healingtouch

Completely agree Jetsun. But this is not a problem with Eastern spirituality, but with spirituality in general as the teachings of spiritual gurus have been taken literally, therefore corrupted in the process, and turned into religion and law. Look at it this way, all the great spiritual leaders, Lao Tsu, Moses, Shakymuni, Krishna, Jesus, Muhammad, many others, have been rebels against the establishment, which needed a serious shaking. And every time, the establishment, thru its priests, came back and took those teachings and turned them onto their head and into an instrument of instilling obedience to the ruling classes once again. It's a normal cycle though, as every great guru will be seen by many as a money tree, priests and monks becoming attached to their position and power and fanatical in their devotion to the cause, teachings will be transformed into religion, and very often will be interpreted literally, and thus what is supposed to free someone from the clutches of materialism ends up actually oppressing them even more, killing the Divine spirit inside the individual in the process.

If it's supernatural, how can one achieve it by following the Way (of Nature)? And if it's not supernatural, then it must mean it's only natural ...

It seems this thread is about the disempowering idea that power, action, aggression, force, is bad, more than anything else, whether the impetuus for that action coming from an yang or yin excess being irrelevant. Taken to an extreme, this attitude will only lead to being afraid, or being uninclined to take any action of any kind, as it may be perceived as offensive to someone out there. A very scholarly attitude, but impractical in the real world. Now of course, there is right action and wrong action, right action being that which achieves its intended results and wrong action being that which fails. And this is where the real art of cultivation lies, achieving the proper ratio of yang/yin in the body for achieving one's objectives and fulfilling his destiny as efficiently as possible.

This is an amazing serial that manages to reproduce very well on screen the conflict between Buddhism and lay society (read warlords) in Asia during the feudal period. http://www.dramafever.com/drama/4106/1/God_of_War/ BTW, I think we should have a new sub-forum just for posting links to such movies.

It's said that the soft leads the strong, so perhaps it's yin one should pursue if they want more power, not yang. Lots of yang is aggression, pride, desire for power only because one lacks them, whereas yin just feels it has them so it doesn't feel the need to bark about it, in fact, it tries to conceal having it, as it tries to avoid getting engaged in conflict unnecessarily. In short, Yin is the mastermind general, while Yang is the foot soldier.

I have asked my self the same question, and ever since I started massaging my mamrma points according to ayurvedic literature daily, I have noticed an increase of energy. Incidentally, the point on the feet have been the most beneficial. One of them is called Gulpha, corresponding roughly to KD6, although in a massage it looks really easy to include 3-6 if massaging circularly. Another cxouple of points i have found useful is Talahidraya (KD1 or 48 on mine), Kurcha (47 on my image) and Kurchashira on the foot (46 on mine) http://www.massagean...arma Points.jpg

What are some meditations you have found useful to cultivate playfulness?

Good question ... What is playfulness? I would say it's the ability to feel free to act out your imagination without any constraints of trying to be cool or to fit within any social norms of behavior. Just like a child, you do it because the spiritr pushed you to do it and it's fun .... Speaking of, I've found this mediation in a book by Samuel Wehr titled "Gnostic Meditation" First: The syllables Ma Ma, Pa Pa, Ba Ba are the first syllables which we articulate in childhood. You can start the Initiation with these syllables. You must sing these syllables while assuming an innocent and infantile attitude. You can learn the intonation of these sacred syllables when listening to The Magic Flute of Mozart. Mozart placed these syllables in his marvellous opera. The disciple must fall asleep assuming an infantile attitude while remembering the first years of his childhood and then mentally singing the sacred syllables. The word Pa Pa should be vocalized intoning the first syllable Pa in a high voice, then the second syllable Pa will be uttered in a lower voice. These two syllables should be pronounced many times. You must do the same thing with the syllable Ma. Fall asleep while meditating on your childhood. Review with your imagination your whole childhood and mentally articulate the sacred syllables

Awesome story thetaoiseasy. I have my own spiritual story involving ants as well. A few years ago, maybe 3, I decided to go on the healing path. So I found out about reiki, and went to get an attunement. I get it, then right after, me and the 3 ladies that got the attunement plus the reiki master were sitting on a couch talking about our experiences. As we were doing that, I looked down at my crotch I saw an ant crawling out of my pants. And instantly, I knew what it meant, I mean, it was not hard to figure out. It meant I wasn't going to let my dick make my decisions for me anymore, the ants were out of my pants literally and figuratively too. And true enough, after that, my sexual desire dissapeared and I went thru a great period of spiritual evolution and learning.

