zen-bear

That's fine with me. Starting with five FP Meditators is auspicious. (More are welcome, of course!)

Hi aurelien, I can do session from 12-13 hours PST some day this week. Thanks for organizing. Sifu Terry

Hi mrwhy, Yours is a reasonable question. After going about 4 years without catching a severe cold or flu (nipping them all in the bud with fluids and mega-C and echinachea, etc.), I succumbed to a head cold 5 weeks ago due to stress, got over it in 3 days but then caught the L.A. cold/flu 3 Mondays ago, suffered from it for 6 days and just got over 2 Sundays ago. There were a couple of days where I was quite congested and had trouble breathing through my nose. But I practiced daily just the same, and on the bad days, I took breaks in the middle of meditation to clear the nose. If the congestion is severe that you cannot breathe through the nose at all, there is nothing wrong with doing the FP meditations by breathing through the mouth. Mouth-breathing doesn't circulate the Qi or oxygen to the head anywhere as effectively as breathing through the nose with clear sinuses, but I don't see any harm in doing that. Bottom line: it's up to you. If you're a perfectionist, wait until you're fully recovered and then do the FPCK with clear sinuses. If you're determined and an experimenter, try it with mouth-breathing, knowing full well that it's very sub-optimum. Hope you feel better. Sifu Terry Note: i found that an herbal steambath or regular steambath at a gym or spa definitely helps remove head and chest congestion almost completely.

Steve, Don't put all your trust in the name of a brand, even the name of a famous and legendary Taoist enclave famous for its martial arts. First of all, something labeled Wudang may not be necessarily authentic, and one needs to be more suspicious if it's made by a westerner. Second, the Qigong material may be a Wudang-originated exercise, but it may have been handled by the wrong persons and perverted in some manner. I would trust Eric Isen on this matter since his reading was a dire warning. Also, Wudang arts emphasize excellence in their martial forms. Their internal arts are highly regulated and safeguarded. And if the Qigong material on the DVD is not taught by one of the very well-known Wudang priests--such as Master Chen Shi-Xing or Master Xu Wei Han or Tai Chi master You Xuan De -- I would be quite wary and cautious. One of the martial arts that I preserve, Eight Sections of Energy Combined, is a southern art that had originated in Wudangshan, according to GM Woo Wai, because it just has that distinctive process to it and alchemic "flavor." And there's perhaps just two exercises out of about 18 components that I might consider publishiing as a health program on DVD. One is a preparatory exercise that is very strenuous and the other is the fourth "Section" that is somewhat Tai Chi-like. But even then, there would be no point to publishing these 2 fragments of a system for public consumption. I'm sure your local library appreciated the DVD gift! Best, Sifu Terry

Hello Pitisukha, Thanks for sharing your practice regimen. 45 minutes a day of Bending the Bows is excellent. And 30 min. to do 7 reps of MSW #1 is also most adequately slow. I take 30 min. to do the much longer MSW Meditations (in vol. 7). Answer to your question: Because all the FP Meditations have a cumulative effect in terms of their energy cultivation, once you feel "saturated" with/by any of the meditations that you're you can shorten the time you do BTB (or do each rep a little faster--varying the speed is quite OK once you've deeply established movement at "the speed of a shifting sand dune") and add other FP meditations. Within a 90 minute practice period, it is absolutely fine to cover four meditations, even five or six. Also, don't forget that the goal is to cover all the Basic Level FP Meditations in 9 to 24 months. And you can certainly accomplish this by practicing 90 minutes a day. • also, big question, how can one know to have mastered a particular meditation? Good question. Answers specific to Flying Phoenix Chi Kung: 1. You know you have mastered a particular FP meditation when you clearly know exactly how that meditation generates the FP Healing Energy and where the energizing manifests in the body. 2. You will know you've mastered a set of the FP Meditations when you know specifically how one meditation differs in its energizing, bodily rejuvenation, and brain-activation effects from another. 3. You know you have mastered a particular FP Meditation when your movements are frictionless--and by frictionless I mean that you do not feel your body at all when you are doing either the static meditations or any of the moving meditations of the system (standing or seated). 4. You know you have mastered a particular FP Meditation when you merely do the breath control sequence or even just think the breath control sequence of a paticular FP Med. and the full energizing effects of performing the meditation for 15 minutes or more instantly manifests and is unmistakenly, tangibly felt. 5. General Answer with regards to the practice of any authentic Yoga: to understand very clear terms what mastering a yogic skill is, refer to Aleister Crowley's maxim that I posted above in Post #2798. he describes mastery as the state of action becoming non-action, which is identical to what Carlos Castaneda calls "not doing" in his books. --that state where: it is no longer Thou that doeth it, but It that doeth itself through thee A state where consciousness of oneself as a subject, the "doer" of an action, is completely absent...where all there is is pure action in sync with the Universe. Top athletes, artists, musicians, technicians in any refined discipline describe this frictionless, effortless, and egoless state of perfected performance as "being in the zone." In other words, experiencing the dissolution of the ego--the ego being the mis-identification of the true self with what one thinks he or she is. That is why Crowley writes that "Consciousness (of the self as the 'doer') is a symptom of dis-ease". Such "not-doing" is accompanied by a transcendent state of consciousness that the Zen people call "no mind" and that Castaneda describes as "stopping the world." Masters of yoga--and "warriors" (as defined by Castaneda)-- can stop the world at will. And so can you by practicing the FP Meditations properly and diligently. Best, Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Hello Seth Ananda, This is my first visit to this tread because I know Sifu Jenny Lamb has a very good reputation...and i decided during this mercury retrograde period to try and catch up and learn about what other Qigong and kung fu teachers are doing. I know this is in reply to a 3-year old posting, but nonethelss, I'm sorry to hear that there is the type of problem a Yigong teacher not properly acknowledging the lineage holder and source of the knowledge that's being taught and published. There is karma behind that, obviously, and Sifu Lamb has obviously taken the high road, which is always the wisest and safest. Good that you take a strong stand in reporting the truth about the situation. Based on the quality of your other postings on the Flying Phoenix Chi Kung thread, I trust your observation and reportage. Best to you and Sifu Lamb, Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

