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an "individual mind" is the dream...which is realized upon waking up

Yeah, but only in the individual mind. When you dream of ghosts I have no dreams.

This is a wonderful segue to one of my favorite quotes from Jiddu: "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." He attacked the domination of mind and thought and referred to its transcendence in one of his book titles as, Freedom from the Known. By your definition Karl, I am psychotic. By mine, you are living in ignorance. Both are a part of the human condition. Here is a video teaching I recently watched which may appeal to some. One of my main practices is sleep yoga - this is a brief introduction to the practice and its objectives. It has some bearing on this discussion of the mind, thought, and its provenance, and how this relates to life, sleep, dream, and death. Here is something I recently stumbled on that may also be relevant to this thread. https://peaceandpolitics.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/reading-ayn-rand/

If you search youtube for TED and pxrn, you will find numerous lectures from various folks on research done related to pxrn's addictive qualities on the internet. To a lesser degree this goes for other things -- shopping online is a little like gambling -- this click, fresh-novel stimulus cycle can entrain the brain until it becomes a vampiric loop, draining the person so badly it messes up their life much like a decent drug addiction will. Because it IS a drug addiction of course. Just endogenous drugs. Realistically, although I don't think of myself as a victim of things so I tend to knee-jerk avoid that perspective for much of anything, still, there is a great deal of mercenary marketing, designed to exploit many known elements of the nervous system and culture, in order to get one's focus into that, and bring it back. Much like doritos, taco bell and oreos have more chemistry research than even the best hard drug, affecting the brain not just at the time but more importantly, in a "just as you go away you suddenly want more" sort of way. Foods are designer drugs now (or perhaps I should say, ingestible entertainment as food, real food, is mostly something else). Well in the same way I think in today's world, a lot of visual and audiovisuals are also designer drugs -- relying on predictable nervous system responses to create endogenous drugs inside the person, which they will react to, bringing their attention in closer. Advertising is like Casteneda's comments about dream 'scouts' that get your attention and in doing so lead you into other frequency ranges (worlds). Much of this stuff amounts to that. And like drugs, food, or the alcohol mentioned above, if a person gets sucked into that, it does them genuine harm. Of course, it's a lot easier to suck people in when the human is already geared to need and want sex -- just like some but not all of us are geared to want sugar, and certain elements in health and nutrition and emotion will intensify that. My sex drive has been in serious park for some time for health reasons, with rare exceptions, but prior to that (and I assume again at some point now that I'm sorta fixed) I did a lot of experimenting with masturbation. If done right, if you can hold the attention just as it is nearing climax, just before you start the end-run cycle, if you switch your attention to whatever it is you had wanted to give that energy to, and then give it as a gift, it works amazingly well. By which I mean, you know it works because the energy disappears. One instant you're all oh! oh! like a pxrn star and the next it's TOTALLY GONE like you could have been doing a spreadsheet or writing code. It's not like you come down, it's like it's utterly gone like it never existed at all. You can direct it to some part of your body. I have sometimes directed it to my Aeons but usually it's just directed up the spine to all the chakras instead of 'vented out.' I find that if I'm working on being close to a given Aeon (aspect of self, sort of...), archetype or anything else, that if I do the process with them in mind as imagination but make a very big point to NOT finish -- to simply pull the energy up into my solar plexus instead, and let it go -- then like, in the evening of that day, if I sit down to meditate with that identity/energy, my rapport tends to be very powerful. Someday I will find the guy I've been having dreams and visions about for years, and get to experiment with all the things I never got to do earlier in life LOL. I hope. Meanwhile it's just "quality time with myself" as my best friend (a man) and I refer to it. At this point, after years of trying to do something useful with the energy, I actually feel guilty if I don't. Like I have kind of wasted something important for a moment of more selfish intensity. RC

The dream was shocking, why would GB and the US go to war against each other? But there it was playing out in real time in the South China Sea of all places. As a warrior culture, the creme de la creme badge carries a lot of pride, prestige & loneliness at the top. Spetsnaz ( Brutal vicious violent deadly training) SAS ( Train to the death ) BOPE (Slayers of the Drug Lords) Faca na Cabaca Seal team 6 ( Ditka!) Israeli special forces (Under constant threat 24/7) The Swiss guard ( Vatican Commandos) GROM ( Oppression breeds Dominance) Gurkhas ( A way of life ) Mujahideen (kickin' Soviet and US ass for the last 33 years) French Foreign Legion ( Worldwide Badasses) North Korean Republican guard ( Raised from the cradle) So I put the ? out to the TTB elders... Who has the training of all training? Who would you want protecting your family? Forgive me if I forgot or failed to mention any team ( after all it was only a dream) Or was it?

