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What were your favorite topics on The Tao Bums this year? There's been a LOT, 79 pages of them. Damn. We've come a long way. Here is the first page: http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?showfo...all&st=2310 Some really good discussions this year. Here are some of some of my favorites that I pulled from scanning through the pages. I think I'm going to send a "Best of 2008" email out to the whole list early next week. Will you do me a favor and take a minute to scan the list below, let me know if you think I missed any good ones? Or if you think any of the topics I listed suck and should be removed... Thanks! Enjoy. What Bothers Me About Philosophical Daoism Topic starter: gossamer the importance of the neck Topic starter: laotse Why is there so much disrespect in the Taoist tradition? Topic starter: Cameron Goals, destinations, silence about... Topic starter: Ian Tea, Flavors, tea ceremonies...good tea for everyone Topic starter: joeblast Eyes, healing & maintaining good eye health Topic starter: freeform Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra Topic starter: Cameron Harold Roth Nei Yeh--best book to start Topic starter: Brian L. Kennedy Well Put Post about Zaneblue, aka Witch Topic starter: drew hempel Spirituality and the Occult, discussing occult practices and the nature of spirit Topic starter: SFJane Different Meditations, Well put way to describe different types of meditation Topic starter: WhiteTiger Imagination or Visualization is never a good method Topic starter: exorcist_1699 Discourse on Taoist Internal Alchemy Topic starter: dao zhen Daniel Ingram, Harcore guide to buddhist meditation Topic starter: Ian Enlightenment vs. Self-Realization Topic starter: AugustLeo Why is there so much evil in the world? Topic starter: durkhrod chogori The True Eye of the Tiger, A visual approach to the I Ching Topic starter: sean A Toltec view of Self, A path to spiritual freedom Topic starter: Stigweard Wu Wei = non doing Topic starter: cold Deep breathing practices, Yoga, daoist, Buddhism Topic starter: Wun Yuen Gong what is a person? Topic starter: de_paradise spirituality thumping: to thump or not to thump Topic starter: de_paradise weak erection Topic starter: mantis Dying in meditation, How to achieve this experience? Topic starter: durkhrod chogori Kechari Mudra Topic starter: Immortal Who thinks Bill Bodri is right? Topic starter: Cameron That imbetween state, Condition for good practice. Topic starter: Ian Tensegrity and Golden Dragon/Diamond Body? Topic starter: Xienkula1 Mer Ka Ba Topic starter: Wun Yuen Gong Purifying the subconcious to avoid loosing jing Topic starter: provs Becoming multi orgasmic / Orgasm without ejaculation. Topic starter: Vantage emptying or filling ?, be one with Dao Topic starter: YMWong All the hurt in the world... what do YOU do? Topic starter: Anette L non-dualism & the need for practice Topic starter: mat black Shuigong, Taoist and other dream practices Topic starter: sheng zhen Who am I ?, any ideas??? Topic starter: sunshine Darkness Retreats, peoples experiences Topic starter: Swami Jai Transmissons Topic starter: Scadder21 Is KunLun Bogus?, A Complete Path or Complete Fluff? Topic starter: Jakara What is the Kunlun Energy Topic starter: Swami Jai KAP Kundalini Awakening Process Dr. Glenn Morris Topic starter: Vajrasattva KAP Kundalini Awakening Process Dr. Glenn Morris July Topic starter: Vajrasattva Spiritual Guides Topic starter: neo women must learn to redirect their orgams too, tao for ladies Topic starter: smartgirl093 My journey in follwing the book: "Multi-orgasmic man" Topic starter: TheSeeker About love. Topic starter: cat Dark Night of the Soul, a personal experience of meditation and madness Topic starter: SFJane The Fire Yogi Topic starter: SiliconValley