To Flying Phoenix Chi Kung practitioners: Last Saturday, February 15, was a milestone in my teaching of FP Chi Kung, for I taught one of the three most powerful advanced healing meditations to one of my Los Angeles students who has been with me for 6 years. This is the first time since I learned them from GM Doo Wai in 1992, that I have taught to anyone any of these 3 most advanced (standing) healing meditations. And it came quite spontaneously out of me--and was a complete surprise to my student . The Spirit just said to me that "it's time." They are what I call "supercharger" meditations, for they create the superabundance of healing FP Healing Energy--such that the Healing Energy will spontaneously "jump-off" of the FP practitioner onto any person in his/her proximity who needs healing and for whom the practitioner has the slightest positive regard. While healing energy is healing energy, this Yoga happens to be so powerful that if practiced at its requisite minimum: daily for a minimum of three months, the FP practitioner, if his Fu is strong (Fu as in Kung Fu), can punch through any iron body, iron-shirt defense of any system, including that of our own in Bok Fu Pai. (This exercise and the like, of course, will never be published on any media, and will be continued to be transmitted from master to student, from one generation to the next, as all real secrets of kung fu will continue to be preserved). So brush up on all the FP Meditations that you've skipped. Master them all. They form a crown of health, well-being, and spiritual consciousness that will ultimately help you clean karma and extend longevity (--not that cleaning karma and living longer are necessarily interlinked--they can be totally independent processes). Later, to those who are called by the Art, the crown jewels are given. As Tao Stillness so kindly pointed out in his extensive Qigong DVD survey a couple of days ago, there is nothing published in the Qigong genre (other than Sifu Hearfield's Sunn Yi Gong and Sifu Jenny Lamb's Yi Gung, as far as I know, that is close to a complete system, that imparts verifiable and repeatable rejuvenating benefits, or has the totally transformative and verifiable healing power of the Flying Phoenix Qigong. I am interested in seeing the Wudangshan-originated Qigong exercises that Steve mentioned, for I am friends with an excellent Wudang Tai Chi and Kung Fu instructor here in Los Angeles, Sifu Steve Leigh, who makes frequent trips to Wudang to train with several masters there. [bTW, 'sorry if there are other legitimate and valuable Qigong systems out there... if I do not acknowledge your Art, it is because I am unaware of it, not disrespecting it!!] Sifu Terry Dunn

Above is my Mercury Retrograde replay of what consider a very important posting by a diligent student of FP Qigong, Fu_Dog, who btw, started this thread back in Nov. 2009 and then several months later contacted me and asked me to answer questions about FP on the thread. (I chanced to find his posting because when I click on my Taobums bookmark on my browser, it always takes me to page 65 of this thread. And on page 65 is where I found Fu-dog's posting summing up his observations on FP Qigong after about 2.5 years of practice. And I must say, that I don't think I can find better words to describe the workings of Flying Phoenix Qigong than Lloyd's concise description--especially as to how FP Qigong can almost instantly effect meditation in movement--objectively, much faster than Tai Chi Chuan in the case of absolute beginners: FP manipulates and refines a subtle form of qi. It is dynamic in that practicing FP allows the practitioner to feel both its gentleness and its power at the same time. Each exercise-meditation begins with a breath control sequence followed by a series of smooth, gentle movements, although some of the basic FP meditations are static without movements. After the initial breath sequence, one can forget about breath and simply do movements. In other words, movements are not tied to breath. The gentleness of the movements and the fact that no single movement is repeated in a sequence (though sequences are repeated) in a single exercise makes this style of qigong more meditative than other forms of qigong which marry movements to breath. In fact, FP is what I would consider true “moving meditation”. The mind will naturally wander during the practice of a FP meditation, however, when this happens if the practitioner gently brings the mind back to the movements, so that your only focus is the movements, then the practice can become a meditation. Now at this time, having trained 5 years, Fu_Dog has demonstrated to me that he is one of the more experienced FP Practitioners and is not far from becoming a certified instructor in the basic level of FP Qigong. Not only does Lloyd give in his posting an honest and hard-worked, hard-won set of tangible health benefits after having practiced FP Qigong for about 2.5 years, but he has most accurately answered numerous questions posted by subscribers to this thread (before I could get to them) each time taking the words right out of my mouth, and in doing so made my duty here so much easier! Thanks again, Lloyd, for your continuing support. Most important and inspiring for all in his post is his account of a failsafe training regimen--that is certain to impart maximum benefits of lasting energization and rejuvenation from this system of Qigong: 100 consecutive days of practice. And this daily practice can be one seated "Monk Serves Wine" meditation and one standing FP Meditation like "Bending the Bows" (which can take 20 to 30 minutes), or it can be the entire system as taught on Volumes 1 thru 5 and Vol.7 of the Chi Kung For Health DVD series--if one has the time to practice 2+ hours per day. As Sifu Hearfield says, "slow and steady wins the race." Remember this basic maxim as you continue to explore the remarkable Flying Phoenix Qigong. And speaking of 100 days of practice: one must never become complacent after having done an initial practice such as this. By all means, savor and enjoy the rewards. But then move forward. For there is always a deeper cultivation to be done with theses arts that have cumulative energy effects, as Lloyd and others have confirmed. When one becomes initiated and then immersed in the various internal arts of the Bok Fu Pa Family System, such as Sifu Garry and myself, and one is practicing one of these arts every day for several years for several hours a day, I think that I can safely say that Sifu Garry and I have each practiced FP Qigong--or something equivalent--for stretches of more than one thousand days. So 300 days and then 1,000 days are next step-up standards of practice for serious and earnest students, whom we both would welcome into our respective schools, as the Tao dictates. For as Sifu Garry so accurately observed in the transmission of our arts: "It is not so much that the student picks the art, but it is that these arts choose the student." And to get into the spiritual zone where the Art picks you, follow this western Magus's A-B-C's of training (which goes far beyond 1,000 days, btw): Consciousness is a symptom of dis-ease. All that move well moves without will. All skillfulness, all strain, all intention is contrary to ease. Practice a thousand times, and it becomes difficult; A thousand thousand, and it becomes easy; a thousand thousand times a thousand thousand, and it is no longer Thou that doeth it, but It that doeth itself through thee. Not until then is that which is done well done. - Aleister Crowley, 1913, Founder, Ordo Templi Orientis - --And please, no irrelevant-to-Qigong discussion about Aleister Crowley's reputation (ridiculously maligned, in my opinion) on this thread. Start a separate one if anyone needs to. The above is merely his Kindergarden instructions to wake up the uninitiated so that they begin to the scratch the surface of any true Yoga--FP Qigong in our case-- and experience its potential to catalyze the Magickal Formula within so that one can have direct conversation with the Holy Guardian Angel--that ALL ancient yogic cultures have achieved and recognize in their spiritual doctrines. ...Food for thought during the retrograde...so that y'all can kick ass when mercury goes direct. All Best, Sifu Terry

