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Dear Dao Bums, Has anyone here on the forum done SFQ level 5? I remember looking at it many years ago, where it boasted of secrets of connecting with ancestors, prolonging life, increasing jing and longevity, supercharging lower dan tien and kidneys for vitality, rainbow energy bone marrow cleansing, opening all spiritual senses and much more. In the commercial films from the retreat people were meditating in front of a large lake, with Chunyi Lin empowering each one-by-one using sword finger to their 3rd eye. When I look at the official page today, it's much more modest in its claims; now it's called "beyond qi" and talks about "advanced qigong", "advanced tian mu", "opening spiritual senses", "increasing healing power". However, I still would love to go for a sense of completion, having done SFQ level 1-4, and having used his qigong and meditation for many 49 day cycles, having had several very expensive one-on-one sessions with him, as well as healed maybe 20-25 people using his system. I always get a deep sense of personal satisfaction and delight when completing something, and taking level 5 would give me that. Further, it would of course also be super interesting to sample and experience first hand the "qi menu" offered (the tian mu and spiritual senses methods). So, looking for experiences here; anyone ever attended? If yes, what was your experience? God bless you

I know that our efforts all come to nothing. Analyze life, tear its trappings off, lay it bare with thought, with logic, with philosophy, and its emptiness is revealed as a bottomless pit; its nothingness frankly confesses to nothingness, and Despair comes to perch in the soulI know the end of us all is nothing, I know that at the end of Time, the reward of our toil will be nothing — and again nothing. I know that all our handiwork and all our ideas will be destroyed. I know that not even ash will be left from the fires that consume us. I know that our ideals, even those we achieve, will vanish in the eternal darkness of oblivion and final non-being. There is no hope, none, in my heart. I know, No promise, none, can I make to myself and to others. No recompense can I expect for my labors. No fruit will be born of my thoughts. I know the time — eternal seducer of all men, eternal cause of all effects — offers me nothing but the blank prospect of annihilation. So, my dignity is broken and weak, in recognition of my impending defeat.The man who is alone, who stands on his own feet, who is stripped bare, who asks for nothing and wants nothing, who has reached the apex of disinterested­ness not through blind renunciation but through ex­cess of clear vision, turns to the world which stretches out before him as a burned prairie, as a devastated city — a world in which no churches, asylums, refuges, ideals, are left — and says: «Though you promise me nothing I am still with you, I am still an atom of your energies, my work is part of your work; I am your companion and your mirror as you march on your merciless way. But I owe nothing to any one. I would be responsible to freedom alone.

Vedanta Philosophy explains about ways to lead a Selfless Life, Truthful life, Values to be followed in life, and final Self Realization. First and foremost of values is "Non hatred towards all the beings of the world". Not hurtful towards any being in the world. Compassion, Friendliness, Non anger, Self Control (Sense Control), Shraddha (Faith), Away from Crowd, Unaffected by joy and sorrow, heat and cold, Not desire ridden, Non jealousy. Vedanta covers both Idealism and Realism. Leading a life by following: i) Waking up early in the morning betwween 4.00A.M and 5.30A.M. This time is called Brahma Muhurtha (4.00 A.M - 6.00 A.M), Studying Scriptural texts and related texts like Vedanta Treatise, Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Choice Upanishads, Select English Poems (Books by Swami. A.Parthasarathy). ii) Practice of Karma Yoga (Path of Action), Bhakthi Yoga (Path of Devotion), Gnana Yoga (Path of Knowledge) according to one's constitution. iii) Steadfastness, Determination to achieve the goal takes the individual to Meditation and Self Realiation.

