Ben Koontz

I'd like to do something. I keep getting blocked every time I try to attend a seminar something happens with job/ family/ other things. *crosses fingers*

Welcome, I'm in the DC Metro area.

lol, yea, the shaking happens mainly in the back/shoulders/arms/neck/head, and goes down my spine and tingles my whole body tremendously,I don't know much about the Puritans, I need to read more. I remember I used to make fun of my mom and other family members who would do silly shit in public and I'd feel embarrassed, now i'm like ermm.....oops.

I am getting these, the tingling experiences are getting intense for me, sometimes I look like a crazy person walking down the road, because at random times I get hit with such an intense amount of energy my body will shake and I will have this huge smile that won't go away. I feel the head tingling also, but the visualizations and third eye openings that you are having, I have yet to experience. I believe this is because of the Egos that I need to let go of. I am glad you are having such openings. Ben

The Wheel Maker by Derek Lin One day, King Huan was reading a book while an old craftsman was busy making wheels over in a corner. The old man noticed that the book seemed to capture the King's complete attention. He grew increasingly curious about this, and after a while decided to approach. "Your Majesty, forgive me for intruding," the old man said. "What is this book that you are studying so diligently?" "This is no ordinary book," the King said, holding it up with great respect. "It is written by a wise sage." The old man asked: "Is this sage still alive, Your Majesty?" The King shook his head. "No, he passed away a long time ago." "Oh, I see," the old man nodded. Then, without thinking, he added: "In that case, what Your Majesty is reading would simply be the leftovers of a dead man." This struck the King as incredibly insulting. "What is this?" His anger flared. "You are nothing more than a lowly craftsman. Is it your place to comment on what I wish to read? Explain the reasoning of your statement and I may let you live. If you fail to do so, I shall have your head." The old man replied: "Your Majesty, it is exactly as you say: I am but a humble craftsman. I know nothing except the art of making wheels. Permit me to explain myself to you using this little bit of knowledge that I have." This response surprised the King. To him, making wheels and reading books could not be further apart. Had the old man lost his mind due to fear? King Huan was puzzled, but his interest was piqued. "Go on," he said. "Your Majesty, in my line of work, the hole in the center is of supreme importance. It must fit the axle just right. If I make it too big, the wheel will slip right off and become useless. If it is only slightly too big, then the wheel will seem to stay on, but after a short while of actual usage on the roads, it will loosen and fall off the axle, quite possibly causing great damage to the carriage in the process. "On the other hand, it is also possible to make the hole too small. In that case, when I force the axle into it, I may very well split the wheel in two, thus wasting hours of effort. If it is only slightly too small, then it may appear to be a secure fit, but after a short while of actual usage, the wheel will crack and break apart, again causing possible harm to the carriage and even the passengers within. "Therefore, one secret of my trade is to know the right way to make the hole. But making the hole just right, not too big and not too small, requires years of non-stop practice. This experience gives me a feeling that guides my hand. It is a feeling I have learned to trust, for it is never wrong. "The other secret of my trade has to do with the roundness of the wheel. If I chisel away at the wheel too quickly, I may be able to complete the work in a short time, but the wheel won't be perfectly round. Even though it may look quite acceptable upon casual inspection, in actual usage it will cause excessive shaking of the carriage. The ride will be extremely uncomfortable, and the wheel will damage itself beyond repair in a matter of days. "Of course, I can chisel slowly and carefully. This guarantees a perfectly round wheel, but it will also take so much time to complete that Your Majesty would have to wait many years before we can assemble the royal fleet of carriages. Clearly, this would not be acceptable. "In order to create the best wheels possible in a timely manner, I must chisel at just the right speed - not too fast and not too slow. This speed is also guided by a feeling, which again can only be acquired through many years of experience. With this feeling, I can be perfectly composed and unhurried when I make my wheels, but still complete the project on time. "I can teach the mechanics of wheel making to anyone. It is easy to create something that looks like a wheel, but quite difficult to make wheels that are durable, safe, and provide a smooth ride. I can explain all of this to my son, but it is impossible for me to give him the feeling that is at the heart of the wheel making art. He must gain that on his own. This is why I am seventy years old and still making wheels. "Your Majesty, the ancient sages possessed the feelings that were at the heart of their mastery. Using words, they could set down the mechanics of their mastery in the form of books, but just as it is impossible for me to pass on my experience to anyone else, it is equally impossible for them to transmit their essence of wisdom to you. Their feelings died when they passed away. The only things they left behind were their words. This is why I said Your Majesty was reading the leftovers of a dead man."

I've had deja vu experiences my entire life. For one occasion when I was about 14 years old on the 4th of July, I was able to know what everyone was going to say and do for about 1 hour of time. It felt amazing. I was sitting there just watching everything happen and playin around with my cousins betting them that this next event would happen and they would be in shock. I haven't had anything quite like that since then, but I've been able to re-live up to 5 minutes at a time at some points. A large amount of deja vu that I have comes from dreams. I will have a dream and it will end up happening sometime down the line. Ben

I'm not sure about high heels, but the closest thing that resembles Kunlun in my every day living is driving a car. Your hands on the wheel, one foot with the balls of your feet on the gas and one foot resting, usually on the balls of your feet, but.. there are so many tempered drivers here in DC, I suppose its not working for them .

