Microcosmic Orbit method

[Encephalon]

Edited October 9, 2009 by Blasto

[gendao]

[Encephalon]

Cool description, but I think it's important to note here that it could easily take close to 100 days of daily meditation before you reach this stage (holding onto the constant stillness underlying your silent breathing, actually feeling sensation in your dantian and building up enough critical mass there to start circulating it).

 

It's highly unlikely that you will attain this within the first 10 minutes of each session initially - which might be the impression a reader gets from this article.

 

At least from my personal experience, please correct me if I'm wrong...

 

Those are good points. It took me two years doing nei kung to get it. And this article doesn't delve as deeply into the mechanics of breathing like you might expect, although Reid covers it elsewhere.

 

I guess I was targeting those who have a consistent standing meditiation practice and who can summon the chi ball in the lower dantien in a matter of moments, who are then ready for the roadmap. Thanks for keeping me on my toes.

Edited October 9, 2009 by Blasto

[gendao]

Those are good points. It took me two years doing nei kung to get it. And this article doesn't delve as deeply into the mechanics of breathing like you might expect, although Reid covers it elsewhere.

 

I guess I was targeting those who have a consistent standing meditiation practice and who can summon the chi ball in the lower dantien in a matter of moments, who are then ready for the roadmap. Thanks for keeping me on my toes.

Well, just thought it'd be helpful to add a rough timeline to give people a more realistic picture.

 

In fact, I think it'd be great if you could outline some of the various signs and symptoms you personally experienced in opening your MCO - and after what points in time? Given that you are probably one of only a few on here who has actually opened their MCO.

 

It's something that we as Taoists are all familiar with and talk about...but only a few have actually attained. Even after years of reading & dabbling around. But, I think what's really required is a year or 3 of dedicated practice and focus. The technique itself might not be that complicated...what's difficult is doing it, for an hour or more, day in & day out...for months or years...

 

I've been at it for 2.5 months now, and have improved my stillness a lot, but only just now barely felt anything in my dantian. And maybe it's even mostly just my imagination at this point. Point being, this is not a quick, overnight process (IMO) - but more of a spiritual marathon.

Edited October 9, 2009 by vortex

[Encephalon]

Well, just thought it'd be helpful to add a rough timeline to give people a more realistic picture.

 

In fact, I think it'd be great if you could outline some of the various signs and symptoms you personally experienced in opening your MCO - and after what points in time? Given that you are probably one of only a few on here who has actually opened their MCO.

 

It's something that we as Taoists are all familiar with and talk about...but only a few have actually attained. Even after years of reading & dabbling around. But, I think what's really required is a year or 3 of dedicated practice and focus. The technique itself might not be that complicated...what's difficult is doing it, for an hour or more, day in & day out...for months or years...

 

I've been at it for 2.5 months now, and have improved my stillness a lot, but only just now barely felt anything in my dantian. And maybe it's even mostly just my imagination at this point. Point being, this is not a quick, overnight process (IMO) - but more of a spiritual marathon.

 

I'm going to just come out and confess right now. I only have a few PT gigs a week, so I have had the enormous good fortune of practicing 3-5 hours a day for three months. But I still question the validity of my senses at times and will most likely wake up one day and find myself surrounded by giants.

 

But I'm going to have to credit Master Chu and his "Embrace Horse" prescription, and his nei kung, and Trunk's advice on first establishing the Little Orbit.

Edited October 9, 2009 by Blasto

[wudangspirit]

[gendao]

I'm going to just come out and confess right now. I only have a few PT gigs a week, so I have had the enormous good fortune of practicing 3-5 hours a day for three months. But I still question the validity of my senses at times and will most likely wake up one day and find myself surrounded by giants.

 

But I'm going to have to credit Master Chu and his "Embrace Horse" prescription, and his nei kung, and Trunk's advice on first establishing the Little Orbit.

Ahhh, that's great - and critical - to know! People need to know that this isn't something you just sit down and start visualizing within the first 10 minutes...

 

Noooo, it's something that verrryyy slowly and subtly starts happening only after several months of an hour or more of daily practice! This takes real gong fu with basically no feedback at first - which is why so few accomplish it on their own. Doing some spotty meditation here and there once a week simply isn't going to cut it.

