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Yeah these healing reports are pretty intense. Once through was enough for me! haha. I've been having these amazing dream conversations with Chunyi Lin -- two of them this week. Last night I asked him to read my past lives and he said he couldn't read them. I said why not? He said that I first needed to tell God or talk to God about them. Just silly dreams but they're fun -- and maybe there's more going on. What gets me is the precognitive dreams which come true a year later or so. That happened to me a couple weeks ago -- freaks me out -- always.

Tanks a lot for your guidance What a pithy qoutation, it is similar to 'the state of sleeping without any dream' which is the highest degree of being Universal Man in the Vedanta as is in the Upanishads and Hinduism. Now this term (jun ren) is as much as strange for us that is in the most familiar mode for Guenon. He tell about it easily and in different places as such and always reagarding to Daoism. Anyway Junzi (君子) originally is not a Confucian term but in the Yijing we see it all over of the book. zi (子) can be translated as 'Master' and oldest pictographs of jun (君) refer to a person who has a rod in his right hand. I guess that junzi in the Yinjing is higher degree of man who is not man yet and then we should not use ren (人) for jun. Also I saw a renjun (人君) which may be the same and refer to one who passed the human states. Anyway I dont know if any of these gusses be true. Thank you very much.

Hey, exorcist_1699, your English is really good! Thanks for your contributions, here. The Gautamid, later known as the Buddha (after his death, I believe), always started his description of setting up mindfulness with mindfulness of the body. After the suicide of dozens of his followers (they were practicing the meditation on the unlovely, which he prescribed), he taught that his own practice before and after enlightenment was "the intent contemplation on in-breaths and out-breaths", in sixteen points. Pretty physical. Myself, I think the difficulty with his teaching was two-fold: first, it's not possible to comprehend the long inhalation as long, the short inhalation as short, the long exhalation as long, and the short exhalation as short without some kind of awareness of involuntary cranial-sacral fluid activity; and second, it's not readily apparent to most people that equanimity in mind is a necessary component of activity out of stretch. There's a sermon in the third Majjhima Nikaya volume on the Great Six-fold Sense (Field), in which the Gautamid declares that anyone who experiences as it really is sense-object, sense-organ, consciousness arising from contact between sense-organ and sense-object, impact as a result of consciousness, and feeling in connection with impact has already done all that needs to be done with respect to the eight-fold path, and develops all the various components of enlightenment. That's pretty physical. I'd like to throw my two-cents in about the 500 years. I believe I have read (maybe in Warder's "Indian Buddhism") that the 500 years is not explicitly stated in the Pali Canon. Very interesting to me, though, that the teaching was only written down (in Ceylon) because the monks realized that the oral tradition was in danger of losing a few volumes; that was about 500 years after the teacher. Yes, there is a discussion in which the Buddha declares he was against admitting women because it would shorten the life of the order; he made an analogy about women and bandits, stating that just as the strength of men better enables them to survive bandits, so too the order would survive longer without women. something like that. Tao Meow, the canon was carried into Tibet and China, as well as Ceylon (and Burma, and Thailand), so it survived the Moslem invasion. According to Warder, Buddhism was already on the decline in India at the time of the invasion; the Hindu faith was reclaiming the majority. Warder made a point of comparing the extant pieces of the sermon and discipline volumes between the Thai, Tibetan, and Chinese editions to study the history of Buddhism in India. It's in Warder's volume that I learned that the original split between Theravada and Mahayana was due to a disagreement over whether an enlightened individual could be "seduced by a succubus" (could have a wet dream). As Shunryu Suzuki said, "life is much too important to take seriously", or something to that effect. good night, all!- Mark p.s.- I see above that the Muslims you refer to, Tao Meow, were much later than those I'm referring to. Delay in post posting!

