Stigweard

A simple technique for rediverting any mental disturbance: Breathe deeply down into the lower abdomen. Really be conscious of the air flowing in through the nostrils and draw it down deeply. If you can, feel/visualise the energy move up from your sexual organs to join with your breath in your lower abdomen. Practice this every morning and as required. Also watch your diet. Learn to enjoy the taste of natural plain food with minimum preparation. Blessings

Moderation and a natural approach is best in my view. Your Jing Qi stored in the kidneys is the foundation of physical health. So it must be cared for and nourished correctly. When it is depleted disease and death are invited. Once again one must also take into account where the individual is on their path. Consideration must also be given to seasonal influences. The decision for abstinance must come as a natural progression and not one of intellectual enforcement. If and when the individual feels it is right to stop then just stop. If you still feel the desire for sexual activity then that is OK, just pay attention to natural cycles and the principles of conservation and moderation. Your Jing is the currency of your vitality. It is your choice whether to spend it needlessly to transitory impulses or to conserve and invest it ways that will bring greater returns over the long term.

I appreciate what you are saying and personally agree with you. Just remember though that, just as it applies to Castaneda, anyone can publish a book and make it seem real and believable. In my view the Toltec tradition, regardless of how it may have been distorted and misrepresented by Castandeda, is a path rich with spiritual insight and relevance. For a more sound rendition of this tradition I recommend any of the works by Theun Mares, particularly "Return of the Warriors".

The other aspect of this discussion is that the most beneficial practice for one person may be not be so for another. As a general example, someone who has the tendency to be hyperactive should focus on more quiet cultivation whilst someone who has become lethargic would benefit from a more active practice. Differences in practice are also appropriate with gender and age. So it is possibly a limited view to say one practice is 'most' or 'more' beneficial than another. Who is to say what will be the 'key' to unification for each individual?

Speaking from whatever degree of experience and/or attainment that I have I would like to share my observations on this matter. When I started my esoteric quest I was a phenomena junkie mainly because I wanted/needed proof that there was more to my life than the depressing drudgery I had somehow created for myself. At this stage the allures of chi power / chi channelling was highly intriguing. With enough desire and faith you can achieve anything and so in my desperation managed blow open my chi perception in a series of incredible 'openings'. However, because of the gross immaturity of my mind at that stage, I was unable to properly cope with the enormity of this new chi perception. After many years I have learned the truth of what the masters say: Quiet the mind, Follow the breath, Cultivate virtue. Of all the circulation work I have practiced, to this date, the most beneficial and effective (in terms of personal vitality and clarity) is quiet sitting being fully mindful of the breath. What is amazing is that, with time, one's awareness naturally starts to engage in circulation. In my mind, circulation and qigong are important aspects of cultivation, and I am actively engaged in both. However, your foundation must be first rooted in the basic virtues of life: Healthy body Harmonious emotions Clear and peaceful mind Without these as your root any progress will only result in distortion. And after all, if you fail at everything else and only achieve this basic level of attainment you have lived a life of fulfillment.

nice cry of the final poem lifts the heart on silvered wings rising through the clouds

The use of psychoactives can prematurely open the psychic passages -- often used by people to find 'proof' that 'there is something more'. Drop the mushies, quit the masturbation and build a stable foundation of a clear mind and a virtuous heart instead of chasing phenomena. With a deep root in virtue all phenomena becomes passing scenery along the way.

I humbly agree.

