Apech

Always the contrarian.

It's like when you go to the supermarket and buy packaged food with a lovely illustration of a meal on the front - and when you get home inside is a plastic tray with some frozen gloop in it. You go back to the shop and insist on seeing the manager. You point at the picture and the gloop - the manager says : ' Dear Sir/Madam (or variously gendered shopper) it says 'serving suggestion' under the picture. The picture is what a meal could be in an ideal world and not what is in the box. Since you have opened the box there will no refund.'

and @oak Well this thread is called unpopular opinions isn't it? So maybe I was being provocative - but not joking really. Obviously 'right concentration' is part of the 8 fold path and so levels of deepening concentration are an integral part of the way. However (according to my understanding) they do not comprise liberation whereas prajna does. The lure of bliss, release and indeed higher powers of the mind (siddhis) which come from jhanas is still a possible cause of attachment and thus states of further suffering. So jhanas does not equal enlightenment - and so in a sense I was right (?).

All as far as I know.

https://www.nbcnews.com/video/watch-live-hurricane-hilary-storm-tracker-191109189926 Looks a bit rainy and a little windy!!!!!!!!!!

"The jhanas are altered states of consciousness which are produced from periods of strong concentration. Although not enlightenment experiences, they do provide much needed experience into the Path and explain much of the cosmology in an experiential way. For example, each jhana tends to correspond to one or more heavenly realms in the cosmology. By attaining different levels of jhana, the meditator increases the likelihood of being re-born to a heavenly plane of existence. If you pass away while meditating at one of the jhanic levels, you will be re-born to that heavenly existence. If you pass away when you are not in a meditation session, but have attained to a certain level of jhana in the past, you can still be re-born to one of those heavenly planes." https://www.dhammawiki.com/index.php/9_Jhanas Heavenly realms contain the stain of pride and after an eon of god-like existence lead to descent into realms of greater suffering.

UNPOPULAR OPINION No system, or method or religion will produce the results as advertised.

Quite inspired to name that storm Hilary.

Basics.

my teacher died a few years ago and didn’t teach online anyway

I would suggest that perhaps your disassociation is influenced by this practice - why not try something basic like counting breaths.

Could you say what meditation you do? What is the process?

For me I learned qi gong and nei dan from a teacher and am an experienced meditator. I currently practice vajrayana though but maintain an interest in the Chinese internal arts. I read Wang Mu and books like the Cantonqi in order to give myself a perspective on the history of inner alchemy and how the subtle body works and so on. (I'm also interested in the history and in particular the influence of Chinese Daoism on Tibetan Buddhism which is over looked). I think if you have experience and can feel qi and so on - then a book can help - but you can't learn entirely from it - especially postures and moving forms which I find both illustrations in books and DVDs etc. are no good to follow unless to remind you of something you've already done. I find Damo interesting - and also sincere and well informed - but I feel some limitations in his level of awareness and so on - also a few things I don't agree with at all. But overall I'd say he's one of the better sources out there if you want to learn.

No I just learned basic theory from it.

https://www.amazon.com/Foundations-Internal-Alchemy-Taoist-Practice/dp/0984308253/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2BG6OZHQ30CJK&keywords=wang+mu&qid=1692090004&sprefix=wang+mu%2Caps%2C247&sr=8-1

‘probably’

I thought it was an interesting read especially because he talks about his personal experiences. But I don't think I could practice from it. I got more from translations of Chinese texts like Wang Mu.

Was it after you got arrested?

Feldenkrias and Guildenstern are dead.

I've read it but it was a while ago.

Have you had your back examined by a doctor or had a CAT scan (for instance) of your spine to see if there are any defects. A lot of back problems are postural or work related e.g. sitting in single position for long periods - that kind of thing. Also perhaps have you tried TCM / acupuncture which gives good results for some people? If a single back stretch brings temporary relief then I would suspect that you are holding tension elsewhere and you need to do a system of whole body stretches ... since it's all connected.

and tell me what street compares with Mott Street in July

... unexpectedly and suddenly the Daobums ran out of unpopular opinions and just sat staring at the white space of their computer screen as dust slowly settled on their shoulders and foreheads until an unpredictably large solar flare hit the earth and destroyed all that humans had built since the dawn of history, leaving only a handful of indigenous carpet dwelling peoples as the last of humankind - who simply shrugged and in their tongue said 'well that's that then.'

I agree - I love 'The Keeper of Sheep' and also the Book of Disquiet. As I live on the Alentejo border I also like to recite Alentejo as seen from a train ... which is still accurate to this day.

I belong to a generation - assuming that this generation includes others besides me - that lost its faith in the gods of the old religions as well as in the gods of modern nonreligions. I reject Jehova as I reject humanity. Fernando Pessoa