Hello Julian, Welcome to the FP thread, You've made great progress in just 5 weeks of practice! I can tell since you are able to see the blue FP healing energy while doing Monk Gazing At Moon, It takes most practitiioners much, much longer, sometimes years--before they see the blue light. Also my body jerks and trembles in the middle of doing Basic Standing #3 and Sitting #2... Shaking and the trembles are normal side-effects at the beginning of FP Meditaiton practice that continues for a long while for most people. As explained throughout this thread, the shaking/vibratory states will become more refined and will smooth out with practice. I still shake sometimes rather intensely with Monk Gazing At Moon (60 40 20) Do you think 8 mins per exercise is sufficient or will the effects be stronger when doing the exercises for a longer time? 8 Min. per exercise is fine for starters. I have beginners do all the Basic FP Meds. on Volumes 1 and 2 for up to15-20 minutes , and the last 3 MSW Meds. on Vol. 2 take however long it takes someone to do each one with 7 repetitions. The basic sitting meds still have a slightly painful effect to my back while doing them. But afterwards I feel very well and relaxed. **Don't worry the Basic "warmup" seated meditations bringing to surface a lot of unfelt pain in the back muscles. That is absolutely normal. Everyone in my group in the early 90's experienced this when we started. Especially with the second basic warm up med with (50 30 10) breathing and the arms lifting to shoulder level and lowering (just like the first move in Tai Chi). The pain throughout the back will pass and completely subsisde with continuous practice. Just work through it. You're doing great. Keep us all abreast of your progress. Best, Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Aurelien, Thanks f or starting the new thread for organized worldwide FP Meditation events. I think it might be better to keep the conversation about FP Meditations sessions here on this thread and dedicate the new thread to just to announcing the scheduled event(s) once everyone is agreed upon the best time. What do you and others think? Sifu Terry

Great idea. Someone can start a new thread here at Taobums specifically to calendar simultaneous worldwide Flying Phoenix meditation sessions. And yes, Aurelien, it would be best and most constructive to set a sequence/agenda of FP Meditations for each session, so that everyone practices the same FP Meditation at the same time as we all in unison progress through the same sequence of FP Meds. during the hour or however long we want to do this. That would be most powerful--per my experience from teaching FP classes over the years. Would anyone like to be the scheduling secretary of the worldwide FP Meditation sessions? 'Looking forward to this. Best, Sifu Terry

