KoHsuan Posted December 13, 2004 Has somebody praticing inner alchemy technics from Charles Luk book "Taoist Yoga"? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RON JEREMY Posted December 14, 2004 I PRACTICE GOLDEN FLOWER / TAOIST YOGA / MASTER CHIA ALCHEMY TOGETHER WITH DREAM YOGA N OTHER STUFF BASED ON TIBETAN YOGA IDEAS FROM EVANS-WENTZ BOOKS (TIBETAN YOGA/ BARDO THODOL/LIFE O MILARASPA). IF YA'LL READ TAOIST YOGA N DA GOLDEN FLOWER BOOK TOGETHER WITH M.CHIA'S EARLY BOOKS YA'LL UNDERSTAND A GREAT DEAL MORE. JUST MY 2 EUROS (FUCK, THAT MAKES $3 !!!) RONNIETSU Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KoHsuan Posted December 15, 2004 I practising most of the technics you mentioned aside from Tibetan ones. I don't like them. Have you ever seen book on taoist dream practice? The only one I found is TAOIST YOGA OF DREAMING by Oleg Tcherne (http://home.inbiworld.com/w_web/w_books_main_S.html) but one can't get much from it because of very vague content. Another point about Luk book. He recommeded to keep focus of attention on middle of the brains( house of spirit) as long as possible even during our normal activites. But I have read somewhere (probably Mantak) that it could be quite dangerous... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
therion Posted October 30, 2006 (edited) ............. Edited July 15, 2009 by therion Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yoda Posted October 30, 2006 I was just rereading it myself. I was trying to remember if it gave any details on how to construct the cloth/wood thingy to sit on. It didn't. I'm playing with the prostatecradle.com thingy right now. I'm a follower of the AYP recommendation to make meditation first priority and energy circulation like mco a secondary objective no matter one's level of attainment. Cool to see an old RJ post. I hope he's doing well. There's an example of a guy who mastered energy circulation w/o meditation. That's a rare thing though. The rest of us just blow a gasket and quit the energy practice in question. Probably better off doing the latter. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
therion Posted October 30, 2006 (edited) .. Edited March 17, 2007 by therion Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pero Posted October 30, 2006 (edited) How good are Luk`s books? Do you guys reccomend them? I`ve been thinking of buying Taoist yoga. Is the description of the techniques good? Does anyone have his "The Secrets of Chinese Meditation: Self-Cultivation by Mind Control As Taught in the Ch'An, Mahayana and Taoist Schools in China" book? If so, does it describe any actual techniques or is like more philosphical? EDIT: Forgot: I'm a follower of the AYP recommendation to make meditation first priority and energy circulation like mco a secondary objective no matter one's level of attainment. Which meditation? As the MO is also a meditation. Though I think I know what you meant, just couldn`t resist. Edited October 30, 2006 by Pero Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hagar Posted October 31, 2006 How good are Luk`s books? Do you guys reccomend them? I`ve been thinking of buying Taoist yoga. Is the description of the techniques good? Does anyone have his "The Secrets of Chinese Meditation: Self-Cultivation by Mind Control As Taught in the Ch'An, Mahayana and Taoist Schools in China" book? If so, does it describe any actual techniques or is like more philosphical? EDIT: Forgot: Which meditation? As the MO is also a meditation. Though I think I know what you meant, just couldn`t resist. In my own experience, don't try advanced meditation techniques like in "Taoist Yoga" just from reading the book. It is like trying to fly a 747 after only reading the instruction manual, thinking you can't go wrong. I bow to those up the the challenge. Most good Taoist textbooks on alchemy refrain from giving detailed instructions to alchemical practice. The Charles Luk book is nice for a bedtime inspiration after a days hard cultivation, but should not be a manual for actual practice. You need a real teacher's transmission and personalized instruction to do that. To quote "The inner Teachings of Taoism": "Don't indulge in guesswork. If you do, your efforts will lead you astray". The "Taoist Yoga" book did actually have one technique that I tried. It was the one where you should rotate your eyes as you focus on cirulating M.O. I felt it worked for a while. But eventually it just became too willed and empty. THe initial sucess was probably the placebo effect. I was over-eager for knowledge at the time... "Some say knowledge is Ho Ho Ho" Kate Bush h Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
