food a limitation on spiritual progress

[Golden Dragon Shining]

At more advanced levels earthly food is diminished? Say 30 days in a cave without? or very minimal. One Tibetan monk claimed to live on 1 bowl of rice per week. I notice when fasting my clarity/ all senses increase and a more electric sensation in breathing.

Accounts like this "The Japanese likewise practiced various dietary abstentions: nikudachi from meat, shiodachi from salt, kokudachi for abstention from the Five Cereals and hidachi or from cooked food (Blacker 1999). Japan’s famous sages, such as Ryosan retired to Mt. Kimpu eating only leaves, or Yosho who diminished his intake to a single grain of millet and then ceased altogether and vanished only to be seen flying like a “unicorn or phoenix” (Blacker 1999). The Japanese have a specific practice, “tree-eating” or mokujiki, to help give up the cereals which consists of eating berries, bark or pine needles." https://sites.google.com/site/delawareteasociety/yoked-to-earth-a-treatise-on-corpse-demons-and-bigu

It appears advancement across a number of cultures requires limitation of earthly food.

Are there additional accounts regarding this? or personal experiences? methods of reducing intake of earthly food, keeping/increasing both mental and physical energy.


 

Edited August 27, 2016 by Sionnach

[beingnature]

A very interesting topic.I was forced through my practice (over years) to live grain free.At the time mostly raw food.It came completely out of "nothing" haha rice and pasta started to smell really bad so i had to go on a no grain diet.Also had phases where i just couldnt eat but at the fourth day it frightened me and i forced myself to eat.Always had an amazing clarity at that times.And amazing energy levels.I than started to only eat one meal per day (in the evening).After ca. one year on that grain free diet the perception and energy was so immense that it again frightened me and i went to a nearby city and ate bread...and bam it was like a drug...really like in the bigu text you mentioned.There is a book called man's higher consciousness by hilton hotema which goes deeply into that topic.He says that fruit and nuts dont contain as much earthly matter as vegetables and grains haha.I think bigu is a result and not a practice, i think if you force it, it can be very unhealthy.I would say just try different foods and look how they affect you.I would say as transition you can use pseudograins (buckwheat, quinoa, etc.) My favourite food is milk made from nuts and seeds.Especially hempseeds.I sometimes live only on that for a few days and its almost like water fasting.I am still wondering why its mentioned as the old way of daoist and diet and why it changed.Sometimes i wonder if it is possible to do it like that in the middle of society or more a thing for going out of society, because its so intense.Would also be happy if others could share experiences.

Edited August 27, 2016 by NATURE BEEING

[daomon]

This reminds me of the first episode of Journey to the West. When the Monkey King is born from a rock a strong light shines up to heaven from it's eyes and the heavenly beings report to the Jade Emperor in panic, he appeases them saying that as soon as he starts eating food, he will lose his spiritual powers. Watch from 00:00 - 10.47

 

 

 

It is my opinion, that you can live without food as long as you get fresh air and sunlight. But you must remove the sha with paida (slapping), cupping, guasha, acupuncture, and/or moxibustion in the beginning and stretch/clear the meridians with stretching exercises.

Edited August 27, 2016 by daomon

[Kar3n]

For quite a while during and after meditation, I had a sweet taste in my mouth, very honey, like that kept me away from anything sugary. I am not sure if it has gone away or if I am just used to it, but I do, on occasion enjoy some good chocolate.

[nickyro]

Food is needed in cultivation because spiritual progression is energy from the depths meeting silence (shiva and shakti).

When you deny the body and matter you deny half of the equation and you end up with a broken system which does not work.

[nickyro]

.

Edited August 27, 2016 by nickyro

[beingnature]

Daomon: Nice reply! Can you tell me what sha means? Paida is lately a part of my spontaneous practice and it feels amazingly beneficial.

 

Karen: I also know the sweet taste.But i am also eating.

 

At all: I think the eating part is more of a sidetrack where we shouldnt get stuck.I think everything comes by intuition and its not good to force anything.

[daomon]

Sha is also called the killing Chi or the energy that kills you. It builds up in you daily from the toxins in your environment, the food that you eat, the negative emotions that you feel (anger, hate, sadness, etc), not getting enough sunlight or fresh air, alcohol, masturbating to porn, having an orgasm, among other things. And by fresh air I mean air that you find in nature like on an ocean shore, river, forest, mountain, park that is rich in negative ions (a negative ion generator is a bad substitute).