Steve, Thank you very much for posting such a wide and comprehensive assessment of various Qigong systems on DVD's that you have tried and had Eric Isen test for you over the years. I had no idea that you had tried out so many Qigong systems on DVD's--wow! And the fact that you've had Eric Isen do readings on the effects of many these systems on your specific health needs lends additional veracity and credibility to your assessments. [**For those subscribers who missed the section of this thread when you and I discussed Eric Isen's work as a medical clairvoyant: over the course of many months, as Steve was trying out the various Flying Phoenix Meditations and having Eric "read" them remotely to discern their potential health benefits to Steve, Steve discussed Eric's readings with me through back-channell (I believe) or perhaps a bit on this thread, and after a few readings, it became obvious to me that Eric's readings were extremely accurate and precise. And as I had posted on this thread (I don't recall where, but will look for it), Eric read for Steve a highest-level martial meditation (not part of the Flying Phoenix system) that I had given Steve the breathing for, but without having told Steve what the specific nature or purpose of the meditation was. And Eric's very precise reading about the purely health benefits for that martial meditation was utterly enlightening to me, because everyone of my classmates and I who learned that meditation from GM Doo Wai had never paid attention to its health benefits (chakra-clearing effects)--because we were all so fixated on the martial energy that it cultivated (that dramatically manifests through the thighs), and that energy's powerful martial applications. But Eric's reading was spot-on as to the precise "blowing out" (clearing) of the higher chakra centers and with it, the brain-activation effects of that particular Qigong exercise. So that sort of "test", if you will, thoroughly convinced me of Eric's accuracy as a gifted medical clairvoyant. Not that I needed anymore verification, but some months later, I cosmically or karmically lucked-in to experiencing a sublime mind-sealing demonstration of Eric's active channel as a deeksha to/for/of Sri Bhagavan's Oneness Meditation energy--just from reading a passage from an email from Eric Isen to Steve Mehl that Steve posted on this thread: Upon reading Steve's posting, I immediately experienced the unmistakable brain activation and "complete absorption"/jhanic state of the Oneness Meditation Movement directed by Sri Bhagavan--which was similarly consciousness-expanding (activating the parietal lobes on the sides of the head and the upper portions of the forebrain), but discernably different from the highest jhanic (or deepest absorption) states that I have experienced over many years in both (1) Tao Ta Pai neikung meditations and in the (2) Flying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Chi Meditations, and (3) Ten Thousands Buddhas Ascending to Heaven Meditations (the latter two taught by GM Doo Wai). I'm recapitulating all this to lend more creedence to your assessments of those Qigong DVD's backed by Eric's remote readings. (And the fact that we're in about the middle of the mercury retrograde makes now the perfect time to review and refine such past findings.) And, of course, I want to take this opportunity to recommend to anyone interested in meditation and spiritual work to experience the very clean, powerful, healing, divinely connecting, ultimately enlightening practice known as the Oneness Meditation Movement--by viewing any of the Sri Bhagavan Oneness Meditation videos on Youtube or to join the Oneness Meditation Movement to participate in the online meditations or in person groups led by Sri Bhagavan's various deeksha's located around the world. (And Steve, Tao Stillness, can of course direct you from here.)] That said: Thank you for relating your experience with Falun Gung. I've had no direct experience practicing this Buddhist spiritual qigong. But years ago, around 1999 or 2000, when news of China's clamping down and persecution of Falun Gung practitioners made the news in the west, I viewed one clip of an advanced Falun Gung practitioner (could have been the founder) doing a seated meditation. And the second I saw his rotational hand movements (along his centerline, and backwards towards him [i.e., counter-clockwise as seen from his right side]), I felt the Falun Wheel turn within my own system and knew instantly that it was a very authentic and powerful spiritual path with very effective Yogas. (Unfortunately, the Falun Gung movement drew strong repression from the Chinese government because they were able to stage massive demonstrations by 10,000 people in an instant.) But thank you for mentioning Falun Gung because I want to add that to my answer to your question: authentic Falun Gung properly taught by instructors in that sect is every bit as powerful and spiritually uplighting a spiritual path as any that I have come across. I will comment on the other Qigong DVD's and systems that you've reviewed in your post, further down the road, as I come across them, if I come across them. Thanks again for your very interesting survey report. Best, Sifu Terry www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Bubbles, Thank you so very much for your concern and support with this lovely Psalm. I know it well...and know how to use it--along with the rest of the Book of Psalms! Best, Sifu Terry Dunn

