Cheshire Cat

I agree. Apparently, they have a system of mentorship in which senior students of the GrandMaster teach to the new ones. I guess that the Masters don't want to be publicly known ... maybe because of some traditional chinese restrictions on teaching certain stuff to westeners. Or maybe this school is -in some way- preparatory for the real teaching. In other words, if one appears worthy, then he is introduced to the real Master. Hundreds of possibilities... Not dare to mention the mischievous ones...

:-D I counteract all this esoteric philosophy with Alan Watts! Om Alan Padme hum! Hung Watts Svaha! If we want to say that something is daoist or not, then we must apply a ruler to see if centimeters matches. Only with the ruler we can say that something is straight or convex. But the ruler is internal to us and others may measure it with a different instrument. How could we say that something is daoist? In this case, Hitler was only outlining his cure for making people in intimate harmony with things: plastic eye surgery to remove eyelids.

Lam Kam Chuen's books (the way of energy and The way of power) are my Zhang Zhuang bible with little adjustment based on my personal energetic structure. Basically I work on each position until I can reach a certain level of mastery and then I use that same position as "standard stance for meditation" (as full lotus is for traditional zenists). The open secret is to cultivate zen mind in zhang zhuang. This gives faster and deeper results than any other approach (except breath retention). If you don't like zen mind because you claim to be a daoist, then you can probably find an equivalent meditation in daoist tradition. :-)

I've been falsely accused of making use of doping and hormones for strenght in my jujitsu class...

To understand something of buddhism, we must look at where it originated: India. In India there was a long spiritual tradition of mixed beliefs in which there was an esoteric concept: reincarnation. This originated probably as philosophical stuff and then became social truth. Hence, it was natural for the Buddha to speak about karma and reincarnation, even where he stated that there is no permanent Self! Karma was a common sense approach to life and nobody would dare to question its truths. At first, suffering (dukka) wasn't something to realize in a spiritual way... but a starting point: the real, down to earth experience of spiritual people in ancient India. This starting point was a common feeling as we have the feeling of having a neck under our heads. So, the Dharma is for the people and not People for the Dharma. If a particular person could not understand dukkha because it is outside of his experience, then there were other approaches. Now, attachments is something that were already basic knowledge at the time of the Buddha: he created a monastic society where monks had almost nothing on their own! They should abandon their family (this was unacceptable for chinese thought), shave their head and meditate on their own decaying body. Oh! Attachments were considered very very seriously. When Dharma reached lay people, then the attachments issue were adapted to match different life-style. The focus shifted from what you actually have business with, to what is running in your mind (chinese style wu-wei).

In shamanic terms, a man is a moltitude of souls with different functions and objectives. In your case, it is possible that one of your souls have been involuntarily stolen by that girl and, as a result you are obsessed by her. Or it may be the opposite case, in which it is you that stole one of her souls. Because of the double emotions that you describe, I think that the first case is the most likely. You should check a shaman (not a plastic-shaman) to perform a soul retrieval ceremony. But, if you are willing to put more efforts in this healing, try to meet other beautiful girls and cultivate love. This could be the case in which the poison is the same as the medicine.

This could be a soul-loss, in my opinion.

There was a thread about this matter somewhere on the TB.

http://www.all-dao.c...meditation.html Sure, there is an incorrect method of sitting ( "like a dry piece of wood"). But, if sitting is done properly then it is one of the thousands of Gates to the Dao. Did you heard about the real Yang Qi that emerges from stillness ? When you reach extreme Yin, there Yang is born. This is the Dao. P.S. Their website is very very cool! One of the most beautiful webpages I've ever seen :-)

I had problems in which my hands were freezing. I don't think that it was genetic because I was the only guy in my family with this problem. I consider this exercise as a good solution

This is the Qabbalist view in which desires evolves into one another until one reach the supreme desire for God. This involves the fulfillment of desires. But I think that desires cannot be stopped in that way. If I'm hungry today and I eat until I'm plenty of food, that does not means that tomorrow I will not be hungry. If I have sex with a beautiful girl today until I cannot have more, this does not means that tomorrow I will not. The daoist way is moderation to keep "desires" as little as possibile. The heart is in peace and Qi flows abundantly.

From my experience, the "trick" here is to learn Zen Mind. If you do Zhang Zhuang with a Zen Mind, it works deep. Otherwise, you will reach a "limit level" of standing (maybe more than 2 hours), but nothing more.

I've practiced kunlun 1 and I'm convinced that it is a form of zhang zhuang, same principle. But it is easier to hold kunlun for longer time and the effects are amplified by this. What do you mean by "activate kunlun"?

