konchog uma

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.

Um well its actually the General forum and it states all perspectives are welcome.

I wasn't Buddhist when I got here, but I personally love the Bums, and have made friends here, Buddhist and Non Buddhist alike.

 

But the attitude you express is why I think a sub-forum is a good Idea. Not that I would stop posting in General...

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

IMO the Taoist stuff is a bit more practical :-)

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

i am not that important..

do tell

but.. the masses are indeed inferior to the masters who have achieved samadhi.. this is an undeniable fact..

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.

however.. there is nothing to prevent the masses from evolving to levels of consciousness possessed by past and present masters.. if the masses only dare to make the required sacrifices..

whatever. you sound pompous. i'll ask a third and last time: how much do you actually know about astrology and divination?

Oh, good, then I can add to the confusion!

the confusion here

is a vast ocean

you would add to it small drops

Interesting orientation, practices.

Welcome!

(belated, I see you've been in the mix for a bit now)

 

- Trunk

thanks trunk! never too late

 

once you evolve your soul to a high enough level, you can learn to draw our the energies inherent in the Pure Consciousness through your soul to override the energies of the planets..

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.

I have already responded to all your points..

thanks for the comic relief. but you actually didn't.

It is just that you refused to accept the answers..

like the answers to the questions "how much do you actually know about astrology and divination?"

KAP

 

 

NOT cheerleading

thanks!

 

KAP will ground you in some solid basics + that can make the mental stuff real.

 

bless your soul for trying

whats KAP? can i look that up online?

we suffer only because suffering exists. We suffer only because we have to. NOt becauseI want it. That doesn't mean I can't try to enjoy it but it seems there's a fine line between acceptance and "wanting" which in unclear to me.

 

 

I don't understand why we have to suffer to experience good. There are many who cling to suffering because they believe this.

 

Like I said, if it's necessary then it is. But to actively seek suffering for enjoyment, is not true suffering.

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.

Hehehe.

 

Because once we have agreed with another there is nothing left to be said but disagreements can be carried on forever. Don't have to look very far to verify that.

i agree.

HEY youre right!

David Deangelo has to be one of the most well known Pick up artists out there. One of his most fundamental teachings is how to use what is called "Cocky Comedy" to trigger a reaction and instinct of sexual attraction in women, and why it works.

 

Cocky Comedy and Other Conversation Skills-

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xghe0v_pickupvideos-net-david-deangelo-cocky-comedy-part-1_lifestyle

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xghenf_pickupvideos-net-david-deangelo-cocky-comedy-part-2_lifestyle

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgheno_pickupvideos-net-david-deangelo-cocky-comedy-part-3_lifestyle

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgheo7_pickupvideos-net-david-deangelo-cocky-comedy-part-4_lifestyle

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgheow_pickupvideos-net-david-deangelo-cocky-comedy-part-5_lifestyle

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgheql_pickupvideos-net-david-deangelo-cocky-comedy-part-6_lifestyle

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgher5_pickupvideos-net-david-deangelo-cocky-comedy-part-7_lifestyle

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

LOL. Only weak humans and weak souls are bound by astrological charts.

 

The truly strong and powerful humans/souls evolve beyond the petty limitations of astrology.

 

Only weak humans/souls cannot handle the greatness and significance of the true potential of humankind.. that it is our destiny to become gods.

 

The truly strong and powerful humans/souls accept the fact that humans can become gods as easily as breathing air.

 

A water that realized its true nature wouldn't be affected by the moon. Of course it wouldn't be as a truly realized water would have turned itself into the Primordial Void.

 

Angry? Negative? I am having a blast at watching how the human egos in this forum curdle up.

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?

Think of it in this way: an astrological chart is a picture of the ego and its karma, and when the ego thins through meditation and one lets go of the ego by cultivating samadhi, astrological charts become less relevant because you are freeing yourself from any identification with them. For instance, if you meditate on an ideal you gradually acquire its nature, but if through meditation you mentally let go of the phenomenal realm to reach the true Source essence and become identified with all of space and time, you are no longer identified with any one chart. How can birth and death or any phenomenal principles rule you?