Hello, I would like to introduce myself properly by giving my related background in regards to internal alchemy, which is what i am about... I started out with the religion of my parents until early teenage years, became agnostic as it didnt matter to me and later on picked up interest in Christendom. Not having any preconceived notions about anything Christian by external teachings... and reading the book on my own, I came to other conclusions than those that are mainstream. My understanding or interpretation has evolved multiple times, after which I took a step back and realized that relying on interpretation, understanding, knowledge or reasoning is not enough and can be misleading. That was the main point that made me stop trying to reach God with the intellect, but start walking the path of the mystic (experiencing God > knowing God). One day, I had a very interesting experience, which changed everything. I sat on my bed or I was lying, I dont know and had a moment where I totally surrendered to "God", giving up my life, basically, saying its all yours and meaning it and fully giving up... As I was lying there, my body started to burn hot. Internal waves of goosebumps emerged that came in waves, stronger and stronger, and overtook my entire body. If I was to describe it, I would say my body was in blazing, overwhelming, invisible fire, which did not burn me, but which I could sense! At that moment, I had no clue what was happening, but nowadays, I think I know... anyway, as it was happening, I was thinking of God's embrace, of verses like "God is a burning fire" which does not burn, things of that nature, which intensified the whole experience... IIRC, it kept going for 2-3 minutes, give or take and then i went to sleep. I never paid more attention or taught to it, but nowadays, I think it was a key event in my energetic unfolding - i think it started it all. Anyway, I evolved from Christianity by becoming a perennialist, due to my mystical/esoteric approach to the bible. I discovered non-duality, first in the bible, then noticed how other traditions, mainly buddhism (secretly) and advaita vedanta (openly) are teaching the same thing. I realized that "God" is not personal, but rather impersonal and more than that, that God's identity, which I knew was "ineffable" - somethign that did not make much sense to me, was beyond concepts, language or reason, making me understand the ineffible-ness of God's identity. It transcends the intellect or speech, the Tao that can be talked or written about, is not the real Tao... The buddhists call it the void or emptiness.. The evolution of my understanding has been happening in multiple strands, in parallel. The main strand or framework I was working with, was alchemical Christianity (occultism), but I was open minded so I was pursuing other maps or frameworks like budhism and yoga (of patanjali) to better understand what they were all pointing at. As a perennialist, I view God as a mountain-top, with different starting points having different paths (potentially-) all leading to the same top, or trying to, at least. From Christendom, I understood that the way to God is by "Christ" alone - which is an occultish way to say that celibacy is sine-quo-non. This knowledge has been esoterically distilled from a few things...: - the allegory of the fall of Adam & Eve, who "ate" from the forbidden "tree" placed in the "midst of the garden". ther is a verse that says one should come to a conclusion on a matter by taking multiple witnesses in court cases, but esoterically speaking, this is referring to textual interpretation - so, there is another place (Proverbs 30:20) which says "the whore eats and wipes her mouth and says she has done nothing wrong", showing and indicating that "eating" = sex, making the allegory of Adam & Eve all about sex, as they also "ate".. making the forbidden tree the genitelia, the garden the center of the human body etc. - allegory of Christ's crcufixition - being crucified at the age of "33" in "golgotha" is code for the spine, which has 33 vertebrates and the human skull: "golgotha" literally means "place of skull" - the word "Christ" means anointing or oil, in the original, its "cristos" - this is the same "oil" of the parable of the 10 virgins, all of whom seek to enter the "kindgom of God" (deciphered: samadhi/jhana), 5 wise having "oil" in their lantern, 5 foolish who dont have "oil" and cant enter during the dark night (meditation) - the Christ (anointing, oil, essence, "jing"), which came from above ("Most High" / "God" - aka the brain, pituary/pineal) must also go up the same way it came down - by being accepted (celibacy) and not rejected (sexual indulgence) - "to know" meaning to have sex and the saying "know thyself" occultishly referring to self-frucitication (internal alchemy).. Equipped with this knowledge, I practiced mainly 2 things: - meditation - celibacy (both of which are simply non-doings, now that I think about it - I did not "do" those things, I rather stopped "doing" in both instances xD the yoke of Christ is easy after all...) The form of meditation I practiced was what Buddha described in the anapana-sati sutta. Awareness of the breath. By "breath", I mean the false breath - the mechanism by which we suck in air. These days, my main interpretation for "breath" in occult or spiritual ancient texts is Chi automatically, because you can breath chi as well. Sooner or later, I discovered that I can voluntarily cause piloerection, in short - create goosebumps voluntarily with my breath. I now understand this as chi-control. Initially I did not understand the significance of it and ignored it, but thanks to articles I found here and elsewhere, correlating it with the other knowledge I have, I think its the key to all of it.. The comment I am referring to is this one: Having spent some time here and having read about xing and ming (a 60+ page pdf called "Destiny, Vital Force, or Existence? On the Meanings of Ming in Daoist Internal Alchemy and Its Relation to Xing or Human Nature by Fabrizio Pregadio"), I think I now have somewhat of a better understanding of what the process is really all about. (I am still not hipp to the taoist lingo, but i am trying xD) And I find myself more leaning towards Taoism or rather, internal alchemy (neidan) than any other framework, as its the most straight forward and the one that makes most sense to me personally, assuming you know what the cryptic elements mean. All spiritual texts are cryptic, but if you have a little bit of progress or related knowledge to compare it to, you can usually make sense of it... or delude yourself you are undersanding them, lol xD Here is my current understanding ,which is ever-evolving: - Meditation (false xing exercise, post-heaven xing?) creates true ming (chi movement, awareness of chi, voluntary piloerection), when the body and mind are completely and 100% relaxed (no movement: physical stillness and 0 muscle tension + no thoughts) - True Ming & its exercise (chi-gong, taichi, external movements but paying 80% attention to the movement of the chi internally, not