WestwardMonkey

I though it would be nice to here alittle poetry. If you have any poetry you like or are a poet yourself please post. Here is one I came across: Rejoicing that the Zen Master Pao Has Arrived from Dragon Mountain _____________________________ What day did you come down from that former place, spring grasses ready to turn green and fair? Still it faces the mountain moon, but who listens now to its rock-bound stream? Monkey cries tell you night is fading; blossoms that open show you the flowing years. With metal staff you quietly come and go, mindless...for everywhere is Zen. -Liu Chang-ch'ing-

The Cold Heaven SUDDENLY I saw the cold and rook-delighting heaven That seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice, And thereupon imagination and heart were driven So wild that every casual thought of that and this Vanished, and left but memories, that should be out of season With the hot blood of youth, of love crossed long ago; And I took all the blame out of all sense and reason, Until I cried and trembled and rocked to and fro, Riddled with light. Ah! when the ghost begins to quicken, Confusion of the death-bed over, is it sent Out naked on the roads, as the books say, and stricken By the injustice of the skies for punishment? -W.B.Yeats-

Hello

I just caught myself doing something dumb. I will do my best to pay better attention in the future. To thoughs that noticed sorry.

1) I have had dreams that are just plain thought residue from the day. 2) I have had dreams that tell of event ahead of time pretty good and they are not the self forfilled type. 3) I knew a wiccan that pulled me into her dream once. She called it dreamscaping and what was even more cool we I woke up I told her nothing and asked her what happened and she verified it but I still don't know how she did it. 4) I have astral projected once durning sleep but I got alittle scared which to my surpise turned me the opposite direction and I woke up. My first and only time concously attempting it every time I thought I want to go here or there I was instantly there which was really frustating. When I returned to my body I went to go verify that it indead happened with a family member I was observing and she verified it. From both these experiences I concluded the calmer the mind is the easier it will be to move in an astral state. The only problem its hard to get any practice if you only did it twice and you can not reproduce the event effectively. 5) I have had very spiritual dreams that have helped to understand the Tao better. There very vived dreams and what is said is usually very brief but very powerful and life changing.

I apologize but after thinking I thought I should elaborate more on your fatigue problem. Now I know there are may great ways to help but all I can speak truely speak on is what I experienced personally take from it what is applicable to you. What I found when I had my problem is the attachment to pleasure was so intense that it made sex more frequent resulting in fatigue. So I looked for thing to reduce the need in my mind to give my body time to recover because of the drain on vital nutrients. This was a slow at first because the only tool I had was abstain from it and I was able to do that even as long as 90 days but it gradually dwindled to a need for it 1 to 2 times a day this was a very bad place to be I was fatigued and was having memory problems. Stangely there was one benefit during this 10 years of chaos I was not sick once probably do to being in a state of constant pleasure but even I knew this was misleading and although I was not sick I was really fatigued and having memory problems. See I found when you ejaculate your thoughts and the attachment to the pleasure reiforce the need for them. The only thing I learned after that was to increase my nutrients to help reduce the fatigue but it did not help the underling problem. I then tried pressing the huiyin point just before ejaculation this at first increased the need to ejaculate but my mind calmed in time. As a result I my memory slowly returned and I had more energy. The reason I concluded was two fold I was not ejaculating less stress on vital essential nutrients and the frequency dropped to once maybe twice a week. During this transition one odd occurance for a 1 to 2 month into it ruffly I was waking in the morning to find my arm hairs standing on end like static electricity then it vanished with and did not return. I saw a down side start to emerge though my body was greating colder which was great in summer but winter it was bad. I also got head aches and far as the 10 year streak with out being sick it ended. This in its self told me two things I needed to start ejaculating again but the huiyin press was effective but how do I balance this out. So after experimenting I found a perfect ratio for me 1 ejaculation, resist as long as adequate, 1 huiyin press, resist as long as adequate, 1 huiyin press, resist as long as adequate and repeat. After this process I kept my memory, kept what energy and was not sick again. Now I was starting too focus on making my body more effient with a vegan diet and exercise. With the exercise I developed a routine that took care of the mind and body. 1st had a stretching routine tageting appropriate tendons. This increased my energy so now to put it to use. 2nd with this energy I target appropiate muscles with a stationary tension like martail art stances. Now with these first two I open and move the energy though meridians flowing from the inside legs up the front to the chest though the arms to the back and back down but this is sectioned off in a yin yang sequence. Example I do not target muscle in the upper back of my body who wants tense shoulders? I do stretch them though. Moving down to the mingmen point to the huiyn point I do focus on the muscles. There is a saying, "A strong back makes for a long life." but in short there is an alternating sequence going around the body. 3rd after the muscles are tired of the stationary positions and long tension I move to an adequate amount of moving exercizes that move in a twisting motion that massages plus the aerobic type exercise increases the oxygen relaxing the body. 4th Now relaxed energy used up effiency of motion is next since the energy is used up I have to find it so do my martial arts routine which is a slow moving routine mainly defensive. Slow moving and relaxed because I found I absorb the information better. Defensive mainly because what good is breaking bricks if someone gets the drop on you plus I don't want to put so much focus harming people I rather end it with the lest amount of effort. After all this I can feel the chi's heat moving though the body and it a very blissfull and comfortable feeling and even if I do not do the exercises I still feel it. I also found the longer I abstain from sex with out forcing it the more energy I have and the longer more blissful I feel. If the attachment is there use it. Like they say, "Fight fire with fire." Plus as we age we lose this energy so sexual restaint I personlly feel should increase with time we need to change with the seasons of are life. Good verses to read out of the Tao Te Ching concering this 2,44,46,50,53,63,67,71 P.S. Sorry for going on and on with details I can be very foolish this way like the saying goes, "No ones mouth can utter the whole thing." All the best to you in solving your problem.

