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First of all, a sincere thank you for taking the time to reply so fully and openly. Regarding the reason I felt my contributions to have been resented - I simply spoke my truth when I recounted my experiences last year when I had been training in FPCK for a while. I wrote about the time it was taking me to complete each section of each meditation, and I knew that no-one believed me, and had the distinct impression that my answer was viewed as being in search of praise or perhaps looking to boost my ego. In fact it was a real issue for me, as it still is, due to the fact that at such a slow pace I would literally need all day to complete all the meditations, and at that point if memory serves me, I was only practicing Volumes 1 and 2, possibly 3 as well, so you can imagine what it is like now that I have included Volume 4 and 7...Sifu Dunn did eventually provide me with a full reply, but by that time I had lost track of the original content when I originally posed my questions and was in turn then unable to reply. That is to be expected, but my point is that this was an issue which was actually interfering with my training, or my ability to do so in a confident manner. I don't need hand-holding, and have many years of various types of Qigong cultivation under my belt. But when I ask for help is because I really need it. I am far from being a new member. In fact I was a well known and regular contributor under a different name since several years ago - albeit not specifically on this particular thread, but due to a glitch in the system I lost my identity and was forced to adopt this one fairly recently, and was also unable to change my name to the original one - it wasn't for want of trying. Unfortunately, I have forgotten the name I used, and so am unable to access my previous posts to various sub forums. Precisely...and I see no reason why I should not have been included with those contributors, but as you can see I was not. Yes, I have also been in that situation with regard to replying to responses from Sifu Dunn, but this is compounded for me by the amount of time it takes me to compose a reply like this one, which is part of what I intended explaining in my long post. It really does take me several hours, this is no exaggeration, and sometimes I simply cannot face it, particularly when I asked a great many questions, and after a lengthy time receive a reply. It is just too difficult for me to remember everything pertinent to the original post I wrote after a significant amount of time has passed. I take your point, but in this particular instance I believe my case is an exception, and my posts can demonstrate this to be a fact because I offered information on the thread which was ignored, while the posts immediately following mine on the same subject were all answered with much gratitude, as though I had written absolutely nothing... Thank you for your offer. I will try and sift through the posts and provide you with the links, particularly since I still find myself affected by the same issues I was posting about. Sifu Dunn did respond to me, by the way, but he was the only one to do so, aside from a single pm I received from another member. Failing that, I could simply post the page containing my contributions to this thread since the date I joined it, and you can then see my posts in context and see how the majority were totally ignored. Thank you, that is the sort of feedback I need. It would be interesting if other practitioners were to pick up on this point and also provide some feedback as to whether they too were experiencing this, and how they managed to deal with this? If I were to try listening to music during meditation, I suspect it would lead to sensory overload, quite aside from the experience you describe. In any case, I don't subscribe to the idea of introducing anything from the illusory world we are supposedly freeing our consciousness from - it seems to me to be defeating the entire object of practicing anything other than a watered down New Age approach to meditation. Primarily, Professor Zeman from the University of Exeter Medical School, the man who actually named the condition Aphantasia, following a study on the topic decided to ask the public to fill out questionnaires dealing with the ability to visualize, and was very surprised to receive communications from around 10,000 people who suspected that they were experiencing Aphantasia. This was in the UK alone in a single year. These questionnaires investigate to what extent a person is able to use the sensory faculties attributable to mental imagination, and how this manifests, which senses are affected and to what extent. For many of us it has come as something as a shock, and several were clearly left in shock when they realized that when a non-aphantasic person had been describing their ability to visualize or imagine something - that they were not simply describing some sort of conceptual idea, as it was for us, but rather actually being able to mentally 'see' what they were describing - in many cases just as clearly as they were able to see with their physical eyes. This is really not possible for me to understand, any more than you could expect to be able to explain your sight to a non-sighted person. As I said, an aphantasic person is mentally blind, and incapable of imagining or remembering touch, taste, smell and often sound as well. Here is a link to an article which expresses this quite well: https://www.facebook.com/notes/blake-ross/aphantasia-how-it-feels-to-be-blind-in-your-mind/10156834777480504/ And a Youtube video in which you can clearly see the state of confusion and shock of the person who uploaded the video: So how did these neurologists go about proving that there was actually some physical neurological difference between an aphantasic and a non-aphantasic subject? We already know that using MRI scanning in the process of a subject whilst they are in the process of using the visual imagination, the corresponding areas in the brain light up where such activity is taking place. However what they found to their surprise when examining aphantasic subjects was that none of these areas reacted at all, these parts of their brain simply remained inert, showing conclusively that their brains were neurologically wired differently and did not react to the same stimuli. Indeed the corresponding area was also physically smaller than its counterpart in a non-aphantasic subject. The investigation of this phenomenon is still in its infancy, but scientists are presently considering direct stimulation of these sensory centres in the brain as a possible way to bring the faculty of visual imagination to aphantasic subjects. I am in communication with Professor Zeman in order to try and obtain more information and offer any further insights in order to help in these investigations. It has been established that worldwide, this condition affects 2 - 3% of the human race, but probably the figure is higher, as so many people affected would be unaware of these studies and the fact that the condition had actually been identified - that is if they actually know that their mental process is any different than anyone else's. You will understand more when you read the above article and others. Of these, the majority were born that way, but the first such case was in fact the discovery that a patient had lost their mental sight following heart surgery. In my own case, I probably lost my mental sight at the age of about 9, and according to my late mother, prior to that had a remarkable photographic memory, no vestige of which now remains. This is where things become confusing to me, because I do not know whether the visual phenomenon described is a result of an augmentation of the 'normal' ability to visualize, or the opening of what the Daoists call 'The Celestial Eye' (the Third eye?), perhaps Sifu Dunn wouldn't mind clarifying this point please? I suppose once I do reach that stage, it will be even more obvious than it would be for a non-aphantasic practitioner, but perhaps it cannot manifest in this way in my case. I have been training quite intensively, when you take into account that I began my training something over a year ago, but I am now learning the 4th meditation from Volume 7, having completed Volumes 1 through 4. But I have experienced none of the visual manifestations described by you and others whatsoever. What I do experience are very profound samahdic states and Qi manifestations, probably because I am only capable of immersing myself into those experiences in the absence of the ability to experience any visual manifestations. Regarding dreaming no, in fact many Aphantasic subjects have quite normal dreams, subject to the variations in clarity which affect people in general. However the ability to maintain any visual memory of the dream once awake is often nil. I certainly have been dreaming more since I have been practicing FPCK, but the only visual imagery I have ever had aside from the use of psychedelics is the shape of an eye appearing at times in front of my brow, and I perceive this in a violet or blue colour. But it has happened very rarely and does not last long. That will depend on the effect of these posts. Unless other members make it known that they are interested in my future contributions, it really would not be worth the hours of effort each post necessitates, so don't count on my continuing contribution.