 

In your case, it took probably 270-450 cumulative hours! I myself haven't even reached 150 yet (or only half that, depending on what specific practices actually count).

 

 

PS - I forgot - were you doing mostly standing, seated or sitting meditation? And, were you sexually retaining?

[Creation]

I personally also think there is a lot of transmission going on, but the instructor never mentions such things, nor makes any claims.

 

For me, the most suprising thing I have observed in other students and myself is the general common experience of the students "entering" the "inner realm" by about day 10 - 12, and viewing such things as the Mysterious Pass, and other sites that lie in the Realm of Non-Existense.

 

Also many people have come and gained cures form such things as AIDS, Stage 4 Cancer, Tumors, and other such chronic disease after taking part in the 14 - 20 day intensive training course.

 

In short, I think if you are really learning an authentic lineage Taoist art, the transformations and openings should begin from day 1 - generally -

 

It should not take a student 6 months - 3 years before they begin to feel something.......

 

Feelings and experiences should be obvious and clear.

 

It is very real, concrete, and obvious.

 

The whole practice stems on the first steps of gaining internal quiet and stillness.

 

It is nothing to do with visualization or imagination methods.

[Emaphasis mine] So it doesn't have to be like you two are saying. Of course, daily interaction with the teacher who is willing to help you open up that fast and disciplined practice are musts for this to be applicable.

[Encephalon]

According the the scriptures describing Xiao Zhou Tian the method described in your post starts off on the wrong note. Looking for feelings is a manifestation. This process should happen out of stillness.

 

Honestly, I can't speak for the text. It was page 306 in the 1994 copy.

[gendao]

For me, the most suprising thing I have observed in other students and myself is the general common experience of the students "entering" the "inner realm" by about day 10 - 12, and viewing such things as the Mysterious Pass, and other sites that lie in the Realm of Non-Existense.

 

Also many people have come and gained cures form such things as AIDS, Stage 4 Cancer, Tumors, and other such chronic disease after taking part in the 14 - 20 day intensive training course.

 

In short, I think if you are really learning an authentic lineage Taoist art, the transformations and openings should begin from day 1 - generally -

Well, I don't know how many hrs/day dao zhen's intensive training is - but let's say 8. So, he's saying students might "simply" see the Mysterious Pass by ~80-96 hrs - under constant guidance and with possible help from transmission. That's still a fair chunk of time...with assistance given. Me & Blasto were talking more about timespans for solitary lay practitioners mainly doing it on their own.

 

Also having "fleeting" openings and insights...is not the same as "concrete" steps of attainment like building a critical mass in the dantian and finally opening it. I wonder how many hours it takes (on average) for his students to actually open their MCO?

Now I understand why my MCO (along with Secret Smile) suck so much. I'm lucky if I get even 10 minutes of quiet from monkey mind.

Ditto, this definitely takes practice to attain higher efficiency! I guess real progress still comes down to good, old-fashioned hard work in the end. Certainly, all those who have actually attained some permanent openings (MCO, kundalini, etc.) here have all gone through extended, intense periods of regular practice. Whereas those who just dabble and talk a lot...don't seem to get past those big humps. Or if there's an exception or a good shortcut - I'd love to know!

 

Otherwise, TIME seems to be one of the biggest key factors to success in this!

Edited October 9, 2009 by vortex

[Encephalon]

Ahhh, that's great - and critical - to know! People need to know that this isn't something you just sit down and start visualizing within the first 10 minutes...

 

Noooo, it's something that verrryyy slowly and subtly starts happening only after several months of an hour or more of daily practice! This takes real gong fu with basically no feedback at first - which is why so few accomplish it on their own. Doing some spotty meditation here and there once a week simply isn't going to cut it.

 

In your case, it took probably 270-450 cumulative hours! I myself haven't even reached 150 yet (or only half that, depending on what specific practices actually count).

PS - I forgot - were you doing mostly standing, seated or sitting meditation? And, were you sexually retaining?

