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Everything posted by Jakara
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I liked the "feel good" factor of this film, but it was for the most part based on babble. Check this link for info on the abuse of quantum physics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mysticism
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I want to spend the rest of my life meditating and training in neikung
Jakara replied to Thunder_Gooch's topic in General Discussion
Hi More Pie, I know how you feel about wanting to leave the petty world behind and work towards something meaningful before our lives inevitabley run out. It seems unfair that this ideal isn't supported by those in charge. But then if we look at the profiteering gluttons who are really in charge you can see why. What type of spiritual "area" are you interested in? I hope you are aware that the popular systems on this forum (nei kung etc) that you previously described originally came from Indian Yoga, and not Chinese Taoism as is mistakenly thought by most. Though Chinese taoism has retained and sometimes evolved the art somewhat. You can see proof of this for example in the Hatha (Sun and Moon) systems of yoga, look at the postures, breathing techniques etc. I do mean the original Hatha, not the modern hippy mainstream you see on every street corner today. India has many great masters, but they are not going to advertise themselves. Anyway, what is your end game? Do you want to become liberated and leave? What about the rest of us who are suffering? I'm a strong believer in becoming liberated regardless of the personal situation you are in, then using your fortunate circumstance to help others attain the same goal. Be thankful you weren't born as someone starving in the street who has never had the chance of hearing about liberation. Most of us have only heard of liberation through the efforts of generous enlightened beings like the Buddha. Return the favour, stay in society against all odds, become enlightened through your efforts (its not all just meditation) and pass those teachings to others. There are many of us who want to be liberated too, we aren't all just cattle in the herd. -
Hi there, They say that Yang chi is stronger at the tops of mountains and high up places. Some relate it to the Sun and its effects such as ionization - a greater number of ionized particles are present at higher altitudes. Who knows though right? There's no proper study that has been done, so all there is to go on is what has been written in unverified ancient (and modern) texts. Vortex, how do you "dowse" to find how full your dan-tian is? Sounds like an interesting experiment.
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I was taught that wu-wei relates to "non-compulsive action". That is, no action that arises as part of the primitive, compulsive or instictual part of ourselves. Any action then arises naturally in a completely neutral way, not as a consuquence of impulse or debated logic... If that makes sense.
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I was just curious, do you think enlightenment is: a ) A physical (or energetic) change in the mind/body b ) Solely a realization of the mind (no energetic difference required) c ) Neither or both (Can a realization occur in the mind without changing its energy patterns?) Thanks, Jak
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The amanita muscaria mushrooms grow near me around this time of year. They are very hallucinogenic and have little harmful toxin if prepared properly. Saying that, although it is not illegal to own or grow these mushrooms in their natural form, it is illegal here to prepare them for consumption. Its considered a Class A drug. Lewis Carroll knew of their effects when he wrote "Alice in Wonderland", she eats the mushroom and hallucinates her size is changing, which is one of the effects. Ive seen another man talk about how he could see sounds, hear light and smell colours whilst under their influence. It isnt unthinkable, given the brain could simply see lights and register them as sounds etc. It seem these mushrooms have been used extensively throughout history in organised religion and by shamans. In the old days, the rich or powerful used to consume them, the poor would then drink the urine of the rich to get the hallucinogenic effects, since the hallucinogen passes through the urine... Nice
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Interesting answers. It does seem that you get both types, the highly powered martial type and the skinny and frail but mentally enlightened type. Can both paths lead to enlightenment? I mean does the high power of the high-powered guy give any advantage in becoming enlightened? Likewise does the skinny frail guy need to build or manipulate internal energy? I had read that all the prophets in judaism/christianity/islam had gone to meditate at some point, usually 40 days and nights in a cave. The more recent christian saints like st francis etc certainly did. It seems meditation is a universal tool for becoming something special, regardless of religion.
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I looked up her website and she seems to do modern Wu-shu rather than traditional kungfu. The form she is doing here does look like a wu-shu take on a mantis form. I think she looks way better than most wu-shu practitioners, very fluid. Thats awesome if she is Donnie Yen's mother
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Chi gong and its relation to quantum physics
Jakara replied to froggie's topic in General Discussion
I think youre on a more correct track describing qi as a bio-chemcial phenomenon rather than a quantum physical one. Which aspect of qi is quantum related? Quantum just means the smallest measure of something possible, like an electron has the smallest measure of charge and is therefore one "quanta" of charge. New physics is required to describe the interactions of such minute amounts, termed quantum physics. The problem is that interesting properties arise with quantum physics (like entanglement) that exist only in the quantum world, i.e. very microscopic interactions. But these effects dont propagate into the bigger world for things like qi. For example, quantum physics has something called quantum tunnelling where an electron has a chance to pass through solid matter (infact this happens in the Sun as a main process of radiation transport). But you wouldnt run up and smack face first into a solid brick wall expecting to pass through it, even though technically there is an extremely small chance that you might due to quantum physics. The probablility that you would pass through the solid wall is so small that it would never happen even if you ran into the wall every minute for millions of ages of the universe, but the chance is still not zero! :-) Now, just to be the annoying skeptic, there is also a problem with the many world theory called "Quantum Immortality". It says that a guys puts a gun to his head and pulls the trigger, there is a 50/50 chance that it will fire (its a crappy gun) so he will either live or die. Now each time he survives or dies a new world is created, resulting in infinite number of worlds. Now because every possibility must be played out, there is a world where this guy has pulled the trigger millions of times and each time he doesn't die, thereby claiming himself immortal. The same effect would apply to other scenarios, some guy in one of these worlds has lived to be 500 years old becasue each time he has a chance to die every scenario must be played out and theres always one where he keeps surviving. There's also a world where I am king and rule the world, because each possibility must be played out and there are an infinite number of possibilities. My point is that quantum effects aren't carried into the "real" world on an every day scale and therefore quantum is probably not the answer (though theres a small non-zero chance due to quantum effects). -
Off Topic: Anyone Else From The USA Scared For Their Life?
