forestofclarity

14 minutes ago, Shadow_self said:

Permission to access current events please? One of the threads I was active in seems to have been moved there  

 

Thank you

Granted, but the thread is currently locked for mod review. 

2 hours ago, dontknwmucboutanythng said:

 I hope this was the sign she already moved on and came to say good bye.

Your post is absolutely heartbreaking. I was going to write that sometimes people feel like they are visited in dream or a vision, so yes, I would think this is it. Sometimes it is just a sort of release in the heart. Please remember to have compassion for yourself as well. Much metta to you in this painful time. I would add that in addition to any practice, it is always ok to seek out grief therapy or other help as needed. 

3 hours ago, Thrice Daily said:

I didn't know what to do with it

I don't think you have to do anything with it. Intentionally trying to guide or direct the energy is generally conducted by the ego-habits or acquired mind and will probably just distort it or give false ideas about what should happen in my opinion. Others may disagree. There is a time for effort, and a time for effortlessness. 

3 hours ago, Thrice Daily said:

Do you have any insights that you would share?

I share when I think it is appropriate. Most of my practice is Buddhist based. 

23 minutes ago, Thrice Daily said:

 

What would be an example of a specific process for you?

A flaming swastika rotating counterclockwise in your abdomen. 

These are usually produced by a series of intentional techniques and/or visualizations, for example. 

23 minutes ago, Thrice Daily said:

What would be an example of a universal process?

An intense blast of energy spontaneously rising up your spine and shooting out of the top of your head followed by a non-dual experience. 

5 hours ago, Thrice Daily said:

But how hard is it to completely step out of the way of ego?, for any period of time. So hard not to grasp at experiences, and truly go with The flow (if that is even really happening?)

Harder than most of us realize, I would wager. Conditioning runs very deep, impacting how we see, feel, sense, think, etc. 

As far as imagination, I'm surprised at how things unfold for people across traditions, and in people who have no knowledge about subtle bodies, qi, kundalini, etc. It seems to me to follow a pattern. Which makes sense, because the mind is the mind and reality is reality. 

What I am suspicious of are reports that are not universal. The more specific something is, the more likely in my view that it is individual and not based on a universal process. 

Om Mani Padme Hung and chanting the name of Amitabha/ Amitofo are practices you can do without empowerment. Dedicate the merit to the departed. 

1 hour ago, Shadow_self said:

it gets beyond complicated

I would think it would get simpler as it gets more refined. Complexity seems to be plunging into the 10,000 things. 

53 minutes ago, ChiDragon said:

From one's opinion and one book.

The Book of Balance and Harmony, trans Cleary:

Quote

 

The absolute is movement and stillness without beginning, yin and yang without beginning.

 

Buddhists call this complete awareness, Taoists call it the gold pill, Confucians call it the absolute. What is called the infinite absolute means the limit of the unlimited. 

 

See also the Taiyi Jinhua Zongzhi, aka in English, the Secret of the Golden Flower which is full of such references. 

From Liu Yiming's Commentary on Wang Mu's Awakening to Reality:

trans Pregadio:

Quote

 

Golden Elixir is another name for one's inchoate fundamental nature (xing). There is no other Golden Elixir outside one's fundamental nature. Every human beings has this Golden Elixir complete in oneself: it is entirely achieved in everyone. It is neither more in a sage, nor less in an ordinary person. It is the seed of the Immortals and the Buddhas, the root of the worthies and the sages.

 

However, when it is not refined by fire, Yang culminates and necessarily becomes Yin, completion culminates and necessarily becomes lacking. One falls into the postcelestial state... Therefore the sages of antiquity established the Way of the Return [to the original state] through the Golden Elixir, so that everyone could go back to one's home and recognize one's ancestor, and revert to what one fundamentally and originally has in oneself.

 

trans Cleary:

Quote

 

Gold elixir is another name for the unfragmented original essence; there is no gold elixir besides the original essence. This elixir is inherent in everyone, not more in sages or less in ordinary people. It is the seed of immortals and enlightened ones, the root of saints and sages. It is only that as long as it has not been put through fire and refined, when the positive culminates it must turn to negative, when waxing culminates it must wane, and it falls into the temporal: intellectual knowledge develops and private desires get mixed in; temperament emerges and the natural good dims, innate knowledge and innate capacity both lose their innocence, and there is no more body of pristine purity. 

 

Therefore ancient sages set up the method of reversion and restoration of gold elixir, just to have people return home and recognize their ancestor, to revert to what is fundamentally inherent. Why is it called reversion and restoration? Reversion means the self comes back after it has gone; restoration means the self is regained after it has been lost. 

 

This should sound familiar to Zen/Chan students. 

19 minutes ago, Emaciated Ascetic said:

I actually seem not to be able to post anything in my personal practice. Maybe I'm doing something wrong...

No, my error. I cloned the wrong thing, sorry! Still adjusting to mod tech. Should be good now. 

51 minutes ago, MIchael80 said:

The external elixir is more commonly know as philosophers stone.

Same in Western alchemy, except in the West, external alchemy was focused on transform base metals into gold rather than immortality. The process was to revert matter into its primordial form, or hyle, and then form this in the philosophers stone. In internal alchemy, the primordial form is the union of male/female, or the hermaphrodite in some traditions. Of course, the West tends to be more externally focused, so this would make sense. IMO, these are not two different things from an inner point of view. IIRC, gold was considered to be an eternal metal, and the metal closest to God/heaven (it's been a while since I studied Western alchemy). So transmuting oneself from a base being to a divine one is essentially turning lead into gold. 