David Verdesi, It's for real? what's your opinion? Topic starter: amacgregor Shaking Practice in Bali Topic starter: joebob Does Taoism believe in a God? Topic starter: Azoro Natural Living Topic starter: emily K? Topic starter: muz Full-lotus fallacy, Like many others Topic starter: durkhrod chogori What Does Yin Energy Feel Like? How Do You Cultivate it? Topic starter: mwight Would like to hear how others experience "Qi" ? Topic starter: shontonga Wizard Wang Liping? Topic starter: styrofoamdog Pre-heaven Jing, a panacea for sufferings Topic starter: exorcist_1699 What is the goal of Taoism?, Freedom? Enlightenment? Parlor Tricks? Topic starter: Unconditioned Courses, Books, Etc. Etc. That You Couldn't Do Without For Your Practice. Topic starter: mwight Gross Sense Impressions of the Transformation Process Topic starter: DarinHamel Nei Gung - What is it? to Starjumper, Buddy, et al. Topic starter: VCraigP Kunlun San Diego and assorted musings, warning: this is growing long... Topic starter: Taomeow For those of you still chasing "abilities", as if they prove awakening. Topic starter: Hundun John Changs 1st Westerner student Topic starter: shidoin My fellow trees Topic starter: hagar western magic, kaballah?,dolres ashcroft nowiki, your unseenpower Topic starter: phore Taoism of Western Imagination, [long winded but useful] Topic starter: YMWong The "S" word Topic starter: Cameron Questions about Egyptian Mysticism, to answer question from Yoda Topic starter: apepch7 Increasing spiritual awareness leading to diminished happiness? is life boring now? Topic starter: nomad Daoist and Tibetan Transmissions Topic starter: Spirit Ape absolute direct work with fear, questions. Topic starter: Pranaman Etymology, The 'true sense' of things Topic starter: Stigweard Ayuhasca? Topic starter: SereneBlue Can We Transcend Lust?, How To? Topic starter: ddilulo_06 Chanting names of goddess, chanting, goddess, wicca, witchcraft, vajrayogini Topic starter: phore Differentiating Yin and Yang in your body Topic starter: baloneyx Talking To God Topic starter: mwight Full lotus, techniques to achieve full lotus meditation Topic starter: sheng zhen Why Taoism is different Topic starter: exorcist_1699 Fu healings, introduction to FU Topic starter: Mak_Tin_Si Virtue is..., What virtues should a Taoist have? Topic starter: Stigweard Immortality - the various views Topic starter: picnic Relaxing tea... Topic starter: lostmonk A Question For The Ladies Topic starter: mwight The True Taoism? Topic starter: Anabhogya-Carya A Warning, to the chargers Topic starter: benny Tummo? Topic starter: mewtwo Magus of Java Teachings Revealed, My two cents on the subject... Topic starter: Fiz Master Nan & Bill Bodri - circulation being a waste of time, what do you think of this? Topic starter: nomad Immortality Topic starter: dragonfire Human Flight -> Qinggong, Light Body Skill Topic starter: benny relative and perfect pitch., the training as a meditation Topic starter: Pranaman Shaktipat, A Quick List of Gurus Topic starter: SiliconValley Vajrasattva's Greatest Hits Topic starter: Yoda Long Distance KUNDALINI KAP Training through Skype Topic starter: Vajrasattva Most Events that Happen to us do not Matter! Topic starter: Pietro Daoists usually die, (or SHOW me one who did not) Topic starter: YMWong May I introduce the highest Buddhist practice?, its is called thogal and leads to light body Topic starter: alwayson Yin Xian Fa and Ling Bao Bi Fa Cultivation Methods Topic starter: 松永道 What is the Most Common Problem... Topic starter: 林愛偉 Question about spirituality and scientific testing Topic starter: seekeroftruth Best way to enlightenment Topic starter: markern why have YIN and YANG, A brief history and basics of yin and yang Topic starter: Mak_Tin_Si Haiku Chain, Make it spontaneous ... have some fun Topic starter: Stigweard

