Search the Community

What is the difference between a dream and reality? That one does not disappear when you wake up. Or you can say if you really have something you are less prone to the pain of discovering that it was all a delusion. Said that there are some things in which believing something might help you to get it. But believing something is not having it. Example you might thinkl you have 1000 dollar in your pocket, and this might give you the confidence to go at an interview and eventually have the job, and then the money. But just believing that is so, it just doesn't work. Especially when you try to pay with it. it is this kind of concept that I think is the more viral and dangerous part of the new age mentality. And the one that most of us received as part of our HT training.

The secret... fasting, meditation(trance), and celibacy, and feeling not visualizing energy... It doesn't have to be complicated. The more time you spend going deeper and deeper into trance, the more aware you become, the more you "wake up" from this dream, the more lucid you become, and the more control you have over it. some things for you to check out robert peng www.robertpeng.com is also able to generate electricity like john chang. The secret... everyone wants to know... is the trance state... the deeper in trance you go the more enlightened you can become. Trance work is the key... check out energy work by robert bruce and buy robert pengs dvd both are worth their weight in gold

Hi Everyone, I've had Chia's books since I was ~ 18 never had a need to use them but now at 33 they are more useful (Why does sexual response change? what makes a man at 18 able to have sex all the time and at 33 just not feel like trying again for a day or so ? ) Anyhow at the start of the year I was using the big draw out of Chia's Taoist Secrets of Love: Cultivating Male Sexual Energy, and then moved onto his Multiorgasmic Man books, same method newer books I had success with the big draw but I started to feel a bit "out of sorts", depression after ejaculation (probably due to "failure" feelings) continual "sexual" feelings that wouldn't go away no matter how much I ejaculated / masturbated. So I stoped trying Chia's methods in April and went with Dr Lyn's Method. I got his CD a few months ago it's excellent, worth every penny and it's only cheep. Basically I have reached the stage where I am extremely happy with my physical performance and this month I had my first non- ejaculatory sexual experience where I felt totally satisfied and happy (i.e. just like I had ejaculated) I also have Healing Love through the Tao: Cultivating Female Sexual Energy by Mantak Chia I want to try dual cultivation....... So............................. how badly wrong can things go? :/ I'm am worried about trying to work with sexual energy, especially without a teacher. I think I'm quite self aware and I have a long history of trying mystical things and monitoring what goes on in my body and have my Tai Chi and Kung Fu practice as a safeguard when I stuff up energy work. And they do say "the teacher will show up when the student is ready" and I have wanted to try dual cultivation since I was 18 So I'm thinking that maybe that time is now. Any suggestions on how to proceed, resources etc specifically for women as I really have no idea what to suggest or to watch out for? Thanks in advance Mal p.s. I wasn't going to add this part but I have been doing Lyn's Anal Breathing and playing with moving energy this month and this weekend I had the same "over sexed" feeling that I experienced previously. I was doing single cultivation without ejaculation and I just didn't want to stop. Rather than diminishing my sexual urge ejaculation just made me frustrated as I still felt "sexual" but had to "wait" before I could do anything about it. A few days of masturbation to ejaculation 3 times a day seems to have setteled those feelings down now. In retrospect mastubating that much is how I use to feel when I was 18 edited due to a dream

Paul I hope you know Mantis well enough to allow him to sleep on yr brain- I realize yr too old to ask yr mom if you can have a sleep-over date but be advised... numbing ones' brain can become as adictive as any opiate ... I had a dream a few nights ago where-in I did a sort of "I am one with everything meditation" and I had an instantanious rush of feelings that were very much akin to being opiated - & I'm talking Thai-pure/dream-land bye bye for now high... more intense than most of my meditative highs-tho not all of them... But when it was over -oh so very quickly... I had the feeling/thought that my "being all with one" as a philosophy had become a sometime thing and the dream was telling me to try to make it more permanent... The best way I know to do that is continued meditation on being one with all... I shall report back later if I can carry this forward to some lasting & affective state... But since I am now working in a deli- (cutting/slicing meat for customers much of the time) -it is kind of hypocritical of me to try so very hard in that effort.... It is the only job I was offered and had to take it ... Ironic NO?!