三江源 Posted October 31, 2006 (edited) . Edited April 23, 2015 by 三江源 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yoda Posted October 31, 2006 I don't think anyone *needs* a teacher, I think that lineage blessings drop in your lap from the Tao. I do agree that learning any practice from a traditional text is problematic. Either find a teacher, find a dvd, or find a book by a modern teacher in that order. Yogani's point is that stillness meditation practice is a deeper and more important practice than energy circulation practices and is needed to establish oneself in tranquility. Meditation leads to insight and grounding in the Tao and energy cultivation establishes higher energy levels and superior energy flowing, better heath and athleticism, etc. Yogani says that modern taoist practices would be better named "chi-ism" than "taoism" as the focus seems to be exclusively on energy cultivation and not insight (to use Buddhist terminology). Yogani also recommends running the mco through the middle of the head and not the top of the head so as not to prematurely open the crown chakra to minimize the side effects of energy practices. I think neither mco nor meditation are essential to living a happy, complete life. But I, for one, need both. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ian Posted October 31, 2006 what is meditation for you all? not theoretically, but experientially. An opportunity to poke a stick repeatedly into the hornets' nest of my own crap and attempt cheerfully to avoid resisting what occurs as a result. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeform Posted October 31, 2006 ok. Maybe I dont know what meditation is then.. um? It's a state of mind where mind is calm and tranquil and thoughts are stilled and happiness based on nothing tangible wells up. And for me, body is humming and vibrant. Although in a deep state of meditation one loses a sense of body or mind or anything except the smile. Excuse me for rambling. I guess I'm just revisiting the knowledge that 'meditation' is a word that covers many degrees of loss of self, from light to deep. It's a good point, cat... not sure it relates to the topic of the thread, but it's still important to discuss, I think. For me meditation means 'skill in directing awareness'... a very broad title, I know... It's always a challenge for me to blur the lines between 'practice' and 'everyday life' and I personally think it's important to do that. So I meditate when I'm washing the dishes, I meditate when on the train and I meditate when reading the forum etc... Directing awareness can take many forms - one pointed concentration has its uses - it's (imo) a very yang practice... I do this when I meditate on the lower dan tien... if distracted I just come back to the dantien... The more yin version is when I do open eye meditation - the method is actually from Hawaiian Huna called Hakalau - I widen my field of view and use the periphery of my vision to watch the flow of life - the concentration is diffuse and I 'take in' everything (although yi/attention is still in the belly - this happens automatically when I use hakalau) . This is what I normally do when walking, waiting etc... I do the one-pointedness when doing something specific - washing dishes, writing, excersising etc. Then there is deep meditation - this is similar to dream practice/hypnosis/trance etc... The idea is to go into a very deep meditative state (whilst remaining aware) in such a way that my awareness is not limited by the body or conscious mind... I use this state for a number of different things - smiling, energy work and connecting and communicating with the organs, getting deeper into the core channel and the various dantien - or just 'watching the inner weather' (the more yin practice). I use the Yoga Nidra method for getting into this state... by the way cat - how's it going with the tripple warmer awareness? I finally got a feel for the balance between the spleen - tripple warmer duality... never noticed that the spleen energy is so connected with the tripple heater... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DentyDao Posted October 31, 2006 I had an opportunity to study with someone who received the lineage transmission from a teacher of this method. Parts of the transmission are deliberately left out of the book; add to that the fact that many of the finer points of the theory are completely lost in translation and you basically have some nice poetry. Many of the concepts written in Chinese have multiple meanings; only a lineage holder would know the correct meaning. Having said that, the book is an authentic method for enlightenment and does contain sound methods and practices for those who have been initiated into their meaning. Regards, Sean Meditation: any thought, subtle or gross, repeated more than once. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
三江源 Posted October 31, 2006 (edited) . Edited April 23, 2015 by 三江源 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pero Posted October 31, 2006 Thanks Sean and Hagar. I`ll put it on hold for now, as I have other interests as well. Though usually I do like to experiment. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DanC Posted November 1, 2006 Can anyone recommend a book on stillness/emptiness meditation from a Taoist perspective, most of my books on stillness generally are from a Buddhist Zen perspective, although I had a copy of "Chu Meditation" by CK Chu which I lent to my brother which is pretty good. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
