Harmonious Emptiness

Glad you enjoy . They are of course geared towards the Buddhist path, however, I can't think of a path that doesn't put great importance on having good motivations, humility, and great diligence. I also find that, as important as these are, they can easily slip away, like a bird from the hand, if taken for granted. Thus, I find these precepts helpful to remind me of this.

Well I'm glad you posted this as I was trying to think of some way to say more or less the same thing but decided it might eventually come out in the conversation anyways. So, yes, I don't mean to say that everyone's path MUST follow these precepts (even less that I am anyone to say such things), but simply that they provide good advice, at least for my path, to stay away from many of the pitfalls along the road. I think you would enjoy this section too then:

Good work! Congratulations!!

I wonder which Chinese word was used in place of the Pali word. I know that one word is depicted basically as a nose, pointing to one's nose as pointing to "the self" but I don't know how often this word is used in Chinese Sutras.

A good practice to overcome sexual heat and move it to lower dan tien: 1) Start with natural deep breathing - but left hand on chest and right hand on stomach to ensure that you are breathing from the abdomen and your chest is not moving up and down. Do this until it feels natural and your sides and back expand a bit as well. 2) as you start to inhale, flex the perennium muscles (keegle muscles), as your inhale gets deeper, keeping it natural, the muscles will get more flexed. Don't try too hard as you're doing this. 3) near the end of the inhale, use your abdominal muscles to push your lower abdomen back inwards while still inhaling. This will futher flex the perennium and maybe lift it up as well, healthfully massaging the prostate to ensure it is healthy even if you are not emptying it regularly as during retention practices. This can also push the fluid up your spine, conserving it and making use of it as spinal fluid, improving memory and energy, giving you some "back bone" as you feel more vitality. 4) relax all muscles with the exhale allowing jing to move through channels and nourish the physical body. 5) Repeat until the heat is no longer present, but not beyond about 70% of your ability as you don't want to overly tire the muscles. 6) As Seth Ananda says "get a life" - go do something with your energy, preferably physical. Go for a walk or whatever, go somewhere that you will not be able to feed your addiction and where you will also put your lifeforce into action. 7) increase awareness of everything: the smell of nature, of life around you. edit: also, though increasing awareness, also practice not seeking all types of information with your senses, such as checking out all the girls, reading all the adds, etc.. regain control over what takes your attention so that you can put your attention towards nurturing your own personal spiritual flame. 8) Let your eyes sparkle with a new appreciation for life.

I found Mantak Chia's stuff to be a bit too high level for most people, especially those approaching it for the first time without much idea about how to let things be when trying to make things happen. It's kind of like putting a helicopter gun in the hands of someone looking to try a little target practice. Daniel Reid's stuff is more well rounded imo, as he covers both the laymen practices for general health and goes into more of the history and original records type stuff, plus the exercises he has in the other chapters are helpful. He deals more with health though, whereas Chia goes way way way beyond. It may depend what you're looking to gain too though. I suggest at least to start with Reid's stuff and if you want to go further then Chia's stuff is good to at least to have access to. For Chia's stuff though, your partner really needs to have the same goals in order to experience the later 2\3 of it, if they are even possible without lots of prior yogic experience.. Good luck though!

Tea is good for the digestion . Better not to just piss it out yeah?

Well, hey! It's an honour for me to even remotely play a part in someone taking residence at Wu Dang Shan!! Keep in mind that you are in for spiritually-physical boot camp and you will find internal potential by digging deep deep deep into your tolerance threshold, however you will be doing so in the company of masters!! You might not need a martial arts background to get started. Your temperment and physical condition might determine the best vehicle to learn from, ie., which martial art to focus on. I would email them through the website, tell them what experience you have, what your motivations are, how long you can afford to stay, and ask them if they have a program that you would fit into. In the traditional arts "it takes commitment to qualify" so find out whatever you can from the website, and be sure to read more about Wu Dang Mountain. A good book I highly recommend you pick up, to get an idea of the traditions that thrived there, is Seven Taoist Masters, translated by Eva Wong. It's a blessed day my friend!

