Stigweard

change comes to the bums and we better change or else check the smooth clean lines

Holy Dooly !!! Where did this come from LOL. Looks good my friend ... bravo !!!

I think the force of nature we are skirting around here is death. Death is 100% impartial, it will claim you with the same dispassion as it will claim a maggot. Death makes no preference or prejudice. It is the ultimate leveler. The mindset of the sage is similar to the mindset of the hunter. A hunter will starve in the wilderness for two reasons: either because they love their prey too much and are unable to make the killing stroke, or they don't love their prey enough and hunt their prey indiscriminately and thus descimate their food source. In accordance with the Wuxing (five phases), sometimes the sage is the instrument of creation and other times the instrument of destruction.

Its so nice to be appreciated. I do have to say though that all the real work was done by Sean and co long before we were "annointed", our efforts are minisclue in comparison. But cheers all the same.

I have a meditation CD where, during a certain section, there was a minor earth tremor shaking the whole building. The presenter didn't miss a beat, in a continuous instruction he said, "And feel the earthquake. Feel the vibrations of the building, let it pass right through you." And then he just kept on going with the meditation.

So here's what I am getting out of what you are saying. In our conditioned state we have a dichotomy between our "true essence" and our conditioned mind. So, if it is true that our experiences are created from a universal response to our internal energy vibration, which part of our consciousness (i.e. our original vs our conditioned mind) becomes the primary blueprint? In truth it is both but fundamentally I would say it is wherever we have "invested" the most energy. I personally believe that the call and "pull" of our true essence towards wholeness and integration is always there, however our conditioned state can more than often be the prime operating program and, in perfect resonance, life will respond to the "strongest" vibration emanating from the self. So, when life responds to the conditioned mind, experiences are created, to link it back to your terminology, that are not in harmony with ones "true essence" and thus the individual will experience pain, suffering, misfortune etc. However, if we can reintegrate our consciousness into wholesome oneness with our true nature, our De, then, with life responding to this primary directive, our life experiences will be more harmonious and blessings will naturally unfold. Would you agree with this?

Yup ... interesting Actually there is some darn good stuff on that site http://www.taoiststudy.com/content/welcome-our-website

OK so this one is worth hammering out. Let's assume for the moment that The Law of Universal Energy Response holds true. That one's life experience is a perfect match of one's internal energy vibration. This implies that life manifesting around the individual is CAUSED or CREATED by the sum energy vibration that the individual is embodying. That life experience is molded by the features of the individual's internal landscape or internal blue-print. Under this premise there is absolutely no way for one's life experience to NOT be in harmony with one's internal energy vibration because life is always reflecting and responding perfectly. So what then determines our internal energy vibration? Principally three things: 1. The beliefs we have 2. The words we use 3. Our physiology Our beliefs, assumptions, or view of the world has been formed by a combination of: ~ Our characteristics or natural attributes provided us by the energy signature at the time of our birth i.e. western astrology, Chinese Shi Chen Ba Zi 時辰八字 etc. etc. ~ The conditioning of our parents, family, friends etc. ~ Our responses to the experiences especially in our young formative years. These beliefs will create the words we use that form the sum of our internal dialogue i.e. the incessant stream of dialogue we have with ourselves as we continuously process external stimuli and our subconscious reactions. And it is upon this internal dialogue that we base our physiological expression. Check you physiology right now. Look at how you are sitting, at your posture. Your posture and physiology is mirroring your fundamental beliefs of yourself and the world. The whole sum content of your beliefs, your internal (and external) dialogue, and your physiology is what determines your internal energy vibration. And this vibration is emanating out from you right now into the universe. And guess what? The universe is right now at this very moment in the process of reflecting that vibration back to you in a feedback loop that will ultimately manifest as your soon-to-be life experience. To translate this back to Daoist terms, your internal energy vibrations is quite simply your De, your virtue. How is that it is said that "One can know the future of an individual by his De, his virtue"? Because your De is the template upon which Dao will respond and thus we have the synthesis of Dao-De as the crucible of life experience and is IMO the essence of the nature of reality according to Daoist ontology as I understand it. And how do we change our internal energy vibration and thus change the future potentiality of our unfolding life experience? By changing the words we use (i.e. our dialogue internal and external) and changing our physiology (i.e. our postural and behavioral habits) which will in turn gradually but fundamentally alter our belief systems, aka our view of the world.

