Seeker of Wisdom

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EAK6KpsLh1M/Tn-2pFmNBvI/AAAAAAAAAtk/P5YmnG9RQno/s1600/bacon-love.jpg

Have you considered this? http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectical_monism#section_1 Consciousness is meaningless without things for it to perceive, things are meaningless if not perceived. They both come from Tao. We all know materialism (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materialism) makes no sense. Dualism (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substance_dualism) doesn't explain how the brain and mind can affect each other. Idealism (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idealism#section_5) - which you seem to be proposing - doesn't make sense to me. What prompted the first thought? Why are we not omnipotent? Things are meaningless without perception, but doesn't perception need an object?

We will all die someday. Anyone 'worth their spiritual salt' would use their remaining time cultivating and doing good stuff; rather than stocking up on food & shelter paid for with money that could have saved many lives by now, because of paranoid end-times bullshit. Why so afraid of death? It's just moving house! 'Him he sees this world as a bubble, a mirage or a flash of lightning, is not seen by the Lord of Death'.

Does matter hold a form, or does your mind hold the perception of forms? Don't think of an answer, treat it like a koan.

I would expect standing on the balls of your feet or your heels to work different sections of your legs more, but balancing weight evenly to be possible for longer periods.

I don't think it would be good, more pressure would be concentrated on the front of the ankles.

Maybe try http://thetaobums.com/topic/25763-zhunti-mantra/. I take the approach of only doing a little chi work, to help speed things along. I put much more attention into shamatha (through anapana) and virtue (metta bhavana helps). Mental development naturally dissolves blocks and releases chi - in the right places, at the right time. Also, only mental development is capable of opening all the tiny channels efficiently - if we try to direct chi into them, most of the chi will just take the path of least resistance through the wider channels around it. And let's not forget, why are we doing this? Enlightenment. Having great chi doesn't reveal Tao to you, it just gives you a good foundation. You need prajna, and to get good prajna you need shamatha and virtue. So I would suggest actually doing LESS with your chi, instead focusing more on anapana, trying the Zhunti mantra and metta bhavana. I recommend getting 'The Attention Revolution' by Alan Wallace, as a guide to shamatha and anapana. I do under 15 mins of chi practices, which don't involve trying to direct the chi: horse stance, nadi shodana pranayama and surya namaskar. I have chi clearing up much faster than when I tried to manage the process. As for AYP, stay away man! http://thetaobums.com/topic/25632-a-review-of-ayp-from-an-ex-practitioner/

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Three minutes!

I really doubt these channellers. Genuine channelling is probably possible. However... How much of what these people are receiving is being warped by their mental hindrances? Surely accurate channelling would require an extraordinarily clear mind. I would only truly trust channelled material from somebody who has achieved shamatha. The average subconscious contains a maelstrom of nonsense, which communications would inevitably be twisted passing through. Even if the channelled material isn't being warped, that doesn't mean it's all good teachings. Sure, they say some good stuff. However, people these days treat aliens and spirits as practically omniscient and infallible, but they aren't. Just because some exotic being says something - even if that being is more advanced than you - doesn't mean you should instantly believe it. Consider this - if you don't instantly agree with everything I say, why should that change if I died and spoke to you through a psychic? Channellers have often been wrong. Blossom Goodchild is an obvious example, as is every channeller who promised an 'ascension' in 2012 - i.e. MOST of them. Channellers spout all kinds of bollocks these days, from mass ascension prophecies to hokum about '12 strand DNA' to the Law of Attraction (don't get me started LOL!). As for the concept of 'guides', I really don't see why we should have a troupe of beings helping us like that. It seems very human-centric. Don't these beings have their own lives and families? Even if they want to help us, wouldn't they quickly realise that we need to learn to overcome things by ourselves for the most part? Sure, spirits may help occasionally, but the idea of them forming teams to watch over and assist individual people from birth to death is unrealistic. It under-estimates our ability to handle things, and over-estimates how willing spirits are to meddle with our affairs. As for the 'higher self', I think that's just a person tapping into their own subconscious, or having an epiphany, or an experience of greater mental clarity - and interpreting the (genuine) experience in an overly mystical way. Finally, we mustn't forget those who alter their voice, claim they're channelling, and watch the dollars roll in; or those who believe they are channelling but are actually speaking from their own subconscious. In conclusion, listen to channellers if you like, but be just as discerning as you'd be if it was a person talking to you normally.