For me, I liked some of the ideas behind a nice large trading block. The EU could even hold American companies like Apple to account on terms of tax dodging in Ireland. This is something that no one EU country could ever dream of and is no bad thing. But, a single currency has just not worked. Each country needs to be able to value its currency independently so they can naturally devalue if required. (There are other issues with the EU too) Like Soros says, there only seems to be a trend to it coming to an end. So, will it just muddle through or completely finish. Hmmmm ... cant tell yet, the out comes of these European elections will shed more light on it.

Maybe the greatest gift of Trump winning is the realization that anyone can win... it's not just a dream story to your children that they too can become the president I'd bet this is going to be more effective than telling glass ceiling stories in concession speech

Dear Effilang, I researched on many lineages and feel very attracted to Xiao Yao Pai - it's legit as recognized as official school, so people can argue about the methods and stuff like this but it's just official and have it's lineage and texts. Same with longmenpai, wu liu pai etc. (my friend travels to white could temple so i can know some inside information for proofs here and there) So I will be look forward to become student. The highest Dao is in "regular" things. Rather then looking for constantly negative things towards every school I suggest to bring out the best out of this. If we can learn directly from immortals thru initiation (and I think it's possibile because as I stated before I had experience with similar school but related to buddhist esoteric teachings and there is "something" beyond understanding and regular shen which most of people have not cultivated it to understand subtle works of Dao) even watching flowing hands video you can see that he is not faking it. Every tradition seems have some-related practices and I would say they are just "different". It's very hard to argue that "mine god or mine immortal said this about your school" and "mine said about that" I think we missing point which is cultivation of ourself. I never seen anybody cultivation other then ignorance by grasping and attaching themselves to such concepts and I do not think immortals are interested in this things too. We have so much great opportunities now days to practice, various methods to enhance ourself but we choose to argue about petty things. I wish all the best for you all guys and I hope we will understand one day that we do not need to go to caves, living on rice and some greens from tree for 20 years just to learn basic qigong moves but we have immortal reaching to us if we are willing. For me this is dream tradition, universal with basic mechanics of life which 10 years old could probably understand. At the same time I respect other traditions because the most important thing if you are putting your heart into this or only your mouth into this. I really scrolled thru all those pages and topics on this forums about this school, I suggest to do also to others when most of question are answered with patience and clarity. I never found other schools to be have such open heart and giving hands to practitioners but people still trying to bite the hand. I do not know about you guys, but I would make the best use of this hand for myself and others and for this hand if I would have opportunity to be part of such school. Hope we will see each other in next year.

I asked Eric Isen to test Golden Phoenix when it came out. I had a dream I learned it from Sifu Christer. However he said: "This Golden Flying Phoenix is OK but somewhat limited in what it would do for you. It would help the liver and have some good results with intuition. "The Terry Dunn Flying Phoenix results in a more powerful movement of the Kundalini spiritual energy than this one and develops the power 3rd chakra in you quite powerfully." Bear in mind though it's a personal reading.

I think it is apropos to examine the double standards that men place on women and in the case of Hillary, the standard was much higher than Trump's. I needn't repeat Trump's transgressions here, but there seemed to be some biblical comparison between the two and as usual, males are usually given a pass (the story of King David comes to mind). I have seen references to Hillary's satanic influence over others or accusations that she is a witch cooking up spells. What the hell is this insanity? A repeat of a mad inquisitor's dream? It is important to go back and examine the Axial Age in which small disparate groups began forming more organized city states. Out of that arose the angry overarching monotheistic male god (patriarchal) as the main focus of worship which prevails today.

