Search the Community

Alright, I'll bite... Only the bound self can dream of liberation. When the perspective shifts beyond the limitation of the self to that of the Self, bondage is gone, and yet this can be a relatively subtle shift. It is a matter of recognizing who it is that experiences the bondage. If you follow that inquiry to its ultimate conclusion, one realizes that the bondage is illusory. If bondage is illusory, what is liberation? This seems to me the transition from Taiji back to Wuji. Bondage and liberation arise mutually, when one is seen through the other cannot exist. Therefore, the end of bondage is the end of the search for liberation. Hope that is worth something...

Hi Josh. These are some interesting ideas you are discussing. More than one quantum physicist that was dissatisfied with the Copenhagen interpretation has tried to explain quantum phenomena in terms of things like resonance. It's called the pilot wave theory. The question is, what is the wave? Most use the same scalar wave as the one in the Schrodinger equation. A particularly interesting (to me) version is one that postulates an electromagnetic pilot wave associated to things like electrons, with a very fast (and hence not directly detectable) oscillation imposed on the standard field of the particle. This oscillation itself is related to electron spin, and its frequency is related to mass. Also, when you look at the mathematical structure of relativity, you see that the cosmic speed limit is not some arbitrary thing (as it would be in a Newtonian model), but a consequence of the very structure of spacetime causality: loosely speaking things that are "lines" in the Newtonian model become "hyperbolas" in the relativistic model, and the asymptote of the hyperbola corresponds to the speed of light. BUT, if you allow physical influences to travel backward in time as well as forward (using "advanced waves" and well as "retarded waves") then you can bypass the asymptote. Put this together with the pilot wave model, and perhaps you get a new theory of the universe? Well, working out the equations and their physical/philosophical consequences is quite a task, But a man can dream, no? Would you clarify what you mean by "non-linear"? Since that term has entered into popular usage I no longer know what it is supposed to mean. -Tyler

Gimme a break - he started THINKING that way inititally due to a dream he had about the underworld. Real good science, eh? And you keep saying I am wrong. It is an opinion based on as much practical experience as the underworld dreamer, so just as valid. All thinking is looking through filters - none does not. Perhaps because dragons, elves, etc were real? This back and forth started because you said medical qigong utilized the archetype. Medical qigong as I teach totally bypasses the mentally derived archetypes.