It's an interesting time. I feel the world is a bit out of balance; war without peace, hate without love, ignorance without enlightenment. These are all problems which require more thought than I am currently capable of devoting. Corruption runs unchecked, entire nations live in oblivion. In one way I suppose this has always been the status quo, but in another I know we are capable of so much more. Realizing the futility of trying to change the world is a sobering experience. What remains when you abandon the world? Only oneself. And in this realization I find another world of imbalance. Vanity without true health, material wealth without substance, work without lesure: a chaotic existance. A fickle pursuit of money, meaningless attraction, trivial sexual escapades, cars, alchohol, and prestige; expensive hotels, insincere politeness from those around you, artificial friends, beatiful girls who are genuinely disinterested or useless. Wasted potential and wasted time. But is it really? Does it make you less of a mystic or less of a sage if you drive a BMW? Wouldnt a true mystic drive nothing at all? Maybe so, but is this man truly a sage or an enlightened individual, or is he merely living up to the stereotype which we have created for a wandering monk? It is a series of questions... What is the balance to a life of excess? Charity? Raising children? So many questions. What does a monk do with wealth? Give it away? I find myself surrounded by things that denote success. But I feel no satisfaction in it. It is merely the fruits of years of compromising what is important to me. My free spirit is subdued for the sake of profit, for alas my sense of necessity is keen on the fact that wealth is a necessary evil. Still, there has to be something more. One could say the classic life of the clergyman or seeker is dead. No longer is it possible simply to leave behind your belongings and wander for years. Nobody will take you into your home and give you sanctuary for a night of your journey, you can no longer simply bed down when your feet are tired, or when you come upon somewhere you identify with. The passages in Basho's work today seem fiction, though just a few hundred years ago it was a perfectly acceptable and even admirable life. Now there are taxes, insurance, bills for everything even if you own nothing, superhighways, hotels, and the mindset that a wandering man in shabby clothes is a vagrant rather than a poet or wiseman. The few places on earth that offer the sanctuary of a monastery are across the world, where I do not speak the language nor could I ever hope to integrate wholly. I would be just another westerner and judged as such. Rightfully so, for there have surely been many an insincere round-eye who's gone this route. What is a modern monk? Such a concept is laughable to most, and disgraceful to the rest. What would my family think if I simply quit my jobs, sold my cars and said I'm becoming what is essentially a bum? Could I be happy with no money, no respect, and no future? Would it be a passing phase where after a few years I would be fed up? I'd be left behind by my industry and essentially useless. It makes a man think what is important to a man. What our society values is not what I value, but I still feel compelled to live up to the American dream. So, where does it leave me... I'm not even sure anymore. Life is nothing more than balance, can I strike a balance between conventional success and unconventional prosperity? This is the current iteration of my adventure, and I will start sharing it here. Let's chat some time.

And I thank you for your thoughts, Todd. Well of course I have a general theory of everything of sorts, but I know it's incomplete, so I don't have a complete response to the "what the hell is going on" question. I use taoist arts, sciences and practices and some other goodies from other sources as tools to help me fill in the gaps in my perceptions, cognition, and -- most importantly -- memory (not my personal memory, which is decent, but the collective memory of the human race, and of life on earth in general, and of life in the universe in general.) For there's no understanding today from looking at today. What is going on is usually what has been going on for a while, and the closer to the origin of this process one can get, the better one's chances to understand the present picture. Of all the things that the Ten Wings (e.g.), the oldest surviving commentaries on the I Ching, call "the virtues of tao," I am presently trying to focus on the one virtue completely overlooked by most seekers who seek elsewhere: Heng. Endurance. Duration. Reliability. Tao's virtue is that she isn't new-age-style flaky. Tao is Heng, you can count on her. You can count on tao to finish what she starts, to deliver sense when a promise of things making sense has been made, to not call you and cancel on you at the last moment when you're all set to go to the show. Dreams aren't like that. Dreams are flaky. Now you dream this, now you dream that, I once dreamed I was a character in The Simpsons cartoon, totally 2-D and kinda grokking it -- I painted myself onto a wall when I wanted to hide from another character, e.g. -- so, yes, it was possible to be something else in a dream and totally perceive yourself as "real" for a while... the litmus test for telling this kind of real from the real real is, the unreal illusory dreamlike-real doesn't last, it has no Heng, it has no glue. And therefore is devoid of the main virtue of tao. Tao has glue, once it starts you as a 2-D character of The Simpsons, you last, as Bart or Homer or Mr. Burns -- and once it starts you as a 3-D character in your present material life, you last a bit (or a lot) longer and in a more comprehensive fashion if all goes well. All going well so that such a project of tao's as "my personal this-here life" can last for as long as she intended it to was probably the main concern of the "holy sages" of taoist classics. They didn't get much more ambitious than that. A good life with reliable Heng is good enough. Pending that, nothing else is, far as I'm concerned. Life has to be taken care of as though it is absolutely real and absolutely matters -- because it is, and it does.

