Daeluin

It's a two way street. You may have no trouble dissolving any internal polarity and associations related to the name, but you will still need to dissolve any external polarities created by the name. In a way a name like this is great because you can easily identify the polarity created by the name and it is merely the mask, not you. Others may get tripped up by the mask, and may treat you differently. I've been sporting a bushy beard the past 5 months. I noticed that as I walk through the city, the locals here don't find beards anything unusual, and treat me normally. Some tourists however, look down on me, perhaps as though I am homeless. For me this has been developmental, as I am welcoming of the opportunity to be beneath another and develop my humility. Also because it offers an opportunity to communicate with more refinement, to allow people to see past the image they may have conceived through habit. idiot_stimpy, I see you doing this very often, and I have a lot of respect for the quality of your posting, and the humility you share with us.

Isn't it already like this? Those who want to become enlightened seek out teachers to help guide the way. The more people want to become enlightened, the more enlightened teachers will be needed, and so on. This is already happening. 15 years of Neptune in Aquarius brought us the Internet. What will 15 years of Neptune in Pisces bring us?

Sometimes focusing on breathing to my heels helps with breathing to my LDT.

The technique of not hearing the breath with the ears leads to finer chi. It comes with relaxing, slowing down. Like the wind on a calm lake at sunset is warm and gentle, but the wind in a storm is choppy and rough. Fine chi is smooth as silk and refined. It's similar to breathing in your nose instead of your mouth, which is considered coarse and even vulgar. There are probably better traditional Chinese descriptions for this, I'm just sharing from experience. The main lesson I'm receiving from this thread is that what some may consider "wrong" might be "right" for another purpose. A mistake in one practice might be the key to another practice. It depends on what you're doing. Also, it's probably best not to mix and match different ways. Once you have some momentum on one, stick with it and see where it leads. If you change the way you're developing your energy, sampling of different ways, it is probably harder to make consistent progress.

Regardless of the wanting, or of intentionally merging, an energetic imprinting is happening. Usually the woman is more open, as the man is deep inside of her and that is where the energy is left. But the man is also receiving - like in the OP. Whether or not we are conscious of this energetic imprinting, it happens, and is there at a very fundamental level of ourselves. If one is working on dissolving karma, one will need to explore the patterns of these exchanges... even back to the exchange of primal energies of our conception, where we inherited not only the life force energies and dna from our parents, but also the patterns of their sexuality. This is what I've been taught - not from my main teacher, but from another master the tao led me to for a time. It resonates with me, but is probably a bit much for most to swallow. The eternal student learns all from the present moment. Masters tend to teach in a backwards way rather than a direct way. Often indeed this is to remain whole in themselves and to teach their students to also remain whole. Thus there is more focus on self-work rather than merging work. But the nature of sex is of merging. If a master is going to have sex, it likely isn't for self-gain, but as you say, isn't to lose their identity either. In Uncharted Voyage Towards the Subtle Light, it speaks of the principle of the clear mountain stream and the muddy river. The master cultivates themselves on their own to a high state of purity. But when they come down the mountain and mingle with others, naturally they exchange energy with others - the others become more pure and the master becomes a little muddier. Then the master goes back up the mountain and purifies some more. This is internal purification - not simply going to where the energy is already pure and absorbing it. Purifying one's self helps the whole. Simply channeling the pure towards less pure doesn't help the whole become more pure.

I don't have much experience in this... but I imagine it's called "dual cultivation" for a reason. I wonder if the ejaculation can be held back, but the energy shared. Perhaps more intent on sharing the pre-celestial energy rather than letting it become post-celestial. It sounds like the two of you are very aware of each other and your selves, and can grow into this. Thanks for sharing, I think this is so important. Through merging together with another at such a deep physical level we have so much potential for mutual healing, rather than it being just another win-lose type situation.

Fa Jin is like sneezing.

