JustARandomPanda

LOL!

I couldn't help but think of a smiling 3bob if he saw this.

Here is some of what you can learn from The Little Book of Hercules blurb from the website Though that quote doesn't mention it he goes into detail about the Microcosmic Orbit and many other signs Taoist Internal Alchemy and Tantra talks about. Bodri is all about non-denominationalism and how universal the spiritual path is. All of the above - although it may use Zen Buddhism for some terms since that was/is Bodri's own tradition - can be found in other traditions as well - just under different names.

In his book (including this one) and on his website he will sometimes discuss some things that happened to him. Yes and yes. Bodri has been through these stages personally but Master Nan is Bodri's Guru so much of what you are learning is what Master Nan taught Bill Bodri.

That is precisely the purpose of the book. They are universal signs. This is why Bodri stresses over and over that such practice itself is non-denominational. Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism, Western Mystery Traditions, Kabbalah, Sufism, even Atheists! ....doesn't matter If you practice correctly (no matter what tradition you are in) you will get these signs and phenomenon at certain stages and he tells you what that means is happening to your body, mind, emotions, etc per stage. He just uses the 12 Labors of Hercules as a framework for these signposts. Sometimes old myths hide deep truths but it takes people who are pretty far along the spiritual path themselves to turn around and see what the myths are hiding in plain sight.

Snowmonki sent me a PM directing me to the following Forum post at BK Frantzis website. I include it here for future Taobums in case they have a similar problem to mine. Looks like I'm not the only one with this problem. Energy System too Weak for Standing Qi Gong I am very encouraged by reading this link as for the first time I feel there might actually be hope someday I can do both BKF's Energy Gates and Zhan Zhuang. Thank you so much for that link Snowmonki!

I received the following reply via PM from Mandrake a few weeks ago to the above question. Thank you!

Got a kick out of this one. I hope you like.

Are you not?

This is fascinating. I think...the more I read of your posts I'm beginning to understand where you are coming from. If I understand you correctly: 1. Anything experienced in TIME has always Passed. It must be for the 6 senses to be able to "detect it". This makes sense to me as I read approximately 2 years ago research studies done on humans that showed the senses only notice what's already been. The body knew and decided what to do before even one brain cell picked up the change. This opened up a whole can of worms for the researchers because it implied (once they really looked at the data) that humans don't have Free Will in the way we are all accustomed to teaching and philosophizing we do. The brain cells only registers things already in the past and we only just now finally have the technology to even demonstrate this. Even weirder this squares with many spiritual tradition's Awareness teachings! That there IS a kind of Awareness that has zero need for the brain or any other senses at all. [Now extend the above research to the Brain itself and it starts to get *really* whacky. ] I guess unless or until one experiences awareness that has none of the 6 senses involved then one will not be able to convince him/her that the way they perceive things can be done any other way? Ok. I think I'm getting a bit better where you are coming from now. This is interpreting Lao Tzu and the Buddha as a Physicist would. That is..I read the above as the way Lao Tzu might teach the Tao te Ching had he been born today and been a Physicist. I find these posts intriguing!!! For one it is saying that A ) One can actually engage in practices that will empirically prove the above "Einstein-ian equations" in one's very own mind. Especially with regard to the properties of the equation E = MC2 B ) It is saying that the things Lao Tzu and the Buddha taught are compatible with modern Physics and furthermore can be *verified* with modern Physics. Indeed...from the standpoint of Physics some of what the Buddha taught becomes more understandable (at least to me). As I understand VMarco is defining NOW in very specific terms. He is being very precise when he speaks of NOW and it is not the way ordinary, run-of-the-mill people mean when they speak of "now". He's speaking from the point of view of Physics. Notice this statement: This is (I think!) scientifically correct (as I understand it). Now the things he does say that upset people is that moving Light (since all the known universe is made of such) is illusion. And if you read the above statement - I can see how it could be argued as true (assuming my very sketchy understanding of the theory of relativity is correct). I think that was the breakthrough Einstein had. He saw movement from "Light's" perspective. Think of the first Matrix movie. Remember the scenes of "Bullet time"? That's from Light's perspective. We are beings of Light and meditation exercises are designed to show us our own "Light" from Light's "perspective" applies to ourselves. Therefore it means in all of eternity WE have not moved (from LIGHT'S perspective that is) - remember this is Physics, not "ordinary" understanding. The illusion is thinking that we do (from a relative pov we do, not so from Light's pov as I gather). Edit: And now I think I understand some of those verses from the Heart Sutra: From the standpoint of Light as Einstein demonstrated "movement" from Light's perspective - all of the above is true! Again...my understanding of Relativity is sketchy so I admit I could be wrong. However...it intrigues me that the way VMarco is presenting Buddhist (and to a lesser extent Taoist) ideas is fully compatible with modern Physics. Scientists tend not to be Taoists so they don't think about 'Wu' teachings. If they did perhaps they would be comfortable with Einstein's equations equaling zero and simply stopping there. But anyone who has only ever experienced the 6 senses and sporadically or never practices meditation will be unable to prove the truth or falseness of these equations to him/herself. That is indeed a remarkable claim. But I do believe that if Taoism/Buddhism is true then it would need to be fully compatible with what science discovers as well. Vmarco... It sounds as if you are saying that perhaps hundreds or a thousand years in the future scientists may actually realize Einstein was right all along (R=0) and give up the need to go beyond that into infinity in the same way that Ether was tossed aside as a totally unneeded "medium" for waves and particles to "travel through" in order for Quantum Physics to work. What about the teachings of people reaching stages where there is no longer a hierarchy? It's my understanding once one has reached the final stage hierarchy doesn't exist anymore (that whole Nirvana is Samsara thing). In other words the 'delusion' is thinking we actually 'move' for from Light's perspective we don't. And since we are all made of Light (literally the stuff of stars) this is what Prajna exercises are designed to prove empirically to us. (am I misreading you here?) I've always wondered how Buddhists square emptiness (which I see as a pre-modern society's discovering some laws of Physics and trying to teach it in terms those ancient societies could understand) with the Mahaparinirvana sutra? I have long been baffled about how they square that circle. Are you saying that some Buddhists do not have a complete enough understanding of their own realizations because they teach something that also happens to violate Einstein's equations?