Does anyone else here use emotional music in their practice? What are your thoughts? Any recommendations? Tool: Third Eye; Lateralus A Perfect Circle: Vanishing Forest For The Trees: Dream

Funny you should mention cyborgs. I've been using the cyborg metaphor for my experience a fair amount recently. Naturally, I've been using it differently from how you just used it. To me, the cyborg parts of myself were the ones that were true, and the human parts were in reaction to being in contact the cyborg parts. Imagine a metal breast with a ragged edge of flesh bordering it, inflamed and twitching occasionally. This metaphor seemed natural, since truth doesn't have any problem with untruth... only untruth has a problem. A macabre metaphor when it is separated from the felt sense of hyper-aliveness of truth--- moving so quickly that it might just seem still. Well anyway, thats was mostly just a place holder for deeper experience... a way of avoiding a deeper what is. As far as everything being a dream or not, you are absolutely right. Everything is not a dream. Everything is most definitely something. If it were not something, who would be having this conversation? We could get into the semantics of, "sure its something, but why can't we call that something a dream? Perhaps it is useful at a certain point to call that something a dream? After all, isn't a dream something?" That aside, lets just say that everything is not a dream. However, as you have often said, most people do not experience everything with nearly the immediacy and richness that they could. The reason for this may just be all the things that we assume to be true about ourselves and the world that are not actually true. Since they aren't actually true, and we insist on assuming them, the natural result is that we don't see and feel things quite as they are. This distorted perception feels like disconnection. The question, for someone who wants to feel more connected, becomes, "How do I realize that the untrue things that I assume to be true, are not actually true?" Thats a good one. We've a got a lot of answers to that one. Cultivate until your energy gets so strong that it burns all falsehood away, and you merge with the universe, yet remain distinct. Give up everything and let the world take you. Say God's name ten million times. Do good works. Love your neighbor. Recapitulate evolution, integrating all species that ever were into your personal being, becoming the pinnacle of life. I can't speak for anyone else, but none of those seem to work, as long as I haven't examined the basic assumptions that are creating my experience of separation in this very moment. They might work for a bit, to create an experience, but they always seem to fade as long as we aren't prepared to go all the way into our more basic assumptions about existence. This is where descriptions of the world as an illusion come in handy. If a person hears this at the right time, in the right state of mind, then they might just begin to examine everything that they once held sacred. I can't speak for Mr. Twain in this regard, but as far as I can tell, references to the illusory nature of existence are only useful when they are used to inspire such unrestricted questioning of the nature of existence. "What in the hell really exists!? I hear this, "everything is illusion," and it strikes chord with me. In fact, I've always known, somewhere, that nothing is quite right, even when everything seems to be going right. But here I am, asking the question. I can feel myself-- being. But what the hell is really happening? Where does this feeling come from?" Funny thing is, that though someone who takes that all the way might describe the result as realization of nothingness, here they still are, talking to us. Nothingness and illusion are just words, which only describe movements of being. Nothingness is just a movement away from illusion, described as nothing since it is actually the ceasing of false movement. However, it easily becomes another illusion. Illusion is tricky like that. Thats enough spouting off, but I'd like to add my appreciation to Taomeow for the prodding. We'll see if I grab onto these words, as I have onto others in the past. Its a good learning experience to watch myself start believing thoughts, even as I am trying to open a door for others to question their beliefs. The key word there might be "others." This dialog may also just be uncovering tendencies to belief in me that would have remained hidden if not for the stimulus. Though it may also just be a cul-de-sac. Either way, thank you.