All your sentences contradict the statement 'Emptiness is Form'. The general view of Advaita is that Brahman is non phenomenal -- not limited to a specific manifestation or form or attribute, for it is the unchanging background reality and the container of phenomena. Yet at the same time, it's seen to be inseparable from all forms. Actually at the highest level of realisation, Brahman is not seen as a void background but as all its dynamic expressions. Adyashanti describes Thusness's Stage 4 (non-dual) insight quite well and relates it to Advaita: "Being Stuck in Emptiness Another of the traps you may discover is similar to being stuck in meaninglessness: being stuck in emptiness. Being stuck in emptiness is a form of being stuck in the transcendent, being stuck in the position of the witness. Initially, it can feel wonderful to be in a state of witnessing, a state in which we realize that we are not somebody who is witnessing, but that we are witnessing itself. Although it is true that we are the witness to everything, there is also a deluded aspect that is easy to get caught in. The ego can set up camp anywhere; it is a shapeshifter. If superiority doesn't work, then setting up camp as the disconnected witness might. The ego is constantly in flux. Once you're onto it -- once you've discovered it in one aspect of your being -- it will disappear, only to reappear somewhere else. It is very cunning, very subtle. In fact, as I see it, the ego's illusion is one of the most impressive forces in all of nature. The "me," or the ego, can set itself up as the witness. Initially, this can feel tremendously freeing, especially for people who have experienced a lot of pain and suffering in life. All of a sudden they are the witness, and there is extraordinary relief in no longer being identified as the main character in their life. But the position of the witness can become a fixation, and when it does, a sense of dryness can start to creep in. In this situation, the witness sees itself as unconnected with what is being witnessed. This means, of course, that there hasn't been a true and thorough realization. It is more like a half realization; it's like being halfway awake. There's an ancient saying that the great sage Ramana Maharshi used to talk about, which goes like this: "The world is illusion. Brahman alone is real. The world is Brahman." This saying speaks to certain insights that come with awakening. The first insight, that "the world is illusion," is not a philosophical statement. Seeing that the world is illusion is part of the awakening experience. It is something that is known; we discover that there is no such thing as an objective world out there, separate from us. This first statement, then, is pointing to this insight, which comes with realization. The next statement, "Brahman alone is real," points us toward the recognition of the eternal witness. The witness to the world is where all the reality is. From this perspective of awakening, the witness is experienced to be much more real than what is witnessed. What is witnessed is seen to be like a dream, like a movie or a novel, unfolding in front of us. There's a great amount of freedom in this, but also a great tendency to become stuck in the idea that "I am the witness to what is." So far, we've seen that these two statements are true: "The world is illusion," and "Brahman alone is real." (The latter of these could be understood as "The witness alone is real.") But without the third statement, "The world is Brahman," we would not have true nonduality. In the statement, "The world is Brahman" collapses the position of the external witness. The witness position collapses into the totality, and suddenly we're not witnessing from the outside anymore. Instead, witnessing is taking place from everywhere simultaneously -- inside, outside, around, up, down. Everything everywhere is being witnessed from inside and outside simultaneously, because what is witnessed is what is witnessing. The seer and what is seen are the same. Unless that is realized, we can get stuck in the place of the witness. We can become stuck in a transcendent void, in emptiness. .......... (continued: http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=nFF8XY...lt&resnum=1 ) ...As long as we're staying at the summit of awakening, in the transcendent place of the absolute, where we are forever unborn and forever untouched and forever undying, there is an incompleteness to our realization. Quite surprisingly, upon reentry, life becomes very simple and ordinary. We no longer feel driven to have extraordinary moments, to have transcendent experiences. Sitting at the table in the morning and drinking a cup of tea is perfectly adequate. Drinking a cup of tea is experienced as a full expression of ultimate reality. The cup itself is a full expression of everything we have realized. Walking down the hallway, each step is a complete expression of the deepest realization. Raising a family, dealing with children, going to work, going on vacation -- all of it is a true expression of that which is inexpressible." The Form (be it a sound, a vision, a taste) before a moment of thought, before perception, before superimposition, that's Buddha-Nature. And it's not you smelling, tasting, seeing, but the sound itself is the hearing, the mountain itself is the seeing, the world itself is consciousness. Absolutely no 'witness' can be found when everything is the self-mirroring awareness.

It is objective. Because I've experienced arising out of the potential of cosmic manifestation due to memory as a first born. I know directly how deluded the Gods are in their powerful bliss. Advaita no matter how you chop it, believes in an eternal essence that all things arise from and subside back into in a substantialist way at the end of a cosmic cycle. When Buddhas say, things arise and subside in emptiness, they are still not qualifying emptiness and are still seeing endless and beginningless D.O. The craving is merely based upon not seeing emptiness directly which is deeply non-conceptual. Which is different from seeing Brahman directly because I've experienced both. Brahman is still a subtle latching on and proliferation, an identifying which will only lead to a long lived God realm. I know this very deeply, experientially and objectively. Both through reading scripture and what the texts by Buddhas say and what Advaita Siddhas say as well as through logic, intellectual understanding of D.O. and through direct meditative experience both in sitting meditation and lucid dream states through the practice of lucid dreaming while inquiring into the secret meaning's of D.O. and how this actually applies to cosmic workings. Buddhism transcends Advaita. It's a deeper comprehension of cosmos, enlightenment and what it means to transform the experience of Samsara into Nirvana. Or in Dzogchen, to spontaneously cognize the inherently empty and liberated nature of all arisings and so called non-arisings, which includes conceptual free bliss experiences in formless states of consciousness. Of which I have plenty of direct experiencing. Daily sometimes for elongated periods. Not right now, I'm actually being quite egotistical even talking about these experiences... LOL!

It's just the same except less densified with less or if enlightened, no attachment. It's it's own complicated story really. But, basically... it's just what you are now with less density based upon less attachment to perception and more identity with awareness itself, either enlightened (seeing through identity with D.O.) or not as in most Theistic or substantialist paths that reify awareness as ultimate. Kunjed Gyalpo gives a good explanation of how we fall during the cosmic cycle. p.s. kind of like dream realm stuff but more interpersonal, as in there is more reality to the different and unique beings that make up any given realm of subtler or denser energies.