This is exactly what I was getting at, dear Taomeow. We are both master and slave, positioned right between our duty to serve this bodily universe that gives us divinity, and in turn a willing slave to the processes outside ourself that require our devotion and understanding. We should be as willing as the matter that performs so dutifully within our own universes. The pyramid symbology was never meant to be about dominance and control of power, but instead a massive reminder of our responsibility. However, the way we see it, is the way we collectively feel. Our society has become obsessed with selfish indulgence. Everyone trying to be unique and stand out for "flashing cameras". Many of us know not our duties or "where to go". We have become disconnected from the whole, like cancerous cells growing to their own purpose; and we see cancer increase within ourselves the further away we pull. We all feel that conflict within of who we are, and the hint of purpose long lost still lingers...but we're committed to this path for a while longer. Committed to the asylum for the mentally ill. Sure, this is by design, and perhaps there is a set of elites who have understood this power, twisting it to their own agenda. However, they too are a reflection of our collective mind. We look to space and dream of the final escape, away from our mother's call. The sMother who loves us so and beckons us home, but many are unwilling to resign from this life. Mother wants nothing more than for us to be happy, yet her love brings death to all, and this is what drives us. Fear of death and non-existence. We have forgotten death's crucial role. To reach the state that you describe, Tm, means for us to give up on our search for power; and to abandon the idea of individuality as we see it today. The ideal balance must be known..the middle path..and it must be applied to all areas, as they connect like light in a hall of mirrors. Live to serve and to know the Mother, embrace her deathly hug as she welcomes us home to rest.

Sure if you sit on the sofa and eat popcorn your never going to be a professional athlete. I have made the seemingly impossible manifest in my life, when I decided to go to war for it. Burn your bridges and smash your cooking pots, and stake your very life upon the outcome of the battle. Thats what it takes. It all revolves around your desire, and your will and resolve to accomplish it. If you want something you must stake all upon it, and dedicate your every waking moment and soul even to accomplish it. You have to make it your life's dream, you sole purpose for existing. Eat it, breath it, sleep it. Train, study strategies, and never give up. A complete and total immersion in your goal, its war. Did you know Einstein was an idiot as a child. No really! he was. He was a borderline retarded child. When he was younger he learned to live inside his imagination, and create a virtual world in which to play. He stayed in this state and learned to use this mode of visual thinking to intuitive come up with solutions with problems. He was able to master both hemispheres of his brain and dream up all his theories. I highly recommend a book called the Einstein Factor Written by Win Wenger. It goes into the meditation Einstein used to come up with all his theories. Einstein used deep trance work, he would sit in a chair and hold two rocks one in either hand. If he fell asleep he dropped the rocks and woke up to write down what solution he had worked out with his dream. He remarked he flew out of his body into space to observe, and could feel the gravity waves bending the fabric of space and time and causing the flow of light to be bent around very mass dense objects. We have proven this to occur and call it gravitational lensing. He also realized that time flows at different rates for different observers, certain things effect the flow of time locally like dense gravitational feeds or traveling near the speed of light. If you were hovering outside a black hole, or traveling near the speed of light for you time outside would seem to speed up, and from outside you would appear to slow down. He also realized that all matter is really energy condensed. This was a complete revolution in physics because until then it was believed time flowed the same for all observers. All of these observations came from intuitive realizations during an OBE, whether it be a "true" or pseudo obe it doesn't matter. There is truth to be had here, and thats where I want to be. Tesla one of the greatest minds of all time was able to enter a world within his own mind at any moment, and test inventions and ideas in a mental workshop which was just as real as real life. He had many issues with his sanity due to this advanced ability. Edgar Cayce, Andrew Carnegie, all of these people tapped into this. If you don't think its possible, and that your either born with it or your not thats fine. I don't feel the same way. Maybe I am just a dreamer, even if I never reach my goal I am going to give it all I have.