I prefer feet pointing outward. I guess it depends what your own hips are happier doing.

Relaxation and focus seem important in horse stance. Avoid tensing. Find a level of leg bend where your body just slots into position. It will feel like less of the work keeping you in place is down to your muscles - like the structure of your body is providing support. Automatically, you'll distribute your weight evenly so you aren't slanting, and your back will be straight. It should feel like the ONLY effort used, is the willpower you're using to stay in the stance for however long it is.

It's much easier to develop metta taking a integrated approach, with shamatha and wisdom. Besides, while a Buddha must have metta, metta on its' own tends to be a feature of fools. Do all 3 and you won't go astray, and the effects of each one on the mind supports the others. Metta bhavana should become more genuinely emotional with time. IMHO, it works because of neuroplasticity. Wish yourself happiness, and you must feel a little good will towards yourself. The more you bring that feeling up, the stronger those pathways in the mind will get. Similarly, in the practice you will slowly feel more genuine metta for each person/group you practice on. You're taking the metta already there - even if it's negligible - and watering it with attention.

Well, they'd both consider it delusional and arrogant, I expect; if by solipsism you mean the idea that 'I am the only person/thing in existence'.

I've recently added 28 mins of metta bhavana into my practice. It's a great practice which dissolves ill-will into simply wonderful expansive compassion. And of course, you can't love all other beings while hating yourself. Some of us, however, have a lack of metta for ourselves, but are somehow simultaneously quite self-centered. Weird! The risk in learning to love ourselves unconditionally, is not also cultivating unconditional love for others. Some people focus too much on one of these, becoming either douchebags or fluffy twerps. And of course, there are lovely people out there with no wisdom.

IMHO society has become a system which is larger and more complex than the individuals which make it up, there's a mismatch between the machine and the cogs. Essentially, human society is stone agers living under a social contract with technology and education... we are still animals with brains really. Some of us don't even have brains. Aggression therefore comes out as war, rather than the squabbles apes have. We have rampant materialism, because that's how the drive to be prepared for winter now expresses itself. The massive gap between rich and poor - does a wolf pack bring other packs shares of their kills? And so on. We can pass as many laws and carry out as many clever plans as we like. But the only real answer is cultivation... individuals trying to improve themselves.

I just broke the 2 minute barrier. It hurt during it, but straight after I was refreshed, sharp, energised and clear-minded. My legs tingle and have a pleasant cool sensation. I also have warm and cool chi swirling gently around the dan tien and heart chakra.

Horse stance is more for building (a lot of) chi than grounding. It's a great practice though, which you may want to try when this smooths out a little. For grounding, I'd suggest walking, bare feet on the earth, making things, selfless service, gardening, art... anything creative and/or in nature.

Well, I won't bother debating something so inconsequential. Have a good day.

Marmite? I'd expect it to have protein, and I do know it's high in B12.

The MIND creates blockages. Unpleasant situations could prompt the mind to create blockages, or to stimulate chi with emotion, and more. My interpretation of this experience could be wrong, but other people have described this electrical sensation in connection to chi working through blocks. I've had a similar thing with heat, and it can be stimulated by emotions in connection to even unpleasant circumstances. Any strong mental event will have some strong effect on chi. It is usually more related to relaxation, clarity and compassion of course, and if negative emotions fester blocks do result.

Chi working through blockages. This is good. If it's too much, cut down on any practices which directly involve chi and do some grounding physical activity.

Sounds like you're doing fine, just bear in mind that ultimately it's the mind that realises true nature. When dense chi is no longer there having a knock-on effect on your mind, chi cultivation is left behind. Some never work with chi directly at all, but as their mind purifies the chi follows.

Asking the universe or gods or whatever for things has no effect at all. It may seem to because of confirmation bias, hindsight bias, and so on. Why do you think reality bends to your wishes more than it does to the millions in poverty - are they less important to the universe than you? So you can get early transport, and they don't get good harvests or the mosquitoes leaving. That sounds more than a bit strange. How would the universe get you good grades - uploading information into your mind, warping the perception of the marker? Um, no. You want good grades, you have to put in work. That's the only way... aside from perhaps bribery or threats.

This is good, it's chi working through blockages and flowing more.