I like a lot of what you're saying here. I am constantly updating my opinions. Currently Vajrasattva has gone up in my mind by many notches. So I don't think Vajra is a bad guy, or I don't think he's as bad as I thought he was. I think that Sufism is like a bridge. It's a bridge between Islam and non-Islam. However, like all bridges, it can be crossed both ways. You can take the Sufi bridge from non-Islam to Islam, and this is bad. Or you can take the Sufi bridge from Islam to non-Islam, which is good. I appreciate Vajra's opinion that Koran and hadiths might be corrupted, but let's be realistic. What are the chances of Muslims agreeing that Koran and hadiths are corrupted? The prospect of that seems, shall we say, slim (more like zero percent). Personally I have some respect and maybe even some love for at least some individual Sufis. Nonetheless, Sufis do not own Islam in the real world. Sure, sure you can always say Sufis have the real Islam, but we must deal with the facts as they currently stand. Is it possible that Sufis will eventually own the Islam in the future? Maybe. But I don't think we can say that today Sufis define what Islam is. Islam is an all-embracing ideology that encompasses all spheres of life, including financial and government spheres. Buddha has never made statements about who should marry who, or who inherits what, and so on. Neither have Jesus or Lao Tzu. You can argue that Jews have Talmud which does make such statements, and I will say that orthodox and Hasidic Jews are definitely backward. But a lot of Jews were smart and realized that Judaism needs to keep up with the times and have created "Reformed Judaism." That's important, because there is no such thing as "Reformed Islam" currently. So at least a lot of Jews have moved into the 21st century, and I am certain that no Reform Jew takes Talmud seriously or dreams of replacing the USA Constitution with Talmud. This is unlike Muslims, who dream of one day replacing the USA Constitution with Sharia. And finally how many Jews are there? Very few. But Islam is the world's fastest growing religion with a lot of adherents. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3835 So, while we could say that Orthodox Judaism is backward and stupid, I do not feel threatened by it. I do feel threatened by Islam. I am not scared of Islam. I simply worry that Islam seeks to attack values that I hold very dear, and I am going to protect those values. Vajrasattva is of course pretty important in all this, because he calls himself a Muslim, but not only that, he also acts as a teacher. So what he says and does is going to decide a lot of things. I don't know if he even realizes that. I think I would feel a little better if Vajra stopped calling himself a Muslim and just called himself a Sufi. That's because I don't think Sufis define Islam in the real world as it currently presents itself.

acheiving through retirning is losing everything the psychlogixal mind grasps for in desperation to keep itself Id ego self concept alive ideas make up most environments humans inhabit simulacra and simulation being the hallmarks of writing history the seperatists of the story are lifted and float or are exciled and troden under foot what lies above returns below what is below can be lifted up and completely released to return. within three inches of where you are right now lyLes a doorway thru that door is a hall w many doors thru each door is a dream the hallway leads to an ocean of dreams mind movement through direct exposure; safe passage is granted to that which survives the elemental tests. Wuji nothing blank page womb darkness origi n yang sumthing in nuthing a dot on the page of wuji yin rewraps in around and thru yang the page falls in on the dot the dot expands to form two intertwined teardrops at it's apex the whole process is reborn Iwithinitself the circling eddies form eyes and the two fish intertwine what is learned in the time it takes to feel wuji relationship w the rest of lifes movement reveals the deeper realms of peace and stillness within fantastic realms of movement in which we all eat sleep move and breath