 

I've been doing Zhan Zhuang, or what was defined for me as Embracing the Horse, for two years at 15-45 minutes per day, followed by the nine form nei kung practice. about four months ago I started holding my hands on my dantien and it really started to spin. I also got overheated and had to cool the whole thing down with an herbal prep. My face and soles of my feet start to dry out. I got sebhoria for the first time in my life. But that was when I first started to consciously direct energy at will into my limbs and fingers.

 

After taking Trunk's advice and concentrating on the Little Orbit for about two months, the energy started climbing up the back channel, about three weeks ago. Many people in here much farther along have counseled me on the advisability of sticking to the Little Orbit, so I have done so, but when it starts climbing by itself and does a bank shot off the inside of the top of my cranium and heads for my nose, where it throbs, I just make sure I keep my tongue on the palate so the energy does not stagnate there. An acupuncturist told me that many can get it up; getting it back down is the tricky part. And I believe Eternal Student said that it's best to keep the energy low to give it time to heal the emotional body before you get to Heaven with a boatload of psychological baggage.

 

I want to make sure that I am not erroneously referreing to Zhan Zhuang as something it is not, but it does seem to be Embrace Tree, or Horse, does it not?

Edited October 10, 2009 by Blasto

[z00se]

I don't think it takes 2 years to get the microcosmic orbit working. If it takes you 2 years i think something is wrong with your method. If you start with the inner smile and do that for 2 weeks and you really want to make progress try to do it all thought the day any time u can remember and u'll get better at it real fast. A secret is to 'double' the feeling and double it again over and over, it will soon become very intense after a couple of weeks. THE THING TO REMEMBER AT THIS STAGE: It's your body, you're in control u can make it do anything u want. U can percieve anything you want. Just think it's all chemicals in your body and u are the chemist. start trying to feel the feelin you want and you'll feel it. Later on u won't try at all it will automatically be there. People say u shouldn't try to feel something let it happen on it's own and let it come. But i find its better if you try to feel, then let the feeling come, and let your feeling that you then have go where you want it to go. It's getting the chi going from both sides yin & yang

 

Then trying to compress the energy into a ball takes some effort but after 4 days or so of daily practice u should have a decent ball. Then just try starting to circulate it around your body point by point. Clean out each section.

 

I think an important thing is that people always think 'i'm not ready for the next stage'. I say just go for it. If u got a grip on how to do step 1 then go on to step 2. Just because u haven't been practicing for a month like the book says it doesn't matter, just go on to the next one. If you can't do anything in the next stage then go back and practice some more. As u get better all the stages just blend into all 1 and the same thing pretty much anyway so you don't need to do any of the stages your just already at the end.

 

The stages only serve to get you to the next step of the practice so finally you get to the end point of where you want to be without even realising it. Your so busy trying to get the next step that you finally realise shit i'm already there and where 'there' is, is nothing to do with the step that your actually doing!

 

Main thing is just practice. People might say an hour a day or something but if u can have 5+ hours a day for 2 days over a weekend and continue with ur 1 hour a day you'll improve immensely. If u do 1 hour most of the time is spent doing something with the energy and you only get a tiny bit of time to sit in the stillness. This is a very important part of practice. Don't choose to do too much energy work without sitting in the stillness at the end, its probably the most important part!

 

Something else important.... DON'T TRY just DO. Don't try to make it happen, Realise it already is!

Edited October 10, 2009 by z00se

[gendao]

I don't think it takes 2 years to get the microcosmic orbit working. If it takes you 2 years i think something is wrong with your method. If you start with the inner smile and do that for 2 weeks and you really want to make progress try to do it all thought the day any time u can remember and u'll get better at it real fast. A secret is to 'double' the feeling and double it again over and over, it will soon become very intense after a couple of weeks. THE THING TO REMEMBER AT THIS STAGE: It's your body, you're in control u can make it do anything u want. U can percieve anything you want. Just think it's all chemicals in your body and u are the chemist. start trying to feel the feelin you want and you'll feel it. Later on u won't try at all it will automatically be there. People say u shouldn't try to feel something let it happen on it's own and let it come. But i find its better if you try to feel, then let the feeling come, and let your feeling that you then have go where you want it to go. It's getting the chi going from both sides yin & yang

 

Then trying to compress the energy into a ball takes some effort but after 4 days or so of daily practice u should have a decent ball. Then just try starting to circulate it around your body point by point. Clean out each section.

