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I imagine they are asking because you write about the value of master-student relationship and writing as if you are giving instruction to your students as a master. You value lineage but seem unwilling to produce one. It may not be convenient to expose your masters' backgrounds but hardly seems of value to talk about lineage then. I have my martial arts teachers, not Taoist masters(but they might be). If I speak about their skills or teachings I certainly can back it up with the lineage that I am associated with. Your responses come off as the ubiquitous "the master's teachings came to me in a dream". Remember, real gold does not fear the fire!

Hi all, Colonblow, sounds like the title of a porno! seriously though i got quite into my colon a few years back and ended up doing a seven day fast combined with self administered colonics, i used what is known as a colema board which is a gravity fed colonic device, i got all the stuff for the fast in a kit from bernard jensen international, so for seven days i didnt have any solid food but drank cleanse shakes which was liquid bentonite clay, physillium powder and freshly juiced apples, shaken up together i would drink about five or six of them a day + some apple cider vinegar and honey drinks + dried alphalfa tabs + vitamin c + a shitload of digestive ennzymes oh yeah and numerous niacin flushes throughout the day as well, its all coming back now like a bad dream! anyways the whole things designed to get all the impacted shit out of your colon, and man the stuff just kept coming out, im not a big dude either, so that was fun, the other thing i discovered in the last couple of years that can be combined with a fast is oxymag oxygen magnesium supplement theres a few different brandnames, that stuff will clear you out too, the thing that im into these days though is proper gut health through beneficial bacteria and fermented products, if you have enough good bacteria in your gut and you replenish it daily and eat a reasonable diet you colon should stay clean and healthy, and definately the self massage/abdominal breathing/energy clearing/qi gong/asanas stuff, there is a brand of fermented beverage produced near where i live called grainfields its like a fermented non alcoholic beneficial bacteria/yeast drink the companys run by a microbiologist anyway somebody who knows this guy was telling me that the microbiologists wife had to have some sort of surgery and during the operation they accidently nicked her colon and so they had to do a colonoscopy to see what to do and they were absolutely amazed at how clean and free of impacted matter her colon was, so her and her husband attributed it to how much of this fermented stuff she had drunk over the years! Another thing that i find with colonics and things that purge downwards like oxymag oxy cleanse ect is that from an energetic point of view they can weaken the digestive energy and the upward moving qi of the body, the qi that holds things in place ie pelvic floor, anal sphincter ect, so depending on the person cleansing the colon through colonics, purgatives probably good to do infrequently

Lol, I loved that dream sequence. "There is no price for awesomeness. Or attractiveness." I want to be someone like Master Oogway. It would be nice to die that way.

Yes that intro dream sequence is just hilarious, then you wake up back at home How many of us did that as kids, I wanted to be "Monkey"

