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love can be fun...
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Mushroom poisoning is like swimming accidents -- most of them happen to experienced folks who get too cocky. I will never forget an episode from my childhood -- at my grandmother's, on the countryside-like outskirts of a town surrounded by mushroom-rich forests. Everybody was into foraging, me too of course, since I was 5. So anyway, my grandmother had a falling out with a neighbor over her cat, whom the neighbor accused of breaking her precious lily flowers in a flower bed she cultivated in the front yard. The cat purportedly made a bed for herself among those lilies. My grandmother pooh-poohed the accusation, words started flying and the two women wound up becoming sworn enemies. Then at one point the neighbor banged frantically on our door in the middle of the night, crying and begging my grandmother for help -- her husband ate some foraged mushrooms and was supposedly dying. Hardly anyone had phones then and there, no private cars, no means to get to the hospital till morning. My grandmother, a nurse, tended to the poisoned guy until the neighbor located a phone somewhere and called the ambulance. Took a while. I don't know exactly what my grandmother did to save the neighbor's husband, but the verdict at the hospital was, she did. So, the cat was allowed to take her daytime naps in her favorite spot among the lilies again from then on, and did. This was the ultimate prize when mushroom hunting in those parts -- the King Boletus. His royal majesty.
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Astral Blindness Assistance?
Nuralshamal replied to Awakener's topic in Esoteric and Occult Discussion
In both the subjective and objective dream world, as well as the subjective and objective astral world, experiencing blindness (according to tibetan dream yoga) is a sign. It means that your liver has a problem. The liver spirit (similarly to qigong and tcm) is viewed as housing sight as its spirit. E.g. kidney spirit is hearing, lung spirit is smelling, heart spirit is tasting, spleen spirit is touch and liver spirit is sight. When you travel in dreams or in the astral world, it's your spirit travelling. So if your spirit has some issues, it will signal you. In tibetan, qigong and tcm view, body, energy and spirit is one and interdependent. So if your physical liver or your liver energy has a problem, it affects the spirit, as well as vice versa. The liver spirit manifesting compassion in daily life if its healthy and balanced, and a tendency to anger if there is some issue there. It could be your physical liver could use a boost (diet & lifestyle), or your liver energy (mantras, mudras, talismans, herbs, spiritual practice and/or lifestyle). All the best! -
Entering dreams + daoist sexual practice
Nuralshamal replied to Fatuous's topic in Daoist Discussion
I know in general these practices do exist. I've had several teachers approach me in dreams. One was before we met physically (Sifu James McNeil). Another one came 2-3 times after we met to "check on me". This was Sifu Yang from Calligraphy Health. Master Zhongxian Wu (Master Wu) has talked to me in my dreams about 5-10x over the years I've learnt from him, though he himself says it's not him, it's just that you're "resonating" or connecting with his energy. His energy then takes his form, but it's your own dream, just featuring his energy. It's discussed as a possibility in the sleeping qigong taught by Nan Yun, and it's mentioned that he himself visits students or patients in their dreams to heal them. His sleeping qigong is taught by Sifu John Dolic. However, I will say that McNeil told me that both the dream and astral world is very different from ours, and that free will reigns supreme. E.g. he is a sifu in a sexual qigong and daoist lovemaking system, so he would venture to "practice" during the nights with some of his key female students, who were also his lovers in real life. However, he says that their own soul or spirit gives explicit permission, otherwise it's impossible to do, even for him as a master in the subject. Unless their spirit/soul says yes to practice with their free will, there's nothing he can do. So according to him it's most likely a normal dream you had, i.e. you experiencing your own psyche in your own thought generated world. -
Experiences are just experiences. They are real in the moment they are experienced, and then they only exist as stories. No story is "real"... it is, by definition, the account happening NOW of something that isn't happening now, and can't be experienced first hand.
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HI, I am reading at the moment, Jerry's book titled, Internal Alchemy: Neigong and Weigong. Neidan is on page 221. Has OPENDAO or shadowself been on one of the courses?
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Sifu Dan LaRochelle and the Rizzo brothers
Vajra Fist replied to DSCB57's topic in Systems and Teachers of
I very briefly looked into Vortex Healing after seeing it mentioned here. The foundation course is taught in person only, with a five day requirement at a cost of $705. I don't know anything about it, or whether it's claims are valid. But I don't think a bit of critical evaluation should be classed as slander, especially when the costs are as high as they are. -
There is so much information out there, so many methods and teachers, that sometimes the core message gets lost. Here's a great short video series that cuts to the heart of the path to liberation - dependent origination. And teaches a classical meditation technique that a growing number of people are having real results from. From what I gather this teacher also does online practice consultations for free. Hope this is of benefit to people here.