Wow, there was a lot of "YOU" in that paragraph for someone who doesn't distinguish between self and other...

Sure, but how many masters, let alone everyone else, actually spend every waking moment in non-duality? Not that many. And when their not, do they always choose faith over fear? I'm no master, but I know I haven't mastered this either!

How do you know that what's verifiable is the truth and the whole truth? Why even believe that this is the only way?

Was Ghandi or Martin Luther King Jr. a Taoist? They both well understood the principles of Wu Wei and put them into action on a mass scale. I'm sure they would say "I'm Hindu" or "I'm Christian" or just "no, I'm just a human being." Save me some doughnuts you guys, and some of that pop too. Will there be slow dancing?

I wonder if it has something to do with a promiscuous person having highly revved up desires for this or that experience which they achieve in fantasy but cannot achieve in reality. When they can come down and appreciate mundane reality they might be able to reach the heights and fulfillment that escaped them when they were chasing the clouds. Also, being disconnected from partners, as in drunken one night stands when the guy might be such a porn addict that he's not even paying attention to her, could also make it difficult to find that presence and connection in most cases. Meditation sounds like a very good approach, maybe Tai Chi with focus on presence? $0.02

Without commenting on the entirety of the OP and creating reality by faith, I think faith is simply the opposite of fear. When you fear something, you have the feeling that something will go bad even though it hasn't happened. Faith is feeling that things will go well even though they haven't yet. I think when people associate faith with belief they think it something that people do because they were told to, but that definition is so self-limiting it is actually quite absurd, and often based on what some skeptic told them to think anyways .

From what I can tell by reading sutras, the point is about seeing through the illusion of ego, seeing through the illusion that the ego saw through itself, and accepting this state of non-being which is one with The All. So long as we do not accept the reality of it we will have issues with it, but when we have given up the need to be we enter Unity. Then when we say "whoah I've entered Unity" we no longer are in Unity. The ego cannot enter Unity like a camel can't pass through the head of a needle. Why become Enlightened? Why want to become Enlightened? That which wants to become Enlightened can't become Enlightened anyways.. so....

To walk away from a fool with your integrity in tact is to win the real fight -- the fight to determine your own path and not let someone re-animate your ego.. They are probably already in their own pit of despair even if they don't realize it so why make their problems worse? "Sand is weighty, and stone is heavy, but who can suffer the provocation of a fool?... He who controls himself is greater than one who takes a city by might." - King Solomon, Proverbs

It's all contextual. There's no problem with having standards. I see it like Tai Chi. Sometimes it's important to let go of all your searching and contemplation and just be with no expectations -- this is like a yin/draw before a yang/strike. You will be much more prepared if you know how to draw well .

kechari mudra is not in Taoism I think he main thing is to connect your tongue and upper part of the mouth with the energy channel maybe ending at the tip so the tip is the main point of contact. I've heard that behind the gums is associated with the heart and the back of the throat with the kidneys, maybe the middle with others. I press the back and the tip of the tongue upwards. If the tip of the tongue is curled just slightly it will find the power spot imo.

I've read of something about turtles in water and people in the womb where the breathing process, maybe the chemical transformation, takes place in the stomach and some infants have even remembered how to do this for a few of minutes, miraculously surviving a water accident, at 1 or maybe a few months old, apparently without [much noticeable] damage from lack of oxygene even though it occurred at an age when even a short suspension of oxgene would normally cause some level of serious permanent, brain damage, serious developmental issues, or worse....

