Harmonious Emptiness

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+3 on the Adyashanti video. Great! Very clear style, puns intended + not intended...

I forget where, but I thought I read somewhere that one of the important things about sitting in FL is that the soles of the feet point upwards, for energetic reasons. Any insights on this? because I'm thinking a seiza bench might be the way to go for the rest of us.

Wow. The economy really is THAT bad in the US. Thanks for the note. There's always libraries too if you need computers.. make sure you got a library card while you have an addressed bill to show if you didn't yet. I've heard plenty of good things about overseas teaching..

"Accepting where you are as basically good and taking to the beneficial while eliminating the false is a life-long path— " this is how I feel about the journey as well.. The purpose is continual refinement. Pushing things that don't work before we are ready for them, though we can do them as practice, it's best not to fool ourselves and then get frustrated when realizing that we have not progressed to the level that we may have been able to function at for some time. An example being unconditional compassion, or freedom from the bondage of negative emotions. If I try to suppress my inner voice too much then it will eventually come out with a vengance and jeapardize any progress. So while I work on these things, I still give some leeway. It's like push-hands almost. You have to give them a little so you can push them out of the way, while pushing directly against them is too exhausting for the long-haul. So until I wear them down, I'm still going to let them exhaust themselves a bit so that I don't become exhausted. However, I'm still in the game. Of course, giving in all the time or too much would be defeat me, game over. Knowing limitations is important so as not to lose in the first round. So to make it, we need to do what we can without exhausting ourselves (other than the odd exceptions I would say). You know.. get comfortable with 3 rounds first, then maybe 5 rounds, and keep working your way up. We can't lose faith just because we're not ready for 12 rounds, but pushing ourselves is necessary to get even up to 10, or 5, or even 3... If you want to get into it there's plenty of stuff you can do for 3 rounds at least in the meantime. I'm no professional athlete, but I'm pretty sure this makes some kind of sense anyway... Just like boxing makes us healthier and more energetic, these practices benefit us in our daily life, and help us see the right way to handle our emotions, difficulties, decisions, and so many other potential disasters that we face every day by developing the strength and flexibility available to anyone who wants to practice.

So that sort of harmonious bliss feeling spreading through the body that people sometimes get with sitting meditation, would you say that is Shen? Something else maybe?

Not that I can really call myself a Taoist, let alone an "experienced Taoist," but from my gleanings: shame and contrivance are generally related in that they are both concerned with failing and the consequences of failing to the ego. Faith also has a lot to do with being willing to take a risk, and having confidence that one will be able to overcome the setbacks encountered. With less attachment to self-concept, there will be lesser setbacks to failing, so faith is more available. Being less concerned about self and more concerned about other allows for fewer setbacks in this regard as well. Seeking harmony with Tao requires less attachment to self in order to see the Tao within rather than the illusion within. So working with Tao allows for more faith or confidence since there is less to lose when self doesn't obscure the path. I don't know if this helps, but thought I would take a shot..

Yeah, I guess I wasn't too clear also.. I meant more just "don't squander your fuel" if fatigue is an issue. Even retaining for 1 week at a time can make a big difference for most people's energy level. Plus it builds testosterone and retains a lot of nutrients so it could actually help to reduce stress. Anyway, if this is of any interest, check out "Tao of Health, Sex, and Vitality" by Daniel Reid. It can give you some wickid skills with the ladies too , which is a great stress reduction imo..

It's good to meditate before you even get out of bed, even for just 10 or 15 minutes. You might try that to get into the day. Some ginseng in the morning and a stretching routine could help as well. This is a good one: Meditating before bed is routine for a lot of monks, and might help too. 7 hours should be plenty of sleep, even if 8 is ideal. Too much sleep can make you feel heavy.

I'm not so sure.. All shamans honor the spirits that they work with, even those of plants and herbs. Imo, science might even find some peripheral, physical manifestation of what going on, but that's only because they can't use science to interact with spiritual beings. I don't know much about hermeticism, but I'd be surprised if they don't recognize entities.

If you count fairly basic herbalism, and mineral based nutrition as alchemy, yes.

I'll try to help. Pardon me if my answers are obvious.. From what I have read, it's a matter of cultivating chi and then concentrating it upwards. There's probably much more to it though... Also about concentrating chi, coming from the ground through the body, so that the person is not pushing back, but the attacker ends up pushing against the earth. Again, concentration of chi. In both Taoism and Native American Shamanism, this has to do with contacting the cloud spirits or "cloud people" and asking them. How one is able to do this is beyond my explanation.