obe`s, ASTRAL TRAVEL, lucid dreaming, dream yoga.... all these take place in the astral realm..... the astral realm is your next stop after youy leave the physical realm..... the astral body is the emotional body..... we have seven bodies..... while in the physical realm we function basically with the lower three..... emotional (astral body), mental and physical.... the mental realm is higher above the astral and more difficult to reach during sleep.... the key to mastering astral travel is to save emotional energy.... that is to avoid arguing and getting into situations that put stress on your emotions..... the next step is to begin practicing on a regular basis..... getting into the astral realm while mentally awake is an energetic operation..... it requires chi..... the best time is at dawn when all three bodies have rested and your energy is good..... what you do is get up, drink a cup of water and go back to bed..... meditate yourself to sleep..... with the intention of being aware of the dozing off process..... tibetan lamas practice this because it is similar to the death process.....(bardo thodol) dying is similar to falling asleep..... remember fear is an emotion and you must not let it bug you when you practice astral travel..... the first experiences you will get are vibrational sounds and sensations..... this is because you are beginning to consciously operate your astral body..... with time they will disappear and other different ones will take their place.... if you practice with earnest you will gain mastery and eventually you will get your full conscious astral trip..... the trick is to permit the physical body to fall asleep while mentally being aware of it..... it can be done.....i`ve done it a hundred times....it becomes automatic as time goes by.... once you are in the astral realm....you will see different things..... what will you see? that will depend on your current emotional state.....because you are seeing things with your emotional body..... if your aura is dirty....it will be difficult to see through it.....hence getting and keeping your aura clean and clear is a constant goal..... there are several methods to clean the aura (bathing in sea water, etc)....but it requires a thread of its own.... the astral realm has seven planes..... you won`t reach the higher ones unless you have mastered your emotions..... the lower astral planes are full of confused entities who refuse to leave the physical plane and its sensual pleasures...... (the lower planes are closer to earth...the astral realm is a type of purgatory ) it is not a good idea to do commerce in the lower realms........ the most likely place that you will find yourself on the first trips is your bedroom..... once there....you simply walk out the door and you are now in the astral realm...... if you have any problems while in the astral realm....put your hands on your chest and ask your higher self to guide you or help you....(mentally shield yourself with a blue shell followed by a white shell for protection before engaging in astral travel)....... if you are sincere your request will be fulfilled.... at the beginning you can choose to walk.....but you can also fly if it is your wish..... avoid coming into contact with astral entities in the lower planes.... (the lower planes are dark...the higher planes are full of light...that is the distinction) most of entities in the lower planes will want to tag on to you....to try and leech energy from you...if you get scared or emotional they feed on that energy.... in the astral realm you can contact people who have passed away.... you can also contact spiritual masters and ask them for advice etc,. etc. but since the masters only visit the higher planes.... you need to maintain a very pure level of spirituality to contact them.....

Franko760 - i have the same thing! Very often it's like i'm doing something, totally random, and this very direct feeling appears like "wait a minute! i had this exact same scene in my dream few months ago! identical! what to heck?!"

Dreams are awesome. A lot of different theories, traditional interpretations, and other interesting study and research on dreams. Some people say that it's nothing more than your brain firing randomly in your sleep, which accounts for the jumbled and (seemingly?) random nature of dreams. Others in that same vein say it's your mind processing information after it "wakes up" but before your body wakes, or that it is your subconscious processing information/screwing around. Others say your mind or astral self wanders around and meets whatever happens to be in the local area, and maybe even meets with things from further away. And then there are all kinds of methods of lucid dreaming or initiating out of body experiences from lucid dreams, which let you do some pretty neat things. I personally think that it depends on the person, depends on the dream, and depends on the situation. I've found all of the above to hold for me, and not one theory (that I've heard of, at least) works across the board.

As snow fell softly... Waking from my dream I find my toes are purple!

Anymore experiences, inputs, recommended books and techniques regarding lucid dreaming and planes of reality? @YaMu Can you expand on the concept of bringing these various "identities" or scattered "energies" together? Or do you begin to exist simultaneously? How is Dream Gigong different, if at all, from lucid dreaming? More info would be nice. Thanks.

Interesting. I had my first ever lucid dream (which came interestingly without any effort on my part to even make it happen) a few days before it finally hit me just last week that there is no objective reality. Anyway, one question I wanted to ask those who, like me, believe that all is mind is: how do you account for the diversity of appearances? I would like to think that though all is mind, one who has realized this is still able to make valid distinctions. Otherwise it seems senseless to me.

