Hermit Practices?

[Kali Yuga]

I remember starting or commenting on a thread about something... and I forgot who it was be he mentioned something along the lines of that there are "practices or paths which are not meant for the majority of people". That there are certain practices that only hermits could fully indulge in. I don't mean exactly run of the mill cultivation meant for everyone but those paths that remain only for the few. I want to see how incredibly deep the rabbit hole goes.

 

What are the truy hard core, hermit practices where to do them you more or less have to be secluded in solitude, away from humanity? What would be considered "hermit systems" of cultivation? I am curious because in order to get to a truly high level one has to cut ties and devote oneself completely to a path. Like the yogins of yore..

 

who knows anything?

[Gerard]

Don't seek this sort of advice online.

 

Anyway, good luck in your quest.

[Alfred E]

I remember starting or commenting on a thread about something... and I forgot who it was be he mentioned something along the lines of that there are "practices or paths which are not meant for the majority of people". That there are certain practices that only hermits could fully indulge in. I don't mean exactly run of the mill cultivation meant for everyone but those paths that remain only for the few. I want to see how incredibly deep the rabbit hole goes.

 

What are the truy hard core, hermit practices where to do them you more or less have to be secluded in solitude, away from humanity? What would be considered "hermit systems" of cultivation? I am curious because in order to get to a truly high level one has to cut ties and devote oneself completely to a path. Like the yogins of yore..

 

who knows anything?

Savasana

[Sloppy Zhang]

Well I don't know of any specific hermit practices...

 

HOWEVER, I can definitely see the benefits of a hermit lifestyle when it comes to practice.

 

Once you get "in the groove", once you start cultivating a certain type of awareness, and if you take a taoist/energetic spin, once you start developing those energies, it feels really good to keep them running, to keep cultivating them 24/7.

 

Sometimes even a long, say, two, three, or four hour session, even with closing down, makes you feel like you want to keep going. But you gotta get back to work, school, family, etc etc. Suddenly you get a bunch of stuff thrown at you that doesn't really aid with your practices, and you just gotta turn away.

 

So maybe a hermit lifestyle lets you turn away from unwanted stuff, or perhaps worded better, lets you turn towards a different path.

 

But I suppose it goes without saying that this kind of dedication is serious, and presumably one has done a lot of practices within society, and knows really well that this is a decision that is taken out of a positive drive (desire for betterment), rather than a negative one (I want to escape from X,Y, and Z). Because one I think could go very constructively, and one I think would reveal that the hermit lifestyle isn't for you.

[Non]

I remember starting or commenting on a thread about something... and I forgot who it was be he mentioned something along the lines of that there are "practices or paths which are not meant for the majority of people". That there are certain practices that only hermits could fully indulge in. I don't mean exactly run of the mill cultivation meant for everyone but those paths that remain only for the few. I want to see how incredibly deep the rabbit hole goes.

 

What are the truy hard core, hermit practices where to do them you more or less have to be secluded in solitude, away from humanity? What would be considered "hermit systems" of cultivation? I am curious because in order to get to a truly high level one has to cut ties and devote oneself completely to a path. Like the yogins of yore..

 

who knows anything?

 

Hua Shan Pai Do Ga Qi Gong. Especially at the Shen level. Jing, Chi, and Shen level. Each level contains 36 exercises that focus eithe ron the jing, chi or shen.

 

The shen is level is best practiced when you're older, for it focuses a lot on astral projection.

[Vajrahridaya]

I remember starting or commenting on a thread about something... and I forgot who it was be he mentioned something along the lines of that there are "practices or paths which are not meant for the majority of people". That there are certain practices that only hermits could fully indulge in. I don't mean exactly run of the mill cultivation meant for everyone but those paths that remain only for the few. I want to see how incredibly deep the rabbit hole goes.