Going back on what I said earlier I guess you can be more compassionate to plant life by only eating fruits and seeds instead of the plant itself but then do you get all your nutrients? Should we fear every step we take not to step on an ant or something smaller we can not see? Now I am not saying that I am just going to go around stepping on ants deliberately. In the end when we die are bodies break down in to the soil it can be eaten by plants or animal same with all living thing. Heck if you look at it deeper even when you eat an apple it probably can be traced back as an act of canibalism. All the energy of the universe is constantly flowing here flowing there circulating in a great Tia Chi every living thing having its seasons everything connected as one and if we are all connected as one who are we eating? I lost my train of thought what were we talking about?

Yeah I was waiting for it to turn 12. All the best Yoda.

1) Post ejaculation I found white tea very helpful, for a little more umph add korean gensing. 2) Diet wise more fruits, veggies and nuts (walnuts are great). 3) Key nutrients to consider in diet calcium, vitamin D, vitamin C, magnesium, selenium and zinc (used up through ejaculation). 4) After sex at the very minimum no exercize for 24 hour but pay attetion to your body. I heard of some waited even 72 hours. 5) READ MORE ON THIS FIRST BEFORE DOING, pressing the huiyin point just before ejaculation causes a suction making you have an orgasm with out the sperm. I found this very effective once it is understood well. 6) Reduce salt intake 7) A good read for a better understanding read: The Tao of health, sex, & longevity by Daniel P. Reid it has a section devoted to sex practices and what Taoist masters of old did. Hope this helps out I been down that road before and it sucks, but it was not all bad I gain alot of knowledge because of it. There is always some good in the bad. P.S. If this does not help please see a doctor just in case it is something very serious

Happy New Year

Happy New Year Yoda Happy New Year Tao Bums

Cabbage (very alkaline) apples potatoes (not fried) Reduce fried foods Reduce acidic foods Reduce any ecessive protien intake (especialy animal)

Far as myself I am vegan. I started my shift to a vegan diet after I read "The China Study" but technicly I have been slowly shifting that way over time. Earlier in my life I tried a vegan diet and only lasted a month. As time went on I realized just jumping into it was why. So I took a more gradual change slowly getting rid of meats over time and after "The China Study" I went to vegan very easy. Health wise I feel way better tons of issues I had health wise vanished plus I dropped 15lbs. Meeting nutritional requirement are easy alot more vitamins and minerals. Although I stay with organicly grow products. It would make no sense eating healthier if the pesticides, additives and preservative are doing me in. Most importantly I am happy with the transition to a vegan diet if I was not happy I would not do it. Now if you are willing to give it a try I highly recommend it especialy if you are at an age where you are starting to have little problems show up or even if you are younger and want to maintain your health give it a try you will see what I am talking about. There are also many athletes that are vegan. I remember reading of a body builder too. So if you are worried about this diet as an athlete you are more than fine. Far as the argument of killing animal and plants, plants and animals respond to stimulus both showing fear towards harm. It would be nice not to harm either but in order to survive we have to eat. We could starve out of a will not to harm any life but then why do exist then. The body is important. My view on it eat enoph, don't be wasteful, be thankful for the food you eat and do your best to be worthy of it. To give up one life for another is a great sacrifice.

