Harmonious Emptiness

For those interested, after a sincere PM from sifusufi it appears he does not support white-power vigilantism and this has been stricken from the interactions I've had with him.. he seems to be a decent person and I don't bear a grudge.

You might think of meditation like driving, though meditation is actually hundreds of times less dangerous. Either way, it's up to the driver to steer themselves correctly. If they don't want to accept the road conditions then they are at a much greater risk. The road is like their mind, if the mind is not in the greatest condition then they should take it slow and not rush it as too much force could end up throwing them off the road when a sharp turn shows up. If everything is done with a balanced state of mind and maintaining attention to the road, you'll probably get to your destination safely, provided you have some grasp of the basics.

Okay I see. So the pre-heavenly bagua follows balance (opposite trigrams facing each other) and post-heavenly is more in groups. How do you see the movement?

It's interesting that the trigrams in the early heaven bagua mirror each other in direct opposites of yin and yang. "do the trigrams face 'inward' (lowest (bottom) lines at the top) or 'outward' (lowest lines at the bottom)?" They face outwards with the bottom line facing inside the bagua. Would you explain a bit more of what you mean by this mYTHmAKER? I'm trying to see what you mean by how they are grouped in the later-heaven in this way... I thought I would see what the trigrams are when you put these baguas together to make hexagrams. The results seemed to reflect something about inner alchemy in a way... South-West: Wind/Earth=46, Rising West: Water/Lake=47, Exhaustion North-West: Heaven/Mountain=26, Great Accumulation North: Earth/Water=8, Closeness/Accord North-East: Thunder/Mountain=27, Nourishment East: Fire/Thunder=55, Abundance South-East: Lake/Wind=61, Sincerity In The Center South: Heaven/Fire=14, Great Posession Seems kind of like a story line of development, or even of the classic myth: Rising, Embarking on journey Exhaustion, major setbacks Great Accumulation, acquires wisdom Accord, finds peace with situation Nourishment, builds and prepares to obtain elixer Abundance, attains elixer Sincerity In The Center, learns from experience, finds true to self, enlightenment Great Posession Or else: Rising, begin practice Exhaustion, peak of practice Great Accumulation, benefit from practice Accord, inner harmony after practice Nourishment, nourished by inner harmony Abundance, fullness, jing transmutes as chi Sincerity In The Center, chi transmutes to spirit, spirit returns to emptiness Great Posession Just a few random ideas.. Interested to hear others have to say.. Does anyone know how the early-heaven bagua is used in Feng Shui? great topic, btw!

I still eat meat on occasion but not much even then. The thing is to make sure you get complete proteins which simply requires mixing 2 of either grains, legumes, or seeds and nut. You don't have to mix them in the same meal, but it helps to do so to up your protein. Also, 3 cups of soy milk is easily one serving of protein. Pumpkin seeds have about the double the protein than all other seeds and nuts and go very well in stir frys and almost anything. Add peanuts and sunflower seeds and cashews to your meals. Also keep some nutritional yeast in a shaker and put some on meals once in a while to get B12. Snack on seeds or nuts instead of chips etc. Eggs can be used for stir frys too with curry. That's been doing it for me.

Oh, perfect, "you are under attack by ethnic people, how dare you criticize racist vigilantiism you lazy unpatriotic Obama supporter." Way to prove the original point there champ. And you support redneck militias? Cookin' up some hotdogs with the grand wizard? I don't argue with racist cowards on the internet so I'll just leave you to lick up that puddle of shit that you just dove into ..