Jakara replied to mwight's topic in General Discussion
I watched a couple of those videos and have to point out the pure fear mongering tactics involved here. It looks like a bunch of nut-jobs have made these videos in hopes of getting everyone to panic. Youtube isnt exactly an authorative source of information. Bear in mind: The USA is still number 1 financially in the world with the largest enconomy (http://www.aneki.com/largest_economies.html) Financial crisis happen all the time in lots of countries to little effect for the average person, after the 2nd world war Britian was completely broke financially, yet is now the 6th largest economy. The USA has strong resources and will never collapse like other countries have. That being said, prepare to be 2nd best to China when they soon become the largest economy. I cant realistically see anything to worry about here, the only thing of concern is the fear mongering and panic spreading by videos like the ones on this thread and people believing what they hear from any source without justification. Events like these have happened all the time throughout history, we just hear about them more now due to things like the internet and youtube. -
Youre in for a treat :-) Listen to number 2: "Red Fullmoon" on here: http://www.magnatune.com/artists/albums/tilopa-bytheway/ My favourite enlightened music by far.
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I keep hearing about "Longmen pai". Im curious to know at which point the everyday dragon gate sect (an old branch of the quanzhen school) who's teachings are relatively accessible became the mysterious "Longmen Pai" - an ancient esoteric sounding mystical art, (supposedly) headed by the infamous Wang Liping!
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There has been a few posts on various threads here that the mopai teachings are dangerous to try etc. Because of the surrounding secrecy of the mopai practices, any guy can come on here and post stuff about it sounding authorative and nobody would know any different. Unfortunately we all end up believing what we are told.
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Excellent point. The teachings of buddha were meant for all, not just an elite class of people. But for more complex systems like those employed in tibetan buddhism, one must preserve authenticity. Its a shame there are so many charlatans eager to cash in on the name (or lineage) dropping of masters.
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Thanks for the correction, yes I should have been more clear. What I meant, and should have written was more like: "The invention of a person who follows the daoist scriptures or follows the general practices of a daoist, but who is not ordained, whilst calling themselves a "daoist" is a relatively new idea. The priest in question refered to these people as lay-daoists. Much like a lay-buddhist is not ordained as a monk, but still follows the beliefs and practices the best they can given the situation they are in, still calls himself a "buddhist"." I guess its a missunderstanding between what is tradiationally refered to as a "Daoist". In chinese Daoism, Daoist means a Daoshi, one who is ordained as a priest. Whereas in the west the term "Daoist" is generally taken to mean one who follows the principles of daoism - but this should really be referred to as a "lay-daoist". Its understandable, because in the west the dominant religion is Christianity, where one does not need to be ordained as a priest to be called a Chrisitan.
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YM, I like your post very much. A daoist priest once told me that the daoshi as you said were fully ordained "priests", who were part of a congregation and had a specific role to fill within a community, such as funeral rites for example. Nobody who wasn't ordained would call themselves daoshi (or daoist). The invention of a person who follows the daoist scriptures or follows the general practices of a daoist, but who is not ordained, is a relatively new idea. The priest in question refered to these people as lay-daoists. Much like a lay-buddhist is not ordained as a monk, but still follows the beliefs and practices the best they can given the situation they are in. I like this term, as it separates those who are fully ordained daoist priests from those who follow daoism as best they can, but doesn't diminish or take away any meaning from the daily practices of those that follow daoism in this fashion. What are your thoughts?
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Hi there "The Genuine Article" welcome to the taobums. To answer your question directly, there are a few teachers that post on the taobums, but many many more that do not. Its not an easy task to find a genuine teacher, its often a continuous search. But if you found a good teacher, im sure you would be more interested in learning techniques than general details about the religion. There are many excellent books on buddhism and taoism that can teach you about the religions as a whole, so whilst you are searching for a teacher, pick up a few of these books at the same time. You can always search previous threads to find the teachers who post on this site. To the people who posted zen like koans and agressive responses to what seems like an innocent question, you should be ashamed. Like kids in a playground bullying the new comer. If a person is new to eastern religion, how are they to know if the question is overly optimistic or not? One would expect a forum full of taoist/buddhist students to be a little more understanding, a little more forgiving and a little more patient.