LOL no my friend. Drew was just spamming the lobby with SFQ links and, true to our policy of attempted invisibility (still working on that one ) we dropped a couple of PM's Drew's way. The only reason the issue is in the open forum is because Drew decided to take the issue public. All good now, it would appear we have shaken hands and made up

I'm not exactly sure how what you have said communicates with what I said. Could you explain further please?

The sentiments expressed in this thread are interesting in a couple of ways. In one sense it certainly reveals how much latent anger there is for the catholic church for the couple of millenia of atrocities that it has committed and not fully attoned for. It also shows perhaps that alot of folks find there way to Taoism through their repulsion with western spirituality aka Christian orthodoxy. And I understand this. I am very familiar with the disgust and hatred that can be felt when I think about my pagan forefathers and foremothers who suffered terribly at the hands of Christian oppression. However there must come a time when we free ourselves from the bondage of our own hatred because that which we hate is that which we inevitably become. Hatred and the demonization of "the other side" is to perpetrate the same wrongs as those we are directing our hatred towards. Our mind is the precious conduit between our body and spirit and, if we sully our minds with the petty hatreds of the world, then the only person we are causing injury to is ourselves. All we achieve by doing this is that we sever our chance for self-integration which is the ultimate blessing of the great Way of Dao. So if our minds are passionately stirred up in protest against the Pope and the Catholic church, perhaps take a moment to be mindful of whatever unabsolved pains we are harboring within ourselves that are seeking expression and resolution in our displays of protest and anger. I would hope that here on TaoBums we could help each other grow to exhibit greater virtue and universal vision.

The Law of Universal Energy Response: One's life experience is a perfect match of one's internal energy vibration.

You see, I knew we were agreeing with each all along

Sure I am a bit of a traditionalist myself. The thing is though that the path of becoming a Xian is well within the core components of Taoist ontology. Here is the "Jade Emperor's Heart Seal Sutra" from The Daozang (Treasury of Tao): The precious Immortal Medicine is contained within you: Shen as spirit and mind Chi as general vitality And ching as sexual energy. There are one energy manifested in different forms. To maintain integrity, do not employ them in isolation. Before manifestation, this high potency of life is whole and subtle. In your cultivation, return to the subtle breath Before you were born After a certain length of time, wholeness can be seen; It will become the foundation of your spiritual empire. You then can have a personal audience with The Jade Emperor who sits firmly on the throne within. With him, you ride on the natural cycle of universal energy And are able to ascend from the lower sphere of nature To the high Heavenly realms For the person of high intelligence, This is easy to fulfill; But for the ignorant it is difficult to accept. In the early morning's dawn, Inhale and exhale the clarity and purity. Like the fetus, Rest in the mysterious womb of the mother. In this way you gather your own subtle essence And enjoy steady subtle growth. As the integrity of your life is restored, You will find the true fulfillment of immortality; All things are only temporarily named. The truth of immortality is dependent On your integrated new life of wholeness. Your integrated new life of wholeness Is able to penetrate the densest stones And soar freely in the ethereal sky. This integrated new life cannot be drowned, Nor can it be burned in the hottest fire. In general, spirit must integrate with form Subtle essence depends on vital chi. Once achieved, it becomes undecaying and unwithering, Like and evergreen In the beginning these three are separate; As one, their subtle power is beyond the mind's grasp. Only when they are completely integrated Do we have the precious immortal medicine. When they are separated, there is no power. For the achieved one, The seven orifices communicate with each other, Each imparting its own subtle light. Once you gain immortality, Your body becomes light. Your Inner Sun and Moon will shine In the "Golden Court" of your life being. You will glow with an auspicious light And be filled with the most precious harmony. [if you read this invocation time after time, The subtle meaning of its wonderful principle Will become apparent to you.]