 

What are the truy hard core, hermit practices where to do them you more or less have to be secluded in solitude, away from humanity? What would be considered "hermit systems" of cultivation? I am curious because in order to get to a truly high level one has to cut ties and devote oneself completely to a path. Like the yogins of yore..

 

who knows anything?

 

If you want the real deal hermit practices, you'll have to get them from the Vajrayana lineages. I mean those ones that teach how to eat the elements, attain body of light, and such. My Dzogchen Rinpoche teaches the practices that hermits do in caves but to people that live in houses. Vajrayana is basically a path that is designed for hermits who want to go deep down the rabbit hole, with all those exotic yogas and specific contemplations, that stuff you do in Dark Retreat. I know of a number of those really esoteric hermit practices, like Chod and such things with the use of the bell and vajra, mudras, visualisations, such things as this with very specific mantras with very specified intentions. The Nath lineage in Indian mountains I think does things like this too, but you won't find any genuine Nath teachings here in the states I don't think, mostly watered down meditation techniques and hatha yoga forms. The real esoteric yogas are Trul Khor, Yantra Yoga, those old North Indian traditions passed on and preserved in Tibet where there were tons and tons of cave yogis, and I think still are. My Dzogchen Rinpoche (Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche) did plenty of cave retreats and is from this old tradition in Tibet, his uncle and main Dzogchen Guru both realized the body of light and went "poof" leaving nothing but hair and fingernails. He teaches those teachings and practices that lead to the exact same result. Though generally speaking, we're not as inclined as cave yogis... generally speaking. If you are so inclined, than Vajrayana is definitely the lineage of teachings to be getting transmission in, because these are straight up cave dwelling hermit practices.

 

p.s. Maybe what Non said too. I know there are some great Taoist stuff that is akin to Buddhist Tantra.

Edited December 1, 2010 by Vajrahridaya

[wayki]

my new book has things one can do to reach a "high level" in hermit mode. This is more "the emerald table" and "merkaba" so more hermetic path. but this stuff needs:

 

isolation.

food delivered or grown.

no link to the outside world (even if someone dies).

no electronics (not even lights).

no reading (no absorbing) - only the odd reference allowed.

 

 

i did mine up a massive volcano in guatemala in a purpose built shack :-) certain vibrations can only be reached in hermit mode - of this i am sure.

 

www.waykiwayki.com

[Kali Yuga]

Alfred E - wow that practice kicks ass. You could base a whole path of being from that. Very deep. I appreciate it. It makes you wonder; what if instead of adopting Savasana as a practice lying down, you live it every single moment of your life?

 

Sloppy Zhang - yeah I definitely know what you mean! I am at the point where 4 or more hours of training is not a drag but something cherished and welcomed. But all of this comes down to the point of what your lifestyle is, because a job isn't conducive if you want to spend the whole day in practice. My mid term goal is to develop a method of generating income that isn't so time intensive (meaning i don't want a 9 to 5), so I can devote half or more of a whole day in practice. You get to a point where you want more but a normal life restricts one from having it. If I get tired of that and want even more... who knows.

 

Vajrahridaya - that sounds awesome man. I am not too familiar though with Buddhist practices. I started out with Vipassana then over time I drifted into Taoist alchemical practices and such. If those are the hard core cave dwelling yogis then it sounds appealing to me. What are those practices for exactly? Please use more layman talk because Buddhist tantra etc are things I do not know much of.

 

Non- I'd like to hear more of that practice. Do you have something I could read or look upon? What practices are similar to yours?

 

Wayki- you have a book? Tell me more about it. However in the past I have distanced myself from Hermetic practices atc because there waaay too much cultic obscure non understandable new agish material floating around in that direction.. Actually a hermetic path is how I started out but grew tired of the structures around who were teaching it, then i got into Vipassana training, and then went more down a Taoist alchemy route.