In his autobiography he mentioned two paranormal events, that I recall: 1. Early in their marriage, his wife had fallen while ice skating, and was bedridden for some time - no one was able to help her. A healer came to town and someone said, "we've tried everyone else, let's try the quack". They did, and the healer was very clearly talented. Immediately partially healed her, said the cure was partial and that he'd reached the limits of his ability, and described what he thought her probable permanent condition would be - and, viewing from near the end of his life, Twain said that the healer had been correct. Twain asked the guy how the healing worked, and the guy said that he didn't know, but that he thought it was some kind of electricity. 2. Twain had a vivid prescient dream about his brother's death.

Taomeow, How can any of us be sure that anyone else has really dreamed the same dream for thousands of years? Perhaps we just dreamed that they have... It all goes back to the question of verifying a consciousness other than your own. I personally have not yet developed a way of doing this, thus I remain open to the possibility that I am imagining everyone and everything else. Mark Twain was a great writer, and he touched on many of the topics that made people uncomfortable in his time. A completely unrelated peice that I enjoyed was "The War Prayer", a short story that I recommend to anyone who likes his style.

"Most people imagine god as a cat with his paw in the fish tank." -- Terrence McKenna And why is that? Why, if it's all a dream, billions have been dreaming the same dream for the past fifteen thousand years? and nobody, before that?.. Looks more like the kind of dream induced by sending a signal from a central computer to the microchip imbedded in a cyborg's pineal gland. Do check yours, and if you find one, pull it out -- then you'll hear the music of the spheres and know the universe is real. "It's beautiful, you balmy bastards, this is not a dream." -- George Starbuck

The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain No. 42 Chapter 11 (note the character Satan refers to a non-evil young nephew of Satan) For as much as a year Satan continued these visits, but at last he came less often, and then for a long time he did not come at all. This always made me lonely and melancholy. I felt that he was losing interest in our tiny world and might at any time abandon his visits entirely. When one day he finally came to me I was overjoyed, but only for a little while. He had come to say good-by, he told me, and for the last time. He had investigations and undertakings in other corners of the universe, he said, that would keep him busy for a longer period than I could wait for his return. "And you are going away, and will not come back any more?" "Yes," he said. "We have comraded long together, and it has been pleasant--pleasant for both; but I must go now, and we shall not see each other any more." "In this life, Satan, but in another? We shall meet in another, surely?" Then, all tranquilly and soberly, he made the strange answer, "There is no other." A subtle influence blew upon my spirit from his, bringing with it a vague, dim, but blessed and hopeful feeling that the incredible words might be true--even must be true. "Have you never suspected this, Theodor?" "No. How could I? But if it can only be true--" "It is true." A gust of thankfulness rose in my breast, but a doubt checked it before it could issue in words, and I said, "But--but--we have seen that future life--seen it in its actuality, and so--" "It was a vision--it had no existence." I could hardly breathe for the great hope that was struggling in me. "A vision? --a vi--" "Life itself is only a vision, a dream." It was electrical. By God! I had had that very thought a thousand times in my musings! "Nothing exists; all is a dream. God--man--the world--the sun, the moon, the wilderness of stars--a dream, all a dream; they have no existence. Nothing exists save empty space--and you!" "I!" "And you are not you--you have no body, no blood, no bones, you are but a thought. I myself have no existence; I am but a dream--your dream, creature of your imagination. In a moment you will have realized this, then you will banish me from your visions and I shall dissolve into the nothingness out of which you made me.... "I am perishing already--I am failing--I am passing away. In a little while you will be alone in shoreless space, to wander its limitless solitudes without friend or comrade forever--for you will remain a thought, the only existent thought, and by your nature inextinguishable, indestructible. But I, your poor servant, have revealed you to yourself and set you free. Dream other dreams, and better! "Strange! that you should not have suspected years ago--centuries, ages, eons, ago! --for you have existed, companionless, through all the eternities. Strange, indeed, that you should not have suspected that your universe and its contents were only dreams, visions, fiction! Strange, because they are so frankly and hysterically insane--like all dreams: a God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave his angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice and invented hell--mouths mercy and invented hell--mouths Golden Rules, and forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who mouths morals to other people and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him!... "You perceive, now, that these things are all impossible except in a dream. You perceive that they are pure and puerile insanities, the silly creations of an imagination that is not conscious of its freaks--in a word, that they are a dream, and you the maker of it. The dream-marks are all present; you should have recognized them earlier. "It is true, that which I have revealed to you; there is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a dream--a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought--a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!" He vanished, and left me appalled; for I knew, and realized, that all he had said was true.