Hi Effilang, Can we see some testimonials from people who've stuck with the school for a long time? Or can we hear about some of your experiences now that you've been practicing for a long time? You have spoken before about some students being able to directly hold conversations with their fufashen immediately after initiation, and you also speak about all sorts of quite dramatic changes occurring for those of you who make progress in the system over the long term. And yet, in all of the testimonials I ever can recall seeing here, the only thing that separates what people are talking about from good-old qigong zifagong as well as the effects people here report from Max's Kunlun, Jenny Lamb's spontaneous practice, Michael Lomax's Stillness Movement, etc., is this: belief. They attribute what's happening to the "FFS," but that's after they've been given an extensive theoretical education that explains the phenomena and its mechanisms before it occurs. You show that they report experiencing the phenomenon, and they take the existence of the phenomenon as evidence for the validity of Xiao Yao Pai's explanation. But all of these people have been prepped. This begs the question: is their surety that XYP's explanation is accurate any different from the surety of people who've already been "initiated" into teachings on catching the Holy Ghost going into dramatic spontaneous movements at a Pentecostal revival? They will happily and with extreme confidence tell you that they know exactly what is happening, and why it's happening. My firsthand experience, research, and the many, many anecdotes I've heard over the years have lead me to believe that spontaneous "practice" isn't all that hard of a thing to trigger in human beings. That is probably especially true when one considers that most of the humans we're dealing with in any setting devoted to this behavior have self-selected and are in fact looking for a certain type of goods. Even our "curious skeptic" in the most recent testimonial can ultimately barely contain his desire to taste the Kool Aid. I've raised this question long before, and years later, we're still just seeing XYP testimony from rank beginners. As wonderful as it is (truly) for a man to go off of dialysis, you've still shown us nothing to suggest that practitioners jump a bridge from "typical zifagong" to directly experiencing anything that proves that the Xiao Yao Pai explanation for what is going on and why is any more valid than the explanation a Baptist preacher, late 20th century qigong master in the PRC, or Kunlun student would offer. Could you offer testimonials from people who report actually directly experiencing the vast cosmology that you paint for us here? Do you yourself now, after several years with your school, hold actual verbal discussions with a spiritual entity, or several of them? Do you--not in a dream but in the completely conscious state that you say is the mark of XYP practice--have the ability to enter into the wuji realm and confirm firsthand for yourself that what you say about this celestial hierarchy, gold auras, immortals affiliated and unaffiliated with various lineages, and so forth is not just a "teaching" but an actual, tangible experience available to you as a living human being? I know it is not typically considered to be polite in traditional Daoist circles to ask another about his personal practice, but then again, as you say yourself, the XYP way is pretty clearly one that has divorced itself from much that is traditional. I think that the questions I'm asking are quite loudly begged by all of the testimonials you place here.

That's sound like dream come true for spiritual practitioners. How person can be initiated besides waiting for initiation in UK or US? There is way to travel for initiation?

Taoist Tales and Parables: Wandering on the Way Victor Mair Yen Hui inquired of Confucius, saying, "When Mengsun Ts'ai's mother died, he cried without tears, his heart felt no distress, and during the period of mourning he felt no sorrow. Although lacking these three qualities, he was held to be the best mourner in the state of Lu. Can one really attain a name without the substance? I find this to be very strange." "The clansman Mengsun was so thorough," said Confucius, "that he had advanced beyond knowledge. Although he may have wished to simplify mourning, but wasn't able to do so fully, still there is that which he did simplify. Mengsun didn't know why he lived and didn't know why he would die. He didn't know which came first, life or death, and which came last. You see, he just went along with the transformation of things, awaiting the unknown transformation that was in store for him . Moreover, as we are about to undergo transformation, how do we know that we aren't already transformed? As we are about to cease transfor- mation, how do we know that we have already transformed? Perhaps you and I are in a dream from which we have not yet awakened. He, however, had a vulnerable physical body but no damage to his mind, a patched-together lodge but no expendi- ture of his essence. Mengsun was singularly awakened. When others cried, he cried too. That's why he behaved himself as he did. "Moreover, people identify each other as 'I,' but how do we know that what we call 'I' may not really be 'I'? You may dream that you are a bird and streak across the sky, that you are a fish and descend to the depths. We cannot determine whether we who are speaking now are awake or dreaming. We may be so suddenly delighted that we don't have a chance to smile; we may break into a smile before we have a chance to arrange ourselves. Repose in what has been arranged for you and leave transforma- tion behind, then you will be able to enter the unity of vast heaven.

For the sake of this agruement StarJumper and Lin Can you please define your meaning of enlightenment and bliss... i'm pretty damn sure Lin's definition is much different then StarJumper's. Taoist practitioner speaking (and many Buddhist practices I'm sure...) According to your understanding definition this might be correct... but you might have missing pieces. Then again you might not, just didn't define exactly your understanding of it is Yes once again please define what a thought is, what is waking dreams. what thoughtless bliss is, and finally what sleeping dream. Although i get what a thought is (most likely just as your about to define it) but definately not a waking dream. I know what thoughtless is, but thoughtless bliss... i got not idea... and sleeping dream i most likely understand through experience but i like to have my bases covered if you care to explain... actually might be teaching me.