Hi Mak, Ahh, that what it was. I should have asked. Instead of just assuming (around here people say ass-u-me, to mean that when you assume you make an ass of yourself and of the other person, as I did). Sorry about that. I too, tried for all our encounter to keep myself in the heart-mind. As I have been instructed. That was the blessing as it is coming from the tradition I come from. Yes, I realised when I wrote it that I was being imprecise. I just could not remember better. You did not say that you met him in your dream. But let me clarified further what I said, why, and where was it coming from. For a period of my life I have studied with a native american sciaman. The teachings were mostly about emotions. And in a particularly good series of workshop we participants were all able to be very well in touch with our emotions. Once this level was reached we discovered that in this state we could easily spot if someone who was speaking was not being totally truthful. I worked on this for a long time, so now I know that this is done by hearing the vibration in the voice. When a person is telling the truth, all the truth and just the truth, then its voice vibrates with the emotions, but does not falter. Instead there is a particular way in which the voice vibrates when you are saying something that you do not believe yourself. FOr all the conversation your voice was connected, honest. When you explained how your teacher was this immortal, I felt it faltering. It is hard to explain for me what I felt. And of course you can deny that it happened. Or explain that it has another meaning. I felt I could not write this review without raising this warning, as I perceived it. I felt if I did, I would not have been truthful myself to the task I was doing. Said all this I find very interesting your explenation about taoist altars. I also would like to clarify that I did not find the energy to be packed, but to be packed with presences. Like if there were many beings in a little space. How interesting! This is such a clear example of a cultural difference. In the culture I come from asking questions (not too much, kids can easily exagerate ) is regarded as making a person at ease, in general. As you let the person speak about something they are really interested. And meditators who usually disregard in some sense some of the usual social norms, still tend to ask often many questions. The meditator world in the west is so differetiated, that each meditator can often tell you some really interesting and diverse stories. *********** Something I would like to add to my review: I also noticed that Mak did not have a full mastery of English. So he expected his students to learn Chinese. Personally if I were to study with Mak I would be grateful for this extra element, as there are many teachings that are implicit in a language itself. Some time ago someone (goldisheavy?) commented that traditions should be translated. Yes, that is true, but to translate a tradition you need to have mastery both in the tradition and in the language. If you knowledge in any of the two is limited this will give problems later on in life. Probably Taoism in Nature's teachings will eventually all be translated, so that people do not need to learn chinese. But this will not happen at least for another generation, maybe more. Only a taoist who is mother tongue english will have the proficiency to translate something of the depth of a tradition. Cheers, Pietro Hello fizix, you sound frustrated. Even though Mak is selling Fu's, so his presence over here is increasing this business, my understanding is that he is not using this money for himself. Also he seem to be very nice in only commenting on his own threads (and few related, like this one), so if you do not want to read his point of view, you can quite simply ignore him. Regarding the fact that he can teach or not. I am not sure about you, but I surely don't know, for example, how to open, and keep an altar like he does. This for example is something on which I have a lot to learn. Although of course you might not be interested, yourself. Pietro I'll be travelling for the next days, until after Christmas, so I might answer later any comments. I hope the review was helpful. Pietro