Saw them yesterday for the first time at good resolution. Saw the first video of "Dragons of Wudang" as well. Was inspired to post some video of a Shaolin monk on my home site. There is a video of him paying respects to a tablet of Bhodidharma and then free forming a little and you can see him ... shrinking ... his form down in this tight hallway... The internet is providing some windows in which we must truely discern and follow through, because the arts are at a time in which the technological growth accross the landscape can be ergonomically tempered w/ individuals who understand the art. I digress. Protect Mother Earth. Just being around people EVERYday that are moving in similar ways is a powerful experience. Not to mention being around people on a parrallel spiritual path. If you have a practice you do everyday you can really get in your body more then someone who doesnt and learn things faster through mimicry. At my first opportunity training w/ Sei Gung in 2000 we learned a wei dan chi gung 'form', perhaps 'guide' is a better term. But I think because I traveled to learn it, I learned it fast and was motivated to practice it for benifits. A year later i went back and we started learning the classic 108. I practiced the 1st section for a year before I learned the rest. Everytime I've traveled to learn it really turns out well, never fails to take me out of my element to 'let go' of un-needed patterns and look at myself and the universe w/ a different perspective, oh yeah... and learn more FASTER. This type of learning isn't just about memorization, it's about optimal health & movement. Currently researching it. China is a big country. I am attracted to the movements of wudang because of the spirals I see coming off of them. But there are more masters around there than Shifu Yuan, 72 peaks? A Ley Hunters Dream.

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 _____________________________________________________________________________ "A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." Albert Einstein _____________________________________________________________________________ It is said that soon after his enlightenment the Buddha passed a man on the road who was struck by the Buddha's extraordinary radiance and peaceful presence. The man stopped and asked, "My friend, what are you? Are you a celestial being or a god?" "No," said the Buddha. "Well, then, are you some kind of magician or wizard?" Again the Buddha answered, "No." "Are you a man?" "No." "Well, my friend, then what are you?" The Buddha replied, "I am awake."

I don't mean to offend anyone even witches and or warlocks Please don't hex me My opinion is only based on the witches I have met personally. I have known quite a few individuals who label themselves witches (wiccan) and or practitioners of high magick. They believe (they being the ones I have met) if they construct the correct potions, with herbs and crystals and moonlight and spells, and chants, and insignia's and magickal seals, and whatnot... they can somehow cause great changes to their reality. (I aint seen it yet) I have pointed out there is no direct and immediate feedback in this process (i.e. you have to wait days, weeks, months even for the spell to kick in) and that observing the results scientifically would be impossible, unless they could produce direct and immediate effects like telekinesis etc. I have also remarked that it would be most logical to study under masters who have actually DONE something amazing, learn from them instead of trying to reinvent the wheel so to speak.. All my attempts to be rational and logical with them failed and then crashed and burned. It seems to me they (they being the ones I know) don't really care about ultimate truth, about waking up from this dream, about developing real power, they want to play dress up and make mud pies to feed to their voodoo dolls. Lots of silly ritual, no real meditation, no real search for the truth. Do I think they are evil? NO... I do however think just making up things and reading a few books written by people with no real power, and then pretending you have some great cosmic power to manipulate reality (but your still living with your parents) is delusional and heading into fruit cake territory.