Absolutely, the function of a religion, from what I have understood is to 'save' its members. What exactly means to save someone depends on the religion, but generally there is a vague understanding that things are not as cool as they could be or as they should be (at least in respect to our mind or our spirit), and as such we need to find a way to either go there, or change them, or change ourselves. In short reach the state where things are cooler. (NOTE: things are a bit more complicated, as sometimes religions work their way around. FOr example a priest I know, explained me that actually the aim of Chrstianity is not to go to heaven, but to bring heaven to earth. The fact of going to heaven after you die, is more a byproduct of this. Like I remember a Buddhist teacher saying that we were doing an exercise not to reach enlightenment. Our aim was just to do the exercise. Enlightenment, was just a possible byproduct) As such a religion has a function, and in respect to that function you can define a religion to be more effective or less effective. Also this is a bit of circual logic in all this, as a religion is both defining the aim, the way to reach it, and when people have reached it. How do you get out of this circularity? You use society. You use the social feedback to know where you are. Both the common non meditative folks, the meditative people, and the people who are universally recognised to have achieved something. Buddha didn't just became enlightened. He became enlightened and then he teached, and the people took up his teachings. This is a way to permit to society to give a feedback on you and know if what you have achieved has an objective value, or it is just another personal dream, another folding of the Samsara. Another way to know if you have reached something of value is to ask someone who has done so. Or to be tested by someone who has done so. All those methods have been found in the millenia to push people into finding an objective, shared, salvation. And this because all the culture have observed that human beings are very prone to two big weakness: self delusion, and escapism. So each teacher tests himself constantly. They go to each other. They get feedback from their community. They try to understand their enlightenment in the general theory of their religion. And sometimes of other religions as well. The research for a salvation, although done in solitude, is part of a general human quest. We are all in it together. The fact that a religion is popular does not necessarily mean that it brings to any form of salvation. It can as easily bring to a form of escapism and self delusion. People thinking they have reached something then going home and they bite their dog, they slap their kids."But", they say, "all is ok, because all is part of the Dao". This is a way to use the Tao Te Ching not to reach something, but to avoid doing any internal work. I am not saying you do this (how could I know), but that this is a risk. So now we have people from different religions, they are all popular. Are they all equally good to let you be saved? Maybe. But then let us look at things under stress. Because many things which seem to work well under no stress fall apart under stress. Take people who have gone through major trauma. Rape, torture, seeing their children dying sudden and avoidable death. Those are trauma that can remain with a person for the rest of their life. Some of those religions will help you out of them, and some will not. Authentic Taoism will, I know this as a fact. Authentic Buddhism will. Authentic Chrsitianity will. Will their New Age counterpart work as well. I doubt so. So we have a difference between traditions that will help you when things are really bad, and traditions that will only help you when things are moderately ok. And is not a small irrelevant division. This is to answer your question: why assigining a value to religion? To avoid spending time to learn something which you think will help you when thigs are rough, and then discovering that the boat is sinking and the safe jacket is full of holes. But now it is too late. There is also that aspect in everybody. But if you read well what I wrote I did not put all facets of Taoism on the one side, and all other religions on the other. When you read a book what is important is: can you get what was the message of the author. If you got another message that is nice and dandy, but it is not what the author wanted to say. You can start a religion on that, but you cannot claim that that religion is coming from the book. At most that it has been vaguely inspired by the book. That is it your interpretation of that book. You might think that you are getting what the authors of the Tao Te Ching meant. But can you be sure? Can anyone be sure? If there is a continuous tradition who have passed on the meaning along side the book you would know. On the side of many great texts there is an oral tradition that accompany them. This is not meant to take away your freedom to read, enjoy and interpret the tao te ching as you like. Just to claim that that is what it absolutely meant. Oh yes, the bible is a mess on this regard. And Greek, most of the new testament was written in greek by people who spoke greek as their second language! But the bible had a vibrant alive tradition that kep itself alive through the millenia. I mentioned this priest. One time he explained me (I don't remember what the question was) how there was a great debate in the 6th century about what to do of the Christians who first were Chrstians, then when the Romans would take them they would deny their Christianity, and then once they were free, they would try to go back to christianity. And that (St.)Augustine in that occasion said that "no, the gates of the Lord are always open", and as soon as a person declares its sins, and its desires to be accepted, he would be accepted back. (Sorry if this is not exactly it, I am no christian). This priest then concluded how this have been, from that time, the position of the Church. Can you see how there is a debate, an answer, and a continuity in this story. How Christianity takes shape through a collective effort of its members? If you read the creed, you are reading an history text. Every line, every claim is some 50 years of internal discussion in the church. What I am saying is that when a tradition passes through the bottleneck of a single or few person who have to carry the whole tradition, and were not trained to do so, often the religion looses parts of its identity. And possible parts of its healing powers. This is why traditions who are not very popular (like Taoism) tend to have lineages. This is to make sure that at least some person know the whole tradition, and can pass it on. But yes, this brings all sort of power play, that are just not there in more popular religions. I am unfortunately not familiar with them enough to comment. I would need to know how much of the internal teachings of the church has passed on in this community to be able to comment on their effective healing power. Healing power which might still exist, but be coming from the previous local traditions. That is exactly the point. You assume the core values can be picked up from reading the Tao Te Ching by itself. I don't make such assumption. O I test my understanding by going to people who have passed down the traditional meaning of it. No, but the first time you went to the bakery you went with someone who told you which shop was the bakery. There is a risk if you go there alone that you go to another shop (say the shop of self delusional mushrooms). If many people go to the same shop you might be right that that is indeed the bakery. But if back in time there was a time where a single men found this bakery, and he did not know how a bakery looked like. He might have assumed that was a bakery, and then propagated the error. Those are the cases where it is useful to confront your experiences with the people who use to go to the bakery before that one person, and check if the stories collide. Indeed religions evolve over time. I never said this is not so. I am only saying not all evolutions are equally helpful to let you reach a place of equanimity, compassion, and balance.

I'm going to dream about poo ropes tonight. Thank you Yoda and Mal....... But.... I want one!

I've always been told that reiki is a bit rubbish, but coincidentally, last night I had a dream that somebody gave me a reiki healing and it was amaaazing! So maybe I should give it a try

In my opinion the most powerful time to do neigong is during a lucid dream, some of the experiences I have had have been nothing short of amazing.