What I know are ji ren ( 至人; Super-person ) and Jin Ren ( 真人, Real -person) ;Both refer to some kind immortals . One important saying is "至人無夢" . ( The Super -person does not dream ) .

but Marble, everything that you've described are just phenomenal experiences that appear in the mind. when you gain enough lucidity in dreams you can experience the very same sensual and visual experience, and actually with even more vivid awareness. "No, I did not ignore it. I did agree that people conduct scientific inquiry and there are specific guidelines that are used. I generally accept something that is stated as a proven fact if two or more verifications have been made by qualified people in that field of study. But, there are times where I will not accept something even if these criteria are met because they directly contradict what I have already established as a fact on my own. And there are other things that just don't matter to me one way or the other in the least so I don't even bother my mind with it. " you missed my point, scientific inquiry is not done by robots. it's done by humans, the process is not objective because it is humans that created the process, it is humans that interpret the data, and it is humans that form conclusions about the scientific theory. "But if you argue this point please do not recire some Buddhist writing because you should be aware by now that I don't care about reading that kind of stuff. I stated a number of times that I tried Buddhism as my path but it wasn't good for me so I discarded it." So you think it's only Buddhists that say reality is dream-like? Actually so do Hindus, so do Taoists, so did Gnostic Christians, so did Jewish Qabalists, and many many other mystics. Likewise so did many Western philosophers such as Plato, Plotinus, Descartes, Berkeley, Nietzsche, Kant, Hegel, Derrida, Schopenhauer. etc. I could go on. Point is, this idea isn't Buddhist, its practically universal, so let go of your disdain for Buddhism for a second because that isn't relevant here.

This is an unsupported assertion. I guess I don't need to bother with steps 2 and 3. Do you even know how proofs work? A proof begins with an axiomatic assertion that both parties agree on, either explicitly or implicitly. However, if that agreement is not in place, you need to find some common ground first, or you just can't prove anything at all. Another rule of proofs is that you cannot put something that is under dispute into the initial assertion in the proof. So if we dispute the existence of objective universe, and you want to prove that it does exist, you may not start your proof by saying "Objective universe was created X billion years ago." Still making untenable statements! Sound like the New Age ism of "you create your own reality". Ralis, you're being a little lazy in my opinion. CowTao made a decent suggestion for examination. Now, if you don't want to reassess your memories, that's fine. But if you're not even going to bother performing the examination that CowTao suggests, you shouldn't say his statement is untenable. Haven't we all seen entire universes appear in the blink of an eye during dreaming? So we know the mind can do this. There is no question as to whether or not the mind is capable of creating an entire universe in the blink of an eye, right? At least, not for me, since I've seen my own mind do it. The only question that remains is, is this universe here mind created too? Just like the one in the dream? The question is not about whether or not it is possible, but whether or not that possibility is actualized right now.

ABLUTION Washing at dawn: Rinse away dreams. Protect the gods within, And clarify the inner spirit. Purification starts all practice. First comes cleansing of the body -- not to deny the body, but so that it is refined. Once cleansed, it can help us sense the divine. Rinsing away dreams is a way of saying that we must not only dispel the illusions and anxieties of our sleeping moments but those of our waking ones as well. All life is a dream, not because it isn't there, but because we all project different meanings upon it. We must cleanse away this habit. While cleansing, we naturally look within. It is believed that there are 36,000 gods and goddesses in the body. If we continually eat bad foods, intoxicate ourselves, allow filth to accumulate anywhere outside or inside of ourselves, then these gods abandon us in disgust. Yet our concerns must ultimately go beyond these deities in the temples of our bodies to the universal One. After we clear away the obscuring layers of dirt, bodily problems, and delusions, we must be prepared even to clear away the gods themselves so that we can reach the inner One. Deng Ming-Dao