Sorry to hear about your yoga mishap, what a nightmare! This might be too obvious to mention, but there are lots of non-dairy, vegetarian milks available in health food stores, and now even supermarkets, including rice milk, soy milk, almond milk and hemp milk. They are all lactose-free, and as an added advantage, don't contain carcinogenic bovine growth hormones, steroids, antibiotics, and other extra crap that we get in milk here in the U.S. Although I did see an article recently that stated many brands of soy milk have a chemical called hexane in them. One brand they mentioned that does not was Eden (there were a few more that I don't remember). Personally, I find the product called "Rice Dream" to be quite tasty. Michael is right about Mantak Chia. I have some audio tapes of him, and he keeps burping constantly. It gets pretty annoying actually.

Being still and listening seems like a passive yin approach. The only time I get restful silence, these days, is when I am in motion. At the same time, I have an aversion to being active. I'm a lazy person. I like to dream, but I've been doing too little for too long. I do like your advice though. It reminds me of something, someone said: that to balance you focus on the center not on the counterweight point. Thank you for the kind replies.

If you want to experience death, and still live in this life, you don't have to kill yourself. Just practice Dream or Bardo Yoga. The dissolution of the elements at the time of death is similar to that experienced when those Yogas are practised.

Do nice guys finish last? Is it up to men to tolerate or handle women's bad behavior? This stuff is all irrelevant n the world of families, marriage, children, sunshine, seasons, celebrations, generations. I was a bad girl attracted to bad boys. In my experience, the young girls who played that game WERE insecure. Often when a truly good guy would come into our lives, ready to love us, we placed such low value on ourselves that we'd wonder what the hell was wrong with these good guys, if they were willing to love us so much, clearly, there was something wrong with them. In my case, and that of many of my friends from back then, we grew up, and the nice guys did win. We married them. We had babies with them. We are with them for decades. The bad boys who succeed in family life and become good fathers and decent adult men become nice guys. The bad boys who stay bad boys are not good family men, but seems many of them, once they meet the right woman and once they are ready to settle down, become nice guys. Those that don't and try to combine family life and maintain their badness, well, they fail and end up devastating their children's lives. The bar scene is where my husband and I met, we both worked in the bar. He was, and still is, a very nice guy. I was a bad girl who was turned good with him. He didn't do anything but love me unconditionally while I worked through the shit that came with a horrible childhood that had toughened me up. He won. I had fun with those bad boys, but it was spiritual destruction, only by living a life where things are simple, pure, and true have I found the space to develop wisdom and pursue spiritual growth. I recognize that I am only one voice in this subject, but I'm in a similar space as a few people here who are in the family season of their lives. Now there's lots of women and men in other seasons and places, there's Witch, there's nuns, there's women content to be single, there are bad girls. No mode of manliness is the right mode for all women, and in some significant areas of male-female relationships, the nice guys do win in the end. And bad boys do become nice guys too, when they have had enough of the game. I'm glad I'm with my nice guy, he's faithful, kind, a truly devoted father who speaks to his mother daily, and is the dream daddy to our two little girls and our infant son. edited to add: my husband got laid a lot before marriage because he was good looking, and he was a pro BMX freestyler, these two qualities drew women to him like magnets. Being confident and fufilled in your life is the ticket to success in love, is my belief. Desperation is unnattractive in anyone, sucking up to anybody is unattractive, unrequited adoration and idolization is unnattractive in anyone. Confidence, inner power, success and a sense of fashion are attractive to almost everyone, of any gender.

Am I translate you correctly if I write that your energi system is open and energi is moving in it, not only when you meditating but also when you live your everyday life. If I am wrong, are you then living your everyday life in a dream or trace state?

I know he was a crappy actor who made a lot of crappy movies, but "Kung Fu" changed lives, and there are still thousands of us who dream of being a wandering Taoist goodguy/badass, helping those we meet with our superhuman wisdom and resourcefulness. Keep up your Nei Kung practice!! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/2...arradine-death/

Horses for courses, I liked Last Samurai, a lot, Tom did that very well. Loved Bruce and Kung Fu too even though it was Bruce's idea and is a SLOW 70's style show. Actually watching some of the episodes currently. But I will give you it was blizzard people picking on the "Asian" Carradine in Kung Fu Live the dream!