Hi Steve, Why don't you post a list of Chi Kung DVD's that you found to be ineffective or a waste of time. Your experience and opinion is just as valid as anybody else's, including my own. Especially since you have so many years of TM and are attuned to Sri Bhagavan's Oneness Meditation channel. Plus you have Eric Isen's excellent back-up as a medical clairvoyant. There's nothing wrong with expressing your opinion of a program that you've experienced --either positive or negative--as a public service. For most of my life, my policy has been: not to go out of my way to say or post negative or derogatory comments about other people's published works on martial, yogic, and healing arts--unless the material is directly harmful in my opinion or the teacher is a menace to society (and I have come across a couple of these). Hence last fall, I came out with scathing criticism of this terrible Tai Chi informercial product called "Tai Cheng" sold by this company called "Beach Bodies" that sells aerobic fitness programs on American television. I came out hard and blasted this terrible Tai Chi material because (in my somewhat expert opinion) the instructor makes beginners' mistakes--that if emulated would cause actual harm--and in my opinion, by no stretch of reason or common sense should be teaching what he teaches to the masses. See my posting and the thread at: http://thetaobums.com/topic/28585-tai-cheng-infomercial-2013-cheez-whiz-or-what/ Actually, that was easy follow-up on my part because a friend of mine, Debbie Shayne, co-owner of Plum Publications/Logos Books in Santa Cruz, CA was the tip of the spear who first came out railing at "Tai Cheng" and called it a "Cheez Whiz" version of Tai Chi Chuan. I could only agree. I have not seen any other Chi Kung videos other than one that the program director at a PBS affiliate in San Mateo sent to me in 2008 as an example of something that PBS would promote as a premium give-away during its fundraising pledge drives. the DVD was titled, "7 Minutes of Magic" by Lee Holden, and was described as a blend of "the best of qigong and yoga" and had a morning and an evening routine. i wasn't impressed with any of it because the Qigong as certainly not best of anything that I had ever seen in 35 years, nor was the yoga remarkable. (And with regards, to yoga, I have very high standards as well and the only Yoga instructor that I laud and support in America is Ana Forrest as I used to rent her studio space in Santa Monica in the early 1990's to teach my Tai Chi classes and I exchanged lessons (her Yoga for my Tai Chi) for several weeks)--and she was the first Yoga instructor to show me the physiologically and psychologically transformative power of Ashtanga Yoga. (nowadays, Ana now worldwide teaching workshops for instructors in her expression of Ashtanga Yoga). The Holden DVD looked nice, it was filmed in a beautiful lakeshide setting, but the content in my opinion was totally unremarkable. But such pleasant-looking, innocuous, ho-hum workout is what PBS saw fit to distribute a lot through its pledge drives, I guess. When I sighed about the dumbing down and dilution of Qigong--specifically citing this program after I saw it--to my Tao Tan Pai classmate Hugh Morison, he said, "What do you expect?!!!--what do you think America is going to buy more of: Bud Light or Trappist Ale?!!!" Well, at least 7 Minutes of Magic isn't as bad and potentially injurious as "Tai Cheng". But in my opinion, it does not represent Qigong well nor anything close to a complete body of Qigong knowledge that will trigger the body's natural healing processes nor extend your life. Period. And the fact that the terms "energy", "energy expert", "healing", and "modern qigong" are used in this kind of programs' promotional ads, just makes me wince. For Qigong is a rarified and sublime art. But this packaging of downstream hokum and this sort of lowest-denominator marketing is simply irritating to me. Maybe I'm just getting too old--and beyond the age of tolerance. So Steve, other than these 2 products, I can't give a critique on other Qigong DVD's because I haven't seen any others. If anyone cares to send me sample DVD's to view or Youtube clips to review, I'll be glad to give my honest opinion of the material. But as I said earlier: Steve, you should post your evaluations of various Qigong DVD programs that you've tried, especially since you have a solid experiential base of knowledge from Oneness Meditation, TM, your Flying Phoenix practice and from your practice of Sifu Garry's Sunn Yee Gung. Best, Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Hello MRWHY, Welcome to the FPCK thread. I'm glad to hear that you've gotten around to practicing the FP MEDITATIONS and that you already have the DVD's. And thank you for the compliment about my postings. It's really a pleasure to have a forum and a reason to discuss the many aspects of this truly wonderful meditative practice that is so healing and enriching in the most tangible way. So, I also want to express thanks to all the subscribers' and FP practitioners' interesting questions and even their challenging points of view...because in responding to the many questions and comments over the years, I've had to stretch on many occasions and reach to a deeper or a higher, more inspired view of the knowledge that I already had but hadn't quite processed or fully applied fully to a teaching situation. By way of explanation--and being that it's mercuiry retrograde, I'll pay a little homage to one of the more influential martial arts teachers in my life, John Davidson, who was the senior student of Share K. Lew at the Taoist Sanctuary in L.A. and then San Diego (when it moved there in the late up 70's) who taught me perhaps the most about what to do with the yogic , healing and martial arts knowledge that the master taught us. It was Davidson who during a short window of about 3-4 years in the late 1970's and early 80's brilliantly funneled down the Tao Tan Pai knowledge from Master Lew to all of us students--in the semantically perfect context of "warriorship" as taught in Carlos Castaneda's series of books about Yaqui Indian sorcery. On top of the many practicum lessons in Tao Tan Pai healing, neikung, and kung fu--many of them breath-taking, John left an indelible reminder in my head early on when in response to some question as to why we practiced some meditation a certain way, I said, "I know the answer, but I can't articulate it." To which his spirit retorted, "You must articulate. If you can't articulate, you know NOTHING!! --so that is, to some extent, why I try to give the most accurate answers that I can. Best, Sifu Terry www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Of course the mental and emotional states that motivate action are what generates karma--in this case, karma of the very long, aeonic, suffering kind. The karmic consequences for falling under the control of a phoney guru using cult psychological methods--and giving up one's free will-- are indeed severe and grave--and go far beyond the wasting of time and energy believing in false and perverse doctrines and emulating the charlatan. It can be a ticket to hell. But as to why people go in for cults, the basic answer is that they need to--out of a psychological addiction. Due to a real or imagined deficiency or inadequacy--the feeling that something's missing (usually, the idealized version of the absent or non-demonstrative father--or mother)--and the identification with "the guru" as the fully- satiating provider of what is believed and felt to be missing. The power of psychological addiction is great and is just short of that of chemical addiction (e.g., to opiates). Manipulated by a diabolical mind, it can be very, very dangerous and deadly--as Jonestown, the Branch Davidian (David Koresh), and Hail Bopp cult (aka, "Heaven's Gate"--the most bizarre and weakest-ass nonsense ever to cause people to give up on life--and yet the most deadly mass suicide in American history (41 deaths)--in Rancho Santa Fe, California in) are tragic testaments to. The genocides and war atrocities committed by the Nazi's in Europe and the Japanese throughout Asia during WWII; Cambodia; Iraq (ag. the Kurds); recently in Ruwanda; and the readiness of the country of North Korea to do the same to its neighbors is the same phenomenon on a more massive scale. **Then there have also been interesting studies in America on cult participants that found that the average stay organized cults for most people was a little over 3 years, and that most of these short-timers were in their late teens, 20's, and early 30's and needed the cult as a transition to exit from their family systems. So as to why some people need to follow a cult leader--even a disreputable one, one answer is to get closure on an adolescent, pre-adult stage of development. One last stab and trying to "learn" from the "perfect parent." One of the very best (and inadvertant) studies of cult phenomenon is a very hard-to-find film titled "Ashram", which was made by a German filmmaker in the late 1970's or early 1980's who was a devoted follower of of the deceased bagwan sri rajneesh (latest commercial resurrection is "Osho", btw) but who, when he finally completed the film, realized that the film record he made of the guru's manifested "teachings" at Rajneeshpuram, was a terrifying picture of sheer bedlam--a stunning and irrefutable indictment of a pernicious cult leader, filled with unfathomable depths of anger at and contempt towards people (I recall the film showed "mass therapy sessions where dozens of couples sitting naked on muddy ground playing "paddy cakes", an "encounter group where a woman was beaten and raped, and, even Tai Chi being taught by the cult's resident psychiatrist who was the most wooden, Frankenstein-ish person that I had ever seen to this very day--and I have seen a lot in my 59 years, 40 of them spent studying Chinese martial arts). This film was played in the art house circuit in America for years in the early to mid- 1980's, but then the rajneesh org. spent its formidable resources to try and have every copy of it destroyed. Hopefully there's a copy of that film and its been preserved digitally. It is an accidental masterpiece that should be made available for study by anyone afflicted by or in the vicinity of any type of cult manipulator--and especially by law enforcement--and of course, by mental health professionals and spiritualists dealing with brain-washing and mind parasites, respectively. 2nd to that film the CBS 60-Minutes special on the cult was very well done and informative. Amazing interviews with his followers. And since "adept" was kind enough to refer me to links to the majority opinion about Dondrup Dorje over in Europe, I will urge here that anyone not old enough to know about Dalles, Oregon, U.S.A incident in 1984, and who has been seduced by the writings of "Osho", to read this and related news articles carefully, to see how far a cult manipulation can go--and to avoid a frightful disillusionment (and worse) down the road: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_Rajneeshee_bioterror_attack (Rise and fall of Rajneeshpuram) *And I just now happened to find this fascinating Australian 60 Minutes episode and viewed it for the first time, which shows rajneesh answer numerous questions posed to him by the Australian news journalist: http://video.au.msn.com/watch/video/the-orange-people/x101q8c Aho Mitakuye Oyasin... --"Help and Health to all my brothers and sisters", a Lakota Sioux invocation upon entering/exiting the sweatlodge (place of prayer and healing) Zen-Bear www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Thank you very much for your support, concern, and your prayers. Most sincerely, Terry Dunn P.S. If you care to spread the word of Truth and preserve its Light, please view the video clips that I posted in reply to Captain Mar-Vell's posting. Many thanks. And please tune into my customized, 3-part sealer: Primordial Energy of Air with its twenty- two rayed diadem of light, the 9th Trump, and the 8th Trump.