Both cats...when annoyed at me...for example, when i pick them up to keep them from running out the door into the apartment hall...will shock me with chi from their bellies. The older one has a stronger current than the younger one. It is quite different from the static electricity buzz you get from petting them. It borders sometimes on painful. I had a former student once tell me two stories about his cat. When the cat stalked prey in the grass he could see it go invisible...as in disappear..not hiding in the grass. The other story he told is that he was having a dream and his cat was dying. It was dying of starvation, getting thinner and thinner. He opened up his eyes and across the room he saw his cat by the empty food bowl staring at him. My first cat told me his name. Both my cats are strays that chose me before they were one year old. The first cat...i did not name right away because i couldn't think of something appropriate. I did call him Sweetie, though. One day we were rubbing foreheads...he had a real intense third eye buzz that was cool to feel. Then I heard this voice shouting in my head..."MY NAME IS HUNTER!" He has been Hunter ever since. My other cat's name is Gary. It just seemed to fit. Dr. Glenn Morris really liked Hunter. I have only had Gary for a year. Hunter liked to be in the room when Glenn and I were teaching at my place. He would curl up behind Glenn on the couch, lay on his back with his feet in the air next to Glenn's lower back, purring like mad. Animals really like Glenn's chi. Glenn used to raise miniature Siamese.

Steve, The most harmful thing is to hold a position that unbalances the muscles of the spine, and to "let go into movement"...especially if it becomes erratic and wild movement! If someone does that, then the tissues are being reprogrammed on a very deep level to be out of balance, and they're probably causing subtle tearing in areas that don't have good circulation only in one half of the body. Not good at all. These are just the physical manifestations of such a practice...the effects are always far reaching, since everything is connected. Other than that, in my experience I just didn't have beneficial effects from "spontaneous" movement, even in the Shuichuan system (which doesn't involve holding a specific position). It opened me up (as any relaxed movement will do...and feeling that you're being spontaneously moved is VERY relaxing), but the energy wasn't being usefully utilized. So I don't see the point in practicing it. Having been through some tough spots, I don't see the point in advocating it for anyone else. Truly not worth it in my experience. I view super subtle movements that are TOTALLY out of one's control, as fine. I think most people who practice anything get it, even if they only do something like sitting meditation. It indicates that there is a blockage being worked on. It's not like you have a choice in the matter to control it, so there's nothing you can do except favor external stillness. Smiling bigger helps alleviate this when it's happening. What most consider "spontaneous" is actually influenced strongly by the same type of mind which is involved in dreaming...the symbolic mind...so after a while the flopping around turns into what should be best called "dream movements". It seems likely to me that this is how all of the spiritual-energetic paths came about: from shamans being moved in this way (by their subconscious), and systematizing the useful movements (healing, protective, etc). But it's important to keep in mind that if you're doing this, you're manifesting your deep mind (with all of your issues and imperfections) directly into the flesh; your tissues being programmed by your deep mind. Not healthy! Instead of becoming like this, taking on sickness and dealing with the dark side of the mind, we should only use what's useful to our goals. This is just my personal opinion. Here's an an excerpt which I stumbled upon once, that I loved, from Basic Magick by Philip Cooper... Unless a person is enlightened, it's unlikely they will know about their own attainment. It's way too easy to kid yourself. As hard as it can be to judge your own attainment, it's even less likely for others to judge it, especially if they're strangers and haven't been paying attention to your every step...even even more especially if they aren't enlightened themselves. You can't tell. If Crowley was enlightened and chose to act deviously, then that is just his choice. I don't personally believe it's a good choice for anyone, ever. I agree with Stigwerd that virtue is the foundation teaching...it should be considered more important than any practice or attainment. If someone is highly attained, yet they are cruel to others, then what's the point? When you're enlightened, you still live in this world...why make it a bad world? It's best to not consider anyone else as being enlightened. It shouldn't matter to you. Your life is yours, and theirs is theirs...you won't be able to attain your own enlightenment by worshiping theirs. They are human just like you. And even if they're nearly perfectly good, you are still prone to being hurt by them, by putting your absolute trust in them. So focusing on teachers is pointless...it's a sure way to be let down...AKA to learn a good lesson the hard way. Teachers are only there to provide the practices, philosophy and guidance for your safety and efficiency.