In truth the country is relatively evenly divided between Dems and Repubs <1>. Trump could have won the election with a strong anti-illegal immigrant message, but he went further. Repeatedly calling 11 million illegal Mexican immigrants rapists and drug dealers <and maybe some good>. He repeatedly went on stage highlighting murders and rapes done by Mexican immigrants. His surprise trip to Mexico read like a poorly written Shakespearean tragedy especially considering his US speech afterwards. He could have stated a strong policy without such demagoguery. By going overboard, personifying it, he awakened a sleeping giant. The largest ethnic majority in the US, Latinos and set them against him. There's a very good chance he will lose Florida (and endangered the usually solid Texas) because of a large number of new enraged Latino voters. <1> according to Pews http://www.people-press.org/2016/09/13/the-parties-on-the-eve-of-the-2016-election-two-coalitions-moving-further-apart/ "This year, 48% of registered voters identify as Democrats or say they lean toward the Democratic Party, compared with 44% who identify as Republican or lean toward the Republican Party. That is identical to the balance of leaned party identification in 2012. ( Explore detailed tables for 2016 here.)" me> Thus Republicans have a slightly uphill battle to begin with. Course there is also the reality that both houses of congress are Republican as well as the majority Governor seats (not surprising since Democrats are generally more 'Urbanly' located with many low population 'Rural' states being majority Republican). So beyond such self identification there is quite a bit of variation. A good candidate persuades the middle and independents. The above Pews article is well worth reading because Demographics may be more meaningful and decisive then any political argument or story. The growth of Latinos, the 'rapid aging' of the Republican party members, these factors are immense. The candidates and there policies may be second fiddle to these shifts in population. addon> musings.. I'm reminded of the OJ Simpson trial. He won the trial 3 weeks before it started. They picked a jury member who after the trial admitted she'd never vote a black man guilty. Thus his 'million dollar dream team' actually kept him in prison months longer then needed by drawing out a long trial. Similarly Trump may have lost the election day one, hour one, with the '..Mexicans are rapists..' line that he continued to go with. Because that theme was bound to not only cost him the Latino vote but (we will see) enlarge and empower an ethnicity that historically was not filled with passionate voters.

Hi SmallSteps, You're welcome. Regarding W.Y. Evans-Wentz's book, besides the introductions concerning your posted topic question, the unity of all religions, I strongly recommend reading and studying the first 1/3 or so of the book devoted to "Precepts of the Gurus" and "Elegant Sayings". They form a complete proverbial book of wisdom and an invaluable yogic, psychological, and spiritual roadmap for any person committed to the path of healthful integration of mind and body, the elevation of consciousness thereby, and the development of one's spiritual potential. As I've stated many times in many places, the footnotes of "Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines" contain more authentic yoga and secret, esoteric yogic doctrine than any shelf full of new age books. Everything from detailed yogic and spiritual operations with purposes ranging from self-purification, to mastering the dreamstate, to perfecting lucidity during earthly existence and transfering it to the bardo state, to attaining liberation from sangsaric existence (enlightenment), to healing the individual, to healing the state through numerous sacred rites of exorcism and Mystery Plays, to becoming a bodhisattva, aka saint, Taoist Immortal, . But most useful and relevant to the neophyte meditator and yogin are the Precepts of the Gurus, which is so complete so as to "fill in all the gaps" that might exist in any spiritual path that one might be embarked upon, including monastic orders north, south, east, or west. e.g., here is a definition of "Gift wave conference" on pages 213-214 of one yogic operation that one can utilize while in Flying Phoenix Meditation. ...Arya Deva, hath said: 'All apparent phenomena are like dreams and magical illusions, As all followers of the Buddha assert; But those [of the Southern School] who oppose the practice of inducing "gift-wave" conference on oneself,4 See not by actual realization this dream-like and illusory nature of things.' 4 This refers to the practice common to Northern Buddhists, in Tibet, China, Mongolia, and Japan, and opposed by Southern Buddhists, of Ceylon, Burmah, and Siam, of employing rituals which imply a direct appeal or prayer to deities, either regarded as being imaginary, as in the visualizations contained in the various texts comprising this volume, or as real divine impersonal forces, as symbolized by the Dharma-Kaya. There are some, but very few, amongst Northern Buddhists who, in this matter, side with the Southern Buddhists. The 'gift-waves', or spiritual power telepathically transmitted from the superhuman gurus to the gurus on Earth and thence to the disciples, are evoked in virtue of a yogic process akin to auto-suggestion. In other words, the yogin aims at making known his desire for divine guidance by consciously projecting perceptible waves of psychic influence to the superhuman realms wherein exist the Great Teachers, Who are no longer incarnate. To this end he makes use of mental concentration upon rituals and visualizations of deities, either purely imaginary or relatively real. The Southern Buddhists, in Arya Deva's view, are in their opposition to these Northern Buddhist yogic practices, much like the psychologist who seeks knowledge at second hand, or from external sources, rather than from within himself. The essential teaching of our Mahayana texts is that the Divine Wisdom, the All-Knowledge, is innate, or internal; in the Christian sense, that the Kingdom of Heaven lies within. Enjoy your reading of this treasure trove of yogic and spiritual secrets. Sifu Terry Dunn