Very good questions. Not that I have definitive answers but these are interesting to think about so I'll try to help with a response. A lot of books, especially the commodified "so what is Taoism" type books can be really lacking and misunderstanding of how these concepts are balanced with their counterparts. Keep in mind that Taoism finds a way to reconcile opposing forces. Not everything should be allowed. How do you build discipline but by doing things beyond the point of "feeling like doing them." Taoist priests are some of the most disciplined people on the planet, and they can be very strict with their students, and even more so with themselves. Cultivation is a natural part of being human. But of course trying to turn an apple tree into a peach tree is not natural. However, pruning that tree and trying to make it bountiful and healthy is natural. Over-pruning, on the other hand, might kill it or otherwise stunt it's growth. Taoists know that they are part of, and a reflection of, Heaven Earth and Humanity. So to abuse these things is foolish. As with most religious traditions, the focus of Taoism is cultivation, of the individual and also of society, of medicine, horticulture, arts, and everything else (of course sometimes the best way to cultivate something is to just let it be, a la wu wei). So how can the individual cultivate themselves and their relationships when they are violent and immoral? They are too stuck in their own ego prison to see outside of it, and no one can see how truly glorious it all is when they are limited to the confines of a puny human ego. When they can give up this limitation they can enter into the higher reality which is that they are a part of everything. Practicing selfishness rather than practicing selflessness will only strengthen the illusion that they are confined to such a small part of one's potential. This will only cause them more suffering, and so it is also very unhealthy. A lot of what other religions prescribe for "moral" reasons are also prescribed in Taoism but for reasons of cultivation. For example, being lusty and greedy will cause one's mind to spin around in confusion and cloud their true self. To be rigid and closed makes one unable to bend to circumstances which can cause fear and also cloud the true self. To be in balance and harmony allows for intelligent, loving, and creative action with due consideration of cause and effect. I hope this provides clarification.

There is a martial arts school on Wu Dang mountain which offers lodging options as well. If you don't have a martial arts background you could probably start with Tai Chi. If you don't want to learn these arts (through which Taoism is taught) they may be able to direct you to sort of a philosophical school. http://www.wudanggongfu.com/kungfu/foreigners.htm There is also a Wu Dang school in Austin: http://www.wudangtao.com/content/

Very interesting point. Looking at the wikipedia explanation: "The name compounds xuan 玄 "black, dark; mysterious, profound, abstruse, arcane," occurs in the first chapter of the Lao-tzu. Xue 學 "study, learn, learning," literally the "learning" or "study" of the "arcane," "mysterious," or "profound." So I would guess that xuanxue was probably a bit more than merely the philosophy as it looked into the mysteries, but as you say, they were maybe not as much concerned with their own cultivation as with simply living in Tao as a way of life/way of being. Do you know if XuanXue would have been familiar with the Neiye? How do you differentiate between the Chuang-Laoists and XuanXue, or is there any? An interesting way to read the Tao Te Ching as well, that the Sage is like the witness within. I guess Sheng has some connotations to Shen/Spirit and holiness. Are there some other connotations to it which you find useful in understanding/explaining/translating a Sheng-man?

Though I can appreciate the rejection of close-minded orthodoxy, I think the quote from DGS is being somewhat taken out of context. It ended saying: Seems this is speaking about a beginner with no experience of qi work. I think if you know how to ground qi after a practice, to move with it in sort of a friendly way (versus controlling way or ignoring it), and give proper respects for any spiritual assistance that may have been involved (I think generally a thank you to 3 realms of heaven, earth, and humanity/ancestors), then you are not so likely to experience this "kundalini illness" like effect. So if you have been taught shaking traditions of the Kalahari Bushmen then you would have a very different relationship to this energy than someone who has not developed any relationship or familiarity with their internal energies. Seems to me that this was more what the author had in mind, but I can't speak for them, of course. Nonetheless, I'm sure the training from that lineage would be, by far, the most efficacious and advantageous way to practice a "beautiful dance of vortexes" .

You need to use stomach muscles to keep the back straight though nothing overly tense. I think the focus on the stomach muscles can also help general open focus rather than thought focus.