DSCB57, For my part, I think it sucks that you've felt rejected somehow by the conversation in this thread, but I honestly don't think you should take it to reflect anything about you as an individual, and I certainly can't imagine any reason someone would actively "resent" your contributions. There are a lot of reasons that a certain post or series of posts might not get the level of response you were hoping for, and if you link to specific examples I'd be happy to try and both evaluate why that might be and to rectify it to whatever ability I have (I'm currently typing on my tablet, and trying to navigate back through long discussions on this thing is a nightmare, especially since the browser likes to crash whenever I open more than two tabs simultaneously). Personally, I've also had plenty of times where I've posted long, thought-out pieces of content, sometimes things which I'm quite invested in, and not received a reply, or the level of response I hoped for or expected, both in this thread and in other locations. Partly this is just the nature of the internet as a medium. A bit of seeming arbitrariness comes with the limits of a time delayed, remotely-located, text-based medium. Partly it's that this thread is, at the end of the day, a community of sorts, even if a very loose-knit, free-flowing kind. This doesn't mean that new members are unwelcome, far from it, but it does mean that regulars are going to get receive more frequent and detailed communication - not necessarily because of their personal traits or virtues as posters, or any lack thereof, but simply because communities are built on repeated interaction and reciprocity. If I see a post from someone like Earl Grey or Tao Stillness (to name the first two regular and recent contributors to come to mind), then I know that if I reply to it, my response will very likely receive a reply in turn, and engender an exchange of ideas and experiences which will benefit all participants and the tone of the dialogue here in general. This is because they've been posting regularly for a while now and we've had these kinds of exchanges before. There's also a degree of shared experience as practitioners have been moving through the same system of training over a shared period of time which creates common ground and makes discussion and exchanges flow more easily. On the flip side, to provide a counter example that I think proves the point, Sifu Terry made an excellent post in reply to my discussion with him about sleep and training, and I've gone two weeks without responding to it (admittedly, feeling somewhat guilty ). This obviously has nothing to do with my opinions of Sifu Terry or the content of his post. It's a combination of the fact that I've had an insanely chaotic 2 weeks which hasn't allowed for much time on forums (and that I spend less time on daobums in general these days than I once did), that I've been experimenting with different ways of implementing the advice and concepts he discussed into my training, and that I want to make sure I sit down and do his post justice in my reply, and I haven't had the chance to do that yet due to aforementioned personal business and focus on training. Point being, sometimes the level of response you get really doesn't have anything to do with you or your posts. Obviously I didn't neglect to reply to Sifu Terry because I dislike him or felt his post was somehow unworthy. I'm not trying to be dismissive, since I've been in exactly your position in other communities and know the feeling very well, just saying that the lesson I took away from that experience was that sometimes it really isn't you - don't overthink it Anyway I was sincere in my offer to try my best to respond to any particular posts you feel have been neglected if I can offer insight into their content, so if you read this feel free to reply with links or to PM them to me and I'll get back to you (although I can't guarantee I'll be immediate doing so, my life has mellowed in the last couple days, but I still have a backlog of correspondences and, as I said, simply don't spend as much time online as I once did). Regarding the rest of your post, three points: - "because the bliss experience interferes with my inner dialogue, and I have no way to remember which breath I am on and often have to start over" I have the exact same experience, and I can state for a fact that I have fairly vivid and active (excessively, from the complaints of my old school teachers) visual and imaginary faculties, so I'm not sure that this one is related to your aphantasia. I find that the breath sequences cause me to sink into mental quiet incredibly quickly, and that it's a bit of a tight-rope act maintaining enough concentration to remember where I'm up to in the breathing sequence. For a decent chunk of time I'd get lost and have to restart probably every second or third meditation. As an interesting aside, a side effect of this is that I simply cannot practice FP while listening to certain pieces of music, because they draws my attention in a way which breaks this tight-rope concentration instantly. I tried practising to Glass's Metamorphosis once, a piece of music I otherwise enjoy, and it ruined my attention so thoroughly that I took I think 3 attempts to get through the breath sequence, and even then it was an ordeal to try and relax and go through with the meditation with the music playing. On the other hand, lately I've been obsessed with practising to Clint Mansell's soundtrack for The Fountain, and I have no idea why one would destroy my concentration while the other immediately calms and relaxes me and enhances my FP meditation experience, despite not being massively dissimilar pieces of music (to my amateur understanding). - You've got me curious, how on earth is such a condition recognised and diagnosed? And what is dreaming like for you? - I hope you keep posting, if only because I'm very interested in what happens when you reach the stage in your FP practice where most people start experiencing fairly intense and consistent visual phenomenon. I don't know how heavily you've trained so far, but I know that meditations such as MGAM and MSW1 engender all kinds of interesting visual experiences form me, both open and closed eyed and during and after the meditations, and I'm definitely neither the longest nor most consist practitioner here. Likewise, to tie back to my earlier question about dreaming, the MSW meditations have a profound effect on my dreams, and if your dream experience is in fact different as a result of aphantasia (as I imagine it must be), I'd be interested to know how your experiences of these effects of the meditations are also different. In summary, please keep posting, if only to satisfy my selfish curiosity And again - don't overthink it.