I think that Jesus, Lao Tzu, and Buddha exist in spirit, regardless of history or who wrote what in their names. They may have existed as people or many many times as people. I know that the lessons they taught are true, and I know that powerful shamanism is true. They may just serve as focal points for those who wish to embody this spirit in themselves, or learn from it directly. I see no issue there. Religious authority is something else, but even to say that they don't exist is false, imo, since they do exist at least at another dimension, if not having existed in person on earth. The stories are mostly stories, probably, but the lessons behind them are true, and the spirit(s) of the teachers exists. The Jesus of the Dead Sea Scrolls, of the Assines, is quite different from the Biblical Jesus, but I think he may have been the spiritual leader who became mythologized in The New Testament. His shamanic knowledge was learned through Assine traditions, and also involved herbs and a form of Reiki. There are many people like this, but not many who go up against the system. Jesus of the Assines may have done so, and so became mythologized in order to co-opt the all the beliefs of ancient Rome and Greece into one religion. Just because the myths are borrowed doesn't mean the person never existed or taught. I think plenty of people like them have existed, so to say that one could not have existed because the myths were borrowed doesn't make too much sense, imo.

Awesome book. Highly, highly recommend it for tea lovers, Zen poetry lovers especially.

Hmm, honor used there is mostly in regards to reverence and respect for someone or something else, rather than one's own honour though. I guess a third usage of the english word. Anyone know the original term?

edit: *takes off war bonnet, unties horses tail. sweeps up karmic debree from floor* Okay sorry about that. Please do continue

Even the best tea makes you sick when you drink it from a pile of %?&* I should make that a bumper sticker

For somewhat of a first definition I'll quote from the Satipathana-Sutta: "What are the Four Establishments (of Mindfulness)? A practitioner remains established in the observation of the body in the body, ... the feelings in the feelings, ... the mind in the mind, ... the objects of mind in the objects of mind, diligent, with clear understanding, mindful, having abandoned every craving and every distaste for this life." So Mindfulness is more than just 'investigation of phenomena.' It also involves abandoning desire and aversion. Something I've been especially mindful of recently is in regards to disputes (not necessarily successfully avoiding them) as disputes are generally about clinging to views which is generally about desire or aversion. Arguing is a matter of craving for other people to see what we see. Dropping this craving allows us to be still, like the lotus flower on top of the water, untouched by the water, to walk mindfully amongst ignorance, and contention. What I see as the other side of Mindfulness, is awareness in the present. It is said that tranquility is required for deep insight. So the two together form 'Mindfulness,' following the quote above. Some teachings in this regard which I've been especially aware of recently are the combination of: Diamond Sutra "Activate your mind without dwelling on anything" Lankavatara Sutra: "But (the mind-system) fails to see and understand that what it sees and discriminates and grasps is only a manifestation of its own activity and has no other basis, and so the mind goes on erroneously perceiving and discriminating differences of forms and qualities, not remaining still even for a minuit." Dogen, Genjo Koan: "When you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point; for the place, the way, is neither large nor small, neither yours nor others'. The place, the way has not carried over from the past, and it is not merely arising now." So to realize mind as it arises from phenomena, arising and passing with each one is spontaneous presence. note: These are just my thoughts. They have no authenticity or authority pertaining to the true meaning or teachings of Buddha.­ (edited to fix punctuation with English keyboard, and to add): Anyone else have practices, stories, understandings, difficulties, suggestions, or comments?

So 9th, what practical advice do you have to offer? Criticism by itself serves little purpose other than self-indulgence.

y'all mind if we get back to the thread now before it ends up in the pit? Or maybe just move the last 5 posts?

I came across something yesterday which really hit me: "you can cause just as much damage by mindless action as by unkindness" kind of puts an interesting "moral" element to mindfulness too, in that it does good for people other than ourselves as well. This especially hit home when a call center person's error ended up causing me big problem. I suppose this can add mindfulness to part of metta practice...

Cleary's "Vitality, Energy, Spirit: A Taoist Source Book" might be of interest to you on this. It's more of a Northern school approach, but has some excellent teaching about giving up self and knowing Tao. I think this is a huge part of refining Qi into Shen, is leaving the self out of it so that the Shen can shine naturally. "The Book of Balance and Harmony" is also an invaluable book for this Northern style. By Northern school, I mean that they were less focused on water methods of cultivation, but no less on Oneness with Tao. There is not so much about breathing or moving in different ways, but they do have methods involving intent and mind which relate to jing qi and shen.

3rd. noting the difference between honour and integrity. Integrity does not depend on reputation, whereas honor has more to do with your position in society. Probably close to a third of the chapters in Chuang Tzu mention the absurdity of status and reputation, which I think honor is linked to. Having integrity and virtue without letting people on to the fact that you are anything above average is the Taoist way. "Keeping your treasure in a tattered sack" whereas honor requires that people don't think you can be disregarded. When you can be disregarded you are free to follow the way and not be bound by social conventions of normality.

This might not be what you want to hear, but, if you need energy and focus, consider: what do the practices of top fighters and marathon meditators have in common? Celibacy. Guiding that energy to higher glands or chakras to make use of it is like having a power outlet where most people run on rechargeable batteries. It might make you a bit less focused at first, with more energy than you know how to deal with, but meditation will help center it into the dantien too. By the way, some martial artists remain celibate without giving up sex, as do Tantrikkas.