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Sorry to hear that, and of the extra disappointment after doing all the careful and time consuming sanding!! I've used that water based varnish before and don't trust it much, like you said it is not as durable, more so for certain areas. In recent years they have come out with latex paint that supposedly has built in primer. I don't know how much to trust that? I have no problem with and like using tried and true quality primers. Btw some of the pre-primed wood or fiber product moulding one might buy could have been coated with low grade primer that can result in the weather degrading the paint job much more quickly. Also I never use fiber product or particle board stuff where any moisture may get to it after which it can start to swell or crumble apart! All my new window mouldings are of real wood carefully primed and then painted. I recently put new baseboard in 3 rooms and a hallway, it was a lot of work to constantly get down on the floor sideways (to find the studs for nailing the boards to the wall) for an older me who is not in the greatest of shape. (not to mention pulling the old baseboards without doing any damage to the sheetrock) that's interesting about the leaf sanding...
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Can we add a 'Wow!' Emoji to our reaction options?
S:C replied to silent thunder's topic in Forum and Tech Support
Could we please get a lightbulb emoji to react with 💡and one that says “there’s more to your post than meets the surface” … I would propose a stone cast in the water drawing circles or the like.⛲️ The lightbulb is different than thanks. Thanks to me is insightful teaching. Lightbulb is something that is interesting but not necessarily path wise and refers to something that has been bothering one for a long time in the dark. Wow is not the “deep!” reaction. Wow is more shock or surprise. Not the deep contemplation or a impulse that influences and gets stronger with time. I don’t want to appear confused all so often! -
I find this insightful and it comes as a confirmation of some conclusions I made for myself, as working hypothesis. For the neidan aspect I cannot speak, as I have to little knowledge and understanding, starting with the meaning of concepts in the language. Nevertheless, bearing in mind that culturally reached concepts are not interchangeable without a clear understanding of the definitions and meanings (in my opinion) they wish to convey via interpretation (and who may say which one is correct, especially nowadays?), comparing those concepts is in my opinion helpful for those who have a resonance towards this anyways. The competence to raise those questions is yours, - chatgpts answers rather leave more space for further questioning. a point I wish to mark as remarkable: that seemed remembering worthy to me and somewhat lead me to the notion of another word concept (I don’t wish to share yet) upon which I stumbled a few weeks ago. It seems indeed to me rather like a aligned pathway (watery in nature) than the confronting one (fiery, electrical). I would use different concepts and symbols to talk about this, but analogies will do here. I might be mistaken here, but it could also be two paths that are to be walked simultaneously (or in phase changes with different rhythms). At some point (premature) non-dualists might not be able to grasp the value of subjectivity and the engagement with so-called-darker-aspects like emotions and the functionalities of a new and unbound ‘vine structure’… (its lighter in ounces, now isn’t it?) and end in helplessly repeating their opinions with great effort and enthusiasm. Well, as long as they don’t pass laws on that and claim a higher authority (to bend and break wills, hearts and spirits) and just bother their neighbors and friends, it’s probably not something worth transferring lots of emotional energy in. Sometimes emotional barricades are thick, or too thick to be perceived, as I know from experience. In my experience, it then also doesn’t help to confront then, they are a ‘spiritual bypassers’. At times stuff happens at different frequencies on different layers in a personality, and some aspects may just have some kind of a time lapse or ‘jet lag’. If the resistance isn’t strong enough life will give plenty of opportunity to learn about those hidden aspects. And maybe yet again they just need another round… 🚀 But the litmus test how well integrated someone has their parts (not saying I do!), - respective to wholeness, - usually shows how fast someone gets offended when you challenge their opinion or argument or worldview or is inclined to mark you as crazy or in need of help. (Not speaking of present persons here.) If then their authority is unchallenged and no reflection of their attitude is possible from them, and what they offer is of no use to you, it isn’t healthy to stay for you. (They’ll try to submit you or diminish the value of your perception and concepts.) Just walk your path.
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This reminds me of a great Boxing quote which reads — “weight matters more than small guys would admit and less than big guys want to be true”. Things like these tend to be faker than what a guru would want you to believe and truer than what a skeptic would assume to be true. An individual experience could be true as well as a collective experience could be a result of a mass hypnotic state, as Neirong eloquently expressed. Generalizing it could lead us to inaccuracy. If I were to guess, I’d say it would be easier (= more common) to experience a hallucination, or even a true apparition of a more condensed astral body, than an actual sight of a physical presence composed of atoms and molecules which interact with its surroundings. And I’d also guess that the chances of it being a lie or an illusion would be very high, in general. However, being a student of the Art for some time, I can recall a handful of occasions where I dealt with real and disquieting surprise when I found some of my rock solid disbeliefs shattered. So, I don’t doubt the possibility of such things as teleportations being real and doable, however, it’s important to take everything which is extracted from the internet with a grain of salt, including what I just said. Lying is easy and costs nothing. So it’s better to only believe that which you can empirically experience in your personal studies or which is confirmed by a personal reliable source, like a frater/soror who practices the same exercises or explores the esoteric under the same organization as you do.
