monucka

Mantak Chia is currently pending prosecution in the Phillipines for blatantly plagiarizing two of another teacher's entire books. Remember Cosmic Healing I and II? Compare them to Pranic Healing I and II by Choa Kok Sui, paragraph for paragraph, at this site: http://pranichealing.org/defense.htm I agree whole-heartedly with you.

So I'll drop a post here on my way out the lobby. I'm going to take some time away from this forum with the intention of practicing more and discursing less. <grin>. I've really appreciated everyone's contributions, with mad props to Spyrelx, Trunk, Mbanu, Cam, Sean, Yoda, Hagar, Alchemycal Monkey, Lozen and Redfox. Y'all rock. If I've spoken with you and forgotten you, you rock too. Someone (who rocks) brought something to my attention that I figure I'll address now: I am not a woman. Monucka has nothing to do with the name Monica, in case anyone was confused. <grin>. With that said, I'm going to set my controls to send me an email if anyone PMs me here, so I'm still contactable, especially if you're going to be in Colorado. I plan to post an update on my practice sometime next summer. Much love to y'all. - j

In response to both posts (which raise good questions) I'll quote three times. The first is from "Overall Essentials of Alchemy", by Shangyangzi, a Complete Reality Taoist. "A disciple asked Shangyangzi: 'it is certainly true that 'there are not two Ways in the world.' The way of Lao-tzu is the Way of of alchemy, the Way of alchemy is the Way of essence and life. But what Bodhidharma [founder of Ch'an Buddhism] brought from India is 'directly pointing to the human mind for perception of its essence and attainment of buddhahood.' Is this beyond alchemy? Shangyangzi said, 'The Way of Bodhidharma is identical to the Way of alchemy. People of the world differ in terms of the keenness or dullness of their faculties and capacities, so the buddhas and masters set up names expediently out of compassion. Among students of later times, the intelligent went too far while the ignorant didn't go far enough.'" A modern Taoist and physician named Fu Hua-I wrote: "The purpose of the Taoist practice is to cultivate three selves. The first is the physical body. Although the first self is temporary and unreal, attainment of the Way depends on it. Therefore when inactive it is best to be calm and light, and for action it is best to be cultivated through exercise. Breathing exercises, yindao, yijinjing (muscle/tendon changing) and taijiquan will all do. The second self is the vital spirit. This means using the methods of quiet sitting to refine this substance, in which dark and light are mixed, into a pure serene body of balance and harmony. Single-minded concentration on the infinite whatever one may be doing is what called "the supreme state in which even nothingness does not exist." The third self is the fundamental essence. It neither increases nor decreases, is neither defiled nor pure: it is the true emptiness that is not empty. When you understand mind and see its essence, only then can you know its original state and be the primordial true master. All beings have the same source; to look back for the fundamental essence is something that both Buddhist and Taoist classics discuss." Lao-tzu said: "Return is the movement of the Way; yielding is the function of the Way. All things in the world are born of being; being is born of nonbeing." These quotes, and lots of others that support them, can be found in 'Vitality, Energy, Spirit: A Taoist Sourcebook' by Thomas Cleary. That's all I'm going to add to this discussion. - j

So correct me if i'm wrong, anyone, but this is my experience: the inner smile is a sort of emptiness practice, possibly, but it's not taught precisely as such. One develops acceptance and positive feelings (both very beneficial), but it's only by accident, as it were, that someone practicing the inner smile realizes the illusory nature of the mind that's doing the smiling. As far as I remember, none of Chia's books really discuss "essence". Even Awaken Healing Light doesn't seriously discuss "sitting forgetting", which makes me think that the IS is supposed to fulfill that function, even while it generally remains in the realm of mental gymnastics. On the other hand, perhaps Winn's emphasis on yuan qi is a parallel way of expressing this that i've not had experience with. The question remains: how can one think herself into union with the Tao?