Half-shadow is actually "penumbra", the shadow of the shadow. To me this feels related to the one opening of the mysterious barrier... and yeah seemed to fit the "shadow" part of my nick. It's always amused me that "dae" sounds like "day", which is light, even though the word is the shadow of the light, in between dark and light. Also... just occurred to me... back when I played Trombone, my section of Trombonists in marching band liked acting like a fraternity, and started giving us names.... I didn't like any of the names they gave me (they didn't know me at all, heck I didn't know myself either). So I kept refusing their names until finally they said OK, you're "T.A.O." - There's Always One. Which I kinda liked. Again... this was before I knew much about taoism... in the end they settled on one of the name's I'd turned down, which is related to a movie character from "dumb and dumber". Even that didn't last. Hexagram 13 comes to mind.

Yeah, the edges of our given names are likely related to past karmic patterns. I like the Chinese tradition of taking on new names sometimes. We can definitely grow out of past patterns, at which point perhaps we need a new name. Changing our own name might be a bit blindsided though, and others are not likely to know us at a deep enough level to give us a truly matching name. A spiritual master on the other hand might. Or just approaching the tao sincerely wishing to be named, one might be handed your way. The name I have here is from tolkien's elvish. I put a lot of effort studying a dictionary and putting some words together that had a nice feel to them with a good meaning. But then I took another step and posted on some forums with elvish experts, and they changed the words around and one of the words changed completely, as their take on the meaning I had selected. I accepted this gift, and it has stuck with me for many years now... it's funny, the word that changed completely became "dae", which means shadow. People tend to shorten my name and just call me "dae" or "daedae", so it's more the part of the name I didn't chose for myself that has stuck. This was all a bit before my journey into tao, where now I see "te" has an important meaning. But had I chosen "dae" on my own it would have simply been ego linking it to "te", but since it came to me through surrender I can use it as a guide. My given name also has a similar meaning to "te". It's funny, because my given name was very strange and odd where I grew up, and I got made fun of endlessly for it - just kids being kids. So it definitely served a purpose in my development... some things require standing up for and owning, or perhaps they'll own you instead.

And this is why breathing is confusing. Uh... I'm not expert at any of this, but here's what I can share from my experience. So energy wise, in normal breathing the qi expands from the lower dan tien with the inhale, and contracts with the exhale. In reverse breathing one inhales the energy into the center of the dan tien, and on the exhale it issues out. When putting movement to this, it might be better to focus on the expansion and contraction of the dan tien rather than the inhale or the exhale. There can be multiple breathing cycles to one expansion or contraction. And this isn't just reverse breathing - reverse breathing can be controlled. But fetal breathing is in sync with something deeper. I only feel it when I get to a super empty and refined state where the breathing is smooth, and then I notice a rise and fall, or perhaps an ebb and flow, that is separate from my breath. If I'm able to surrender myself enough I might be able to let the rise and fall of my breath become one with this other breath... and then all remaining ego just melts away. I'll offer my opinion on this... this is just what makes sense to me, not anything I was taught. When I breathe through my nose, I feel the air enter from the nostrils at the bottom and move upwards. The nose is somewhat triangular, flat on the bottom with a point at the top between the eyebrows. When I breathe, I am aware of the air coming up from the bottom, but also the qi, which I feel throughout the whole nose, but most refined at the top between the eyes. The finer the breath, the finer the qi. I'm not sure about mental pictures and such; when I do it the mind is empty and unattached. Before I started noticing this, I did a lot of tai chi and qi gong to dissolve the body and mind with the qi, so this type of understanding is bound to be very different for others. The idea isn't to not feel the breath, but to make it finer - you still feel it. If you cover your ears with your hands and breathe, you'll notice it's easier to hear your breath. Try softening the breath until you can't hear it, and notice the quality of qi. When covering your ears. it helps to do so with the palms over the ears, the fingers going back behind the head, and the elbows sicking up. Relax your shoulders and let this posture straighten the spine. We focus on breathing into the lower dan tien the whole time. As Soaring Crane mentioned, there are myriad approaches to breath work, and it sounds like this video might have specific purposes with the breath that are very different from what I've learned. Sorry to derail, just wanted to answer some of the questions that my last post stirred up.

