doc benway

I would start by looking deeply at who it is you think you are and what it is that you believe in. Spend some time with that, not just superficial answers. Can you accurately answer those questions for yourself? If so, can you summarize that insight and share that with your friends and family? Rather than trying to tell your loved ones what Daoism is, tell them who you are. What Daoism means is a very personal and unique thing for all of us. Until you can find that in yourself, you're just sharing with them a label you choose to identify with. To me that is an important aspect of Daoism. More importantly, that is a fundamental aspect of all meaningful spirituality. Good luck!

I have the same problem - it seems to be on specific PC's only.

Thank you for the information- sad to hear of his passing. He was a passionate and interesting person and I'm sure he'll be missed by those close to him.

Very easy, yes. I've been in there a handful of times for a handful of minutes. I'm not much of a chat room person but still have plenty of opinions!

How about this? If you are uncomfortable with something being discussed in a chatroom, ask if the subject can be changed, if others would prefer not to change the subject, leave... Better yet, stick around and allow yourself to feel this discomfort. Listen to what others are saying, stay with it, open to how it feels and what it brings up for you. It is not the subject matter or the other people that are the problem, it is something in you. Look at what that tells you about yourself. Perhaps it is something you need to help you grow. Censorship? Segregation? Scheduled chat times? I'd rather see you shut the chatroom down completely.

What I find interesting to contemplate is what it is that is "carried over" from life to life. From the Buddhist perspective, there is no self - so what is "carried over?" If it is the "spark of the Divine" then how is that "spark" differentiated from every other spark? What is "carried over?" If it is the "soul [which] returns to God," is that soul somehow separate and distinct from God or does it return to the source? If the latter, what is it that is carried over? It is quite easy for me to accept a concept of reincarnation. There is birth, life, death, birth, life, death, ad infinitum - this is the cycle. I can easily accept each birth to be a reincarnation of whatever substrate one postulates as that which gives rise to life. What I have not yet formulated to any degree of satisfaction is something that remains intact and isolated from the substrate, such that it "carries over" as a distinct and finite entity from one life to the next. Perhaps it works that way, perhaps it doesn't - I'm not too concerned with knowing "the truth" if there is such a thing, but I do find it fascinating to contemplate from time to time.

Can you ask the practitioner?

Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs - 3rd in the series of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

It's fortunate that the techniques you are working with are helping. I agree with Old Chi and will add something else. It may be helpful to consider the fact that those things we experience, even the difficult and painful, are somehow a part of what we need to grow. Certainly we want to speed up the process when we are in pain (or slow down the process when we are relishing) but that effort and frustration that we manifest when we are unsatisfied with wherever we are at any given moment are, in and of themselves, a major source of our suffering. In addition to your efforts to get rid of the symptoms and diagnosis there is enormous healing potential in finding a way to simply be as you are and find fulfillment in life along with whatever symptoms you are manifesting. If you listen deeply to what the symptoms and circumstances have to tell you, there may be deep insights. Manitou, a member here and a beautiful soul, is very insightful regarding how and why we manifest certain things. As far as qigong goes, just about any system will be helpful - the 8 Brocades comes to mind, it is gentle and accessible and there are lots of practitioners and teachers you can connect with. I have no experience with the other systems mentioned but suspect they would also help. What is more important than which style is to learn how to practice skillfully from a master, IMO. If you have access to a credible shamanic practitioner, that is something that could also be very helpful. Good luck!

My gratitude to all those who serve _/\_

http://www.men-tsee-khang.org/medicine/pills.htm Look under the precious pills link.

Yes, the sword testers were among the most elite of swordspersons in feudal Japan. They took the job very seriously. I doubt the prisoners were executed before testing for humanitarian reasons. Rather they didn't want them wiggling and potentially damaging an important sword. Only highly valued swords were tested.