Siddhas powers are a beautiful reminder that we are more then we seem. "The purpose of existence, is to understand existence itself." The crux however, is to see more humans with high ethical standards. This is all that holds every one of us back. Once this is accomplished to a certain degree, these powers will have great effect upon improving the planet and more then you can dream. Am trying to be a good influence for my "brothers and sisters"

Hi Pietro, I am happy to meet with you too. I was holding a whisk in my hand when I was talking to you because it is a way of respect for a taoist to hold a whisk while talking to any visitors. The whisk means to clean and purify that means I will try to clean and purify whoever I am takling to. which also means giving blessings. Maybe you do not understand the culture, but that is the reason. The immortals I have been learning from is not in my dream. I do saw them with my eyes when I am trianing in fornt of the altar. If you train under the system, you may see them sometimes around the altar. Some of my students already saw grandmasters (immortals) around the altar alot of times already. If you do have the open mind to feel and see sometimes, you may see it too. The sifu in China have not met with me face to face, but we are communicating via the altar daily. That is how taoist teach taoist in the old days because of one reason. The only reason is that the master is too pure, he really have to get out of the public society and leave the polluted world, but he also have to pass on this knowledge he have. So he find a middle person and search for a student. Then the student learn and get attuned by the middle person. From then on, the student will then learn from the master in the mountain via the altar with a special trianing. Of course that is not found in a book or magazine! This way the master will not be polluted and secondly the master will be able to teach the student face to face (via the altar). That is a tradition in Taoism. That is how the old masters teach. But of course it is rarely open to the public to see the back story. It is a pleasure to meet you in the temple. Good luck on your trianing in the future. I did not ask you for your info not because I am not interested. I am there waiting for any faith to come. If faith come, you will tell me, if you do not want to tell me, why bother asking? That is just a way how Wu-wei is done without anything intention. It is a kind of phillosophy build into the mind. I do not ask anything unless you want me to ask. So I just sit and wait for you to ask. You are the guest, not me. Right? haha! Mak Tin Si You can of course try out how the FU works. It does require trust to get it to work. If you judge the fu and treat it without respect, the energy on the FU will not work. That is because FU need the "intention" to work with the FU. If you burn a FU into water for bathing, thinking about eating burgers, the FU will not have 100% of the effect, maybe only 30. You have to think, this fu is going to make me cleans my body and energy and purify my mind. Then the fu works great! If you want to try one, I suggest a FU call bathing FU to you. Take 2 and try it the first time, you may feel the difference right after the bath. I have had a reiki master who did reiki teaching for 10yrs, she was shocked by how the bathing FU worked for her and she got addicted to it too! haha! she called it the "energy bath". She saw all kinds of lights on the water surface and golden sparkles in the water when cleansing. Very nice.

since this is about unveiling the subconscious..perhaps it can be used together with a chinese dream dictionary..look up on the images that reveal themselves...? http://wenhousecrafts.com/dreams/dreamingofdukezhou.htm#bear that is to say being pregnant in a dream is something also men can be..indicating something less literal..finding the root of the word. btw I see a big fat babybuddha doing yoga moving in anf d out of endless complicated postures..havent looked up the trnslation yet..not sure I want to listen..

In the Bardo, you do not have a physical body. You have a dream body. It is just your mindstream, and the dream environment which it creates. If you become lucid, and realize the bardo environment is just your mindstream, you gain the body of a Buddha, and thus attain Buddhahood. In phowa, you eject your mindstream directly into a Buddafield and thus also become liberated. The mindstream is already literally Buddha.

the way I hear it the Buddha ate too much and died of gastric problems- he too seems to have been swept up in hero-worship in the end...and The Christ had such a bad end as to be avoided as well- lets just be ourselves and leave the value judgements behind- this seems very self engrandizeing -why not just have a meeting of seekers without claims of any sort-? I have designed a few buildings meant to be panthiist centers that are based on Bagua (8 sided central atrium surrounded by a park, not archatectural but on graph paper with feng shui being the most enclusive basis for design...It is a long held dream of mine. let us buy a lottery ticket together- using our collective energy to win the funds?! it may just work!

I am on my way to Portugal. I am just starting a 5 years post doc at Coimbra university. The land over there is very cheap respect to European standards, and in some places can be both secluded and practical if you are still working in the world. I have observed that there are two type of retreats. The first type is where everybody is practicing the same thing. Like Dao Zhen plan, for example. TO do this you need to have enough people to be interested, all sharing the same path, and the same teacher. What I want to build is different. More akin to an open house for taoists practitioners. I like the saying, if you come you will not be turned away, if you leave, we will not ask you to remain. I am right now in the process of discussing about an old house next to a village. The house has about half an hectar of land. Some of it is the side of a hill. It has a well, and a stream. It is an old house, in the sense that it is perfect... if you are ok in living as they would live 200 years ago. FOr now, there is no hot water. A fire place in the kitchen. And that's all. I expect to renovate it, and make it a bit less spartane. For example I am thinking about not even having Internet! Once I have bought it I will look for people who want to come and share the dream, the space, the practice and the work. I am an instructor both according to Mantak Chia and to Bruce Frantzis, so if anyone who lives there wants me to share some of the practices I will be happy to do so (and viceversa). But I am NOT looking to build yet another community who survives out of workshops. I will keep my daily job in town. At least for the next 5 years. But whoever wants to come and share will be welcome.