 

I think an important thing is that people always think 'i'm not ready for the next stage'. I say just go for it. If u got a grip on how to do step 1 then go on to step 2. Just because u haven't been practicing for a month like the book says it doesn't matter, just go on to the next one. If you can't do anything in the next stage then go back and practice some more. As u get better all the stages just blend into all 1 and the same thing pretty much anyway so you don't need to do any of the stages your just already at the end.

 

The stages only serve to get you to the next step of the practice so finally you get to the end point of where you want to be without even realising it. Your so busy trying to get the next step that you finally realise shit i'm already there and where 'there' is, is nothing to do with the step that your actually doing!

 

Main thing is just practice. People might say an hour a day or something but if u can have 5+ hours a day for 2 days over a weekend and continue with ur 1 hour a day you'll improve immensely. If u do 1 hour most of the time is spent doing something with the energy and you only get a tiny bit of time to sit in the stillness. This is a very important part of practice. Don't choose to do too much energy work without sitting in the stillness at the end, its probably the most important part!

 

Something else important.... DON'T TRY just DO. Don't try to make it happen, Realise it already is!

1) Have you opened your MCO yet?

2) I think it may be more useful to talk about total HOURS practice time, than "days"...as there's a HUGE difference between practicing 1 hr/day vs 5+ hrs/day. I agree, if you're practicing 5 hrs+/day, it shouldn't take you 2 years. Maybe less than 3 months, similar to Blasto. But it all depends on how many hours/day you're talking about!

3) I don't think there's really any harm in skipping ahead...just it may be useless and slow you down by diverting your energy from where it needs to be.

4) I haven't opened my MCO myself yet...so this is admittedly all mostly just speculation on my part.

[z00se]

I've had my MCO open for about 2 years. Having it open is not hard at all just put a little bit of work into it. First it's only very small amount of energy, u can barely feel, later it will become huge like a firetruck waterhose.

 

Certainly, all those who have actually attained some permanent openings (MCO, kundalini, etc.) here have all gone through extended, intense periods of regular practice. Whereas those who just dabble and talk a lot...don't seem to get past those big humps. Or if there's an exception or a good shortcut - I'd love to know!

 

Shortcut is practice, but u don't have to stop everything to practice. Practice your inner smile all day every spare moment or while ur doing anything. Not intesely if you can't just a little bit. Just smile on ur face if thats all u can do. Within 2 weeks u will be alright at it guarenteed. Now u can feel chi, just circlulate it around. Lead it around but dont' force it or the qi quality will change, and u don't want that forced qi feeling.

 

I don't think there's really any harm in skipping ahead...just it may be useless and slow you down by diverting your energy from where it needs to be.

You're being too serious. Where your energy 'needs to be'. Meditation is about relaxing, trying different things. The more you practice the more u will get better but u can practice many different things.

 

MCO is important but equally is the inner smile. With the inner smile u really FEEL the qualitys of different energies in every different way possible. The fusion practices then just become a piece of cake.

 

Use inner smile to build ur energy and MCO to circulate. If u're circulating a droplet of water ur not going to get very far. If you circulate a steaming fireball theres no way ur MCO can stay closed, the energy needs somewhere to go. Get inner smile working good first. After a month of practice including 2 weeks all day during other tasks i had enough energy that was more intense feeling than a drug IV. The feeling builds up over a period of days, every day stronger. Then u just got to contain it and put it in a ball what i find takes a bit of sitting still meditation practice. But at this stage u'll know ur well on ur way and u'll have the motivation to spare half hr or so for it

 

Don't worry about if ur doing it right or not just practice, make descisions as to what you think is right. You can always change your mind later. And dont' wory you're not going to send yourself to a mental hospital from practice. If u start feeling uncomfortable stop practice for a bit then try a different way of doing things.

[Vajrasattva]

Cool description, but I think it's important to note here that it could easily take close to 100 days of daily meditation before you reach this stage (holding onto the constant stillness underlying your silent breathing, actually feeling sensation in your dantian and building up enough critical mass there to start circulating it).

