sheng zhen

Yes, this is so confusing! People say meridians is the same as nadis, chakras the same as Dan Tiens, chi the same as prana.... I believe that when people say it is the same thing, they are mostly just refering to some quote and and something they read in a book, not a direct experience of the energies. People can say that a meridian runs along the anatomical checkpionts they learn in acupuncture, but when you learn to see the meridians directly you see that there are a lot of individual differences. Not at all so schematic as the drawing say it is. The drawings are just approximations. Just like muscles and skeleton-positions in the body. It is all very individual. So if people had the direct experience of these energysystems Im shure most would say chakras and Dan Tiens are different system. But because they are placed in the same area of the body their functions look like eachother on many areas. Just like you have the muscle that lifts the arm, the nerve that lifts the arm, the blood that helps the arm lift, all of these have the function "lifting the arm", but are still very different.

Here is another thread on this topic: http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?s=&amp...ost&p=49997 I would say they are completely different energy systems just like nerves, blood and lymphatic systems are different. They may be at the same area of the body, and thereby correspond to approximately the same function, but they are still different.

Naaiiiice! Made me want to dig out my old harmonica again!

oh...I have no reference Its just something Ive read somewhere sometime... I only wanted to hear if you had any ideas about it.

Interesting and clairifying, YMWong! But I read somewhere that historians traced the shamanistic orgin back over Sibiria to China and therefore say Shamanism originates from Taoism. What do you thing of that?

Thats my Guru too!

Yeah, everybody needs C-O-C-K(Clarity, Organization, Charm and Knowledge)

Those where valuble euros, Hagar! If you tune in and experience the food with all senses, like in synaestesia - hear the taste, see the odor, feel the colour, etc. - the whole food experience is getting a lot richer and the body is able to use it a lot smarter. It is much more important to be aware of how the food affects you then following the rules of what is good and bad food.

Really?? That sounds like the wuji zhan zhuang position, hahaha

Ive been studying the Emerald Tablets of Thoth for years and got lots of spiritual guidance from him. A great book! A great guide! But thats many years ago. Dont know what kyphi is... Is it an incence?

Ah, there it is! I wanted to comment on this little piece before, but forgot it and then lost it. Its a wonderful trick, true simplisity and beauty! Thanks a lot!

http://www.ptjournal.org/cgi/content/short/88/7/832 - Breathing: A sign of life... I would say the zen meditators have an advantage in every way. If you are awake, fully awake, there sould be no need to shut away this world. But yes, it would be interesting to see how deep they where in meditation. Maby watching brainwaves at the same time would be a good addition to the experiment? Thelearner, do you maby have a link to the study you mentioned?

hahaha, it might work on human beings who dont like Tom Jones ...if those people exist.

These things are very real and can affect us in many different ways and levels. Here is a little experience I had on a mountain trip this summer. I was attacked by spiders and flies while walking up the mountain side. I walked into spider webs all over and had constandly 6-10 flies around my head really bugging me. And I found several spiders crawling up my arm and to my neck. And I realized this was not some normal walk in the forest. So I asked the mountain spirit for permission to go to the top and guidance to the best route and just was open for the communication. Then I killed some flies and noticed one of them fell down on a spiders web right by my feet, almost like an offering. After that I had no problems for the rest of the trip. The flies went away and I never walked into a spidersweb again. Even when I was doing zhang zhuang on the top I could see a cloud of mosquitos coming closer. Interestingly they stopped before entering my aura and went another way This is just a simple and non-dagerous example of how we can be affected by other spirits. Human beings tend to think they are the pinnacle of gods creation. As if we are the most intelligent, most handsome and most moral beings in the entire universe. This is actually the pinnacle of human arrogance. We are nothing but one single grain of sand on the beach.

Yes, thanks! But this seems to be a natural outcome of meditation if one does not get stuck in visualizations or dogma. From my experience, when I "got" meditation, every other technique became available. I can do whatever technique I want and see that ultimately they all have pretty much the same goal(unless they are stuck in visualization and fanzy beliefsystems, which too many of them are...) - emptiness and transcendence. The article descirbes some stages one goes through by just focusing on breath and I think it is the 6th stage that introduces emtiness.

I see what you mean. Do you have an example of a superb method? Or... probably any method will result in attachment to form. ...it is difficult to relate directly to the tao!

I would say there is a difference from seeing this level of reality because of an enhanced level of cultivation and sensitivity to reality, and seeing these things based on your "want" to see them because you are interested. There are so many people who see this level of reality because they want to, because they like that world, read fantacy books, listen to teachers tell fantastic stories, etc. It is very possible that the mind creates beings like that to represent som unconscious issue and thus make it a very subjective and internal experience. Its not easy for outsiders to differentiate the two.

I totally agree that skeleton viewing belongs to the visualization category. But why do you dislike paying attention to breath?

Got it myself: ying qi, zhong qi and yuan qi.

This is very interesting YMWong! Can you say a little bit more about how taoists view these beings and the three levels? How about unicorns, centaurs, elfs, devas and creatures like that, are they purely western consepts or are they mentioned in taoism as well?

I second everything Junbao has said. Li Jiongs offer seems to be all about practicepracticepractice. If your not up for practice you should probably go somewhere else. But if you want a good practice, good guidance, and this resonates to you, then its worth every penny. It might seem simple at first, but then it grows on you and becomes deeper and deeper. I mostly do just wuji standing now because it alone is more than enough.

Thats very interesting! But is Jing allways and only connected to sex or is there more to it?

in

Wonderful article. But can anyone say what the chinese words for "nurturing qi", "reward qi" and "original heaven qi" is?

hahaha, yeah: announce on the internet as thought and it is written on the taobums for everyone to see, for in reality, it eventually will be...