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 at meditation, how should i start off and how should i get better and progress?

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

It could be called The Born Again Forum

tulku could moderate

How is it a copout if you have zero to extremely limited capability of ever becoming successful enough to be useful? The universe would probably think it's no use!

 

Most people would think this as well. How many people do you see these days really caring for someone who is suffering? Why is there still suffering?

the useless tree is not cut down by the carpenter and achieves longevity. don't strive to be useful to others, realize your true nature and act in accord. the universe loves you whether you serve a purpose to the masses or not.

realizing that everyone suffers is the seed of true compassion and great altruism. for as long as there is enjoyment, there may be suffering too. from an evolutionary perspective, the purpose of suffering is quicker rate of change. if everything were blissful, why would we evolve or seek deeper levels of realization?

be thankful for suffering as sacred. in my own life i am thankful for my horrible sufferings because they have strengthened my resolve and practice, and my faith and love. if i lived a charmed life i would take things for granted like so many silver spoon gagging fools. fortunately for me, the reality blessed me with obstacles and sufferings so that i would learn of my own compassion and depth of character.

take heart non. the way of nature is unconditional giving, and this is only a 3d shadow of the higher dimensional unconditional love of the spirit. don't forget that you are loved, and persevere until you have learned the lesson that is the real reason for the suffering. bless your spirit! life isn't easy for anyone, in spite of the airs they might put on or the possessions they might flash

 

The pursuit of spiritual Immortality and belief in Immortals and spirits is so strongly intertwined with all sorts of Daoist practices that this subject I feel should not be ignored. So without any rude or stupid replies please, (the Immortals may be looking!!!) I would be most interested in your thoughts on the whole subject in and around it and would like to hear from anyone who believes in any other Immortals.

 

Marblehead need not reply due to his blood pressure!!!!

i believe in immortals, and extreme longevity. i don't have very much to add right now, except to say that.

i transmute excess jing upward to the reservoir of vital energy (dantien at the navel). i infuse this charged chi with shen from the heart chakra, and shen from the whole luminous field. i mix the 3 essences and infuse my dantien with cosmic energy through my belly button using "cosmic umbilical cord" practice, drawing in the light of universal love and cosmic spirit. i circulate this energy through the small orbit and let it infuse all my organs. does anyone have any commentary on this practice? i am always looking to evolve my practices. i hope that i am blessed with long life. lonnnnng life .

your juicer of choice?

i had an acme for years and now i have a tiny little thing i found at goodwill

the acme finally bit the dust. i haven't used a lot of different kinds of juicers, but i've drank a lot of different kinds of juice! hahaha

i keep it simple, carrot apple ginger lemon garlic celery is what ive been doing for a while lately

Nobody can do anal lock at a sitting position, not for long anyway. I think you had experienced yourself. You can only do it while standing or laying down. Take it from me.

 

This advice may not be a good one, but it was not a bad one neither.

well i take that as one person's opinion. thanks.

The response to marblehead applies equally to you.

 

I understand what you mean, but I do not blame money. I blame the monetary system, the thing that forces us to live out of our nature. The monetary system causes most of the stress that can be regarded as a feeling of struggle for survival. This nature within us is ancient but not gone from our biological make up.

 

The zeitgeist movement is not a cult, it is movement that support the Venus Project. Have you seen zeitgeist addendum?

did you know that the federal reserve isn't part of the federal body? it's an offshore institution that taxes the u.s. goverment on each dollar. money is essentially a debter's instrument.

all the same, i didn't mean to knock the people who learn from zeitgeist. i love the venus project. i think jacques fresco is a genius. i just think that the zeitgeist series is oversimplified, and has an attitude in its presentation that i don't like. so that probably came across in my comment to you.

its just personal preference, im not trying to convince you that i'm right. and i forget which zeitgeist i have seen and which i haven't. i think there are 3 and ive seen 2, and im not sure which one addendum is