This is a cool discussion. I'll throw in (sorry no stats available but I suppose I could go off and find the studies, probably in Daniel G's book): - your happiness with respect to your wealth (assuming basic needs are met) could be very dependent on who you compare yourself with. This is why people try to 'keep up with the Jones'' - despite not knowing Mr and Mrs Jones' real subjective level of happiness. I guess the solution to that one is to stop comparing. - your happiness with respect to what is probable in terms of gain in wealth. Note I didn't say 'possible'. I suppose it's another kind of comparison. We have mostly all heard of the 'American Dream'. People who are unable to attain that (possibility, not probability) may being kicking themselves down because they think they ought to be able to achieve it and when they can't, they reject themselves, get depressed etc. It's apparently more likely that kids will not gain or lose very many income points over the course of their lives in comparison with their parents and that any 'parental' effect takes 3 generations to stop having an effect. So while rags to riches (and the opposite) stories have been built up into myth (probably a reason for that;-)) in practice, you're most likely to be about as well off as your parents. The final idea is not really money-related but it's more about accepting that we cannot definitively drive away all negativity, and that this is probably not desirable as there has to be some if you want to experience positive things, in fact, if there isn't, then you can't because you need a negative thing to compare it to. What a circle! So I guess if you don't have any negative things for yourself, then do you make them up? Or I imagine an easier way is to compare... Once you're fine with this idea, then some things seem sweeter and some negative things don't have quite so much weight. I wonder if some cultures aren't more prone than others to believing that everything can always be positive all the time? In which case, could that possibly explain all the neuroleptics it consumes? Cheers, Kate

I've wanted to follow through on this thread but been a bit reluctant at the same time .. anyway ... I'm hoping to get back out there in early December and put exterior doors and windows in. It is a beautiful area for sure but I don't really feel like I own it, it feels more like I am just a visitor there. It will be hot, and you are welcome to visit any time. You live in Australia, don't you Stig? Thanks Yoda, I hope your dream comes true, and I'm glad you are my pal. I've always admired your energy.

I am feeling motivated to give this 100 days thing a shot. Would be interested in doing it as a group with other's practicing Kunlun Nei Kung. So, tomorrow is Dec 1st. So basically looking at doing Kunlun for 1 hour a day along with attempting 100 days of retention. So who else is up for it? We can get feedback on our progress and also share any challenges we are having for future generations of Tao seekers interested in doing Kunlun and 100 days. If your in a realationship don't worry about it. Also, I am not talking about doing Kunlun and some form of tantric sex. Am talking about other guys(being single would help) interested in pure celibacy for 100 days. Just not ejaculating itself doesn't cut it. We need to guard our thoughts and actions with intention. No porn, careful as can be not to let yourself go too far in an erotic dream etc. So it would be cool to get atleast a couple other dudes in on this as a support. We can also talk about how 100 days is improving our Kunlun practice. If our feeling of bliss is getting stronger. If our mind is beginiing to feel clearer and our intention and spiritual aspirations more sound. OK!

teachers have always inspired me to practice. always avoided practice with dream killers. found dancing hands moments from 2001. c8fLIJL5U14

Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Bill Hicks 1961-1994

Funny how some posts make me dream of virtual stun guns Nice how when folks have nothing nice to say they can't wait to say it It's a good thing i don't have children certain things really make me want to bang some heads together. this is very good practice thank you all Shon

Stay Darin ... Like your energies here ... In this world whose nature is like a dream, there is place for praise and blame, but in the ultimate Reality of the Dharmakaya which is far beyond the senses and the discriminating mind, what is there to praise? O thou most Wise!

I read in this book: http://tinyurl.com/5rqksp that some traditions of Taoism do celestial projection to 'walk' the constellations. This is to do with the release of the light body. Does anyone know if this book is worth buying - I read part of it in the book shop but didn't want to buy it unless it was any good. I was impressed by your dream by the way.

Yes I've heard similar things although I went the Occult route. I often think that the disagreements between Taoism and Buddhism are just a smokescreen. I tend to think that Taoism, what ever that is, dislikes the explicit nature of Buddhism especially Tibetan Buddhism. It's ironic that even though Tibetan Buddhism shouts the truth from the rooftops only a few get it. As for Taoism, well there's the 'Tao Te Ching' and that's that!! Oh and as for the body thing I think a person can only be concious in one body at a time so they are all available but are doorways to different levels of perception. You can't be in the dream realms and the physical at the same time consciously. Of course trying to be in two places at once is sorcery and the road to madness.