the physical form or movement) is what charges the battery at the core of the human system and allows for true xing (jhanic absoprtion, samadhi, emptiness) to occur The anapanasati sutta is ingenious in the way, that it contains both elements. You progress from the breath of air to the breath of chi all naturally. Once you do celibacy or become a monk and then completely relax the body and mind for a while, you feel start feeling the pulsations of chi in your body (mainly abdomen), which are exponentially intensified through celibacy.. and sooner or later, acquire control over them. You start feeling light-orgasmic sensations in your abdomen when you fully relax and meditate! This is the bliss of the secluded monks, Buddha talked about, who were entering Jhana! When the breath is traced down, which naturally occurs, as you can not focus your attention to the nose-tip as mainstream buddhist teachers teach, because you have let go of all control (even awareness) to achieve stillness, bodily and mentally, awareness itself will natural latch on to the breath and follow it down to the belly. in the belly, when the breath is slow (long), heat sensations will start to form near the belly button and it will heat up. this natural xing-approach can be simulated by a ming approach of doing reverse breathing and intentionally moving chi (voluntary piloerection) to the belly region. visualizing energy moving in from your limbs like electricity down into your belly helps a lot. 2 different approaches, but the same effect. i think once this center is charged sufficiently, it spills over to higher regions which is when supernatural phenomena are gonna start occurring around you, usually unintentionally and without control... perhaps you can gain control, but I am not that far yet and I am not really interested, tbh... i could not make sense of it either, it seems that certain physical phenomena occur, when there is a "delta" in awareness, say you are at 50% of stillness or emptiness (random number) and then you drop to 49% or jump to 51% abruptly for whatever reason, this has a ripple effect on physical reality. this is the best way I can describe it and I could not induce it by will, it happens on its own or is out of control... i could not attribute it to anything else, because its hard to "think" while not thinking or being completely still.. so when the phenomena occur, it rips me out of emptiness completely when i try to make sense of it, completely stopping the whole process! i think thinking (mental movements) are too coarse for supernatural phenomena - you have to have a super subtle mind with super subtle movements during stillness, to (probably) intentionally induce these things. and even then, how would you do that, when you have to let go of all things to reach such levels of stilness (non-doing)? how to do while not doing? i have no idea... its super complex and I have no one to really talk to about these things, except perhaps you guys! I believe that dual-cultivation is necessary and complementary to each other, cultivating both energy (chi movement) + stillness (100% body/mind relaxation, no wavering at all, no movement of any sort). Christ may have been a taoist, btw., having said what he said in the gospel of Thomas verse 50, in regards to where we come from: > (50) Jesus says: > (1) “If they say to you: ‘Where do you come from?’ (then) say to them: ‘We have come from the light, the place where the light has come into being > by itself, has established [itself] and has appeared in their image.’ > (2) If they say to you: ‘Is it you?’ (then) say: ‘We are his children, and we are the elect of the living Father.’ > (3) If they ask you: ‘What is the sign of your Father among you?’ (then) say to them: ‘It is movement and repose.’” Movement (ming) and repose (stillness) or yang and yin, etc.. The Tao (stillness, void, emptiness, nothingness) spontaneously created unity (golden elixier, the unification of yin and yang) which split into duality (yin and yang), which procreated the 3rd (mother+father=child) and from this process came all the things (10.000 things)... so its about uniting duality, merging movement with stillness, action in non-action, doing in non-doing or non-doing in doing - i think this is what wuwei refers to, ultimately. effortless action is born, when both yin and yang merged into one. no one can do this, except the exalted ones, the taoist immortals, the boddhisattvas, the saints, etc. etc. intentionally. in regards to internal alchemy, I think this refers to controlling energy while being in stillness. its kinda paradoxical, how is there a "doing" (yang, chi-control) in "non-doing" (meditation, yin). i think the answer is: spontaneity - its a natural phenomenon, its not you, who does anything, it is something which follows a certain law and happens on its own on the path of cultivation. i think this is what has been depicted in the yin and yang symbol, where there is a dot of the opposite in each one of them. yang has a dot of yin and yin has a dot of yang, as they both complement each other and one induces the other. they are tightly knit together, one could argue they are the two sides of the same coin... And Jesus also talked about how to create the golden elixier, allthough cryptically, in verse 106, for example: > (106) Jesus says: > (1) “When you make the two into one, you will become sons of man. > (2) And when you say ‘Mountain, move away,’ it will move away.” (sons of man is a title for offspring of the perfect one, the first "man" aka Adam, who was 100% perfect before the fall) Anyway, there are many traditions and many esoteric sayings, which I have not referenced outright, which point at this general direction. The muslims "pray" (repetition of words; mantra meditation) by placing their hands on their belly buttons and doing a few stretching movements.. i think its a veiled form of internal alchemy! In general, the abrahamic flavors seem to use the formula: celibacy + xing practice (or non-practice, lol, letting go, non-doing). I think this is called xing before ming in taoism. Xing before ming, in true christendom, evolves into xing with ming at the same time, once ming becomes doable due to xing cultivation - as one other daobummer once pointed out in a completely different context but still related: "how can a pianist play the piano, if he has no hands? he first needs to cultivate and have hands.. hence the higher teachings are secret or only given to those who qualify.." something along those lines - which makes sens in this context as well - how can you do ming work, if you are not aware of your chi and can not move it. So I am of the "xing before ming" school, allthough nowadays I practice both at the same time, beceause I "grew hands", so to speak.. ---- I am grateful for this community, there are many nuggets of wisdom and lots of interesting discussions. I am happy to be able to be part of it, allthough I am one who prefers personal, direct experience over theories, its still nice to have a few ideas or different POVs... and more importantly, likeminded people!