Aye, I can see how my message was easily misunderstood. I meant to say that if you can sleep at night while doing retention (since that can be difficult) then you will get all the said benefits of doing retention. Someone made a thread a while ago about the testosterone fluctuations during retention (I think Chi Dragon may have started it) based on a scientific study. The grammar was a bit messed up but it seemed to say that testosterone doubles and peaks at 7 days of retention and then gradually goes back down afterwards. There are lots of different views on how long one should retain which should take the persons other practices into consideration. The fact that your working out probably makes it a lot easier to do retention. 38 days at 18 years old is pretty awesome, and generally not really necessary but if it's working for you in one way or another then that should be taken into consideration as well imo. As for hooking up, you have a lot to gain even hormonally in terms of retention practice if you are willing get her to the finish line and just cool down with her and do some exercises to move the heat up to your dantien and up your spine. It's important that you do these exercises though or you can overstretch your prostate which leads to serious trouble. To move the heat you could try this: Tuck your chin down to stretch your spine while keeping your neck straight. Big inhale from lower abdomen. Around full inhale start to clench anus&urogenital diaphram. Then use abdominal muscles to push stomach back in while these are clenched. Let the heat rise up a bit and then exhale and relax everything. Repeat. So really, even retention for a week at a time might be enough. And if you're practicing retention during intercourse then you will feel plenty of testosterone even within this timeframe. Its a strange trick in that a fighter can actually benefit from having sex the day before a fight if he uses retention, while he would otherwise become more deflated. k, 'nuff from me for now

I really don't know much about the vast majority of the ingredients in the supplement you're taking, but I would venture to guess that they take a toll on your system to give you a temporary boost. So you might start to look more muscular eventually, but at the cost of internal imbalance and possibly creating unhealthy expectations for how you should feel during a workout. If you want to do it naturally, just do what internal martial-artists do - sexual retention. You know how some people use sex as a sleeping aid? That's cause the energy is powerful. If you can learn to sleep through it, and learn to let it circulate through the micro-cosmic orbit when it seems to drive you, you can put that drive and energy into pretty much everything. You will also naturally increase your testosterone this way. There is a tremendous amount of vitality in doing this which is why some yogis who practice this along with advanced disciplines can go without food for months at a time. Besides, pushing yourself to a level that can not be sustained naturally will probably lead to that extra muscle turning into man boobs eventually, and that unnecessary extra energy depleting your mind and body's ability to be satisfied with an enhanced but natural amount of energy. Doing it naturally can make you feel great when your not on the supplement as well, and if your using your energy in the gym you'll probably be able to sleep easily too. Plus the hormones and things that you retain can feed your mood and enhance your spirits vs. draining them with caffeine and things that push you to over expend your chi. Just be careful of feeding the body at the expense of the potentials of harmony .

There is something to having the soles of your feet pointing upwards for increased yang rising and this is apparently part of the strictness about sitting in full lotus posture. At the same time, sitting on a seiza bench achieves this too, but is not deemed as effective in some schools. The Rinzai Zen posture creates a triple support with a big cushion so that your butt is raised up and your knees are pushed into the ground-pad. This way, even in quarter-lotus (somewhere between half-lotus and cross legged, more easily done with the cushion) your feet are turned up (not that is was mentioned in Rinzai). Also, raising your butt up like this frees up circulation around the urogenital diaphragm which is helpful for "Taoist Yoga" type meditations. The added support from the knees helps for longer sitting too. Some things to consider..

Siddhartha (1972) (English) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21tPMWyo6QU&feature=related The Life Of The Buddha [Full BBC Documentary- HQ] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFbjDcz_CbU&feature=related Zen Buddhism - The Land of the Disappearing Buddha - Japan (BBC 1977) ZEN - Behind the curtain - 24h a day Life at a Japanese Zen monastery Life in a Zen 禅 Buddhist monastry in 1959, part 3 Zen 1 Principles and Practices Shunryu Suzuki Roshi - 01 Hotchiku + Surround Scape, Atsuya Okuda × Mick Sawaguchi (Shakuhachi) Kung Fu Flute http://www.flutemakerministries.org/ Living Zen: Fearlessness (February 18, 2010) Tibetan book of the dead Part 1 Life of an Enlightened - documentary in english http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKXOLH3hvGM&feature=related Entheogen: Awakening the Divine Within [Full Film] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56-MBWXzooY&feature=related Vedic Cosmology Mysteries of the Sacred Universe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hXRPw9rVFk&feature=related Zen Dogen the Zen Master http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T0QbAQXQV4&feature=related