Thanks rv I'm not particularly concerned or fixated about these things. I just posted to see what the bums think about these phenomena and also that they share them... This is just different from my having teachers visit me in dream state (which is what I experienced for the great part of my practice, especially initially) or seeing beings in waking state observing me while i practice (very rare). My teachers have consistently told me, don't fixate on phenomena. They come and go. The aim is to become empty...let go. Thanks to all for sharing their thoughts.

The whole thing is so bizarre. Trump is just so blatantly INSANE (not the kind you lock up, but the kind that are in society with a profound personality disorder). In common parlance, a loop-de-loop, a nut job, an ego maniac. And he's a hate monger, obviously has been practicing that all his life. An emotional 8 year old. All of that is just so obvious, every time he opens his mouth, from the very beginning. To me it's bizarre that anyone is taking him seriously, at all. I grant that I don't know everything about HRC, and I have a local friend, a close friend who I respect who is more into the internet-research level of study on HRC and hates her. And I admit that I haven't done all the HRC research that this friend has... but to him I've said: Even if you profoundly disagree with her policies, even if you think she's destructive, she is not bat-shit crazy (Trump is). She is super smart, can hold an adult conversation and is very experienced. Trump can't hold an adult conversation. To me it's so blatant that it's just bizarre that we're having this conversation at all. (And I have no expectation to change anyone's mind in this thread.) I mean, if Rod Serling popped up and started telling us all that we are actually in some dream ... I think I'd actually be relieved and it would make more sense. (And yet I've done some study on people like Trump, and I have a relative who is a retired psychotherapist, and I do understand some of it.) in my view, Trump is just the most obvious, blatant narcissist and demagogue and he's just pushing everyone's buttons for emotional reactions. He's been doing it all his life probably. And on the inside, he only cares about himself. Look at his whole life: what has he *ever* done for other people? What has he *ever* done to serve others or society at large? Louis CK said something along the lines that he is a sad man who has a hole inside that he is trying to fill with money and attention and no amount of either will ever be enough. ~ edit ~ p.s. Someone comparable to Trump comes to mind: Charlie Sheen. Remember when Charlie Sheen was totally off the deep end, saying he was "winning" and "a rock star from mars"? Seems to me that anyone could watch any portion of those interviews and answer the question, "Is that guy psychologically healthy?". Charlie Sheen (during that period) seems like a comparable candidate to Trump. I might even put Charlie as a more fit candidate because, at some depth at least in some areas (like "domestic policy" or "international relations"), Charlie might've realized that he's in over his head. And Charlie is not a hate monger.

The benefits are to be seen provided the mantras are incanted in the right way...right tone, inflection and meter. I can give example of one mantra that was given to me in a dream. I used it to vaporize some "inner demons"... Of course you know that I say this in the symbolic way. Moreover, it helps me relax when i dont have time to meditate and connects me with the unknown teacher who came to me in a dream and gave me the mantra. I got it when my life was in doldrums and it helped me stay sane and practically saved my life.