I have started to read ' The Elements of Shamanism' by Neville Drury. He quotes one source as saying "the Shamanistic calling may come during some great misfortune, dangerous illness, sudden loss of family" etc. A little later I returned to a book previously started, Sangharakshita's 'The Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path'. Referring to the "Path of Vision" (usually known as right understanding). The author states that "it arises for some as a result of personal tragedy, bereavement or loss." I was struck by the obvious similarity of the statements and I wonder how widely if at all, it is recognized. Are there similar references in other traditions?

Since the Covid-19 lockdowns began, Master Stephen Co has been doing live meditations every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, twice a day at 10:00am PST and 6:00pm PST on his website, Facebook, Instagram and other social media. I normally wouldn't have been interested but my gf is really into it so I gave it a try and it is actually really cool. I feel really blissful afterwards, with a strong flowing of energy through me, and widened energy pathways. It's so simple you just go to his Facebook. I'd just follow him on Facebook, that's easiest. He guides Meditation on Twin Hearts which is the foundation of what he practices, as well as The Great Invocation, and even little bits here and there of higher level practices of Arhatic Yoga. He's been being quite generous about opening up bits and pieces of the practices not usually taught openly. Fridays are deep emotional cleansing day. Follow him on Facebook, his meditations he leads for his followers are powerful, and he has his own "special sauce", or a powerful energy technique he uses to add more spiritual energy to the energy you are developing and make it a lot stronger. https://www.facebook.com/MasterStephenCo/ Tuesday Oct.13th at 6:00pm PDT he is giving a free class on Pranic Feng Shui and Pranic Healing called "Aligning Your Inner and Outer Worlds" https://pranichealing.mykajabi.com/align-pfs-psh-registration

