Stigweard

Word

I'd like to reiterate the message of the opening post. What religion, or philosophy, or path you follow in comparison to others doesn't matter. Whatever "works" for you is the "best" way for you. In terms of "best", the Dalai Lama with his comments was saying that if your path instills in you greater virtue, if it makes you a more spiritual wholesome person, then that religion or path is what is best for you. Let us not get distracted by what you might or might not think of the Dalai Lama, or of Buddhism, or of religion in general, and miss the importance of the wisdom within his words in this instance.

Sloppy Zhang, the longer you argue in favor of your addictions the longer they are yours. Game designers have made it their profession to trap and ensnare players to keep them playing their games; to keep investing their time, their money, and their attention. If you feel it is OK to have your awareness trapped and your life force vampirized then you are welcome to it. Have you heard of the Skinner Box?? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning_chamber It is a behavioral experiment that “uses sophisticated operant schedules of reinforcement to reward repetitive actions”. Originally used on rats and mice, game designers have excelled in creating “Skinner Boxes” that trap the human mind. Let me spell it out … game designers are CONSCIOUSLY AND DELIBERATELY creating intoxicating, addictive drugs for the human mind! You tried to argue that addictive computer games aren’t responsible for the addiction in the same way knives aren’t to blame for murder. You are trying to establish that computer games are somehow “neutral”. What utter BS !!! These games are INTENDED to be addicting and the companies that market them invest $billions every year to find new innovative ways to hook and exploit the masses in the same way tobacco companies lace their cigarettes with a cocktail of chemicals to further hook the user. Let’s compare: Skinner Boxes gives food rewards for repetitive actions. CG’s give better gear, better traits, and levels for repetitive actions. Skinner Box researchers found that random rewards stimulate greater willingness to perform said repetitive actions CG’s, especially MMORPG, use random drops to make the players go back and “do that run” over, and over, and over. Poker machines and other gambling games use the tantalization of winning a reward to stimulate repetitive action. CG’s do exactly the same. Skinner Box researchers found that if you give the test subject quick rewards at the start and then slowly space out the rewards they showed greater tendancy to keep doing the said repetitive action. CG’s give you quick levels at the start and then the time it takes to level up gets increasingly slower. Players actually increase their gaming time the closer they get to a new level … “just the next level, just the next level, just the next level, just the next level, just the next level …” Skinner Box researchers found that they could increase the tendency to do the repetitive action if they punished non-action (in the form of electric shocks). CG’s punish the player for stopping the game by having limited save points in a mission. Some online games have real-time decays imposed if the player doesn’t logon and play. In social games peer pressure becomes an additional "punishment" ... "Shit! Lyndorian the Elf Hunter is levelling faster then me, I'd better put in some more hours grinding Hill Trolls!" And I could go on…. The bottom line again, these games are NOT there for the player’s benefit. They are there for the profit margin of the developing company and these companies will go to exorbitant lengths to hook you in and keep you addicted to their drip feed of “little rewards”. Now if you are happy to be trapped like a pathetic lab rat in a Skinner Box then go and be delusionally happy in your addictions. But the very fact that you are on this forum tells me that you have at least a half an inclination to be a spiritually independent being. In which case I challenge you to become mindful of the snare you are in, see clearly the ‘sweet bait’ that is keeping you there, and liberate yourself from this life-sucking human treadmill. For I can promise you one thing … you can have your addictions or you can have your spiritual liberation … you can’t have both. You choose.

It's not just the electronic radiation that is of concern. In the Taoist scripture, "Invocation to Obtain Divine Immortality Through Mystic Pregnancy" it says quite clearly: "The true function of the mind is that of intermediary between the physical and spiritual realms. Do not let your mind go beyond its right position as the go-between of your body and spirit. If you follow the Heavenly order, you will experience true well-being and avoid the disorder and disharmony caused to your true nature by transgressing this universal principle. ... The way to achieve immortality is to first pacify your mind. If you succeed in quieting the mind, then everything will follow the great order of universal nature. The mystic intercourse will be wonderfully undertaken. The mystic conception will be sure and safe. The eternal seed will have the opportunity to miraculously grow and ripen. This is what the precious oracle tells us." Ni, Hua Ching. Workbook for Spiritual Development. Computer gaming disturbs the calm heart/mind and stagnates your energy in your head. The whole body becomes yin ... just look at the common gamers posture. Furthermore, John Bradshaw defines and addiction as: Addiction exists in the individual who demonstrates a pathological relationship with any mood altering experience that results in ongoing, recurring life damaging negative consequences. Do gamers exhibit a pathological relationship with playing computer games? YES Is playing computer games a mood altering experience? YES Does it result in ongoing, recurring life damaging negative consequences? YES How many gamers have found their relationships suffering when they are in a cycle of their addiction? How many gamers have found their health suffers? How many gamers have found their profession suffers? How many gamers have found their finances suffers? And for this forum, how many gamers have found their mental clarity and spiritual connectedness suffers? Computer gaming is an addiction with the same potential negative consequences as substance abuse and it should be treated the same.

