Harmonious Emptiness

I think synchronicities generally show that we are in some state of grace, like the gears are turning on a higher level and things are lining up, so that internal grace can be the guide. Following or staying with that state of grace might lead you to what you're aiming for, like you will bump into an old friend on the street who can point you in the right direction. I think they are just a sign that things are going well and if they keep going well then higher forces will be able to drop some "pennies from heaven" so to speak since we will be in the right place at the right time to catch them....

Hey Mile83, There certainly isn't one answer, and likely because Taoism applies to so many areas of life. Though Taoism does address "after-life" existence, it is largely about "life" and understanding "life" from different angles, including scientific, psychological, and spiritual, and seeing the interconnectedness of all of these. Similar I guess if you were to ask "what is the goal of Christianity?" Well, getting to heaven, yes, but there are also many goals during life as well, such as learning to be "more like Jesus" in many numerous ways. Hope this helps somewhat.

I've never read Bruce Frantzis' writing about "dissolving method" but it's name suggests to me that it might be somehow related.. not sure..

To my understanding, "sitting and forgetting" after qi gong is itself a kind of qi gong since, in my experience, the movement allowed through the qi gong exercise is allowed to continue unimpeded when sitting in this way, which continues to open the channels and nourish the body with qi. It is a great way to do vipissana in my opinion since you can become aware of much goings on, and also the way that attention can become intention when energy moves according to our attention. So I would recommend sitting with posture and just allow everything to do what it does and just allow, observe, and maybe "drink deeply" of some of it to help absorb. If I'm not mistaken, this is also a way to abosorb qi and jing into bone marrow, according to some writing. This focus helps to let go of thought processes when becoming absorbed in the observation et all, so the bridge from there to Zazen is, well, right there.. or rather "right here ."

I know exactly what you mean. Especially when the noise is one tone, the tone can start to sound like a singing bowl or an OM and seems to be transformed rather than transforming. There must be something to expanding presence and meditation in this way, as I get the feeling I'm not the only one who realizes the change in vibration. There's probably a fairly simple explanation to it. I think I have picked up another persons vibration like this in the past when traffic started to sound like ethereal symphony..

For me, I've had a really inconducive place to practice.. cars smashing into a speed bump outside, paper thin walls and ceiling. When I practice somewhere quiet or late at night it seems more productive, but I also have developed some strengths and resilience due to this environment. When they put in a speed bump I realized "I can either let this drive me nuts or use it to my advantage" and no sudden noise shock me anymore, and I've learned to let more environmental things go during meditation. It's still not an ideal environment, but I've gained from it nonetheless. Also, having a demanding schedule forces people to stick to their practice sometimes to tolerate these demands. Some change can be great though. If you've had an incredibly demanding schedule for a long time then more freedom will likely be very helpful. Having too much freedom for too long can require challenge and change too.

I think anything physical is best, even driving, where you have minimal obligations to represent a company's fabricated image. Then you can just be a natural human and move like water or stand like a mountain. Working in a production factory for a while I used to use tai chi movement a lot, like turning the tai chi ball, and shifting weight in a fluid way. I don't have any training in tai chi but I know a few basics which are probably more like warm-ups and would use these. So, yeah, pretty much anything physical would be at the top of the list, not including the obvious like medical qi gong..

To the OP, I'm guessing you are quite new to Taoism, as clearing the mind of thoughts is often considered a pre-cursor or necessity to meditative concentration. I don't know a literal Chinese name for ``no thought`` though there are various methaphorical signifiers according to some explanations of Alchemical texts. It is not quite an end in itself, but a way to focus more on internal changes, similar to closing the eyes and finding external quiet, clearing the mind also allows for less distraction from what is hapenning at more subtle levels. Of course, psychiatrists might not make much sense of this since their ``art`` is all about thinking and would make no sense without thinking, nor could it discover much about the virtues of not thinking since it only cares about things which can be explained with logical thinking. Quite a pickle that puts them in, imo. It's like a bad comedy with really lame jokes, only it's real, and it has the power to prescribe insanity (ie, continuing this line of thinking) and decide who the deciders are.. No wonder some of the wisest people just keep their wisdom to themselves. ``Insanity is but the minority of one`` - Orwell, ``1984`` Really, most people in med school could complete their phd 3 times over before they accomplished some of the things yogis and Aboriginal healers do, yet would never question the authority of their own authority.. Unfortunately, even when these people do have proufound spiritual insights, they are not allowed to explore them within their disciplines. Yet, Karl Jung learned so much from tribes and so forth and even admitted that there are energetic forces beyond the body which influence a person. There may be some more open minded schools, but the attitude of pychiatry to drugs has been entirely archaic up until more recently, and even recent changes are controversial exceptions. So I guess it's no wonder they kicked you out, but I wonder if you might get back in with the right environment if you tried ``today.``

Thanks!

