Sunya

No. like I said, its a step on the path.

did it come out of your mouth as a burp? was probably gas. might've been prana, or chi, moving around. i feel chi much more when im falling asleep or just wake up. for obvious reasons. kundalini is intense. its when the subtle essence of chi is awakened,there is usually a strong event that leads to a non-physical experience. theres also sexual energy sublimation and deepening of awareness. it'll happen naturally if you keep meditating, its not the end all be all, just a step on the way as attachment to the physical body lessens.

forget it

please tell me you asked for capsules and not pellets??? the pellets have to be chewed before swallowing and taste like tree bark. i've done it before, you get used to it.. but I suggest capsules if you have sensitive taste buds

I hope you don't die before then. we never know when we will die, life is so impermanent and unpredictable.. having such a long term plan is iffy. what do you mean by "we all know what happens when you let go of everything" ? what do you think happens?

lol where does that come from? I love Data but he is much too conceptual and logical to be a Taoist

interesting, i'm learning. thanks Stig what would you say is the ultimate goal for Taoists? is there a realization or insight of Tao? and what happens to that individual when that realization occurs? and what happens after?

if you have nothing beneficial to offer to the discussion please don't participate.

this is a very contradictory sentence. how can you give a name to something which is not and make it into a noun? the latin origins of the word Reify really don't matter. I've told you how the word is used.

I'm not the Buddha. a Buddha has skillful means, sees the karmas of others which means he knows exactly how to help them through his omniscience. I don't think you can compare yourself to a Buddha. you're just a guy trying to help others.

this is a good observation, I benefit from it. thanks

welcome! nice to have you.

yes that is the definition, to make real is another http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=reify both are relevant, and saying that Tao is both manifest and unmanifest, nothing and everything is still reifying because you are saying that Tao is.

LOL! i'm happy someone else thought that too.

good topic. I think that its tough to say. I think for traditions that employ clearing of channels like Qi Gong, Tantra (Buddhist, Hindu) and other paths would have much less to deal with. the Christian Mystic, Jim Marion, wrote that in his experience the Dark Night is the clearing out of negativities once the pure subtle energies are activated in the being through contemplation. He just suggests surrendering. which is very good advice. this is basically what Kundalini teachers say as well. But the methods employed by Christian mystics aren't as robust as the ones used in the more... experienced? traditions from Asia. and mostly be concentration meditations. Buddhism specifically is tough to say. in Vajrayana there is clearing of channels. in the Tantric and non-tantric Buddhist paths, the Vipassana methods are taught which are not concentration but more of bare awareness techniques, which would help A LOT during emotional upheavals and anything Dark Night related. so I think Buddhist practitioners have very good methods in dealing with negativities that surge forth. I think Qi Gong is great.. I also think learning to take a step back and simply witness whatever arises without discernment or attachment is also great. I think the problems lie in paths that do not have awareness techniques more so than paths that do not learn to work with energy. I think ultimately the best path should utilize both. and the biggest problems would lie in paths that rely solely on concentration like prayer/contemplation etc. maybe this is why the Christian mystics focused so much on the Dark Night? it must've been very strong for them.

mm nice quote..thats very good... yes.. i've been thinking about that too. how desire creates illusion and due to wrong view that illusion becomes seemingly reality! which is quite scary. so the Muslim martyrs who blow themselves up believing they will go to heaven and have 99 virgins.. will actually experience that!!! but only temporarily of course. and then they have some suffering to go through for all the suffering they caused

I think a Buddhist would agree with that statement whole heartedly !

oh well. i think you are misreading his intent, truly. this is my summer before the last year of undergrad, so i'm just relaxing.. working a little.. meditating.. reading.. and cruising on the internets. i have way too much freetime and need to meditate more. I just got back from a year in Asia and it was very hard to maintain a healthy spiritual practice there.. though I tried. i'm still recovering from that!

Like I said before, this is not a forum that is exclusive to Taoists. there are many other Buddhists here, and Hindus, and Rastafarians. you name it. Nothings wrong with E Sangha. I like it here. I like communicating with people here, sharing ideas, learning. All are welcome. but unfortunately I wish there were less of these sarcastic fellows who never really have anything worthwhile to say. Why are you here I asked? all you do is create drama and never have anything beneficial to say. Why do you feed off negativity like a hungry ghost?

OHHH!! So following Vajra around in threads and incessantly making sarcastic comments personally attacking him was all done because of your compassion in trying to help him. You are so kind man.

hey Songs, you accuse Vajra of posting about Buddhism in every thread, which actually isn't true, but anyway.. what's worse. posting about Buddhism in every thread, or creating threads that personally attack people, even creating another username to sarcastically attack another person and follow them around in threads (you were Jesusfreak), and still continually personally attacking them in threads? http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?s=&amp...st&p=136763 so whats worse? wanting to have spiritual discussion or personally attacking people on a spiritual forum? you really don't contribute to this forum at all. why are you here? not enough drama on TV for ya?

chill, you're way too overly attached to all of this. think about it, what would you do if Vajra left/ you'd actually have to find something else to post about? something... actually meaningful maybe? that would be... amazing! you can do that anyway, pretend he did leave. this board is not exclusive to Taoists, so I don't see why anyone who is Buddhist shouldn't post, and shouldn't be able to post about Buddhism. and for the record, most of the threads that Vajra did participate in were on topic to Buddhism, like the Vedanta vs Buddhism thread or the Tao one too. and the ones that did go off topic were carried that way by other causes, not just Vajra himself. if there was no interest in his posts, there would not have been any response to them. and if people did want to stay on topic, then the topic would've continued regardless of Buddhist posting.