That's awesome. Couple of decades ago, I was a week from giving birth to my daughter. My mom had died when I was 9 -- as did her mother, my grandmother -- and I was living literally in the opposing corner of the USA from my father and stepmother, and didn't know anyone else in the families, so I felt like I had nobody. But every night for nearly a week, I dreamed so intensely. It actually started with some woman I didn't know. She told me she was my ancestor (in my mother's line). And I met woman after woman, who would share with me ('perspective/understanding') about what part of her was reflected in me, and what part of her would be reflected in my daughter, soon to be born. Eventually this got close enough in line to be my great grandmother, whom I had briefly met when very young, and then my grandmother. I had lived with my grandmother a couple of times, once with my parents and once without. I loved her, but always felt that she was kind of disapproving of me, of my behavior or whatever. She was a typical grandma, always at home, knitted and crochet'd very well, lots of things for me. Due to location/travel I only remembered being around her for awhile at age 5, and then again briefly at age 8. I was shocked that grandma said that the esoteric experiences I'd had through my life, and the drive intellectually toward science, and the dichotomy of these two worlds of self and trying to find blend and balance in them, I'd gotten from her -- and that these are issues she dealt with throughout her life as well. Even in the dream I was nearly agog over that. I'd never seen the slightest indication of even local church spirituality, never mind deep metaphysics, from anybody in the family including her! Maybe especially her, since she always seemed like the practical, slightly disapproving one, in my recall. Nor had I seen any interest in science... she was the making pot roast, knitting ponchos kind of grandma, that was all I knew of her. I got some time with my mother, which was beautiful, but I remember none of. Anyway, it was clear at the time of the dreams, that this was "in my blood" -- that this was a genetic thing, but that the genetics are not just dead information, they are living geometry and the 'awareness' innate to that. Which lives in us. And in some cases of active gene expression, also through us. Much later, after all this had passed and I had a daughter, I was talking to my father on the telephone. I said, right before I gave birth, I had these great dreams about a whole line of female ancestry. In the dream, grandma was very different than I recall her. More interesting, you might say! He says something like, "Actually, your grandmother really was an interesting woman. Very intelligent. She was a psychiatric technician at the state mental hospital for 25 years. She retired when you were three or four years old." I had no idea that grandma was a psych tech for 25 years! Or that she'd ever had any job! She retired before I was old enough to remember apparently. That actually put a whole new spin on how I thought of her. Until that experience the week before having my daughter, I'd never thought much about the eastern 'ancestry' focus. And I've known so little of my family -- and I am so many nationality-sources it's ridiculous -- family and genetics just never seemed any focus to me. That changed my mind about it though. And it was good timing, because it shifted my mental state from the terror I had about giving birth -- I mostly expected to die in the experience, I was having some issues, and I thought that I had mostly come to terms with that and accepted it -- but my fear of the expected pain etc. was still a problem. But after that week of nightly visits, I felt calm. I felt like I was just one in a line of women who had been doing this since the dawn of time, and it was going to be fine. By the time I went into labor, I was at peace. :-) RC