I only just got that. I can be a little daft sometimes. Nice carving.

Just an observation here of the last few posts, I believe we have to be mindful of the implications of saying, "This is what Taoists believe." Exactly which Taoists are you referring to here? Is it really possible afterall to make some authoritive statement that represents all Taoist thought? I believe we have to accept that Taoism is undeniably and fundamentally pluralistic in that there are so many forms and evolutions of "The Great Way". And out of all this diversity who really has the authority or the right to make any claims of "This is Taoism and all the rest is somehow less 'pure'." Which is the true Taoism? Tianshi Dao? Quanzhen? Zhenyi? Longmen? TaoBum Pai? Each will have similarities and yet each will either have different modes of getting "there" or will indeed have completely differring views on what "there" is. Just a thought

Indeed (and some might say "About time") ... have a close think about what you are bringing to this forum Steve. You have a long term habit of only bringing bad vibes and creating disturbances. If you continue this when you get back from your TaoBum fast then your stay will be even shorter. Warm Regards

Done!!

I hear you and agree that a clear definition of what spam is for TaoBums is vital. Here's a draft definition: Spam (electronic) Spam is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately. Forum spam consists of links to external sites, with the dual goals of increasing search engine visibility, and generating more traffic for these commercial websites. Spam posts may contain anything from a single link, to dozens of links. Text content is minimal, usually innocuous and unrelated to the forum's topic, or in a very old thread that is revived by the spammer solely for the purpose of spamming links. For TaoBums, posts that contain links to external sites that are unsolicited or have no relevance to the topic at hand will be considered and treated as spam. Whilst forum spam also, by definition, includes links posted in the user's signature, it is the policy of TaoBums that, within reason (determined by the discretion of the moderators), all members are allowed to post links to external websites in their signature.

@Martial Development ... My good fellow we are servants here doing the best we can. If you bothered to check out http://www.thetaobums.com/Moderation-Guidelines-t11707.html you would see that we have developed some damn good guidelines to work by. But here is our challenge: As part of our assuming our roles as moderators, we have promised to all the members to be as light-handed and invisible as we can (obviously that is currently not the case ). In an ideal world (and admittedly I am a bit of an idealist) the folks of this forum should be self-regulated and there would be no need for us at all (wouldn't that be nice). So here is a challenge for you: Instead of a whole bunch of prominent rules shoved in people's faces, what initiatives could we enact for TaoBums that would foster and promote each members ability to become more self-regulated (i.e. their ability to moderate their own behavior) in their contributions to this forum??

I am wanting to create a TaoWiki page with a comprehensive listing of available Taoist practices. Specifically each entry must contain: Benefits, Demands, Technical details, Disadvantages, Historical origins, Cultural relevance, and Available sources of tuition (i.e. personal instruction, website, book, audio, DVD etc.) Here is a basic list of practices to start on: ~ Nei Tan, Internal Medicine, which can support a person's spiritual future through refinement of the physical, mental and spiritual essence, ~ Tai Shi, Internal Breathing, which is higher than external breathing, although both are usually practiced together, ~ Tao Yin, Energy Channelling, for purposes of health and spiritual benefit, ~ Chun Shih, Visualization or concentration, ~ Fu Erh, External Nutrition, using natural herbs and other things, ~ Shing Jeau, Walking, for gathering and refining energy, ~ Fuh Chi, Internal Energy Maintenance, ~ Bei Gu, to stop eating food completely (especially helpful to those who are cultivating spiritually so that they can stop looking for and preparing food for themselves - eventually they combine their life with the environment), ~ Fu Chi, Intaking Natural Energy through breathing and swallowing, which should be practiced with Bei Gu, ~ Fang Jung, Sexual Cultivation, ~ Fu Jyeo, Secret Talismanic Characters, Words and also Invocations, ~ Jing Tan, Golden Elixir, ~ Shr Jeah, Method of Exuviation into a New Life." Your help and assistance will be greatly appreciated and robustly acknowledged