Heya Smile -- Thanks for this. My mind was heading in this direction as I read this very interesting topic -- thanks to all who have contributed. It is here, I believe, in this ancient alchemical formula that we find the root of congruency between Eastern and Western esoteric pursuits and is perhaps the deepest and most potent human urge. That of course being 'the elixir of life' ... immortality. In Gardner's book, "Lost Secrets of the Ancient Ark", he succinctly describes the legendary process of artificing the 'philosopher's stone', the 'golden elixir', "MFKZT", and he narrates how this ancient legend is the foundation stone of much of western mysticism (i.e. Hermeticism, Qabbalah, Judaism, Druidry, etc.). Whilst this alternative version of history serves well to dispell the popular misinformation of western organised religion, what frustrates the ardent seeker, however, is the lack of practical instruction for personal transformation. In fact, throughout Gardner's intriguing account, which covers indepth the genealogical and cultural passage surrounding the 'elixir of life', only one small paragraph is devoted to how this alchemical formula can be relevant to individual cultivation. To someone who has studied Taoist internal alchemy, Gardner's description of how 'starfire' is made rings clarion bells of portency. The basic instruction to make Shem-ana is to take a base metal (notably gold) and purify it in a cauldron or crucible and then heat it to such a degree that it enters a 'high spin' state. Once in this state it becomes like a white powder that 'cannot be burned in fire', and this white gold powder is said to deliver heightened awareness and longevity/immortality to the imbiber. Compare this to the equally named "Golden Elixir" or "Immortal Medicine": Take the base elements of your life (jing, emotions and course thoughts) and purify them through specific disciplines and practices. Bring this purified essence into the "Sacred Kitchen" / "Elixir Field" / "Immortal Cauldron" / "Dan Tien" (interesting to those who are tuning in to this and are following my line that 'Dan' means 'the rich colour of blood' and Tien means 'elixir'). Through the process of 'cooking' (Qi is sometimes refered to the steam rising of cooking rice) or 'heating', sublimate this base element into the 'high vibrational state' of the "Sacred Immortal Medicine" through which heightened awarenesses and longevity/immortality are achieved. (Interesting also is the comparitive addage that pure Shen 'cannot be burned in fire or drowned in water'.) In Hermeticism the Philosopher's Stone is supposed to turn lead into gold. How interesting is it that in Taoist instruction the process of creating the "Golden Elixir" is also literally described as transmuting lead (i.e. jing and one's courser elements) into gold (i.e. Shen ... lol how close is this to 'Shem' ). To run with another topic of this thread is that, according to Gardner, we of the west lost the secret of making this "Golden Elixir" internally so we started to use external 'supplements'. Then even our knowledge of making the external Philosopher's Stone was lost. So this is when the high priests and kings of certain genealogical lines started to 'drink the blood of virgins', or more specifically, the menstrual blood of the harlots / scarlet women (i.e. virgin priestesses of Hathor). So here may be the lost link in our western natural philosophy, mysticism and science that indeed opens the doors to the inner 'great work' of the alchemist. It also leads inquiry into the practical role our sexual secretions play in our quest for spiritual sublimity. In my mind at least this is so. Thanks for the stimulation

Dreamdressed I'll awake The butterfly I'll become Sunlight shafts stream through

LOL Lin ... An unintentional oxymoron I believe ~.^ To make such a comparison is dualistic preferential thinking perhaps. *shrug* Science though ... ah there's the rub. I believe that the word science has been bandied about in so many ways that the word has lost some of its significance. My use of the word science will and does differ from others on this board. This is because, in my view, Taoism is perhaps the ultimate science. It is a aeons old tradition of natural philosophers who have, through empirical observation and repeatable experimentation, examined the very essence of Universal life. The fundametal difference is perhaps that, instead of the 'taking apart' methodology of rational scientific process that places the observer in a position of abstract seperativeness, the Taoist Scientist embarks upon a path of unification which integrates themselves as an interdependent element of the whole. Some may and do argue that there is no such thing as a subjective science, that all scientific endeavours must be objective. I honestly cannot say. I do know however that the Taoist experimental methodologies (qigong, daoin, taiqiquan, etc) are repeatable by independent practitioners wherein they can obtain their own practical, direct, though albeit subjective, verifications of Taoist theoretic models.

Making myths for kids Spindoctor take me away Don't let me face dawn

As always Carlos Castaneda's works dredge up impassioned conjecture both for and against. There is, however, ingrained within CC's work a precept that many people miss, and without this understanding they are left in the quagmire of either tail-chasing questions or ignorant faith. The precept is basically "The Tale of Power". What do we do when we encounter or learn of something extraordinary? To borrow from Theun Mares' excellent work people generally do one of three things. THE BIGOT WILL IGNORE WHAT HAS HAPPENED AND PRETEND IT NEVER OCCURRED. THE SANCTIMONIOUS MAN WILL ACCEPT THE INCIDENT AT FACE VALUE, BELIEVING THAT HE UNDERSTANDS IT ALL. THE FOOLISH MAN IS FOREVER PUZZLED BY WHAT HAS HAPPENED, NOT KNOWING WHETHER TO ACCEPT OF REJECT THE INCIDENT, AND THUS BECOMES OBSESSED WITH HIS QUESTIONS. The Toltec Warrior, on the other hand, will treat it as a Tale of Power, and will neither believe nor disbelieve what has been encountered. Although accepting the face value of something, the Warrior also acknowledges the unfathomable mystery of life ... so instead of trying to prove or disprove something the Warrior concerns himself only with how can this experience / story etc be used in his quest for freedom. Carlos' works are Tale of Power ... fool to you who herald it's authenticity and fool to you heckle it's falsity. ------- On the note of 'organisms' Master Ni Hua Ching promotes the existance of spiritual beings that coinhabit our energy space. The level of one's own personal achievement will determine the nature of these beings ... one of low achievement will attract 'darker' entities with the converse prevalent for one of high achievement. It is also taught that one's own being is a microverse of little gods and goddesses. Integrating these composite consciousnesses contributes to the coining of the phrase 'the path of subtle integration'.