Do you have sources that dispute A. K. Warder's account in Indian Buddhism, pg 211? We seem led to the conclusion that the two parties were less far apart than at first sight they appear to be, except on the first ground. The Sthaviravada were categorical that an arhant was by nature beyond the reach of any possible seduction; the Mahasamgha allowed an arhant to be seduced in a dream. Between these opinons no compromise could be found, in spite all the Buddha's injunctions (in the Vinaya) on the reconciliation of dissident views. The majority of the assembly held that an involuntary happening was no indication of whether one was an arhant or not, and thereby no doubt made it possible for more persons to be recognized as arhants. The minority, which included, apparently, most of the elders, refused to countenance such a weakness, such an evident attachment to the world. No compromise having been reached, the two parties separated and became two schools of Buddhism. Afterwards they gradually came to disagree on several more grounds, partly through working out the implications of their positions. In particular the nature of the Buddha was reconsidered. In the Tripitaka he is not apparently distinguished from any other arhant, except that he had the exceptional genius necessary to discover the truths unaided whilst the others were helped by his guidance. The Sthaviravada remained closer to this conception, although they gradually attributed a higher status to the Buddha, eventually complete 'omniscience' (sarvajnata), especially in their more popular propaganda. The Mahasamgha, on the other hand, having relaxed or at least not made more stringent the conditions for an arhant, found it desirable to make a clear distinction in the case of the Buddha: he was a being of quite a different nature, far above other human beings or perhaps not really a human being at all... A. K. Warder does go into his sources some, and apparently compared several extant versions of the Canon to the extent he was able, including Chinese, Tibetan, and Southeast Asian versions. Not sure from where he drew the historical info, but he spent time in India, and was involved with the Pali Text Society.

Those look like dream catchers.

This quote from Norbu (Dzogchen master) states that Kundalini energy is the same as the energy in tummo and part of the mother tantras.... As well as utilizing these practice methods as the base, the mother tantras are mainly concerned with the completion phase, or dzogrim, that consists in re-absorbing or integrating the pure mandala dimension within one's "subtle" body composed of the channels, prana, and vital essence (rtsa, clung, thig le). For this reason, the breathing methods and those of concentration on the cakras and channels are indispensable, together with perfect mastery of the kundalini energy. In fact, the famous teachings known in the modern tradition as the "Six Yogas of Naropa," especially widespread in the Kagyud school, belong long to dzogrim. These are: Tuummo, or "inner heat yoga"; Gyulii, or "illusory body yoga"; Wodsal, or "clear light yoga"; Milam, or "dream yoga"; Bardo, or "intermediate state yoga"; and Pliowa, or "transference ence of consciousness yoga." -The Supreme Source