You can remove the sha with the aforementioned methods. The spot on your skin where you did the procedure will show the sha that came out and it can be various colors, each color having a different meaning and in itself being a diagnostic method based on the color.  Look at the chart below showing sha that came out with the use of medical cupping and the pictures of sha that came out with paida (slapping).

Now, if you don't eat any food or you eat toxic food or too much/too little food... then sha will build up. In the case of not eating any food or too little food you will feel hunger. But by removing the sha, the feeling of hunger will instantly go away. If you smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, or other intoxicants then your desire for them will diminish after the removal of the sha. This is like removing the demon that is causing your destruction.

By removing sha you are removing the yin chi, and as the yang chi takes over the healing naturally happens. This cures any disease of the human body. Not only does it heal any disease but it also bring you closer to your perfect state of being. This means as you remove the sha your luck increases, you become more beautiful/attractive, everything you undertake is a success, you become a stranger to failure, money comes to you, you gain wealth, people love you and want to be in your presence, and an infinite list of other benefits.

Edited August 28, 2016 by daomon

[daomon]

If you do the cupping and you get blisters, don't freak out. It's from damp heat toxins generally caused by sugar, alcohol, coffee, fried foods, smoking and emotional stress but most importantly you have now removed it. Take a needle, stand up, and have someone prick/pop the blisters at 6 o'clock (at the bottom) so the liquid drains out of each blister.

Edited August 28, 2016 by daomon

[beingnature]

Daomon: Wow thanks! That is lots of information.I really appreciate that.And i feel what you said.The spontaneously done slapping appeared at a time where i became more yang.... Interesting

[Kar3n]

I did some reading up on paida, and it is extreme, going so far as to claim that diabetics do not need medication, they need to beat the crap out of themselves to rid themselves of the disease. This is self mutilation and abusive in the name of healing. If you slap yourself or have someone else slap you, long enough and hard, enough it is going to cause bruising, or what is referred to as sha being released from the body.

 

I read accounts where some folks found it to be beneficial, and I might be able to agree if this were used moderately to stimulate blood flow rather than to inflict pain, damage to the dermis and underlying structures of anatomy, and sadly, even death.

 

PaidaLajin Self Healing by Hongchi Xiao

 

What Happens in a Slapping Workshop

 

Investigation into Paida

 

PaidaLajin for Oilfield Workers in Northwest China

[vonkrankenhaus]

My family has extensive experience with this.

 

It is an especially relevant discussion in modern time.

 

Because most of what people are eating has little or nothing to do with food, the environment, or human progress.

 

So today, one is not just satisfying old methods.

 

One is actually fasting from diminishment and subjugation.

 

In terms of cultivation practices, this is important.

 

Because "food" of today has made people into something far from the people who developed cultivation methods.

 

Hundreds and hundreds of years of observation of practices - they never saw any person like people today.

 

People largely diabetic, autistic, cancerous, with 70% on prescribed pills.

 

People today are cultivating that primarily, and only "briefly interrupting" that at times, with their "exercises".

 

And need to get out of that first to cultivate anything more.

 

 

 

-VonKrankenhaus

[daomon]

I met Hongchi Xiao in NY 3 months ago, he is the one that's promoting paida lajin throughout the world, words are not enough to explain his presence, everyone in the room was wide eyed as if they saw God himself.

 

Edited August 29, 2016 by daomon

[sillybearhappyhoneyeater]

Fasting in Daoism is called "bi gu," it means to stop eating grains.  What many people don't know is that bigu practice usually involves some degree of food, for instance, someone might eat fruit and nuts, and mushrooms, but cut out everything else.  At our local temple in Kaifeng, the longest any monk has done Bigu in the last thirty years or so is 27 days in a row.

Of course, from a Daoist perspective, you should always avoid eating meat and drinking alcohol, but I also think that we need to be realistic about how high we are setting our goals.  Much like semen retention, Bigu and special diet has an important place in practice, but if you aren't planning to become Zhang Boduan, you may want to adjust your lifestyle to harmonize with your family and friends. 