A name is just another layer on top of the real. But already you are being affected by your name, because of the way others react to it. Already it has become more about the name, and less about the real. The name isn't important, and shouldn't be the deepest consideration. But if the name is going to invite attention that isn't desired, then what is the point of the name?

Here is what I've been taught about breathing where I train. The breathing should be heard only by the mind. The breath should be natural and not stopped. We breath in from the third eye down to the lower dan tien. In application, we practice regular breathing, not reverse breathing. By only hearing the breath with the mind, we cultivate a very refined breath that is less about wind and more about energy, and naturally works more from the 3rd eye area rather than the nose area. By not stopping the breathing we maintain its natural rhythm - changes to the rhythm might allow exploration of different sensations, but the simplicity and purity of the cycle is more important. Over time the lower dan tien fills with refined energy, and in emptiness one naturally begins to withdraw the yin phase of the breath rather than exhale with the yin phase of the breath, and one naturally begins to reverse breathe. At this point however the reverse breathing isn't just in one dan tien, but all three, and the whole body must be completely empty of though/emotion, and one begins to oxidize. The breath slows naturally on it own... I think somewhere in The Secret of the Golden Flower is mentioned the aim is to refine the breath so that it is deep, but light, and ultimately the process feels like your mind is holding the strings of the marionette, directing everything, and yet the focus is everywhere but the mind. That's how it felt for me anyway. So I don't think it is natural to try to emulate the slow breathing one might see in a demonstration. Adjust the speed so that it is slow but without straining the breath, and let it become slower with refinement rather than force.

http://shanlung.livejournal.com/111670.html

I think that makes you a full taoist, ChiDragon! Respect to you for increasing your commitment. They say "where sincerity is, the way is open." To my feeling, the principles guide one to the root of the tao. Is the same true of the religion?

Ahahahahaha. That's what you think, my friend. Maybe that was sarcasm? The more I follow spontaneity the more unexpected encounters and synchronicities land in my lap. The other day I found myself leaving a store and facing a direction opposite the way I usually go. "OK, I'll walk home this way tonight!" Not a hundred paces around the corner I ran into a beautiful friend and got a great hug! Not someone I have contact info for either. The more I learn to listen to random things like the direction I happen to be turning and flowing with that direction spontaneously, rather than saying "no, the shortest way home is this way", the more I find myself incredibly surprised and richly nourished... nothing is more humbling and heart opening than to realize how much beauty can be found by simply getting out of the way... of the way.

Back in college a one credit hour yang style taiji class was apparently changing my life. The simple warm up exercises we did were seriously great... like slow neck rolls. I would do these a LOT, and reached a state of neck relaxation where I could simply lay down at night and focus on relaxing my cerebellum, and immediately I'd be asleep. I still rode my bike everywhere in those days, and frankly it was faster than driving a car around, with all the traffic lights. My major at the time was Trombone Performance, and I'd learned how to carry my heavy trombone case over one shoulder, holding it with one hand and riding the bike with the other hand (or no hands). Well... one day I was riding back from getting my trombone repaired, and unfortunately my bike wasn't in very good shape. One of the brake handles you squeeze fell off, and swung down by the cable to lodge in the spokes of my front wheel. Instantly the front wheel stopped and suddenly I found myself somersaulting over it. The next thing I know I'm standing on two feet with my trombone case swinging down. The handle is still in my hand so I just lift up so it doesn't hit the ground. But the whole part where I somehow did a flip in the air at high speed and landed on my feet just happened automatically somehow. I also passed engineering calculus I with an A that semester. I like this Donnie Yen movie.