I've never really asked why or thought about it too much. I was just following a very clear instruction in a dream to do this certain sort of breathing in through the crown and exhaling down into my belly, and when I started doing that I found that the energy charging action that I had been doing suddenly seemed to disrupt the healing qi, and just the breathing seemed to keep it flowing, so I stopped doing the charging action and just continued with the breathing until a couple of months later I dreamt I was to stop that and just go back to normal breathing. But I'm not really sure about the mechanics of it except to say that it works, and it never gets exhausted. This is pretty much what I did from the start, I just receive quite a lot of detailed information now about what is going on in specific channels. Mostly I don't even feel it, but very occasionally some new gift comes along that demonstrates to me that something is progressing.

@Jeff, so it's not a system that I follow, but this description of the Vajrayana system is pretty well how I perceive the subtle energy channels. Which channel was associated with the penis I wasn't clear on before as I have only pursued this information previously to a limited extent. Also of interest, in the last paragraph "meditating on the crown chakra is important for consciousness projection, either to another world or into anoher body" sounds like something you focus on, but this is not the only meditation which is important, and they don't mention what meditation on ajna chakra is important for. The Vajrayana system states that the central channel (avadhūtī) begins at the point of the third eye like the of Lord Shiva, curves up to the crown of the head, and then goes straight down to the lower body. There are two side channels, the rasanā and lalanā, which start at their respective nostrils and then travel down to the lower body. The apāna vāyu (down-moving wind, where "wind" means the invisible power to move) governs the lower terminations of the three channels. The lower end of the central channel ends at the rectum. The lower end of the lalanā ends in the urinary tract. The lower end of the rasanā channel emits semen. ...completion stage practices, where an attempt is made to bring the subtle airs or winds of the body into the central channel, to realize the clear light of bliss and emptiness, and to attain buddhahood (Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Clear Light of Bliss: A Tantric Meditation Manual). ...The side channels run parallel to the center channel, except at locations such as the navel, heart, throat, and crown (i.e., the chakras) where the two side channels twist around the central channel. At the navel, throat, and crown, there is a twofold knot caused by each side channel twisting once around the central channel. At the heart wheel there is a sixfold knot, where each side channel twists around three times. An important part of completion stage practice involves loosening and undoing these knots. ...focusing on the subnavel area is important for the practice of tummo, or inner-fire. Meditating on the heart chakra is important for realizing clear light. Meditating on the throat chakra is important for lucid dreaming and the practices of dream yoga. And meditating on the crown chakra is important for consciousness projection, either to another world or into another body. Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal

Hi Cloudhands, It is a quote from Machiavelli from the Renaissance. He was speaking to his contemporaries. Charlamagne would be one who comes to my mind as an armed victorious prophet, although that wasn't what I was trying to get at it by posting the quote. The world needs more Buddhas, Gandhis, and Mandelas. We could look to Martin Luther king Jr as being an unarmed prophet that was destroyed. True, his dream lives on, but he didn't make it to see 40, watch his children grow up or see his grandchildren. There are some impressive sword skillz found on Wudang Mountain & of course I could mention Lu Dongbin, Zhen Wu, and Zhang San Feng. I am fine with the rest of the world having strict gun controls. I am not cool with America having them. It is a unique situation here. #ResignSherriffIsrael

