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Zhongyongdaoist, please request owners permissions. Maybe the mods can put Innersoundqigong's posts in their own separate thread?

After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: Jack Kornfield

Life is hard and dangerous and nature is red in tooth and claw. But the natural worlds also exhibits interdependence and co-operation. Has anyone tried to connect to the earth to find out? The opinions of shamans and earth centred traditions may be worth seeking out.

Isn't Shakti the primordial creative power of the universe and always associated with a goddess? Isn't Kundalini the force of Shakti as She exists in embodied consciousness? Perhaps for a clue to how a patriarchal tradition regards Kundalini, look to see how it regards women and divine female figures. Are there practices, based largely on oral tradition, that engages with the feminine and accords it sovereignty in particular spheres? The existence of Mother Tantra in Vajrayana Buddhism suggests a particular answer from some of Buddha's heirs.

It's certainly an amazing place! Now when watching films or dramas I occasionally recognise the location. I liked the vibe of the masons hanging around - experienced capable men of the world who were courteous and dedicated to something beyond themselves.

I've been on a public tour of the Masonic Grand Temple in London and it was really informative. So if anyone's visiting London and is interested: http://www.freemasonry.london.museum/tours/

This is a clear, straightforward introduction available in a number of formats: http://www.amazon.com/Avalonias-Book-Chakras-David-Rankine-ebook/dp/B00NU7GPKO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441472947

Perhaps kundalini seeks us and it is a birthright?

Not that I'm an expert on sutras or anything but I'm unaware of any references, either explicit or oblique, good or bad about kundalini. Perhaps this is because kundalini is tantric and not sutric? Kurt Keutzer has written a FAQ on kundalini which mentions its expression in the Tibetan tradition: http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~keutzer/kundalini/kundalini-yoga.html. It's a lenghty piece, so a search for tibetan may help. He has also written an updated FAQ: http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~keutzer/kundalini/kundalini-faq.html.

Healthly integrated egos can come from all of these and I take it as given that they're still fallible. A healthy ego can be deceptive in the sense that the possessor may think that they've 'arrived' and their work is complete or they need not do any work anyway. It all depends on which spiritual/worldly values, if any, are used to motivate and inform their lives. I suppose a strong healthy ego needs to have reference points beyond its own perspectives and come into right relationship and action with something greater than itself - hence ideas of transcendence/integration/transformation.

Ego can certainly be a clever lawyer seeking to twist everything to it's own ends. I think the unchecked, undisciplined ego followng it's own false perspectives can be insane, but there are healthy integrated egos too. The irony is that it is often said that one has to develop a strong healthy ego before it can be intergrated/transcended.

Thanks

Edit: Outbreak of juvenility reigned in

Don't all the major world religions share the same basic morality? The differences are found in the different answers to the eternal questions of Who Am I? Where Have I Come From? Where Am I Going? Back to the OP's original question regarding karma and rebirth and the similarities between Daoism and Buddhism. It's my understanding, and seasoned Daoists please correct me, is that in Daoism nothing of the personality survives the dissolution of the body and the Five Shen go back to be recycled and combined into different bodies with completely different personalities. There is no continuity of consciousness. So isn't one sense of the goal of Daoist immortality, is to be to able to remain as an independent recognisable entity after death with the Five Shen remaining together? Sutric Buddhism is similar in the sense that there isn't a self that survives death, but a subtle continuity of consciousness is passed on like a flame being passed from one candle to another. So the similarity appears to be that both hold that the personality that comprised the human being will no longer exist and was never a permanent entity in the first place, being a temporary composite of either skandas or Shen. Unlike Daoism, Buddhism seems to posit some continuity of process in that the previous life will have created causes and conditions for rebirth as described in the wheel of dependent origination. Not sure if Daoism has an equivalent of this, but isn't 'The Dao' and ideas of harmony and disharmony with the Dao similar to interdependence and karma?

A rhetorical question - can a knocking shop be sacred?

Considering that this thread is in the Buddhist section I see no problem with posting excerpts from lineage holders presenting particular Buddhist perspectives. For me it's an informative reminder of things that I should beware of and often lose perspective on. Edit: tpyo

Don't know anything about stages to enlightenment (however that is defined) but In the Tibetan tradition ego is a verb, so it is something that is constantly being created and maintained. Presumably an adept has the freedom to consciously choose whether or not to centre themselves in ego and use it as a convenience to operate conventionally in the world.

"The sexual act is possibly the most potent—and pleasurable—gateway to the primordial and the divine. From the Tantric mysteries of Hinduism and Buddhism and the inner alchemy of Taoism, to the sacrament of the bridal chamber in Christianity—and, of course, the traditions of Western Magic and Witchcraft—sex pervades the highest and most secret teachings all over the world."

It teaches one to manage personal energy, to connect with external energy, and then handle that energy when it responds to you. Edit: P.S. Sorry! Looks like I was answering the wrong question from the wrong person.

Just a rhetorical question and observation: Isn't the Kingdom within and without, transcendent and immanent and as Blake says 'Everything that lives is Holy'? The poets' sensibilities are liberating and sanctifying - complete resignation and surrender to grim socially constructed reality is the way of Urizen.

Good advice already given. Since this is the Buddhist forum these specific perspectives may be worth considering: http://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/dodrupchen-III/transforming-suffering-and-happiness http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Three_types_of_suffering

If you have a religious outlook then connecting to your idea of the Source may help. Light a candle before practice asking for the presence and patronage of the divine for the duration of the session. It's fine to be wary and on guard but not paranoid and scared witless - a spiritual path/discpline contextualises these things.

Isn't transmission received with the scaraments, like Baptism and Holy Communion? Other than that through Grace via prayer, faith and devotion. According to Matthew 18:20 "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." There's gotta be transmission there too?

Don't Believe Everything You Think: Thubten Chodren

Who have been your Buddhist teachers and are you currently practicing and studying under the guidance of one? Is there a particular Buddhist tradition that you practice within? Edit: tpyo