 

It's highly unlikely that you will attain this within the first 10 minutes of each session initially - which might be the impression a reader gets from this article.

 

At least from my personal experience, please correct me if I'm wrong...

 

 

I disagree. : ) But some meditation is needed. maybe not 100 days...

Edited October 10, 2009 by Vajrasattva

[Encephalon]

Now I understand why my MCO (along with Secret Smile) suck so much. I'm lucky if I get even 10 minutes of quiet from monkey mind.

 

Whoah, Serene. Is it your understanding that the Monkey Mind must be completely silent before the Little Orbit starts up? If that is true, then it surprises me, because my initial lower dantien Little orbit work had to be at least 80% somatic and 20% mental, in the form of visualization. There may not be a need to be so hard on oneself.

 

I'll have to wait for the words of someone farther along to address this.

 

Also, regarding the two year mark -

I did not pursue nei kung practice two years ago for the specific purpose of attaining the MCO because I didn't even realize what an MCO was. Based on what I've learned in my very short two years, I'd say the nei kung really prepped the field. But it wasn't until I started seated meditation about three months ago, with the specific goal of MCO that it finally kicked in for me, on Sept. 25.

Edited October 10, 2009 by Blasto

[goldisheavy]

Everyone is unique and the mind is tricky.

 

Because everyone is unique, people have different warm up periods for various practices.

 

But because the mind is tricky, it's not enough to say that "You might need to take longer." Because by saying that you can create a self-fulfilling prophecy. The mind is powerful. The mind is not always a passive receptacle for ideas, but sometimes it can take an idea and activate it, thus making the idea powerful and operative on a day to day basis. So for example, if you tell someone "you are one of those people who just learn slower", instead of just being a passive descriptor of the person, this can become activated in subconscious thus making the person even slower than the person was before hearing this bit of "news". But at the same time, if you totally fail to acknowledge the difficulties the person has, you risk alienating the person! This is art! What is the right approach? It's art.

 

If you don't acknowledge problems the person might get angry thinking you're not taking this person's problems seriously. If you acknowledge the problems too much, this can become activated in the subconscious and aggravate the person far beyond their "normal" condition. Do you see the problem here? It's damned if you do and damned if you don't -- unless.... unless there is wisdom in the person. If the person understand wisely their predicament, this "damned if you do and damned if you don't" situation is shattered through insight.

 

There is a fine line between acknowledging difficulties and validating the person's deep self-limiting beliefs. If there is a way to acknowledge difficulties without validating the person's belief in personal limitations, that's the best, but unfortunately, there is almost no way to do that.

 

Let me retell you a story I heard elsewhere. If you already know this story, I apologize, but it's a good story so it's worth repeating it.

 

Once upon the time there was a yogi Master with many disciples. The yogi master also happened to teach music as a path to wisdom in addition to other methods. So one time someone new came to the meeting and said, "Master, may I play flute for you?" And the Master said, "Yes, please do." So this new person started playing and very terrible cacophony issued forth. Everyone grabbed their ears in pain and cringed in disgust. People couldn't wait for this terrible flute player to stop playing already. Finally the "music" stopped and the flute player asked, "So, Master, what do you think?" And the master said, "You're a MASTER flute player, you have nothing to learn from me. Your melody was absolutely wonderful!" The flute player was very touched and left. After this new person left all the students started getting agitated, "But Master, the music was awful! Why do you say this person was also a Master like you? That's crazy! If you keep giving out high titles like that, soon all titles will lose their meaning!" And so on. But the yogi Master just smiled and nodded and didn't reply.

 

One year passed and this flute player returned! This person said, "may I play for you Master?" And all the students rolled their eyes and got ready to shut their ears. But the music was astonishingly beautiful. This was truly the work of a flute Master! This person finished playing and said, "Thank you for your gift, Master," bowed, and left.

 

The end.