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Take a look at this for a reason to quit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7M45-cnXq8 that guy's arteries are happening to you right now if you smoke, its not just a theory, its really happening inside you now. It almost made me gag. I quit a long time ago by removing myself from any situation that I would normally smoke in, then there is no que or prompt that triggers your brain's memory of requiring to smoke. I also had a bag of sweets/candy or something equivalent to eat whenever I wanted to smoke. Just eat one, then forget about the urge and trick your brain into thinking about something else entirely. If you're tired, they say every 1 hour of sleep before midnignt is worth 2 hours of sleep after midnight, so going to bed earlier and getting up earlier will help, as will fresh air and excercise. Qi-gong and meditation are beneficial regardless, so I would refrain from associating either practice with trying to quit smoking, or chances are one will remind you of the other.
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The Max Christensen Facts Not Fiction Thread.
Jakara replied to Patrick Brown's topic in General Discussion
Seconded. If someone is trying to gain credibility by making a scientific claim then they better be able to back it up scientifically too. Speaking as a professional scientist, none of Max's "scientific" claims have any scientific basis. Changing DNA, tapping vacuum points for enlightnment, extracting energy from black holes, ultraviolet-3 radiation, its all utter and complete nonsense. -
Im glad most people are taking this with a pinch of salt :-) It is of course absolute nonsense. Could it be fear mongering by the media in order to sell papers? Surely not :-) Thanks Patrick for pointing out how much of a joke "The Sun" is in the UK. It truly is scraping the barrel of journalism, if you can even call it that. Its pretty horrendous to know scientists are receiving "death threats" over this. Sometimes I cant believe how many morons inhabit the world. That being said, better communication between the scientific community and the general public would be nice. We should note that taking what one rogue scientist says is never going to be the opinion of the community in general.
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Is The Official History of Kunlun's Origin Bogus?
Jakara replied to mwight's topic in General Discussion
I'd like to add a reply here to Mwight's original question. The posts as usual have strayed slightly since the original question. Not so long ago I asked a similar question but concerning the scientific aspects of Max's claims. A few of us objected to the outrageousness of what was being put forward as scientific explanations of why his system works. Since then the website making the claims has been edited and almost all references to the shoddy science have been removed. Except, of course, for one sentence with a "disclaimer" suggesting that science is at fault for not yet being able to explain such a system. False claims have been made and verified to be false, and when confronted they are simply removed. Max has used a technique outlined here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashionable_Nonsense called fashionable nonsense where one tries to blind followers into believing with something beyond their understanding. Here are the main points: Using scientific or pseudoscientific terminology without bothering much about what these words mean. Importing concepts from the natural sciences into the humanities without the slightest justification, and without providing any rationale for their use. Displaying superficial erudition by shamelessly throwing around technical terms where they are irrelevant, presumably to impress and intimidate the non-specialist reader. Manipulating words and phrases that are, in fact, meaningless. Self-assurance on topics far beyond the competence of the author and exploiting the prestige of science to give discourses a veneer of rigor. These points are also relevent when it comes to making claims about a system's origin or teachers. Name dropping techniques about lineages and mountain ranges, claims of miraculous events like light emanations which have yet to be displayed publicly. When all this is combined with the fact the Max is making money from this system from seminars and books the red warning lights go on to say the least. There are some that say "try the techniques though, they really work". But that is not verification. Well known qi-gong techniques can be thrown together to induce feelings when practiced, but that's no substitue for a full system of enlightenment. I'd therefore say you are right to stear well clear. As a wise person once said: "Belief rarely comes from evidence, belief is based on motivation." Check out Derren Brown's "Instant Conversion" on how easy it is to manipulate those wanting to believe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sq-YUdq1OI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DylNVUN_3I...feature=related Before I get jumped on by 50 kunluners id like to point out that im just re-iterating facts, except for the parts where I explicitly state "I" in the sentence, as in thats my personal opinion. No offence is intended to any person. -
Unfortunately I think if we did a "who felt qi?" test using the same experiment, even if 100% genuinly felt the qi from the experiment, the results could easily said to be psychological. We'd need harder proof to verify it was actually qi behind the feeling being felt.
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The manipulation of qi/prana is said to be a valid technique to reach enlightenment according to taoists, tantric buddhists and yogis, to mention a few. As you are suggesting though, that may not be the real motivation for learning such techniques for many people. It must be difficult to distinguish those who manipulate qi for power (ego), and those who maniuplate qi for attaining enlightenment. Ive heard many reasons why this path is chosen over one of pure meditation, such as: health benefits; useful physical powers. Its also supposedly a faster path. Its interesting that the pure meditation path apparently also brings heightened energy levels aswell as physical powers. Perhaps the qi manipulation is to accelerate the process that pure meditation would achieve naturally anyway. Just speculating though.