Astral Monk

I dunno whats going on here, but theres some weird writing floating in space over the mist where some guys arms reaching out...looks like some devious summoning ritual

I got the impression that maybe SFQ and Zhineng may have some common sources...very similar in approach and philosophy. 8)

Thats the Spring Forest title. Generically this type of movement is called 'opening/closing' (to the side), or maybe expanding the energy ball. 8)

To really see the difference, try this basic exercise, opening and closing to the side (in SFQ, called 'breathing of the universe'): Master Li's instruction is inhale to open, exhale to close. Let speed follow breath. Youre opening the ball, then compressing. Once you get a feel for this, try the opposite--exhale to open, inhale to close. In this sense, rather than drawing the ball open from the arms, you are more pushing it open fron the center. And rather than compressing, you are actively drawing in, sucking the ball smaller. Theres always this yin/yang polarity at work though. As Master Li says of the 'whole body breathing' technique, when we inhale (generally, naturally), the pores of our skin close, drawing in energy. When we exhale, they open. So their action seems counter to what we feel as natural breath, which is opening to draw, close to release. 8)

Actually, i was gonna say, try doing the opposite way as well...so once you get confortable, you can compare. The difference is like between normal breathing and 'reverse' breathing. Exhaling on openings and inhaling on closings has a different feeling. In martial arts generally, you exhale with strikes. Theres the side punching brochade this might be best applicable to. Thinking about actual bow work, you inhale to draw then release. Never sit there bow drawn holding your breath. So again, follow a more natural pattern. In the draw bow brochade, you can inhale to draw, then exhale once you reach full extension to sink and settle, inhaling to go back to center again. So, a bit of a combination. 8)

My bad, i think thats it, sorry! Ahah well in that case, i reckon spirits might be a way of measuring progress, if they have useful things to say...some systems/practices seemto suggest as much! 8)

I thought he meant a system that includes some kindof feedback mechanism so you know how to measure your progress...like a qigong fitbit

Inhale to open, exhale to close, generally. If youre coordinating breath with movement, move at the speed of breath, not the other way round--let your breathing guide the movement. Ultimately you want to feel the whole body breathing, which is just seamless coordination of opening/closing. If you feel the need to move super slow, then just breath normally, dont try and cooridinate with the motions. 8)

Theres also level-appropriate considerations. Ppl have expectations that more specific and focussed things need to be going on when theyre not at the need-to-know level. Go into a taiji class and ask about breathing, they might tell you to keep doing it, lol, nothing special more. And then, over time, keep a watch on your body and its states, before, during, and after practice. You might find a natural segue into deeper breathing or a need to focus on one part of the body. Ultimately, teachers are the traditional feedback system in this case. Even if you see them very infrequently. They just nudge a little to keep you in the right direction. Without that, its all jungles and machettes and no compass! 8)

Steve is correct here imo. Good energy work is about establishing and maintaing balance. When you find that balance, the results are evident. Imagine a boat in rough waves, going to and fro, nearly tipping, nearly sinking. Then the storm breaks and the water is calm as glass. Before there was abundant 'feeling', now, its absence. Its a caution to chase explicit feelings as a measure of success, because quite often they reflect an imbalance (as one might observe in TCM practice for instance). I reckon theres lots of systems that work this way--deliberate imbalances to create noticable effects. Anyway, finding a system and teacher isnt as onerous as it seems. Tonnes of systems promoted online nowadays, with regular retreats and community support at a distance. I think it is a must to get grounded with irl teachers, if only once a year or whatever, to get going. Youre going to have to practice after that anyway, and 90% of the work is on you, outside of the classroom. But yeah, it will take some $$ and will. But at least youcan ask directly what to look for as you progress. This isnt always available from books and whatnot. 8)

Looks like you have your answer. Ask your disembodied spirits for feedback then and recommend to your friend. Why ask the question in the first place? Got a bit confused there lol 8)

Any legit qigong system will have a prescribed order of exercises. It isnt like lifting--you cant just do a bunch of random things in a row. Its more like building a tower, brick by brick--you cant work on the 3rd floor coffee room till you get to the 3rd floor. So its best not to look at isolated exercises, but at whole systems. Depending on your needs and goals, a systematic program might begin with active exercises (like baduanjin) and finish with static postures (standing post or meditation) or vice versa. 8)

Shurman: "I simplified the tai chee so it was easy to learn" Youre right escott, looks like modern western qigong, which amounts to mostly physical stretching. It might be helpful to some in context, but its a bit of a misnomer. Even still, qigong isnt useful for young kids...our bodies need to mature before we start actually working with energy. And taiji grows out of that. Before then its just wushu and flexibility, which is fine too. Any martial arts will help deliver focus. My godson is autistic and he's been doing taekwondo for years in a school that had a special needs focus. Repitition, focus, community...all important. In the end, its going to be whatever interests your kid the most. What engages them best. Baduanjin or 5 animals sports are widely available and pretty harmless, since they are pretty low on energy and high on exercise. Ive been seeing kids yoga around, but i think you need to add movement to balance asanas. 8)

