thelerner

Me too, its probably my favorite winter time tea. Not just naturally sweet, but also robustly filling (for a tea). Cheap too. I get an embarrassingly large bag at a local Japanese grocery for $4 or $5 and its very good (mine might not be organic).

I always found it interesting the concept of people running 'hot' or 'cold' chi through the orbit. I'm referring to Doctor Glenn Morris's book. He seemed to imply most people (men almost always) tended to run hot energy, and as you learned and evolved you could run 'cooler' energy through the orbit. Is this the same phenomena of yin and yan chi? Or is it different.

Haven't read the book, but on a similar vein, I've found doing kettlebell swings strengthen the area, core and coordinated power.

Door by door? If one was totally open minded, go to services/see them in action. Start w/ what's close, keep notes and move further, see what deeply connects to you. No preconceptions, just listening to the service and feeling the wah/spirit of the place. I wonder if religion, like politics, is all local. Its the place and person in charge that makes or breaks the spirituality of it.

What?? You're not training daily now? And you don't plan to til you're in your 40's? That's hardcore man. That kind of 2 days a week dedication will really impress the higher ups. Trust me, when an experienced teachers hears about about you; a disciple so dedicated they'll train twice in the same week, they'll be beside themselves. In 20+ years from now you intend to train daily. Again, that will impress them. While that puts you above fellow hardcore's like MPG who doesn't train at all in Mo Pai (according to his site) these days, you might want to consider daily training. Its generally recommended for anything you want to get good at.

Good character traits.. open doors. Without them, you may run around in circles. Being good gives strength because it allows you to share other peoples strength and wisdom. also Where have you gotten your ideas of the afterlife? What religion is informing it and do you actively practicing it? When people infatuate on a foreign philosophy they miss big and small nuances, because they miss the hundreds of hours of teachings that accompany them. (in some way, do you consider kosta's books as your bible and john chang as your prophet?) lastly Are you here to learn or lecture? Does it effect you when someone gives a John Chang quote (from Kosta book) saying all people end with God. Or does it just bounce off, impossible ,because it doesn't fit your preconception and you're not here to learn. Only to repeat a few lines over and over?

Powers my boy, powers. Lifting cars in the air, destroying villages with my mind, that kind of thing. kidding (or am I?) Doing some chi gung in a park once and a person once asked me what I was doing, I told him. He asked 'Why'. I thought for a moment and told him 'The birds seem to like it'. I wasn't being facetious, that's what popped into my mind and by golly, maybe its a trick of consciousness but it seems like the birds do like it. More to the point- It's hard to know how crazy and annoying I'd be if I didn't meditate. A slow breath rate.. but really the biggest fruit is some wisdom, knowing when enough is enough, in some cases. Perhaps more then most I created the life I wanted. Good wife, good family, good friends. Retired early at 40, living comfortably. I think meditation and bits of the dharma (&luck) I picked up along the way helped me with this. And its very good.

This? I don't do Mo Pai. Years of experience I started meditation in high school. Nothing special just sitting. I was always happy to have martial arts that included meditation and breathing exercises. I did 13 years of Shin shin toitsu Ki Aikido which included weekly ki classes from sitting, walking properly to meditation, and ki-atsu a healing modality. Got involved in Healing Tao, went to some of there retreats, up to Fusion 2. Upper levels there, Kan & Li, include melding the 5 souls in order to survive past death as oneself. Does it work, don't know, not my area of expertise. I've taken advantage of various Tao Bum offerings. I took Kap, got some nice moves out of it. I did a S-M retreat that changed the way I've been sitting for past 2 decades as well as a simple charging hand placement. I worked with Templetao for a few months, his elemental system was one of the most difficult of any system; imagine doing a 21 second, 3 part breath cycle while in horse stance, while mentally repeating a mantra and holding mudras. But I'd worked a little with Max's 5 element standing so it wasn't bad. And I'll go through Rawn Clark's Archeaous system while standing so its doable. In the mornings I'll do a guided meditation and luxuriate in what might be considered deep trance, others might consider sloppy day dreaming. In the shower I'll do Rawn Clark's YHVH practice, a kabalic chant where you also visualize various hebrew letters on your body, then a couple kind of matrix visualizations. Cool stuff. Sit a bit in emptiness. Do it again at night. When i can't sleep I do Max's Kunlun while sitting on the toilet. The spontaneous knee movements burning off excess energy. I'm rambling. Mostly I dabble, but I've been meditating about 33 years. Last year I hit the Sivananda ashram (I don't do yoga, but enjoy the 2 daily meditation classes) and had a chance to talk to Hindu priests, scholars; people who said they had intimate relations with the living Hindu gods. Did they? I don't know, maybe, fascinating people though. At 33 years of pratice I place myself in the low intermediate category. Lots of people here who are way beyond me and have some interesting specialties. I've made myself available to learn from many such as Taomeow, Steve, couple other old timers here who are certainly my seniors in cultivation.

