Ish

I would never mess around with summoning and the like by myself, you don't know what you're doing really, what you're inviting. Not worth the risk. IMO this sort of realm is where you really need to learn it from a teacher, much more so than a lot of other spiritual pursuits.

This is ridiculous. How many Zen masters have died from their awakening experiences?? In fact they often end up laughing at it. As long as you're just pointing to reality with no frills, not doing some funky energy work i advise you to dive in. You literally have nothing to lose. The way to overcome fear is just to DO, take your petty ego out of the equation and experience clearly. There's nothing to fear.

I reckon getting mashed on the weekends is preeetty bad in terms of practice. I mean it is fun and all, but I wouldn't bother with it anymore. This is the whole becoming alienated from your peers that I made a post about on another thread hahah >.<

What makes you think that?

You should rename your title to "The Necromancer"

Just watched a few minutes of Grandmaster Doo Wai's video posted by Sillum. The breathing rate seems abnormally fast, is this just a feature of the system?

I know of Yi Jin Jing (Muscle/tendon Changing Classic) and Xi Sui Jing (Bone marrow washing classic). As far as i know Bodhidharma's other teachings were the 18 Lohan Hands qigong and Zen meditation.

Marblehead what's your secret!! I've always wanted to be popular :D

Oh I just remembered, a certain Yogi of the Six Yoga's said that levitation wasn't the focus of his meditation, but if he directed himself towards it, he had no doubt that he could levitate. From the Tibetan practice, I believe the energy of the central channel (Tummo practice) combined with powerful mind states brings about their abilities.

From my reading Lama Yeshe's book on the Six Yogas of Naropa, through the practice of inner fire one gets to a point that external fire can be controlled. So in my view this also seems to be in accordance with Franz Bardon's explanation of elemental manipulation. Although the focus of Tummo is certainly fire I believe when practiced authentically, in effect, it doesn't neglect any of the elements. But like I said - the focus is on fire. So therefore perhaps specific focus on the element eventually brings about the ability of manipulation.

Oh lol, neither can i. Just click on the video again after you press play and it will take you to the vid on youtube, there's subtitles on it then. Definitely worth a watch. EDIT: Just realised there are subtitles on the embedded vid there. no need to go to youtube.

Sounds good thank you

This is my experience. Once you go deep enough into mantra it naturally dissolves and you are just left in the concentration states. For me there is no question of thoughts here, they just don't arise. Of course there are many levels of concentration. Here's an interesting video on this master's path - not my area of practice but nonetheless interesting.

Hey all, was wondering if there is any preparation that would be useful for someone attending a workshop for the first time. In particular I was thinking about the Gift of the Tao forms, I generally prefer to not have to think about remembering external moves so it's possible to pick up the energy and transmission more effectively. Thanks.

I believe this dichotomy between our parent's values and our values (speaking for the 20 somethings here) is a cause for a lot of problems. For example once you start on the spiritual path, external things and the social norms start to lose their grip. So our parents planned path start to get further and further away, but they just can't understand why you are the way you are, and we don't understand how they can just chase materialism thinking - "Is that really it? Money, objects, ego, is that all there is to life?" I suppose this can cause alienation between our peers also.

Awesome, really looking forward to this one. Nice promo video too, lovely music.

Possibly because you aren't getting the benefits of the practice quickly, you give up easily. Which is understandable. The ideal option is to train under a competent instructor or master, so long as you are open and follow their teaching you can have inspiring experiences immediately. So you know you are practicing correctly and you are getting some enjoyable results, it won't be hard to keep up a routine. It's obviously possible for you as in the past you have already committed to a practice for some period of time, just a case of getting inspired and keeping the momentum. There are plenty of reviews and practioners/teachers of great systems here on the forum so go for it.

The whole point of saying that is because you at this moment you AREN'T achieving what you want. So make your goals something achievable. Raise the bar once you get there.

Perhaps let go of the idea that you are super special, it's not helpful to put pressure on yourself to achieve "levels unheard of". In my opinion the only people that achieve "levels" you couldn't imagine are those who put in time and effort to practice seriously. Defining what you REALLY want from your practice will enable you to train consistently rather than give up after a day or two. Be honest with yourself.

First step is to be relaxed and upright, as your sensitivity and body awareness increases, it's easy to tell where you're out of alignment or tense. So first align your body and become comfortable, then bring your awareness to whatever you wish. Some useful tools are breath, body awareness, a mantra , an external object or a visualised object. At the start this is basically building your concentration. You will get to a point where you can stay present and concentrated on whatever you want for extended periods of time. Now how to apply concentration to your object? The answer is to use minimal force. Not too little so as to lose yourself in thoughts, and not too much which causes strain. The subject of meditation goes very deep and wide, but this is a good start to gain control over the thoughts and develop concentration.

I believe most people can attain Arahatship within one lifetime with extensive practice of Vipassana and concentration under a master. Full Buddhahood however... maybe not.

Thanks Michael & Kostas look forward to reading the answers.

WWOOFing is something I'm really quite interested in at the moment. Anyone here done it before? Experiences and advice much appreciated, especially if you did it in the UK.

I reckon deci belle is refering to Awakening in terms of satori, kensho, glimpse of nirvana etc. In which case i agree with her. This is opposed to awakening as the general process and progress of meditation and energy work.