doc benway
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Everything posted by doc benway
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Good topic Aaron. I think it boils down to the difference between thought and experience. Thought creates images that we equate with experience but it is always missing something. It's missing the life, the uncertainty, the new. Thought can never approach something new because once it is known it is not new. To practice is to open to the new, to wait and accept, rather than express and associate. I learned the lesson of practice in my Taijiquan and meditation training. There are things you can never get through thought and analysis. Practice opens another world.
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Monks and Priests have the easiest life on Earth?
doc benway replied to tulku's topic in General Discussion
One way to find out - try it. Stress can be present in any situation, as can tranquility. Stress and tranquility are in us, not the situation. -
A few things I really like: Wake Up to Life - Anthony DeMello - my favorite, I come back to it over and over Out of Your Mind - Alan Watts - wonderful Radiant Mind - Peter Fenner - great The Great Dance: Finding One's Way in Troubled Times - Michael Meade - excellent Dao De Jing - Jacob Needleman - pretty good, especially the intro
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It's my (often inaccurate) opinion that leaders and governments concern themselves with one thing - maintenance of their power. Everything else is an means to achieve that. China's government being genuinely concerned with morality? About as sincere as the American religious right advocating rights for fetuses, then blowing up abortion clinics and advocating the death penalty and shock and awe bombing... PUH-LEASE! If they are concerning themselves with religion, you can be sure it is a means to a specific end, be it money or power.
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Why can't God be a verb? After all, we are doings... not things. Why does God have to be "any particular thing?" In fact, I would postulate that God can never be defined or pinned down to "any particular thing" or things. God is analogous to Dao insofar as it cannot be defined, categorized, classified, or replaced with words or images. All of it falls way short, every tradition and explanation. Empty words and ideas trying to capture that which will forever elude our grasp. Here's an interesting translation of Chapter I of Dao De Jing: God (the great everlasting infinite First Cause from whom all things in heaven and earth proceed) can neither be defined nor named. For the God which can be defined or named is but the Creator, the Great Mother of all those things of which our senses have cognisance. Now he who would gain a knowledge of the nature and attributes of the nameless and undefinable God, must first set himself free from all earthly desires, for unless he can do this, he will be unable to penetrate the material veil which interposes between him and those spiritual conditions into which he would obtain an insight. Yet the spiritual and the material, though known to us under different names, are similar in origin, and issue from the same source, and the same obscurity belongs to both, for deep indeed is the darkness which enshrouds the portals through which we have to pass, in order to gain a knowledge of these mysteries. Translated by G.G. Alexander (1895) And don't misunderstand me - I'm not advocating belief in God, use of the word God, or equating God with Dao. It's all just words and concepts and thoughts... What is, is. We can't know it, our brains are too limited. We can't define it, words and ideas will never be sufficient. But that's OK because we ARE it and that's more than enough!
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I don't think that is an authoritative answer regarding the finger popping and cracking. There is no conclusive data about knuckle popping in the hand surgical/medical literature. By pushing the joint to an extreme, you are simply creating a vacuum effect and the crack is nitrogen gas. I personally don't think it's at all harmful.
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Sequential Energy Center Activation, Balancing, & Dimensional Expansion
doc benway replied to Ya Mu's topic in General Discussion
I would like to play - I'll offer number 716 Thanks very much for the opportunity -
I agree with you, I think. While we may choose to explain ourselves to others, it is not an obligation. Unless, perhaps, if our actions will have a direct and potentially negative impact on others - what about then? As far as taking responsibility, I agree. And yet, where do our thoughts come from? Much of what is in our heads is not our doing or choice, it's conditioning. It's our parents', teachers', ancestors', society's, and culture's crap that we have to deal with. So while I agree with taking responsibility (echoes of Castaneda and the Toltec tradition), I wonder if it really is OUR responsibility. Certainly our actions and choices are ours. But our thoughts? And if not, then whose? So do you want to give us gory details? I hope it all worked out ok for you.
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Eat lotsa candy Damn, another cavity... Please! No mercury!
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The world is gonna end for me by Buddha's Birthday 2012
doc benway replied to tulku's topic in General Discussion
I think that there are people who experience a great deal of guilt when things are going well. There are those who find it impossible to experience happiness because if they experience happiness, there is immediate fear of losing the happiness and anticipation of bad things coming. So it's not happiness that causes suffering, it's the desire to prolong or recapture happiness. It's all a creation of the mind. The mind always needs to be concerned with what's next, never content to just be here and now and that's ok, no matter what is going on. It is where you need to be right now, so be there and it's ok. If the world ends for me tomorrow - I still have today. If it all ends today- that's fine too. It will end sometime, whether I'm happy or sad, anxious or content. -
You are indeed fortunate to have a choice living in a small village. I think that the teacher is more important than the style. All styles have their unique idiosyncracies and all styles can be very effective. What is needed is a good teacher and a dedicated student. I studied Wing Chun for many years and then moved to the internal arts (first Taijiquan, later adding some cross training in Xingyiquan and Baguqzhang). You can't go wrong with Shaolin longfist, Wing Chun, or Taijiquan as long as you have a good teacher. Sinfest - Tai Ji Dao is not unusual - you'll see it in Chen and Yang styles. I don't know about Wu or Hao. Whereas the Taiji Jian is about using the waist and body to control the wrist for the accurate and finely tuned cuts, the Taiji Dao is about using the waist and body to control the entire arm. The cuts are much more gross (hacking and chopping type cuts) than the jian but it can still be done with song and ziran.