Miyamoto Musashi Documentary, History Channel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NT1tPpkVMM&feature=related 500 Nations The Story of Native Americans - 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EedWZ_jaTiE&feature=related lot's of movies on the side-bar suggestions: The kung fu scholar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGX1umzZi58&feature=related Warriors of Heaven and Earth 1/15 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPXi0AwlOnY&feature=fvwrel Hwangsanbeol (funny sh^*, crude language warning) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A89o3t9_AdU&feature=related The Devine weapon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpibBU1K7GM&feature=related Kung Fu Master [Donnie Yen - 1994] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M__1q43IKM8&feature=related The Music Box (adapted from novel) Wing Chun (The Movie) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5sZPr3bxDw&feature=related 18 Secrets Of Kung fu (1988) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_fpYAXlrnk&feature=related New Dragon Gate Inn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er8-ipttCn0&feature=related 5 Deadly Venoms http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avyweHVnRbU&feature=related House of Flying Daggers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr_oVivXxWg&feature=related Green Hornet 1974 Movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m56uV2pv_1o&feature=related Buddhist Fist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFE7IYFMOMU&feature=related

There's something wrong with this?

Nice. Or, in the meantime: Cook you're food not to have tasty food but to make well-cooked food. Wash your dishes not to have clean dishes to make well-washed dishes.

Shaolin Warrior Training. 1.5hrs

Well to live simply is to maintain that which is essential and happily let the inessential come and go, learning from everything in life and using this knowledge to propel forward.....

I see you've come to a nice resting place since I started writing this response, but: interesting question... When we're dreaming we have an unacknowledged faith that what we see is real. In the present moment we also have this faith. Whether you understand the present or not, it is still only real insofar as it is a result of so many other things which themselves are also a result of so many other things, etc etc etc, and on down the line. What makes this real for us? The fact that our mind is here and experiencing it. If there were no mind, there would be nothing being experienced. Because there is a mind, there is an experience (without getting into why is there mind, desire, karma, etc...) So long as you, we, I have these desires that put us here, "I and I" will continue to have these experiences. Also, there is much understanding about faith being for followers, but faith is really more rebellious than knowledge. Besides, you don't really need to be logical about every situation. "Descartes said 'I think therefore I am.' This is where philosophy begins. But what about when you're not thinking? This is where Zen begins." (- maybe D.T. Suzuki, or Taisen Deshimaru..)

Well, maybe we'll start a new phenomena of detached crowd slipping...

:

There is no final fulfillment, but there is infinite progress. Even when someone has reached unity with Tao, there is still the need for progress and maintenance by way of continuing practice, virtue, service, experience, etc.. It's not "attain the Tao and go home to bed" but, "attain the Tao and enter the world now opened for you." If you get in a boat and enter the ocean, are you finished? If you paddle half way across do you stop? If you land on a new shore you'll still have lots to do...

I think either way it would be good to reduce stress and strengthen your lung-metal element since metal cools fire, lungs cool heart. Something gentle like qi gong is perfect for this, but do something that has more movement involved than things like Mantak Chia's systems. Finding a good Tai Chi instructor would be ideal too as they will keep your commitment to the exercise and improvement going. Find an instructor who also practices TCM ideally. In the meantime practice deep abdominal breathing with right hand on belly and left hand on chest. Take your time with each breath. This practice will prepare you well for those exercises.. and massage your internal organs. Also, check out the Hot Tea thread and cut out the coffee if you're big on that. At least buy some decaf if you love the taste too much

learn through experience seek a balance of energies (you should be able to offer your yangness to complement her yinness. If you feel a harmony with the person then you will both benefit. Of course, you should have some of the other energy as well) avoid powerful attachment (sounds crazy to the Western ideals of love, but that ideal is often based more on need and possession than selflessness) right timing, don't force anything, honour yourself cultivation, build and continue moving forward with momentum