Me too... did we have the same dream... I couldn't find it either. Here is Nina's translation: http://daoisopen.com/ZhuangziTranslation.html In an unexplored area in the far north, there was a fish whose name was Kun. The Kun was so big that no one could figure out how many feet across it was. It transformed into a bird whose name was Peng. No one could figure out how many feet across its back was. When it burst into flight, its wings seemed to hang in the sky like clouds. This bird had the capacity to make its move to an unexplored area in the far south where the sky was like a large lake. From Qi Xie's "Tales of the Supernatural" (a book of legends and myths): Xie wrote: "On the Peng's migration to the unexplored south, it beat against the water for a thousand miles. It spiraled upward like a cyclone for thirty thousand miles. It traveled for six months before it stopped to rest. Horses went wild. Dust and dirt flew everywhere. The creatures on the earth had their breath taken away by all that wind blowing everywhere." The sky is one shade of blue. Is that its original color? No matter how far it extends, is it without an end? Might the sky appear the same when looking down from above? Interesting that she makes it about the migration.

Hi Tibetan Ice, I know that what happen to you is something real because I had some similar experience. When I was 24 I had an OBE and traveled in the water and sun world that you talk about. That was the most amazing experience of my life, it was not just a dream or a lucid dream because I can make the difference, it was not a vision because I had the strongest feeling to be ALIVE and FREE. I felt vividly how I (my conscience) exit my body through my forehead and the sensations were all multiplied several times than the real world sensations. At that time I had no idea about meditation except some relaxation techniques from yoga books and qigong exercises also from books, and I never took drugs, I came from an ex-communist country, so i have no idea to compare. My experience was interrupted by some sort of an angel or very powerful light being who sent me back in my body, the return was very physical and violent. I tried some another time to exit but something horrible happened and the angel again sent me back in the body. That was it, since then I was never able to exit and all my life I tried to understand what happened to me, I read a lot of books about spiritual world: Castaneda, Steiner, Gurdjieff, and that's why I am interested in alchemical taoism. Why am I telling you this? Because out there aren't only compassionate loving light beings but also a lot of predators who barely wait you around corner... so my advice is the safest place for your soul is inside your body. The soul in this stage is not immortal so you need to continue cultivation and refine it as long as possible. I will tell you the story of a friend of mine who achieved the same experiences as you through meditation, except that he saw himself (his soul) in front of him as a real image with the same characteristics as him. He can do same things as you can but he developed something else later through cultivation, some kind of an etheric view, he was capable to see the colored chackras inside him and anybody else, then again after some period of time of cultivation he could see the net of meridians filled with some kind of white light fluid. It is not a vision or a dream, he can see them in this real world, on him and in front of a mirror and on the other people. Though these are exceptional accomplishments, this does not mean he is immortal, and he knows that. Actually it is said that ancient taoists mapped the Qi meridians by seeing them literally after developing this power in meditation. These are not fantasies of a delusional mind, when many other peoples around the globe and throughout the history and civilizations have similar stories and even similar sciences to cultivate the spirit and make someone experience those kind of phenomena, that means out there is some kind of objective "Spiritual Reality" which for some is inaccessible, some just scratched the surface and very few enter it as a second or parallel life. Concerning the alchemical taoism, here is a map of the birth and cultivation of the Immortal Fetus, which is very suggestive. I would be very glad that someone who knows Chinese to translate it: Gurdjieff says that the soul is made during the physical terrestrial life. Humans are the the mixtures of earth vibration, planetary vibration and solar vibration. We are not born with a soul but with an apparatus who build it during the life. If the human dies, the parts return to where belong, earth goes to earth, planetary vibration return to their realm so everything dissolves. The body who grows inside the body is formed of subtler vibrations than the physical body and corresponds to the solar vibrations and is indestructible on earth. He can die though prematurely if it is not grown up and educated, and if reaches vibrations of higher order. Astral body needs a mental body but even so it is still not immortal. The fourth body which is called spiritual body is immortal inside the solar system. The consciousness which is like a divine seed or a divine spark needs a body to be alive, and that's why the transfer should be done during the earthly life. The soul is not the stem cells. Stem cells or any other cell or molecule belongs to the earthly body which is formed by the material particles that actual science knows. The material of the soul is much finer, yet undetected by science but still material. It is so called Cosmic particles or Cosmic vibration. Steiner said: "If the materialists would know the nature of matter they would became spiritualists". Gurdjieff said: "If the spiritualists would know that the spirit is some kind of matter just only finer, they would be materialists". So I believe both of them were right, and I believe that taoist alchemy actually works.