Agharta, very interesting! I had heard of clay for fasting, but never tried it. Hadn't considered it an everyday thing. All I have is bentonite right now. Cat, I'm glad there's another soul out there who knows how to dream big! If I live to tell the tail (sorry) I'll let you know. -Yoda

Hi, a non-expert for sure (as sure as the day) that I am, somethings from my own experience tells me that the Universe will re-arrange for you when your intent is right. Back in 2002/3, I had started rigorous Tai Chi and pranayama/mediation techniques (albeit self-taught) and I had teachings via a series of dreams (most folks would consider me as being reasonably "sane"). Perhaps most folks don't consider "Dream teaching" as valid, but it was real as it gets and that was real meditation. Maybe the teacher is out there, right within your sight, but you are not able to see him/her? We sometimes close our mind to possibilities because of pre-conceived notions of what "should be". My Tai Chi Teacher tells us that we need to hold a beginner's mind, without which learning cannot happen (I'm not saying you aren't doing that, but simply that it is recommended). however, most of times, I don't know what the heck I'm talking about...

Hello, I felt the other thread got way too off topic. Perhaps this thread can focus simply as a directory for Masters with such abilities that offer books, or DVDs of their teachings, rather than a debate on the subject. This could possibly apply to books/DVDs written by their advanced students also. Thanks in advance -m ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I would also like to add that I do not believe in the supernatural or paranormal. There is only the natural world, anything we call supernatural is merely because of our lack of understanding of said phenomenon. I am seeking enlightenment, and more importantly liberation from this cycle of death and rebirth. That is my goal for this life, and I intend to do my very best to achieve that, and help others do the same. I view practices like the lei shan dao (lightning and thunder path) which have a level based system, and develop powers as milestones along this system, as the only viable method for accomplishing my goals in this lifetime. To be honest I view this reality as a dream, and have no interested in showing off magic tricks, or harming, or controlling other people. I want out, and the fastest and most logical method for this is finding a master who can back up his development along the path with abilities(such as robert peng, or john chang). I do already have a neigong master (cannot comment further, please don't ask) who is absolutely amazing and who can some amazing things, however I want to learn all I can from all the masters I can, so I can find my own way as I always have. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So Far..... Max Christensen (Lama Dorje): http://www.risingredphoenix.com/ Robert Peng: http://www.robertpeng.com/

Randi offers 1mil to anyone who can prove supernatural or occult abilities. The challenge is rigged from the get-go... there is no such thing as supernatural or occult abilities. Even John Chang explains his abilities are completely natural. Even a Level 72 Mo Pai Master would have no supernatural abilities. If Randi were really serious he would word his challenge differently. I am seeking enlightenment, and more importantly liberation from this cycle of death and rebirth. That is my goal for this life, and I intend to do my very best to achieve that, and help others do the same. I view practices like the lei shan dao (lightning and thunder path) which have a level based system, and develop powers as milestones along this system, as the only viable method for accomplishing my goals in this lifetime. To be honest I view this reality as a dream, and have no interested in showing off magic tricks, or harming, or controlling other people. I want out, and the fastest and most logical method for this is finding a master who can back up his development along the path with abilities(such as robert peng, or john chang). I do already have a neigong master (cannot comment further, please don't ask) who is absolutely amazing and who can some amazing things, however I want to learn all I can from all the masters I can, so I can find my own way as I always have. I know robert peng is one such person, and I do plan on training with him. I thought maybe other people here might know of other such masters. Thanks in advance. -m

