ShenLung

On the backs of telluric currents, damn the power lines, full speed ahead!

Certainly! Much depends on how we choose to percieve our realities. Picture an eight ounce glass sitting on your table, containing four ounces of water. The old cliche is to ask "Is the glass half empty, or half full?" ... but I do not percieve it this way. The glass is always full. Think about this for a while, and you will see what I mean. Sometimes, all that is necessary to change reality is to change the way one chooses to experience it. Again, imagine you are driving down the highway, when suddenly your car gets a flat tire. Perhaps you get out, cursing your bad luck to hit that nail, the cheap tire, ect. You might be frustrated because you are going to be late for that date, that appointment, work, ect. In short, you are having a bad experience. Another way to percieve this event would be to be grateful that the flat ocurred when it was easy to control the car, that no one was harmed by the incident. Imagine how fortunate you are to have been given the opportunity to stop here, now; perhaps you have missed being involved in a wreck just a little down the road, perhaps the change to your planned schedule will cause you to meet someone you would not otherwise have met, or avoid meeting someone! This delay has given you a chance to see something that you might otherwise have missed, and is truely fortunate ... now, you are having a positive experience. The only thing that has changed is the way you choose to percieve the experience. Sorry for writning so small before, I should have taken a moment to switch the font size ... but then I would have missed the chance to explain the concept further

There is a dog that lives with me that is cultivating an excellent taoist practice. She eats, she drinks, she poos, and licks her nethers at every opportunity. She waits, and in time, everything she requires comes to her. No good at writing poetry, however.

For a real mind-trip, draw a diagram of the tree of life, and look closely at the branches. Runes you will find, and readable staves Staves that Bolthor stained, made by mighty powers graven by the prophetic god. Know how to cut them know how to stain them know how to prove them know how to evoke them know how to score them know how to send them better not to ask than to overpledge, for a gift demands a gift; Better not to send than to slay too many. -Odin

Is gone and it's dead Dismal verse, and poorly timed; Give me song and wine!

Enlightenment is like water; grasp it, and it will run through your fingers.

Did Jesus give transmission to his disciples? Hmm, perhaps a taste, in order for them to have an understanding of what he was attempting to teach them, but he went farther than that. It is one thing to give someone a drink of water from the well, but another to teach someone how to draw their own water. This was the herasy of Jesus - not that he claimed to be the son of god, but that he was going around awakening the minds of people so that they did not require a priesthood to stand between them and the supernal conciousness. At this time, Israel was under occupation, the ark was hidden, no prophets were to be found, and the priesthood were loitering about the temple going through the motions, but with no real power. Some mystics were to be found, certainly - most likely practicing mco and conserving their semen like misers attempting to hoard what little crumbs they could in order to perform the simplest of magic tricks. Meanwhile, here was this fellow who taught a different method, encouraging the people to let go of those worldly riches, and instead open up the vessel to allow the infinite power of creation to flow. Huge crowds gathered everywhere he went just to have a chance to hear him teach instead of going to the synagogue - the priesthood simply HAD to get rid of him! Anyway, back to transmission. There were certainly a few people who followed him about, almost slavishly, calling him master, ect. Imagine how annoying that must have been for him! How difficult must it be to teach one's disciples to not rely on one's physical incarnation to open the gates for them to drink the waters of life ... it seems that at least some of them were addicted.

Surrender all concept of self and become the infinite void; Surrender all concept of self and become the limitless light. Release all attachments, even to the point of conciousness itself. The universe breathes; Nothing endures forever. Only the way is eternal. If you would know life, cultivate virtue. If you would know power, know yourself. What more is there to say?

The first snow would say Oh look! a soft white kitten! Pet me; feel better

Panic does give rise to many false starts - not just from seeing other beings, but even the initial sensation of separation from the physical body can have one snapping back in an instant. Something to keep in mind is that one astral projects natrually, even when unconcious of it (in fact, unless one has entered into this state consiously through meditation or use of -gasp- drugs one would have no way of knowing that one was out). Occasionally one may become concious during projection, which is usually what happens to me. I believe that there are potentially many dead persons who may be lost in their astral form, and if one should happen across one of these, it would be a kindness to help them, if you can. Just as one can find opportunities to help others in the astral realms (there are many layers of reality) you may also encounter others who are willing to help you. Not all teachers are to be found in the physical world! Most of all, try not to be afraid; the astral experiance is just that: an experience - one that may add additional depth and understanding to your own development, if you choose to accept it.

