tyler zambori

it's OK that you feel that way

The OP asked about Hinduism. If the OP asks about Hinduism, then the OP might get answers / opinions about it.

It's OK that a number of people in real life do not share my opinion. I will add that it was extremely interesting to read: "The Origins of Yoga and Tantra: Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century" by Geoffrey Samuel, who is a professor at Cambridge who lectures at Oxford. The only way that could get any more prestigious would be if he was a professor at Oxford who lectures everywhere else. It turns out that the Hindus are not in fact quite as ancient in their knowledge as they would like to think, and as they would like to have others believe. What really happened down there was, the Hindus only started to learn some really useful spiritual techniques from the Buddhists when the Brahmin families started to lose support / protein because of religious competition from the Buddhists. Before that all they did, pretty much, was perform rituals often involving killing horses, for money. At least they DID learn from the Buddhists, but they are not quite the Spiritual Masters of the East that they would like everyone to believe. And IMO and IME, everything to do with Hinduism has pretty much been ruined by their caste system. At first I thought the enlightened ones would rise above that, but it's not true, everyone even the enlightened people, are bound by the culture. Even westerners who take it up buy into that culture. Originally, (and I mean way before even the 20th century) it was the upper class British who of course go for that class system thing, and Americans who would have liked to see themselves as "upper class." So it's an interesting subject - how and why are enlightened people still bound by their cultures? I don't have an answer for that - I have just observed that unfortunately they are. Just my two cents.

IMO, it's not very practical to just ask for balance from the Divine. At the beginning levels, we have to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, and the Hindus, again imo, aren't good at practical and clear instruction at that level. I went through so many very badly written yoga sutra commentaries just to find one or two done by people who think clear writing might actually be useful, or who actually have the ability to do it. Their attitude is that you must just study and suffer until you understand. Bah. Even Westerners who write yoga sutra commentaries do this, for the most part. In other words, you have to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, but at first you don't have any bootstraps, and they don't give you any, nor do they tell you where to get some. Instead they worship an ancient book written by ancient people who originally meant their instructions to be clear. PS: I'm not the only one who noticed this. A number people I know in *real life* share my opinion.

Gee....I would say there's also a reason for having the word "internal" in there too. Me, I just carry pepper spray and a pit bull, one under each arm . I have to change sides with the pit bull, being so heavy and all that...

If MA is about kicking someone's tail, then why are there even *any* Internal Martial Arts? Doesn't make any sense.

Also, Amazon.ca is selling "Xing Yi Nei Gong: Xing Yi Health Maintenance and Internal Strength Development," for $20.13 Canadian dollars: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0865681740/ref=ox_ya_oh_product I ordered it; they are going to take a week or so to even ship it to me. I assume they actually have it in stock. They are calling it "Health Maintenance Zing Yi." The s&h is about $10.

Do you mean Xingyiquan? Why is it the most well preserved? Did people start chopping the IMA's up into sections in order to have a specialty to sell, or something? Thanks for the info about IMA's. I'm finding that qigong without much movement is not so comfortable, so I think there is something to it.

You might be able to get it here: http://tinyurl.com/y87cdeu for 17.95 and free shipping, but they don't have it in stock right now. If you call them, they might be able to tell you when it will be in stock. their "contact us" page is: http://www.deepdiscount.com/contactus/ HTH

Make the choice, tell her that if she wants to see her grandchild, she has to keep her religion to herself. If you don't, she will make your life hell. She doesn't see you as an individual, but as an extension herself, sorry to say. It's your choice.

Why is that? I'm really curious. I'm trying some taichi next to see how I do with it.

I'm getting that book!

That is the problem...they feel that they have GOD on their side, and that is why they feel self-righteous about things like this, and other things like gay marriage and etc. To them, if the baby dies before being old enough to choose, they will not go to Heaven if they are not baptized in the christian faith. They do not see that it is merely their belief. To them, it is the actual truth. Also, if the baby is baptized as a christian, then she will expect you to raise him or her as a christian, won't she? So maybe the thing to do would be to approach it as a difference in beliefs, not as simply denying what she thinks are actual facts. They are not actual facts, they are beliefs. Tell her that it is not a proven fact that the kid won't go to Heaven if he or she is not baptized. It is not a proven fact, and there are even major religions that don't even believe in God. And since it is not a proven fact, she cannot force her beliefs onto people who don't share those beliefs. Just a thought.

Excuse me? So his mom has the right to tell him what faith to bring his child up in, because she's his parent? I don't think so... Parents are just humans, and they are not necessarily the healthiest ones out there just because of being parents. I know that's a chinese cultural thing - ancestral worship, but these are modern times. Parents do not have the power over their children that they used to, and that's a GOOD thing.

Happy New Year, but the tigers need some help: Tiger Farms in China Feed Thirst for Parts http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/world/asia/13tiger.html I hope the save the tiger fund can do something: http://www.savethetigerfund.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home1 China and India need to wake up, and do better by these endangered species.

What practice do the Buddhists actually use to *not* be disturbed by phenomena? I'd like to know.

I'm not sure who you are disagreeing with.

Thanks Trunk! This has been my experience as well - that they can be good at some things and not so good at others. It's good to be reminded they can misunderstand or make mis-statements too. I think it's very true... being enlightened doesn't automatically give a person good teaching skills.

I think it's perfectly reasonable, not fishy . I don't remember very well what it's like to be five years old. I can't point to a real example that is a clear cut case of forgetting, but I think it's possible. yeah, maybe!

I think you also have to throw into it the strong possibility that enlightened people may start to forget what it's like not to be enlightened after a while, and then start having a harder time communicating with the beginners. I bet you it does happen. Then they would have to get a more recently enlightened person to help them with that. I'm talking about words here, not the transmission of consciousness. It's not necessarily so easy to just absorb the teacher's consciousness just by being around them - if one is not prepared.

I dunno about that...I once got into a discussion on e-sangha about tibetan teachers who got frustrated with getting past cultural differences and ended up going back to Tibet with the attitude of praying for the westerners, but basically giving up on trying to communicate with them. The conversation kind of veered to how much better it is to learn, generally, from westerners who already did the really hard work of getting past the language and cultural differences. For example, BKF is a great and clear writer, but his own teacher probably would have had a harder time communicating with westerners. Bruce was totally steeped in the language and culture by the time he got there, but most of us aren't. My point is, they are not superhuman. They are to be respected, but they are not superhuman.

It was a joke.

I should think The Jade Emperor's copyright has run out by now.... Anyway, so if the OP is wanting to know how to evaluate a potential teacher, this might help even though it's Buddhist oriented: Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building a Healthy Relationship http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/x/nav/group.html_1305527811.html (free online e-book)

When it happened to me, I said "What are you"? That probably doesn't help, sorry. Are you asking for how to evaluate a potential teacher?

Do you mean he describes emptiness as a phase too? Hmm...I wonder if he describes it that way because of Taoist influence.