Um... if I was to avoid killing what I eat, this would by no means be limited to meat. When you bake leavened bread (as I do), drink kefir or yogurt or kombucha, make miso soup or munch on sauerkraut, you kill living beings -- yeast cultures are living beings, and incidentally, animals, not plants! So if you mean it's OK to kill plants but not animals, lots of food groups in addition to meat will have to be abandoned. All fermented foods. All foods that haven't been sterilized to death -- these have billions of animals, bacterial animals, in every bite. So you probably mean it's not OK to kill animals for food that are big enough for you to notice. Meaning, long as you're in denial because you can't see what you're killing, you qualify as a non-killer. If you were to kill a human being, e.g., without noticing (as in a hit and run car accident when you're too drunk to pay attention and to even notice that you hit some pedestrians), this would be perfectly fine if we follow this logic. However, there's another problem. What did vegetables do to you? Why is it OK to kill them for food while it's not OK to kill animals? Do you hate plants? Do you despise them and therefore deny them the status of "living beings?" They ARE living beings, believe me. I spent one most enlightening summer learning from a fern, Sifu Fern in my backyard who told me in a dream he would teach me, and did. I learned Sacred Geometry from him, three months of the best education I ever had (and I do have a master's degree from a human university! ) Doesn't it prove that this plant is not only a living but a sentient being? Some Native Americans call trees Plant People, they even go as far as to call some rocks Rock People. If I were to adopt a faith that forbids eating live beings, in this system, as well as in classical taoism, I'd be prohibited to even put salt on my food... and, furthermore, WHAT, if anything, could I really eat at all with this prohibition in mind if taking the blinders off lets one see that everything in creation is a living being and avoiding the use of same for food is simply not one of tao's concerns? And my cat, my cat! you mean I would be spiritually or morally superior to my gentle but incorrigibly carnivorous cat sage if I was a vegetarian? That's speciesm in my book, the worst form of racism!

actually, it's not all that secretive at all. there are tons of books (some better than others) that deal with the subject as well as give training tips. shaolin still practices iron shirt, and they teach it openly. healing tao university offers iron shirt as one of their fundamentals. come to think of it, i'm having trouble thinking of any system with martial roots that doesn't offer some form of iron shirt training. i don't know what fantastic feats you saw in these movies, but iron shirt really isn't all that complicated. the conditioning process is long and can be painful, but there's no real magic to it. you won't be able to stop bullets or anything. you take thousands of blows and condition your body. you pack qi in your limbs and torso to nourish your body. then you take thousands of blows to condition your body. i say that more in jest; it's not quite that simple. but it's not all that complicated or mystical, either. back when i was a fighter, i could take a bat to the ribs with little problem. i wouldn't dream of trying it now. i can still break bricks, but it doesn't take iron shirt training to do that. there were even a couple of parlor tricks i could perform, but they didn't make me special or fulfilled as i thought they would. but what WAS significant was that i was less aware of the subtleties in my body, and i sustained organ damage as a result of stress. let me emphasize: i did NOT sustain damage from any blow. i sustained damage from continued stress, and much of that stress was a result of my training at the time. so it depends on the degree to which you take it.

reading through these posts reminds me of the serious error i committed in the beginning of semen retention. you become obsessed with trying not to ejaculate that you make your mind go haywire. in the taoist texts it says that you should and can ejaculate every now and then, for a man of 20-30 years of age i believe it's once every four days. if you decide not to do it then it may be in vain as you can ejaculate during wet dreams which you may not remember so you actually may have ejaculated and not known about it! the taoist texts mention that when you ejaculate during a wet dream it is 100x more harming and the same goes for ejaculating in the winter. my advice is to simply find your cycle. if when you ejaculate you feel refreshed, light, joyful and what not then that is the time frame you need to use. if you feel depressed, drained, fatigued, etc then you need to give yourself a longer period. i hope this will help!

I have this book on dream yoga "The Tibetan Yogas Of Dream and Sleep" that i think some people would be interested in that I want to upload but i don't wanna upload it and have it taken down.