I hear a lot of self-justification to support an addiction here. Pay attention to what happens to your energy after a period of prolonged gaming. Let that be your guide.

Question: does arguing over semantics make you more compassionate, more sensible, more detached, more loving, more humanitarian, more responsible, more ethical? O.o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNesHlX_uIs&feature=player_embedded#at=290

Virtue is understanding and experiencing the world's troubles as an expression of the relationships we have within ourselves and with the people closest to us AND THEN taking responsibility for this and healing those troubles first within ourselves. Taoist arts are about healing and integrating the internal "disputes" we carry; it is about bringing the chaotic elements within ourselves into a harmonious whole. When we do this for ourselves we can let this flow out to heal the disputes we may have with other people ... peace naturally arises.

Autumn shines through leaves, Glacier cracks a mountain wide, There virtue is found.

LOL ... I love these discussions ... Q: What's the best MA?? A: Whatever stops yer ass being pawned. So in that regard, sitting here typing away is a good MA because it keeps me away from where bad shit is going down. MMA is great cause they get to train their limited range of attacks to full force making them better prepped. And in regards to BJJ being the best well that's just BS because, in most cases, it only trains for the ring, but at the same time it is also BS to say "never go to the ground" because statistically that's where most fights end up so if you don't have familiarity on the ground you could get trapped there and subsequently face stomped. The best martial arts is appropriate response ... no more or no less then what is required to harmonize the situation.