Washington (CNN)--July 9th, 2020 The Supreme Court said Thursday that a large swath of eastern Oklahoma, including Tulsa, is Native American land for purposes of federal criminal law in a decision that the state argued could call into question thousands of state prosecutions for serious crimes. Justice Neil Gorsuch penned the 5-4 opinion joined by the liberals on the bench. "Today we are asked whether the land these treaties promised remains an Indian reservation for purposes of federal criminal law," said Gorsuch, who was appointed by President Donald Trump. "Because Congress has not said otherwise, we hold the government to its word," he said. Under the law, crimes involving Native Americans on a reservation are under federal, not state, jurisdiction. The unique case represented the opportunity for the Supreme Court to weigh in on the limits of tribal sovereignty and revisit the country's horrific history of displacing native tribes from their land. The question before the court involved a case brought by Jimcy McGirt, a member of Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, who argued that his case ought to be tried by the federal government because the crimes were committed on the land of historic Muscogee (Creek) Nation. The distinction of whether the large swath of eastern Oklahoma qualified as reservation land was key -- under federal law, major crimes committed by individuals on Native American land must be tried by the federal government. "The Supreme Court reaffirmed today that when the United States makes promises, the courts will keep those promises," Ian Gershengorn, a lawyer for McGirt who argued the case in May, said in a statement to CNN. "Congress persuaded the Creek Nation to walk the Trail of Tears with promises of a reservation—and the Court today correctly recognized that that this reservation endures."

This is a two-part exposition on the nature of Self-realization/Enlightenment by the wonderful Swami Sarvapriyananda. If you are seriously interested in this, spend the time and sit quietly, listen to what he says.

Are you not able to let go off Helplessness?Does Helplessness make you feel like a Victim?The feeling of Helplessness makes us feel negatively about us and everything around Then, listen to this Guided Meditation for Letting go off Helplessness and be a witness to miracles in Life Transformation

Dear Friends, I wanted to share with you an exciting bit of news (for me at the very least ). My new novel titled "The Mahāsiddha Field" is scheduled to release worldwide in paperback and Kindle eBook format on December 10th, 2019. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081SPR24B Some of you longer-term bums here have read the initial parts of the book a few years back (then under a temporary working title). I thank all those who encouraged me to complete the book, and for valuable feedback when I had requested it a few years back. I hope you will get a copy of the book and enjoy it. I know the words I am going to type below are used very frequently, but I mean it from the bottom of my heart, nonetheless. I thank all you Dao Bums for being such a constant part of my life since I became a member back in 2007. I couldn't have done this without you all. Love and Best Regards, Dwai

Read this wonderful interview of the person who was with Nisargadatta Maharaj towards his final few years in physical form. https://innerspiritualawakening.com/nisargadatta-maharaj/mai-interview-transcript/ Here's the recording of the interview -- https://innerspiritualawakening.com/nisargadatta-maharaj/mai-interview/?fbclid=IwAR0nIu_ef8KSq38PIkykPvU5qnS9X83NQ9DEIlbA5iB4bnqR2sAxlShksHA

https://www.medhajournal.com/the-art-of-listening/

Greetings. I've read the forums from time to time & found good information here in the past so decided to join proper. Have taken many ideologies from different places throughout my life and have constructed a belief system that is again in transition. Been practicing Yoga and Qigong regularly, many years of different Yoga styles, Qigong is new. Have been practicing the Spring Forest method and would like to learn more traditional methodology to have the option of weaving the two together or practicing another form. I am interested in a spiritual wellness as well as mind-body wellness. I've begun meditation over the past 2 years which really isn't a lot of time. Focusing on breath work. Have worked with TCM practitioners quite a bit over the years though my knowledge feels limited. I wish to more fully participate from a more informed mind. Am happy to read on different modalities a roots of said practices. Am interested in learning how things are connected from Taoist perspectives as have found some of my beliefs and practices here in the past. I feel the need to look deeper. Pleased to be here. Moon Yin

I've done some research but I've started to understand how this energy works. It has came to me mostly thru qigong, sexual kung fu and sexual yoga practices, the latter of which I've done with my current partner. I also should mention that I practice retention and cultivation and I have my own observations thru this, namely, when you don't emit semen often all of the energies seem reflected back into your body and everything gets more intense. I ejaculate once in awhile, i'm still young and my partner sometimes enjoys it, but when I'm older I plan to limit it even more; I've discussed this with her and she understands how we will ultimately move toward Karezza. Basically i believe that puberty / time naturally make a male more Yang and a woman more Yin, but because balance is quintessential in all things it's important to keep in touch with the other side. For some reason when I think of yang I think "upper" and yin I think "lower." Losing jing often seems to make the body more yang, and vice versa seems to help balance and dissipate. That's another thing, yin seems to disperse and yang to gather. Yin would be going for a walk or run, yang would be lifting weights. My experience has also been that one extreme causes a tendency toward the other in myself, I seem to have an internal sense when I am out of balance for my own health which is really what this is all about. Shooting in the dark a bit here, but any thoughts? Thanks