When I speak of glimpsing above (if you're replying to me that is), I speak of temporary experiences. Many and varied, of approaching oneness. When the whole is divided, parts need names. ... What I feel as precelestial occurs through an energetic refining process. The more I experience, the more clearly I can distinguish the difference between pre/post-celestial jing, qi, and shen. When I am able to unify them into emptiness, it is an emptiness resting upon a foundation, and doesn't feel like a release, but a state that unifies with all even as it depends on all. As my experience grows, I am sure my perception will also change. When we maintain sincerity and surrender to the guidance of the Tao, we are guided truly. Thus you found your way, and thus I am finding mine. I can expound upon how my teacher is right for me, in my present stage, but those are just details. Largely I agree with you and largely that is the goal of my teacher for his students. We must master our selves. The work I am doing is working for me. As far as understanding xing and ming goes, so far I find Liu Yiming's description most illuminating and in line with the training I am undergoing. There are many ways to the Tao that has no name.

Perhaps not all?

Now that I've spent a few years consistently studying with a qualified teacher, I better understand that to deal with my human mind, nothing will do but cultivating the precelestial. Rather than speculating on the postcelestial, I've been guided to feel it's expression, feel what it's like to lose it over and over again. Feel how easy it is to use it up, and how much work is necessary to get it back after posting in these threads. ~_~ It's subtle... the glimpses I've experienced over the past few years are multi-layered, subtle and ever changing. The past few months I've worked hard at using the postcelestial to better understand the framework, and am able to better match experience with understanding. And yet... even better understanding what direction I need to go, I still need to do the work of transcending this web of understanding again. And then clean up the precelestial so that it isn't just a blob of purity but is in harmony and flowing. I'm eternally thankful to have a teacher who's aim is true and uses few words.

As I follow it, we start with our energy in a precelestial state, more unified and unconditioned. At first we condition our xing and express it via the postcelestial heart and mind. But even so, our ming is relatively intact and consistently replenishing the xing. But then during puberty we change and begin expressing postcelestial ming, and begin depleting our bodies, and thus our hearts and minds are effected as well. So the idea behind cultivation is to first restore the precelestial "body" and restore our ming, then nurture our precelestial "heart-minds" and restore our xing, and return to Tao. The storing up is simply reclaiming what was lost... and largely it doesn't need by done by external replenishment, but will return on it's own if we can avoid destroying it as it slowly builds. The older we get the more we need to depend on external means to replenish our ming. Interestingly, as we merge xing and ming, we are turning the light around and absorbing energy and compressing it.... but when it compresses, it transforms the energy to a higher vibration which radiates out without expression. Much like a black hole... but the same as a black hole, energetically? I dunno. Also similar to a black hole, which cannot be observed, those who attain the Tao tend to be invisible, slipping past all hooks and dissolving all polarities - they change everything without being seen. Or at least have that potential. Reference, re xing and ming, here.

Also: Steven Erikson, Reaper's Gale

An item,” he said softly, his eyes on the disc, “that passes without provenance, pursued by many who thirst for its cold kiss, on which life and all that lay within life is often gambled. Alone, a beggar’s crown. In great numbers, a king’s folly. Weighted with ruin, yet blood washes from it beneath the lightest rain, and to the next no hint of its cost. It is as it is, worthless but for those who insist otherwise.” Steven Erikson, Gardens of the Moon

On the first page I quoted Liu Yiming's thoughts on [xing], from Cultivation the Tao, tl Pregadio. Whenever he mentioned [xing] he also mentioned [ming], which I omitted. Since we've gotten into the heart of the matter, I'll post the full chapter. Please consider purchasing the book - Liu Yiming likes to quote and reference the classics, and Pregadio does a great job pointing them all out and adding clarifications. Also, this book continuously goes into the implications of other modes of cultivation on xing and ming. Then in chapter 19, "Superior Virtue and Inferior Virtue": 20, Doing and Non-Doing:

Media diet | Thought diet Grounding and Turning the light around Discerning the pull of cyclical activity Activity to open blockages and avoid stagnation Qi gong that goes deep but also full spectrum of transformation

You're welcome, ChiDragon. I've a long way to go yet. I'm glad my sincerity has made an impression. Humbling to me to mull over the past month's worth of posting and reflect on how I've changed. And from the culmination of yin in the new moon another cycle begins.