Blessed speeding to a man who made a significant contribution to the world of Taijiquan. He was my taiji uncle in a way because both he and my sifu trained under Master Chu King Hung of the Yang Family lineage. Here is a tribute from his son Eli: ---------------------------------- Erle Montaigue (Master Degree, China) 1949-2011 Only the good die young So Dad had no chance! As most of you know he had diabetes, and was controlling it with Diet and his training. And doing a bloody good job! As anyone who trained with him would tell you, how much energy he had, and how fit he was, no one could hit as hard as him! Mum Ben Kathleen and I were all with him, I’m so glad I was here, as I live in Swansea now about an hour away. We had just had a band practice the night before, and he was working on a song with Kathleen in the morning. Then I had what turned out to be my last lesson from him only about an hour before he left. He was fighting fit, and had just ran up the road to catch up to Mum Kathleen and I walking the dogs, a few minutes after we were all walking back down and he just said “hold me” As he sat down on the road, he was out in only a couple of seconds. I sprinted back to the house to get his diabetic kit, and Kathleen to the house near us to get some sugar. Ben was down at his house only 1/4 of a mile away, so Kathleen called him and he ran up. When he got there we’d already started CPR, the paramedics got there in a helicopter, we were trying for about 15 minute, then the paramedics for another 20 or 30. I was pushing all the points I could think of, and even tried the old Pen through the foot trick! The paramedics gave me a very strange look! Haha! But as it happened it was a clogged artery that caused the heart attack, so nothing would have worked. But he got his wish, never to get old and to go out with a bang. He didn’t suffer at all, and was in his prime He will be Cremated at about 2pm on the 3rd of February UK time. We’re doing a concert for him in a few weeks, as he wouldn’t have wanted a funeral, he never liked funerals. This will be in Llandovery for all those who knew him around here, as they knew him for his music more so than the Taiji. But of course any close personal students of his are welcome to come to that as well. I’ll be doing a special training session on the Sunday of my March Camp, the 13th, for everyone who can make it. And each seminar and camp this year will be for him, I’ll be taking all his classes. Including the USA seminar and Summer camp. So that way everyone should have a chance to join in and say a big thank you to him. Dad was the closest person in the world to me, as you all know. Up until February 2010 I lived with him, and trained with him nearly every day, and even after I moved into my own house I still saw him for two or three days a week. And traveled with him to every workshop he did. We’re all staying strong and getting on with life, Kathleen handed me his favorite jacket just before I left to go to teach the other day, we all broke down. It’s mine to wear for him now, as his footsteps will continue in me now. I’ll never fill his shoes, as he’s always had bigger feet than me, so the Jacket it is! It’s the big bear like jacket that we use to hide in when he’d give us a hug when we were kids. I will never try to be Dad, but to just be me, and take on what he’s left to me. With Ben at my side, and the help of my family and fellow instructors. There has been some talk about what will happen to the WTBA now he’s gone. I know I am only 24 years old, and would never make a claim to be of the same level as dad, or call myself a master etc. But he had already announced me as World leader of the WTBA, so it’s been run under me for the past year already, and I will keep it running as the great organization he founded. I am so glad to have had all the time I have with him, a lot of people just see a young kid and say “he’s too young to lead an organization!” But I have grown up with Dad, spending nearly every day of my life with him. His teachings will live on in me as he wanted. And his spirit in all of his children. I don’t claim to know it all, but I do believe I have it all, somewhere in me, left there by Dad, I feel like he gave me everything I needed, he couldn’t have taught me anymore than he did. I’m very lucky, as it was only with in the last year that I no longer felt the need to say “I’m not sure I’ll ask Dad” As you know, we’ve never been into formality, I never had any grading from Dad, he just said to me last year before I went to teach in Canada, “Be confident my sonny, you know as much as me now in what we teach” I don’t feel like I know everything, but took that as meaning I know everything I need to figure it out for myself now. Just didn’t think I’d actually have to so soon. Thank you to everyone for all your words, and thanks to all the WTBA instructors who have given their support to me in running the WTBA. Cremation 2pm, 3rd of February. This is only for family. Concert will be announced First and main thank you training session to Dad at my March camp 2pm till 3pm on the 13th, then those attending camp will continue with course. I look forward to seeing everyone at some point in the year at one of the workshops. There will be a special moment at every workshop and camp to say thank you to Dad. Everyone can say this in there own way, but for me it will be for everyone to go through the YLC form together. Then to beat the shit out of some bags! And then each other in Push Hands! Dad and my closest moments were in beating the shit out of each other! Love to all… Eli Montaigue (Head of the WTBA) http://taichirenegade.com/taichi/erle-montaigue-what-now/

wee hours of the night hidden things lurk and scurry awaiting the dawn

It would seem I have nothing to say, but just wanted to say a big ol' Aussie "G'day" to the bums!

It was taught to me that, before the complication of written language, the ancients expressed their insight in primordial symbols. I was instructed to sit with a symbol and explore its meaning without attempting to describe it. I think this symbol sums up dependent origination quite succinctly.

LOL ... welcome to my world

LOL ... good to see things haven't changed much in my brief absence

You know we are quite connected don't you? The Importance of Family and the Tao Just been breaking it all down, rewriting everything, looking at what is essential and what is superfluous ... asking myself, "If I was to really speak my heart to these people, what would I really say?" Referring back to Ricardo Semlar ... his company, Semco, is not without systems. They have developed consensually agreed processes that stimulate performance without managerial structures that attempt to control performance. But the systems are still there, but they are only there because the cooperative agrees on them being there. What is encouraged within their environment is the continual questioning of the way things are done and, if someone can demonstrate a more effective process, and if it is consensually agreed upon, then new processes are endorsed. A very liberal and fluid environment is the result. So this is the fundamental of what I am seeking here. To have simple processes that inspire individual performance without trying to control or overly describe the outcomes of that performance. I have been playing with the processes I have outlined above and I have to admit that I am currently impressed by the results. Thanks for asking

One of the greatest criticisms I have of 95% of the Tai Chi martial arts applications "out there" is that they are so locked into their forms. I would like to suggest that "true Tai Chi" is not the forms, not the Tui Shou, not the Da Lu, but is instead an experiential understanding and application of the principles of Tai Chi like, for example, the ability to spontaneously and appropriately respond to any given situation. These two principles, spontaneity and appropriate response, are supposed to be learned through Tui Shou, but my experience shows me that most practitioners become too rigid and confined within the format of traditional Tui Shou practice. What I have found to be liberating, and has in turn improved my Tai Chi practice out of sight, is learning the Systema flow drills: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyQQ6nbt5VA