konchog uma

im with the lerner, take it slower. thats always good advice anyway. it sounds to me like you might be building sexual energy but not channeling it. have you heard of "chanelling the semen up the spine to nourish the brain"? if you have, are you also traveling it down the descending channel in the front of your body, and like others said, returning it to the dan tien? you don't need to be in seated lotus to do that, you can do it laying down or sitting up normally etc i wouldnt worry, everyone is different. follow mantak chia's advice on how to transmute jing into chi and how to circulate the small orbit up the spine and down the front. that will help regardless of whether or not it solves your conundrum

i like how this builds on the last chapter. it reminds me to meditate when i don't feel like i "need" to meditate, but when i feel calm and centered anyway. prevention is worth a thousand cures. when i sit on the mornings i feel great, i can ride that vibe easily into a charge that i carry with me throughout the day. this reminds me to constantly let go throughout the day, like each thing i chose not to let frustrate me could be the snowball that turns into an avalanche later if im not careful. since i live in a city, leaving my house is like "let it go, let that go, oh let that go too" constantly, but with mindfulness i don't get too stressed out i love paradoxes like "desires to be desireless" and "learns to unlearn ones learning". reconciling paradox is fundamental to the human endeavor, as it expresses itself though philosophy, and master lao's are some of the most eloquent. this reminds me to embrace things gently, myself included. marblehead, what you said about walking off the cliff lost in thoughts is the very image of card zero in the tarot deck, "the fool", and its message is just what you said. its widely acknowledged as the only card in the major arcana to survive the christian church's persecution of heretics, and make its way into the modern deck of playing cards as the joker. chapter 64 definitely reminds me of the lesson of the fool, to return to simplicity, grounded in the moment.

when elevated people hear of the way, they put it into practice when ordinary people hear of the way, they keep it for a while but lose it sometimes when low people hear of the way, they laugh loudly at it. if they did not laugh loudly, it would not be worthy to be called the way -lao (not from particular translation just from memory so forgive mistakes please) just thoughts about sharing what is daoism with people that are worth sharing

if you want to freak a methodist out you could tell them that its an extension of the shamanic rituals and practices of pre-civilization china. but you probably don't . so i say to people (especially christians) that its a philosophy that evolved around watching the way of nature, especially elemental forces, plants, and animals, to understand the mechanisms of creation. i tell people it focuses on simplicity, authenticity, integrity, direct experience, and virtue. i wouldnt get into internal energies, nor whether old pan ku is the creator or not, or any esoteric daoism at all. methodists tend to be pretty open minded (i've seen mayan elders and tibetan rinpoches speak at the local methodist church) relative to other sects of churchianity. i like the examples given above by Jeff, and maybe some other members who are familiar with christian texts will be able to further illustrate that christ was rather daoist in his way, with specific verses. i personally got so sick of people failing to apprehend what the hell is daoism when i was a self-proclaimed daoist that i simnply told people 1. that i was buddhist or 2. that it was none of their business, because it was so much easier than trying to give a brief explanation.

oh sorry, i was using forum to mean website. oops. i mean if you went to a buddhist website, or why do buddhists post on this website in general. sorry for the confusion. i agree i would not stop posting anywhere else just cause there was a place for buddhists. although if i wanted to talk about buddhism with buddhists i would join a buddhist website. but it might be nice to have a place for the dharma here. i especially like your ideas about comparative studies, since my own path is a fusion of buddhism, daoism, and shaivism. we probably have a lot in common. but im going to bed right now. gnite

on the one hand, i do think if you went on a respectable buddhist forum you would find lots of practical, pragmatic information. i think you would also find peaceful people who want to grow spiritually and talk to each other about their progress. i think that the buddhists that come to a daoist forum to post are naturally going to exhibit a little less of the openness that buddhists are known for. they might even be stupid combative buddhists who just want to start shit. i don't personally know why buddhists go on about buddhism in a daoist forum, but i don't think its a, um, statistically significant subsection of buddhists. its probably like the squeaky wheel that makes a lot of noise. (i just saw a little dharma wheel wobbling in my mind ) on the other hand, i don't post on any buddhist forums so i wouldn't know. hahahah talking to buddhists drives me nuts. orthodoxy! what a concept

do tell you sound prejudiced. you sound like a spiritual elitist. i can deny that fact, so therefore it is a deniable fact. you sound attached to samadhi. actually, you sound attached to *idea* of samadhi. you sound a million miles away from any kind of samadhi. whatever. you sound pompous. i'll ask a third and last time: how much do you actually know about astrology and divination?

the confusion here is a vast ocean you would add to it small drops

Hello to all, and greetings from the city of Pittsburgh. I am a Vajrayana Buddhist by practice and lifestyle, and find that I often come to Tao Bums from search engine results on topics I wish to learn about. So I joined. Right now I am working with the hand seal techniques known in Japanese as Kuji-in (from information by Francois Lepine), with the microcosmic orbit, and with the sacred geometries of the luminous field described by Drunvalo Melchizidek in "The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life" books. These comprise most of my daily meditations. Sometimes I just sit, sometimes with crystals or "boji stones" which have a stupid trademarked name but are awesome for balancing the luminous field, and sometimes I chant mantras and use mudras (non kuji-in). Recently I stopped playing all violent video games (I have always loved video games, so its just chess and go right now!) and stopped watching pornography (wow did the sex get better), hahaha just to give you some idea of where I am on my path right now. I am not one of those deviant Vajrayana buddhists, I don't drink alcohol or use drugs or mind altering plants at all, although I do eat meat as longs as its clean of hormones and preservatives. I look forward to learning more about the practices I am engaged in, and hopefully about qi-gong here, which I am beginning to practice every day (charging the three treasures dan tiens and letting the microcosmic orbit circulate) Thank you for taking the time to read this, hopefully I will join in discussions here, since I don't have many friends in "real life" being very careful about who I associate with. I'm not a spiritual elitist, I'm just very sensitive to energies of others so I keep a short list. Bless Anamatva

thanks trunk! never too late

once you evolve your soul to a high enough level, you lose your incredible sense of self-importance and become able to interact with others without insulting them by insinuating that they are inferior.