Yes, I agree. We are thinking that it is perhaps best with just 3 members. Too many people and it makes trouble with the local government. My teacher would most likely also visit at times; but now he is in a cave in the remote mountains. It was taught that men and women shopuld be seperate, due to the nature of attraction, etc. I think the time frame can differ depending on ones Heavenly Attributes they are born with; generally we think 9 - 12 years is a good time. I think if a member does want to leave in the middle of the course of practice, it is their freedom, but they can not rejoin later. Yes, all members have to be serious in their goal to practice Alchemy Meditation. We are seeking to gain our liberation, and uncover our True Nature from practice. Yet in the first stages, we need companions, and can support each others practice. There will be a very strict time schedule, and rules to create the proper environment for serious practice. We must have some rules, to make sure it is a quiet environment. In addition to the meditation practice, there must be some farming activity for the first year or perhaps two. From my teachers experience and method, it is said that after perhaps 3 - 6 months of following the practice in retreat - doing the practice 9 or more hours per day - very little food is needed - but we must also be practical, and prepare stores of food, and have a good farm area for vegetables. I am very serious to pursue this goal, as from my experience the problem is environment. You must have a remote and quiet place in nature to take part in the serious long term practice. We feel we will have enough money to support all costs for the project; though members are welcome to donate funds if they join to show their sincere feeling in support of this effort we are making. Would you be interested in joining this goal and shared dream?

Yes......... I am in the process of seeing this dream come true..... But my idea is to do it in China..... I am raising money through our workshops with - http://www.eternalspringtours.com I currently have 3 locations I have found in Wudangshan. I think if you have conections, China can be easier, as the costs are much cheaper. We have thought to get an old farm house community that is already cultivated, then fix it up a bit, to make it more comfortable with a Western standard. My teacher was going to oversee the project, but currently he has gone off to finish his cultivation, and may come back in 3 years or so. But we do have a good portion of the practice methods in the system documented, so there is a very good system of material for the members to practice. Before my teacher left, he taught me much about retreat life, and we hiked in the mountains, and he taught about how to plant what vegetables, and how to preserve them in winter, practice schedule, rules for community, etc. So I am looking to continue this project and dream. The problem with such a project, is it can not be a large group of people. We think 3 to 5 members is enough. By my teachers guidelines, the retreat training should be at least 3 years, but usually 9 - 12 years. During that time, you should have no contact with the outside world, and just live like a simple farmer, and follow the daily practice methods. If people make proper progress, there is a stage when they will go into a hybernation state, and at that time we should have the underground room. The member goes into the underground room to further the practice, and another member must have the task to care for their safety and wellbeing to protect the body from disturbance, noise, etc. The main concern is money. I am looking now to set up a foundation in addition to our workshop events to further this dream. It is a very serious endevor. Danger and death are a real possibility in serious longterm practice. By looking at the history of these arts, many adepts have died midway in practice. This is due to the attachment and moving of mind-will during practice. So we must in the first stages gain stillness of mind, and tranquility of heart, and no attachment to desires. This is for serious practice. Ideas? I have also recently made good connections with an agent in Beijing, and they can provide longterm residence visa to members. I hope to have a location picked by 2009 - I already have one in Wudang, but need to negotiate the price. I also am looking to perhaps check out Zhongnanshan.... The location in Wudang is outside the tourism zone, so it is not under control of the government, and the land is privately owned.

Yes! The magnetic power of attraction! The mind and nervous system is a magnet. Think of a pink elephant all day (which isn't even real) and I bet you dream of pink elephants, then pretty soon your at the circus looking at stuffed elements and spending money to win a weird game (afterall your playing for a pink panther) then you worked so hard for it you might as well sleep with it and call it a Pink Martini... but really it's a big dumbo for the is nit kam aic sucker. You have to observe things over a period of time, forwards and backwards.

