Bubbles

I can see that. Without any doubt, viator. But, how people blinded by their political beliefs will be able to see the facts? They will only project onto reality their faith nourished by the ready-made-weighty arguments filled with so-called facts prepared for them by political parties. And I simply notice that sticking to the facts, casting aside any twisting value, is a very delicate exercise.

I hope my post did not give you the impression I was advocating or even suggesting such an attitude. I believe that a human has to stand heroically away from any "blind faith" be it political, religious or even that concealed in our apparent innocuous opinions, otherwise she/he has lost his spirit.

It is wiser working instead or talking, right? Political debates are dead-ends because they are more about values than facts; and actually, political values are forging facts or at the very least twisting them. But it doesn't prevent people claiming anyway that there are facts supporting their political values.. Truth has little to no room in politics, unfortunately ( should we except Jill Stein and the Green Party? )

I found some puzzling statements in two publications of a well-known teacher: In one book : " ****** completed his further studies of tai chi chuan in 24 patterns, tai chi sword in 32 patterns, tai chi knife and tui Shou (Push Hands) at Beijing Institute of Physical Education, Beijing, People's Republic of China, from August 4, 1981 to September 10, 1981. He is qualified to be a coach" In another: "In 1981 he was the first Westerner to be certified in Beijing by the People’s Republic of China to teach the complete system of Tai Chi Chuan". Did I read well? The 24 form + 32 sword for + knife and tui shou in a PRC certificate = " The complete system of Tai Chi Chuan" ? He must be kidding... My problem is now that I don't feel like re-selling the books I own from this man because it would be making money with lies. Looks like I have been screwed. Just sayin'

Thanks, snowmonki.

GmP, Thank you for your well-intented post but it may be a little off the mark : I have no doubt about the benefits of any of the practices you mentioned, be it PRC- 24 form, Baduanjin or whatever as long as one sticks to them for a substantial amount of time. What I am saying is that when this well-known teacher is pretending to be trained in “the complete system of Taijiquan” after being certified in the PRC-24 form (even if you add some tui-shou, knife and a 32- sword form), it is a complete joke and probably just a way of marketing himself and his business. This certificate may have some value, but come on….”the complete system of Tai chi chuan”…?? In Yang style, there is 37 fundamentals patterns repeated to compose the 108 traditional form, not 24 patterns. The traditional Yang curriculum has 108-long form, tuishou ,sanshou, straight sword, saber and staff. It looks to me that it would take a westerner decades of rigorous practice before pretending to be well trained in the “complete system of Taijiquan” not a one month training in Beijing in a simplified form. When it comes to Chen style , the curriculum is also very impressive: http://www.chenbing....urriculum01.php I was never convinced by the well-known teacher I am talking about, but I now just distrust him completely.

Imb, I am not Trunk, but I think he gave you a very sound advice. You should first and foremost consult a TCM doctor so that your condition could be properly diagnosed and treated given that you said you have already done a Western medicine check-up without result. Only after that you may see what practice may help you recover. Take care

Lam Kam Chuen is no longer based in the UK. He has moved to the USA (CA). He only comes to Europe for a limited period of time.

Yes exactly, and some of art works are able to forecast the future

Didn't heard of it before ,that's interesting, thanks.

That's precisely the reason why I don't buy the New Age stuff re global awakening etc. Science and technology are running by themselves (actually by the unconscious collective mind). To stop them would require a forced global collapse of the system. The average Joe/Jane is in a robot-like (mechanical) state as Gurdjieff stated it, What we are witnessing is just an actualisation and a deepening of that state through technological and scientifical means. Our spirits have already collapsed and been smashed into our laptops and smartphones. I have seen in the two last decades how it has transformed people behavior (especially the young ones) so everything is now possible.

The way I see it, it is only the beginning. Humans are about to become cyborgs. In a few years the artifical womb (https://en.wikipedia...tificial_uterus) will be a reality. Medicine will be able to create/replace (edited to add: thanks to stem cells technology) almost all organs of the body like a car is being repaired and our already-washed-out brains will be wired to the global network via microchips so mass-control will be total. The self-destruction of the human potential is on the march. So, all in all, I hope that some catastrophic incident will indeed put a stop to this crap.

No problem gatito , there is no offense.

Well you could post it yourself in the name and on behalf of Tibetan_Ice..

Too bad, There was some useful references in it. Hope Tibetan_Ice will care to post again..

