konchog uma

oh nothing at all that wasnt where i was coming from i dont even consider myself a daoist, not having teachers in that tradition i just thought you and YM were saying one had to be ordained or baptized in dao or something for it to be official and i wondered where you got that idea. I thought daoism was a matter of lineages of teachers, not an organized religion, but its a moot point now. sorry for derailing the thread

okay, i get what you guys are saying, im not asking because i don't understand but my question is, specifically, are you talking about religious daoists? or alchemical daoists? a particular branch of organized daoists? which daoists in particular are the ones that hold the belief that everyone else is just a fan? why in the writings of lao and chuang do they not say "find ye a lineage" but instead just talk about closeness with dao as if anyone had access to it? edit: those siddhas and sages that i mention undoubtedly had teachers, masters, i agree that nobody stumbles upon the truth alone and unaided. i am only trying to clarify who holds these beliefs youre talking about. "daoists" just needs a little clarification. thank you.

shakyamuni didn't really advocate detachment. I believe he taught that detachment can lead to dissociation in its extreme. He advocated a middle way, neither attachment or detachment. More like acceptance. But it can't really be put into words unless you get all stupid like "neither acceptance or non-acceptance, nor is it both at once, nor is it neither..." lol the middle way took 400 years for anyone to understand (nagarjuna) and its still a mystery, even to most buddhists in the west Basically true as far as i understand it, except that there is a difference between rebirth and reincarnation in buddhist thought. Some enlightened beings stay in existence, and sometimes reincarnate (like padmasambhava for example) but the concept of rebirth refers to an unskilled turn on the wheel of samsara, being caught up in the cycle of karma and necessarily being born into conditions that it generates. So in other words one can reincarnate at will as a matter of buddha-activity, but rebirth is not willfull, it happens according to karma. So buddhists generally aspire to avoid rebirth, although its a pretty high ideal, not for every buddhist, and many don't care about it. where does the difference between the two lie? i don't understand your point in #4 on the contrary, most of the sutras were conversations between shakyamuni and various disciples and bodhisattvas, or the words of deities, and as such are pretty far beyond the common man. One of the things that makes buddhism hard to understand is that the writings aren't really for beginners or laypeople, but instead deal with very advanced concepts like emptiness and buddha-nature right from the door. interesting comparisons, thanks for sharing

religious daoists? cause some daoists aren't religious... there are siddhas and sages of great attainment and always have been, and none of them have ever had the slightest interest in being ordained. quite the opposite

anyone ever read paul ekman?

yukon ho america lets go i loved the horns in that track! awesome

I didn't know daoism wanted to be in the club with christianity and islam... seems like daoists generally want to laugh at even buddhists for being too regimented and uptight. Hard to see them in the same light as the abrahamic trinity of bloodshed religions... i thought they tried religious daoism a thousand years ago in china and abandoned it almost immediately.. "the daoist church" i suppose that one could say that a person needs to be ordained in order to be a religious daoist tho i like the distinction between daoists and "laoists" but i think the truth about what makes a person officially a daoist lies somewhere in the middle, between having read the ddj and having been ordained in the church of dao but what do i know

Prez was just briefing him on what Zach De La Rocha was saying in all those songs, so naturally he looks a little crestfallen.

some of my favorite footage ever watch the film at the moment of "discharge" and see the lines of static... if its a fake its the best one ever (clearly made by the same 2 guys that get drunk and make crop circles! lol)

here's a version with english subtitles if you're interested i think i read that they are chanting "dissolve" or "heal" but some users here would be able to say for sure

heres a video of zhineng qigong, which i know nothing about except for this awesome video good luck

i don't want to denigrate your experience de_paradise, but i'm inclined to agree with mrtiger. I think the music is energetic, and just charged with emotion and qi in various forms. Same with dance, very charged. So while Nirvana might have been tranmitting something, so do most musicians. I personally have no idea why nirvana went from seattle garages to top 40 so fast, they were quite a phenomenon, but i never personally picked up anything noteworthy from their music as far as transmissions go. I am inclined to say that the solution to the problem which you felt might be the cathartic effect of music and screaming, but am not sure. best

In terms of building jing, it will build semen, but also the natural mechanism of release. In terms of jing loss, you will probably be more likely to have wet dreams. If you practice like that, you should do a lot of circulation and raising and transmuting the semen energies, i would say until the balls feel nice and normal again. I retain, but I have sex regularly, so i am speaking from that experience.

