GrandmasterP

Kalachakra Initiation by the DL. Not exactly a laugh a minute is it? Dhammapada,.. a prolonged sob .. in book form.. Lotus Sutra.. no gags at all. Diamond Sutra (Leonard Cohen lyric adapted for Buddhist readers) Anything that guru of the New Kadampa has ever written The FWBO website (or whatever the Friends of the Western Buddhist order are calling themselves this year). Ditto any Budhist sect or cult website, ditto any of the books on said sect or cults bookshelves or on sale at prices to suit every miserablist via their prolific sales outlets. Should I go on?

Suffering my erse. By and large life is pretty sweet. It's what you make of it. Many Buddhists are repressed miserablists, they actually enjoy suffering. Hence the wealth of miserable Buddhist literature that they can buy so as to feel even worse about themselves and life in general. They like that sort of thing and for those who like that sort of thing... that is the sort of thing that they like. Taoism on the other hand is a cheery and positive path, we cultivate we get better at it. We die, we're reborn and get a chance to become even beter at cultivation, eventually we get off the wheel if we want to or stick around as a spirit guide (a.k.a 'angel' or 'boddhisatva' of 'demi-deity') if we don't fancy 'heaven' just yet but quite fancy the idea of a few decades or more fecking about helping human mortals on this side of life. Taoism's a win - win situation whereas , apart from the Pure Land variety which almost identical to Taoism; Buddhism exists for exceptionally sad losers who like being the sad sacks they are and wish to remain the same, over and over again. Good luck to 'em too, more fun for the rest of us to enjoy. Plus it is quite amusing to listen to the poor wee lambs' constant doleful bleatings both on here and elsewhere.

That whole idea of 'control' just stop and reflect on what sorts of things we use to control things mechanically and how. Gates, capacitors, gears, levers, valves etc etc. All those imply a physical slowing down, or turning off and on , something that is 'done-to' in order for that which needs to be controlled to be controlled. Cultivation isn't like that at all, it's more about letting go, relaxing and sinking. All else follows. The more we consciously seek to control the less 'control' we actually have. Only when the cultivation begins to cultivate us do we begin to make any real or meaningful progress.

Good post, there sure are lots of books, DVDs and related merchandise out there on the market for anyone interested in cultivation. Mate of mine is a keen fisherman who goes out with just a rod and line and usually beings something home for his dinner from his fishing trips says about all the fancy and expensive fishing tackle on offer.... "It is designed to catch fishermen more than it is designed to catch fish" Same goes for a lot of the cultivation merchandise. Still, we are the ones creating the market, if we keep on buying the stuff there will always be someone willing to supply it. Trouble with a book or DVD is that it can't stop you and point out areas for improvement as a real teacher, in the same room as you; can. The CHQA resources are free, and there's nothing beyond what they give you in any of the books or DVDs on sale claiming to have aunique take on QiGong. There's no secret to it, simply find a form that suits you and cultivate it. For life.

Cultivating outside under the sky and on grass or earth is your best bet. Anywhere else is second best and synthetic materials under you are to be avoided wherever possible. That said, cultivating anywhere beats not cultivating.

You may be right but young Milligan has certainly moved onwards and upwards in the world since I first knew him as a beginning medium. He's getting the big gigs these days and once they work those they get to meet monied believers and the sky can be the limit. Fair play to anyone getting a living via mediumship, it's an honest trade meeting a felt need amongst certain sections of society. Just didn't want any of the younger element on TTB wasting time and money chasing MoPai fairies. http://jsqg.sport.org.cn/en/index.html Check out this link for all you need, free, gratis and for nothing.

Yep. Kosher guru. Good luck to him. He does touch on the Kabbala in one of those books, it's all to do with chakras apparently. The Indian lady got her money's worth for sure.

http://jsqg.sport.org.cn/en/index.html A useful site for anyone interested in QiGong HTH

Point taken. On topic I read in the Times that 47% of US voters relied in some way or other on the state for a part or all of their income which would put them on a par with our well subsidised Caledonian cousins north of the border here. Maybe that's why Mr Obama won again. Turkeys don't vote for Christmas and if you are sucking deep on the welfare pap no way are you going to vote for some chap whose main platform seemed to have been putting a stop to that happening as much as it apparently does. Either way it went they have a politician in charge, much as we do here. Plus ca change.

Maybe just a lot of hungry looking vegans round these parts. No problem, back on topic........

Just going by the vegans we know. They always look 'kinda hungry'. Wouldn't suit me, too fond of cheese and eggs. Being lifelong veggies and socialising in a milieu where veggies tend to congregate you do meet more than some do. Many veggies have tried vegan and vice versa. We did once stay at a vegan place on a workshop weekend and the food was jolly good but we were glad to get back to our usual fare.