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Does Chi Kung compliment all martial arts?
doc benway replied to Unseen_Abilities's topic in General Discussion
Qi Gong is a wonderful compliment to martial arts training. I don't think there are any negatives to combining the two. -
Just dropping in to say "Hi" and share gifts :D
doc benway replied to Stigweard's topic in General Discussion
Sure thing! -
Just dropping in to say "Hi" and share gifts :D
doc benway replied to Stigweard's topic in General Discussion
Very nice site and it's gratifying to see you living your passion! I've only looked at a bit - all good so far. I'll continue to look and comment. As you know, I'm a 'need to learn from a teacher' type guy. Nevertheless - you can certainly provide wonderful and accurate info and help people to learn properly, and avoid exploitation. I also think that people can learn a lot (particularly if they are dedicated) online and, if they like it enough, they can always find a teacher to correct them. Bravo. I didn't see good old Chen Pan Ling style represented. I think it's very legit and it's reasonably popular in Taiwan and growing. Unfortunately, I don't think the current leader quite fits his daddy's shoes but that's not a reflection of the potential in the style. -
Hi Stiggy! Nice to see you. Excellent post. Unfortunately, I don't think the race is ready for Daoism. Laozi is not dogmatic enough. He does not offer a security blanket. He does not compromise. His language is too direct, not flowery and vague enough. He empowers the average guy - not something leadership is prepared to permit. But we certainly can each do our own part and live it, that's all we can do. And I intend to. And if enough of us do that - who knows what's possible? Be well.
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Nobody wants you to be free, not even your family or your lover
doc benway replied to tulku's topic in General Discussion
Thanks -K- Good point about children but I see this not so much as whether we leave the other person or not vs. the fact that we are able to see through the hold they have over us. I do think that, during childhood, there are certain conditions that will lead someone to be more dependent on approval of others for happiness and other conditions that foster independence from approval. In general, I think our parenting tends to strongly reinforce the illusion of being dependent on approval of others for happiness. In fact, our entire social and psychological structure does that. Encephalon turned me onto a book about Taoism and parenting that does a really good job of showing this and how to avoid it. Can't remember the title just now. -
Nobody wants you to be free, not even your family or your lover
doc benway replied to tulku's topic in General Discussion
So true! And it's also very instructive to see that potential (or tendency) to treat others in a similar fashion, intentionally or otherwise. It can be subtle and elusive and takes a lot of attention to see and eliminate. The way to transcend this is to understand that we do NOT need others for our happiness - no one. We've been brainwashed to think that our happiness depends on others but it doesn't, it comes from inside. -
My latest obsession - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPjDMZiuhbQ
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Gal Costa is so frigging beautiful
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Are you familiar with the Pa Kua Journal? Well worth the $35 investment!
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Yes and yes
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I agree 100%. The fact that our actions are associated with consequences and that this all shapes our lives and those of everyone around us (and those who came before and will come after) is a part of that moon, IMO. It's a part of the human condition. I don't care what words and images are used to describe it either. I'm not speaking as a Daoist - I'm not that. I'm not an -ist. I'm just speaking of my own interpretation of a variety of traditions and experience with some Daoist meditation methods. I'm a mongrel too. PS I like your analogies, especially this: "Once the moon is found, all pointing fingers are easily understood; the common aspect easily seen in each path."
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You are right - I may well be wrong, I often am. But do you mean to imply that we don't misread the physical, emotional, and mental? And what are our actions if not a reflection of those very things? Actions reflect our choices. Ultimately, our choices influence who and what we are and influence our offspring and those around us. There's no escaping that. That is karma. There are all kinds of interesting images used to reflect that, some more subtle and some quite extravagant. I prefer the unadorned. Nevertheless, I think the concept of actions and consequences and how that shapes our lives is reflected in the writings of philosophical Daoism. It's just subtle and understated. In fact, I think it's so obvious, it is assumed and not explicitly emphasized.
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spring summer autumn winter and spring
doc benway replied to Patrick Brown's topic in General Discussion
I really enjoyed the film. I put off watching it for a long time because I thought it would be slow and boring. I found it to be compelling and beautiful.