[Taoist Texts]

 

Are there additional accounts regarding this? or personal experiences? methods of reducing intake of earthly food, 

 

http://www.sunypress.edu/p-2859-asceticism-in-early-taoist-reli.aspx

 

[Golden Dragon Shining]

Thank you, looks promising!

[joti]

I met Hongchi Xiao in NY 3 months ago, he is the one that's promoting paida lajin throughout the world, words are not enough to explain his presence, everyone in the room was wide eyed as if they saw God himself.

 

 

 

daomon could you tell us a bit more of the meeting? I am kind of interesting in the art of paida and read about it but I have never heard from someone who met Hongchi Xiao!

[Golden Dragon Shining]

Browsing through

Asceticism in Early Taoist Religion in google books

"Taoists fasted to purge the body of its impure qi. Because they considered all ordinary foods impure, they tried to eat as little as possible. To suppress their hunger they ingested special drug recipes and carried out techniques such as breath holding, air swallowing, saliva swallowing and talisman swallowing. The pure qi contained in the air and in their own saliva was thought to nourish the body in the best..."

+

"At both the physiological and cosmological levels, Taoist asceticism can be understood as the struggle between the forces of good(yang) and evil(yin). The good forces, at the physiological level, are the body's pure qi and the multitude of internal bodily deities that are activated through austerities. The austerities also serve to subdue the evil forces. The evil forces include the body's impure qi, along with its internal demons that try to undermine the adept's progress. At the cosmological level, the adept endeavors to communicate with divine beings (gods and immortals) and gain their support, while resisting the temptation of the mundane world and demons that dwell in it. The enlightened mind and heightened spirituality of the ascetic are identified with qi in its refined, subtle forms that belong to the yang principle and possess a divine quality. The ordinary untrained flesh is seen to be full of gross, profane qi of the yin principle that hinders spiritual progress by obscuring the divine qi in the body."


 

[daomon]

This book is gold, ordered it right away. Like I said, there's an easy way to remove the evil Yin Qi with cupping, paida, and gua sha (easiest), and then you have acupuncture, moxibustion, etc.

 

 

Edited August 31, 2016 by daomon

[Gerard]

-VonKrankenhaus

 

You are right my friend. It's actually fasting from a highly diseased society which has put Science, Technology and Materialism above anything else.

 

Look at human faces of the past like the saint St Gemma Galgani:

 

 

Purity in her heart, like a child, free from society's pollution.

 

The Gallbladder channel running on the head with no obstructions. No acne, no sign of stress, etc.

 

Hun (Liver/GB) creating a very healthy Shen (Heart). Tree energy rising to the Sun, to the Spirit.

 

Or the music in the Renaissance, back then it was singing to the heavens, like those wonderful Gothic cathedrals, reaching high up to the sky.

 

Officium hebdomanae sacrae (Tomas Luis de Victoria)

 

Today's music is vulgar in most occasions and it praises the ego.

 

Pure music comes from sufi circles.

 

Angels Dance (Mohsen Taherzadeh)

Bullah, kii jana main kaun (Sain Zahoor Ahmed)

 

Also Spanish Flamenco is composed with the Heart rather than the ego.

 

Street singer (Caceres, Spain) Good to see people like him are still free. That's visible in their music. Place a human in chains and it becomes sick very quickly. How on earth do children change so badly when they become young adults. It's sickening!

Edited September 12, 2016 by Gerard

[thelerner]

 

You are right my friend. It's actually fasting from a highly diseased society which has put Science, Technology and Materialism above anything else.

 

Look at human faces of the past like the saint St Gemma Galgani:

 

 

Purity in her heart, like a child, free from society's pollution.

It's usually a bad idea to compare the best of one world to the worst of another.  You can find beautiful music and great people here and now, if you look.  They're there in every culture.  I'm sure St. Gemma was a lovely caring devoted person but she died young, suffered from poor health, including spinal meningitis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemma_Galgani

 

There are undoubtedly people around like her today, ecstatic mystics, and they probably live longer by taking advantage of science, technology and modern medicine.  These would have saved her siblings from early death from things like tuberculosis.   To me they're too important to dismiss out of hand. 

[joeblast]

<3

I think so, but you have to get a decent way up the mountain first