Sahaj Nath

you rock.

i'll bring at least 9 extra cups. cute ones, too! i'll also bring some amazing tea. (i drink upwards of 5 pots every day.) some stuff that'll change your life. you'll see.

really??? i'd say the conversation's just getting started. *waits desperately for others to post* seriously, though. the fact is that the content of mineral/crystal deposits in sedona and similar places is very high. humungous crystals covered by sedimentary layers may not be categorically true, but it could be the case in some areas, with climate change accounting for the sedimentary covering. plus, sedimentary rock can be derived from both igneous formations and metamorphic formations, if i remember my 8th grade class accurately.

EXACTLY! *bows in admiration*

i guess i'm a little confused. your post strikes me as really reactionary, like you ARE trying to argue rather than trying to understand other ways of knowing. if i offended you in some way, then i'm sorry. i haven't read up on this stuff in a long time, but plenty of real research has been done on usui sensei and the gakkai in japan. but i won't bother trying to make any points. but your "health and perfection fascism" point really missed the message that i was trying to convey. you're obviously not interested in another possibility, so again i won't bother. if anyone else didn't quite get my meaning, i'll be happy to clarify.

i don't know if that's fair, eric. he might not have the answer, but he seems to AT LEAST have a clue. he just went all the wrong places with it.

http://nineways.tripod.com/ancienttibetanhealing/ there is some truth there. what was rediscovered and became known as reiki DID have its origins in Tibet. but the "wandering tibetan priests" teaching secrets to random 'special' people in the form of reiki was still bogus. $2,500 retreat to learn the most authentic reiki from a high lama! does that mean it heals any better? "Let's buy ourselves some culture!" this isn't directed at you, tumoessence; you already said you're not advocating anything. just food for thought for everyone reading.

i think the mineral content of the mountains has a lot to do with the levels that cultivators can achieve in those mountains. natural healers in natural indigenous regions tend to live in mineral-rich environments. i find that to be true in africa and south america, anyway. there are other positive environmental influences as well, for sure, but that's a big one. strip mining is a sin.

don't take this the wrong way, but this sounds like the attitude of "if i can't see it, then it's not there." you're on a forum that, for the most part, was created for people who radically disagree with that. i would challenge you to search the web for the definition of Rei, because in my 12 years of knowledge of reiki i've NEVER come across your definition. reiki wasn't originally designed to be a mere tool for hands-on healing; it was designed to be a path of enlightenment via direct experience the divine. healing was a wonderful side-effect, so usui capitalized on that part of it to garner support. philosophically i believe resistance is the source of all illness and suffering, so i agree mostly with the idea that problems come when people don't relax into it. but what exactly does "not acting upon right information" mean? you came here to learn (as i'm sure we all did), and we're sharing information. words like "superstition" can be a roadblock to thinking. there are many who dismiss all of reiki as mere superstition. and surely in 15 years you've heard of reiki guides. the spirits that follow you and assist you when you work. this isn't a new concept. Lin Sifu is just offering another perspective that, while i'm still not in full agreement, i think is well-worth considering. and the fact that usui sensei died at 62 is a point that shouldn't be lost on anyone who practices reiki. he was unhealthy. he was the progenitor of the reiki lineage, and he was unhealthy. i still contend that it was a result of unrefined lifestyle habits & thought patterns that become magnefied by the induction of energy. but there's no reason that Lin Sifu's perspective can't also be happening at the same time, just on a more subtle level. nourishing food (reiki) being served in a dirty garbage can (the unrefined practitioner) can be bad for one's health. i don't think that's fear mongering. most reiki practitioners are lazy, and their negative & toxic vibrations can taint the otherwise healing energy. good results can happen anyway, because it's a cooperative transaction, plus the affinities of the patient come into play. there is still a lot for all of us to learn.

guess i'll be planning a trip to new york. and i don't know what i'll have, but i definitely want to contribute to the cultivation center. i'll be writing you.