Here Now Just Let Go Can't let a good thread just die Let the game go on

Hey coyote -- sorry for the delay in reply. Master Ni's Dao Yin is (in a broad sense) a little like yoga. You open with stretching in lying positions. The central exercises are seated on the floor combining stretching, breathing, visualisation and meridian stimulation. The closing involves gathering allowing Qi to pass back through into the channels. The Eight Treasures (not the Eight Pieces of Brocade) are eight sequences of standing Qigong which again involve stretching, breathing, visualisation and meridian stimulation, with of course a concluding gathering sequence. They are essentially achieving a similar outcome with the main difference being that one is sitting and lying whilst the other is a completely standing practice. Hope this helps Blessings

what of me goes too? am I still here when away? my thoughts are with you.

Every spiritual dialogue seems to inevitably address how to handle the 'ego'. So, in the sense that we are 'putting the ego in its rightful place,' here is another frame of reference from the Toltec ... namely embracing Death as a Teacher. I call Death the 'great leveller' because in the view of Death we are all equal. Death does not discriminate. Death does not prefer rich people over poor, or white over black, or hindu over daoist etc. From the view of Death we are no more or less important than any other being or thing in the entire Universe. Even planets, stars, solar systems, and galaxies are faced with their inevitable death. Just so are maggots, bacteria, fungi, and intestinal worms. Contemplating Death quite rightly dispells the illusion that you have a differentiation of importance with the other elements of reality. Life is intrinsically interdependent, each part adding it's own dynamic to the whole. Death also 'gives us an edge' because we never know exactly when we are going to die. One of the biggest illusions we suffer from is the illusion that we have time to waste. We somehow believe that we are 'immortal', that what we don't do today can be done tommorrow. Sitting here reading these words could be your last moment alive. Your last moment, your last opportunity, to experience and express your 'totality of self'. For example I literally just read on the news that a woman was killed sunbaking on a the deck of a boat cruising at 40km per hour when an Eagle Stingray leapt from the water and stung her in the head with it's barbed tail. Any moment, every moment, could be our last. In the Warrior tradition the moment of Death is the difinative moment of life and, because we can never know exactly when we are going to die, a Warrior will live every moment as if it is their last ... grasping every moment and living it to the fullest acting to the very best of their knowledge and power. Embracing the reality that 'Death is stalking us' every moment of every day 'quickens' us. Instead of being a scattered cloud of past attachments and future longings all our awareness is focused like a laser beam into this moment right here, right now. If this was it for you, your last breath, your last experience, how would you want to be living it?

There is also a meditation, I believe from the Zen tradition, where you envision yourself growing old, dying, and then you slowly watch as your body decays and returns to dust.

There seems to be a common belief that money and spirituality don't go together. That in some way money is 'dirty,' and impure. I would recommend the following books: The Secret Life of Money The Soul of Money The reality is that money and its systems are part of the modern Tao, it is part of the human sphere of life. If the three treasures are Earth, Heaven, and Humanity then, as Taoists, we must find peace, harmony and integration with humanity's contemporary expression. My understanding is that three foundation principles of Tao are naturalness, balance and no waste. So in my mind if you can become wealthy naturally (meaning to be true to one's own nature), harmoniously and without waste then by all means be wealthy. Same goes with fame, or social influence. The only ethical problem I see in charging students money is when the teacher depends upon the student's money for survival. When this happens the teacher can no longer be an effective teacher because they have an unnatural attachment to the student. If, for instance, the best thing for a student's learning is to send them away or send them to another teacher then the teacher would be doing the student a disservice by keeping them around because they need their money. So in my opinion a teacher should always be financially independent of their students. I accept donations from my students informing them to simply donate in accordance to how much they value my instruction and in accordance to how much they can comfortably afford. To someone of low income donating $5 is a big thing ... to someone with a higher income then $15 or $20 seems to be appropriate (I don't make a suggested donation. If they say they don't know what they should donate I tell them that $5 - $10 is most common and then let them work it out themselves.) If someone is totally cash strapped then they are more than welcome to come around and weed my garden if they feel like they need to recompense my time. In saying this though there is a story in Ni, Hua-Ching's I Ching, The Book of Changes about a rich business man who is on the quest for enlightenment. He eventually finds an old sage who demands that the rich man must place twelve large fish made of pure gold and other offerings in a sail boat. The boat would set sail and be secluded from the worldly life of people. Only deaf sailors and servants would be allowed to help in the boat. The teacher and the pupil set sail out to sea where they made offerings to the Heavenly Realm. Then, to the amazement of the rich businessman, the teacher took the golden fish and threw them one by one into the ocean. The pupil's first instinct was to stop him, but he dared not since the fish no longer belonged to him. Finally, he gathered his courage and asked the master, "May I venture to ask the meaning of this?" The teacher's answer was simple: "I just wanted to see the fish swim again." "I'm afraid that probably cannot happen." "Why not?" "Lifeless gold cannot be made into living fish." "Is it that your gold is not good enough?" "All gold is lifeless, venerable sir." The teacher then smiled and gently said to his pupil, "I am glad you also know that." At first the rich pupil was stricken, realizing what an expensive lesson he had just been taught, but he immediately said to his teacher, "Thank you sir. Hereafter, your pupil will not value lifeless things. I will maintain single-mindedness in order to learn Tao from you."

