullshit. Thats the best word for it. LOL! yeah, no argument there. but if you're 'scanning markets,' you're doing your research at the wrong libraries! you can't say the same about the old, unbroken traditions. you can't say the same about Tibetan Buddhism. or Rinzai Zen. veritable enlightenment factories, if you ask me. Even modern Buddhism is failing to produce ascending beings (at least that I have heard about) well, one reason you may not have 'heard' about them is that no one is sounding trumpets about it. another reason could be that your definition of abilities has led you to turn away from certain traditions before giving them a real look, so only a certain type of 'ascending being' (as you put it) impresses you, i.e., the type that display magical powers. and still another reason might be that you haven't really studied as deeply as you seem to believe. there's no failure in rinzai zen. there's no failure in the dzogchen schools. there are also many christian contemplatives who are enlightened! and they ALL walk the earth today! i think once you break through that first veil, and dissolve that deep egoic discomfort, that heaviness, that baggage, you'll be surprised by how much more ACCEPTING you will be of the enlightenment of the brothers and sisters who have walked the walk and share this world with you. Looking for systems which use abilities as mile markers, or masters who have them serves a very important purpose to me, proving their legitimacy. but proving their legitimacy of what? the only thing they prove is that their practices can give you 'special stuff.' for someone who is a skeptic by nature, you're making a tremendous leap from that to enlightenment. there is NO ability more special or more fulfilling than to be able to move at will into that state of pure, expansive consciousness, and to live continuously with a core of deep inner peace. and the beauty is that, if you're sincere, you can achieve that far sooner than ascending all the rungs of the ladders of spiritual materialism. i recall that story in the book Halfway up the Mountain of a professor who traveled to India in search of enlightenment, who came back to the States with only the knowledge of what enlightenment is not. he came across a village in India where a powerful psychic lived and had many followers. just by looking in your direction, this man could see your past as clearly as he could see you. he was worshiped by the people in the village. when this man saw the professor, he began to read into his past like an open book for all to see. the professor was amazed and believed that this man would be the one who would lead him to enlightenment. the man knew why the professor had come, and he requested to speak with him in private. away from the eyes and ears of his followers, this man made a confession to the professor: he told the professor that, contrary to the belief of all the villagers who took his abilities as some kind of proof, he was not even close to the attainment of enlightenment. his psychic ability was an indication of nothing. he told the professor that his father and grandfather both had the gift, and that he discovered that he too had the same gift at a young age. his experience of the gift inspired him to become a seeker of deep wisdom, but his father encouraged him instead to use his gift to gain followers who would pay alms to him for his ability so he could financially support his entire family. he told the professor that he had been living as his father had encouraged him to live for the past 30 years, and that he was no closer to enlightenment than when he had first heard of it. liberation is SO much closer than you think. and it's SO much easier than it seems. our need to complicate things, our need for elegant conceptual schemes, and our need for material validation, are the things we must give up. feel free to question me. i have a question for you: if you're sincere about your life's goal, what are you prepared to give up? what are you really prepared to give up? where is the resistance within you when you ask this of yourself deeply? THAT is where your time is better spent. you want proof measured in REAL abilities? then watch how they LIVE. one love.

i know i defended him the last time he was suspended, but you'll get no complaint from me this time. i didn't realize there was a 'report post' button. i was going to send you a message about it, but then i just decided to try out the 'ignore' feature for the first time. good call.

wow, you TOTALLY just made my day with that story! that's the TRUTH. thank you.

okay... sorry if i'm not... humble enough. i'm not reverent about much, especially if it involves the internal arts. like keeney said, humility tends to be something that gets bragged about. i mean no disrespect in my communication style, but humility is something i recognize and value in certain instances, and the nature of most Tao Bum discussions doesn't typically qualify. but i DO believe in being respectful, so if i'm ever offensive, (and this goes out to anyone) let me know. if he actually told you the form is 300 years old, i can accept that. if his reply to me is any different from that, i'll let you guys know.