I have been trying many years to achieve celibacy whether I will keep to this path or enlighten to something else I don't know at this time all I know is what I have experienced. I have tried resisting which made my mind want it more and weakened my minds memory but I never got sick from a cold. I found ways to get my memory better through herbs I stumbled across, diet and learned how to retain semen though the huiyin cavity. Welcome back memory. I could resist longer the need for sex but I started getting colds and headaches unless it was after a really long space between the last time then there would bliss that lasted half the day or much longer. Now through these longer durations of resistance I had odd stuff happen sometimes with in the first 5 minutes of waking like some kind of figure was there in the room but then it would vanish slowly. Resently I have tried 2 new herbs after reliezing the key element is in my mind I have to remove the under lying cause my thoughts which partly is a result of my bodies chemisty which worked really well but after extended use I get headaches my body temp drops and 1 of the herbs makes me depressed. So I am trying two other herb to counter act some effects of the first two which is showing promise but I have not found the right balance yet. I hope though herbs it can help my mind get closer to letting go of the need for sex but ultimately I think it will come from something more self reliant some understanding. Maybe celibacy is not the way for me maybe I am to attached to the idea of it. I know some of the ways I go about this some would say your doing it all wrong but most of what I learned has been through trial and error I live in PA I know no Taoist masters here. Well not alive anyway. I read as much as I can from misc taoist classics like the Tao Te Ching and different translations of them and when I can not find it in them trial and error. If any one has anything that can help me out, some technic, some insite or can just point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated.

Here another story based in the flow between opposites (same book): "Years later, after Hu Hsiang-yang had attained enlightenment, he returned to teach and more than one hundred students. One day Hsiang-yang asked his students whether they had severed their attachments to worldly desires. All his students claimed to have done so. Hu Hsiang-yang then said to them, 'I shall give you a test. If you passthis test then I shall give you advanced instructions in internal alchemy. This is the test: each of you should take a plank of wood measuring four feet by two feet. Place it on your bed tonight and sleep beside it. Bring your plank with you when you report to me the next morning.' The students went away thinking that they would all pass such an easy test with flying colors. That night each student went to sleep lying beside a wooden plank. In the middle of the night, as each one turned toward the plank, he felt something warmand soft. Groping around, he felt the body of a naked young woman. The students' sexual fires were aroused at once, and their generative energy drained out of thier bodies. Each one's heart was full of desire for the body beside him, and even in sleep he embraced it. " On awaking the next morning, the students saw that they were hugging the wooden planks. They sat up bewildered, but from outside the dormitory the teacher's bell was heard, summoning them to the instruction hall. The students hurriedly filed into the hall with thier planks. Hu Hsiang-yang ordered each of them to show him the wooden plank. The first student on the line was a man seventy-six years of age. Hu Hsiang- yang looked at him and said, 'At your age you still cling to sexual desires.' The old man said, 'sir, how do you know that I have not severed my ties to sexual craving?' Hu Hsiang-yang replied, 'Look at your plank. There are stains of your semen on it. Your sexual desires were roused when you felt a naked body next to you and with that your gererative energy was drained." The man hung his head in shame and walked to the back of the room. HuHsiang-yang then said, 'If there is anyone whose plank has no stain of sminal fluid on it, let him step up.' There was a long silence. The students did not dare to step forward, because when they examined their planks they found them to be stained with their involuntary emissions. "Only one person in the middle of the line stepped forward to present his plank to the master. Hu Hsiang-yang said, 'The desire for sex is strong for the typical person. You seemed to have tamed this desire. How did you manage to do it?' The man replied, 'Sir, I learned abstinence by overexposure.' Hu Hsiang-yang said , 'How so?' The student said, 'Most people know that their desires will ultimately lead to harm. However, they do not acknowledge the danger until they tasted it. Once one has experienced the adverse consequences of sexual craving then one will avoid it like the plague. As time goes on, the body strengthens itself through abstinence, and the craving stops long after the fear is gone. When I was an adolescent I could not control my sexual craving. I frequented the borthels and lay with a women every night. As a result, after a few years my body was drained of energy and my mind was stripped of clarity. I almost died because I could not resist the temptation of sex. After that, I learned my lesson. I thought about my past experiences and saw that I had not really been happy when I was in the brothels.Ladies come and go. I made love to them, but I did not know who they were and they did not care who I was. This went on continually, just as day follows night, and I began to see the emptiness of sexual craving. Sir, I am no longer attached to sexual desire because I have experienced it, have suffered the consequences of my indulgence, and have seen the emptiness in the endless repetition of lovemaking.' Hu Hiang-yang nodded his head and said to him, 'You are the only student who is ready to recieve the advanced teachings. The rest of the people need more work in preparing their foundations.' It was said that the student received the transmission of the teachings of the Tao from Hu Hsiang-yang and eventually attained enlightenment."

