de_paradise

I've noticed they get stuck onto me more, and I'm the one who has to say, ok bye.

Theres lots of Zen and Buddhist stuff around, like Dharma Drum mountain, Chung Tai, Tzu Ji--all very good, but give the feeling of organized religion, not exactly hardcore cultivation. But you can use their facilities and talk to the monks and nuns. I talked to a few Taoists here and there, but the ones I found are more the folksy, write a fu for your ailment and give you a funny ritual kind of Taoists. To be honest, you can find more secret teachings taught in a clearer manner spending a few hours on google or TTB's. So what are you really after? Im not sure if he's still there, but the bagua teacher Luo De Xiu taught in Taipei Chiang kai shek memorial in late evenings. In a month you can learn some basic qigong and circle walking. The Buddhists are the ones out there with welcoming arms, the Taoists are kind of represented by many eloborate temples, but one wonders where the masters are.

How are you circle walking? Are you mud stepping with holding arms out as in a ba gua posture?How is the not necessarily ba gua but Taoist meditation method done? Thanks

I'm not sure what this thread is about now, but to address the OP, PUArts should be merely a stepping stone to personal development, but spiritual cultivation is the BIG DEAL, so big that few dare to believe it. Forget all this sociology mind games, save it for the aspiring minds at fastseduction, just leave it behind and go beyond it by literally evolving. Vajrayogini practise is meant to be a quick path for depraved modern people like ourselves.But, if you think PUA learning curve is steep, its nothing compared to literally evolving yourself through meditations and energy practises. As Buddha says, time is short. I know this will probably for all intents and purposes be ignored, but I threw it out here anyway.

I found my healing qigong teacher by striking up a conversation with a Malaysian guy in a Starbucks who was selling shares in a seaweed growing operation. He handed me a qigong guys telephone # and found out the master had moved nearby, and I went directly over, not to learn, but just to ask some questions concerning qi. When I opened the door to his qigong clinic, my body, and particularly my dantien felt like I was in love and full of bliss. One thing about the teachers that have been born and raised in American consumerist culture, is that they do promote just like anyone else, and they even sell stuff on websites, and that does not make them less attained or willing to teach groovy stuff that can take you to higher. Bodri's meditation expert site is a good example of crass marketing combined with first rate spiritual information products. Max Christensen's Lama Dorje promo video is laughable to many people, but that doesnt change the fact that he is a super highly attained teacher and willing to share teachings and energies. I only say this due to your comment on the KAP thread, John Zen. People who trash our reptuable homegrown teachers in kneejerk responses is a pet peeve of mine. Good luck on the path, good luck to us all.

Was it yesterday? Anyway Happy B-day! You are an inspiration to me, and Im sure many others here!

I'm really glad this thread came to the same conclusions as I did, that energy is moving in all directions, coming in from energy gates on your body. Thank Freeform for his mind to note that it is one level of abstraction versus another, because this downward Kunlun flow, upward Kundalini flow idea has always gnawed on me, because the way I feel it, the energy is churning and turning and flowing in many ways. The level of abstraction that has Kundalini as upward flow, I'm believe, is the phenomena of chakras opening generally from lower to upper. I guarantee you Kundalini doesnt flow upward like someone from your feet pointing a blowdryer upwards. If it were that simple! Its like saying a child has upward flowing energy because over the years he grows taller. In Kunlun, there is noted, and I note often, a kind of gentle rain-like feeling, but internally I note the same-old same old energy flowing mixing combining, de-knotting, forming new nadi-ing, and in this there is no difference from any other meditation, because the body uses all these effective meditations to further its evolution and transmutation, using golden flower parlance, of a normal mundane body to create a yin body, and a yang body.

Just checking their website, I think you should try the therapy with the naked Asian girl in the rose petal bath.

Where you have karma, you have vegetarianism. Latter day Taoism being fused with Buddhist concepts like karma. The I-Guan Dao sect of Taiwan are vegetarians. Now some people take karma lightly and do not have any issue with daily killing animals for food, some rely on cultural norms and superstitions such as the Chinese New Year or Lent, one shouldnt such-and-such. I stopped by a Taoist temple the other day, just a small one, in Taipei, which contained Guanyin, the boddhisattva of compassion--and vegetarianism! I think with today's factory farming practices, one need not be Buddhist orTaoist, but perhaps a psychopath devoid of any feelings towards any being besides humans to be able to condone what is being done. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIjanhKqVC4

I've been down that road before... If you can swing it, do good things for other people, help them, volenteer, go out of your way. It creates good karma for one, and that may be what you need to start acheiving higher spiritual progress. Also, this kind of selflessness-helping others-compassion-sympathy attitude is guaranteed the magic pill, the antidote to the pain caused by your self-absorbed way of life. The pain caused by a self-serving way of being is non-ending, even if everything is going right, you become rich and have many girlfriends, and have hours to do qigong.

I only started learning the guitar this year, well after Kundalini started. I think I suck at both guitar and vocals, but love doing this, get better the more I practise. I have not noticed the effects of qi or cultivation, however its kinda interesting that I should start avidly doing this "hobby" at this point in my life, where it never really interested me before.