I haven't noticed anything electrical going out around me, but I accidently touched a metal chair that was next to me while I was doing kunlun. I felt a little spark yesterday when I was doing kunlun but didn't pay any attention, and I woke up and felt like I burnt a part of my hand. I took a hot shower and the pain subsided, but I found it pretty strange. Ben

Is it fine to practice twice a day? because I personally like to do Kunlun at night, I suppose I'm a night person. I get lots of energy that way. I also would like to do it in the morning to further my cultivation. I am not going to be able to go to a seminar for another 6 months to a year because I have to help my brother with his legal situation, so I'd like to do whatever it is I can to improve my practice without the transition.

Mal, I really appreciate the offer, but I had to spend $2500 on my brother's lawyer, and I don't know how much more he will need. It will cost about $750 for me to get to Phoenix and attend the seminar, so I will get through this mountain in my life, and I will put back a kunlun fund from each of my paychecks. I let him borrow my book, so hopefully it helps wake his ass up a little bit. Ben

My brother got himself in trouble with the law and I gave him money for a lawyer, which was pretty much all I could afford to spend. So I will not be attending in Phoenix . It was a let down, but I have to take care of my family. I will be saving up, and I really hope Max continues to teach, because I am very excited in meeting him and learning more. I will continue to do Kunlun Level One, Gung Fu, Meditation, and save money.. I hope you all have a good time, and please let me know how it goes. I will be using my spare energy on keeping my bum brother out of jail. I wish you all the best, Ben

I found this in the book "Merging with Siva" It seems to me that it describes the Kunlun Visualization.. The highly trained classical yoga adept intensifies, through techniques imparted to him from his guru, the clear white light to the brink of God Realization, the void. His entire body is faded into a sea of blue-white light, the akasa, where now, past and future are recorded in teh linear depths or layers, sometimes seeing himself seated or standing on a lotus flower of shimmering light in an actinodic clear, transparent, neon, plastic-like body outline as his consciousness touches, in tune with heart's beat, into the Self, God Realization.

Completely agree, Live every day as if it were your last, and never regret your past. If you live every day as if it were your last then you won't have a need to regret your past. The future and the past are both irrelevant to worry about, so just live and enjoy. Ben

The diamond I get a feeling all over, but mainly in center of my back and my heart. The Nebula I get a big feeling in my head, around my eyes.

I am going to make plans tonight, but I saw rates on expedia and cheaptickets for hotels and rental cars for fairly cheap, 100$ a night for hotel + car. I don't have a lot of money at this time, and my fiance doesn't quite understand the idea of spending a lot for only 2 days, but she has liked a lot of the changes i've made in my life, so I just need to get through to her that the quality of time is > the amount of time. I'm very excited to attend, learn, and experience from Max and everyone else. I am very thankful I ran into this site about 2 months ago, and hope to meet the rest of you cultivators there Thank you for having this site up, and I wish I could describe in words what I am going through each day because of this teaching. Ben

That sounds good to me, more then likely it will be a play it by ear, and play it by feel kind of sporatic thing is my guess. Depending how it effects everyone, but yeah that sounds like a good idea to get grounded. I am excited to go, and I realize I need to do more physical things in my life to get my body in shape also, so I'm gonna start doing Gung fu every day instead of every other day, for I can be balanced and try to be more prepared for whatever happens. I would like to learn 5 elements standing, and The Red Phoenix, I hear from you guys that it is dangerous, but I believe it would be good to know when the time comes when I'm ready. I'll be able to be more open about things when I arrive in a more face to face environment. Ben

Thank you for the offer. I have had an opening once, and I was pretty much up all night freaking out . I suppose this will be very similar to that, so I will more then likely be getting a hotel to myself and just taking it all in. I will see how it goes though, I would like to meet a lot of other TB's, but I'm not sure how I will be after the seminar, I am a pretty intense person, and I am sure I will be tripping out.

Here is an interesting link about telekinesis, telepathy, and lots of other types of psychic "powers" and shows videos of people doing telekinesis. http://www.psipog.net/home.html

Personally, I think a seperate board would be a great idea for those who are getting deeper and deeper into it. I believe having a private Kunlun is good the private board could be for those who are yearning for more experiences and are opening up more and more, and would like others who are going through a similar path to talk to about it. However, it may also be a good idea to have some sort of Kunlun presence on the Tao bums forum also to provide "basic" information to those who have not yet heard of Kunlun, and are seeking spiritual practices in their life. Some of them may be interested in Kunlun, but if we are locked away in a private area discussing it, it may not get out to them. Just my thoughts, Ben

That picture activates my Kunlun, I gotta watch out at work lol! I feel a strong energy from it, just a picture, that is really intense....