Dumb question day;-) So if I can get myself flying (I have to make a big effort to do so BTW, and I can only get a bit off the ground intentionally, not fly like a jet plane) in my dreams, that doesn't count, does it? Does it only count if someone else can see it? Or if I made a video of my dream? Like an ECG, or do other people have to be able to see it as pictures in their own minds that they consider believable to be able to say I did do it? Can the videos be in black and white or is colour manditory? I`m sort of confused about that. But if we're strictly talking about lifting my waking body off the surface of the earth for a while, in a manner that other people can watch 'in real time' all while they're there (and not asleep) and say 'yes she did fly' then no I can't. And if I could, why would I do it? Save airfares? Or gas? ok maybe good then;-) Unless you count jumping on or off things. In which case we all fly all the time, every time we put one foot in front of the other. I told you it was a dumb question day! Kate

It is a joke. People said that he have got into immortal and fly up to the heaven. BUT!! He died from illness, which is PAIN and not happy. I guess people must wake up from this dream about this master being an immortal. People in the temple even held a ceremony said to raise this master up to become an immortal in the heaven. Which is totally a joke. This Tin Si is a very joking one, who brought up a lot of politics issues nowaday and mess the world of taoism up because he left no answer for the people about who he want to pass his pose to and now everybody is battling for it. Wow, what a responsible master. YM, Don't tell me this is who you think is a great Tin Si. Every taoist who trained to become an immortal do not DIE from illness, they just left the society and get a place to meditate and then vanished, which is called the BAK YAT FEI SING. Immotallity is achieved with the basic of good health and no illness.. This person here die from illness and he was a person in army before in his past.. wow, so not Taoist. Die from illness, why people say he become an immortal and held that joking ceremony for him after his death not even 49days after the funeral? Are they lack of education or what? Do you know?

In 4D, all possibility is real! The part of our collective-mind that gets challenged by the few who can speak the truth is the part most programed to the psychosomatic status quo. We live in a dream world of servitude, and yield to anything seeming constant. The truth is always new, and unseen. What have we created today? I would give KunLun a try my friends

I would love to know more about the Taoist approach to dreams. From a psychological point of view, it could be that my dream was an ego compensation dream, that I am in need of feeling loved and accepted and nurtured and not demanded of in any way. So my Higher Self fulfilled my need for me whilst I was asleep. Which would be a good sign.. because ideally one wants a Higher Self that is freely communicating with the ego and in good relationship with it. Mak Tin Si, what is hell, exactly?

Yes of course, because sex dreams are evil right? they could not possibly be normal! GASP. And having dreams of being attacked? of course, those are evidence of a demon, because your sub-conscious could not possibly formulate a scenerio where you get attacked. All the DMT racing through your brain and the rapid motion of your eyes plus the firings of your sub-conscious and the events of the day could not add up to a sexual dream or a dream in which you are attacked, therefore, blessed be your infalliable wisdom Mak Tin Si, it must be a demon. My own fantasy? You say I am living in a fantasy because I do not think dreams are evidence of demon possession? I think it is you who is living a lie, you satisfy your ego by believing you are something great, something magical and a holder of something esoteric. I don't give a damm what your peasent religion taught you, whose views are based on a time of great ignorance of the workings of the world. Did you recieve your entire education from some Magical Taoist Temple? Just how many demons have you seen? Could it not be you and your followers who mistake natural occurances for something supernatural. Or maybe it is some major psychological failing on your part? Ever consider that? Of course you didn't! That would make you doubt your god-given powers and the close minded teachings you have inherited. I am open to just about anything, but that does not mean I will accept a blind belief of somebody who has so much evidence against them. Prove to me the existence of demons and I will take up your FU gladly. What is next? Taoist televangelism? "FEEL THE LIGHT OF THE TAO! I CAST YOU OUT DEMON" *man shakes violently on stage* *foolish crowd claps* *foolish crowd gives money to the man on stage*

God does not have parts. If you want to work with the God concept, which is not necessary, the correct way to view it is to say that there is only God. Period. End of story. No parts and no other things. No egos. No Shaitan and so on. Just God dreaming whatever the fuck God wants to dream up, forever and ever and beyond time. For fun and for reasons that can't be explained.