PREACH IT BROTHER!!! Can I hear an AMEN!

I wondered about getting the Abundance book too. Unfortunately my library doesn't have it. I wonder what James Howard Kunstler would think of it. It's certainly a very different message from the one Kunstler always goes on about. Abundance may be a thought-provoking counter balance to Kunstler's The Long Emergency.

For the record I have and can stand and exercise for hours at a time. I used to be a server who would work extra shifts for long hours at a time. I never saw any improvement in my legs in all that time and certainly none in my feet. The pain in my feet comes whether I exercise or not. I've exercised to aerobic dvds, taken flamenco dancing lessons (including the shoes with the tiny nails in the soles), and do windsprints on occasion too so it's not like I'm some slob who sits on my butt all day everyday for decades on end. I may not LIKE exercise but that doesn't mean I don't do it. I lift weights as I have my own home 45 lb Olympic bar and 300 lbs of plate weights and they do get used. On the job the pain in my feet would be so bad each day after work it could keep me awake at night. Had I had health insurance (which unfortunately I did not as most servers don't) I would have seen a podiatrist. However...I'll check out some of the suggestions offered here. Thanks!!!

So glad you are enjoying Hercules anamatva. If you like that book you should definitely check out some of Bodri's other books. I especially recommend Socrates and the Enlightenment Path. Bodri shows step by step Socrates was a Zen master with major high-level meditational achievements. I promise you will never read a Socratic Dialogue in quite the same light ever again.

More Buddhist Humor

I would be in favor of this. I would NOT be in favor of this. In fact...this would have some very hidden, perverse consequences. The primary one being that it would make the Military (and secondarily all Military Contractors) have an even stronger impetus to push for pro-oil policies/expansion at all levels of government. In the above scheme they'd get some oil tax revenue.

E, is it true as I've read on Amazon that this book has no notes in the back so one can track down the research (I presume) to back up the author's claims? I have a habit of reading the 1 Star Reviews at Amazon first just to see if any critical thinkers might be able to spot weaknesses in a book's topic. Here's two I found that had me scratchin' my noggin in wonder. and Now unlike the above reviewer I do not see Biofuels as some sort of panacea. Relying on them introduces a whole new set of problems but since the review was posted in 2006 I don't think real world experience was out yet that it introduces problems that don't solve things. Still...I've seen some amazing research being done to create high-grade gasoline from single-celled organisms (they skip the oil phase altogether and just poop high-grade gasoline. ). Along with all kinds of other research being done. If even a few of these things take off and become popular it could begin shifting things without invoking the doom and gloom Kunstler envisions. I did not realize Kunstler was not a geologist. According to Wikipedia he has no degree nor research in the areas in which he discusses. And for a Jew to be making such remarks about other people is um...odd to say the least (Southerners who like NASCAR? One such "NASCAR idiot" he's talking about is my DAD who has a PHD in mathematics).