I mentioned plantain tea in your other thread. Plantain can also lower blood pressure. If you have anxiety a great thing to take is oatstraw tea. It is packed with vitamins and minerals and can have a very relaxing effect. If I need a mood pick-me-up, sometimes I'll make a tea with licorice root, peppermint, lemon grass, and oatstraw. Very tasty. People with heart issues should avoid licorice root though, and pretty much check out anything they put in their bodies. You could always skip the licorice root if you're trying to lower blood pressure. I would have the plantain tea separately though as it might not be as effective when mixed up with all these other herbs. It would go well with lemongrass though. Again, I'm not a certified ND.

If you have any allergy issues I strongly recommend trying Heel brand homeopathic remedy for hayfever and allergies. It works on the bodies over-reations which cause allergic symptoms and of the two people I know of who have used it their long-term allergy symptoms have disappeared and they rarely even have to take this nasal spray any more. Lung issues and so forth can be treated by pungent or spicy foods according to TCM. You might also want to take plantain tea (not the bananna plantain) which might help in a number of various way. Steep it for 20 minutes to get all the medicinal effects of it. Apparently there aren't any negative drug interactions with plantain and I can't see how it could have anything but a positive relationship with the nasal spray above (just cleaning and clearing out the phlegm), I should say that I only know this stuff by my own research interests and am not a naturopathic doctor. edited to add: aren't any negative drug

Seems my earlier statement may have misled a bit judging by a PM question, so I'll clarify what I meant here by "see with the ears, ...". What I meant was changing the priority of senses in a way. Normally we pay attention to our surroundings with the eyes first and the other senses will pick up on stimuli if they are engaged by an external stimuli. The practice I'm talking about is basically re-ordering the priority of senses. Normally walking down a busy sidewalk we have to look around frantically to avoid bumping into people. This actually depletes the spirit as does over engagement of any senses, according to Taoist theory. So what I sometimes do is change the priority of senses. I'll keep my gaze down near the end of my nose and more "feel" with my eyes rather than looking around. I'll open up my ears the most so that I am intentionally engaging them more than the other senses (when the sight is turned down there is a lot more to be heard). Doing this, I can hear people coming and get a sense of the rhythm of the sidewalk and manage to be in the right place at the right time and not walk into people (since I'm still "feeling" with the eyes to a degree). The nose is not used much, but when you use your nose like you normally do your ears (in terms of active engagement) then you can pick up a lot of things that normally go unnoticed. This doesn't have a huge amount of purpose, but it does help with the "vipissana" mindstate a bit in noticing more things around me without becoming "engaged" by them. Then feeling is normally very subtly done by the skin which can pick up energy vibrations, possibly even levels of stress and emotion are picked up by our pores and small hairs on our skin. So the skin in a way "smells" the environment, and when the other senses are engaged differently, this sense can be turned up a bit as well. So the overall effect is that the senses are not grabbed by shocking stimuli and thus are more governed by the person rather than by outside influences. At the same time, our more subtle senses are more engaged and so we become more aware of subtleties in our environment. I'm not actually sure if I came up with this or not, but normally that phrase (see with the ears, hear with the nose, smell with the skin, feel with the eyes) refers to a "one-taste" way of experiencing the world so I may have done something else with it, though this practice is probably nothing new really.. I'm sure it exists on some level in vipissana or even ninjitsu. Also, the main reason for doing this is to allow inner concentration and focus in the midst of otherwise overwhelming (or unimportant) environments.

If that's what you want to do... but why not feel full of life while you do it! What side of the line do you want to be on.. pointing and criticizing and doing nothing, or ignoring the BS and enjoying the empowerment that comes with being alive and knowing it? "If your alive and you know it clap your hands.. ** **.. " Anyway, it's a far more constructive way of ridding yourself of negativity than wasting time....