Lots of taijiquan practice, especially concentrating on and practing repetitively the movements which involve changing the orientation of the hips by opening one gua and closing the other. It is pretty amazing how much tension is stored there. - j

Looks like the beginning of an essay or book or instructional series. Not that it has to be, but the points you've outlined make sense to those who've already experienced them- sort of a crib sheet for aspects of jing gong (nice term), not yet a guide. Do you have any plans to develop those pointers into guides for beginners, whether oral or written? For example, healthy forward and healthy reverse are admirable, but open to interpretation how does one differentiate the real from the false? - j

Mad important, I think. Some folk with very high levels of achievement might be "assholish," especially if they feel that their level of knowlege isn't being appreciated or respected. Nonetheless, there are certain behaviors which indicate a lack of integration, and if the nature of practices is to develop integration, then you could say that they're probably not the best choice of teachers. One of my warning flags concerns how people deal with drama in their lives. Rough situations occur, but there's always a wide range of reactions, from annoyed complaint to reacting in ways that exacerbate the situation. I don't think that throwing fuel on a fire is in much harmony with the tao, in most cases. I am also very wary of madness and mental instability and their symptoms. It's not that folk with mental issues are bad people, but it doesn't speak much for their practices if a calm, centered, peaceful and stable mind isn't a result. - j

All discussion of the Red Cross and their purported links to the illuminati aside, I'm not sure that greed really was Buddha's 'root of suffering'- I'm no expert, but my understanding is that the root is 'attachment': craving, aversion, and ignorance. Craving in the buddhist sense is not the same as greed. Rather, greed is the symptom of both aversion and craving, which are mentally attaching unnecessary importance and self-interest to inherently valueless external stimuli. Eliminate attachment, and greed dies naturally without destroying one's ability to function in the world. Don't eliminate attachment, and attempts to supress greed ultimately fail. My two cents. - j

I'm am laughing out loud. Right now. That's awesome. <grin>. BTW, one of my best friends works for the Red Cross and is currently giving disaster relief training for volunteers being flown to New Orleans. Whatever she is, she's not annunaki, and she ain't no templar, neither. Nor is she fabulously wealthy, although I dunno... the CPR lessons and choking rescue training she gives teenage babysitters could really be a front for... GOVERNMENT BRAINWASHING!!! - j

She's Charles Neville's daughter, so Aaron is her uncle. Her dad played sax with the Neville Brothers, and she used to do backup vocals with them. I'm more impressed with how she saved close to thirty folk, including those with disabilities, by breaking and entering, learning to drive an RTA bus, etc.

http://www.wafb.com/ and scroll down to 'featured videos' and select the one titled "Charmaine Neville: New Orleans Evacuee" That lady is amazing. She's also an accomplished musician, although you wouldn't know it from the video. - j

Engineers Without Borders: check ewb-usa.org, find your local university chapter and get involved, no engineering skills necessary. If you like what they're doing, they can definitely use money. But then, I'm biased, cuz' I think that having well-trained humanitarian engineers is gonna do a lot of good in the world, and maybe it won't. <grin>. - j

My thought is that from taoist alchemical and buddhist perspectives, most all beings are stone mad. There is socially acceptable neurosis, but it's still neurosis, and those who awaken from those mental states are considered sages, saints, etc. As for qigong, I think that a lot of what pass for practices have delusional aspects to them, some more than others. "Mind regulating mind" is one of those warnings that come up a lot in old schooly texts, as a reference to trying to control mental states by layering other states on top of the underlying issues, which can lead to madness. In Jungian terms that would be something like supression/substitution: the underlying projections are not integrated, they're just layered with a thin patina of "spirituality" until situations cause them to appear in a strong form, often inappropriately. In that regard, I don't think "we" as a bunch of posters necessarily share much besides a common field of inquiry to address our perceived problems and lacks. There are widely differing ideas even of those problems, and of what internal work consists of. Thus the motivation to practice may be very different from person to person, and success and progress as well. I suspect that many of us are spiritual hobbyists, otherwise we wouldn't check in here every day. - no expert

I think that's right on. Ditto for your suggestions for a balanced approach: one really comprehensive practice, or one sitting, one moving, one in daily life. That's an awesome way to describe a good practice set! I think that there are some practices that are thorough and deep enough in themselves to stand alone, and then there are other practices that are auxiliary at best, wastes of time at worst. Some practices use a number of auxiliary methods (taiji uses numerous qigong techniques as corollaries to learning the inner dynamics) while keeping the central 'work' very clear. Other practices are more mishymashy and don't have a unified basis. - j

Awesome post, Trunk. I'd love to see more stuff like that as well, if only cuz' it validates my experiences. <grin>.