Hello there! I consider myself a Buddhist, I joined because I can discuss Taoism here (I couldn't find any reading material about Taoism and the Tao to get a full "picture of it") and my current spiritual life is complicated (I truly practice only the non-attachment part of Buddhism, I do not follow the Eightfold Path, and ceasing desire is discussed in the first chapter of the Tao Te Ching). I need to consider Taoism and Syncretist ideas as my belief system too, I think. Hope I will be a part of this community: Torkys

What are the lessons that your spiritual journey taught you and changed your understanding perspective regarding spiritual practices like, enlightenment, kundalini, third eye, TCM....etc ? Thank you for sharing.

Hey why did you choose this path of spirituality, chi, meditation, qigong... (knowing that there are different paths inside of it). - are you trying to have an identity, sort of religion belonging, escapism of reality,, trying to gain superpowers/telekinesis, reach that superstate of nirvana or enlightenment? - what is your goal and what are you trying to achieve out of practicing and having such beliefs. Thanks

Vedanta philosophy is an Indian Philosophy from the end portions of the Vedas. Vedanta also means the ultimate knowledge or End of knowledge since there is nothing more beyond it to learn in life. What is that knowing which there is nothing else to be learned? Being born as human beings, it is the prerogative of every individual to know what is the purpose of life and what is that which is the source and cause of their life. In Vedanta we know it as the Supreme Self or God or Divinity or Truth, which is the enlivening principle, the very source, cause and support of life in all living beings. The purpose of life is explained as achieving Self Realization or achieving God consciousness. How does spirituality help us in life? Spirituality or Vedanta is primarily about rediscovering our original true identity of Divinity or Supreme self or Godhead within and giving up our false and wrong identification with the Body, Mind, Intellect and Ego. All our lifetime we waste our life in extroversion believing that we are merely the limited restricted beings of Body, mind, Intellect and Ego due to our ignorance of the Supreme Self. Vedanta clears this ignorance and lets us lead a meaningful life of spiritual enlightenment and material prosperity as well. Spirituality helps us lead a principled life of self discipline and righteousness. Spirituality or Vedanta aids in developing an awareness of the various personality layers, subtle faculties and also help us with spiritual practices to achieve the ultimate purpose of human life and human existence called Self Realization. What other benefits do we gain by spirituality or study of Vedanta? Vedanta gives incisive insights into the truth and realities of life. It develops noble qualities like self control or control of the senses, objectivity, self sufficiency, humility, non hatred towards all the beings of the world, forgiveness, Dexterity, cleanliness, etc. Above everything it renders the personality with clarity in thinking, free from egoism and desires of the Mind for sensuality and materialistic pursuits. By this, the individual leads a life of duty consciousness, selfless service, sacrifice, universal love, proper discrimination that helps develop and practice good sense of values along with appropriate sense of proportion. The result of all these is that the individual leads well balanced life of equipoise, mental equanimity, perfect judgement, unbiased and impartial outlook towards life and enjoys playing his / her own different roles in life with perfect harmony with laws and designs of Divine Providence and Mother nature. Such a life alone is purposeful

hey ! hope you are having a nice day! As me being spiritual and believing in energy chi, meditating, and all the package that come with it, about life perspective and such, kinda causing me troubles in dating and finding a life partner. The thing is where i live, it is less likely to find spiritual people that have such beliefs as me. Many times while chatting or having a conversation with someone... once i open up about my beliefs and practices, that person either freaks out or start arguing and such about it and trying to prove things scientifically. It is happening a lot, even tho. we had a good conversation and interests in each others, when this subject arises, kinda makes the connection and interest decrease. and to be honest, i don't think i can be with someone who is going to fill me with doubts about my beliefs and experience with energy or with someone that makes me feel weird about what i do or at least not understand what i have interest in. I m not sure if i m asking a lot, or i maybe i should limit my search to people who are spiritual only you ever had this issue ? if you have a partner, is he/she spiritual too?

