thelerner

Greetings and peace to you. One interesting aspect within some taoists practices is 'bone breathing' meditations. Where you visually move through the bone structure and lighting up each bone. Its not about the skeleton per se, rather I think attention is .. stimulating. Beyond structure bones are living, they produce our blood, especially our white blood cells. A good example is Chi Nei Tsang's Bone Dreaming meditation - (near bottom) http://www.chineitsang.com/books-and-media/ which takes its time slowly (50 minutes) lighting up the skeletal system. Its also incorporated into a few other systems. Its an interesting approach to health, starting from the bones out. A practice like the bone breathing meditation shouldn't cross any religious lines. Its working with your own body, no external forces. When I think Sufi, I think exuberant spinning. A couple eastern arts have practices that cause the body to vibrate, it'd be interesting to know about the physical and spiritual benefits of spin. Yours Michael

Examine.com site has a review of some of the scientific studies as well as dosages, benefits, toxicity etc., http://examine.com/supplements/Serrapeptase/ Interesting to compare it against there review of panax ginseng http://examine.com/supplements/Panax+ginseng/ It should be noted that large studies often use inferior (cheaper) products (in the U.S., not so much Europe which often uses pharmaceutical grade herbs). Also a person in a study may not be taking the product as conscientiously as person who has a problem and taking the herb as prescribed by a serious healer. For example If not taken on an empty stomach serrapeptaze is ineffective.

hmmnn... ... I am 25 years away. I'm 50, I'll be a Taoist at age 75 in the year 2040. I see myself on a beach.. either a lesser known Hawaiian island or St. Lucia. I live in a small hut, there are several hammocks and benches around it. I wear a wide brimmed straw hat. Perhaps there is a small flag; the Burning Man figure resting on a hammock, drink in one hand, book in the other. I greet people who pass by, offer them water dujour (lemon, mint cucumber..) a place to rest and talk. Unconcerned with worldly events, goods or outcomes, I sit, watch the waves, know the tides.

From my many years spent in a Taoist monastery. I'd say: 1. kick'em in the balls. 3. kick'em in the balls. 4. kick'em in the balls. 2. kick'em in the balls and take the $100. well that was easy. its a friday afternoon. don't u judge me. later addition> here's how I'd answer them 1> Don't do the crime if you can't do the time. ie Do you know the penalty if your caught? Is it worth it? Do you know the risks involved? In otherwords I'd go all Socratic on his ass. 2> My kid found $100 bill on the street, they decided to give it to the police. 6 months later it was unclaimed and they got it back! Worked out well. 3> This presents a chance for another, 'You only cheat yourself' dialogue. Take the easy way out to much and it catches up to you. Usually its a bad idea. 4>A chance for another, 'We create the World' dialogue; a good world by doing positive things and being honest or a poor one taking advantage of other people..

I believe its the 'job' of overcoming a particularly obstinate obstacle. There are times anger (or its feigning) is a tool that works when patience or sweet reason fail.

I agree, but for beginners I don't think its all that bad if they start off with community center yoga, meditation, tai chi etc., I'd rather see a beginner exposed to that then to wait for an ascended master to teach them or rare kung fu style. It can be a pity if they stay at the community center level, but such can be a good place to begin. In the internet age we can become so informationally headstrong that we don't begin any practice.

Hmnn, changing the names and times of day would lead to more love?? Perhaps if we just knocked out Fridays and just called it preSaturday things would be better. <I myself blame the Norse gods more then the Christians, course I'm always grumpy on Thorsday> Personally, I think when we stop blaming externals and begin searching and evolving internally we're on the right path. The Jewish calendar is mostly lunar with some solar adjustments. Its nice to have a bit of connection to the feminine lunar cycle, but it'll a lot more then a calendar to Awaken Humanity. I'd aim at deeper sense of meaning and closer communities to have a shot at that. Why don't you experiment and create your own calendar with your own names and see if you feel happier and more optimistic with it. Then let us know.

Imo, discussions of levels get cartoonish, since many of these people are legendary which mixes up facts and fiction. Also there is little common agreement or knowledge of what a level actually is. Still I venture, Boddhidhamra beats most people, but Hulke beat Boddhidarmra, especially when Hulke angry.

idk, everyone I cared about is either dead, or killing someone else I cared about... oh well Dothraki means- never having to say you're sorry.

the first, third and fifth, after that nothing seems odd.

Ye-es, you can become a philosophical taoist, though a religious Taoist who follows a Pantheon and belongs to a temple that celebrates the various formal holidays would probably not consider you one. You might have to do a fair amount of travel to find a religious Taoist though.

I don't know. Anger can be momentary, a flash. Hate tends to stick, brood and fester. Certainly neither should be 'fed'. Once anger passes, let it go but hatred it seems to me is more poisonous. It needs to be understood. Instead of just walking away, antidotes and skillful means should be employed to weed it out.

