GrandmasterP

Those fun lovin' pranksters of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes ('poor man's' version of the Freemasons in UK. Bit like the Shriners in USA but a lot drunker) have the following motto.... Nemo Mortalium Omnibus Horis Sapit (No man is wise at all times) Letting your hair down (if you have any left. I don't) and having a bit of fun now and again is essential. We do Zen archery. Sounds dead serious but it is a right laugh.

Heat pumps are also being talked up for a new subsidy. Anyone have experience of those? They have to dig up your back garden apparently.

Up to August the UK government was paying a subsidy to encourage homeowners to install solar panels. It still seems like a good deal even without the subsidy cos what electricity you don't use goes into the national grid and they pay you for generating it. We didn't have sufficient south facing roof areas to qualify.

I don't run anymore ( knees knackered) but when I did, I did it after morning cultivation. Would agree on getting the right light but cushioned running shoes. Road running/jogging on hard surfaces is incredibly hard on the knees.

Interesting piece in Qi Journal by Ken Cohen (The Way of QiGong author). What is Falun Gong? Qigong has always been associated with spiritual traditions. Although modern practitioners generally consider qigong a healing art or even a branch of Chinese medicine, the majority of early qigong texts are found in the Taoist Canon, a collection of more than 1,000 texts on Taoist philosophy, religion, ritual, and qigong. In Taoist literature, qigong is called daoyin, "leading and guiding the qi" or yang sheng, "nourishing the forces of life." Qigong exercises were probably originally modeled on ancient shamanic postures and dances, similar to the postures described in anthropologist Felicitas Goodman's landmark book Where Spirits Ride the Wind. Ancient people discovered that specific postures or combinations of postures produce specific states of consciousness and influence the flow of subtle energy in the body. Qigong is an evolving art. Old styles are modified and refined, and new styles are created according to the experiences, insights, and talents of practitioners. One of these new systems, called Falun Gong, was introduced by forty-one year old Li Hongzhi in 1992. Fa is the Chinese translation of the Sanskrit word dharma, meaning Buddhist teachings. Lun translates the Sanskrit word chakra, meaning wheel. Falun is the dharma chakra, the wheel of Buddhist teachings. To turn the wheel of the dharma is to practice and propagate Buddhist teachings. Gong means skill or it may be short for the skill of controlling qi: qigong. Thus the name Falun Gong means "a qigong method that spreads Buddhist wisdom." Alternately, this system is called Falun Dafa, the Great (Da) Method (fa) of Falun. It includes both dynamic qigong (dong gong) in which qi is stimulated through gentle exercises, as well as quiescent qigong (jing gong), in which the mind controls qi during meditation. Falun is more than a philosophical principle and a qigong system. The falun is also a spiritual energy center in the lower abdomen. This is not as esoteric as it first sounds. Imagine that you are a belly dancer doing hip gyrations--these movements, by the way, are part of a sacred healing dance tradition from the Middle East, originally practiced by women preparing for childbirth. Now imagine the movements getting smaller and smaller until your body is hardly moving at all, yet you still sense motion within the belly. The feeling of subtle rotating energy is actually very pleasant. The "energy ball" massages the internal organs, relaxes the diaphragm (causing a deepening and slowing down of the breath), and awakens an awareness of the body's untapped potentials. In conventional qigong and Taijiquan practice, this sensation is called dan tian nei zhuan, inner rotation of the dan tian (elixir field). I am convinced that the turning of the falun mentioned in Li Hongzhi's various publications is a variation of dan tian rotation. It is a valid qigong technique.

Quite a lot of people who have had Near Death Experiences (NDEs) report similar experiences to those that this chap describes. I just got 6,280,000 results shown on Google from searching 'Near Death Experiences' Then again there must be millions of others who have had NDEs who haven't had these experiences. Makes you think though.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2215969/Has-man-seen-heaven-As-brain-scientist-Eben-Alexander-thought-idea-life-absurd--fell-coma-flying-meadows-beautiful-guardian-angel.html

There's a full page article on this story in today's Daily Mail (UK national newspaper). One or two talking about it here at work. Never does any harm towards raising awareness.