On 9/11/2024 at 1:28 PM, Emaciated Ascetic said:

I'd like a personal practice journal. Want to organize my studies

Should be good to go. Let me know if there are issues. 

It is interesting that the character dan also refers to the color red, which in Western alchemy is the earthward manifesting (i.e. rubedo) of pure heavenly energies. Purity is generally represented by gold. 

I wonder if there is a different meaning depending on whether one is cultivating health, longevity, spiritual power, or realization.  

11 minutes ago, dontknwmucboutanythng said:

Hello,

 

In some tradition, one  is supposed to suppress emotion for 49 days after loved one passes away.  Is casual talking (good morning, I did this today, etc) to the air or hugging an empty pillow prevents the soul from moving on?

 

Thanks again.

Sorry for your loss. 

No. I think you're referring to the Bardo period in Tibetan Buddhism. I would suggest not suppressing your emotions. Allow yourself to grieve. When the time is right, you might find there is a inner, often heart centered release and you are able to request the person to move on. Sometimes there are rituals that can help this process of release. Typically, we are advised against speaking negatively about some one during this period. 

A lot of people talk about neidan and dan tian but it is not clear to me by what people mean by dan, 丹. 

So what do you all mean? It seems that definitions vary widely and that people sort of talk past each other on this issue. It seems fairly important. 

A few sample definitions are provided at Golden Elixir: 

https://www.goldenelixir.com/terms/jindan.html

Note: I didn't ask "which one path is right, and how is every other path wrong" nor "who is right and who is an ignoramus in these arts." I'm curious as to what the different paths say. 

Mark Rasmus has some qi ball exercises that I've been playing with again. He initially starts "externally" to the body and then goes "internal." One thing that helps is developing a sort of relaxed, open awareness. I don't think you feel for qi so much as you just sort of open your awareness and the qi comes into view, so to speak (although this doesn’t mean intention is absent). His videos are kind of unstructured, but he supports a more playful method than others. 

On 9/11/2024 at 5:15 PM, doc benway said:

At this point I’ve given up any real martial training

I did various martial arts over the years--- Japanese jiujitsu, kickboxing, xing yi, etc. I was often looking for something that was an art but also pragmatic. However, I ended up stopping altogether because I didn't like how the training impacted my mind set and the bodily injuries. It's hard to find a cool old school martial arts instructor--- it seems that everyone nowadays wants to go out and get into fights. People come into class bragging about this fight or that fight. And I'm wondering--- how the heck does a functioning adult even get into a fight? Confrontation is almost always avoidable. A lot of martial artists have a sort of edge or sharpness. Seems more martial and less art. 

However, I just signed up for yet another Tai Chi class (I think it is my third run through if I stick with it). I don't really see a better way to work with alignment through the body, and IMA body mechanics are unlike anything else. Sort of like meditation, but the body is doing it. 

1 hour ago, snowymountains said:

I cannot respond

No, that was an honest mistake, you can respond here if you like. In fact, this is the place to respond because your posts are off topic. Or you can PM. If you don't like the forum, feel free to stop using it. 

MOD NOTE: Locking topic to prevent slipping into pointless ad hominem. We've had points, counterpoints, rebuttals, counter-rebuttals, counter-counter-rebuttals, etc. If some one has good reason to reopen or additional points to add, PM me or the other mods about reopening. 

2 hours ago, snowymountains said:

"get",

The word "get" is used in English to mean understand, and specifically to understand sort of in a gut level way. In this case, people don't seem to understand that when they post on a public forum on the internet, many people who are not involved in the discussion may also read their posts, even years later. One should consider their speech in this far ranging context. 

Public posts, on a public forum are not protected, as far as I know, by any privacy laws. 

MOD NOTE: Off topic conversation moved: 

10 minutes ago, snowymountains said:

Please clarify what you meant about what people do not get.

Anything you post in an open, public forum can be read by anyone. For example, other people are reading this post besides the two of us. 

13 minutes ago, snowymountains said:Also please explain why you perceived GDPR compliance to be a "legal threat".

I’m not “perceiving” anything. I have no idea why you seem to think posting on a public part of a public Internet forum should be private, why you think I’m acting as a mod, etc. 

36 minutes ago, snowymountains said:

 

And ? What's that supposed to mean exactly ? Can you clarify "get" please?

 

I've taken a screenshot of your post which you made under the capacity of a moderator.

 

I hope you "get" what GDPR is.

 

I’m not sure what you’re getting at. Are you threatening some sort of legal action? 

10 minutes ago, liminal_luke said:

  I´m at my best when I´m simply reading. 

Something few online posters seem to get. Our conversations here are not private between two people. Who knows how many people read our posts, in the present or sometimes even years in the future? 

6 hours ago, Forestgreen said:

Shouldn't it be that (within) as well?

I would say from a Buddhist POV, the physical, mental, and subtle bodies are all connected. A  change in the alignment of the subtle body often has physical and mental components. If it didn't, it wouldn't be useful. Not sure about the Daoists. 

8 minutes ago, Shadow_self said:

reate no change that permeates ones being to the point the body transforms

Untrue, but free to continue to believe that.