The three 'foundation' books as recommended by the College of Tao are: Enrich Your Life With Virtue Harmony the Art of Life The Gentle Path of Spiritual Progress The 'diamond sutra translation' is The Complete Works of Lao Tzu: Tao Teh Ching & Hua Hu Ching. There is some conjecture that the 'prince' is Siddhartha.

Crash! BOOM! Drip. Drip. Drip. "Honey have you fixed that tap?" Living in the 'burbs.

I like it Thankyou Steve. To be ever new Glimpsing the world for the first Taking it all in I was wondering how this post would resonate with you folk in the northern hemisphere. In the southern regions it is of course the Autumn equinox, Mabon, the gateway to death. So my post arose from my attunement to this energy. What you have done Steve is beautifully provided the Yang to the Yin, the Spring to the Autumn. Because for me, if this moment was my last, I indeed would want to be living it with freshness, aliveness, naivety and vitality; living it without the dross of my past history and my fixated view of the world; living it for what it is in it's fullness. It would be lived with an exploring, inquisitive mind finding joy in every nuance and wonder of this incredible world. Thanks again Steve and Merry Ostara to you all in the North!

Cheers for the topic and the posts. In my experience there are many layers and levels to the act of speaking about spiritual truths. The first obvious layers are motivated by self-importance: -- we want other people to agree with us to make us feel justified in life -- we are trying to establish our superiority -- we are wanting people to love us or like us -- we are wanting people to join us or believe as we believe -- etc, etc Most of these will inevitably arise because we have a fixation to our world being a 'certain way.' For example I used to be very fervent about trying to change the way people thought because I believed the world had to change or else we would encounter disaster. But I quickly realised that not only was this motivation an incredible waste of energy but it was also a symptom of me self-importantly being attached to the world and its people being a certain way ... my way. I was making a preference and a seperation between the way things were and how I believed they should be. It takes impeccable discernment and self examination to ensure that we are not buying into these above levels. Then, as we get closer to our core, we have motivations of natural virtue in that we sincerely want to help uplift the people and the world around us. The beauty here is that if we are naturally inspired to give service without attachment to the outcomes we can respond appropriately to the need. The other level of sharing our knowledge is because, as we do here, dialogue is a wonderful way of learning. Through our minds entering the dance of conversation we are stretched by encountering other points of view. Previously held views are challenged and tested for their authenticity and wholesomeness ... quite often I learn the most from the people who don't agree with what I say ... even if they are just giving me an opportunity to reflect upon my own thoughts. If we are able to do push hands with our words, harmoniously alternating between extending our thoughts and recieving other's, then we are all enriched. So to thump or not to thump? The Tao in every moment will reveal what is appropriate.

Enrich Your Life with Virtue What is well built will not collapse. What is well-embraced will not be lost. Build your virtue strongly and embrace it, and you will be long remembered for your virtuous being. Cultivate your virtue with yourself, and you will become really virtuous. Cultivate your virtue with your family, and your virtue will extend. Cultivate your virtue with people in your surroundings, and your virtue will grow. Cultivate your virtue with your nation, and your virtue will become abundant. Cultivate your virtue with the world, and your virtue will become universal. You know the future of an individual by his virtue. You know the future of a family by its virtue. You know the future of a community by its virtue. You know the future of a nation by its virtue. You know the future of the world by its virtue. From knowing the virtue of people and the world, you know the future. Tao The Ching, Chapter 5