Damnit, Lin Sifu! now i have to write another post! japanese-to-chinese-to-english... i'm just sayin'. but even that translation is a very vague one. it doesn't necessarily mean energy "borrowed from" a spirit/ghost/soul. it could be energy "of." besides, when mikao usui talked about it i personally believe that he was, himself, looking for a 'brand name' that could set it apart from qigong as something superior and more mysterious. mikao usui, the founder of reiki, died at age 62 of a stroke complicated by illnesses he had cured a many times previous. lots of reiki practitioners are of ill health, and lots of them die young. but i can't make that jump with you to it being the result of interacting with spirits. i think it's a very similar thing in qigong in that it's partly a matter of how the practitioner is relating to the world. they deplete themselves through unhealthy mindsets, like the paradigm of 'healer vs. healed.' they literally drain themselves into the person they're working on. also, they poison themselves through unrefined lifestyle habits. when a person is immersed in magnitudes of perpetual energy flow, their karma is magnified. something like a negative attitude or motive can infuse this greater reservoir with toxicity that can be harmful to them as well as those they encounter. this is another reason why i'm not a fan of reiki. too often it's taught that reiki can never cause harm. i say that's bull. people who receive the attunements tend to be lazy about refining themselves so that they can be appropriate vessels of healing energy. i think this is what took mikao usui down. the current head of the japanese reiki gakkai, the order that never left japan, is a woman. last i checked (years ago) she was nearing her 100th birthday. absolutely. i totally agree. again, i agree. and i think learning the principles and practices of qigong could mend most of the problems with reiki as it currently exists. the key is in living one's art. yeah, we REALLY should try to start these kinds of discussions earlier in the day. i need to go to bed, but i look forward to your reply.

http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?showtopic=3829&st=20 scroll down the page a little bit. it's a very cliff's notes explanation of what i do. if you have any questions, just let me know. i teach qigong and do healing work for a living. it frees up a lot of time for me to devote to my spiritual passion. one of my biggest problems with reiki is the use of the word master. everywhere you tern on the internet you find all these masters, and in reiki there are a lot of explanations of how being a master only means that you received the final level attunement and doesn't mean that you're above anyone or that you're even competent to teach. well, while those explanations are well and good, the ego has its own agenda. much of the influx of "new and improved" reiki (non)systems in the 90's was a result of tons of new-age people trying to create something that others will follow as a means of validating some need they had to be special. (most of them were men. most of the women were too busy trying to embrace compassion and use the art to help others.) there is power and importance attached to the idea of being a master, and ugliness became readily apparent in the 'reiki boom' of the 90's. people who hadn't read so much as one book, but who had gotten their 'reiki master' certificate from a weekend seminar, presumed themselves to be authorities on all things spiritual. and sadly, it still goes on. i feel that the new age community high-jacked what could have become an enlightening spiritual practice with daily prayer, meditation, exercise, and genuine compassionate service to others. but the energy transmission, if you can find yourself a gifted teacher (i was lucky to have had one find me), can change your life. sadly, the way reiki is taught in the states, the attunement is largely the end of the road as far as internal development goes, when it should be taught as the beginning.

read through the site. william rand's search is about as legit as it gets. most of the truth about the art that began to surface in the 90's came from him and his friends and students. he is almost the sole reason why a person doesn't have to pay $10,000 to become a reiki master. of course, that means also that his openness has led to the many crackpots out there, too. he and his people have done tons of experiments and made many good innovations to the art, but it still remains a fragmented system. but the transmissions can be profound, and the teachings that they offer is as good as it gets in reiki. one of his friends uncovered the fact that there remains an unbroken line of reiki that never left japan; until then, everyone thought that hawayo takata (the one who brought reiki to the west) was the last of the line. personally, i'm not a big fan of reiki. but i am a fan of sincere cultivators saving themselves many years by receiving transmissions.

dude, could you, like..... STOP being so awesome?! Sifu Lin. some day...

read the page about the founder. the "grandmaster." that's enough for me to look elsewhere. but maybe that's just me. EDIT: in case people are unaware, THERE ARE NO WANDERING TIBETAN PRIESTS WHO BROUGHT REIKI HERE! this was a lie that was pushed in the 90's when people began to discover that the founder of reiki, mikao usui, didn't just receive the system from the heavens. much of is rooted in old and largely discarded tibetan practice. "wandering tibetan" is just something that sounds deep. orientalism at it's finest.