thanks for the comic relief. but you actually didn't. like the answers to the questions "how much do you actually know about astrology and divination?"

thanks!

bless your soul for trying whats KAP? can i look that up online?

no thats called masochism. and in my own personal lexicon, i find pain to be inevitable and constant, but suffering i define as the attachment to pain. big difference. but thats only in my own head so um... anyway asking "why" anything always leads to infinite regression of more "why"s. accept that suffering happens, and if you can, take responsibility for your own suffering, which is the first step to moving beyond it in my experience.

i agree. HEY youre right!

techniques like his are pretty effective if you want to pick up bar sluts, but if you're looking for an actually loving relationship, the approaches of dating coaches with all their "leading" and hypnotic and suggesting techniques isn't likely to land that. and if you're looking for a consort to cultivate your spirit with, i just have to chime in with forget those guys. nothing against bar sluts btw, they're good for what they're good for. i just think that building communication patterns with women based on all that NLP material is manipulative and makes for a bad relationship if you ever find something worth keeping. just my 2cents not trying to be an asshole or start arguments

i notice that you didn't address any of the points i brought up, you just talked about a bunch of vague and nebulous spiritual concepts that you seem to fall back on whenever anyone challenges you. i hope the lessons you bring on yourself with your hardened attitude aren't too cruel. you have a pretty dualistic viewpoint there with all that superior/inferior dialogue. i can't hear you, sorry. i've never heard of anyone evolving beyond oneness with their environment (excepppt, of courrrse, yes tulku to disappear into the void in a nihilistic implosion). how much do you actually know about astrology? or divination? and why, may i ask, would a realized one have a blast watching egos curdle? sounds sick to me... kinda like the dark expression of your own ego im not even going to ask what it means to realize the void, because if you knew yourself, you wouldnt be saying the things you say in the way you say them. so spare me the "if you joined the void you would understand" rhetoric. the void comes for us all, its called death, and im in no rush to "realize" it before its time. so if you respond to this post, spare me the "im so great and others aren't" rhetoric please, and maybe answer the questions about how much you actually know about astrology and divination. thanks.

how do posts about meditation techniques and philosophical viewpoints struggle to get 2 pages but this thread has 16?

as much as my higher self is screaming "dont engage him, DONT engage him" i find myself typing in your general direction. how strange. however i realize that this post is not directed at you, so don't feel compelled to blast me with negativity in response. let me save you the time. "oh anamatva you ignorant child if only you were in a state of permanent samadhi you would know that i am right and everyone else is wrong". there now that THATs out of the way, this post is for everyone else, lest they be swayed by your flimsy arguments. the purpose of holistic astrology is to move to the point at the center of the circle, to reconcile the paradoxes of ones life and overcome their obstacles in a graceful way. at the end of the journey and the beginning of the next journey, one does not identify with any particular sign or set of aspects, but with all signs and aspects as they manifest themselves. in this way one unifies inner and outer and learns to flow gracefully with the progression of time. how taoist! and the purpose of the i ching, and of systems like runes or tarot, is so much deeper than "telling fortunes" that i am not even going to BEGIN to engage tulku on those subjects, except to suggest that he actually study subjects before he mouths off about them. thank you. i will point out however that many systems of fortune telling funtion as maps of the psyche, and of the archetypes of lifes situations, and guides along the path. they aren't bogus because tulku says so, they are valid because microcosm reflects macrocosm and reality seems to be holographic and fractal in its nature. so one can gain realization into situations and natures of self and events by using these systems. @ tulku: so many countless thousands of people have grown and been helped by astrology and divinatory systems, that the tree is simply to be known by its fruit. both are beneficial and give people good meditation material and signposts along the difficult path of life. if there was no value in them, i don't suppose that cultures across the entire face of the planet would codify their unique systems of astrology as they evolved, and i definitely don't suppose that there would be concordant data to be found amongst the systems from unrelated cultures. but they did. and there is. so again, know a tree by its fruit. furthermore, suggesting that these systems lose their effectiveness as one arrives at this state of permanent samadhi, that you are constantly cramming down people's throats, is ridiculous. thats like saying that if water were to realize its true nature, it wouldn't be affected by the moon. maybe the great and small reflect each other Because of the same oneness that is evident to all the sages who actually have achieved a state of divine concentration. maybe you are just being needlessly negative and spreading lies about practices that heal and help people. good luck with your life, you seem really angry and negative. i pray for your peace.

for a beginner, just sit. just sit every day. even ten minutes will benefit you greatly over time. don't strive for the so called "goals" of meditation, just sit. anchor your mind in quietude and stillness, and know that this is rejuvenating like taking a bath is to your body. when you take a bath, you don't think "oh no am i doing this right?" or "should i wash my legs first, or my arms, oh no!?" you just take a bath naturally. this is like sitting. as you realize your obstacles (knee pain, too many thoughts, etc) you can address them as they arise. as you realize your goals (quietude of mind and heart, internal radiance, development of inner senses, etc) you can tailor your practice to meet these goals as it progresses. in the beginning, just rest your mind and train your body to have good posture when sitting. if you catch yourself slouching, smile and straighten your back. if you catch yourself on the "thought train" smile and let the thoughts pass like clouds in a clear sky. they will come and go inevitably, great masters have thoughts. hahaha just sit keep sitting grow as you grow don't push it at first

tulku could moderate