'For those who dissipated their energy, death is like a fleeting dream, filled with bubbles of steadily fading memories, and then nothing." You see, you don't need to look for dissolution too hard... or for the void... we all get there, if we just sit on our asses...

I had a similar experience last week... I was sleeping and in my sleep, i sensed an entity in the room, i couldn't turn around to see it but i knew it was there and i was paralyzed. I tried to move but i felt an immensely heavy force weigh upon me, constricting me, like the entity was pushing down on me, so i couldn't lift of the bed. Suddenly my alarm went off in my dream (i don't actually have one) and i woke up, but i kept my eyes closed because honestly i was frightened of opening them. I kept them closed for a while till i felt calm and had enough courage to open them ready for confrontation and when i did nothing was there. The experience has lead me to reading up a lot about manifestations and demons and spirits and so on and so forth. I feel these are all self manifested and feel they have always existed within me, but as my practice advances and i become purer i feel they are trying to get my attention as i purge myself of anger and jealousy and greed and want and desire. Perhaps the things they thrived on? I suppose anything backed into a corner will try to fight. In the past week i have become more aware of these things and decided to let them be. I thank whatever Gods may be For my unconquerable soul I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul. And if the boogey men in me have a problem with their living arrangements, i am going to start evicting lest they comply with my zen : )

If you think about it, the mudra is one type of energy...its corresponding word (like "rin") is another type of energy, somewhat similar or complementary...it's attempting to convey an archetype, or a specific force. You then add on the mantra, a third type of energy...visualization with color and location, a fourth...etc. These things give the energy more purpose...like various winds all blowing in roughly the same direction, creating more potential for change. All of this is good if it's an authentic system you're learning from. However, I personally prefer doing the kuji themselves. It works. If you're open to it, that's all you need. Why am I like this? Because I haven't found a system which I jive with enough personally...all that I've seen is at least second hand info. This is strange to say since I'm usually not into deluding oneself, but I had some sort of empowerment through dreaming after learning Lepine's version...and the dream mudras differed quite a bit. It was more appropriate to who I am. Plus, using sanskrit mantras isn't for me. I kinda have the feeling that what a person trains should be catered to their individual energy...and the training would have to adapt based on that person's stage on the path. To have this, you'd need a very intuitive and knowledgeable master of kuji-in. Until then, I guess it's good enough to just practice what you know. ... I can now respond to this. Yes.