Vegan face is usually 'kinda hungry'.

Poor weasels. The only thing that looks good in animal skin is the animal that said skin was designed for. You'd also need a heck of a lot of weasels, they are very small. Now your mink or fox, those are chunky beggars and a couple of fat badgers should see you nicely towards the making of a natty bolero jacket if you were so inclined. Dalmatians too, I seem to remember a filmic documentary some years ago about a lady who wanted a Dalmatian-fur coat and her ultimately unsuccessful efforts towards securing said garment.

http://www.scottmilligan.net/ There ya go. Young Scott's spirit helpers can float trumpets, move stuff, knock over boxes at a distance, the whole shebang and anyone can watch Scott and the phenomena whilst they are doing so. If you are cultivating what you think is something called MoPai in order to be able to replicate the medium tricks that JC used to amaze punters in the belief those are 'part' of the cultivation then you are really wasting your time and could better cultivate a standard neigong. Tricks are tricks, they serve an important purpose but nevertheless they are still tricks. If you want to perform medium tricks it is easy enough to learn how to. If however you wish to become a medium, as is John Chang then that's another story but you don't have to travel to Surabaya in order to have a go, there are mediumship development classes out there if you look carefully and, if in USA; are prepared to travel. Here in UK we have them in every major town, all cities and some quite small communities too.

The telekinesis has to be experienced to be believed, if you can channel that happening (it isn't any power from you) then likely you'll be able to chat to the spirit causing it and then the rest falls into place. Check out 'physical mediumship' online if interested. Young Scott Milligan is one of the best currently demonstrating that, he has a website and sells kit. Will try to post a link.

They tested J C and it was amps but no voltage. He blew out the ameters. LED lighting is a Party trick and you'll find out how online. Shocking hands can be learnt and I suspect that'll work using any part of your body. It's a combination of Newtonian mechanics and suggestion. Chopsticks will always go through balsa wood no matter how thick that might be and phosphorous match heads, wetted; set fire to newspaper. These are all old medium tricks guys, don't conflate the window dressing with the useful if somewhat prolonged neigong the MoPai use. Any neigong will get you there cultivation wise and any magic book on stage mediumship routines will teach you the window dressing. Likely you'll never get to see or speak to a spirit guide but to all intents and purposes (apart from the main one) you'll appear to be doing as much as the MoPai can. HTH

Not sure about 'forceful' but sitting on your erse for hours at a stretch simply does not suit most people. Moving meditation such as TaiChi or QiGong are popular for that very reason.

MCO up the back , over the crown into sinus then down the front, round, under, back and up again. Central Thrusting goes LDT, Heart , Head. Up and down the middle. Don't sweat the labels, you sound to be doing OK

Weight loss is normal with QiGong. Why more people don't use it for that I can't understand. Beats weight watchers or any other diet regime hands down for losing unwanted weight does QiGong. Your other symptoms are such that I'd say, see your doctor for a check up just to be on the safe side. There are very few negative physical side effects from cultivating QiGong. Some with underpinning psychological or psychosomatic factors might be better not to cultivate. We always ask about those , it's on our class enrolment form; and recommend anyone with such to secure medical approval prior to joining class. If they then choose not to do so we are still covered by our insurance.

........... Wouldn't calling someone a half weasel be more species-ist than racist? We have weasels round here and they are cute if rather fierce little creatures. One ran across the lane in front of our house just his week, it had a pigeon in its mouth. Pigeon was about four times the size of the weasel, and very dead.

......... MoPai isn't a system it is a lineage and a collective noun for those initiated into that lineage, bit like Shotokan (Shoto the Manga cartoonist's house style) is to karate. The system the MoPai use is their own development of a form of neigong, it is a 72 step form and very few progress beyond the early steps which appear to encapsulate standard neigong cultivation so no problem there really. The difference such as there is rests in the spiritualistic aspects of the MoPai that you tend not to find elsewhere. The grandmaster of the MoPai is a spirit guide, they are currently on the seventh, and they believe penultimate; spirit-guide grandmaster. The temporal head of the MoPai is always a working clairvoyant medium thus able to see and communicate with the grandmaster. No howls of derision please, that's just how it is, I'm not seeking to defend anything here.

Not at all. If it is your Karma that LoA is to work for you this time around then it'll work. If it aint, then it won't.

Hello Caron. Easy peasy lemon squeezy is one of my favourite sayings.

I took a couple of Sadhguru's books down to Tea with Spirit yesterday for the book table. An elderly Indian lady snapped them up ( fifty pence a book or three for a pound we sell old books at for centre funds). I asked her if she knew about him and she replied ... "He is a very great man". If the Hindus reckon the guy is kosher then he's kosher.

Apropos John Chang, he would be a great age now, does anyone know if he is still alive or not?