I shared this view. But then I realized that all the problems with this issue is that we keep "the individual" as the center of the universe. I and the other guy. I and the pretty girl. I and the world. This is misunderstanding of our very life. Each one of us is "a product" of external factors. Even if I hate the madness of society, I'm born from society. I do not exist independently. The individual "I am" that wants to find a mate which shares his feelings and dreams, is just a golden coverage of the real thing. What lies behind is just the "male power" that wants to find a suitable partner (one that will not flee. In other terms, a partner that shares his world. Not a stranger with weird feelings) to father an heir... but the individual does not exists for real, so it is just the "male power" that wants another vehicle of manifestation since the first one is temporary. Yet, this is not real. What lies behind is just "human beings" seen as a single entity that wants to re-generate its vehicle of manifestation. All the chatter about "individual happiness", or "karmic bondage" which links me with that beautiful girl for my personal enjoyment is just BS. Sex does not exist for our enjoyment. Life does not exist for our enjoyment. Family does not exist for our enjoyment. Things are not so for us. And spirituality does not exist for our personal enjoyment. It's a function which co-exists with other powers as "male power", "female power", "legal profession", "warrior instinct" and so on. We are not real. We manifest powers that are more "tangible" than we are. Those powers will last for very long after our death. This is reincarnation. The crazy focus on the individual is an illness of modern society and modern civilization. Spiritual cultivation works best with male power. It' a kind of natural law. Tibetans say that you need the karma of a great king to find a partner suitable for spiritual cultivation (sexual cultivation). The simple reason is that "spirituality" isn't suited for women's power. They tend to became more masculine before attempting real spiritual cultivation. Mind, I'm not talking about witchery things, healing stuff or philosophical understanding. Not even magic. Magical power works very well with female. I'm talking about the undertaking of the real practice of spiritual cultivation as the Buddha did. As Lao-tzu did.

If you've read the story of Wang Li Ping, do you remember what was the first lesson? 4 hours stillness meditation in a cave each single day. If you want to play with advanced stuff, you have to master the basis first. If you've read the taoist manual of Wang Li Ping, you can clearly read where the practice start. If you can sit 4 hours full-lotus, you can control your sexual urges... without relying on secret alchemical formulas...

No, modern mind wants easy approach. There are no easy path to develop willpower. It is not complex. It is unpleasant.

In this case, the only thing that really works is meditation. Not the dantien/MCO stuff, but just stilling the mind.

The problem with people is that they cannot criticize themselves. Even criminals and murderers claim to be "on the right path". It is impossible to teach something unless your audience is ready to "give up" their preconceived beliefs. If you are younger (or you just look younger) than your audience, the problem is even greater. No one of us is able to honestly criticize himself. We think to be right most of the time. Hence, the need of all the Guru-worship stuff. People could accept such spiritual things only if they feel "the need" and craving. If they haven't this, don't loss your time.

Oh! I thought that Shiva chose a tiger's skin because it was fashionable. Once a shaman told me something about sexual energy. He said that sexual energy is like a tiger in jail. Unpredictable. When you are celibate, you are feeding your tiger with dry food for cats and you think that you can control your sexual urges... but when the tiger smell the blood and wants to eat real flesh, she can no longer be subjugated.

Is your problem related to involuntary ejaculation (maybe during the night) ? or lack of self-control over your sexual urges ?

Each organ has specific works to perform and it is designed to do so. The liver performs more than 400 functions each single day. I always wonder when I hear people talking of their ability at re-directing the subtle currents of their body at will to balance the organs... when they are not even aware of all the things that organs do by themselves without being bothered by some taoistic minds...

What is it that disturbs the viewer? Is humans supposed to be so highly deified to give compassionate death to animals? Humans are hunters. We -as a civilization- are declining and we have no hunters, just butchers. There is no benefit in eating flesh in this way. It is horrible to eat such things that have lost their natural power: much better to be vegetarians.

I don't like reiki at all. Practicing meditation, it's very easy to feel the different quality of the energy that surrounds us. Even people who are un-aware of energy can stir energy and move it with easy visualization, but unfortunately very few know what they are doing. For example, I participated to a wiccan ritual few weeks ago. I do not practice any religion on a regular basis, but I consider offerings to spirits and seasonal rites to be a good thing... like it's good to take a walk in the forest, etc... People in wicca may feel something that they call energy, but it's hard to find someone who can test the "quality"of the energy. They enjoy tingling sensations, unusual pressures, see lights and think "That's it!". In that ritual, people "called" energy from the four directions. The ritual was done in the city. The energy that they got was the energy of the surrounding environments, not the fire, wind, water and earth that they called. I felt it clearly. When I take too much urban environment's energy I feel nausea and very unpleasant sensations. When the energy come from nature and it is pure, I feel good, my strength grows. People who do not meditate on a regular basis are not aware of this because their body does not retains too much energy. I felt very very bad. They take the energy of the environment and manipulate it. That energy is insane for cultivation. Living in the city, we inevitably take some of this energy but only that quantity which we can purify for our own use. It is not a good energy for cultivation or healing. Reiki people do the same thing. They do not discern what kind of energy they get. For them is "just energy" that heal autonomously. It is not so. Try to take a reiki treatment in a cemetery. and you will be sure of this. They take some empowerment and from then on they feel connected with divine energy. They haven't the need to cultivate anything else. They are totally un-aware of what they are doing.And if they feel something, they usually misinterpret their bodily responses.

Wu-wei encompass all the pranayama. We think of the ancient Sages as the best practitioners ever existed, so they practiced the "core" stuff. Chapter 37 of DDJ says: The Tao is constant in non-action Yet there is nothing it does not do If the sovereign can hold on to this All things shall transform themselves Transformed, yet wishing to achieve I shall restrain them with the simplicity of the nameless The simplicity of the nameless They shall be without desire Without desire, using stillness The world shall steady itself

Don't forget that wu-wei was the actual method of realization of the ancient Sages...