I was disappointed to find a stereotypical viewpoint shared by some seekers on the lust topic on this forum. The viewpoint that lust is somehow majorly a male obstacle. For me as a female seeker on the path, this is something I have struggled with. This is not just a male problem, male and female is simpy a matter of form. What we carry in our impressions from other lifetimes in other bodies sticks to us, in whatever form we might be in this lifetime- male or female. I find the generalised stereotype that lust is simply a male challenge quite isolating and insulting to my experiences as a female seeker in this lifetime.

Gui Zhen Society in Staten Island NY. Hi Every One! I'm Lin, been on the Dao Bums for ages now, and recently moved back to the U.S. from China. I re-established my cultivation school in Staten Island and am offering a number of cultivation methods I have been putting together over the last several years. One of them is called White Canopy Meditation, a.k.a. Jiu Wu Tan Gong (Nine Five Platform Cultivation). Its quite a lengthy description, so I wil leave a short one here and link you to my personal practice page for the full idea: White Canopy Description Also new to the martial arts world, as well as to the Qigong, meditation, etc world, my own expression of both spiritual cultivaton and martial art , Origin and Illusion (Zong Huan). Origin and Illusion: Zong Huan Peace and Blessings, Lin Ai Wei Gui Zhen Society, Pure Mind Center Pure Mind Center Blog

I have been watching a series called, "America Unearthed" and it seems very clear to me that every single influential or successful person involved with the early years of America was a Freemason. Furthermore I think the Freemason's have roots in spirituality. I suspect they are teaching their members, or rather, were teaching their members, certain things that helped them to become influential and successful. I am not so sure the Freemasons are doing this now. Is Obama a Freemason? Donald Trump? Bill Gates? Who was the last president, church leader or one of Amierca's Top 10 wealthiest people to be a Freemason? I of course can not be sure and do not know, but I would suspect that there hasn't been a Freemason in America's inner elite circles since the 80's or maybe even the 70's. if you are a Freemason and are allowed to do so, feel free to correct me if I am wrong. I just wonder what the Freemasons are teaching their members? It seems unikely that these people were already influential or successful before they become Freemasons. It seems more likely that this happened after they were initiated. They became the leadsers and forefathers of America. But after they became Freemasons, not before. It may even be likely some of these members were initiated by their parents when they were still children, although I do not know the rules around this. So it seems likely that Freemason initiates used to be given information, maybe they even still are, that boosted them ahead of others in some way. It would be before the whole , "Law of Attraction" teahcings. Before the, "New Thought" and "Christian Science" movements. The only book that I can think would have the necessary teachings would be the Kybalion, but I believe there would have to be more to it than that. So what do you think? Is there some secret training on some ancient text, or maybe even an ancient text copied and distributed to the various Freemason houses? If you are a Freemason, are you allowed to comment on this? Is what appears to be a decline in, "Secret Societies" due to these "New Thought" and LoA teachings becoming more available? Maybe back in the day people depeneded on Freemasonary to make them influential or successful, but today anyone can stumble on the right texts and teachings and make themselves successful. Do you think that is what's going on? The reason I bring this up, odd as it is for this forums, is that I wonder sometimes if I should join such a society, provided I could get myself invited. Maybe whatever I learn there would give me the kick in the pants I need to become influential or successful myself. Just toying with the idea, asking questions, wondering. Curious as to the truth, if it can be pried out.

I recently picked up the book, "Self Liberation Through Seeing with Naked Awareness" translated by John M. Reynolds. I have always loved the title and the translation. One thing he notes in his commentary is the power of titles. According to John Reynolds, a good student can pick up the nature of the work just from the title. Long after I have read a book, listened to a live teaching, or followed a practice, I typically only remember a phrase to sum it up. In some cases, even the title of a book I've never read sticks with me (the last two below), and comes drifting up from time to time. Some of my favorite titles are: Self Liberation Through Seeing with Naked Awareness (trans. John M. Reynolds) Be as You Are (The Teachings of Ramana Maharshi translated and edited by David Godman) The Wisdom of No Escape (by Pema Chodron) The Real is Unknowable, the Knowable is Unreal (by Robert Powell) What are some teaching titles that stick with you?

With his forty five years of experience, Shifu Hayashi (Christopher Goedecke) explains the spiritual nature and the transformative process of the Martial Ways in the Mindfulness Tradition of the ancient lineage masters in this 3 part interview. I know everybody on the Way will find wonderful relevance in this interview. -Tom