Might be 'black Qi'. Nasty stuff. Best gotten rid of. Ken Cohen's 'The Way of QiGong' is useful. HTH Pete

As per that 'on topic' above..... Ch 55 and that last line.... 'Not-TAO soon ends' ...might that be interpreted as indicating the physical death of a non-cultivator... What do you think FH (or anyone else)?

Humble apologies FH no attack was inteded nor implied and I am mortified any might be perceived. If you are happy with what you are getting then that's fine as I said above. All readings are equally valid whatever their source. No one reading of TTC whatever its source on this side or from elsewhere has any greater validity than any other reading. They are te same thing... readings. Good to hear you are in te UK pop into the centre and see us if you are ever up this way. Tea and cakes will be on me. The Spiritual Training Centre/Dojo is upstairs above the Spiritualist Church. There's something on every day and most evenings too.

http://www.osholeela.co.uk/index.php?content=ev_cal_detail&event_theme_id=&event_id=554

Yep. The media is very powerful. TV advertising is relentlessly persuasive. How else would anyone deign to enter a McDonalds burger outlet? Derren uses a lot of stooges in his act. When he's on TV, opening credits and after every ad break too you see briefly a text saying 'No actors were used in this performance' Does the trick every time does that. Nobody can be hypnotised to do something they don't want to do. Military tried for years then gave up. It's well documented. If they could they would.

Good post K thank you. David Carradine says in an extras docu on White Crane DVD. "Anybody who does martial arts and goes looking for trouble is sure to find it. And the same goes for people who do not do martial arts. Sometimes even when you don't look for it, trouble finds you, and when it does,you are glad that you trained".

How cool is that! A rapper called GrandmasterP. Bet he earns a lot more money than I do. We did wonder about this a few years ago when some UK DJs started going by Grandmaster but decided that we were far too uncool for any possible confusion to arise. In our particular neck of the woods Masters teach and Grandmasters teach teachers. It's more of a job description than a honorific title. Everybody at our centre just calls me Pete. Apart from Mrs GrandmasterP who calls me all sorts of names sometimes.

How cool is that! A rapper called GrandmasterP. Bet he earns a lot more money than I do. We did wonder about this a few years ago when some UK DJs started going by Grandmaster but decided that we were far too uncool for any possible confusion to arise. In our particular neck of the woods Masters teach and Grandmasters teach teachers. It's more of a job description than a honorific title. Everybody at our centre just calls me Pete. Apart from Mrs GrandmasterP who calls me all sorts of names sometimes.

Cave's your best bet. Preferably a cave atop a remote mountain. If the shit does hit the fan this year there's likely to be some pretty smug elderly Taoist hermits renting out cave space to survivalists.

Nope. Not a Jesuit. His daughter confirms. That is a relief. You two should get a room et and K Such flirting. ;-)

An intuit. Trained mediums never judge Jeff. HTH

Zazen is very hard on the knees and bottom. Alan Watts called it the "aching legs school". All respect to those with the stamina but for others QiGong is perhaps a happier cultivation. There can be many paths up the same mountain.

LOL at hamster in a wheel. Good metaphor. :-)

Well he might have been. Maybe he was a Jesuit in disguise. Crikey!!! We could have been running an Xtian church all these years and not known it. What an epiphany! ;-)

Well he might have been. Maybe he was a Jesuit in disguise. Crikey!!! We could have been running an Xtian church all these years and not known it. What an epiphany! ;-)

Or Tibetan Buddhists within 'their own' lineage. That tea was GOOD! Our teacher used to say..... 'Two Taoists , three opinions" ;-)

I am holding a Kindle. In a moment I shall be holding a bowl of good green tea. Can't ever remember holding anything 'sacred'. One would need to have 'sacred' in order to hold it I imagine. It has been a day off from work today,I have done sod all and the Sun has been shining since nine this morning. Sometimes life is good. No need to be defensive ET your opinions are respected as yours. It would be a dull old world if everyone was in agreement all the time. Save that for the Xtians in their 'Heaven'.