Captain Mar-Veil, Thank you for your support and sympathy. If you would like to help keep the torch of Truth lit around my plight, my battle against Dreamworks, and what I consider to be the irrefutable fact of Dreamworks idea theft, please view these first few short video clips on this Youtube site, appropriately named "Eat Your Panda", that show, I believe, Dreamworks star witness, the alleged creator of "their" Kung Fu Panda, transparently lying: ***And all 15 short video clips are posted here along with the entire 4-hour transcript (in eleven sections): Please view these short 2-4 minute videos of Dreamworks' star witness who claims he is the creator of the Kung Fu Panda idea, post a comment on each page if you care to9, and then forward the links to your friends and family. In the end, it will bring fame to all the key witnesses at Dreamworks who testified that they never heard of me and that this person, Michael Lachance, created "his" Kung Fu Panda idea before I pitched my Zen-Bear, the Kung Fu Panda project to his boss on Nov. 20, 2001. Lachance's testimony under oath is quite remarkable and in some places highly entertaining (what i call "disgustingly hilarious"), and I also believe that these clips will have educational value, because they can comprise a case study that I hope will be taught in primary, secondary, and even college levels to teach students how to recognize certain types of lies. Thank you very kindly for your support and help. Sifu Terry Dunn P.S. --and may Primordial Energy of Air with its twenty- two rayed diadem of light, which is the Magical manifestation of Chokmah, Wisdom and the Logos, and the 9th Trump, and the 8th Trump bless you and keep you. www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Hello Somamech, Nice to hear from you again--and on this different thread. Sorry for taking long toi reply but I have been deeply embattled and this final last-ditch effort with the U.S. Supreme Court is a very long shot proposition. And thank you for your good questions on the Flying Phoenix Chi Kung thread and for your kind compliment here. I hope everything is well with you and yours in Taiwan. Thanks for posting the Fugazi video clip. And thanks for the comparison! Standing up for truth with conviction is not that hard, actually...for the alternative is just far too grim on every level. FYI, being a lover of comparative east-west religions and scriptures that I am, I have recently been reading in "The Lost Books of the Bible" what Eusebius called "the Wonderful Epistle of St. Clement to the Corinthians". And the directness and simplicity of one passage I read yesterday I'll recite now to explain why standing up for Truth and never compromising with Evil is always the best path (as also seconded by author Stephen King as a constant theme throughout all his books): 11 For nothing is impossible with God but to lie. I. CLEMENT, CHAP. XII, v.11 All Best, Sifu Terry www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