Where is Tibetan_Ice post ?

Hello Fu_dog, Thanks for your confirmation and words of encouragement Yes, I did meditate after FP seated exercises, I felt it was a natural continuation of the FP practice because as you said, the mind is *clear and focused as a natural state*. I first learned meditation years ago through Japanese Zen Buddhism but at the time it took me quite a lot of practice before experiencing this. I can understand easily why you say that FP stands for you as a form of deep meditation. I am looking forward discovering all the marvels of this system in both health and spiritual aspects. Kind regards, bubbles edited for spelling

Hi Tao Stillness, I am happy to know that typing _bubbles_ is a source of laughing chi for you . I like this name very much. I have also strong sensations in the hands (they become like magnets tied by an invisible cord through each hand's laogong) and also in the lower dantian while practicing the third basic seated meditation. Happy practice! bubbles

Hello tao stillness, Thank you for your comment. Of course, I can't really tell why the practice has this effect on me, apart from the energizing boost commonly reported by all practitioners. Maybe it is due to the fact that I had a more intensive start than the one recommended by Sifu Dunn in the training schedule for practicing. I started directly with the first three basic standing meditations in the morning and the first three seated meditations in the evening so my daily practice time was no less than 60mn per day. I have a (little) background in meditation and qigong but like almost everyone here.. So perhaps this specific effect is just what I need now before anything else...I will report in a few weeks how it has evolved. Best wishes,

Hello Sifu Dunn, all, I am only practicing FPCK for a week now so my view is very limited. Nevertheless, I may add from my little experience that FPCK's healing energy seems to have also a spiritual component. Several times, after practicing the three first basic seated meditations (FPCK vol2), I spontaneously found myself in a meditative state. So I accepted the invitation and added a meditation session to my practice and in the following morning it was still there so I felt compelled to begin with a meditation session before my FPCK vol 1 morning practice. This system is very special, indeed. Thank you Sifu Dunn for releasing it and teaching it!

Hi adept, If so, then this yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/true_shin_buddhism/ might be for you. Have a look, take your time to read the posts. I think this is the best group for people trying to follow Shinran and Master Rennyo's path and attain shinjin. I suggest that you also make the Larger Sutra one of your priority reading if not already. It is not my path, but the sincerity and integrity of the people who are moderating this yahoo goup are out of question. I wish you the best

Hi Trunk, Your four pillars chart is based on your date of birth+hour+ time zone of your place of birth (well there are different schools here but mine is like that) and longitude and latitude. If you don't want to give your birth details online, you can find some online four pillars calculator. But you will have to make sure that all details are taken into account by the calculator otherwise the result will be inaccurate. The year is tough on the Heart and all related dimensions (house of shen). Ren (Yang water) in stem finds itself with Chen (Yang Earth Wu). Chen is the tomb of water, it means that Ren can't find support.It is tough for Heart/fire because it is attacked by Ren ( especially Yang Fire/Bing) and exhausted by Wu. The only way out is through metal phase but that doesn't favor the Heart anymore. Dog month (october 8th-november 8th) will clash Dragon branch: earth will be all the more powerful and some yin fire/Ding and yin water/Gui will be be out of the tomb and clash so there might be special events on these times. I 'll let knowledgeable people post more. I am far from home and can't stay much behind my wife's PC:). If I can say more in a few days, I will. best

Hi Practitionner, I am not very experienced in the technical aspect of the retention as we can find it explained in most books. My teacher advocates something very close to the karezza method: no orgasm in the common sense of it, so no ejaculation. This practice goes with the energetics he teaches. But the sexual act is also quite different than the heavy stuff that serves as sexual education for most of young males today... After one can be at ease with the no-orgasm practice, the body will find its way to another form of bliss because the energy is not stucked in the genital area, it is spread in the whole body and nourishes the joyful stillness of the mind. My experience is that the urge to make love again in the days after vanishes as both my partner and me stay into the flavour of bliss and contentment for some significant amount of time. On the contrary, the times I actively tried retention, the energy was stucked in my genitals and I had a kind of aggressive urge to have sex again ( there was no real love in it). So I can see why celibacy makes more sense than retention in this regard.

Hi the Observer, If you are still around, I read that the following books could be a decent introduction to bazi. I don't have them so it is only at least third-hand advice but if you have a chance to look into them.. -Four Pillars Of Destiny I (elementary) and II (intermediate) by Goh Guan Leong; Tan Khoon Yong Best.