Maybe useful for the over anxious palm sweaty guy, but I think women see through someone who's trying to follow so many rules. How do you pick a woman up and never laugh, and to not break awkwardness with conversation? What are you supposed to do? Look deep in her eye and touch her hand?? Hey Obiwan, if you works for you! edit: "if it works for you" though the mistake is better.... oh, and markern, not directed at you....

Another great discussion that is connected to this topic: http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/15794-laozi-and-the-magic-square/

Interesting stuff I have never read before, Naziri. You mentioned you write about the Essenes? Any links to articles or books? Any other references you would recommend about accurate Essene history or practices? Thanks.

^^ I think I could handle something like the following movement at 5:45 of this video: My link Just sensing the energy there, removing negative and replacing it with my own positive "mindfulness" type of energy with which I would do this in ..

That would be a great addition to this thread, probably to the internet in general. If it works for you, yes, please do!

Interesting. Any resources on how to work this out? Also, how do I find out all the different elements and animals related to time/day/month/year?

So then I guess the "Black Sect" method is more building shrines rather than geomancy. I could see some advantage to that in setting at least reminders of what your aims are. I thought there might be something to it though given J.A. Johnson's writing, and also that Form feng shui has a lot to do with other considerations like the flow of mountains and rivers. I'm only a few chapters into his book, I should say, however. It's not the first time I've heard of determining energies based on which way they relate to your direction rather than East and West, so I'm hesitant to disregard some potential to it.

Yes, and thank you for your response. Jerry Alan Johnston uses the house direction method to some degree as well to ensure that a dwelling is set up as a living "Yang Dwelling" with Green Dragon on the left, rather than as a tomb or "Yin Dwelling" which is set up in the opposite way. I've also read that this way is more common in Tibet.

Well, Fire trigram, if you prefer..

Some nutritional things for menopause are: There is often an onset of calcium deficiency (affecting hormones and bone density), so calcium plus it's supports like vitamin D and C Thyroid needs to be in good shape to balance hormone functions, so iodine will help in balanced doses. Vitamin E helps all the minerals do their thing, plus helps circulation I would take this by: hemp oil daily (vitamin E, omegas), kelp a few times a week (iodine), hearty greens and cabbage daily (calcium), pine pollen or cod liver oil (vitamin D), oranges (vitamin C)

It's used in many schools, you face the front door of the house from outside and consider your left side Wood/Dragon, right side Metal/White Tiger, etc. etc.

Looks interesting. The file is no longer available there but I found it here (accesstoinsight.org).

Any ideas about using a compass to find South, vs. using the back wall as South?

Hopefully can avoid thread diversion, but a lot early Quan Zhen writing says that even the goals of Confucianism are the same as Taoism and Buddhism. I believe this is generally less so the view of Buddhists (who rarely study esoteric Taoism) however.

Ah, lead bass fishing eh?

I tend to do qi gong in phases of regularity, so a lot of the time I would have to balance my own energy before I attempted to work on something else's balance. I feel like my intentions are fairly attuned in general though, so I do use focus if, say, I'm preparing herbs for medicinal tea. I can't see qi, but I can feel chaotic energy I believe. For example, I bought some clothes for a friend's baby shower and made sure to smudge them with sage and positive intention, since I could feel a bit of that department store mindlessness energy. However, I close my eyes when I practice because a) it helps me feel and sometimes I feel some very strong energy, wood pops etc., and I don't want to know more than I'm ready for since I'm rogue and I don't have access to someone I trust actually knows much about the depths of phenomena and the esoteric world. I'm sure they're around me, I just haven't had the serendipity and/or resources to learn from them.. Maybe the biggest resource I'm lacking is my drive to commit to them, lol, but life makes the roads sometimes I guess...