I feel the same way. For the first time since I've been able to vote (9 years) I really feel proud of our country. I don't think Obama is going to wave a magic wand and fix everything but I do believe that we can get back some of our lost credibility. I also hope that the notion of pre-emptive war has left with the Bush administration. Yes we need to defend ourselves but the first course of action is to prevent the conflict from it's root - not at the gross level by attacking and invading other countries. What I'm most excited about is that I feel hopeful and have heard the first real positive speech from a president-elect in quite some time. The whole idea behind "Yes we can" is very powerful on many levels. I have a renewed sense of hope that as a nation we can solve these problems and revive the American dream of the land of opportunity.

we have had this conversation before. Mwight Sounds like you know a couple of dead beats. unfortunately I too know far too many people who fall into this category. I know one guy who has by far the biggest Occult library i have ever seen, all bought for him by his parents, and stored where he lives, in their Attic. He is covered in 'magical' tattoos, has absolutely no people skill and is on anti depressants. and there are probably thousands+ like him or worse. Same goes for wanna be Taoists, Tantrics, Martial artists, Shaman, muggles, atheists, fashion victims, potheads, blah blah blah. there are millions of mal-adapted people living in their parents basements, simply accepting whatever belief system is most comfortable for them to accept. that doesn't make everyone in their chosen field in their category. What I have learnt from Magick is that if you want the real stuff you have to dig for it, and go 110%, and you have to really live it. Which doesnt mean just reading shlock like ted andrews and wearing a purple velvet robe around like most of the fat pagans out there. As for Enlightenment cant say, ain't there yet. What about all the ancient lama's who sat around all day in deep meditation and never got there. Wasted lives? they never even had any fun... Most systems will agree that a 'prerequisite' for enlightenment is the breaking down the Ego structures. Magick can be Superb for achieving this as you can regularly completely change your sense of self, thus slowly realizing the ego's dream like nature. For me Magick is the perfect adjunct for my Spiritual path. And it Rocks! Occasionally someone asks me why I practice Magick and I find it really hard to answer. I can say "Oh, it help me change things, or create things..." but that just doesn't really cut it for me. How can I convey the feeling of Directly interacting with the Conscious Living Universe - The intense Joy of being in reciprocal relationship with all of life - The constant deepening sense that it is all just a grand play of Consciousness - The complete Mystical breakthrough that a good ritual can deliver - The full opening of ones feeling capacity to everything in existence... Most people seem dead and grey to me. I cant believe how shut down humans are to everything, and how little Magick they have in their lives, mainly because of Fascist patriarchal religions telling everyone that they have the only true and sanctioned way to reality. I just feel a great compassion for them. Because of Magick. In my Tantric Tradition I guess you could say that Magick is on the Shakti/Energy/Immanent side of reality and Meditation is on the Shiva/Consciousness/Transcendent side and also that you cant separate Shiva from Shakti, or Spirit from Creation. Its all one and magick is our birth right. In Joy and Love Seth Ananda

Forgive me if I am repeating people. I have not read through the posts here but felt my perspective might help. In my opinion creation is about process or relationship. Thoughts like anything else in nature come from the the process or communications of heaven and earth yin and yang. You choose to claim or identify with certain thoughts just as you can claim a peace of land. Humanity rests between haven and earth or divinity and biology if you like, one foot in each. This is why I say control is illusional and its attempt is draining, most of the general communication I see is an attempt to predict and manipulate, not communicating freely our ling or true self this drains us. That is true freedom, freedom of expression like in a dream. If I had to pick one thing we control, it is how much we wish to open and create space for this process of the life force. The rest is relating to family. I hope that makes sense and helps.

You don't need a Thomas Ashley-Farrand to teach you mantra. There are absolutely no one-size-fits all when it comes to Mantra meditation. The things that matter are how a Mantra resonates with you and who initiated you into the Mantra or how you came about it. I was given the Gayatri Mantra in the Rig Vedic tradition as that has been my family tradition for thousands of years. I was given the Vasudeva mantra in a dream by a Sadhu when I was going to through an especially tumultuous phase in my life. Some Mantras will draw you automatically (by power of resonance). The special thing about Mantras is in the Meter (known as Chchanda in Sanskrit) and the pronunciation. Before starting Sanskrit mantras, it is very important to first learn how to pronounce the letters of Sanskrit correctly. There are 50 letters in Sanskrit (as opposed to the 26 in English) and there is a proper manner in which they are pronounced. Learning the proper pronunciation, meter, inflection and intonation is paramount if you want to have a successful Mantra meditation practice. Gayatri -- A starter course (I just met this teacher a couple days back) --