Here's opposing reviews of Kunstler's fiction novel, A World Made by Hand Looks like I'm going to have to check it out. Hope it'll be as good as Alas, Babylon was. 1st 5 Star Reviewer 2nd 5 Star Reviewer: and now: 1st 1 Star Reviewer 2nd 1 Star Reviewer

Have requested The Long Emergency from the library. Finally took a look at the website. Now I realize who Kunstler is! He's way more hardcore than Arch Druid ever dreamed of being! And yeah...he's got Blue Prints alright. I spoke out of ignorance before reading up on this guy. Definitely an error on my part. Kunstler's take is that the ever-increasing-speed-of-dwindling oil will instigate precisely the kind of social anarchy, lawlessness and catastrophe that Joeblast says "drastic reorg solutions" brings about. In fact, his fiction novel A World Made by Hand is the Post-Oil equivalent of Alas, Babylon. Considering Kunstler's hardcore position then when he says "drastic" he actually means it. From what I can tell Kunstler says we (or at least the clued-in) voluntarily change our lives (that is, revert to non-petroleum lifestyles - ie: live like the Amish or our pioneer ancestors) or dwindling petroleum and financial collapse will DO IT FOR US. The choice is ours. That's Kunstler's message from what I can tell. We revert to pioneer days lifestyles or a future of winnowing out the winners (those who switched to Amish-living prior to oil's collapse) and losers will do it for us - and we don't have more than 50-100 years at best (if that even) before the brutal winnowing begins. I haven't read his books but I will now. I wonder if he thinks old-time printing presses (maybe even manual typewriters for the lucky few who have the resources and know-how to make their own paper) will come back into vogue? Books will be precious and and very expensive, learning via recitation instead of writing (since paper will also be rare and expensive) will come back into vogue (or I suppose kids / adults could use portable chalkboards again like pioneer-era kids did). Communication via phones, internet, etc - not at all (takes petrol to run those things since that's what the infrastructure needs to make them and to stay maintained). Refrigeration for food storage will be a thing of the past. Scientific and engineering research of all kinds will be drastically curtailed. All that stuff requires modern petroleum to support it. But yeah...from what I gather he's saying most or all need to 'go Amish' NOW or the coming-collapse-despite-the-naysayers will force it on us anyway. It's inevitable and the fewer who heed his message - the faster, deeper and more tragic the collapse will be. I have no idea if the way he is interpreting current research is correct or not. Certainly modern medicine - both good and bad will be effected. If Kunstler's visions come true we can say goodbye to anesthetics (takes high tech to make and store them). We can say goodbye to birth control including condoms since it takes petrol to make them (hello rampant STD proliferation and a surge of surprise babies born to young teens-to-20-somethings). My guess is that since the modern medical system will collapse there will be an increase in infanticide and child abandonment - just like in the old days. Takes capital to 'sign up' in the first place. Some people do not have this option. but as far as the problems other cities than upstate NY will experience for water scarcity, distribution and purification - well...I'd already researched it and DIY-ers should check out the following: Water Storage: Tanks, Cisterns, Aquifers, and Ponds for Domestic Supply, Fire and Emergency Use--Includes How to Make Ferrocement Water Tanks

Meh. Kunstler is talking in the realm of ideas. It's the mind talking from the angle of a Philosopher and that's the article's purpose. It's interesting but as I've grown older and I guess more 'hands-on' I've grown more interested in how things are approached from the angle of the Engineer. That's were I wish guys like Kunstler would follow up such essays with a series of essays on HOW TO initiate a "drastic reorganization". Then you'd get to see exactly how "drastic" and far reaching his proposals might be on the current N. American population. Maybe they would be drastic. Maybe they'd be fairly inconsequential for all the sturm-n-drang of the article. When one speaks primarily from the angle of the Philosopher one doesn't know. That's why we'd need to examine the Blue Print. Once Kunstler starts releasing Blue Print articles from the angle of the Engineer as opposed to that of Philosopher he'll actually be taking steps toward doing something to get his readers bringing about the changes he says need to take place. I don't think it would lead to catastrophe for the simple reason he doesn't have that powerful influence on diverse segments of society. In fact...that's what his article is all about - a lament of such. Much maligned though Karl Marx is these days at least das Kapital was not only part Philosophical Overview but also part Engineer Blue Print. It's FAR more rare on both the Right *and* the Left to find popular commentators step up to the plate and release Blue Prints as opposed to Overviews (Arch Druid does some). But those are the people I'm most interested in reading from. Damn shame such commentators are so few and far between.

and this

More fun!!! :lol: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hga-mQyjYrI

And just cause it has no small link to this thread Taobums might wanna check out this one (especially check out the YouTube vid ) One never has no-preconceived notions as long as one draws breath.

What science has to say about NOW And the book the above talk spawned: A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing