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Found 7,590 results

  1. If you think it's aritifical, try to feed yourself on dream food or buy a taco with imagined gold! Distinguishing relative appearances is the wisdom of discernment or discrimination in the traditions I am familiar with. Being unable to distinguish mental illness or relative illusion would be a problem, aka "the two moon problem." Some do, some don't. I try to meet people in their paradigm. Gaudapada is pretty on point with emptiness of conventional phenomenon from a Madhyamaka POV, and so is Shankara. Swami Sarvapriyananda is able to navigate it pretty well, and sees a lot of correlation. Do you follow a tradition, old3bob? It might be easier if you set forth just what you accept as authoritative.
  2. Certainly Britney Spears, Ronald Reagan, the Teletubbies, Jesus, every tree, rock, gust of wind, and rash are all Brahman. No-one/thing gets a pass - they are all Brahman/Dharmakaya and aren't separate from what you are. This is one-hundred percent correct, though I wouldn't use the term integration, myself. There is nothing separate to integrate, really. I think of it more as sloughing off your belief systems and patterns of behavior - the "I" that you so carefully build and buttress moment to moment. Yes, the fabric of the dharmakaya/Brahman loves you, and shows you where you are stuck constantly as a kindness. Learning to release attachment and aversion to these appearances and events in consciousness is the work. Hahahaha! We call that a "dharma dream". That's good! The Advaita Vedantans wisely suggest that the dreamworld is actually MORE real that this world, because it already lacks some of the illusions of division. Time is strange in dreams, space is strange in dreams, and, as you have seen, "self" is strange in dreams. They are fluid, and don't follow our waking ideas about their behavior. The reality is that THIS world is the same. Time, space and "self" are wiggly and interesting when allowed to be as they are. It can be seen when you stop explaining away the weird experiences you have, like forgetting the connecting moments between two points when walking, or driving, or seeing something weird out of the corner of your eye, but explaining it as some anomaly in consciousness, rather than the glitch it obviously was. Learning to accept reality as strange and not needing your explanation begets MORE of these experiences being noticed. BTW the mystery "Robert" here is none-other than our friendly board-mate oldbob.
  3. Something my own teacher said once, and I hear repeated over and over again is that those on the path who compulsively act for the good of all sentient beings end up being "taken care of", most recently Khandro Kunzang Dechen in a recent podcast I heard. Her version of it has the "dharma protectors" doing it. While I have empowerments, I think it is true for anyone on this path, protectors or not. The work of truly cutting through the delusion of separateness and acting with the intention of kindness, and as little clinging and aversion as one can muster is rewarded with a more loving, beautiful, dream-like reality. It manifests something like a siddhi - regular little miracles of generosity of (relative) wealth, health, fulfillment of aims related to the spread of wisdom. It's just crazy. If it was really safe I'd go into a list I would but, suffice to say, things are provided and there is great gratitude.
  4. --- Peter Carroll, Liber Null A post on my own website, Take the Backward Step: Nisargadatta said: You are not your body, but you are the consciousness in the body, because of which you have the awareness of “I am”. It is without words, just pure beingness. Meditation means you have to hold consciousness by itself. The consciousness should give attention to itself. (Gaitonde, Mohan [2017]. Self – Love: The Original Dream [Shri Nisargadatta Maharaj’s Direct Pointers to Reality]. Mumbai: Zen Publications) “The consciousness should give attention to itself”—in thirteenth-century Japan, Eihei Dogen wrote: Therefore, 
take the backward step of turning the light and shining it back. (“Fukan zazengi” Tenpuku version; tr. Carl Bielefeldt, “Dogen’s Manuals of Zen Meditation”, p 176) That’s a poetic way to say “the consciousness should give attention to itself”. ... In his “Genjo Koan”, Dogen wrote: When you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point. (“Genjo Koan [Actualizing the Fundamental Point]”, tr. Robert Aitken and Kazuaki Tanahashi) Given a presence of mind that can “hold consciousness by itself”, activity in the body begins to coordinate by virtue of the sense of place associated with consciousness. A relationship between the free location of consciousness and activity in the body comes forward, and as that relationship comes forward, “practice occurs”. Through such practice, the placement of consciousness is manifested in the activity of the body. Dogen continued: When you find your way at this moment, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point
 (ibid) “When you find your way at this moment”, activity takes place solely by virtue of the free location of consciousness. A relationship between the freedom of consciousness and the automatic activity of the body comes forward, and as that relationship comes forward, practice occurs. Through such practice, the placement of consciousness is manifested as the activity of the body. You could say that's all about "giving the Kia more freedom and flexibility". Regarding "it is a fragment of the great life force of the universe": There’s a third line about actualization in “Genjo Koan”: Although actualized immediately, the inconceivable may not be apparent. (ibid) ... Dogen didn’t offer an explanation of his third line, but he did provide a case study from the literature of Zen: Mayu, Zen Master Baoche, was fanning himself. A monk approached and said, “Master, the nature of wind is permanent and there is no place it does not reach. Why then do you fan yourself?” “Although you understand that the nature of the wind is permanent,” Mayu replied, “you do not understand the meaning of its reaching everywhere.” “What is the meaning of its reaching everywhere?” asked the monk again. Mayu just kept fanning himself
 (ibid) The wind that reaches everywhere was actualized immediately in Mayu’s fanning. (The Inconceivable Nature of the Wind)
  5. Im a researcher by training, so yes it is. Yes. Death is just a transition, as is birth, this cycles over and over again Unfortunately, I dont think I could detail this without giving up my anonymity, so ill have to decline to comment Except to say, as of now, my senses in a way are tuned to a bandwith slightly above normal, (ie clairvoyance, claraudience and clarsentience). Some of that was training, but as far as im told , all of my teachers, agreed there was latent ability there, so all it took was a little push in the right direction Technically if they hang around it isnt "this realm" But for the normal folk, without training theres no real way to know Im afraid, unless one of them is hanging around as a ghost and you're in a situation where you get a glimpse or some contact Generally speaking, we arent exactly aware of them, and as for ghosts, they arent normally aware of us either. This is why you seen them obliviously repeating the same things over and over like a video clip on loop However, once opened up to them, they tend to be like flies. Its almost like lighting a candle in the dark For normal folk, there really isnt much you could do to discern that It is possible to have communication during the tranisition to sleep or during sleep, due what takes place mechanically. But the subtle nuances regards whether this is a dream, or an actual experience of contact are almost impossible to discern for people without a lot of training It is, there is an aspect of the soul thats known as Shuang Ling in Daoism. This is part of the soul that contains collective conciousness, so tapping into this would basically make someone omniscient But its beyond the reach of al but the masters Theres another methods Buddhists use too, but thats not entirely something ive delved into much Hope that helps
  6. Caduceus - staff of Hermes

    Something I'm writing now about "one-pointedness of mind"--Bhikkyu Thanissaro is the American abbot of a Theravadin monastery in the San Diego area, if I understand correctly: “One-pointedness of mind” has been taken by different people in the Buddhist community to mean different things. The modern Theravadin teacher Thanissaro Bhikkyu, for example, has disputed that the term could actually refer to the mind as a singular point, and instead posits that the reference is to a singular object of attention: A Pali sutta, MN 44, defines concentration as cittass’ek’aggatā, which is often translated as “one-pointedness of mind”: cittassa = “of the mind” or “of the heart,” eka = one, agga = point, -tā = -ness. MN 117 defines noble right concentration as any one-pointedness of mind supported by the first seven factors of the noble path, from right view through right mindfulness. MN 43 states further that one-pointedness is a factor of the first jhāna, the beginning level of right concentration. From these passages, it has been argued that if one’s awareness in concentration or jhāna is truly one-pointed, it should be no larger than a point, which means that it would be incapable of thinking, of hearing sounds, or even of being aware of the physical body. However, this interpretation imposes too narrow a meaning on the word ek’aggatā, one that is foreign to the linguistic usage of the Pali Canon. 
 (Thanissaro concludes: ) Show your lack of contempt for your meditation object by giving it your full attention and mastering concentration
 Gather the mind around its one object. (https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/CrossIndexed/Uncollected/MiscEssays/OnePointed160822.pdf; parenthetical added) In my experience, “one-pointedness” has more to do with the singularity of the sense of self than with single-minded attention to a meditation object. A teacher in modern India, Nisargadatta, described the self as “the consciousness in the body”: You are not your body, but you are the consciousness in the body, because of which you have the awareness of “I am”. It is without words, just pure beingness. (Gaitonde, Mohan [2017]. Self – Love: The Original Dream [Shri Nisargadatta Maharaj’s Direct Pointers to Reality]) For most people, the consciousness associated with “I am” is at a single location in the body at any given moment. Nisargadatta went on to say: Meditation means you have to hold consciousness by itself. The consciousness should give attention to itself. (ibid) Gautama spoke of making the surrender of conscious activity the object of thought, in order to hold on to the singularity of consciousness: 
 making self-surrender the object of thought, (a person) lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness. (Gautama the Buddha; SN 48.10, Pali Text Society vol. V p 174) Thanissaro wrote 'cittassa = “of the mind” or “of the heart”'. I would guess that's the same as 'my heart, my mother, my heart, my mother, ka in my body ...'. Extrapolating further, "ab" or "one-pointedness of mind", the heart-mind, is being offered to the serpent, to a symbol I would say of the energy of the ligaments in the sacrum and spine. I would say that the energy of the ligaments and of one-pointed consciousness, both symbolized by the ankh, is being offered to Nefertari's movement of breath, in the illustration of Nefertari and Isis:
  7. Hi from Asia

    I have a true ghost story I want to tell people. Perhaps people could give me their feedback.A few years ago, I was visiting a friend in the Cambodian countryside when I saw something I could not explain.Let me set up the story and give some background context so that it would make more sense.Cambodia is a very haunted country. It's the most haunted country I have been to and I think it's because of its recent past with the Khmer rouge killing pretty much everybody.In the rural Cambodian countryside, everyone keeps dogs. My friend told me it was because dogs can see ghosts, spirits and other supernatural creatures, entities that humans cannot see easily. Because of this ability, rural folks keep dogs as guard dogs in order to ward off the evil spirits and protect the inhabitants of the house.Now, my friend lives in a very remote part of Cambodia. The closest big city with over 100,000 people was actually an hour away. We are so remote that there are no public streetlights at night. So if you have to wander around after sunset and you don't have a flashlight, then you're flat out of luck.One night, I was in my room when I heard the family dog bark at 11 PM. Now if you understand dogs, they bark only if they see something unfamiliar. If they see something familiar and friendly and safe, they would not bark.I am a very curious person by nature so every time the dog barked, I would actually leave my room to investigate. I was staying on the second floor of a rustic house so the moment I heard the dog bark, I picked up the flashlight and stepped out onto the porch.It was pitch black so I shone the flashlight at the dog and then at what he was barking at. Turned out he was barking at a passerby just walking past our locked gates. Thinking nothing of it, I returned to my room to work on my computer some more.An hour later, at midnight, the dog barked again. Curious, I grabbed the flashlight and stepped out onto the porch again. This time, I noticed that the dog was standing near the fence that divided our house from the neighbor. He was barking at something on the neighbor's side of the fence. I said in Khmer, "Goo, teveu avey?" which means, "Goo (the dog's name), what are you doing?"The dog turned to look at me with a friendly expression for a few seconds. And then he returned to barking at the figure.My curiosity fully peaked now, I shone the flashlight onto the figure that the dog was barking at. What I saw defied explanation. I still have no idea what it was but I will do my best to describe it to you.Trapped in between a tractor on the neighbor's side and the fence, the figure was in standing a position that was at a 45° angle. So this means I can only see its profile. It was a humanoid figure with the same proportion as a man. So it had the outline of a face and a torso and lower body. Its upper body was wrapped entirely in a blue cloth. Its lower body was wrapped entirely in a white cloth. I could see the bumps of a nose and cheekbones and a mouth underneath the blue cloth. It looked like was a department store mannequin. But unlike a mannequin, I got the distinct feeling that it was alive.Now when you're human and you're standing out in the pitch darkness of the Cambodian countryside at midnight, when someone shines a light on your face, would you turn to see the source of the light? But this creature did not. This creature pretended as though I did not exist. In other words, it was ignoring me.My first reaction was complete bewilderment. What the hell was that thing? Now, I don't do drugs or smoke or drink alcohol and I don't take any mind-altering substances. I was in a completely sober state of mind. This definitely was not a dream because I never sleep that early. But I was still baffled. Thinking I was hallucinating, I turned off the light and then waited a few seconds.At that point, the dog stopped barking and returned to the garage, where he normally sleeps.For the second time, I turned on the flashlight at that location again, expecting it to disappear.It had not disappeared. It was still there, standing at the exact same 45° angle, with its profile facing me. Puzzled, I wracked my brain, trying to figure out what it was. It did not seem to be malicious. It was just ignoring me.I turn off the flashlight again. It was now completely dark again. I would try one more time.I turned on the flashlight and there it was again.At that point, I began to feel scared. Not because it was menacing but because of the mystery, because I couldn't figure out what it was. It is human nature to be fearful of the unknown.Fear took over and I decided to go back into my room. I would not venture out that night again.The next morning I told my friend all about it and he brushed it off as very normal. My friend's reaction was very matter-of-fact. He said, "so you saw a ghost," as though he were announcing that it's raining. He then said that he had seen plenty of ghosts in his village as a child. For example, when he was eight years old, at the front entrance of his house, there was a lady under a tree who told him to come play with him. She stuck out her tongue and it reached all the way to the ground. Another time, my friend's sister was going to the local market at 3 AM to set up her produce stall. She said that she saw the figure of an old man with only an upper body but no lower body just floating in the air.My friend also said that his deceased father's spirit was looking after his family. There were also enchanted shrines at the entrance of the property that had been strengthened by various local protection spells. So that was why the thing could not enter our property and why the creature was on the neighbor's side of the fence and not our side.It was the first time in my life that I have seen anything remotely supernatural. I cannot be 100% certain it was a ghost but I am 100% certain that was not a man or woman or human and it was not any natural animal on our planet. It felt very supernatural and paranormal.I'm certain it was not a human for two reasons: the awkward position it was standing in (it was sandwiched in between a tractor on one side and the fence on the other) and the fact that it did not move or turn to look at me when I shone a flashlight in his face three times.In any case, this supernatural encounter led me onto the path of spirituality and spiritual development. It was the catalyst of my spiritual awakening.I also just googled some ting mong/Cambodian scarecrows but it looked nothing like what I saw. The pictured show faces but the thing I saw I had no face: just an outline of a face. It just looked like a mannequin wrapped in shrouds.Here are some reasons I don't think it was a scarecrow:1 it was gone the next morning when I woke up. Why would be the neighbor remove the scarecrow in the morning? Wouldn't he want the scarecrow to be there all day to scare away pests and birds?2 I don't remember the neighbor having placed a scarecrow there earlier that day. There was also no garden or any crops nearby that needed protection. This was the residence and not the farm.3 The cloth resembled death shrouds.4 Why did the dog suddenly notice it at midnight? Why didn't it just start barking at 11 PM at around the same time when it saw the passerby pass by our locked gates? The dog barking at 12 am suggests to me that the ghost had suddenly appeared and triggered the dog's senses. Is it likely that the neighbor placed the thing in such an awkward position between the tractor and the fence right at midnight?My friend's house faces a ditch and he told me that lots of people died during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. Their bodies were thrown haphazardly into the ditch without a proper burial. Perhaps it's one of the vengeful aggrieved spirits that I saw.
  8. What are you listening to?

    Home (collaborative album) by Shaman's Dream and Geometrae
  9. My take on Chinese classical martial-arts

    LOve it ! Thats how I worked it . and boy did I have to cough up ... as I made up those stories ! More than 50 of them ; Young Jah -5 ( with the two little boy twins - 2 sitting there agog listening ) : " I want a story about a space ship, a boy, a spear , a sskateboard , a flying saucer a dog and ... um mmm a tiger ! " me < think think think ....... ) Okay , once upon a time ..... of course there was the story about the naughty boy that had a pet monster .... boy did he end up in a mess There was sleepy night time stories ( the Moon dream lady ) or exciting ones - the boy that had a pet tiger . and even older more mature ones with developmental morals and themes relating to maturity, individuation, etc . Sounds good man , good onya ! The BEST girls and women in the world had a good mum and dad . One woman I was amazed at .. she could do soo much and was so competent ... I had to ask ; answer " My Dad taught me . If he went rock climbing ... wanna come and learn ? Fix the car? Wanna watch and learn ? " etc . and the best behaved and happy girls I even met was due to their excellent , clear, respectful ( to them but not forgetting she deserved respect as well ) , firm yet CONSISTENT (soo important for kids ) .. and the wise regulation of the 'revealing of truth ' and her support of directions they wanted to go in - Mother . Great Mum ! - force not a goat into a pool or a fish into a field One time I grabbed the knife thrown at me , snapped it in half with my fingers ... but then , Uncle Vitra rushed forward and delivered a blow directly to my head and ..... ummmmm ..... I could have a wire crossed here Social media is worse ! and tougher for kids ! I been saying that for years here ... check the latests stats - Nungers not be such a crank after all !
  10. Bums I am missing

    Hello One and All, I'm still trudging on and accompanied with a variety of unwanted guests!!! - health issues including my 4th encounter with cancer(stomach). The surgeon wanted to operate and remove my stomach, but I declined due to the risks and the post op recovery. So I take each day as a gift and fill my days writing poetry and listening to music. I hope to publish my third Amazon Kindle book of poetry soon. I also have other projects in the pipeline, so being productive gives me the drive. I need to be disciplined!!! I am a demon in my wheelchair!!! Although my wife is not impressed!!! Taking risks is what life is about, not hanging necklaces of regret around your neck!!! If you have a dream then scream it into existence!!! Well folks, I shall conclude for now and I send you All much Love and Light.
  11. What is your purpose for your practice?

    As everybody, I can only talk about myself, of which I don't know if it is in any way representative: Same as for science, I was very curious in the mysterious world. At 8, I read a weird book by a weirder author (Frank Rudolph Young) and dabbled with the exercises until they freightened me a little. Later on, there were many, many, many other real contacts with real teachers, but I rarely practiced anything for a longer time. At 22, I had a WOW-experience when an I think advaita acharya from a sect (Ananda Marga) initiated me by meditation (or hypnosis, I don't know), where I completely lost any sense of me and dissolved in everything. I realize, that sounds like really weird stuff, but it neither left any long-lasting impact on me and neither did my other "initiations" into any system. I was just curious and - born at the end of the fifties - one of the late hippie generations (Taijiquan, BaGua, Magic Mushrooms, anything you name it). I tried fasting, veganism, vegetarianism, darkroom meditation (boooooring!) andwhatnot, but neither of this became a longer lasting passion. Tibet and India were also on my schedule, but not for long. After 13 years in Asia I went back to Europe, founded a family, had kids and forgot about all that stuff, since I was busy enough and thus my curiousity was on hold. Finally, when my kids were adults, I gradually felt a very subtle kind of longing again, but unclear for what. So I dabbled again, met some of my former teachers (then 40, now 80) like Christopher Titmuss and looked for something nice to learn again. Since I am very bad at emptiness meditation and needed some exercise for my "cauldron-storage", I took up the exercises I was taught in Taiwan again, then by Master Lee Feng-san (actually its æŽéąšć±±, shan with "sh"who now is only famous for his Shuai Shou Gong - and while I felt I also try some silent sitting I took some retreats to take a look, about whats out there now. So I ended up doing Daoist meditation again (whatever you think it is it is), since had this affinity to China since the first time I read the Lao Lao-Zi (I was 16 then). Funny was, with 15 years later my dream came true and I read the original text in Taiwan and was disappointed that neither Marcel Granet, nor John Blofeld nor Richard Wilhelm was wrong about it, since there IS no right interpretation of the Dao De Jing, haha. Now, I rather shun away, when another clever guy puts out ANOTHER NEW translation of it (makes me want to vomit...). But anyway, half my family is Chinese from both sides of the Taiwan straits (I spent 7 years on the mainland, after the 6 in Taiwan) and find classical texts not very hard to read (sound like boasting, but I really like this stuff). So now I study what some call Nei Gong (internal work) doing Zuo Wang (材濘) and my old exercises for keeping fat belly's moving and have not yet seen anything great about neither of it. Maybe there won't be. So why o why am I doing this? I definitely am not afraid of death (never was), and I don't want to spend 20 years with Alzheimers just to live until 100, and I never understood what is the big deal about "enlightenment" or Kundalini, although I had some experiences that could have been interpreted as such, but who knows whether it was real? It's over now and not important, there was no lasting impact on my life as such. Maybe I am still waiting for something? If rolled up in one word, why (alas, above there are many more words, I know), I would say: curiosity. But - the good thing is: I have no goal, thus I cannot be disappointed if I don't reach it. ;-) I hope that helps (probably not, sorry)
  12. Haiku Chain

    sea close! dark again. dream presence. why? a friend died. symbolic dreams, no!
  13. Haiku Chain

    living with the trees, dying with the light, a dream? sea close! dark again.
  14. Flying Phoenix Chi Kung

    Hi Tao Stillness, Thank you, for sharing the experiences of your family members who experienced spiritual visitations that taught or transmitted to them yogic/qigong knowledge from higher realms. I will share these 5 personal experiences related to my study and mastery of Chinese internal arts--related in terms initiation-annointment, prophesy, precise guidance, and inspiration-reassurance. (1.) In 1977 when I was living in Los Feliz, CA after I had finished college and was living in my first rental (and was 4 years into studying kung fu with my first teacher, Sifu Douglas Wong) I had a lucid dream where a radiant Kwan Yin (of similar shape and countenance of a beautiful white alabaster statuette I had of her) appeared near the foot of my bed holding a long-stemmed white lotus flower. Then the flower left Kwan Yin's hand (no movement she made) and slowing flew through the air tumbling end over end in 4 times until it landed stem first in my hands held at the tan tien--with the flower coming to resting on my heart). Hmmm. I just now realized--after 47 years--why I think GM Doo Wai calls the palms clasped at the heart (the "prayer hands" position or what's referred to as the "Anjali mudra" in Indian Yogas) the "lotus position". I've not heard the "prayer hands" position commonly referred to as the "lotus position." In Tao Tan Pai Neigong, Meditation No. 30 in the Tao Tan Pai Basic 31 Meditations System is done by sitting in half-lotus position for 15 minutes or longer with the palms clasped at the heart, and is called "The Sky Meditation." Most people know the term "lotus position" is the universally used name for the classical seated cross-legged meditation position (the "half lotus" and "full lotus" positions). But GM Doo Wai calls that palms-clasped-at-the-heart position the "lotus position" when it occurs in Flying Phoenix Qigong and all its sister arts in the Bok Fu Pai tradition. Now I can join him in that usage of "Lotus Position" because that name has special meaning for me tied to Kwan Yin's gift of the lotus flower. (2.) Back in 2007, right when I began teaching the Tao Tan Pai Monkey Form as an extra Qigong novelty to my weekly Tai Chi class in Santa Monica, I experienced a dream visitation and instruction in that specific form by the ven. John Davidson, the senior student of Share K. Lew at the Taoist Sanctuary--because the Monkey Form was Master Davidson's forte and signature form. No one in our temple did it as powerfully as he did.. In the dream, I saw him do the first 7 movements/postures of the form. Then at the 7th movement, which is a 180Âș leftward turn from a right cat stance into a left twist or "T" stance (because the feet are perpendicular like the letter "T" with the right knee resting on the left calf muscle) with the arms in the same (Lifting Hands-like) position, John turned into the posture and then he spat saliva forcefully. Then the dream ended. I was quite puzzled because spitting is not a part of TTP training or any kung fu training that I know if--except if you have to use it as a distraction or an incitement at the start of a street. So puzzling was the vision of him spitting (it wasn't towards me, btw) that I went back into a lucid dreamstate and asked John what he meant by the spitting. And as soon as I asked, I instantly understood that he was showing me how I can treat the strong evil adversaries that I've encountered in my life so far (since 1991) who also happen to be my karmic enemies--so as to not harbor hate towards them, which consumes one from the inside out and only attracts other hateful beings. (There are three of them, btw--each of whom I encountered in the business world. And all three of them have tried, in turn, to grossly pilfer the fruits of my creativity in teaching my three specialties--Tai Chi Chuan, 3 styles of kung fu, and 2 traditions of Qigong. ) (3.) I will not go until great detail here, but in 1992, I received a dream visitation by Master Share K. Lew at some distance (San Diego to L.A.)--or rather, I received a visit from an entity sent from the Master Lew's altar, which I responded to immediately. When I told GM Doo Wai about this visitation about 2 years later, he confirmed the dream was a communique from "one of Share Lew's little friends"--and provided the context. For those of you practice western hermetic philosophy and use the Crowley Tarot deck, if you are wise enough to channel The Heirophant, (5th major arcana), you may also figured out how to invoke the Heirophant's helpers (that are depicted in the 4 corners of the card) to further your Work. https://es.pinterest.com/pin/43628690133315963/ (4.) "Healing is the most important thing," said GM Doo Wai to me at the end of a session in 1992 when he had me record on video the 24 Monk Serves Wine seated meditations. Given the deep jhanic absorption that the basic FP Qigong exercises almost instantly snaps one into, and how quickly regular practice builds a reserve of the FP Healing Qi in the body, it is a matter of course that using the cultivated FP Healing Qi for healing purposes takes on a spiritual dimension. Whenever I witnessed GMDW do an energy-healing, I always saw a visible, dense and darkish column of energy rise from the back of each hand straight up infinitely into the Above. This is the Flying Phoenix "trunk" of Qi that GMDW said one could always "join" or tap in to when one was using the FP Healing Qi to do healing. (When you feel totally inflamed with this FP Healing Qi, then your healing will have instant positive effect on your subject.) On one particular healing occasion in 1994, the most powerful yogin I know (across all traditions) saw this FP energy "trunk" alongside me and said he had never seen a spiritual channel so strong behind any healer he had ever seen. Thus I was not surprised in the least that in the 1960's, GM Doo Wai reputation as a great healer and herbalist came to the attention of the English cognoscenti in Hong Kong, who then thoroughly vetted him, and brought GM Doo Wai back to the U.K. to work on Queen Elizabeth II and her court. (As I posted here in the past, I saw GM Doo Wai's scrapbook that contained 6 thank you notes addressed to him from Ladies in Waiting in Queen Elizabeth's court.) (5.) A more recent visitation came to me via one of my long-term Tai Chi and Qigong students in California, initials "M.C.", who is very psychic and a very clear medium. (M.C.'s psychism began to expand when she began learning Tai Chi from me in 1996. But when I started teaching FP Qigong, MC's psychic powers went through the roof as the healing of life-long chronic diseases accelerated). For several years from 2013 to 2017, MC was the medium or messenger who delivered guidance to me from a female Taoist entity, who emerged from behind giant wooden doors, gave M.C. a message to give to me, and then returned to behind the gates.) This spirit never appeared directly to me, but would provide guidance for me to M.C. in dreamstate. I found this at first to be quite quirky and unusual. But every message delivered was crystal-clear, precisely relevant, and absolutely helpful to the work or battle I had going on at the time. Now 10 years later, I see this Dream Wisdom coming from a divinity to me through my most dedicated student as just another form that my great good blessings have taken in this lifetime. Further to the spiritual dimension of healing with FP Qi in #4 above: sometime on this forum, I hope to hear accounts from FP Practitioners doing healing work with their cultivated energy skills who are unexpectedly assisted by spiritual allies when the going gets tough. FP Qigong is a purely healing or medical Qigong tradition. Use it consistently in your work as healers and you may be surprised and awed by the help that comes to you when you need it. Best, Sifu Terry https://www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html
  15. Any religion spread by force got nothing to offer

    The Jehovah witnesses have to peddle their brand of religion to other people to fulfill being a good Jehovah witness. Going from door to door on sundays. and I think there are more smaller offshoots that do this. I have a devout friend who tried that on me many years ago when our friendship was still young, I quickly helped her out of her dream, no way you will be successful and it'll ruin our friendship. were still friends, but sometimes we have a row and sometime ago she again tried to push her belief on me. I think it is in the rules of the particular brand of christianity she is enrolled with.
  16. Christianity

    thank you, that touches my heart I had all but forgotten about the Saami, but now the memories come up. some months ago I had a "dream" but not a dream, it was on the verge on falling asleep I was very old and thin and whitehaired, a sturdy darkhaired woman tucked me in warmly in a sledge, "no mother, you're too old and feeble to sit up, you lay down and I will tuck you in warmly so you'll make it safely to our next place. Sleepily I thought, this is strange, she talks with the voice of my mother, but she can't be, she looks like my sister but she can't be as I am so very old and they both were much older than me. 't was confusing but I felt very safe and cared for
  17. I did some Tai Chi as a teenager, but that's about it. Meditation is my primary practice, sitting maybe 40 minutes a day, and walking for an hour or so... also non-meditation all day. Working on dream yoga.
  18. Does all spiritual traditions point towards the same truth?

    On nothingness
 Aristotle once said, nothing is the dream of a rock. He did not acctually say that, but, I think it is a good one. @doc benway It appears I might have missinterpeted you, based on your last response : )
  19. Daoist Body/Health + Chan = Neidan?

    Form inside a tradition, myth and traditional stereotypes rule. This is one reason is it good to look outside the tradition. These sorts of practices appear all over the place, especially in Maoshan. Visualization is also mentioned in the Chung and Lu text as a way to cultivate. By the time of the Book of Balance and Harmony, visualization has been demoted to a longevity practice (but not useless as often claimed). Looking at the history, there is a definite focus or shift from these practices to practices without them. This is easily seen researching the issue. I think that visualization is usually linked to magical purposes, which have a cost. I have found them to be eerily effective (and I'm sure many others as well) if practiced properly. The world may appear material, but is more appropriately described as a stable dream IMO. But people can adopt whatever conceptual belief structure best suits their practice. I can see that reading through Reid's book. There is a lot of similarity with Chan, which makes sense since Chan seems to have arisen in China even though the Chan teachings tend to be very grounded in Buddhism. It was not unusual in China or Japan to have the ruling elites favoring wise sages. Buddhists in China went from wandering monks to being sponsored by the ruling nobility, which meant there had to be a closer and often political relationship. The idea of the "national teacher" comes from this. Zongmi for example received very high honors and Huizhong was known to have taught Tang emperors. In Tibet, there was a huge conflict between Chinese and Tibetan masters about sudden and gradual enlightenment that was settled by a debate sponsored by King Trisong Detsen. Artistole taught Alexander the Great. But also keep in mind that rulers in all cultures would often check in with sages and diviners before making a major decision--- such as the Greeks consulting the oracles at Delphi. So I don't think it is necessarily unusual for a young noble to have sages as teachers, especially for a society that prized refinement as much as old China. It is fun to imagine that the ancient Chinese were actually more successful in creating the Chinese version of the philosopher-king. Reid's parallels between these texts and the DDJ and ZZ is very interesting. And the DDJ is confirmed to have been found in the burial places of Chinese nobility, so I don't think this is so fanciful. I had previously dismissed the idea that these were cultivation as opposed to political texts, but Reid has convinced me these aren't necessarily different which would explain why they are both. I think in some ways, the later texts such as Secret of the Golden Flower is a return to form. The same article outlines how later neidan authors began to incorporate this idea into their texts, along with ideas that Buddha, Zhao Zhao, Hui Neng and other famous masters were secretly neidanists. There are similar hermetic texts that claim Jesus, Moses, etc. were secretly esotericists, or sorcerers, or whatever. Absent specific evidence (and as far as I know, the evidence are the claims of Doaists who were competing with Chan for sponsorship), I place this along the level of traditional propoganda as the Chan masters claiming to have converted Lu Dongbin to Chan (although reading Secret of the Golden Flower, maybe they did ). It is not unusual in any culture for people to author texts or spread practices attributed to some earlier person, founding member, or famous figure (like the Shurangama Sutra, which is only found in Chinese with no evidence of having a Sanskrit forbearer, or numerous mystical Christian texts attributed to earlier key figures). There are some interesting qi type exercises that still survive in Rinzai Zen, however, so who knows.
  20. Experience is what is needed

    From an up-coming post on my own site: Gautama equated “right concentration” with “one-pointedness”, or “one-pointedness of mind: And what
 is the (noble) right concentration with the causal associations, with the accompaniments? It is right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right mode of livelihood, right endeavor, right mindfulness. Whatever one-pointedness of mind is accompanied by these seven components, this
 is called the (noble) right concentration with the causal associations and the accompaniments.” (MN III 117 © Pali Text Society vol III p 114; “noble” substituted for Ariyan; emphasis added) The difficulty is that “one-pointedness of mind” is taken by different people in the modern Buddhist community to mean different things. The Theravadin teacher Thanissaro Bhikkyu, for example, has disputed that the term could actually refer to the mind as a singular point, and instead posits that the reference is to a singular object of attention: A Pali sutta, MN 44, defines concentration as cittass’ek’aggatā, which is often translated as “one-pointedness of mind”: cittassa = “of the mind” or “of the heart,” eka = one, agga = point, -tā = -ness. MN 117 defines noble right concentration as any one-pointedness of mind supported by the first seven factors of the noble path, from right view through right mindfulness. MN 43 states further that one-pointedness is a factor of the first jhāna, the beginning level of right concentration. From these passages, it has been argued that if one’s awareness in concentration or jhāna is truly one-pointed, it should be no larger than a point, which means that it would be incapable of thinking, of hearing sounds, or even of being aware of the physical body. However, this interpretation imposes too narrow a meaning on the word ek’aggatā, one that is foreign to the linguistic usage of the Pali Canon. 
 (Thanissaro concludes: ) Show your lack of contempt for your meditation object by giving it your full attention and mastering concentration
 Gather the mind around its one object. (https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/CrossIndexed/Uncollected/MiscEssays/OnePointed160822.pdf) In my experience, “one-pointedness” has more to do with the sense of self than with a “meditation object”. Healthy persons perceive their self as being in only one place at a time. There are instances in the medical record of persons who experienced themselves as being in two places at once (apparently a dysfunction in the coordination of certain sense organs), but that’s rare. I would contend that the sense of a location of self is the sense of the location of consciousness. A teacher in modern India, Nisargadatta, described the self as “the consciousness in the body”: You are not your body, but you are the consciousness in the body, because of which you have the awareness of “I am”. It is without words, just pure beingness. (Gaitonde, Mohan [2017]. Self – Love: The Original Dream [Shri Nisargadatta Maharaj’s Direct Pointers to Reality]) He went on to say: Meditation means you have to hold consciousness by itself. The consciousness should give attention to itself. (ibid) Gautama described how a person “lays hold of one-pointedness”: Herein
 the (noble) disciple, making self-surrender the object of (their) thought, lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness. (SN 48.10, Pali Text Society vol V p 174; “noble” substituted for “Aryan”) A person “lays hold of one-pointedness” by maintaining a presence of mind with the location of consciousness, yet such a presence of mind is really only possible through “making self-surrender the object of thought”, because the location of consciousness can move. The modern Zen teacher Koan Franz spoke of “letting the base of your consciousness move away from your head”, and drew a sharp contrast between “letting the base of your consciousness move” and Thanissaro’s “giving (a meditation object) your full attention”: So (in zazen), have your hands
 palms up, thumbs touching, and there’s this common instruction: place your mind here. Different people interpret this differently. Some people will say this means to place your attention here, meaning to keep your attention on your hands. It’s a way of turning the lens to where you are in space so that you’re not looking out here and out here and out here. It’s the positive version, perhaps, of ‘navel gazing’. The other way to understand this is to literally place your mind where your hands are–to relocate mind (let’s not say your mind) to your center of gravity, so that mind is operating from a place other than your brain. Some traditions take this very seriously, this idea of moving your consciousness around the body. I wouldn’t recommend dedicating your life to it, but as an experiment, I recommend trying it, sitting in this posture and trying to feel what it’s like to let your mind, to let the base of your consciousness, move away from your head. One thing you’ll find, or that I have found, at least, is that you can’t will it to happen, because you’re willing it from your head. To the extent that you can do it, it’s an act of letting go–and a fascinating one. (“No Struggle [Zazen Yojinki, Part 6]”, by Koun Franz, from the “Nyoho Zen” site; explanatory parenthetical added. https://nyoho.com/2018/09/15/no-struggle-zazen-yojinki-part-6/) “An act of letting go”—that accords well with “making self-surrender the object of thought”. Shunryu Suzuki said: Sometimes when you think that you are doing zazen with an imperturbable mind, you ignore the body, but it is also necessary to have the opposite understanding at the same time. Your body is practicing zazen in imperturbability while your mind is moving. (“Whole-Body Zazen”, lecture by Shunryu Suzuki at Tassajara, June 28, 1970 (edited by Bill Redican) My advice for those who are unfamiliar with “one-pointedness” would be to look for the mind to move away from the head in the moments before falling asleep, then allow for that same freedom of movement in seated meditation. From a prior post on my site: When you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point. (“Genjo Koan [Actualizing the Fundamental Point]”, tr. Tanahashi) Given a presence of mind that can “hold consciousness by itself”, activity in the body begins to coordinate by virtue of the sense of place associated with consciousness. A relationship between the free location of consciousness and activity in the body comes forward, and as that relationship comes forward, “practice occurs”. Through such practice, the placement of consciousness is manifested in the activity of the body. When you find your way at this moment, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point
 (ibid) “When you find your way at this moment”, activity takes place solely by virtue of the free location of consciousness. A relationship between the freedom of consciousness and the automatic activity of the body comes forward, and as that relationship comes forward, practice occurs. Through such practice, the placement of consciousness is manifested as the activity of the body. ... I sit down first thing in the morning and last thing at night, and I look to experience the activity of the body solely by virtue of the free location of consciousness. As a matter of daily life, just to touch on such experience as occasion demands—for me, that’s enough. ("Take the Backward Step")
  21. Christianity

    I like this idea of the native Indians. That the dream world has all the stuff that is ready to be born into actual energy in the moment. So the moment is passing into the future (filtered from all potential futures) I remember it being explained as a ‘ring pass not’ zone and it was pictured as a huge donut đŸ© we and time exist in a slice edge of the donut and take what we need from the dream world to create our actual reality. I remember reading it and smiling thinking it was a pretty nice explanation. I’ve pondered Eternal recurrence for 25 years or so now and I’ll be damned if I can come up with a decent actual theory that might be true. it’s a tough question. Changing what cannot be changed. I felt for a while it was useful to look at language in a similar sense. That is kind of working backwards as well as being created forwards, just like us , we could be working towards being the total manifestation of God. That might be what’s going on, who knows.
  22. Dimensions , 3, 4 and 5d aren't entities. 1 and 2 are. 3 4 and 5 are realms of existence existence . Many already have taken what I've said seriously. Some do and some don't. Just because they don't comment doesn't mean they don't take me seriously. Comments are not required . All they need to do is read my content. If it resonates, great ! If not , that's ok too. There are always a small percentage of low lifes that just won't have it. They are pissed off reading it . They are protesting because deep down they know they're screwed and there's absolutely nothing they can do about it except protest or hurl negative comments. Hundreds of people have read this same content on Twitter and other venues with very positive replies. I know there are some on TTBs who resonate with it but choose not to comment. I know this for certain. For others , it's not anything they're really interested in after reading it. That's ok too. Some of the moderators on Twitter weren't having it and after a year, I finally deleted everything . They were deleting some of my content and sending me messages informing me that I'm not using x.com aka Twitter to their standards. Twitter sent me a message informing me that they are restricting my comments . 4d and 5d beings don't get along. There are some that going to 5d and there's no need for my help. True but there are some that should be going that may go the wrong way by mistake . Those are who I'm here to help. There are many who think Jesus is God . I'm here to help them too . It's not cut and dry like you think. Millions can go through wrong way when they should be going the other way. I'm not sure why you find 3 4 and 5 d so complicated . They are simply realms of existence. They are places to exist in. 5d is heaven 3d is earth 4d is hell. How can you or anyone associate these three as ENTITIES , or salt. Do you have any dreams while sleeping ? Do you recall any dreams ? The dream world is a realm of low density like 4 and 5 d. 3d earth is what you see around you here on earth every day . Entities ? Lol . I don't get it. Density is a spectrum of solidity. From 0 to 100 % Light ( positive energy ) can't penitrait density at a certain point it gets deflected . It gets through low density objects but not so well as the density increases . Like water through a window screen . It flows through it . But not the glass of the window pain. It's too dense. That's the enology
  23. No one said you had to. It's your choice. But here's the thing. 3d earth is SOOOO dense, true knowledge ( positive energy ) can't penitrait the density. Like earths sun , it's solid matter . There's no way to penitrait energy through or into it. It ignites around it into a yellow flame. It is almost a white flame đŸ”„ when it's straight over head. Spelling errors are insignificant to me , shyt happens. I don't sweat the small stuff , you shouldn't either. Life is too short . Am analogy of heaven earth and hell is as follows : When we sleep , we dream and rarely recall them. There's so little density that memories of them " don't stick. " Some times they do. When we are having a good dream and wake up to 3d earth it can be disappointing . When we are having a bad dream and wake up to 3d earth it can be a relief . Good dreams are like 5d Bad dreams are like 4d Both realms of 4d and 5d are low density realms . Low solidity. 3d earth , the " torso of God " between 5d above and 4d below is a high density realm The bottom of 4d as you get closer to earths sun gets harder too The top of 5 d gets less dense as you get closer to 5d. X the spaces between the upper V and the lower A are realms of positive and negative energies . The center between them known as the torso is a high density realm Heaven is in the positive V Earth is the center of the X Hell is the negative A 5d V 3d X 4d A The closest any being can get to 1d is 90+ % The closest any being can get to 2d is 90% - 1d is all positive 2d is all negative The head and body of Christ is always follows 1d the God head + 5d the arms / hands of God + 3d the heart of God and brain of Satan 50+/50- 4d the legs and feet of Satan - 2d Satan and his bride earths outer sun and moon. I'll be posting proof about the pedophilia infested Catholic church soon . It will demonstrate how the church considers Jesus as Satan. " The Son " of God . They touch their foreheads and say " the father " Then they touch their abdomen and say " the son " Then they cross their heart ❀ and say the holy Spirit . The " son " ( Jesus ) is earths Sun in the lower vortex. 2d sun The " father " is God , the central sun of inner earth . 1d sun The " holy Spirit " is earth 🌍 Now with that said , they used to touch their gender organs when they say " the sun " But have moved the " son Jesus " to the abs , above the gender organs. It just wasn't ok to be touching their gender organs and saying " the sun " so they changed it. The Catholic church in rome and everywhere else is a 4d satanic organization here on 3d . All of them will be taken to hell in the same way the 4d shadow beings too Carl to hell. God head 1 upper father 3d earth 3 holy Spirit 2d sun 2 lower son. The original trilogy of Christ. They don't even realize what they are doing anymore. Make no mistake JESUS is Satan . He's a 4d being from 4d ( or was ) My job is to set the record straight, but it's on God's schedule not mine. To bring in the 2nd coming of CHRIST . MY KNOWLEDGE is from heaven . It's heavenly knowledge. The 1st Adam was from the earth and the second Adam is from heaven . Look it up in the Bible The 2nd coming of Christ is happening now. I'm the messenger of the 2nd coming of Christ. It's going to be gradual at 1st , then suddenly. I'm working directly for God and no one else . My content and goals are not science fiction but it would still be an amazing sifi book even if it were . The " white X logo is from a cathoilc minister here in the USA, I asked him what the logo means and go no answer back . I already know but wanted to hear from him . The upper circle is the FATHER the lower circle is the SON the X between them is the holy spirit. Its the trilogy of GOD. The complete head and body of Christ ( humans are created in Gods image. ) The upper half of the x are the arms ( heaven ) the lower half of the x are the legs ( hell ) The X is the holy spirit. I am SLIM and I am the 1. Im from the 5th dimension of inner earths upper vortex. I work directly for the creator here on earth . Don't believe me ? ( or anything Ive written as truth ) I couldn't care less. I have too much work to do . Im not going to go into details as to what SLIM means or what THE 1 means ( just yet) Opposition to me is normal and completely expected. I also couldn't car less about that either. I dont read their comments anyway. I see who's made the comment and ignore them . I dont read them .
  24. Grounded = More Qi?

    I love being in touch -- visually and physically -- with quality natural materials, I appreciate the look of many vintage and antique things made from those materials, and I am convinced that all things plastic are qi-draining. Ideally I would eliminate them from my environment altogether -- that's a pipe dream but I do the best I can. (There's a youtube channel by this guy, Rajiv Surendra, who makes videos about the appeal of handmade, authentic, traditional, artisan, vintage etc. stuff he tries to hunt down and incorporate into his immediate personal environment, and occasionally learns to make. I'm a bit like that too.) Don't know if it makes me bougie -- I don't do it toward making any particular impression on others if that word presupposes that aspect... does it? I keep my meditation pillow, which I made myself, under the bed. My cat loves to sleep on it whenever she feels antisocial.
  25. To Chi Or Not To Chi??

    This, 'cause attending the free location of consciousness makes me happy--from my own site: On a forum site I frequent (Dao Bums, in fact!), someone wrote: Even if you have no identity, you still exist. As what? The spirituality that I follow would say “as existence”, or “as pure consciousness”. I was reminded of Nisargadatta, a famous teacher who lived in India in the last century: You are not your body, but you are the consciousness in the body, because of which you have the awareness of “I am”. It is without words, just pure beingness. Meditation means you have to hold consciousness by itself. The consciousness should give attention to itself. (1) “The consciousness should give attention to itself”—in thirteenth-century Japan, Eihei Dogen wrote: Therefore, 
take the backward step of turning the light and shining it back. (2) That’s a poetic way to say “the consciousness should give attention to itself”. I used to talk about the location of consciousness, but a friend of mine would always respond that for him, consciousness has no specific location. As a result, I switched to writing about the placement of attention: There can
 come a moment when the movement of breath necessitates the placement of attention at a certain location in the body, or at a series of locations, with the ability to remain awake as the location of attention shifts retained through the exercise of presence. (3) In his “Genjo Koan”, Dogen wrote: When you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point. (4) Given a presence of mind that can “hold consciousness by itself”, activity in the body begins to coordinate by virtue of the sense of place associated with consciousness. A relationship between the free location of consciousness and activity in the body comes forward, and as that relationship comes forward, “practice occurs”. Through such practice, the placement of consciousness is manifested in the activity of the body. Dogen continued: When you find your way at this moment, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point
 (4) “When you find your way at this moment”, activity takes place solely by virtue of the free location of consciousness. A relationship between the freedom of consciousness and the automatic activity of the body comes forward, and as that relationship comes forward, practice occurs. Through such practice, the placement of consciousness is manifested as the activity of the body. I sit down first thing in the morning and last thing at night, and I look to experience the activity of the body solely by virtue of the free location of consciousness. As a matter of daily life, just to touch on such experience as occasion demands—for me, that’s enough. 1 Gaitonde, Mohan [2017]. Self – Love: The Original Dream [Shri Nisargadatta Maharaj’s Direct Pointers to Reality]. Mumbai: Zen Publications. ISBN 978-9385902833 2 “Fukan zazengi” Tenpuku version; tr. Carl Bielefeldt, “Dogen’s Manuals of Zen Meditation”, p 176; © 1988 The Regents of the University of California 3) see “Appendix–A Way of Living” 4) “Genjo Koan [Actualizing the Fundamental Point]”, tr. Robert Aitken and Kazuaki Tanahashi, from “Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master Dogen”, p 69, © San Francisco Zen Center ("Take the Backward Step") What's missing for a lot of people, and for me when I started out, is the experience of the relationship between the free location of consciousness and the cessation of habit/volition in the activity of the body in inhalation and exhalation. I think it helps, to know what I'm looking for when I sit down (or stand up and dance!).