Hi, Im no authority, just want to comment on how I see things. If you use sexual practises for your spiritual development, you are creating the chemistry in your body for desire (neuro pathways, peptide showers, receptors, hormones), training them to be accustomed to this pleasure. I dont think there is a simple breathing method, or widget you can buy to counteract this. Its the double edged sword of this practise. It surprises me that after 8 years of this practise you are not able to sublimate the energy of sexual desire, I would have thought it would get easier after the first year or so.

Nerds.

The true answer to that koan is "huh?" expressed over a long time of searching ONE"S MIND, as per the quote by Bassui Tokusho Zenji.

I dont know why he would make a grand gesture from down to up, then cup hand to project qi, do you? Looks magician-like. I asked my teacher about this kind of video and he said it was probably fake. I dont know it all, I could be wrong.

A serious looking 21 year old with a fairly receded hairline.

The smoke guy looks like a fraud.

Despite all the frauds out there, there are the legitimate guys too. One would be foolish to paint them all with the same brush, just as the average joe paints cultivation in general as a pile of b.s. and misses out on the whole ball of wax. Personal experience and personal verfication is key. You cant use ancilliary evidence to condem someone. It doesnt matter to me one way or another what this Veredesi does or is, just dont care at all. But it does concern me that TTB's often shouts down legtimate guys like a pack of angry chickens, like playground children. And you know what Im talking about if you have ever been on the recieving end of doubt and mocking scepticism that most people understand as "logic", while knowing that in fact you are right and have something to offer, but the mo-fo's are so far up their own asses to be be curious, courteous and objective.

This is a harder practise to start with, because you are not grounded with an object like breath, visualization, sound, feeling, etc. But with practise its not so difficult. The question arises like you have found: where does the consciousness rest so it feels like you are doing the meditation "right"? There is no right way in fact, because a priori, we know we will be doing the meditation imperfectly, and just like weight training strengthening muscles: its a means to an end. Whispering in your mind "forget" to any thought or sensation is the practise, its like having a sniping rifle and just sitting there and shooting anything that comes your way. Meditation of death uses the same principle, if any thought arises, you can snipe it down by thinking that there are no thoughts in death. The sniping can become quite fast and automatic, without having to disturb your empty mind by whispering out the counter-measure of "forget" or "dead", or "not-self". To make it easier you can ground your focus in breath or focus on some body feeling. By this I mean, you can focus on breathing in and out so that your attention isnt flying all over the place, but otherwise perform the sitting and forgetting meditation.

Although the Buddha said to believe nothing and to test for yourself, I have found that the priciple of the Vajrayana path, which is to -believe first-, make real later is a more efficient way to make progress on the spiritual path. This is why perusing texts for ways to meditate and ways to be, (ex. compassionate), is far more efficient than acting randomly, but with an open mind. If a person is not solidly on the path, and is wrestling with things like,"does Jesus really exist or is it a form of social control, and if the latter, I dont its good to believe in any of that"--this person has to get a little more initiated on the path and gain some more personal experiential knowlege as well as perhaps a more suitable, non-denominational explaination. However its not easy to get out of this doubting limbo state, and there are so many apparently competing belief sytems, which are not actually competing at all, but at the level of understanding of a regular person, they are acutually competing truths, therefore none are true. Just having experience of qi is still yet not good enough to be able to parlay that experience into a belief that will help that person advance spiritually. The person still has to have enough self confidence to face thousands of guys in white coats, and millions of scinence teachers who would say otherwise. The person also needs a kind of spark of curiosity, because qi experiences dont put bread on the table or fit in with our social programming. Theres a spark of curiosity or need to know spiritual things that, if strong enough will lead a person to see a qigong master or masters to settle the question. Its really simple, and that theme seems to be repeated all along the path (as I have experienced thusfar anyway)

I notice some of my friends have thin or weak auras. (I feel them with my hand, not see them) I dont have enough experience/data to make assesments, but I think clearly age and ill health tends to be a reason for thinner auras. I'd like to make some suggestions, but also not plant a worrying seed in their minds. Googling this issue I see already loads of contradictory stuff, so if someone here has some guidelines, pls let me know.

So how do y'all cultivate compassion?

Thanks for your replies. To be honest, I was hoping for even more contributions.

I dont know about magic, but clearly intent always makes the pivotal difference to connect to higher spiritual beings and realms. One thing I noticed during the hundreds of hours Ive done mantra, is that in NLP terms, (Visual-Audio-Kinesthetic) that I have a Audio dominated mind, so that, when I do mantra its very effective because my mind is fully engaged, and thoughts from the visual sense do not just pop in easily. Therefore its a simple and efficient way of acheiving one pointed focus. But for some other people it may not be as effective. One day I'd like to get a mantra by empowerment so I can explore whether it makes any difference.

Sleep about the same amount as above people, usually meditate when I wake up after dream, and before and after sleep. Its such a great time to meditate. It takes so much time to get close to that relaxed during a sitting meditation. Its all about time and meditation efficiency. Ha ha, but to a normal person, it seems I'm being extra lazy. I've not yet explored the whole realm of sleep deprivation leading to groovy visions and experiences.