Yesterday I woke from a wonderful dream in which I was being deeply embraced in a loving way. No demands, no expectations, no speech. Just embraced. Not sexual. If there are demons, does that mean there are also angels?

Yes. Unless you dream of people having sex with you or people sexually harrasing you. That is a symtom telling you that you have been attacked or would be attacked by negative spirits or energy. So then you may consider being careful in the coming days. There would also be tips in the dreams of WHO and WHERE and WHAT will attack you soon. But that is of course very hard to learn since it is difference everytime and takes more knowledge to judge. I feel sorry for those who really got demon possed at them to hear what you said. It is crucial and you are going very deep in false speech because you are making statement which you never experience this kind of things. Just like a kid telling people he can fly and he have wings. Naive and close minded in your own fantasy. Worthless to talk.

We should be very careful with what we choose to validate. You can be a spiritual person and yet not believe in any spirits or ghosts. In other words, belief in ghosts is not a necessity for a cultivator. It's a choice. Depending on your beliefs, the phenomena you will experience will be very different. If you believe in ghosts you will experience them a lot more often than if you do not. If you absolutely believe there are no ghosts, you will never experience a single ghost -- not even one, and you will never hear a reputable story about one. You might read about one, but it will always be from some source of ill repute. In other words, ghosts will not be real to you. But if you believe in ghosts, you will eventually find good evidence, pictures and sources of high repute corroborating your belief. So one should be very careful with one's own beliefs. This is why I always urge people to question everything they believe, because MANY beliefs we have are harmful to our own well-being. In other words, we are our own worst enemy. We often believe things like "I can never succeed" or "I will never be like Lao Tzu" or like "I am too stupid to understand Dao" or like "Ghosts are real, and I have bad luck with them" and so on, and these beliefs can bring significant suffering. This suffering has the nature of a nightmare. It's not real at the ultimate level, but while you are in the grip of the nightmare you believe it's real and it produces real suffering. If in the middle of a nightmare you KNOW you are dreaming and you KNOW it's just a visionary empty experience, it no longer has the power to cause suffering, and in fact, you can even enjoy it. That's how one time there was an entity that grabbed be in my dream and tried to choke me to death. It was strong, it was jumping up and down, and then it jumped together with my body from 2nd story window, slamming me into the ground and choking me in the most violent manner you can imagine. However yours truly knew it was a dream, and I was relaxed and happy, and I was laughing very hard as this vision was progressing. I had absolutely ZERO fear and I was actually enjoying very much being flung back and forth. It was like a carnival ride. Very fun! I woke up very happy and thoroughly well rested and had great mood for the day and a wonderful story to tell. However, if I didn't know I was dreaming, the same dream could become embedded in my mind as a fearful memory and if I dwelt on that memory one too many times, out of fear, it could even re-manifest again and again and keep tormenting me any number of times. This is why if anything attacks me in my dreams I either tear it apart, or I assist in the attack. Like if someone wants to shoot me, I stand closer to the gun and stop moving so that the other guy can get a better shot. If someone wants to cut me in half with a chainsaw, I stand there and press against its teeth. Whatever happens, I am happy and it's all a game in either case. It's important to be able to face these things without resistance. If you can, then resistance becomes a choice and not a necessity, and it becomes playful and not an act of desperation. It can really be fun for some people to believe in ghosts. So I don't want to say "you should never believe in ghosts". However, if you don't like the hassle this creates, you have an option to eliminate ghosts from your life. It's a choice that you should exercise with your eyes open and not just blindly accept it because someone said so and so.