I am writing a book (that will probably take 5 years). In one tiny part, I summarize my experiences that got me from one point (medical-model skeptic) to another (point of writing the book related to psi {remote viewing}). A key turning point in my life was meeting a woman (a vietnamese boat person immigrant, who was half chinese, and grew up with her chinese herbalist aunts after arriving offshore in los angeles, and when I met her, was a "new age" sort teaching hands-on energy work and archetype meditations and misc. metaphysical stuff). A couple years after totally obsessing on hands-on energy work and archetype work, I had a kundalini rising, which of course I wouldn't have even believed existed two years prior. This did not enlighten me. If there is the slightest doubt, several bums in the political flaming threads will assure you. :-) It appears to have massively overstimulated heart throat forehead crown chakras, and damaged the crown chakra a bit. And led to two years of the most BIZARRE experiences of my life. Starting with being lucid 24/7 for most of a few months. And then... everything. Alternate realities, alternate timelines, a lot of stuff that seemed like it ought to be delta dream state but was in my actual reality... briefly! Entities and a profound sense of spirit, and a lot of crown symptoms (feeling 'rods of energy' through my crown and into me -- and IT REALLY HURT). Awareness of existing in multiple realities at once (and once briefly 'waking up from the lucid dream' of this one which was so brain-frying I hope it never happens again). Spontaneous psi and so much more. I fell in love with everything new (like the tree near my house) at the same time I 'disattached' from everything else. I had nearly instant manifestation for awhile just from thinking about something, often seeing my reality change within seconds to bring it to me -- I could make it happen on purpose about 80% of the time I tried. Wondering about a subject brought streams of energy info about it, that I could write down like channeling. I wrote a case study about it called 'Bewilderness' in '95 that I put online in '96. Anyway: It KICKED MY ASS. It certainly did "open me up" energetically to a whole universe I didn't know before, including profound spiritual/divine connection, but perhaps because it was temporary or because there seemed to be some damage that I had to repair and took time to heal in the crown, it was mostly "total surreality and chaos for two years" and then massively calmed down, fortunately, because I was pretty "out there" by the time that was over! My interaction with and definition of chakras is a lot different now than most others I see. So I go to look up the "official definition" of "kundalini rising" because if I'm going to mention it in passing, I figure I should define it, as most people in the west probably have no clue what it is. And everything I find varies from referring to it as something merely spiritual, to stuff that sounds like it was written by armchair philosophers, to sources saying it's about enlightenment. HAHAHAHAHAHA For me, mostly, it was like someone just accidentally turned up the volume "intensity" knob on my chakras heart-up, which was like a hard drug throwing me face-first into the worlds and experiences "at that level" -- for each of them. Of course I also spend 24 hours FREEZING TO DEATH FROM THE INSIDE before I got into warm water and the inner/outer finally adjusted. Apparently I had a 'block' on the "cold" channel at the heart level, so it was only the hot channel that rose past that. (Trivia: a couple years ago, with massive health issues that were of unknown origin (but turned out to be a birth defect heart valve issue sending most my oxygen/nutrients out the valve and into uber-massive body edema), I was having a talk with my kundalini chakra and asked, if I ask for help clearing that block, would you hurt my heart? And he/she/they/it said it probably would somewhat. So I sighed and dropped that line of inquiry. But during an experience some time later, I begged for help clearing it, even if it hurt me, as long as it didn't kill me. This was followed by a really AMAZING experience that I felt really DID clear it, and then my crown chakra going into the divine in the most awesome way, and, arms-up lying in bed in astonished bliss after it was all over, I fell asleep. And woke up 3 hours having a major heart attack. (Some time later I went back to K and said, what the heck! You almost killed me!! And they showed me this "plan" that looked like an engineer had made it -- it had this printed illustration of my body and the energy channels, and there was red pen with arrows and stuff, and there was technical-writing style pencil printing notes around it, and so on. I said, so this was on purpose? And they said yes. And I remembered that I ASKED for that EVEN IF it hurt me. Well. I came ten minutes from dying about 10 months later, and was saved with open heart surgery. I haven't had any close talks with K since that time, but I am still recovering. Anyway. I am HOPING that this means the block is now cleared!!) The primary thing still with me related to that was an introduction to my angel of soul as some would call it, which is actually an evolving relationship -- the "knowledge and conversation" increases and actually kind of cycles depending on me. And that I was part of a four-fold soul (so three other, 'encompassing/nesting' identities), which had been in my spiritual/dream life but I hadn't consciously understood it until then, and my Aeons (which 15 years after the fact or so I discovered is a gnostic teaching but I had no idea WTH it was initially), and eventually a radical shift in my perception of and relationship with my chakras. I perceived the equivalent of a "dark wet blanket over my crown" when a huge amount of my experience mellowed out. One of my inner identities told me that I had CHOSEN to "shut it mostly down" as I was pregnant and was living with someone threatening (possessed for some time. Yes seriously) and I was just moving into "survival mode." It's been 25 years since all that began. I've been pretty 'normal' since, but for what I'd consider minor stuff. Found this link when searching on definition: http://www.nithyananda.org/article/scientific-study-kundalini-activation-its-benefits#gsc.tab=0 Anyway. So how can I refer to "kundalini rising" in a super short explanation -- preferably something I can fit into a long sentence at most -- that is not one of the retarded western obviously non-understanding of the topic? RC

Hmmm....I think I have encountered another celestial being few days ago, in my morning dream. It was a Chinese Indian child. He was like a Chinese children but with dark brown skin color. A pair of large almond shaped eyes. Unusually large proportional to his head. Glowing white luminous light from his third eye. Then, he appeared next to my mother and helping her cooking. He turned around and smiling at me. When I noticed his third eye was glowing, I smiled back at him as if I knew who he was. In reality, I don't. I knew he wasn't just some simple dream figure. Man, those large almond shaped eyes...hehehehe....