It was also common practice in Japan to use prisoners for the so-called "cutting tests." They would practice different types of cuts, multiple bodies, and so forth. Fortunately, they would kill the prisoner first. Often the results of the tests were inscribed on the tang of the sword. Here's info on a sword that was able to cut through 3 bodies in a cutting test! PS - the practice you mention was outlawed around 1600, after which it was punishable by death

慈 is pronounced ci and refers to compassionate, merciful, or loving In Buddhist writings, compassionate is often referred to using two characters -慈悲 ci bei

It's true that most of the cutting is done in the distal 1/4 - 1/3. That is also the area kept sharpest in Japanese swords, it's referred to as the monouchi. Whether the rest of the sword is unsharpened, I don't know. I've never seen an antique Japanese sword that wasn't fully sharpened. I've only handled a few antique jian and they were fully sharpened as well.

I do not look at mindfulness as escapism. I look at it as finding the proper balance between paying attention to our thought and emotion, and paying attention to everything else. The key is not whether the thought or emotion arises, it is to what degree we dwell on it. It's instructive to look at what happens in our mind. Let's say we have something on our mind that is a problem or a source of strong emotion. What we do is spend an excessive amount of time with the same patterns of thinking going through our head, over and over and over.... it never ends. It becomes a loop of painful, unproductive thought and emotion. And the answer to the problem does not come from that painful, obsessive place. It is often an enormous waste of time and source of stress and distraction. Our best ideas do not come to us when we are trying to think of a solution. They tend to come when we are relaxed and in a good, open, and creative frame of mind. When we can't think of a certain word, what do we do? We forget about it altogether and voila, it's there. we rarely find it when we try. Creativity comes from a deeper place than the thought that claims the title of thinker. No matter how mindful we try to be, thoughts and emotions will arise. When they come up, it is not necessary to push them away or try to escape them. Better to give them an appropriate amount of attention, allow them to express themselves fully, and then let them go. The problem is that most of us spend far too much unproductive time ruminating over things such that we get disengaged from life. If that is a problem for us, mindfulness is a very useful tool. If it is not a problem, no solution is needed.

The danger lies in the fact that a sharp sword can occasionally split its own sheath, especially is there is a an assymetric force applied to the sheath. I've seen folks cut their own hand when the sheath split as they drew the sword (or knife).

You could contact Scott Rodell. He claims to be knowledgeable about the use of jian in particular and is the author of one of the books referenced above by leth. His webpage is - https://www.grtc.org/. Good luck! PS - there is a way to wear and draw a relatively long sword from the back. It works better with curved swords but can be adapted to jian. I can't speak to whether it was used in China. It involves drawing out with the sword hand while simultaneously pulling the scabbard down with the opposite hand. The other "trick" is that the mouth of the scabbard can be partly split on one side, allowing the blade tip to release early. The "tricky" part is knowing exactly where the opening is and not opening your self... Such split scabbards are often used with other bladed weapons such as the karambit.

I enjoy a few people here I miss a few people I ignore a few people I appreciate the sacrifice that people make to moderate the egos and I try to cut them some slack regarding their own འདི་རྨི་ལམ་ཡིན།

Yes Yes - a genuine interest My opinion

I don't remember how long I lasted as mod here... It wasn't terribly pleasant or interesting most of the time but it was useful to help me grow. Thanks for your service, Michael. I know nothing of the issues under discussion but it's always good to move on when the time is right. Peace PS - edited at mod's request... Everybody needs to lighten up... it's all a dream

As we get closer to the realization that we ARE nothing other than the universe, it's eyes and ears and tongue, then trust is effortless and spontaneous. Until then it truly is challenging because clearly there is a lot of suffering in the world.

I'll pass as I mentioned earlier.

I did not "aim" this post at anyone although I had no doubt that Karl would address it. Rand's ideas are espoused here by a number of members, although Karl is clearly the most prolific and orthodox. This post is about Rand, not Karl. I happened across the article this morning by chance and I think it points up a critical flaw in Rand's philosophy that has always made me uncomfortable with her view. I think others could benefit from the perspective offered in this article. I have no interest in debating or defending the author but I freely acknowledge that I agree with his points. This thread only needs to head to the pit if the participants are unable to discuss the subject matter in a dispassionate and respectful manner. Enjoy!

While there may be many ways to 'follow your breath,' simple is often better. The more we complicate things, the more opportunity for the mind to distract us from the simple task of being aware. Here's a beautiful brief teaching on breath awareness by Mingyur Rinpoche: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUBNLC3JfMw