adept, Thanks for the links and clarification. I have no direct knowledge of nor experience with Buddhist groups in the UK or Europe. I am aware of the Buddhist schools in the U.S. to some extent, as I am friends and collaborator with a fine filmmaker David Cherniack in Toronto, Canada who has done doc's on American Buddhist movement (and various schisms, etc.) and also has direct access to the Dalai Lama, who permitted him to do several films on Tibetan Buddhism, including the "Oracle", for which he was allowed to film the state oracles of Tibet, including the Neichung Oracle. (at www.allinonefilms.com) Hmmm, the number of negative reports does seem to indicate that there may be some cult intent and methods employed over there at Pathgate. And no working links to the late Penor Rinpoche's org is also brow-raising. Teaching martial arts is one thing, but teaching Tibetan Buddhism in full regalia as a lama completely unsanctioned--if what you and the other protestors say are true-- is something that I thought no one in their right mind would do. For I understand there are karmic consequences for profaning the dharma as there all in all monastic spiritual traditions. (5) to preach religion and not practise it is to be lot a parrot saying a prayer; and this is a grievous failure. (6) The giving in alms and charity of things obtained by theft, robbery, or deceit, is like lightning striking the surface of water; and this is a grievous failure. (9) Performing meritorious actions in order merely to attain fame and praise in this world is like bartering the mystic wish-granting gem for a pellet of goat's dung; and this is a grievous failure. (7) Seeing that unfaithfulness to the religious vows will result in one's going to the miserable states of existence, it is useless to have entered the Order if one live not a holy life. -- from Precepts of the Guru's in "Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines" by W.Y. Evans-Wentz Perhaps the Mahayana vehicle is too wide in this respect and is in need of policing. But karma will do its ineluctable reckoning just the same. At any rate, I'll pass on the info and question my student and friend a bit more about his experience. ZB

Aurelien, Avatar is a sanskrit term that means: the human or animal form of a Hindu god on earth, but which connotes deliberate descent or incarnation of a powerful divinity or supreme being (into human or animal form, btw). Applied outside of Hinduism, Jesus Christ and the Buddha could be described as avatars. In Buddhism, bodhisattva's can also be considered avatars: spiritual beings who have gotten off the wheel of deaths and rebirths but who out of compassion choose to reincarnate in order to help mankind move towards the divine. Saints recognized by major religions can be generally termed "avatars." In the most dumbed-down popular usage, "avatar" is the graphic, iconic representation of a person playing a video game. Ironically--but not surprisingly, the super-successful James Cameron animated film "Avatar" used the term in the most pedestrian and absolutely non-spiritual sense: the "avatar" was the genetically engineered humanoid-with-tail Na'vi body with the mind of a remotely located human. So that was a godless avatar--and therefore, according to my traditional sense of th word, NOT an avatar! Way to go Hollywood, you lowest-denominating mopes!!! Aurelien, you ask fun question: "Can the same avatar be met under different shapes?" I suppose if an avatar was a powerful yogin or magus, he could easily "shift his shape" and appear to the same person in different forms. Not only that, an avatar could also easily appear to multiple persons at the same time. You can learn to practice this yourself by using Carlos Castaneda's instructions for "dreaming the double" outlined in his fifth book. Towards the beautiful ending of his fourth book, Castaneda also gives a account of one of his teachers appearing differently at the same time to three groups of his students around a campfire, including Carlos. For as we know--or should know if we are accomplished yogins--the space-time continuum is indeed foldable. There are many accounts of both in the religious, yogic, and mythic literature across all cultures. If the avatar is supremely powerful, it would not even have to be a "shape-shifter"; it would simply telepathically place the desired image of itself into the mind of the observer, as easily as my spiritual guide communicates with me at times solely with images from a particular Tarocchi deck. Best, Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Raynevin, Thanks for the suggestion. In actuality, that's what I tried to do in the 2-fold brochure instructions that were enclosed with my DVD series, which is also on my website: http://taichimania.com/essentialguidelines.html But even a matrix format displaying options of various training schedules of FP Meditations I think will be giving a little too much structure and direction on my part. Everyone approaches and responds to the FP Qigong system differently. 22 years ago, I learned the system in a particular order from GM Doo Wai with back-up by two of his senior students at the time. Thus I have presented the "Basic Level" of the FP Chi Kung system on the DVD series in the same order that GM Doo Wai taught them to me. And my basic guidance has been for beginning students of Qigong to: (1) Go through all the exercises in Vols 1, 2 and 3 and find the FP Meditations that resonate the most--i.e., that generate the most tangible and profound rejuvenating effects--and practice those exercises every day for 3 to 6 months (two standing and two seated on a daily basis, if possible) (2) and then, as time permits, gradually add to that practice the other less immediately impactful exercises, so that one ultimately practices all the FP exercises regularly. (e.g., At 6 mos. down the road, one can "rotate out" the initial most powerful exercises, and add on the others...so that one covers all of the FP Meditations in Vols. 1 through 3 and then is fully conditioned and ready to learn the Long Form Standing meditation taught on Volume 4. (3) Learn and master the Long Form Standing Meditation on Volume 4. Again, when one has gained proficiency in practicing the Long Form Standing Meditation on Vol.4 with eyes closed and breathing sequence from memory, this practice subsumes and obviates the practice of all the shorter meditations of the preceding volumes, and one has crossed a major threshold in FP Qigong and the art of Qigong in general--both in terms of deriving REAL health benefits, and in terms of beginning to master Energy Work. (If one is advanced in Tai Chi Chuan or other internal arts, one can jump right into Volume 3 or Volume 4--as "ridingtheox" did several years ago--and derive excellent benefits. But the entire FPCK system on the DVD series is worth completing and practicing thoroughly). I cannot emphasize how important it is to cover the entire Flying Phoenix Qigong system as presented on the DVD series. Sifu Hearfield and several of my students and DVD users have posted on this thread at different times helpful reminders that Flying Phoenix Heavening Healing Chi Meditations is rare becuase it is a complete SYSTEM of Taoist Chi Kung. Most of what is published in books and videos in the past decade (1) is not even Qigong according to my standards and experience-based definition of what Qigong is and how it works, and (2) produce no significant lasting or at anytime tangible health effects except by temporary placebo effect and hypnotic self-delusion...and that includes a whole slew of downstream dilutions generally dubbed "modern qigong". At best, such made-up systems might have the same effect as the many modern systems of diluted Indian Yoga presently taught in the U.S. (excluding Ana Forrest's Ashtanga teachings, of course.) I again sigh--as I did about 3 years ago on this thread-- and deplore the recent trend of dilution and "MacDonaldization" of Qigong--that very low quality bits and pieces of calisthenic flotsam are being peddled as Qigong exercises--such that unwitting health experts like Dr. Mehmet Oz are encouraging the practice of generic Qigong exercises--which again, are not Qigong--because there is no such thing as generic Qigong! Now back to my urging of all FP Practitiioners to practice the entire basic level of the Flying Phoenix System: I will defer to Solala Towler, publisher of original "Empty Vessel" Journal of Contemporary Taoism of the past 25 years or so (and whose publication is now on line at http://abodetao.com/tag/solala-towler/ ) who wrote this about the first FP Chi Kung video series I produced on VHS cassette in 1994, which I now post here--20 years later-- to remind readers that Ehrmeishan Flying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Chi Kung ("Fei Feng San Gung") created by Taoist monk Feng Tao Teh is a complete system--preserved by six generations of GM Doo Wai's lineage, which makes it a rare yogic treasure: "Because of the great interest in Qigong in the west, it is important to have bona fide teachings by bona fide teachers. Too often students wind up learning a little bit of this form and a little bit of another, while never learning any complete system. This series is a good example of a serious and gifted instructor who offers a complete system of healing qigong to the serious student." -- Solala Towler, Editor, The Empty Vessel -- Journal of Contemporary Taoism. Thank you once again, Solala. Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

