Cheshire Cat

I don't feel much identified with the things I take as interests. When I'm sleeping, I forget all of them for good: does this mean that when I'm sleeping I cease to exist?

When logic can't be defeated, the vedantins always try to rely on a quote or two In my opinion, Nagarjuna's fallacy is that he treats Nirvana as a concept of the same category of Samsara, thus assuming that Nirvana means "end of samsara" and nothing else. He creates in his logic a link of causality "samsara -> nirvana" and then demonstrates that the third concept "emptiness" is superior because it has no-causality. If one believes that Nirvana stands beyond samsara, he can't say that Nirvana exists because of samsara no more than the sky exists because of the earth. But I'm not a buddhist, so you should find a more appropriate phrase.

I think that your logic and sharpness are a bit lacking my friend.

In my opinion, since the concepts of Samsara and Nirvana don't arise by themselves in the human mind, (but one need to learn about them through the medium of the Dharma) and- in addition- to experience Nirvana one must be enlightened, they are just conceptual means. What Anderson really meant -imho- is that the true path can go far beyond a couple of concepts, but what you are stating here is that the true path is the one that teaches two concepts (samsara and nirvana) and then build a logic to merge two concepts into a third one. And all this talking is based on the assumption that non-dual is superior because it sounds good or because it's written somewhere in the upanishads. But if I suggest that samsara is equal to duality and nirvana is equal to non-duality, how would you call the path that integrates duality and non-duality ?

I hoped to read about some special martial art

Beyond words and definitions, in my opinion is good to examine approaches. Only then, you may know what is what.

This is described in the visuddhimagga as the passage from pīti (joy, rapture) to sukha (happiness) which is fine. But the point of sexual union is to make pīti extremely strong so that it can transform the body and stabilize sukha to a supramundane state, imho : when lust is gone there are two explanations (Buddhahood or internal leakage).

Well... you wrote the secret by yourself.

Do you think that it is possible, after a good training on this, to bring the state into the practice of sexual union and learn to avoid ejaculation by transferring sexual energy into the bliss of altruistic intention? How long does it take to reach that stage?

I don't think so. Karma isn't a transcendental theological concept, but a relatively simple law explained linearly: if you do good, you get good. if you do bad, you get bad. Simple. This is the most fundamental scriptural and traditional way to view karma. I was talking about this view and has nothing to do with me: it's just the way it's explained by teachers and lamas. If it's presumptuous to think that, then it's clear that our beloved buddhist teachers are filling the mind of thousands of people with presumption. No, the buddhist method is to firmly believe in karma and rebirth... and then, based on that Faith, to practice the investigation stuff.. I think that this is just your personal interpretation of the buddhist thing. Traditionally, buddhism was a faith for people who already believe in reincarnation without doubts: even today if you ask a tibetan Lama about reincarnation, you'll see that it's deeply rooted in his native mind and simply not questionable. You cannot really "test" reincarnation because people can't recall anything like past lives. It's a matter of Faith.

Well, it's just the normal traditional scriptural way to view karma. If you want to believe that because karma means just action, it can suit your argumentative needs freely depending on the subject, then you're welcome... but consider that I was talking about karma and not a personal interpretation of the thing.

I think that your dancing with the concept so that it may adhere to the general accepted western view. The law of cause and effect says that action has consequences. The law of karma says that good actions bring good consequences. They are not the same. The law of karma is rarely verified THEREFORE to make it works, one must believe that the "good consequences" will be there in the future life.

I can easily agree to the observation that actions have consequences, but I know that the concept of karma is tightly related to the concept of reincarnation. Reincarnation is a kind of irrational religious Faith. Thus, it falls into the second category. One can't really talk about karma without mentioning reincarnation because it's a concept born with it: how could you explain otherwise that the bad Joe may be immeasurably rich while the good John may be poor? You have to say that it's karma from previous lives. To believe that actions have effects isn't to believe in karma: to believe in karma means to believe that negative actions attract negative action... and positive actions attract positive actions. But this is not the reality of things: I've seen this many times. Actions may have consequences and you can't predict their natures by examining the nature of the causes (good things may happen to the devil and shit may happen to the angel). It's a basic concept: why do we need a sanskrit word for it?

My actions are ... my actions. karma is something that one have to believe in, in order to be buddhist. Karma is more about curses and blessings from unknown lives: if it were under my control, I would be a great King today

It's more toward "trusting oneself". To understand what you can do and have faith in your own action.

I divide my reality into two categories: things that I can control and change thing that I can't control nor change; That which falls into the first category is under the influence of Faith: for example, if I know that I can stop thoughts for a while and I've seen improvements with time, then I develop Faith that I can perfect my mind to a greater extent; But to develop some sort of Faith into stuff which falls into the second category, it would be equal to the cultivation of delusions. For example, God, Karma, rebirth and even the Tao fall into the second category.

The man in the video, Hira Ratan Manek developed a pineal gland which is three times bigger than normal by practising sun gazing exercises.

I think that most easily we could identify chemical (scientific) processes associated (triggered) with the acquisition of pre-heaven Qi (and thus rejuvenation), rather than looking for pre-heaven Qi directly. But is rejuvenation really possible?

Apart from bizarre philosophical daoist theories which relies upon abstruse and unverifiable concepts, we could consider that the quantity of one's pre-heaven Qi manifests the natural life-span in the absence of depleting conditions, strong illnesses or traumatic events. Therefore, to understand what pre-heaven Qi is to understand the key factor of ageing. But, from a scientific point of view, we have just theories that you can easily find summed up in some article online. imho.

Now I need a nickname-change. I selected DAO rain TAO in a dramatic outburst of creativity: my nick in my native language means "From now on TAO (bums)". Is it possible to change nickname?

This is true also for Qigong practices: timing, consistency an repeatability aren't exclusive of your practices. This is true, we're talking about exercises that are mostly internal and for this very reason any additional things could potentially change the outcome. But how could you say that Qigong practitioners cannot understand and reach the same goals of your school? Everyone can easily adjust his practice to stimulate a certain channel for example, or produce a certain healing. ...and this adjustment may remain hidden since from the outside, the practice never changed. Can you elaborate on the differences of results? A lot of effort indeed and since I have no idea of what I could get from this mysterious practices, I think that I will investigate more before looking for a teacher of your lineage.

If Neidan methods doesn't involve standing and sitting meditation, dynamic exercises, Dao Yin and various work with imagination, then it's legitimate to speak like that. But I seriously doubt that the Neidan methods you're celebrating aren't about some special visualizations, bizarre body movements, focus on body spot while regulating the breath and such. And if its' about taming the mind in the buddhist way, then it may involve almost everything as a mean to settle the mind... therefore, one could freely practice qigong and neidan. We have two legs, two arms, a head, a couple of eyes and a nose: there aren't many ways to exercise our body and mind indeed. What could be this special kind of exercises that neidan lineages discovered and it's so difficult to imagine?

I think that we should reinterpret Christianity in the same way

Theories upon theories lead to nowhere. The crude reality is that we haven't the opportunity to witness some cases of immortality. Immortality should be a state of complete independence from the material and the spiritual realms or is it a different form of "equilibrium in the ether" for a disembodied consciousness? I mean...we know that just saying a few words is an exchange of energy: do immortals change and renew their energy or are they completely independent and could survive even without a world around them?