Self-Cultivation Posted December 29, 2018 Hello! I've been reading posts on this forum every now and then for the past several years--and now I'd like to join in on the conversations. May I request a journal to log about my practice? Master Nan Huai-Chin's teachings resonate with me most, mainly because of the core principles he espouses such as: the necessity to cultivate both merit (virtue) and wisdom, the necessity to transform physical form, the necessity of actual practice over empty words, and the necessity to clearly see the truth of the Buddha Dharma. I wanted to follow his teachings along with the original Buddhist's scriptures, but I find this route to be especially lofty. Whether or not I merit the ability to actually understand the Buddha's teachings or attain dhyana is especially problematic for me. Also, I cannot read Mandarin Chinese so following Master Nan's teachings through the English translations is limited. So my plan is to supplement this self-cultivation practice with Springforest Qigong. I'm getting older, 26 years old, and my body's physical ailments are worsening. At the bare minimum, I expect that practice the active exercises of SPQ and still sitting meditation each day. Lately, I have been getting lost in building my career that I have neglected my spiritual practice. I live in America, and it's tough to find like-minded people who take an interest in cultivation--so without a cultivation community around me to reinforce my practice, it's easy for me to fall off from cultivation. Peace. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fa Xin Posted December 30, 2018 Hello, Self-Cultivation, and welcome. Your membership is approved and we're happy you found your way to us. We look forward to accompanying you on some of the way that you still have to go. Please take the time to read the post pinned at the top of this Welcome page and take a look at the forum Terms and Rules. This covers all you need to know when getting started. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. Good luck in your pursuits and best wishes to you, Fa Xin and the TDB team Hi S-C, I'm with you -- I'm not big on words or scripture... I go more by feeling. But your still young! Enjoy the forum. You are welcome to jump right in to the ongoing discussions, revive an older thread, start a new thread of your own, or start a discussion in the "Newcomer Corner" sub-forum to expand on your introduction or ask general questions to help you get started. May you enjoy your time here. Fa Xin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thelerner Posted December 30, 2018 Welcome to the board. As a Master Nan follower, how do you feel about Bill Bodri's work? Do you feel he captures Master Nan well? Course reading and philosophy are just one end of the scale, one needs practice to balance it. I've heard many good things about Spring Forest and have some of Master Chun yi's audios. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrpasserby Posted December 30, 2018 (edited) On 12/29/2018 at 7:53 AM, Self-Cultivation said: Hello! I've been reading posts on this forum every now and then for the past several years--and now I'd like to join in on the conversations. May I request a journal to log about my practice? Master Nan Huai-Chin's teachings resonate with me most, mainly because of the core principles he espouses such as: the necessity to cultivate both merit (virtue) and wisdom, the necessity to transform physical form, the necessity of actual practice over empty words, and the necessity to clearly see the truth of the Buddha Dharma. I wanted to follow his teachings along with the original Buddhist's scriptures, but I find this route to be especially lofty. Whether or not I merit the ability to actually understand the Buddha's teachings or attain dhyana is especially problematic for me. Also, I cannot read Mandarin Chinese so following Master Nan's teachings through the English translations is limited. So my plan is to supplement this self-cultivation practice with Springforest Qigong. I'm getting older, 26 years old, and my body's physical ailments are worsening. At the bare minimum, I expect that practice the active exercises of SPQ and still sitting meditation each day. Lately, I have been getting lost in building my career that I have neglected my spiritual practice. I live in America, and it's tough to find like-minded people who take an interest in cultivation--so without a cultivation community around me to reinforce my practice, it's easy for me to fall off from cultivation. Peace. Hello, Self-Cultivation I am a Californian. I hadn't heard the word cultivation until I was lead to thedaobums forum. I have obtained so much from studding the information found here, and to my surprise, connected up with masters willing and able to help me take the next step in my advancement. My craft has been a life long ind-ever, with the simplicity of it pointing toward wisdom & sincerity much like what you stated: 'Master Nan Huai-Chin's teachings resonate with me most, mainly because of the core principles he espouses such as: the necessity to cultivate both merit (virtue) and wisdom, the necessity to transform physical form'as the rewards of labor. I have been healed a number of times by spirit visitors, *none so far from the daobums, but I have received spirit body walk ins from the daobums who have worked to increased my spirit/light body advancements. In the future you could consider adding practices that lend themselves to attracting those masters who my be available here who have learned the healing arts. good fortune! Edited January 1, 2019 by mrpasserby completed a partially expressed thought 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Self-Cultivation Posted January 1, 2019 On 12/29/2018 at 5:10 PM, thelerner said: Welcome to the board. As a Master Nan follower, how do you feel about Bill Bodri's work? Do you feel he captures Master Nan well? Course reading and philosophy are just one end of the scale, one needs practice to balance it. I've heard many good things about Spring Forest and have some of Master Chun yi's audios. Just a disclaimer: I'm not qualified to give an adequate assessment about how much Bodri's work reflects Master Nan's work. Bill Bodri's work doesn't identically reflect Master Nan's work. According to my interpretations of their works (which should be definitely taken with a grain of salt), Bodri puts importance on correcting erroneous mental states, cultivating meditation practice, and transforming the physical body. Although Master Nan also shares these sentiments, he emphasizes them through the lens that a person must have a high degree of perception of truth (virtue, merit and wisdom) to develop lofty attainments in those areas. In his texts, he quotes Buddhist scriptures and tells his audience that they have to learn to read Buddhist texts themselves. Bodri's approach is a bit different, especially in his later work "Nyasa Yoga". He mentions 5 spiritual bodies that a person can cultivate. When a person cultivates enough to develop one spiritual body, a person can then progressively cultivate more refined qi in this spiritual body until they develop an even more advanced spiritual body, continuing this cyclical process. Master Nan didn't mention this to my knowledge (his English translations). In "Nyasa Yoga", I believe he mentioned that it is important that to attain the yin-shen (deva? maybe I'm mixing this up) body because once a person has that, he or she can then continue their cultivation in that energetic body and gain assistance from cultivators who have already succeeded in the process of cultivation. Even if one passes away in this physical frame, they can occupy the deva (or yin-shen?) body after death. Now, if that were true, that would be mind-blowing to me. That would mean that a person has found a solution to death and what happens after life. http://www.meditationexpert.com/yoga-kung-fu/y-5-spiritual-bodies.html ^^^Master Nan hasn't mentioned anything of that sort in the English translations of his books. And he also has said that a yin body is no big deal--it's still far away from enlightenment. There's no doubt that Bodri has expertise in this field based on his writings (well, it's not like I can definitively tell, lol). I do carry a bit of skepticism, primarily because I haven't seen any photos of him nor photos of him with Master Nan. Other than his books and his website, he remains a bit anonymous to me. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thelerner Posted January 1, 2019 (edited) Thanks, what a well written synopsis. Bill Bodri is nothing if not wordy, in a good sense. I see he's graciously has a sample of his online class: “Gong-fu” Transformations Within the Physical Body by William Bodri http://www.meditationexpert.com/Stages2.pdf lesson 2, 189 pages. haven't read it yet, but I intend to. Edited January 1, 2019 by thelerner Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
