woodcarver Posted October 31, 2014 Does practice not only get you "further" but also prevent this from happening? Can you actually become rooted in the tao? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
woodcarver Posted October 31, 2014 Most people/practitioners are quite a distance from Tao. Setting a goal on strong, positive foundational practices and a clean lifestyle are more practical goals. Drinking red bull before meditation? Investigating how to see out of others' eyes? Experiencing pshychotic elements? All this drives one away from the Tao. Clear up any crooked ideas and unwholesome ways of being from your life and you will slowly, slowly be working towards the Tao. Good luck. p.s. A person who has reached Tao can enjoy cake with frosting on it, you know? Oh no she didn't. I actually don't understand the caake thing can you please explain? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bearded Dragon Posted October 31, 2014 If you just do meditation I doubt there would be lasting effects. It has to become integrated into everyday life. The backwards thing is something to get over. There is no forwards or backwards. Being rooted in the tao is being free from such dualism. You are already this so the practice is just to realize it. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brian Posted October 31, 2014 As we being to align ourselves with <insert_word_of_your_choice>, we begin to unforget things. As we drift away from that partial alignment, we not only forget what we had unforgotten but we forget that we had unforgotten them. I can't honestly speak to what might be the case for one who has joined with the Light (my current word of choice). 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
woodcarver Posted October 31, 2014 Yes well we have all (I imagine) have gone from unity to duality once before. To clarify, can that happen again if we stop all of our spiritual stuff?... And is that one of the purposes of continuous cultivating? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
woodcarver Posted October 31, 2014 ...returning to duality by the means of just living in society. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bearded Dragon Posted October 31, 2014 If you're applying bandages rather than performing surgery. For me I can't honestly think of any way to stop my spiritual practices because it's never a matter of doing anything in particular. This is the benefit of using the world as your melting pot. You just do whatever and let go while doing it. Meditation is valid as one aspect of 'doing whatever'. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bearded Dragon Posted October 31, 2014 'Just living in society' is not to be avoided. The unborn mind acting in society is the one free from duality. Stillness in movement. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
woodcarver Posted October 31, 2014 A ha! I see my problem now. Thanks people! I promise I don't start threads without a crap load of reflection, first. I know I have many questions. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dust Posted October 31, 2014 (edited) If you stop practicing, will you slowly become reconditioned? I'm not sure about the question, exactly ..well, I don't know if I understand. But if we ask: "If one stops learning, does one forget?" "If one stops lifting weights, does one become weaker?" The answer is yes. A friend of mine came to England when he was 13. In his teens, he gradually forgot alot of his mother tongue. Going back there to work, he picked it up again. He's now losing it again. Edited October 31, 2014 by dustybeijing 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
woodcarver Posted October 31, 2014 (edited) Well I think its different in this situation because since i realize the duality is false, I would have to re accept it as true in order to become reconditioned... And that has little to do with practice. I guess its possible to go back to old habits slowly because nothing is black or white but whatever. Edited October 31, 2014 by woodcarver 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brian Posted October 31, 2014 How many people swear off a bad habit (smoking or drinking or whatever) because they realize it is bad for them only to "fall off the wagon" again? Intellectually grasping something is generally not sufficient to permanently engrain a behavior change. 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
woodcarver Posted October 31, 2014 I don't just mean just intellectually of course. Saying realize instead of experience just kinda fits better in this situation. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
manitou Posted October 31, 2014 I agree, intellectually grasping doesn't get it. What I've found over the years of practice is that at some point everyone in the world becomes Us. We start seeing human beings as connected to one another, or at least a reflection of the same Entity. So being in public or in a crowd only diminishes our Unity if we get out of mindfulness of the fact that Awareness is the net of unity that holds this whole thing together. At any given moment in time we can join up with all the people in the world who are of One Mind, who know that each and every human being is just as important as the next one, regardless of living conditions. At that point, there's no duality because we realize we're part of a Whole. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