O Ye Enlightened Ones! Praise be upon thee for your deep words, meaningful posts and all the rest of it all all over this esteemed site! I am here to seek your most honoured attention and even more honoured act of levitation off most honoured bums to do something to make understanding of the Tao - the Chinese version possible in the UK. Yesterday, this unworthy, ignorant and low-ranking novice sought the help of ye enlightened ones (even half would do) in message in "Lobby" to make possible sojourn of a Chinese Daozhan here. For some reason I was expecting a flood of support and feared that I might even have to hold back you willing hordes as you charge through the LongMen Gate, the Pearly Gates, and the Bill Gates. Sadly, this was not the case when butterfly woke up from pipa dream and realised he was no unworthy novice or even "Zhoo-wang Zee"! Maybe I posted in the wrong section of the forum bureaucracy, maybe high-ranking enlightened ones stay in their suites and do not hang around "Lobby", maybe bums of bums glued too fast to jade thrones or plasticised straw-mats... I haven't tossed sticks and insulted the "Eye Ching" or read answers on back of tortoises, maybe enlightened ones all in Noo York, HengShan or in dole queues not in this country. But then again I thought - if I post here in "upstairs department" and ask all ye worthy ones and halves and quarters to take the lift and come down to "Lobby" and honour me by reading message some miracle may happen(?). The message is the one about "getting off bums" and I look forward to reading your enlightened answers or even your rolling up sleeves of divine gowns to lend a hand to make a Taoist lodge possible. Who knows? - maybe one day you can even serve real tea in the lodge or help pull out needles from victims in the clinic! You can if you want more difficult work do calligraphy, play flute to the ox, do real "internal cultivation"... or even drink a nice cuppa with others when you confuse them about the meaning of no meaning... You can even learn Old Master Lu Dongbin's martial arts... hmmmm why is it when one person holds up his one finger when he does Qigong gets others to burst into guffaws when another does same and commands worshipful silence and awe? If there is anything to discuss I think an addition of a Spanish-speaking Chinese Taoist priest would not make any gem less unclear! Some exercise may be healthy for example walking down to "Lobby", type a few words of wisdom on keyboard. Especially when doing standing meditation, karma meditation, focusing on the void, Taijiquan in its multitude of styles, walking the Bagua circles, imitating the animals of Xingyi, directing traffic and doing dragon breaths with the umpteenth school of Kwee-gong doesn't really in truth work anywhere other than in your heads! No offence, guys, rambling on and on and taking off in tangents and spinning in circles in all sorts of discussions in the flavour of mules talking to donkeys don't amount to anything. By this, I don't mean you've manufactured "Wu Wei". I think Lao Zee said that somewhere... I am sure I am wrong... Still, I hope I see you at "Lobby" (I am not the one carrying the fly whisk) and hope you help lend me one shoe to go on journey of a few yards down the road! Bless you all, the cheek shall inherit the earth!

In fact similar for the Buddha, who used to "sleep" in the way we see him depicted in the big statues we have around today. I believe he said, that since he is Awaken he is always in this state hence does not dream. So not sure what the developers of the religion Buddhism came up with later :-)

Thanks for such fast reply, Hangzhou Hot! It is 'the' LongHu Shan I borrow my 'name' from, though I am more closely linked to the Lao Shan fraternity even though the 'fraternity' is all over China! You mentioned Huangshan somewhere on the board - some twenty years back there was only one Taoist priest left on the mountain then he got married, became a 'restaurant' owner half way up the mountain, then he disappeared to the cities! Those were the days before the stupid cable car system and when monkeys were not spoilt by stupid tourists! Do find out about those things I requested, climb as many of those lovely mountains as possible and find that the 'real' Taoists are nowhere to be found - them Xianren (immortals) doth live in caves and still do! I use to like all them city Taoists priests taking me to see them cave -dwellers, it's such fun I always spend the money of the city Taoists for them! Thanks LongHu Shan, I'll do my best for you to answer these questions. Your name means Dragon Tiger Mountain, which LongHu Shan are you named after, may I ask? I love the UK, haven't been there in years. Went to university there back ages ago. Haven't returned since. But I dream of a trip back some day. Best, JessinChina

How sweet. Our cups are neighbors. I have not had the chance to taste Keemun. I love black tea, but as you probably know I'm in the land of Long Jin, Dragon Well, and green tea [lu cha] is de rigueur. I sneak some oolong for myself though and don't mention it. Most people, especially my students, turn their noses up at the mere mention of oolong. Even if I tell them it's from taiwan. What can I say, to each her or his own! Feel free to tell me about Anhui. I have students from there and friends who have been to Huangshan. I've only been to HZ so far and Fuyang and briefly to Shanghai. School has kept me grounded until recently. Thanks for your compliment as well. But I am only a student, no disingenuosity intended. I have much to learn. However, whatever I do learn/discovery I am happy to share. Best, JessinChina Thanks LongHu Shan, I'll do my best for you to answer these questions. Your name means Dragon Tiger Mountain, which LongHu Shan are you named after, may I ask? I love the UK, haven't been there in years. Went to university there back ages ago. Haven't returned since. But I dream of a trip back some day. Best, JessinChina