 

Now this story illustrates the power of a self-fulfilling prophecy. This might not work every single time for everyone, but you never know for sure until you try. It's best to assume the best and proceed with the best assumptions about one's own chances, possibilities, abilities, and talents. Even if you don't end up like this flute player, you lose nothing by thinking positively. But if you think negatively, there is a good chance you will slow yourself down and make yourself more dependent on others for validation and for instruction than you'd otherwise be.

Edited October 10, 2009 by goldisheavy

[effilang]

Everyone is unique and the mind is tricky.

 

Because everyone is unique, people have different warm up periods for various practices.

 

But because the mind is tricky, it's not enough to say that "You might need to take longer." Because by saying that you can create a self-fulfilling prophecy. The mind is powerful. The mind is not always a passive receptacle for ideas, but sometimes it can take an idea and activate it, thus making the idea powerful and operative on a day to day basis. So for example, if you tell someone "you are one of those people who just learn slower", instead of just being a passive descriptor of the person, this can become activated in subconscious thus making the person even slower than the person was before hearing this bit of "news". But at the same time, if you totally fail to acknowledge the difficulties the person has, you risk alienating the person! This is art! What is the right approach? It's art.

 

If you don't acknowledge problems the person might get angry thinking you're not taking this person's problems seriously. If you acknowledge the problems too much, this can become activated in the subconscious and aggravate the person far beyond their "normal" condition. Do you see the problem here? It's damned if you do and damned if you don't -- unless.... unless there is wisdom in the person. If the person understand wisely their predicament, this "damned if you do and damned if you don't" situation is shattered through insight.

 

There is a fine line between acknowledging difficulties and validating the person's deep self-limiting beliefs. If there is a way to acknowledge difficulties without validating the person's belief in personal limitations, that's the best, but unfortunately, there is almost no way to do that.

 

Let me retell you a story I heard elsewhere. If you already know this story, I apologize, but it's a good story so it's worth repeating it.

 

Once upon the time there was a yogi Master with many disciples. The yogi master also happened to teach music as a path to wisdom in addition to other methods. So one time someone new came to the meeting and said, "Master, may I play flute for you?" And the Master said, "Yes, please do." So this new person started playing and very terrible cacophony issued forth. Everyone grabbed their ears in pain and cringed in disgust. People couldn't wait for this terrible flute player to stop playing already. Finally the "music" stopped and the flute player asked, "So, Master, what do you think?" And the master said, "You're a MASTER flute player, you have nothing to learn from me. Your melody was absolutely wonderful!" The flute player was very touched and left. After this new person left all the students started getting agitated, "But Master, the music was awful! Why do you say this person was also a Master like you? That's crazy! If you keep giving out high titles like that, soon all titles will lose their meaning!" And so on. But the yogi Master just smiled and nodded and didn't reply.

 

One year passed and this flute player returned! This person said, "may I play for you Master?" And all the students rolled their eyes and got ready to shut their ears. But the music was astonishingly beautiful. This was truly the work of a flute Master! This person finished playing and said, "Thank you for your gift, Master," bowed, and left.

 

The end.

 

Now this story illustrates the power of a self-fulfilling prophecy. This might not work every single time for everyone, but you never know for sure until you try. It's best to assume the best and proceed with the best assumptions about one's own chances, possibilities, abilities, and talents. Even if you don't end up like this flute player, you lose nothing by thinking positively. But if you think negatively, there is a good chance you will slow yourself down and make yourself more dependent on others for validation and for instruction than you'd otherwise be.

 

I love you.

[Encephalon]

Everyone is unique and the mind is tricky.

 

Because everyone is unique, people have different warm up periods for various practices.

 

But because the mind is tricky, it's not enough to say that "You might need to take longer." Because by saying that you can create a self-fulfilling prophecy. The mind is powerful. The mind is not always a passive receptacle for ideas, but sometimes it can take an idea and activate it, thus making the idea powerful and operative on a day to day basis. So for example, if you tell someone "you are one of those people who just learn slower", instead of just being a passive descriptor of the person, this can become activated in subconscious thus making the person even slower than the person was before hearing this bit of "news". But at the same time, if you totally fail to acknowledge the difficulties the person has, you risk alienating the person! This is art! What is the right approach? It's art.