Taomeow, if u go for good plz dont delete all ur old posts like some ppl do!! I still need to read about coffee and taiji!!! 8)

I bet they were impressive when all new and shiny!! 8)

Chapter 2: Those that are "afraid of sufferings arising from the discrimination of birth-death" and thus "seek for Nirvana", are not aware that "Nirvana is the Ālayavijñāna where a revulsion [parāvritti] takes place by self-realization." If a thing is born, it is born into something which it is not, and when it dies, it dies apart from that which it is not. These are discriminations, which we've seen are empty. Seeking Nirvana means gaining something that is not present--hence, another layer of discrimination. 8)

Now generally I would suggest that differentiation is something that begins during this life, definitely at birth, if not before in utero. However, there is an implication that the Alayavijnana is already 'defiled' from habit-energy that goes waaay back in time. What do we make of this? 8)

Chapter 2 XII: "It is the same with the hare's horns, Mahamati, whose non-existence is asserted in reference to the bull's horns [existence]. But, Mahamati, when the bull's horns are analysed to their minutest atoms...there is afterall nothing to be known as atoms. The non-existence of what, is to be affirmed in reference to what? As with other things, this reasoning from reference does not hold true." All appearances are ultimately empty, so trying to establish the being or not being of something through reference is pointless. Or, we can say that the function of discrimination and differentiation is endless, without limit. There cannot be an 'ultimate' discrimination--this doesnt even make sense. Hence, references are self perpetuating and endlessly oscilating, but never actually revealing. To put it philosophically, A and Not-A are purely epistemological, never ontological, reflecting only a cognitive process building on its own effect. Hence the idea of bootstrapping appearances and why the world is like a reflection. By 'world' we mean the product of this process, which we would say is the source of developing attachments. 8)

In approaching a philosophical reduction to fundamental experience, I always dissolved appearances into generic sensations, which, I supposed, had an inherently blended essence--that is, in itself sensation appears as an undifferentiated mass of potential, and it requires a cognitive act to begin discriminating 'objects'. However, the idea of the vijnanas suggests that not only are there unique senses, but that they also naturally make discriminations. Reflecting on this I see the sense--as the eye, for example, actually has special receptors for varying light conditions, effectively breaking up the flow of incoming information at the contact source. So, what I looked at as 'pure sensation' would be, rather, pure 'awareness' that hasnt made memory or notice of the inherent distinctions of the senses. This seems more like what we see as the nature of the Alayavijnana--a pure non-discriminating awareness. Whereas the Manas, being a faculty of intention, seems to function to fill the Alayavijnana with sensational clutter, whence tangled embroiling references take root. Part of the problem of the philosophers is their inability to move beyond binary differentiation as intended via Manas--everything becomes a 'this' or 'not-this', as the direction and locus of will in action is necessarily singular, hence polarising when reflected back against memory. Instead of continuity, there appears discrimination of self and world. And yet, this discrimination takes place, as it were, on the same canvas. 8)

I just started reading this sutra myself, finally. About time to see why it is oft mentioned in zen literature. 8)

The ignorant are caught up in the show, unable to see past the movie magic, the persistance of vision. The wise see that the show is a show, nothing more than flickering lights, which themselves possess no form. Why? The Lanka's answer is the natural function of the parts of the mind, the function to reveal and discriminate objects, which when reflected in thought builds a network or web of associations that are very difficult to shake off. How do the wise do it? 8)

Developed by whom? The Chinese? 8)

Where is this first suggested? 8)

Some interesting points, including subtle gender differences to earlier teachings and lack of cultish appearances. I also wonder how we can extend origin of so many texts to India when there are no copies of the originals. How do we know some texts werent simply composed in Chinese? This seems like an important point: "...the early adherents of the Bodhisattvayana—who were probably very much in the minority—were prepared to go to great lengths to uphold their ideal against what they conceived to be the traditional goal of Buddhist practice, namely arhatship or nirvana for oneself alone..." (pg.84) It seems the vow of universal compassion and service was emerging as having greater worth. But it is puzzling--if Buddha himself didnt take the bodhisattva type path, isnt this suggesting that bodhisattvas have more compassion than Buddha? Yet they aspire to become buddhas. And later we have great bodhisattvas basically making themselves eternal in order to continue serving their vow, even when Buddha himself completed his mission and went to parinirvana. So we need to ask, what evidence is there for such an aspiration or teaching being present in the earliest form of Buddhism or in Buddhas earliest recorded teachings? 8)