It seems like this topic comes up from time to time. When is it OK to charge for instruction? Why is it that some teachers stay away from money, while others take it eagerly? I think everyone has the right to decide this for themselves. To help people, I want to share what I think on this topic. It's pretty simple, and I believe you'll see that what I am saying is eminently reasonable. It is OK to charge for teaching if: 1. You're teaching the person a profitable profession or trade. 2. Your teaching falls into an entertainment category. 3. Your teaching aims to support life in some way, such as healing, or survival and similar knowledge. It is NOT OK to charge for teaching: 1. When you make any claims of or references to the sacred. 2. When you lay a claim to spirituality or transcendence of any kind. Some things straddle these categories, but the more sacred something is, the less money you should charge for it. And this goes all the way to priceless. Obviously if you consider something priceless, putting a price of any kind, be it 1 billion dollars or 1 cent will be impossible without lying to oneself and without appearing as a hypocrite to others. If something is priceless, how is it I am putting a price on it? This should be obvious, especially to truly spiritual people. If something is priceless, it is not for sale, but it can be given freely or shared. The simple principle to remember is this: if what you teach is within the realm of convention, if it is worldly and is part of the world, you can charge money for it. If what you teach is beyond the realm of convention, if it transcends this world, you may not charge money for it. Let's go over some examples. 1. I am teaching welding: Yes I can charge money for this. Welding is a profitable profession. My students will make more money than I charge them. 2. I am teaching scuba diving: Yes I can charge money for this. This is entertainment. 3. I am teaching general or basic philosophy: Yes, I can charge money for this. Philosophy is both entertaining and a life supporting practice. It's life supporting in that it helps you think clearly, and it helps to avoid being tricked by con men who rely on logical fallacies and so forth. 4. I am teaching mathematics: Yes, I can charge money for this. This is a general life supporting skill. At higher levels it can be an essential knowledge for some profitable professions. 5. I am teaching qigong and I only claim health or martial arts benefits: Yes, I can charge money for this. Health and healing are life supporting. Self-defense is another life supporting endeavor. 6. I am teaching lucid dreaming and my promotion stresses the fun aspect: Yes, I can charge money for this. This is for entertainment. 7. I am teaching the history of shamanism with the use of shamanic source material: Yes, I can charge money for this, since I am only presenting it as history. General liberal arts education is a life supporting activity. It enriches our life at a mundane level. 8. I am teaching bird watching: Yes, I can charge for this. Entertainment. --------- Now for some negative examples. 9. I am teaching qigong and I make claims of enlightenment and spiritual development: No, I may not charge money for this. I make claims to something that transcends convention and worldliness. 10. I am teaching lucid dreaming as "dream yoga": No, I may not charge for this. I am making a claim to something that transcends convention and worldliness. 11. I am teaching shamanism, not as history, but as a way of life: No, I may not charge for this. Transcendent. 12. I am teaching Tibetan Buddhism: No, I may not charge for this. Transcendent. --------- If you don't charge for something, that doesn't mean you cannot ask for donations. Asking for donations is OK if you don't make the person feel guilty for not giving. Christians break this rule by passing a collection basket around -- this is not OK, because it psychologically pushes people to donate. Setting up an inconspicuous or a modestly conspicuous donation box at the entrance is OK though. It all boils down to this: what kind of relationship are you looking to enter into? Are you entering into a sacred relationship, or into a mundane one? If you want to enter into a sacred or a transcendent relationship, you cannot charge money or barter. This is one of the reasons why you should never charge your children anything, because the relationship within the family is a sacred one. So a father should not charge his son for helping him with math homework and the son should not charge the father for mowing the lawn. The father may give his son an allowance in a way that makes it obvious it's not a payment for services of any kind. Introducing business dealing into family relations breaks the sacredness of those relations. If you are looking to enter into a mundane/worldly relationship, it's perfectly OK to charge money. There are some people who simply don't think there is anything sacred -- avoid these people. There are also some people who say everything is sacred -- avoid these people as well, because to say that everything is sacred is the same as saying nothing is. It's OK to say that what we consider sacred and mundane are non-dual, like light and dark are non-dual. It's also OK to challenge the notions of sacredness and mundanity. But it's not OK to say that dark is light or that anything mundane is sacred. There is a subtle but important difference there. So, as a consumer, if you want to receive worldly instruction for a worldly purpose within the framework of a mundane relationship, go ahead and pay that money. But if you want to receive any kind of spiritual instruction with elements of renunciation or transcendence, with the aim of liberation, enlightenment or a mystical union, within the framework of a sacred relationship, do not pay anything. But you may want to donate something to a good teacher, or to give the teacher food or other life supporting items, or to put up the teacher in your home. And if you're very poor, then don't worry about donations and wait until your fortune improves first.

More frequently in the past, I experienced a feeling while laying down. I would be in a meditative, dream-like state where I would imagine all sorts of scenes in my head. There was one feeling I would get when a large geometric object was coming at me or when I was seemingly going down a roller coaster. It was a feeling of my entire body feeling almost a sense of weightless, a pressure akin to free falling. It's hard to explain. Perhaps it's more of a pleasurable pressure placed on my body. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced something like this? Would this be considered feeling your chi?