Toni specifically explained how there is no entity called weather. Since weather cannot be pinned down apart or within any of the everchanging, impermanent flow or conglomerate or aggregation of varying activities. It is not 'weather is just an activity' - if weather can be equated with one particular activity, that doesn't make sense since an activity lasts an instant, and if it it is to be equated with all activities, then it is merely an imputed phenomena without true existence, or if you see weather as something underlying all activities - that is also a delusion - there is truly no weather to be established apart from phenomenon. The point about anatta is that there is no 'One'. The 'One' is broken down into its constituents, in the same way 'Weather' is broken down into the constituents, therefore realizing there is no 'The One', or 'The Weather'. Therefore, nothing unchanging, independent, like Brahman. In seeing just the process of seeing, the experience of the seen, without a seer. Also Brahman is not seen as 'totality of movements' (in the sense of 1 + 2 + 3 + ... to infinity = the one phenomenon Brahman) since Brahman is non-phenomenal and without movement - rather it subsumes all movements to be the one unchanging substance in its final analysis (1, 2, 3, are all false phenomenal projections upon infinite non-phenomenal Brahman), i.e. all is only Brahman, since all are illusory images appearing within and as the one unchanging substratum of Brahman - no combination of phenomenon will add up to become that noumenon - only when all superimpositions of phenomenon are removed is Brahman revealed, or when you stop seeing the necklace as necklace do you see it as the substratum of gold. This is obviously different from Buddhism since we analyze consciousness into constituents and do not subsume all into one single unchanging substratum or entity. Or in the words of Alex Weith, "what I used to take for an eternal, empty, uncreated, nondual, primordial awareness, source and substance of all things, turned out to be nothing more than the luminous nature of phenomena, themselves empty and ungraspable, somehow crystallized in a very subtle witnessing position. The whole topic of this thread is the deconstruction of this Primordial Awareness, One Mind, Cognizing Emptiness, Self, Atman, Luminous Mind, Tathagatgabha, or whatever we may call it," Anyway here is something about Adi Shankara: Adi Sankara says that the world is not real (true), it is an illusion, but this is because of some logical reasons. Let us first analyze Adi Sankara's definition of Truth, and hence why the world is not considered real (true). Adi Sankara says that whatever thing remains eternal is true, and whatever is non-eternal is untrue. Since the world is created and destroyed, it is not real (true). Truth is the thing which is unchanging. Since the world is changing, it is not real (false). Whatever is independent of space and time is real (true), and whatever has space and time in itself is not real (false). Just as one sees dreams in sleep, he sees a kind of super-dream when he is waking. The world is compared to this conscious dream. The world is believed to be a superimposition of the Brahman. Superimposition cannot be real (true). On the other hand, Adi Sankara claims that the world is not absolutely unreal (false). It appears unreal (false) only when compared to Brahman. In the pragmatic state, the world is completely real—which occurs as long as we are under the influence of Maya. The world cannot be both true and false at the same time; hence Adi Shankara has classified the world as indescribable. The following points suggest that according to Adi Sankara, the world is not false (Adi Shankara himself gave most of the arguments, Sinha, 1993): If the world were unreal (false), then with the liberation of the first living being, the world would have been annihilated. However, the world continues to exist even if a living being attains liberation.(but it is possible that no living being attained the ultimate knowledge (liberation) till now. Adi Sankara believes in karma, or good actions. This is a feature of this world. So the world cannot be unreal (false). The Supreme Reality Brahman is the basis of this world. The world is like its reflection. Hence the world cannot be totally unreal (false). False is something which is ascribed to nonexistent things, like Sky-lotus. The world is a logical thing which is perceived by our senses and exists but is not the truth. Consider the following logical argument. A pen is placed in front of a mirror. One can see its reflection. To one's eyes, the image of the pen is perceived. Now, what should the image be called? It cannot be true, because it is an image. The truth is the pen. It cannot be false, because it is seen by our eyes. Undeniable does not mean reality (truly existent) - it simply means undeniable because vividly manifest, appearing. You cannot pin down the existence or entity of appearance, so appearances are empty.

Doubt it, that's the dream of the Corbynites. A tiny group of vocal and often violent people who have more in common with the national front fascists than soft liberals. I imagine the USA is headed towards a collapse and likely civil unrest on a wide scale. What comes out of it I hope is far better than what went before. With luck you will find your constitution and start laissez faire capitalism going.