On one of the first pages of my Tao Te Bum I'd certainly have this, a very worthy desiderata: Essence of Taoism Story From NonTien (*I'm just quoting this gem tl) There is an old story that once Confucius, Shakyamuni Buddha and Lao-tzu were drinking some peach wine together. Buddha opined that it was bitter, Confucius that it was sour – but Lao-tzu, smiling, found it to be sweet. The wine, of course, represents human life. Taoism is not a philosophy or religion of salvation or of escape, but of appropriately enjoying and dealing with the real life which we have. Taoism finds perfection in imperfection, and taking the eternal and universal viewpoint of the Tao, realizes that the good is not to be finally judged by personal or human preference. Taoism suggests that happiness is found in accepting our situation. There is no reason not to do anything reasonable to better ourselves, of course, but resentment, denial or a negative outlook on life do nothing towards increasing our happiness. Cheerfulness, humor and a freedom from fussing are the attitudes that will stead us best in life. This is not to say, however, that Taoism is any kind of forced and strained "positive thinking". It is fine to be sad or melancholic from time to time. This is a perfect occasion to read or write sad poems, listen to sad music and complain to our friends, and (in moderation) can add to the overall enjoyment of life. Taoism is also unconcerned with ideas of "advancement" and "success" through some special mode of thinking. A Taoist is only willing to struggle to survive up to a point, after which he is content not to survive, death being a natural commitment of life. Lesser considerations such as career, popularity, fame and wealth are then obviously highly trivial, and not such as to cause serious unhappiness. The Taoist takes his positive pleasures from the enjoyment of love (in all wholesome forms), learning (of interesting and worthwhile things), productive labor (of a kind actually beneficial to human beings), contemplation (whether of the taste of tea, the beauties of art or the moods of Nature), and Taoist practice (of meditation, t'ai-chi ch'üan etc.). Above all, he or she endeavors to preserve the basic human integrity and innocence with which we are all endowed at birth, and not to be subverted by the concerns of worldliness. The Taoist strives not to want and get, but to enjoy what is already present with gratitude and grace.

Careful what you ask for. Teaching is actually pretty hard. I taught martial arts and wonderful lesson plans and ideas often had to be thrown out the window due to kid craziness. Quite often the little suckers just don't want to learn. My kids certainly equate school with prison. My 14 year old constantly rants that there's nothing else for him to learn. Interestingly, my wife has visits from the common anxiety dream of being in school and either late or unprepared for a test. Since I was in that case so often in real life, I'm pretty much immune.

Skydog's got a point. We need to keep an eye on juggernaut that is the prison-industrial complex (here in the US). The last 20 years its become a For Profit evil that's come up with some nasty ways to feed itself. Jail and prison are unfortunate necessities, but there's much evidence the 'system' has played a role to get increased and harsher sentences passed, feeding and bloating itself. Thankfully the pendulum is beginning to swing away from paranoid unthinking sentences. Society seems to realize we can't spend 100's of thousands or millions of dollars locking up petty nonviolent criminals. The drug war has shattered many futures and fed drug cartels that fuel mass murder. Things are shifting away. I hope it continues. No more 3 strikes its out, toning down the drug war, decriminalizing or legalizing marijuana. Less criminals in prison and more support or supervision for ex-cons to go straight.

Let me thimblelize my argument and bow out. 1. First and mainly, its not about Mo Pai, its about a dickish attitude that fundamentalists have that makes them constantly repeat: I'm right all others are deluded. Always tiresome, from someone with little experience even worse. Expect others to feel the same you do, when they hear true believers (religious or nei gung oriented) pulling that shit. silly errata I shouldn't mention- 2. If it was about Mo Pai, you might be screwed. Using Kostas book as a blue print bible may be a mistake, he's apparently not practicing Mo Pai himself and its questionable if it ever had Changs seal of approval or accuracy. More importantly, John Chang clearly says his (powerful) teachers in the Mo Pai spirit world told him/warned him/ scared him not to teach Westerners. I'm pretty sure that means they don't want Westerner's learning there art. By studying Mo Pai you're going against the wishes of the spirit elders who may be kind of powerful (if you believe that kind of thing, & John Chang does). Evidence to back that up?? Jim's dead, that's not definitive proof ofcourse, but it'd be in the Against Westerns practicing column. Imo a lineage nei gung art like Mo Pai is not just practices, its also about attaching yourself to it, ie gaining its spiritual baggage. Often a good thing, in Mo Pai's case, it seems a clear cut case of the spiritual elders saying No way Whitey. You don't like it or respect it, that's fine. Just understand that its out there and if more advanced Western practitioners die, you may want to consider backing off. <do you need me to include the video of Pak John saying his spirit elders came to him and told him not to teach Westerners? I can dig it up>

Have you ever considered using the word 'I' or "In the system I follow' when making blanket statements- Instead of 'You'? The last 15 posts have been about the subject you repeatedly dismiss. When you read comments from people like Spotless, who (I assume) has decades of experience on you (I think you're a teen with relatively little, please correct me if I'm wrong) you either don't read it, or it bounces off. Its not in your world view, so it can't be true. That's one reason why we some people here tend to think of you a fundamentalist. You repeat the exact same lines pretty often. When someone writes about doing things outside your paradigm you insist it's impossible. When pressed you quote from your bible instead of being able to use first hand knowledge. If you've ever dealt with Mormon missionaries, its a very similar experience.