Michelle Gong, might be a good contact for those looking someone to help them find a taiji teacheror new to taiji and wanting some lessons. She knows a lot of the teachers in the city as well as being an accomplished taiji player her self... a good friend and fellow taiji class mate. Michelle, Beijing Tour Guide, Taiji teacher Followed her dream as a young girl growing up in a small rural village in China. She learned taiji as young teenager, traveling to the “temple of heaven” in Beijing to study under the taiji masters, and would later go on to win an international competition in 2009. https://journeytoemptiness.com/2017/01/12/taiji-beijing/ can be contacted at http://www.tourguidebeijing.cn/

I think it is getting side tracked here. I brought up rigpa because we were talking about energy...energy is largely non-dual...no discriminating in its primordial nature. Nature of mind in its original form. There are no attachments because there are nothing to attach to. If you want to read up on it and to learn about the Tibetan sleep yoga, you can read this book here.... https://selfdefinition.org/tibetan/Tenzin-Wangyal-Rinpoche-The-Tibetan-Yogas-Of-Dream-And-Sleep.pdf Again, we are talking about attachment. Suffering originated from attachment caused by the arising dependent condition in this world. Attaching to what??? Energy? It can't be since energy by nature is non-dual.

Do you mean to say Rigpa can be experienced only maybe once in a decade or so in dream by advanced practitioners? Can you please elaborate on that?

Here you go..........yes..I have experienced it ONCE...few years ago. For about 5 seconds in the morning in my dream. THAT WAS IT..... http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/Rigpa BTW, it appears you are resisting the idea that your attachment is caused by some dependent origination. You insist to argue that it is about energy....moving energy around. There isn't any point for me to participate in this discussion...

They are the same. Rigpa is non-dual energy state in which luminosity dominates your consciousness...nothing else. There is neither ups or downs or rights or lefts. You have no body. You only aware of your consciousness itself. Is the Dharma itself. Buddha Nature? I am not talking about a personality trait. I am talking about state of your mind before even manifesting itself to others. Rigpa can be experienced in dream during your sleep meditation. Only accomplished and advanced practitioners can experience it maybe once in a decade or so...

This is what you wrote... "That is why it isn't about figuring out what the issue is, it is moving beyond the mind, beyond the thoughts and residing in the energy of the obstruction." All attachment. All state of suffering...are caused by 12 links of dependent origination. They never exist by themselves. They have no permanence. Not sure...you are arguing that attachment and suffering are nothing more than some obstruction of energy path. What is exactly your mind is attached to then??? What is this attachment you speak off as if attachment is nothing but some unpleasant energy being stuck somewhere in your chakras? Dreams? What do you dream? Do you dream about this attachment? If so...there's your answer.....

I sometimes wonder if the confirmation is (1) is it all real , (2) is it all not real, (3) is is both. I find the last idea most confirmed in the concept of, form=void. When you step into both sides, it is like knowing sunshine is snow is rain. But this still keeps it all on a physical level. So like a dream that doesn't stop when you wake up as my first awakening, in a sense... and you can then alter the dream. Or you alter processes in normal life that normal life might not explain. I'm up at a very unusual hour because something (or someone) is talking to me. when that happens, I sometimes can sleep but other times I just decide to listen (get out of bed). was it this thread and your posts that finally reached even me? Seems a stretch, but here I am. I am reminded of the philosophical statement that, 'there is something rather than nothing'... many philosophers have commented on this. Francis Schaeffer wrote a book with a great title: He is there and he is not silent. I have never forgot the premise. For those not inclined to the religious premise, just see it as: "There is something there, and it is not silent".