FWIW, here's some positive news about Ebola from Scientific American- http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ebola-infections-fewer-than-predicted-by-disease-models/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ScientificAmerican-News+%28Content%3A+News%29 synopsis:..Martin Meltzer, senior health economist at the CDC. Meltzer’s model, which predicted the 1.4 million infections in Liberia and Sierra Leone, worked on the assumption that things would not improve. “Our forecasts are based on the idea that nothing will change,” he says. But things have changed. About 3,000 U.S. military personnel have been deployed to West Africa since September. They’ve helped build Ebola treatment units and laboratories and train local staff. Alongside them, health care workers from international aid agencies such as Doctors Without Borders and Partners in Health are working with local doctors, nurses and epidemiologists to identify and treat Ebola patients... ...Some regions have seen vast improvements in the number of reported cases. Lofa County, once Liberia’s Ebola hotspot, went from reporting hundreds of Ebola cases per week in August to four new cases in the first week of November. But where things can get better they can also get worse. Public health officials have been reluctant to declare these numbers a success because of fears that the virus could surge... ..Human behavior is also difficult to predict but education campaigns raising awareness about Ebola and teaching safe burial practices seem to have worked, says Bryan Lewis, a computational epidemiologist at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech. His original estimates suggested that several hundred thousand Liberians could become infected with Ebola. “But now we think we won’t cross the 100,000 mark,” he says...

fwiw, I just made some nice chia pudding. Found a new recipe. Interesting variation since it used boiling water. One cup boiling water put over 1/2 cup of chia seeds. Wait a little bit (this softens the seeds), add a cup of milk or 1/2 & 1/2, a tablespoon or two of sweetener, a few drops of vanilla and you're done. A pinch of salt and cinnamon isn't bad. Stir well and refrigerate. You can substitute almond or coconut milk. Chia seeds are very healthy, lots of protein and a power house of other vitamins and minerals. Plus it just tastes good, very rice puddingish.

I'm in for a 270 pill pack of the serrapeptase (the 40,000 potency) also 90 nattokinease pills. A new years coming, why not try something new to make it a healthier one.

Just heard this at a mall, Handel's Messiah. I sang it in choir in high school and it still moves me. Being in Latin, its feels more classical then religious, very powerful and stirring. Who am I kidding its very religious, not my religion, but its soo good. Amped up with a good sound system, its wow.

No, the above is actually perfect. Especially if you're fighting infront of a giant American flag, then you're practically invisible

I don't mind a blue hakama, course I like mine the same way I like my coffee; thick, black and so starched it stands up without me . Reminds me of a story. An Aikido sensei was giving a demonstration in the Philippines. It looked quite bit like the one above I suppose. A perspective student told the sensei 'That's all very nice but no one attacks that way in the Philippines. We're a very close intimate people, even with a machete we'd start here' and put the blade right under the mans throat. Funny to have 'close and intimate' put together with machete and throat but that's the truth of it. In Japan even if they're stabbing you in the back, cultural personal space is respected enough so that (traditionally) they'd take a step before the stab. Whereas in the Philippines, the knife starts closer. That in itself presents some problems yet has some advantages too.

Interesting thread, random thoughts.. As ususual, I'm on a fence between skepticism and interest. On one hand it'd be nice if there were to more then the mechanical tic toc world we see. A universe that's multidimensional and teeming with life and possibilities. Yet I also see us as superstitious/suggestible and creators of self fulfilling prophecies. I worry that diving in too deep opens me up to self created paranoid expressions, yet as Seth Ananda pointed out, knowledge is good, its power (interestingly I initialed misspelled good as god). It seems looking for proofs, at least easy ones, is a usually a dead road; ie show me a spirit/ghost/alien. Though with longer study and gaining some juice, it is possible. In the long run, I don't know how helpful it is though.

Nice perhaps a future rebel/protester is born. To me, the 'side' your on is less important then your wah; the air around you, what you project. Is it aching for a fight or is it looking for a solution? Separating or seeing that we're in this together? Winning over a 5 year old is nice but your approach was so good it even won over the surly security guards.

Gerard mentioned this in a post: "unlearning all the bad habits acquired from childhood". All the assumptions we've taken for granted. What are they? What are the worst? The worst for me, not that it was taught, rather was absorbed is the best thing, is doing nothing. Thus I've had a lazy streak most of my life. With a love of vegging out. There've been certain benefits, where paradoxically I've working very hard inorder to create conditions for longer veg out periods, but on the whole the laziness habit from childhood has been detrimental.

What did you think I used the word the hope there? My comments were aimed against being overly attached, ie "Not to be so attached when our expectations/desires aren't met, we don't need to 'go negative". Aren't you digging up a 2 1/2 year old post, then misconstruing it, so you bring up your usual diatribes against Christianity and how you divide the world into worthies and unworthies. I also think in Buddhism its not attachments that bad, its clinging to attachments that is. I don't think the Buddha wanted us to be Vulcans, rather happier, better human beings. Here's my take. In an enlightened state, a being is so much in the Now that Hope, which reaches into the future is unneeded, nonexistent. But lets not fool ourselves. We're not there, we're dudes playing on the internet, we're far from enlightened and thus can engage in the luxury of hope. Its a pleasant emotion, happy and sustaining. Yes it must be balanced with real world probabilities, we shouldn't cling or be overly attached to it (as I wrote). Yet in my opinion its an emotional tool we should keep until we're enlightenment (fat chance for most of us), in which case it naturally drops away. But until then its good, its positive, its sustaining and empowering. In a world that often seems dark and scary, don't give up hope. Work to make it better and/or whatever other good shit I have written in my bottom lines And quoting Tilopa.. you've mentioned disliking when Westerner's dress inappropriately in Eastern sacred settings, he's a guy who'll eat meat(fish) in a Hermitage just to say Screw You monks. And since you've mentioned the myth several times, do you believe he brought the half eaten fish back to life, gave it the power flight and watched it swim away through the air; doing this wondrous miracle just to piss off a few monks! Since you quote the guy and talk about the myth, do you believe it? Or is it a parable that one can be enlightened, magical and still an asshole at the same time?

flow, quietness and relaxed extension

Is Kwan Yin similar to Max's Kunlun?

exactly, balance. You'll be a good reflection out there, for all sides. Hope it goes well. Let us know. good luck, bring cookies. really, few things allow you to bond faster and humanize people then giving a bit of food or candy.