Transformer has always spoke to me beyond words and music. It was this that came into my head that reminded me of this thread - Row row row your boat, Gently down the stream. Merrily merrily merrily merrily, Life is but a dream. and the Farsi translation on wikipedia - Ride and go with your boat down the stream row and be happy life is beautiful peace

I am generally impressed by the lvl of knowledge of this group. Regarding the HT: If you want to go the HT root, the person specialised in dream yoga is actually Juan Li. He is from New Mexico and teaches in Spain and I think in Germany (his wife is a HT senior instructor from Germany).

Read the book "Opening the Dragon Gate: The Making of A Modern Taoist Wizard" translated by Thomas Cleary. This book is the biography of Wang Liping's life and it is a very fascinating read. Whether or not you believe all of the remarkable things that Master Wang said he did or said his three teachers were capable of doing is true... you decide, but you must still admit that he seems like he would be a very interesting person to talk to and to learn from. It is understandable that after reading this book many people would be interested in having the man as a teacher; he is like the aspiring Taoist alchemist's dream come true. Wang Liping has been called a Taoist Wizard (one who is capable of many supernormal feats), but not an immortal. If by master you mean someone who is a teacher and who has mastered many different techniques and tools for the path, then of course he is a master. If you mean that he has mastered "the Tao," then I think you have to reexamine what the Tao means to you and maybe reread the first line of the Tao Te Ching. Really I think that the English word master is a pretty terrible rendition of Sifu (honorable teacher) from Chinese or Sensei (teacher, literally "born earlier") and sometimes Roshi (venerable teacher) from the Japanese.

Zhuangzi said, and I quote: "A real man does not dream when he sleeps."

Well, since they don't hang out a shingle, traditionally you'd have to go on a hunting trip and hunt one down. I am sorry to say, but I am probably the closest one to such "wisdom master" here, and you can learn from me if you like and if I have the energy and inclination to teach. At the same time, there have to be people much better than me, at least in theory I know this has to be so, but I haven't met or read about them except in ancient stories about people like Chandrakirti or Garab Dorje, or something like that. I don't even think Lin Chi or Dogen are any wiser than yours truly. My real advice is that what you want to know is available to you right inside your own mind. If you address your questions to yourself and instead of jumping to the answer, just let the question sit there as you stay silent, you'll eventually get it. So your own inner mind is your highest wisdom master. You should note that your own inner mind doesn't give a damn about material needs or even you. That's right! There is a "part" of you that doesn't give a damn about what happens to you. Did you know that? Of course it's not really a "part" since it's not apart from anything. Just think it over. Ever had dreams where you die? Why would your mind kill you in its own dream? Supposedly you are your mind's pet avatar, no? Or maybe not. Just pay attention.

With experiencing each moment as new, as in "being here now", "meditating", there is no boredom. Consider two opposite functions to be possible in your brain; "thinking" and "no-thinking". 99.9% of thinking happens automatically and repetitively whenever a stimulus triggers it. All triggers are created from past conditioning. The moment that a human being becomes aware of that thinking happening in their brain, the possibility is immediately available for choosing to "use" the other function of the brain, "no thinking", which I like to call being "mind-space". Here we are at "The Tao that can be told is not the Eternal Tao"... "No words describe it". Meditation can been said to simply be increasing awareness of the activity in the brain. When we humans are unaware of the conditioned thinking happening in the brain, we are living in the dream, the delusion, lost in thought, unconscious robots with our bodies controlled by a bio-computer that is running on old programs that are full of bugs. As soon as we see the thinking happening, and exercise our natural ability to shift to mind-space (non-thinking function), we are simply "being now". Humans have already figured out many types of practices to help us see and expand uses of the possibilities inherent in our brain functioning. All roads lead to the same center. The source of all form is the formless. Therein lies freedom. All else is bondage. (Wei Wu Wei's word choice). Listen to the Silence. It's really fun!

You can try searching for "Shui Gong" on this forum. There was one thread here some time ago where YMWong posted an ancient text on Shui Gong - Dream Practice. Her is the link: Shui Gong

Yes a master of daoism which I believe is now immortal was known for his sleep and dream Qi kung methods and lived for a few hundred years.