I've been around both the Chinese martial arts world and the new age barnyard for exactly 40 years and I've seen every type of cult, phoney guru, and charlatan-driven-only-by-avarice. I've also had my skills (as a counselor and certified hypnotherapist trained in the mid-1980's-- hired and well-tested as a counselor to help (by "deprogramming") some very, very deeply troubled, off-the hook, "almost-gone" victims of truly diabolical cult manipulation. I have the Chinese martial arts background to attest just by viewing his demo on the Singapore police video that Lama Dundrop Dorje's skill is real. He put in his years (decades) in traditional Chinese martial systems and he is recognized by both Chinese physical culture and he is an authentic Tibetan lama and the long-time bodyguard of the late great lama, Penor Rinpoche--or so I was told (I have no verified knowledge of this claim). I have numerous students in Tai Chi Chuan, Qigong and kung-fu on both coasts of the U.S., and many of them are affluent. One of them (in L.A.)--a student who I have taught on a weekly basis for the past 7 years--has taken Lama D. Dorje's 2-week meditation intensive at his Pathgate foundation outside of London twice in the past 2 years. He came back both times with good results and a creditable report...although he was surprised at what the Lama put him through both retreats: a week of seated meditation 6 hours a day. Lama Dorje uses his high-level Tai Chi skill to attract students and to "hook" them into how he teaches the Buddhist path--which I assume he is formally sanctioned to do. Every teacher has their appeal, and "target market"--either conscious or subconscious...just because Lama Dorje attracts the well-to-do who can afford $10K workshops (and reportedly favors a particular Italian high-end fashion label) does not mean that he is a fraud or charlatan. His Buddhist knowledge seems real, his Tai Chi looks advanced and formidable, and if he is a Tibetan lama, then he has something to teach some niche of humanity--however small and wealthy. So I reserve judgment until I see an immoral act of some kind. Peace out. ZB P.S. I like the Eric Burden song. For the evil shit I've seen in the cult-pervaded 1980's in California with the likes of baghwan rajneesh (chased out of Dalles, Oregon and deported for contaminating the entire town with disease-causing bacteria in order to win a local election--and resurrected as "Osho" of late by his surviving money machine), another Indian "holy man" with a huge worldwide following, whose followers mimicked his every habit-- but who died 3 months after he was exposed having sexual relations with a 16-year old girl), and "Ramtha" who had followers trying to heat rocks on top of their heads in meditation(!), all gave creedence to the saying: "When the going gets wierd, the wierd turn pro."

Hi David, Thanks for posting this and sharing my advice with the thread. Best, Sifu Terry

Oops. I'm little confused. I read a good number of posts on this thread and couldn't figure out what its topic--general or specific--was. But I think this thread is about the practice of Kunlun. By its name, "Lama Dorje" I thought it was about the person and teachings of Lama Dundrop Dorje who who is a Tibetan lama based in the U.K. who is also a very high level Tai Chi master and long-term bodyguard to high lamas such as the late HH Lama Penor Rinpoche. At any rate, very nice sample of Lama Dorje's Tai Chi teaching and explication of the Buddhist path: peace out, zen-bear