RyanO

I also think death meditation/awareness is very important. I have had a couple of scary experiences where I contemplated my own death, enough to realize that intellectualizing myself out of my fear of death is not possible. Getting to the root of our fear of death is a difficult thing to do in my experience (probably because it's at a jing level). That said, two things in particular have helped me with this fear and prepare for death: 1) First is the teachings of Pure Land Buddhism and 'other power'. The basic idea is that if we feel our cultivation has been inadequate, we can rely on the great love and power of very high spiritual beings to assist us in the death process (however one wants to interpret that). Traditionally this is done with Amitabha, but Kuan Yin is another entity one can call on : http://www.buddhistdoor.com/oldweb/resources/sutras/lotus/sources/lotus25.htm 2) The Inner Smile meditation has been invaluable to me in daily life and for existential fears. There are different ways to practice it, the simplest being just sitting and smiling. Michael Winn's ebook has great theory and detailed practice: http://www.scribd.com/doc/25141317/Winn-M-The-Way-of-the-Inner-Smile The smile is a way of communicating to your jing spirits that everything is ok and that there is nothing to be afraid of. Dying with love in one's heart I think is most important.

I was intrigued by the elements in Avatar as well. Fire, water, air, earth is the system most traditions adhere to. It also has more substance and a sense of being actual elements than the wuxing. So in that sense I see why they went with those. As far as combining this system with tai chi and bagua, I've encountered numerous sources where attempts at reconciling the elemental systems have been made. Not all of them are similar, but the point is that attempts at finding correspondences among these elemental systems are common and valid. So it's not really desecrating sacred ground for a tv show to do the same. In fact, as others have pointed out, Avatar (and Legend of Korra which I haven't seen) is perhaps the most well researched and authentic animated show out there.

Great list! As a humble beginner myself, I agree with many things you say. I would contest however that one needs to be physically healthy before cultivating, often people begin cultivation due to illness and recover as a result (please correct me if I misread this). Also, I'm not sure about being centered in the upper dantian. I agree that many martial artists types neglect the spiritual, but so do many spiritual types neglect the physical. I'm not sure about how this relates to what dantian one is 'centered' in, but a balance of all three seems essential. Additionally, many of us in the West have too much energy in our heads and thoughts anyway, so as a first step anyway lower dantian grounding is very important. Just curious, what videos and books have inspired you the most?

Interesting Informer. Do you have a source for your info or did you discover it yourself?

Cool!

Did you go to the initiation zerostao? If so could you describe your experience? Sounds interesting.

Love this site!

In terms of chi, it's called yuan (original) chi: http://www.sacredpeaks.net/meYuanChi.htm

Nice list Serene. I'm going to reiterate George Martin's series. It has achieved wide popularity due to the HBO series, and it is deserved. My favorite series ever. Two caveats: It's not finished yet and Martin has been slow to finish, and also it's a very adult and dark setting. I also really enjoyed the Belgariad series as a nice example of a very well done straitforward fantasy series (although a little cliche), which is also good for young adults. Also Tigana is a great fantasy novel that's not part of a series.

I find this true of most non-fiction books actually. Still loving the book!

Just throwing this out there, perhaps because it is in yin's nature to need more conscious respect while with yang it is more immediately apparent.

First I want to say I admire your dedication to this subject. The article you wrote is very cool and worthwhile reading. I also want to say that I wish I had more time and were more capable in general to address this topic with sufficient attention to bring about a more fruitful discussion. That said, I am certainly not trying to defend the philosophy of materialism. I am just concerned about attaching tribalist labels to particular methods, religious or otherwise. What is true is true and should transcend in group/ out group mentality. It seems to me like science is the best source of knowledge that allows for this, but I am open to different views on the subject.

I totally agree with you that science as it is today is incomplete and often is stuck in its mechanistic materialist history. So part of this is a language problem, because I certainly don't mean mechanistic materialist science as a philosophy. By science I simply mean an open-minded, ongoing, critical thinking, investigative worldview. This open-mindedness and ability to change itself is where I see the benefit of science. Religion as it is for most people is most certainly not this way and as a result creates unnecessary division. That science seems stuck in a newtonian worldview is either the fault of the perceiver or an example of how slow and difficult it is, which doesn't make it any less important.

Well I am not a scientist nor am I an engineer. But I think the most important feature of science is its universality. It provides a language that someone from any culture can access. I know of no other 'framework' that does this. We live in a global culture now, and clinging to dogmatic ideologies and labels only serves to divide us and create an in group/out group mentality that causes conflict. Can you give an example of a superior or even equal framework that is also universally true and not limited to a culture's preconceived notions? That science hasn't discovered a unified theory doesn't devalue it, it's just a testament to how difficult such a thing is and how important it is to not jump to conclusions on such important matters. I am not saying that science has all the answers, but I think it is the best tool we have to understand and communicate objective truths.