I am from Silver Spring, Maryland. Welcome

For about a week I was having to take a piss every 30 minutes or so at work, and I was going #2 about 3-4 times a day. This happened after my 2nd week of practice, but has subsided back to normal. Are the feelings in your chest good feelings, or pain. I get sensations running down from my chest down to my root chakra at times throughout the day, and they are more like a warm fuzzy feeling. I haven't been really feeling the congestion in the throat. I have been getting the normal amount of congestion that I get during the winter, because I walk a mile every day to and from work. Are you out in the cold often? Anytime I feel congested though, I will take a warm shower or drink some hot green tea, or eat something warm like soup. Do you actually "feel" sick, or do you just have the symptoms of congestion? Good luck, Ben

90% sure I will be there!

I get the feeling you are the type who really needs to know the intellectual side of everything, but thats ok, I know quite a few people like that. Some people will learn by feel, and thats enough for them, to feel that what they are doing is beneficial to them, and to continue it while requiring less of the intellectual part. Others need order and an intelligent reason why they are doing each thing. I am doing xyz to get xyz result which will happen after xyz time and they need the full process laid out for them, which isn't a bad thing at all, but could take longer. Having a teacher around who can answer any question is probably going to be very necessary for people like this. I mean, people are different and different people are drawn to different paths, it doesn't mean that one path is better or worse then another path, as long as they are getting to the same ending. I don't mind some of your open criticism about Kunlun, because there needs to be balance, whenever someone does criticism it allows yourself to look deeper into your own art, and see what is going on. At times though, there is a difference between criticism and direct attacks on individuals or a practice which are pretty much uncalled for. I'm not going to tell how to act, but sometimes it is a good idea to put yourself in the person's shoes that you are attacking, and see what you said is contstructive criticism or if its a direct attack on the person. Well I wish you the best with everything, Ben

I have read mixed reviews about the seminars of Kunlun, but what matters most is my gut feeling that never lets me down. For some reason I really enjoy this, and in my life, I haven't been able to keep up a practice day in and day out, but with Kunlun it is different. I am not struggling to force myself to do the practice, I just do it, feel it, enjoy it, and enjoy life. Right now, I am searching for truth, that which I know exists deep down, but I need to open myself up to see it, and experience it, once again. So anyway, here's where I am coming from spiritually: I grew up as an unusually quiet kid and my family was homeless for over a year and a half living out in the woods in Oregon. Pretty much a year and a half camping trip where I was introduced to a lot of native american spirituality, while the rest of the kids were going to school. At the age of 13, I had some pretty strange experiences.. I had a big growth spurt in which I gained a foot in a year, but the strangest were my dreams. I would wake up and objects from my dream would be manifested in my room. I scared the hell out of myself and my mom one night when I ran into her room, and there was a big snake behind me that was chasing me and then disappeared. I had other experiences like this, and eventually got into sports, and got into the whole high school life, while always still having a hidden urge for the extroardinary. One night when I was 18 after I had graduated high school, my grandma, who has many many great abilities that I did not know about, I started asking her random questions about the native americans and spirituality and she smiled, and we went outside and she grabbed my arms and shot so much energy into me, i suppose it was an empowerment that you guys call it, and I started doing wild things, like run a mile in unbelievable times, throw a fastball over 100 mph, and feel so much energy around me that it was hard to be around people. She helped me learn certain talents that I have always had, but never knew about. For about 5 years, I knew what power was, and was filled with energy all the time, and I knew how to heal others, would do quite often when they had the flu or other illnesses. My aunt is a channeler, and introduced me to that, and allowed me to talk to certain entities, but I believe channeling is not for me, atleast I am not ready for that kind of thing, the risks are too much for me without a good teacher. I have always been kind to others, and I live by the golden rule "Only do upon others which you would like done upon yourself" and "If what you have to say is not better then silence, be silent" Also, I have a large desire to help others around me, ever since i've been a child, but was given the advice "You must help yourself before you can help anybody else, otherwise you will not do the will of help, you may hurt others". My ultimate goal is to bring myself to the point where my self- realization and realization of the tao, and whatever abilities I may acquire are at one and equal to the amount of wisdom, knowledge and experience I have acquired. Until then I will not teach, I will only be a student that constantly observes and learns, and loves. After starting Kunlun I am opening up to myself, and I believe I am gaining the self realization/ happiness through Kunlun. Kunlun just like many other arts, whether its qigong or martial arts, whatever it is, may get you to a certain level, may make you feel great, or feel power or have abilities, but I believe that the true understanding and wisdom of the tao and of life itself is the real goal, not the feeling of bliss, or the feeling of beating someone's ass. I am planning on attending the Kunlun seminar in Phoenix 18-20 January, and I hope to meet anyone else here who is going to be attending. Thats all from me, I may be off on points, because I am young and learning each day, but I speak from my heart and how I feel. I am here to learn from you all, and from myself. Good luck to all of you on your journeys. Ben