not sure what to make of your response because of the ambiguity. not sure what to make of the "in my understanding" preface. as i've already said, i adore the form, and i have no doubt that its theoretical underpinnings are deeply rooted in ancient knowledge. but that doesn't mean the form itself is as old as the knowledge it's rooted in. did Master Wu ever talk about the age of the actual form? in truth, i actually hope he designed it. i would really like to study with him if that's the case. either way, i finally got around to writing Master Wu this morning. i'll post his response when i get it.

i hear you, bro. i'm no stranger to that kind of thing myself. Jade Oolong. it's only fermented about 20%, so it's the greenest oolong i've ever had. sweet floral scent. fruity taste. full-bodied with a long finish, so the flavor stays with you for a while. kinda pricey, but whatevs. if you're a tea lover, it just might change your life! thank you for engaging me on this, my friend. i will wait and give you time to make your full response. respect.

in the wakeful fury of truth, English is but a broken language! so we drink deep, and speak non-sense, and maybe a few will taste the flavor of the metaphor. ...maybe redemption isn't so far away after all. beautiful.

in a manner of speaking, you're sort of making my point, which is just be honest about what you're going for and why. at the same though, i think you've set up somewhat of a false dichotomy with the 'selfless compassion v. wanting recognition' thing. we are not the distilled manifestation of one polarized force or another. we are far more nuanced than that. all of us. even holy people. that's why i often state that not even the saints were saints! there's really no reason why both can't be true at the same time. and THIS issue is where i think honesty tends to get lost in people's path work. they start believing that they have to be superheros who can only exhibit a very narrow portion of their humanity. Alexandra David-Neel wrote once of living Buddhas in Tibet who would get so fed up with being followed around by people asking for stuff that they would occasionally throw rocks at them! does that disqualify their enlightenment, or does that merely show that they are still human? btw, as i write this, i am drinking the BEST oolong tea i have ever had, IN. MY. LIFE!

i should have given this heads up a LONG time ago, as this occurred back in august of last year. he was recommended to me by GrandTrinity right here on TTB. i purchased Yaunming Zhang's Mysterious Pyramid Qigong video back then, and after waiting 3 weeks for it to arive, i received a vhs tape of incredibly poor quality. i immediately wrote him and told him about the issue. he wrote me back with an apology saying that he could either refund me or send me a dvd. (that actually pissed me off a little because it mean that he actually HAD dvds.) i just kindly stated that i wanted a refund. a few days later he wrote me back and wanted me to send his vhs cassette back to him and said that he would send me a check in the mail as soon as he received it. i didn't understand that approach. a.) the vhs is useless, and b.) i paid with paypal. but whatevs. i sent it back, sent him the tracking #, and asked if i could be refunded through paypal because it made me more comfortable for the entire transaction to be above board. weeks went by and i heard nothing from him. i searched the tracking number and saw that his vhs had gotten to him in a timely manner. i wrote him and asked about the hold up on the refund. again, he apologized and said a check would be sent out by that saturday. that was the last time he contacted me. after a week and a half, i sent him this letter: you were supposed to send my refund no later than the 8th of this month. today is the 19th and i'm still waiting for my money. this entire process has been a very frustrating one. i was prepared, based on the quality and my overall opinion of the mysterious pyramid video, to purchase all of your videos as well as take any workshops available here in the states. it was completely absurd that i was sent a vhs tape in the first place, instead of a dvd, especially since after i expressed my disappointment you (or whoever responds to these emails) told me that a dvd version was available! i feel i have been extremely fair and patient up to this point. you have not done a good job keeping me informed about the refund process, and i don't feel that you have thus far acted in good faith. i expect to hear back from you within 48 hours of my sending this email. you can either: A.) send me some form of confirmation that the check has been sent, or B.) credit my paypal account with the refund amount, as that was the method of payment i originally used to make the payment. at this point i am prepared to take legal action to resolve this matter. i will not stand idly by and be cheated. how far this matter will be taken depends on you. it wasn't until i filed a dispute claim with paypal that i was finally refunded. hands-down my worst buying experience on-line. maybe other people had a better experience with this guy, but i think he's an asshole. stay away from this guy's merchandise.

this made me really happy. openness. no proclamation of how it "MUST" be learned in-person from the master, though of course one would get to learn (and receive) a whole lot more that way. "Just go for it." you're a good guy.