I saw "the men who fell to earth" ! I was a huge Bowie fan back in those days. It was amazing, as Bowie really did seem out of place on this planet. ( I like nic roeg's films, generally.) voice, yes I saw the fountain last week, and I enjoyed it. I loved the sensous visuals, and the music and the general texture and ambience of the piece. (And Hugh Jackman's looks!) It was like a moving painting, or a half dream, so I enjoyed it as it made a change from the more usual linear narratives that the movie business offers us. but I wouldnt argue if you wanted to say it was ultimately trite. At the moment I'm loving christopher guest's movies... ( he made 'spinal tap') have you seen waiting for guffman"? I like mockumentary humour. I'd like to know what movies sean recommends....? Gary Oldman as Dracula is one of the most memorable performances I've ever seen, absolutely. How about Klaus Kinski? he's an interesting actor. HAs anyone seen Fitzcarraldo? And I never forget when I first saw Harvey Keitel and Robert de Niro in "Mean Streets".... wowee...

Everyone is familiar with the first three spatial dimensions, length width and height. The next three are temporal, and can be described as: duration(lifespan), possibility(possible life paths), and infinity. Each higher dimension is an infinite expansion of the previous dimension. Dimension 0 is a point, a point is coordinate which lacks any definite size or shape. Dimension 1: if you use one point to denote a beginning, and another an end, then connect these two you have created a line. A line is a one dimensional object, and it is also contains an infinite number of points, as it can be seen as an infinite expansion of a point. Dimension 2: if you take parallel lines and connect them you have a plane or square. It could be said that this square contains an infinite number of lines, as it can be seen as an infinite expansion of a line. Dimension 3: if you take parallel planes and connect them you have made a cube. This cube contains an infinite number of planes, as it can be seen as an infinite expansion of a square or plane. Dimension 4: it helps if you visualize this like a solid 3D object forming a line. The forth dimension is the duration (or lifespan) of a third dimensional object. From birth to death, creation to destruction, it is like a line as in dimension 1. If you could view yourself as a 4D object, your birth on end, and death on another you would look like a long worm. Imagine you ten minutes ago, you now, and you ten minutes in the future. When viewed from a 4D perspective it would completely and totally SOLID. The only thing which moves through this solid object is your consciousness. From this perspective it is almost like it is pre-recorded, much like a record or a dvd. It is the needle or laser which moves along the disc, which creates the music and movies we perceive. It is your consciousness which acts precisely like a needle or laser, creating the reality you see around you. If you remember how a line contains an infinite number of points, you will realize how the 4th dimension contains an infinite number of 3D slices we call "the present" Dimension 5: The fifth dimension is possibility, or possible life paths one can take. (imagine an infinite number of 4D lines forming a 5D square) The most popular (and accepted) interpretation of quantum mechanics is the MWI (Many Worlds Interpretation). For each possibility there is a world in which it is an actuality. This has also been called the "multi-verse". Lets say this morning you decide to have juice instead of tea, there is also a world with a "you" just as real and living having tea instead of juice. There are an infinite number of possible choices and outcomes in ones life, based upon your choices, thoughts, actions etc. Each of these infinite possible paths represent one singular 4D line. The plane or square in this case represents all the possible timelines and possibilities for one 3D object. The 5th Dimension contains all possibilities which exist from the creation of a said object, until its destruction or death. Dimension 6: The sixth dimension is infinity. Everything that is, was or ever could be. The 5th dimension dealt with the possibilities of one observer, it could then be said that the 6th dimension deals with the possibilities for all possible observers, in all possible universes, at all possible moments in time, all at once, as one singular coherent solid object. We started out with a point, a coordinate which lacked any definite size or shape, and yet we have returned to that. Infinity, a solid, and still object, which contains every possible past, present, and future, for every possible observer, in all possible universes. There is nothing else to measure it by or compare it to, so it becomes a point, of indeterminate size or shape. What then could be said of us? What exactly are we? The best answer I have found is that we are waves of consciousness which exist as a point flowing through this infinity, for what purpose I am unsure. I do know that the belief you have a body, a life, and ego, identity etc. are false. We are something more than that. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 "My uncreated and unending profound Enlightenment ensures my perfect insight into the realm of Ultimate Truth, where the one is infinite and the infinite is one." -Buddha "He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye." -Buddha