doc benway Posted October 31, 2014 My answer to the title of this thread is - YES And it's not always so slow. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Daeluin Posted October 31, 2014 Changing the course of a river is a delicate thing. The way it has been flowing unfolds with a certain gravity, and patterns once established like to maintain and deepen. The path to the tao is perhaps one of returning to one's self to dissolve one's self, a grand internal balancing act, and maybe in some sense the avoidance of being controlled by external patterns, learning to not be trapped by external gravities. Along the way perhaps we become centered more in our own bodies and various effects of a healthy centered system manifest.... and in time these changes take on greater solidity and become more difficult to change, or so I read. .... but if we allow our intention to change, if things aren't fully anchored and aligned, they will ebb and flow with the cycles of change and unwind again towards external gravities. I've definitely felt this in my own practice. Sometimes the most hard earned changes will slowly unwind over the course of many months without adequate nurturance and recentering. I've felt myself losing my connection to certain qi flows, very gradually, until they're gone, all too subtly. In our rapid modern lives it is all too easy to play with extreme changes in momentum... and sometimes when you've allowed yourself to start descending the mountain you've been climbing, that momentum will take some serious effort to turn back around. Whenever we decide to analyze our progress we're also turning around, transforming accumulated emptiness into understanding. Work hard on accumulating and nurturing the unknown. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silent thunder Posted October 31, 2014 What I have found is that continued practice gathers inertia. Inertia carries me through lapses into old habits. Practice for hundreds of days in a row gathers enough inertia to carry me over a period of no practice, or sometimes brings me to a point where I feel the need to change my practice to a different focus for a time. As inertia is gathered and maintained, I find greater mental and physical peace, emotional stability, I take things less personally, useless habits fall away easily as desire to pursue them are not present. I experience less dualistic thinking, my vibration is higher, lighter and I abide more easily in contentment whatever is happening around me. Most traditions I've encountered stress if you're going to start cultivation 90-100 day commitment is a good marker to gather initial inertia. More importantly than that, I no longer berate myself if I miss a day or take some time off. The uselessness of self abuse and judgement is so apparent now, I kind of chuckle when those thoughts randomly show up. Love yourself. and again, the most important part of my practice has nothing to do with breathing, forms or visualizations. The core of my practice is Kind Heart Quiet Heart Sincere Heart 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GreytoWhite Posted October 31, 2014 It depends on what you are practicing. You get enough jibengong and neigong in there are certain things that don't go away. If you stop practicing though certain other things certainly do go away. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
manitou Posted October 31, 2014 The path to the tao is perhaps one of returning to one's self to dissolve one's self, Woof! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dawei Posted November 1, 2014 This is a truly great introspective inquiry... PRACTICE.... even Bao Pu Zi said practice is not natural... RECONDITION... to what? when we are first born we are DAO-first-conditioned... later we are Society-conditioned... My understanding of the thread is: If we stop 'practicing' do we revert to 'society-conditioning' ? I may be totally off here... but if you stop practicing you have a better chance of finding DAO-first-conditioning... Why? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
woodcarver Posted November 1, 2014 This is a truly great introspective inquiry... PRACTICE.... even Bao Pu Zi said practice is not natural... RECONDITION... to what? when we are first born we are DAO-first-conditioned... later we are Society-conditioned... My understanding of the thread is: If we stop 'practicing' do we revert to 'society-conditioning' ? I may be totally off here... but if you stop practicing you have a better chance of finding DAO-first-conditioning... Why? Yes that is the question of the thread and yes this brings up that practicing is a doing and letting go of letting go. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeform Posted November 1, 2014 There are certain points of transformation. Some of these transformations tend to happen on all levels and are not reversible just as a butterfly won't become a caterpillar again. That being said, these points of transformation take many years of concerted daily practice. This usually means practicing for at least 4hrs a day, not just a couple of hours a week. By this stage what you consider practice and what you consider not practice will have shifted. For example in the beginning you might need to put practice into staying rooted, being anchored in your body or having a loose, unrestricted flow of attention - many years later this may become your normal way of being. 'Practice' at this point would be a way of life. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lifeforce Posted November 1, 2014 Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gerard Posted November 1, 2014 (edited) Try to recondition a pure mind: Good luck! However: Easy as. I wish I could have one of those magnificent trees in my local park. Their energy must be truly amazing. Big respect to them. Edited November 1, 2014 by Gerard 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
somatech Posted November 1, 2014 I think the question depends entirely on you, your state of consciousness, what you have already activated, what processes have already been set in motion, where your energy is at, what have been your spiritual practices, what is your particular path, whats important to you, your intentions for this life time prior to being born, any set events you organised prior to coming here, what your guides or celestial teachers intend for you (based on any prior agreement with them), and any kind of 'grace' that may be bestowed upon you as you continue living etc etc. I personally think at some point you need to transcend any addiction and attachment to practice. That doesn't mean you stop doing them, but it means that you listen to your inner truth (essentially the Tao at the deepest point) and what it says to do, and not your mind/ego. Often that kind of attachment and addiction becomes a barrier to your spiritual progression and you need to drop it to keep progressing. That means dropping the attachment to the practicing, not necessarily the practices themselves which your truth may direct you to keep doing or learn new ones. You can only go so far holding on really tight. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