in a nutshell, no. i could be wrong and this particular branch might provide some actual worthwhile teaching, but not likely. reiki tummo is one of over two dozen 'brand name' reiki (non)systems that grew out of the fact that "traditional" reiki was fragmented and incomplete when it arrived here. if you were going to consider doing it: 1.) find someone who can attune you in-person. 2.) ask for that person's lineage, and make sure it traces back to hawayo takata. and make sure that each person in that line was initiated in-person by the previous master. if they can't provide this for you, you're gambling with both your money and your energy field. 3.) study the chakra system on your own, as none of these workshops have thorough teaching modules. the attunement is an actual transmission of energy, and if the person leading the workshop is legit, the attunment process can change you. you will be openned to the energy in a real way, and you won't be the same again. however, where are all of these 'awakened' people? reiki tummo has been around for years now. it just hasn't happened. my first teacher was a ninjitsu instructor and a reiki master, back before the flood of self-initiated masters and masters who received their initiations via email correspondence. he was naturally gifted. very powerful. but not even close to awakened. in fact, i'd say he was extremely ego-maniacal and power-hungry. he did the whole chakra-to-chakra transmission long before there was a brand name attached to the method. one of the most powerful people i ever met. and now he's in his late 30's, no students, no relationship, still living with his parents. i would just go for the traditional reiki method, or find someone who was trained (in-person) through the international center for reiki training. they won't try to tell you you're awakened at the end of a workshop. they tend to be new-agey, but the transmission is very real and it can change you. after that it's up to you to find a system or practice that can take you further.

yeah, i thought it might come across that way. that wasn't my intention, thought. it's all interconnected for me. the confusion of bliss with enlightenment is what brought me to the notion of 'kill the buddha.' to kill the buddha (and correct me if i'm mistaken) is to remain with the stillness, no matter what else arises, even if the buddha himself descends upon you. yet early on, the buddha as a figure can serve as a means of getting around the limitations of the mind. it seems to me like any tool that can get around the limitations of the mind will do, even if the cultivator was able to put sincere faith in a cartoon character. so yeah, why not any object of faith? maybe the 'mythical being' thing was a freudian slip on my part.

thank you. =) i've been thinking about this the past few days, as my mind has been revisiting the concept of "kill the buddha." the hordes of people currently chasing the bliss practice, and the possible (seemingly apparent) confusion of bliss with enlightenment. if you don't mind, i'd like to get your thoughts on these things.

always a joy reading your words, brother. and you're SO right about the articles section. i posted an article there a while ago, and even i seldom visit that section. i have a question: what if the cultivator sincerely believed in a mythical being? would the method not work just the same? i.e., isn't it the affinity and mental framework that facilitates the outcome of the practice, and not beings of focus themselves? it seems implicit in what you've written.

when i first looked it was counter-clockwise (no!). played with my thoughts and focus for a minute until it became clockwise. it takes a minute or two for me to shift it, but i can shift it. not really sure the specific mechanics of it or anything. i left it spinning clockwise, which is how i prefer to interpret the world. maybe a simple tool like this can help someone actually shift their mindset.

thank you, friend. max never said what the nature of his connection was, only that he spent time with them and they were impressed with his kunlun method. again, very surface. one of the younger people at the seminar was dubious of max for even mentioning the masons because he believed that they were an evil secret society. he asked max about it. max attempted to dissuade him of his fears, saying that they are just people like any other group. i chimed in and told the kid that my grandfather was a master mason and that the fear mongering was actually political in nature. petty power struggles between powerful groups. max agreed. this made me feel a little better about him. he didn't say anything particularly profound, but he didn't just make up something, either.

welcome. this can also be a good place to talk about medical conditions should you care to share more about yourself in the discussion forum.

not that you care what i think, but the trappings of unquestioning faith is still well-worth considering.

absolutely. energy follows thought. real-time awareness allows for a thorough saturation of fresh life force into every cell of the body. nothing of the self is being ignored (ostensibly). so just by having one's mind present with every ache, throb, and area of tension (not focusing or acting, just present), you facilitate a magnitude of healing that could not be achieved otherwise. few things are more healing and more liberating than the quality of surrender to the whole of each moment. "there is no place but here; there is no time but now." i repeat this many times in the morning at the start of my practice. i repeat this many times throughout my day. radical presence. nothing is left undone.

thank you for that. truly.