I recently read the description of Yi Jin Jing training on page 171 of Dr. Jwing-Ming's book Qigong - The Secret of Youth. In it, it talks about massaging the stomach area for 120 days, going form light massage to pounding the area on a ever increasing circle. It's all pretty clear and concise but I would like to know what else would be recommended reading on this topic.

And what is the purpose of eating with a fork or spoon? Does that make the food taste better? Is it healthier? Does that indicate that you are superior somehow? Somehow you have become attached to the method, rather than seeing thru to the essence of why such method has been put into use ..

I'll assume this is not a troll ... Anyhow Sunlover, your worldview is full of contradictions. now I'll give you something to chew on. Have you ever stopped for a minute to consider that the world is exactly as God intends it to be, and all these "demons and devils" are acting per his or her wish according to the plan? In essence, meaning the world is exactly as it should be ... If you were a bit familiar with Buddhism, you would see how Buddha too uses the same methods, and his most faithful servants are former "demons" that have been subdued and subjugated. Kinda like the wolf that's been domesticated into a guard dog to keep the sheep in line. Also, when you talk about all those nuns and monks living in poverty and suffering .. Have you given it some thought that it might be something necessary for them to do in order to evolve spiritually or to redeem themselves?

The moment you touch meat, the moment you even look at someone else's wife or daughter, the moment you refuse to obey authority, you will be called a demon or be considered under the influence of one by most Taoist or Buddhist priests. Are you sure this is what you want? And, while they may seem spiritual, most religions turn very materialistic and authoritarian as they desire to be the only ones who have the authority to dish out material benefits. And in practice, what happens is the priests become stinking rich, while the rest become slaves expected to work for free, as anything else would be a sin.

They may not need to, but many still do ... just because they enjoy it. Gods enjoy eating tasty food, having sex with beautiful women, or men, doing drugs, getting drunk, being mischievous, making men suffer or helping them out of suffering. And they do not need to do all these things as they could just as easily spend all their time being cut off from humanity and cultivating their spiritual powers ... Why they don't do that? Because routine, even blissful routine, is the surest way to kill your creativity and intelligence.

Thanks What I read recommends to start doing the small circulation meditation after the initial 120 days. Right now, I'm only doing the reversed abdominal breathing. Do you know of any books or videos that describe the full 49 posture set? BTW, I have a couple of links myself. One is a video in chinese that supposedly shows the first 11 movements of the Y Jin Jin set http://www.56.com/u5...DU0MjI4MzE.html If anyone wants to add subtitles, it would be appreciated And here's another link to a book from the 1930s http://www.kungfulib...l-fast-view.pdf (Just a free trial copy) that explains the exact same movements, a bit more precise.

Well, in Buddhism, it is said that we all are enlightened already, but we just fail or refuse to see it. I'm no expert, but in Theravada Buddhism at least, the conclusion that comes from the evolution of souls on the wheel of karma, is that it is inevitable that everyone will become aware of their own enlightenment, therefore there is no need for a reset or for pushing enlightenment onto others. As far as Sakyamuni (1st Buddha) and the reason he had to leave home. I have two theories, of course, both speculation, because it's impossible for anyone to confirm any of them 1. This is the accepted theory that he had to leave home because this is what is necessary, and what is prescribed in the Vedas, for one to attain moksha. According to accepted Indian practice, it is not possible to achieve liberation (moksha) while performing householder duties, so once those were fulfilled (meaning sons and daughters were all married off), a person was free and expected to go to the forest and meditate and attain moksha. 2. This is my theory, and it is pure speculation. Sakymuni was the son of a king, however it was a small and wake kingdom militarily. The fact that in the century following his death, his kingdom was swallowed up by a neighbor is proof of this. Sakyamuni realized this, realized that militarily he had no chance at conquest, so he figured out his only chance to assure his immortality and his name in the history books was to start a new cult that hopefully will become a world religion. For an ambitious prince, and also very intelligent, this option was far more preferable than staying on as a leader of a tiny kingdom. Of course, no one in their right mind would ever admit to this, so myths are created how Buddha saw the poor and we all know the story ...

Why do you think enlightened souls choose to reincarnate and take human form? Bcz even bliss becomes boring after a while. In many spiritual paths, taking human form is considered the biggest boon, because of the ability to experience human emotions, especially love. In Taoism, the gods envy humans for this ability and for their freedom of action, while they only have duties. However, I'm a firm believer in not knocking anything until I try it, so go ahead SunLover, attain your God Realization. And once you have attained it, then please come back and write a report on here ...