For the celibate here is some advice I read in seven taoist masters which touches on this subject a few time in the story: "How does one go about eradicating the desire for liquor and sex? The ancient sages offer this advice: If it is not proprietous, do not look at it. If it is not proprietous, do not do it. If it is in front of you, behave as if you saw nothing. The Buddhist teach: "Forget the other, forget oneself, forget everyone." The Taoists teach: "look but do not see it: hear but do not listen." [That is, if you are not attached to liquor or the sexual attraction, those things will lose their attractiveness. Attraction is not in the object itself but in the attitude that we carry around with us.] If you can do this, then you will have eradicated the desire for liquor and sex.

Like I said I think it depends on the person and can it be done effortlessly. I can obstain longer than I use to be able to and my mind is not even focused on it. I think it is all in the thinking. Plus another reason I say effortlessly is this first we all know semen can sap your body of energy and vital nutrients but if it is not effortless it can be very unpleasant. And what I have noticed with people who live long lives over a hundred is that they are happy that is the one thing they all have in common. So if celibacy is not for you do not do it but if you feel happier living a celibate life then do it. The Tao is the way of heaven and heaven is found in the heart. Heaven is very large it permeates all things and connects all thing in that energy dance that is most effient no action anyone takes is wasted yin compliments yang yang compliments yin. Whether celibate or you practice a double cultivation we can all learn from one another. Appearing separate but acting as one. Ain't life grand.

Hello everyone I'm new to Tao Bums. Thought I would stop by and stay for a while. If its ok of course

With just a touch of sugar

I found it hard to find taoist documentaries in english I found one though for thoughs of you who are interest in wudang it came out November 2008 its called Mysterious China: Holy Mountain. The is alot of beautiful scenery and it is very informative with periotical verse from the Tao Te Ching.

Thanks guys

Far as westerners I think it is in life style issues. Example the U.S.A. is based in poor diet fast food high in salt, sugar, oils and excessive meat. I found the American diet set you up for failure for celibacy. I found when I eat a lot of salty foods my sexual desire increases probably from the increase in blood pressure. Sugars increase body heat like in sex. Oils sap nutrient from the body same with excessive meats that end up undigested in the intestines an at a amount that increase your risk for cancer because of chemicals in the meat not only that your digestive system is your livelyhood. Oh and what nutrients do you have to begin with they been replaced by additives and preservatives which were never ment to be ingested. How does your body repair and maintain itself on foods lacking nutrients. I personally am vegan and feel way healthier than when I was younger. It all depends on the individuals understanding.

I feel it is all in effiency. If the there is force applied your trying to hard it should be effortless this shows thing are going smoothly naturally with the Tao there is no blockage. Understanding the Tao is a gradual process gental and patient like water but in the end powerful like fire making it seem unattainable but this only do to ones effort or if that path is right for one to begin with.

Although I have lately been leaning towards celibacy for thoughs who are not I have found the more unattached you are from sex the more giving and loving you are with your partner because it is not an issue. Then when you have sex it is from the heart not an attachment to a desire for sex which can bring out ugly emotion as most attachments can.