[KoolAid900]

Vajrahridaya - that sounds awesome man. I am not too familiar though with Buddhist practices. I started out with Vipassana then over time I drifted into Taoist alchemical practices and such. If those are the hard core cave dwelling yogis then it sounds appealing to me. What are those practices for exactly? Please use more layman talk because Buddhist tantra etc are things I do not know much of.

 

 

Damn I can't figure this multi-quote thing out.

 

I don't have a whole lot of exp with Namkhai Norbu. But have had the fortune of making real Vajrayana connections... One of the things about the way that the Vajrayana works based on my experience is that it is taught from the ground up. This makes it much more difficult than Taoist yoga that I've had experience with in the beginning because you begin with what seem like very mundane things. Seemingly the opposite of what you are looking for. The benefit to this type of approach is that you are cultivating the attributes that will ensure the successful completion of transformation. And you are learning non-partiality that will make all the attainments lasting. It reminds me of the Karate Kid when Master Miagi makes Ralph wax his car over & over & over. Ralph is like "what does this have to do with Karate?" When he does learn a powerful technique it is almost effortless for him. It turns out that he learned the inner discipline of endurance and is not swayed by all the comings & goings and can stay true to his purpose. That weird kick thing is super powerful because the power comes from the stillness within, instead of force like all of the guys he is up against.

 

So, my experience of Vajrayana is like that. For years I felt like I would be prostrating until the end of the Earth and couldn't figure out what the hell it could possibly be for. It was definitely not how I had envisioned my life or spirituality. And the contemplations I was instructed to do seemed utterly hopeless, I just got more anxious, more depressed, and I was kinda angry b/c of it! I was less inspired or beneficial to others than I'd ever felt.

 

After getting some perspective though I realized that it had done me a lot more good than I realized. Being face to face with my weak spots was very uncomfortable, but truly worthwhile. Those hidden/unconscious flaws would surely have continued to influence me in everything I did, spiritual or otherwise. And those hopeless contemplations are actually what inspired spiritual interest to begin with... but I didn't recognize them when they were spelled out... pointed out all the ways I was not living in harmony with my path.

 

I started to notice that others I admired, who I consider to be very spiritual people, were being knocked around by the events of their life. Like a really unstable compass, they had the right directions and purpose but any little bump would send it spinning. Since life does not wait for their compass to re-align, they have to keep moving and end up taking detours. Some of these detours are rocky and throw the compass even further out of whack. So those contemplations are like steroids for the inner compass, make it point really strong, and stubbornly refuse to wobble. (What is funny about this is that as I write it I realize that I am actually talking about myself, projecting different stages of my growth into a story with different characters)

 

So Vajrayana is really good if you want the whole deal. If you want the fruit then Vajrayana will give it to you, mercilessly at times. However, if you are more interested in learning some yogic techniques for their own sake or some other end, then Vajrayana is probably not the best way to do go.

 

Seems like the Tao tradition likely employed a similar technique at one point. I'm not sure if it still going on or not though.

 

 

Wow, I feel like I really got rambling there, I don't know if anybody wanted to here that... i'm posting it anyway, cause I spend so much time on it!

[Ten Thousand Methods]

Hua Shan Pai Do Ga Qi Gong. Especially at the Shen level. Jing, Chi, and Shen level. Each level contains 36 exercises that focus eithe ron the jing, chi or shen.

 

The shen is level is best practiced when you're older, for it focuses a lot on astral projection.

 

Is that the practice that Larry Johnson (student of Chan Chiu Lim) wrote about?

[RongzomFan]

the main hermit practice is to abide in the natural state

[Non]

Is that the practice that Larry Johnson (student of Chan Chiu Lim) wrote about?

 

 

Yes it is that one. Although Larry Johnson supposedly teaches it a bit differently than our kung fu school teaches it. He has supposedly modified it to make it sort of softer, or if not more new agey (?).

 

BUt yea, kungfuconnection.com is the link to my school if you want to check it out. Other than that Larry Johnson, and both of us are perhaps the only certified teachers in the US.