 

If you don't acknowledge problems the person might get angry thinking you're not taking this person's problems seriously. If you acknowledge the problems too much, this can become activated in the subconscious and aggravate the person far beyond their "normal" condition. Do you see the problem here? It's damned if you do and damned if you don't -- unless.... unless there is wisdom in the person. If the person understand wisely their predicament, this "damned if you do and damned if you don't" situation is shattered through insight.

 

There is a fine line between acknowledging difficulties and validating the person's deep self-limiting beliefs. If there is a way to acknowledge difficulties without validating the person's belief in personal limitations, that's the best, but unfortunately, there is almost no way to do that.

 

Let me retell you a story I heard elsewhere. If you already know this story, I apologize, but it's a good story so it's worth repeating it.

 

Once upon the time there was a yogi Master with many disciples. The yogi master also happened to teach music as a path to wisdom in addition to other methods. So one time someone new came to the meeting and said, "Master, may I play flute for you?" And the Master said, "Yes, please do." So this new person started playing and very terrible cacophony issued forth. Everyone grabbed their ears in pain and cringed in disgust. People couldn't wait for this terrible flute player to stop playing already. Finally the "music" stopped and the flute player asked, "So, Master, what do you think?" And the master said, "You're a MASTER flute player, you have nothing to learn from me. Your melody was absolutely wonderful!" The flute player was very touched and left. After this new person left all the students started getting agitated, "But Master, the music was awful! Why do you say this person was also a Master like you? That's crazy! If you keep giving out high titles like that, soon all titles will lose their meaning!" And so on. But the yogi Master just smiled and nodded and didn't reply.

 

One year passed and this flute player returned! This person said, "may I play for you Master?" And all the students rolled their eyes and got ready to shut their ears. But the music was astonishingly beautiful. This was truly the work of a flute Master! This person finished playing and said, "Thank you for your gift, Master," bowed, and left.

 

The end.

 

Now this story illustrates the power of a self-fulfilling prophecy. This might not work every single time for everyone, but you never know for sure until you try. It's best to assume the best and proceed with the best assumptions about one's own chances, possibilities, abilities, and talents. Even if you don't end up like this flute player, you lose nothing by thinking positively. But if you think negatively, there is a good chance you will slow yourself down and make yourself more dependent on others for validation and for instruction than you'd otherwise be.

 

Well said.

 

I have been worshipping at the Bart Simpson Alter of Underachievement for over 35 years, probably longer. I had a deeply entrenched script that said I was either temperamentally or congenitally unfit to learn anything to do with advanced bodymind disciplines. And guess, what? It remained a truism until I turned 47. Then, after trying several other psycho-technologies involving body and mind, I gave energy work a try. I honestly feel I now have the means of healing and redeeming my deepest wounds. If it works for someone with as much psycho-baggage as I have, then it's probably available to any sincere seeker.

 

"Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right!"

[BigJonMud]

I'll thank you all in advance, for allowing me to contribute a post that makes me feel like i know even a tiny bit..

I dunno, selflessness free from ego is still in fashion isnt it

 

The microcosmic orbit can be opened in as little time as it takes to think 'open orbit'.

I came to daoism through Chaos majik. Nothing is true. Anything is permitted.

 

This to me, explains the smile on the masters face. The scaffolding becomes arbitrary to the finished building. That castle, your temple. All just thoughts. The system is the fastest iv found.. until recently.. but it is still very slow for the aspirant who has progressed upon paralell paths.

 

1 good week of practice, that is no less than 2 hours per day for a week- even drunk, or bent or inebriated through other means is all it took me to achieve a more or less permanently grounded, mystical awareness of my entire universe and everything in it. Siddhis and all that stuff. (Edit: for a while, only as long as that practice continued)

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Anyhow, i'l agree that piece of writing is some of the best iv come across.

It's still not as half as good, as Richard Bandlers hypotc induction 'spiritual housekeeping' which will 'enligthen' you in about 20 minutes flat..

but then again, to each their own- and who am I to rock up espousing infinite potential and possibility.

 

Let the stinky stench of long-gone dogma simply waft away. Age of info and all that..

some thing else is surely possible now.

 

What do YOU think?

Edited October 14, 2009 by BigJonMud