I enjoy reading your posts in this thread; you have a knack for teaching! I don't have anything to add or ask - Just wanted you to know how much I smile when I read this material. Keep up the good work, and don't let it get to your head

First three things: breath, balance, awareness. The best thing to still an unquiet mind is good, hard excercise. Pick the part of TTC you want to meditate on, mark the page, then begin. a good routine may look something like this: run in place 20 seconds, 5 push-ups. Run in place 20 seconds, 5 crunches. Jumping jacks 20 seconds, 5 squats. shake your arms and legs loose for several seconds each limb, do neck rotations, then walk about in a circle at least 20 steps, focus on breathing. Adjust this as needed according to your level of physical fitness, of course. Settle down in a nice comfy sisa or lotus position, and calmly breath while meditating on the part of the text that you selected. Increase your excercise as time goes by ... it is so easy to focus on nothing and simply breath when you are exhausted!

For my two cents, I would suggest that Rabbi Yeshua had some very profound insights on kabbalah, you just have to pick through the dime store drama to find them. Some texts have made this easier by printing his lectures in red letters, but there is precious little of them that have survived the centuries

Much depends on how we choose to percieve our realities. Picture an eight ounce glass sitting on your table, containing four ounces of water. The old cliche is to ask "Is the glass half empty, or half full?" ... but I do not percieve it this way. The glass is always full. Think about this for a while, and you will see what I mean. Sometimes, all that is necessary to change reality is to change the way one chooses to experiance it.

Hello, everyone. I stumbled upon this forum while looking for a definition of buddhist breathing vs taoist breathing in order to properly instruct my daughter, who is just beginning her 'formal' introduction to energy systems. Like myself, she is a natrual cultivator, and, if we are to be capable of interacting with others who practice, having the correct terminology can be useful ... so many things cannot be expressed with words! My own practice? I could make an analogy to spiritual enlightenment as being like a mountain, where the summit is the attainment of enlightenment, salvation, immortality, ect, ect. I observe that many are attempting to climb this mountain. Some attack the sheer face of the rock, clinging by their fingertips to barely perceptible crevices, and so by great effort work their way up, inch by inch. Some make use of pitons and ropes, secureing one milestone of achievement after another as they navigate the face of the mountain. Others still follow the goat path, with it's relatively easy transitions around the mountain, with occasional leaps to higher elevations. A great number I see taking the steps that have been carved into the side of the mountain by previous travelers. My approach is to circle about the mountain, sometimes clawing away at the sheer face, sometimes sinking in a piton, sometimes following the goat path, sometimes taking the stairs. I explore all paths, and no path - Oh, what a fool I am, for I have created for myself my own mountain! Somewhere around my fortieth year, an associate of mine, upon listening to my feeble attempts to explain my spiritual journey pronounced "Dude! you are a Taoist!" After examining the literature available on the subject, particularly tao te ching, I must concur. I am a taoist. After poking around here for the past few days, I have decided to join this forum community. Perhaps I will stay for a while, but most likely I will be here, then move on, maybe return, or maybe not. My approach is not one that will ever achieve the summits, it is more attued to a continued expansion of understanding of what the mountain is. When the cosmic breath of creation has once again returned to it's source, I fully intend to be here still, waiting for the next exhalation - waiting to experience anew what it is to be.

Oi! enough! If I had not taken the time to examine some of your other posts, Recep, I would have been lead to believe that you were yet another one of the many followers of Islam who had been decieved by Satan to pursue the lesser Jihad instead of perfecting the self - I do not wish to insult your spiritual training, but you are doing it no service in your singleminded condemnation of psychadelics. I understand that you feel very strongly in this manner, and I cannot fault you for this feeling - it IS valid ... but without the benefits of your training and experiance, others have no means by which to make any informed decision. To be perfectly honest, as I read your response to the various posts in this thread, I began to wonder more and more about the nature of your intimate philosophy, to the point where, if there were no other indication, I would have to assume that you were, indeed, an emmissary of satan himself, and that all that was left for you was to strap explosives to your chest and go out to create widows and orphans that the rest of us must, by virtue of our own beliefs, be bound to protect and care for. The recital is just another book in my collection of human knowledge. To think that the god of all creation would only bestow its knowledge upon a select few individuals and that one's self is amongst that elite is the height of arrogance ... that is the influence of another entity entirely. I will turn my soup kettles over for christians, Jews, and muslims alike. Truth matters; ego is nothing.

I would not know about anything supernatrual ... if a thing can exist, it must, of its own nature, be natrual. There can be things natrual which one has no means of explaining by contemporary terminology ... is this what is meant by 'supernatrual'? I understand many things which I cannot explain; the words do not exist. I seek in the tao a means to define these things which have no words to define them. My pursuit is not about achieving abilities that defy contemporary science, it is more about understanding my experiences that defy contemporary science.

I cannot fathom what would draw a master to the LA area. Look elsewhere, would be my advice.

1991 gulf war, exited the armed forces shortly thereafter. I feel that, as constituted, the United states supports the way, but the individuals who have assumed power over the past few decades do not embrace the way in governance. The framework is there, but the leaders do not embody any form of enlightenment. Perhaps in the future, the US will again return to proper governance, or perhaps not.