Short answer...YES. It is entirely appropriate for someone who doesn't live in a monastary off the donations of others to ask for payment for any and all services as they so choose. Outside of those living in monastaries or mountaintops these teachers have bills, families to support, mortgages to pay, food to buy and, dare I say it, some luxuries they might wish to have. You aren't unspiritual if you desire a nice, cozy lifestyle for yourself so long as you aren't attached and you also do good with your money. Some folks seem to expect people who have specialized knowledge and who make their only livelyhood teaching to do it all for free. What and get a day job to pay the bills so they can appear more spiritual? It is a dream of many who have specialized knowledge and a passion for what they do to be able to make a comfortable living doing what they love to do. It takes time to set up a curriculum. It takes time to create a product to sell to prospective students. It takes up a lot of time trianing and teaching others even if it something that is fulfilling. Time is perhaps the teacher's most valuable resource because every moment with their students is time away from other important obligations they may have such as their family. At last if they are teaching for 8hrs a day and getting paid they won't need to work a second job to pay their bills and be forced to spend even more time away from their family or even their personal spiritual practices. I don't care personally that guru whatshisface and master whatshisname lived on air and sunlight, only ate the chi of devotees and shit rose pettles that radiated unconditional love...that was a different time even if that kind of stuff is true which I doubt. We live in this world at this time. No one has the right to expect something for nothing and to expect solid, specialized instruction for free in a world where the teacher requires money to survive is nonsensical and reeks of an entitlement mindset. No insult intended. I know certain things and it took me a lot of time (years depending on what it is) and money (specialized trainings, books, seminars, etc.) to learn those things. If I choose to give knowlege away fine, it is mine to give. However I have every right to asked to be compensated for my work and an exchange of energy isn't going to put food on my table or buy my son's clothing for school. If I am fortunate enough to teach full time in the future that will be both my passion and my livelihood and so long as I am honest (which I would be) about what a student could expect regarding what I am teaching them then I have a right to not only ask for compensation but to ask whatever payment I wish. And because I am not forcing someone to accept my training, they can either pay or refuse. I apologize if this post seems angry as that wasn't my intention. It is my goal to teach esoteric/spiritual ideas as I have 25yrs of combined experience with a number of subjects and to see that some actually seem to think that making money teaching spiritual subject matter/practice is somehow wrong is hard to accept. I think that greed is a huge negative, but it is up to each person to find out what kind of livelihood is right livelihood 'for them' and to find balance because. As in all things, one must be careful but I believe a balance is certainly possible. I think it is unbalanced to expect that all spiritual teachers live as ascetics to prove how "spiritual" they are. Love and Peace, Sundragon

Also Try this to see if that "fantasy" may be yours. When you see the scene, if you are in the first person, fix your concentration on an object...it might help you either go lucid or take you into another dream.

This is a female opinion. File it under "What do Women Want" My two cents added: "Pornography is just 'fast-food feminine energy', it will always leave you wanting more, with little or no nutritional value. There is nothing ful-filling about pornography, it pales in insignificance to a fully embodied loving woman." Barry Long Porno and masturbation do not teach you how to fullfil and please a woman...it just teaches and reinforces to you how a hetero male (unless you like gay porn) gets off quickly. Porno trains your body/mind to respond to the female body and feminine energy in a specific way. A specific touch or visual of a woman and you spurt and your done. In my feminine opinion, masturbation + porn = LOSER especially if you are a slave to your desires and make this your life's work. I am not alone in this opinion. You are training yourself for premature ejaculation or impotence because the jerk and squirt method will fail you once you are in bed with a flesh and blood woman unless this woman buys into the whole porn mythos that a superior feminine energy gets men to shoot his load quickly. Unaware women buy into that whole porn mythos of what gets men off quickly and incorporate that into their mating strategies. So, in result, you see women acting and dressing (and down to young girls) like a male's dream of a porn star. It becomes a vicious, replicating cycle. Both genders are under served by this. So move your sexual practice from jerk and squirt to making love with mastery. All things in moderation. The rewards are great. Hopefully, this will give you some motivation to become a master in the arts of love. Here is a good books for beginners like you: http://www.amazon.com/Enlightened-Sex-Manu.../ref=pd_sim_b_3 David Deida uses Doaist and yogic techniques in his teachings but refines them for use in modern times and makes them easy to understand from a meditative, seeing a woman as Goddess approach and seeing yourself as an Enlightened Lover.