You do understand that certain systems have certain practices that are put in order for success to actually happen in that system. Like the Mo Pai for example. It's nice to fantasize about just waking up being able to do all of things that all the masters can do, like John Chang for example but it doesnt work that way. While its true that realization helps in progress but that's not all there is. You dont roll out of bed with a dream and desire and willingness and knowledge of being a doctor. You go in steps. You dont hop onto a weight bench and load up 350 and start hammering out reps. There are people that charge money to teach you and they have abilities and are great teachers but I dont think it's right to charge. It's up to the practitioner if he or she feels the teacher is worth the money. The best teacher's I've ever met dont charge a cent, just blood sweat and tears as they say. Most of us will walk through life blindfolded to reality. Some of us will read a little something or feel a little something or see a little something and be inspired and want to learn more. It's ok to have a master or teacher that can instruct you because most people dont know what to do. It's nice to wake up and realize that we are all apart of something bigger but then what? Do you devote time to meditation, prayer, work, what? People dont know that answer usually. The uninitiated, when you mention meditation, they think of a yogi in a cave going " OOOMMMMMMM" all day and night, they know nothing of moving meditation, lying meditation, or that yoga is meditation etc. Some people have a natural knack of picking up on certain meditations, like Wim Hof. I agree that we are all capable of awakening to a whole other level of existence, I wouldnt say it's just a flip of the switch however. I'd slap you if I were bling owl uriah's right. John has never charged a cent for either teaching or healing. Even before he got into the business of making a shit load of money, he healed free of charge. It's the mo pai way. Free.

I just came back from my brother's funeral services. This experience brings these questions right to the front. In my physical/energy practice I am building a container for spiritual awakening, for wholeness, for healing, for realizing the one. The extra energy, stillness, flexibility and strength are all side benefits. So I am not after special powers. I didn't have this stated goal when I began. I was just drawn to it, my practice being qigong, taiji, and providing an enviornment for the unfolding of conciousness. I am not necessarily thinking extremely clearly right now, but I wanted to share with this group my feelings right now about how precious life is. Even though I don't have the answers about ultimate meaning, one can easily see and sense that life here on this planet is a precious gift. The one sure thing is that if you are here, you will leave some day. We come into this world innocent and pure. We meet pain, learn to build a false self identity, and create a lot of suffering for ourselves, and others. It seems we have lost our way. Then the meaning (for myself anyway) becomes finding your way back in conciousness to the source, not that you can really be separated from it (so they say), so maybe better stated as droping the illusion or waking from the dream. Anyway, the feel of it is wholeness, becoming whole again, and healing the essential wound. I am keenly aware of this purpose right now, more than at normal times. I wanted to share this and open a discussion of how you find meaning, purpose and direction in your life and how your practice plays a role in it. Peace to all.

So far I amazed at the results of this course so far. My entire body is opening up and i am becoming a happier, more loving, and more energized person. This week we are working on the heart chakra and its amazing how quickly I am feeling the warmth and loving feelings in my chest. Anyone debating whether or not to do it should really do it. I got my reiki attunement yesterday by Tao. I was kind of closed off during the session, (kinda cause I had to go #2 and my focus was elsewhere). After I did some KAP work and opened up my body seems to have accepted the energy. Ever since my body is ringing full of energy that Im trying to cycle through the chakras. Tao said Glenn popped in during the transmission. I find my interactions with others to be a lot easier, especially when working on the heart chakra. People can almost sense a genuineness and openness in the energy I am projecting. I also have a lot of people who I haven't talked to communicating with my via facebook, and I have had several dreams about people I know who later told me they were thinking about me at the time I was having the dream. It's getting more and more fun to play.

I don't think the discussion should degrade into the good or bad of any minority. Thats the meat and bread of rascists who live for that kind of stuff, neatly putting each group in its place, with there own on top. To me the focus is on the event that caused it. A person who's friendly and willing to help til he finds out the other is a Kike, Chink, Nigger, Belgium, then says 'You know what, I can't help you' is very prejudice. They may not be bad, but they're fools, cutting themselves out of a huge body knowledge and the potential for friends. The person who goes beyond 'I can't help you' and into 'By the way you're a dirty Belgiumer, is in my mind much worse, a bad person. Willing to go the extra mile to insult someone needless. A person with a cancer of the soul. They're not just prejudice, they're nasty, they get kicks hurting others. Procurator is a troll, this thread is a wet dream for him because he's a negative person who craves negative attention. Michael