doc benway

I personally feel that this is precisely the way toward that “bigger” truth, no other way really, IMO.

My approach is to look at whether there are rules that I personally must abide by to live a good life. An authentic life is one guided by one’s core values. We can not determine values for each other, only ourselves. Certainly there are guidelines for behavior that help promote a peaceful and stable community, the mods are focused on what those are to help this community flourish, but I don’t think these are absolute. Killing and stealing are usually “wrong“ but there are exceptions.

My take... In Buddhism and Bön, there is a teaching known as the Two Truths. It says that there is both a relative truth and absolute truth, both of which are valid. The relative truth relates to the validity of everything we see, feel, know, and think in our lives framed in the dualistic nature of our life experience. I am me, you are you, I see and feel things, I am separate from those things, I am separate from you, I have likes and dislikes, I am born and I will die, things are solid and tangible, all of that. The absolute truth refers to the perspective of the non-dual nature of being that may be accessed through our practices. The absolute truth is that while all of the dualistic experiences we have are real and valid to the subject, they do not tell the whole story. The way things are is different than they seem to our selective and limited sensorium and intellect; and this absolute nature of abiding precedes or transcends labels, conceptualization, and intellectual understanding. It can be grasped or understood, only glimpsed and realized through direct connection. While the two seem opposed and contradictory, they are both equally valid and critical to realize when we begin to dance between the two in our practice and in our lives.

When you say Kunlun, are you referring to Max Christensen's stuff? FWIW, my own feeling is that mixing too many practices and paradigms robs us of the opportunity to experience the deeper benefits of any of them. It's not just about water and fire which, in my experience, are not nearly as different or separate as some seem to perceive. The two are alway present and inseparable in my actual experience of practice. Internal practices, as a rule, only bear fruit when one really engages deeply and consistently over a long period of time. It's not about how much we know, it's more about how deep we go. These practices are not so important in and of themselves, they are simply a support to exploring ourselves and ultimately encountering a far more subtle and pervasive sense of self and its relationship to other. Just some ideas to think about from someone who has dabbled in a few different areas and has found that settling into one and sticking with it was the only meaningful way forward.... for me. At the end of the day, I can only really speak for myself.

Got ya covered...

My pleasure... I, my family, my loved ones, and my dogs in particular are humbled by your gratitude...

Got it, you should be good. Let me know. Enjoy

Done

@Earl Grey Never mind, I found your requests... took me a minute. You should be in good shape. Let me know if you have any trouble moving your threads to the new sub-forums.

You got it

What specifically are you looking for? Thanks

You need to be a bit more active here first... Thanks

@SongShuhang You've got it

I've recently received permissions to play with PPF's and such. I will begin addressing requests as my time allows. I'm just learning the software so please be patient. @Mithras - your request has been granted. @TheGrayJediKnight - yours as well @JustARandomPanda - it's back @Hannes - you got it

I think you would dig Tentacle. I just started reading some short stories by Ted Chiang, very promising.

A few loves: Mary Doria Russell - The Sparrow and Children of God Haruki Murakami - Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World David Mitchell - Cloud Atlas Hugh Howey - Wool trilogy Jeff Long - The Descent Katherine Dunn - Geek Love Jeremy Levin - Satan: His Psychotherapy and Cure by the Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, JSPS Liu Cixin - Remembrance of Earth’s Past (thanks TM) Alan Moore - Voice of the Fire Frank Herbert - Dune Dan Simmons - Hyperion trilogy Neil Gaiman - The Ocean at the End of the Lane Rita Indiana - Tentacle Anthony Burgess - A Clockwork Orange Italo Calvino - If on a winter’s night a traveler

Moderating this forum is a tricky business for me. I've done it before but never feel like I know what I'm doing. It's a lot of trial and error to be honest. We can have all the rules and guidelines in the world but members here are intelligent and wily when so motivated, so we will always need to be flexible and resourceful, not cookie cutter. I have no intention of locking threads to silence positions or skew arguments. I find that when I'm a moderator, I don't get as involved as before in threads and I'm more careful with my comments. My objective is simply to use it as a tool to head off escalation and avoid personal attacks, expressions of hate towards groups of people, publication of copyrighted or offensive material, and that sort of thing. I ask the members to be patient and supportive of us. From my perspective, everyone on the team is doing this in good faith to help the site run as smoothly and openly as possible. There are enough of us, with differing perspectives and backgrounds, that I think we'll do a good job of balancing each others' strengths, weaknesses, and biases. I'm already seeing some of this in our discussions.

Sounds to me like muscle tension and strain in the pectoral muscles, maybe the intercostals. This can be due to arm position, spine alignment, restricted or forced breathing. If you don't have a teacher, you need to be your own. It's tough to learn the subtleties from books or videos. One important skill is to learn to listen carefully to the body and trust in that relationship. This allows us to make the necessary subtle adjustments in posture, breathing, duration of practice and so forth. When I was taught to stand, I was advised not to practice any posture other than standing post until the arms began to rise naturally and spontaneously. It took about 6 months for that to happen.

While I fully agree with this, I think it can be very difficult to assess these characteristics especially in a short period of time. Skill is probably the easiest to judge but even that is tricky and potentially misleading for a beginner to understand. Virtue can be difficult to know about a teacher until you've been with them for a while. Whether or not they will teach you deeper "secrets" is another thing one cannot predict or guarantee. I don't think the teacher even knows until you've been their student for a while and show that you're worthy of their trust.

This

The other thing about cannabis and Covid is that it is all theoretical. To my knowledge, none has shown any benefit in human being... yet. While I certainly hope it is effective, at this point it's important to balance the potentially negative effects of lung irritation from smoking and vaping (particularly oils and waxes) with theoretical benefits.

MODERATOR NOTICE Please stay on topic and avoid ad hominem arguments. The moderation team does not intend to work very hard to allow political discussions here. If they get heated or personal, they will be shut down. While politics and spirituality may be inextricably linked, the luxury of discussing politics here is dependent on the ability of all participants to remain respectful and civil. Thank you for your understanding and for helping us to make this a safe and supportive platform for everyone.

I’ve trained in Yang and Chen styles, as well as a lesser known style developed in the 20th century by Master Chen Pan Ling based on Yang Ban Hou’s teaching (Yang style prior to Yang Chen Fu), Wu, and Chen styles. I received far more instruction in martial application from my Yang teacher as that was his area of expertise (he also taught kuoshu, xingyi, and bagua). My Chen instruction was excellent but my Chen teacher did not offer the same degree of martial focus. Master Logray’s point about taiji styles/methods converging at higher levels was also my experience. It really comes down to 3 ingredients for me (some say 5) - quality of teacher, commitment of student, and transmission of lineage.

You are going to die, You are going to lose jing in your own good time. We have the opportunity to make the best of this moment and every other. The one who is afraid to let go needs compassion and kindness. It makes change easier and opens us up to new possibilities.

Body, Speech, and Mind in the Bön dzogchen teachings are the doorways to the three bodies and are referred to as the Three Doors. In the Bön system the Body maps to the Dharmakaya or Bönku - the Body of Bön. Speech is Sambhogakaya, or Dzogku - Body of Perfection. Mind is Nirmanakaya, or Trulku - Body of Manifestation. The mapping may seem counterintuitive but relates to our practical experience in meditation - body of emptiness (dharmakaya) is experienced through stillness of the body; body of light (sambhogakaya) through silence of the inner and outer voices; and body of great bliss or manifestation (nirmanakaya) is experienced through the openness and spaciousness of mind/heart which gives rise to inner warmth, the four immeasurables.