Hum, lemme explain my vision of things so that my answer makes a bit more sense. Basically, I come from a scientifc background, so I'm a bit hum, sceptical? however, I believe in consciousness and my dream is to explain it scientifically. That said, I tried meditation for a while, I can now freely control my body temperature in some a small range (I can take cold showers while it's snowing outside, while before I would get sick if I forgot to put my hat on xD ) , my heart rate etc. But for me, that's just me using my awareness to get access to brain functions that are used unconsciously. My interpretation of The Secret Of The Golden Flower was the same: the Light is consciousness, water is calm, fire is thought, etc. And the reason the ancients immortals lived that long is because during marrow washing they activated they marrow cells with their "consciousness", catalyzing the creation of red blood cells. It might be a correct interpretation, it might not, I don't know. But basically all the phenomenas I experienced can be directly explained by me getting access to more functions of my body, causing my brain to change the way I perceive reality etc. But it's all inside my body/mind , and I was wondering if that "awareness" of ours or whatever the cause can interact with anything/anyone else. Telepathy maybe? Experiencing some phenomena? Healing someone without telling him and him getting better? Or yes changing the weather? It's actually a question that's been bugging me for a while, because if it could, it would open the path for me for many possibilities, but meanwhile, I'm still a bit hesitant x) Any ideas are welcome ^^ oh and if you don't agree with my vision of things, I'm open Thank you

Zhuangzi dream: He dreamed he was a butterfly. When he woke up, he had a dilemma Was he dreaming that he is a butterfly, or is he a butterfly dreaming he's human

A very wise friend of mine shared this with me which I think will help answer your question a little. Zhuangzi Dream: A man dreamed he was a butterfly. When he woke up, he had a dilemma Was he dreaming that he is a butterfly, or is he a butterfly dreaming he's human Staying within the sutra, here is the answer I think from chapter 1. Mahamati, since the ignorant and simple-minded, not knowing that the world is only something seen of the mind itself, cling to the multitudinous-ness of external objects, cling to the notions of beings and non-being, oneness and otherness, both-ness and non-both-ness, existence and non-existence eternity and non-eternity, and think that they have a self-nature of their own, and all of which rises from the discriminations of the mind and is perpetuated by habit-energy, and from which they are given over to false imagination. It is all like a mirage in which springs of water are seen as if they were real. They are imagined by animals who, made thirsty by the heat of the season, run after them. Animals not knowing that the springs are merely hallucinations of their own minds, do not realize that there are no such springs. In the same way, Mahamati, the ignorant and simple-minded, their minds burning with the fires of greed, anger and folly, finding delight in a world of multitudinous forms, their thoughts obsessed with ideas of birth, growth and destruction, not well understanding what is meant by existence and non-existence, and being impressed by erroneous discriminations and speculations since beginning-less time, fall into the habit of grasping this and that and thereby becoming attached to them.

Ones that closely follow this forums theme are Tai Chi, empty, push hands, and sword. Chinese calligraphy taught using breath into dantien as a cultivation and art method. Taoism with Wu Dang Chen (Quanzhen priest). some other classes I enjoyed were with a chinese medicine doc and naturopath which included anatomy, approaches to healing, and nutrition. Some religious studies, Zen, Shambhalla Buddhism. Some western psych classes, Jungian, and Dream psych. What's an MCP? Im not sure the fertility is in the jing of grandma or grandpa, but in the way that brought them together. The 3/4 yielding to the other 1/4 is what makes it great. As a large kingdom yields to the smaller. Puts pressure on the pearl.

Snakes in dream is generally considered as Kundalini energy. We need to take into consideration other factors. https://theawakenedstate.net/i-recently-had-a-dream-i-was-lost-in-a-dark-tomb/

I have one for you....this is the second time I dream about the similar symbol. It was this morning. I was on an aircraft carrier. And US one since I was communicating in English. I remember I saw one of the servicemen was surprised about the new schedule. And he was asking the commanding officer why this new schedule was so odd. Something about 4-6..a whole list of them. The entire week schedule from Sunday to Sat was listed as 4-6. I am not a veteran and never served in the US navy. I don't understand why there would be a schedule at all.... Now, I handed a receipt to my commanding officer to sign it. Why? I have no ideas. Then, I was walking with another female officer and we were talking. I saw beds..... Something about hearing rock music. The first time I dream about the US navy was during the height of the NK crisis. I remember marveling the speed in which the aircraft carrier can travel. And I remember that we needed to be at certain region on the map at certain time frame. Did I just have dream about a current US navy operation or a future one?? In where? NK?? 4-6??? The time of the operation and lasting for a long time? I can't see other military operations in which an aircraft carrier is involved.... In both dreams, I was a sailor. I always have a karmic affinity to sailors and soldiers....:) It has something to do with my past life..supposedly....

"Someone sees in a dream that they are a ruler. They are seated on a throne with servants, chamberlains and princess standing by. They say, “I am ruler, and there is no ruler but I.” They say this in their sleep. When they wake up and see no one in the house but themself, they say, “I am, and there is no other than that I Am.” To realize this, one must be fully awake." ~Rumi