From what I've read, yes. It does pretty well at that, maybe not for laymen, but for the hardcore and monks, its got a good reputation for leading to- its own definition of enlightenment. Course few terms are as slippery as enlightenment.

Hypnotica, the group that does guided meditations like Sphinx of the Imagination? Which of there hypnotic routines do you like? If we're thinking of the same group. As I recall they had some inexpensive audios on hulu.com

Putting their contents into (perfect/deep) practice seems to be the hard part. Not to mention deciding exactly which contents to put into practice. Its rare enough a single sacred book doesn't contradict itself, read 3 and you're bound to get contradicting advice. One Buddha, many forms of Buddhism. Still, 3 to 5 years of study.. not a bad place to start. If that's your bag.

It is not the button that goes on and off. It is your mind.

When i was in an ashram a lecturer talked about how in vedic/ hindu thinking the major forces were creation and destruction, not unlike yin and yan, but they also had a third force, sustaining. I wonder if sustaining is kinda like the line along the figure 8/taichi symbol. A sin wave captured, and rolling into itself, and when we can draw inside the lines, but outside, we're gone??

I dig the template of Sivananda Ashram. (and I don't even do yoga) Beautiful, knockout natural beauty, ie on a Caribbean Island, some huts on the beach. A normal program with 2 long indepth yoga classes morning and afternoon, 2 longer meditation sessions, a guest lecturer and finally a chance to take a multi day specialty course from flown in teacher. I think meditation starts early about 6 am. Great veggie food served buffet style 2 a day. Sinful escapes possible to the Atlantis's Starbucks, greater sinful escapes to Atlantis's casino. Finally a long journey just over the Nassau bridge to the dozens of tiny restaurants serving conch fritters, chowders, fresh fish and local beer at bargain prices.

catfish taste good, but its a bitch getting them off the hook.

Mod comment: This OP/subject is rife for flame bait possibilites Please keep comments inline with board policy.

Maybe mindfulness is a better word for it, yet in some activities I cling to the belief its possible to act at a level deeper then that. You see top people perform and there's magic in it. Can you move energy without being seated and in trance?? Isn't that what (high quality) chi gung / taichi/ buagua (and others) is all about? Its not a substitute for seated, but a moving forms imo are an ideal compliment to it. Beyond philosophy and semantics, I'm saying take advantage of the master who opens up about an art done through the lens of spirituality. The right fit is life changing and a chance to cultivate and grow. Don't let pre judging keep you from joining such classes. At the end of the 'Secret Smile' practice there is line 'I strive to become a complete human being' (or maybe I've just added it in myself), and part of the concept has to be more then sitting, no matter how powerful it is. You can't leave 'it' on the mat. Imo beyond moving and seated sequences we need wisdom practice as well; something as simple as listening to the wise (i like infinitesmile.org and podcasts from ajahn brahm lectures). Will such things give you power and abilities? No, but it'll help make life less crazy on the way there, if thats your goal.

Spiritual people also need food, shelter, security and a few of the nicer things in life. Contrary to 'The Wish' I don't think money comes to the cultivated any easier or magically then anyone else. Those who are too giving may collect leeches who take and do not give back. There are wonderful Ashrams out there (I love Sivananda on Paradise Island), with very spiritual and saintly people, but they expect to be paid before you walk in. On a positive note, I take you're near Oregon or Washington already, and you want a 3 to 7 day break from life for $200. I'd suggest finding an exception spiritual book/CD/Podcast or series, and take it with you on a journey. Find a beautiful area with a cheap $30 to $40 a night hotel, stay there, hike, read, consider. Dig deep into the book and consider it a detox time from civilizations. Then your next questions should be- Which book/source, finding a cheap hotel near some beauty and getting there.

I come from a Japanese arts background, and if your making art and you're not working with chi, then your doing it wrong. In a sport like soccer it might be hard, its distractive atmosphere, but for many things its possible. You can meditative and cultivate chi while doing them. Calligraphy, music are famous examples of arts conducive towards cultivation. Again I think you have a very tight definition of what meditation and cultivation is. So tight, there may only be a single 'true' type and all others must be told loudly and often they're delusional. The problem there is you never get exposed to a whole world of other styles of cultivation and its easy to become lobsided. There's a whole mind/body coordination, wisdom arts, awareness arts that you may be glossing over and disdaining because they're not directly energy manipulating and condensing.

Great minds think alike