Has anyone on here gone thru this training? Have you found it helpful and in what way? I'm starting right now, I've invested in a couple of electric massagers as doing it by hand can be quite hard on the shoulder joint from what I noticed and I can't afford to pay a couple of boys, or even one, to massage me 3 times a day for 1hr30mins each time. Now I'm starting to see the benefits of having children :-) Here are the instructions I'm following if anyone would like to add anything to them: 1st 30 days (massage gong) Only massage training is involved. Herb pills arc recommended. (planning to take DHEA pills, 25 mg) Only the center is massaged. The center is located under the solar plexus and above the navel If possible use young boys or girls to do the massage. If you do not have them to help you, you can do it by yourself. Massage 90 minutes each time, 3 times/day at sunrise, noon and sunset (some documents list midnite as well). If you do not have so much time for training, you should extend your training period proportionally. Massage from the right to the left: with appropriate power. The second 30 days of training involve: Verifying the first 30 days of training by determining that the tendons on the sides of the stomach are raised and quite firm. Extending the massage one palm's distance out from the "center." Pounding the soft and "sinkable'' spots with a pestle or wooden mallet until the fasciae are also raised. 3rd 30 days Expand massaged area one palm further 4th 30 days expand training area to the waist

What is your favorite method of divination? Reason I ask is because I have tried the coin toss method and I find it very time consuming compared to the tarot or Mo (the tibetan divination system). However, a third adviser would be very beneficial, so I'm willing to give the I ching another try if someone could teach me a quicker method. And speaking of, is the finger method the immortals and deities use in movies based on anything real?

I've recently found out about another method of divination, called Qi Men Dun Jia http://www.phoenixanddragonfengshui.com/index.asp#qimen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi_Men_Dun_Jia And here's a very informative web page that goes indepth into the odds of different methods of divining the Iching http://www.dentato.it/iching/

Or it's also possible that by "not contributing" they do more for the world than the "contribution" Donal Trump makes, and the ambition and drive for "success" that Donald Trump has is a worst vice than all of those above, and he truly is the "unconscious" one while all those "intoxicated" "spiritual" people are the awakened ones. All perspective ...

There is nothing superior spiritually about not smoking, not drinking, not doing drugs, not having sex, or not ejaculating, just like there is nothing superior spiritually about doing them. They are just tools in one's spiritual evolution. Same with money, luxury, poverty, sex, or anything else on this planet. Sometimes the soul needs to have them to evolve, and sometimes the soul needs to go without. How we mix and match these is where the real art lies. And manifesting wealth, or anything else for that matter, becomes easier and easier as one becomes more spiritually evolved, but, at that point, it really doesn't matter anymore, because it's a non-issue. You can just as easily manifest someone wealthy to fall in love with you or manifest directly the things that you would buy with that wealth. And when you start thinking about what you really need is actually when you realize that it's actually not that much, and most of the stuff you think you need you can do without very easily. And this is when one starts to understand why the tao wizards of yore chose to stay poor ..

Beautiful story. Most people would have waited until the disaster happened rather than taking action so kudos to you for having had faith. :-) One thing though: the I ching is not a goddess, just like the tarot is not a goddess either, or the pendulum. These are just communication tools between the spirit world and us, like the telephone is for the material world. Which means behind it, there is a spirit that supports and loves you and is able to communicate to you thru the I ching because you have eyes to see and ears to hear and you LISTEN. To identify the name of this spirit, you just have to ask HIM or HER who she is, and you'll soon enough get a reply.

Define harmony ... Is the absence of war and presence of peace harmony? From the point of view of an individual, maybe yes. And I say maybe, because not all humans are peaceful, some find it disharmonious when they are in a quiet environment. But from the point of view of Mother Nature, of Earth, definitely not, as the population increase leads to more and more destruction of the eco-balance. So harmony is a very subjective opinion based on the perspective one chooses to take

Most people do not appreciate how powerful divination really is. They go to a fortune teller expecting to hear what to do or to see a general image of their life, someone to hold their hand or make them feel better, without a clear idea of the questions to ask. But where the real power of divination lies is in seeing these spirits as your own counsel, a counsel that's thousands of years old, and in asking the spirits to tell you what the outcome will be when you are at a crossroads and have to choose between a few different roads. Sort of like the "what if" function in an excel spreadsheet. For example, when one is about to buy a new car, instead of letting your emotions or some technical paper guide you, use divination to choose which car to buy from a shortlist you make. Because even if you buy what car looks best on paper, you could still encounter lots of difficulties driving that car, because of envy, or who knows what. Or you could buy what's theoretically the worst car and it could be very auspicious for its owner. Divination will be able to tell you these things.