In addition to understanding how qigong works physiologically, I think it is important to address what science can offer to the philosophical aspects of qigong. I agree with Sam Harris, neuroscientist and author of The End of Faith, who feels that the open-mindedness of science is the perfect antidote to the dogmatism of religion. The danger of believing things without scientific or otherwise good evidence is that we may become easily convinced by our emotions about the objective nature of things. Science in this sense merely represents the universal spirit of honest inquiry and reasonable thinking. Because qigong is so powerful and charges emotions, this groundedness is essential. Falun dafa is a good example of a qigong sect lacking this groundedness. http://www.samharris.org/

Because science has proven to be the most accurate way to describe objective reality, and has the best safeguards for detecting untruths.

I also place my trust in science as one of the best tools we have for understanding the objective facts of reality. That said, I see three problems with it (that is the scientific method in particular, not logic): 1) It is sloooow 2) It is EXPENSIVE 3) It is ultimately philosophically limited because it requires an objective, detached observer (and indeed seems to assume a materialist metaphysic). To answer the highest questions of reality, it seems likely to me that one has to let go of the idea of a separate observer and thus the scientific method. With regard to this, Daoist philosophy makes more sense to me than a materialist one. Science is only just beginning to research qigong and related phenomena. It will take a lot of time and resources to understand completely what is exactly happening, in terms of results but especially theory. Meanwhile, I will continue to practice qigong and observe the benefits myself without needing to understand the whole thing scientifically. I think it is very very important for people to be comfortable with not knowing certain things about reality. The craving for absolute knowledge is what leads to dogmatism of various kinds. I am also skeptical of what I see as some of the more superstitious of chinese medicine and spirituality in general. I remain open minded on some of these points, but again, I let the practice speak for itself. Because mere objective knowledge is secondary to my higher goals of health and well-being, it is ok for me to let the lines between objective truth and placebo effect be blurry. But placebo doesn't work as well when one knows it's a placebo. So it takes a skeptical/rational mind more work to let go of it's inquiring nature in order to gain the benefits of a practice like qigong. From my research, Western (especially Chaos) magick tends to understand this placebo relationship quite well. But again, there are some things that may be objectively true about some of the more mystical aspects of qigong that we simply don't know yet (scientficially). The point is, there is a time and place for skeptical inquiry, and a time and place for being immersed in practice.

Yeah, I prefer to move energy while standing and to let go while sitting.

Yep. This is the Taoist equivalent of zazen which is called zuowang. Very similar but a little different depending on the religious/metaphysical context. Here is discussion on the old HT forum about it (there is also a thread in the Taoist section): http://forum.healingdao.com/general/message/10807%5C Livia Kohn has a book about it as well.

Well it should go without saying that many people don't believe that religion is like ice cream and instead believe that only one is fully objectively true. The issue is that many make contradictory truth claims. How one is fully able to believe the dogma of any specific religion is beyond me. I think it may be due to the fact that people believe or want to believe in objective metaphysical truth and in objective morality. Elsewise everything quickly becomes chaotic. I believe in foundational objective truths, but I simply don't know what they are. But that doesn't prevent me from committing to certain values and beliefs in the meantime. I like Sam Harris' views on the dangers of religious dogma: http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Secular-Philosophies/Why-Religion-Must-End-Interview-With-Sam-Harris.aspx

Very cool, I admire your dedication. Just wondering what your sources have been for Taoist Alchemy info?

Yup. Deeply ingrained in the system he was not only teaching, but that he created, was a code of ethics that he broke. So I'll reiterate as others have said that the big issue is hypocrisy. And of course, the fact that it was sexual hypocrisy touches some very deep nerves.

Good questions. "Boredom" is often meant that one has "nothing to do", while meditation is often said to be "doing nothing". Seems quite at odds! Boredom is actually experienced as pain in the body manifesting as restlessness. Sometimes I slip into meditation quite easily, other times I am restless and become "bored". This is why a lifestyle of stimulation seeking makes meditating more difficult, because it trains the body to be at an equilibrium only when there is stimulation. Abstaining from external stimulation makes it easier to be sensitive to the inner world. And yes, there is a period of adjustment that can be painful, much like people who are trying to be free from addictions.

I like a story he told a story about a father trying to meditate, and then yelling at his kids for interrupting his meditation. He made a valid point that is this what 'meditation' does to people? He is also the one who said he visited Ramana Maharshi and said he was not impressed, which I thought was funny: http://www.realization.org/page/doc0/doc0031.htm I haven't read too much else of him but he is an interesting figure.