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Plato is the shock jock of Taoist discussion boards. Once you realize this, everything he says can be laughed about and appreciated.
Of course, some people really dislike shock jocks like Howard Stern and will always see them as a turn off. I like to think people like that add a little flavor. I like putting Tobasco sauce or other stuff in my food now and then:)
I was chatting with a friend today and we touched on how people like to manipulate and judge eachothers experience rather than allow and embrace our unique journeys.
My guess is the juudgments and manipulations are not the direction of enlightenment .
Good luck.
In the religion class I just had the teacher was a Catholic priest but left since he didn’t like the limit of free thinking and no sex law. Something interesting he said was nothing was written down about Jesus teachngs until like 150 years after his death.
If this is true I think anything written about Jesus is highly suspect as being accurate.
I joined a Dahnak school a little over a year ago since it was basically very cloe to where I lived at the time and thought it was just yoga. after the first couple classes I got a really strong cult vibe from them. They were very nice people and seemed to act caring but as soon as you go to a couple courses they start milking you for more money. I knew I was in the wrong place when after a I missed a few classes they started calling me at home. I had a serious discussion with the teacher saying I am not comfortablke with there school.
The philosophy and practice is called brain respiration and they do talk about creating a new world and new human.
I don’t have any judgment they may help some people but my sense was it was not the practice for me.
Jonathan,
You don’t need to shut your thoughts up or forcefully try to achieve some imagined quiet state. Theprocess of meditation is about becoming AWAKE You want to practice awareness of being awake to your thoughts and what is happening in your body and what is happening in your life.
At first you will be watching and listening to alot of noise but with dedicated practice this will quiet down naturally and probably your qi will begin to clear up more. Also, standing is an awesome practice to build up qi and a wonderful compliment to sitting.
And of course if you feel drawn to anything anyone else has said please explore that as you think it could be helpful.
There is definetly good news that you came to this realization at a young age. It sounds like you probably depleted your jing through excessive sex but the good news you can build it back up.
If you feel drawn to Healing Tao practices great. See what your attracted to from Winn’s products and check it out.
My main qigong teacher these days is Kenneth S. Cohen. He wrote a book called The Way of Qigong you can pick up for like $10 on Amazon or most any bookstore.
As a very general guidline, I would reccommend practicing emptiness meditation followed by standing meditation for 20 minutes each every day(total 40 minutes) do this for 3 months. This will give you a chance to discipline your mind and build up your qi through 2 simple practices. Also look into a physical practice such as those taught by Matt Furey or Dragondoor.
For more thorough advice I would see a Doctor of TCM or qi healer.
Good luck
Ken Cohen says sitting in a chair is better that circulation of qi and breath is freer.
Most zen teachers prefer lotus.
IMO the most important thing is what you are doing with your mind and breath not the body but you should try both and adopt whichever feels most natural to you.
” When the term emptiness is used in Taoist texts, it refers to emptiness not as a static state of nihilism, but as an active, dynamic source of creativity.
It is the emptiness of the cup that allows it to hold the liquid “.
– Kenneth Cohen
Maybe he was wishing you good luck on your path?
You can still have good wishes for others even if you disagree with them, no?
Are you talking about practices? I do qigong every day along with mediation and have done some of Michael Winns meditations.
I find them all interesting and useful but you can’t do everything so I settle on qigong.
But I think there is a very powerful teaching in letting everything AS IS rather than manipulate or attempt to get the so called ego out of the way in some manner.
Whatever works for you, good luck.
I don’t know that I would agree with your thoughts about “emptying the mind”. I have a feeling this may be a poor translation and not really where it’s at.
Actually, Max just made a post here that really sums it up it’s about allowing everything to be AS I IS. If you have thoughts come up, it’s ok..they will pass .If you have some deep emotional stuff..if you let it be as it is and don’t mess with it it’s not such a big problem.
I would say that is more what I am interested in now that moving energy from this point to that point or whatever. I won’t fall into a trap of calling one practice “better” than another but if that is what works for you great.
Interesting. I have heard Michael Winn speak about that before I think. I also remember him saying how the heart shen connects with the solar logos(sun)in the higher kan and li formulas which sounded interesting.
I am still in exploration mode so will accept your views at face value for the moment. I think alot of the confusion is just the different language that different tradiitons(and teachers)use.
The beleif of the 5 shen doesnt sound that far off the from the Buddhist idea of 5 senses and how they connect to Alaya consciousness(I think that’s what it’s called).
I like the simplicity of some of the Adveta Vedanta teachings that seem to cut right to the heart of the matter but can see how the Taoist Alchemy understadning could be useful.
When you ask what is self what answers can you produce? Only aggregates. You were born at a certain place and a certain time or year(all concepts) you come from a certain family from a certain country with a certain backround(concepts) they are rich, poor, middle class, ugly, beautiful, successful, popular, unpopular, fun, boring, mean, caring etc etc(infinite concepts).
There is no thing that can really be called a self. Unless your calling your body your self-which is fine.I think the body as an honered vessel to experience life from which is why I try to take care of it but ultimately..it’s really more aggregates.
Like a house. You have a front yard, back yeard, living room, kitchen, den etc..what part of those aggreggates really constitiutes a house as being a house?
I am not calling this zen or taoism or Buddhism or any other concepts the mind loves to attach to just seeing clearly what is self?
Like Ken Cohen said last time I saw him the sun shining in the sky is as much myself as my heart inside my body. I need both to live.
Your developed understanding might just be using different language for the samee xperience(lesser self, greater self, shen) So I’ll leave open the possibilty I simply havent fully grasped your cosmoligy.
Don’t put a head on top of the one you already have the Zenninist say.