thats an awesome crop formation thanks for sharing

I am very happy to report that I have been awarded a scholarship to go to Karme Choling in Vermont, near the Canadian border, for a month in October. We will be engaging in meditation from about 9 to 5 every day, and i am really looking forward to it. There will be a lot of silent time, a lot of walking in the woods, and a lot of reading as well. I have done zen sesshins (if im spelling that correctly) but I have never done anything approaching a month-long intensive. Have any of you? Any advice or feedback? I am expecting some deep-seated crap and issues to come to the surface, and i am expecting to potentially push through a large chunk of childhood-issues-type-stuff. I am trying to avoid expectations and go into it with an open mind and heart, but i have done enough intensives to know that when i sit for long periods, my issues come up for review (and to bitchslap me with the wanton abandon i have come to expect from them!). I will have a lot of time to study, and no internet or phone reception for a month, so its time to settle down with some good books. I have been slowly working my way through Mahamudra: The Moonlight by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal, and will probably finish it up there, as well as his Clarifying the Natural State: A Principal Guidance. I also have ordered a copy of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche's Wild Awakening: The Heart of Mahamudra and Dzogchen, and on Tibetan_Ice's recommendation, just got a copy of Ajahn Brahm's Meditation, Bliss, and Beyond: A Meditator's Handbook. That might do it, or I might order Gendun Rinpoche's Heart Advice from a Mahamudra Master. As you may have surmised, i have been working with mahamudra, and am looking forward to deepening my practice with this retreat. So any further recommendations? Any suggestions? thanks bums!

thanks HE, walking meditation will be practiced every day, multiple times a day. And i am so glad to report that! @all, i was talking to a friend and meditation teacher last night who did a month retreat at Karme Choling 3 years ago, and he said he really liked it, but if he had it to do over again, he would have tried to stay silent and practice listening more. He said that you (here) are all correct about reading, he said don't write either (not habitually) and don't do anything habitually for that matter. He said if he was me he would tell the retreat leader at the beginning that he was going to stay as silent as possible for a month, and just practice listening to himself and others with an open heart. When he said that something in me shivered... I think i am going to take his advice and practice as much silence, listening, and non-doing as i can. lol my books will be there when i get back

thanks aaron im hearing not to overindulge in reading from a lot of angles. I guess it can be an escape from the introspection that gives rise to insight and healing. I like to think of reading as a harmless pastime but i see your point about my own practice and staying focused there. I would rather get as much as i can from the month i am there, so i really appreciate everyone's point of view, and attempts to guide me into more beneficial practice! thanks everyone

perhaps someone can correct me if i'm wrong but isnt "flying in the face of convention" a daoist ideal?

which part did you find judgmental?

@deci: i usually like your posts but that one seems extra judgemental... yuck http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh78T--ZUxY personally, i don't presume to judge others, i try not to even ponder them. And since the dao that can be spoken is of course not the true dao, i am surprised that you find it appropriate to judge the progress of us pilgrims through our written word.

there's http://www.goodsearch.com !

thanks michael, i've heard good things about green gulch and as to the scholarship, i just got on the karme choling website and applied for financial assistance... they asked about my income and dependents and stuff like that, also my dharma activities and volunteer activities. They are a Shambhala lineage center, and i am the head of a volunteer group at my local shambhala center (the "green" group: ecology, recycling/compost, gardening, etc) so i guess with all that going for me, they gave me a huge amount of assistance, enough to make it feasible for me

haha i chronically read too much i have four books im in the middle of right now i love to read so i would not have considered putting that down on this retreat without the advice... thanks!

heheh schmible indeed K john was exiled to patmos (where he had the vision of revelations) because he was insane and unfit for society one can take all kinds of issue with that book, and john's mental health is the least of it sorry to even mention it really but it is an interesting take on the end of the world, and we are on the doorstep if iran. I think israel threatened military action before the american election, so its like there are people who are actively trying to bring about a doomsday scenario it seems. I'm sure they have their selfish justifications for their actions, but they also have their ancient prophesies about nuclear war lol whatever. I hear you K, and i want to say my point was about being ready for the tide to shift rapidly, not about whether there is stock to be put in the book of revelations did i mention hallucinogenic mushrooms grow on patmos? lol

a lot of us practice a more dynamic daoism than the idealized "simplicity of the unhewn log" we have thoughts, opinions, interests, and dynamic, busy lives. We don't spend our every day sitting on rocks forgetting our names and functions and staring at butterflies while contemplating sagely passages. but the dao is all pervasive and nobody is far from it. it is closer to each of us than the pulse in our necks. i agree with aaron, and advise you not to idealize daoism.