I have experienced both sleep paralysis and what I consider to be one experience of demon possession. The sleep paralysis was connected to a phenomenon called "false awakening"; basically, I would dream that I woke up, go about my business, realize that I was still dreaming (a few times because I happened to glance at the bed and notice my sleeping body there), and have to wake up all over again -- very disorienting. Sometimes I would end up in an in between state where I could feel my body but was completely immobilized, while my mind was more or less awake and my eyes were either open or dreaming the room (both have happened); this was described to me as sleep paralysis. I never felt a "presence", and I always snapped out of it eventually, a little startled, but no other problems; as you said, no sweating, no panic, no chills, and I didn't see anything unusual. This was all before I heard about astral travel, of course . My experience with demon possession was years later, and quite different. I was taking a shower right after waking up, and as I stood there I half dozed off...out of nowhere, I began to see flashes of an alligator crawling towards me, accompanied by threatening bursts of oboe music ( ). I examined the threatening aspect of the vision to see why it bothered me. Suddenly, this became images of a naked, adult male figure falling repeatedly backwards into a pond, in which I was floating halfway between the bottom and the surface. I was interested, but otherwise unaffected at this point; it occasionally happens that I have "visions" of some human figure (sometimes male, sometimes female, sometimes a child ) doing some odd thing or other, and I assumed that the figure was my Other (unconscious shadow, more or less) as it often was. This time its body was built like a Greek god, its hair was chin length and shaggy and dark, and its face was vacant. As I paid more attention to it, it turned to look at me. When our eyes met, it occurred to me that the "water" was associated with my consciousness, and that by falling into it and catching my attention it had gained the ability to remain there for the moment. As we looked each other in the eye, I could feel us beginning to meld together... At this point I knew something was amiss. It did not feel right. It felt foreign, malicious, empty, possessive...I don't know how to really describe it but it was not what I expected. I was still standing with my eyes open, and I could move if I made an effort, but I had the distinct feeling of something sharing my body, like I had to overcome the volition of the foreign entity in order to move. It did not have complete control, but I could feel it pushing. Suddenly a voice in my head reminded me that no matter what energy was intruding, that my consciousness should be the "flagship", that if this energy was here I should find what was useful to me and make it mine, dispelling the rest (this is close to something I had been thinking about lately) and try be done with it. Summoning all of my strength, I probed with my awareness, and found a bubbling, flowing, pushing energy that seemed to have the power to travel and change things in surges and flows, subtly and by degrees, into something completely different. I realized that's what the demon was trying to do to me. When I found the entity's power, it seemed to come under control. I immediately reasserted myself and shook off the bad energy, retaining the memory and just a tiny bit of the entity's power. I felt drained, a little cold (even in the hot shower), and fragile, and I was shaking a little, but I was myself again and I had a new confidence. The flashes of the alligator came back, crawling away from me in reverse this time, no music, and faded away. It never came back. Thinking back on it later, I became convinced I was visited by a water demon. Scary stuff! What are your thoughts?

So if I have lucid dreams or dream paralyses and feel warm and/or energized when I wake up it is not a demon that have possesed me?

What a shudder making tale. How were you afterward, Stig? My psychology training is telling me that the place you were staying activated your own unconscious shadow to such a degree that it reared up to meet you....so that you could experience an inner confrontation between your light side and your dark. And I wonder if the energy of that place became embodied for you,in your dream state, because you needed to know that you could and would take a strong stance against it, because it was so threatening. So you reassured yourself of your own power. Reassured yourself that it was no threat to you. Saw it off. If it was your own darkness, or a dark force 'outside' of you, either way, the effect was the same. You strengthened your own sense of yourself in some way, and gained a deeper knowledge of the feeling of darkness. It shows how very strong you are. A lot of us would have woken up sweating and full of fear, and not resolved the issue. I hope you had a really good pot of tea after that battle, Stig.

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Taoism the religion is not just a belief, it is also something that work with the phillosophy. The problem now is that most people just see DaoJia, the phillosophy side as the WHOLE of taoism, but it is really missing out lots of good stuff which combine with it. Without phillosophy, the religion do not make any sense, but without religion, your phillosophy is just a fantasy which is not practical and just get you in a dream or fantasy. They work together. That is TAOISM.