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What is meant by Emptiness?? Especially in meditation??
old3bob replied to Tommy's topic in Buddhist Textual Studies
"Still not clear about..." don't worry (although it doesn't sound like you are) for medical science doesn't really know what causes the heart to beat but they have figured out how to zap with it electricity to get it beating again... -
Was watching the first DVD again and noticed that @zen-bear has a very visible aura!
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What is meant by Emptiness?? Especially in meditation??
old3bob replied to Tommy's topic in Buddhist Textual Studies
that sounds kind of like a contradiction of your earlier verdict of: "And your revolutionary (non-Buddhist) reinterpretation of Buddhism comes down to "there is"? Btw, one might see some parallels or "family resemblance" with that in the Isha Upanishad, it can be found in English thus one doesn't need to know Sanskrit or Pali for it. -
There was a man who accidentally ate that all white mushroom. He was lucky to survive and blogged about the experience. Where he became temporarily paralyzed and hospital medics dressed him in an adult diaper. https://blog.mycology.cornell.edu/2006/11/22/i-survived-the-destroying-angel/
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What is meant by Emptiness?? Especially in meditation??
stirling replied to Tommy's topic in Buddhist Textual Studies
Absolutely! It is so wonderful to have so many perspectives of what the implications of emptiness is. Emptiness itself has no dimensions, or qualities itself, but is obviously visible and persistent in myriad ways. Emptiness is in the poems of Rumi and Hafiz, the Upanishads, the words of the Buddha, the sage statements of Ramana Maharshi, Nirsagadatta Maharaj, and the Advaita Vedanta teachers, as well as the words Lao Tzu and the early Daoists, just as it is in countless living teachers that are mere conduits for the deeper reality of how things are. Each expression will resonate for some, but possibly not others. That doesn't make them wrong. The message is absolutely the same, when you understand what you are looking at. -
Oyster mushroom Harmless, tasty. Yang (obvious pleasure). Destroying angel Soul shattering, very nasty, pretty to look at tough. Yin (hidden danger). Interesting how two species of the same genus can be so vastly different.
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What is meant by Emptiness?? Especially in meditation??
forestofclarity replied to Tommy's topic in Buddhist Textual Studies
There is no inherent Buddhism-- no abiding, permanent, unchanging teaching. IMO, stirling, doc, and Keith are all expressing the dharma in particular ways, from different traditions learned from living masters, but it isn't really three different dharmas. There's a certain family resemblance. All exists’: this is one extreme.‘ Sabbamatthī’ti kho, kaccāna, ayameko anto. ‘All does not exist’: this is the second extreme. ‘Sabbaṁ natthī’ti ayaṁ dutiyo anto. Avoiding these two extremes, Ete te, kaccāna, ubho ante anupagamma the Realized One teaches by the middle way: majjhena tathāgato dhammaṁ deseti You can see here the Buddha is using atthi (the same as in the Nibbana quote) and natthi (nonexistence) is an explicit way. -
What is meant by Emptiness?? Especially in meditation??
Mark Foote replied to Tommy's topic in Buddhist Textual Studies
…And again, Ananda, [an individual], not attending to the perception of the plane of no-thing, not attending to the perception of the plane of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, attends to the solitude of mind that is signless. [Their] mind is satisfied with, pleased with, set on and freed in the concentration of mind that is signless. [They] comprehends thus, ‘This concentration of mind that is signless is effected and thought out. But whatever is effected and thought out, that is impermanent, it is liable to stopping.’ When [the individual] knows this thus, sees this thus, [their] mind is freed from the canker of sense-pleasures and [their] mind is freed from the canker of becoming and [their] mind is freed from the canker of ignorance. In freedom is the knowledge that [one] is freed and [one] comprehends: “Destroyed is birth, brought to a close the (holy)-faring, done is what was to be done, there is no more of being such or so’. [They] comprehend thus: “The disturbances there might be resulting from the canker of sense-pleasures do not exist here; the disturbances there might be resulting from the canker of becoming do not exist here; the disturbances there might be resulting from the canker of ignorance do not exist here. And there is only this degree of disturbance, that is to say the six sensory fields that, conditioned by life, are grounded on this body itself. [One] regards that which is not there as empty of it. But in regard to what remains [one] comprehends: 'That being, this is.' Thus, Ananda, this comes to be for [such a one] s true, not mistaken, utterly purified and incomparably highest realisation of emptiness. ("Lesser Discourse on Emptiness", Culasunnatasutta, tr. Pali Text Society MN III 121 vol III p 151-2; emphasis added) -
Its a hollywood exaggeration to be sure. But so many have spoken on this, I would be shocked if you did not already know the answer.
- Yesterday
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I'm angry ! I listened to the stupid 'paint expert' and he assumed me a clear varnish that is water based is as good as one that is spirit based ... modern ones are great ! So I did it . First thing I notice is its a milky color when it goes on and is NOT clear . As it dries it goes clear , but for a while after drying any moisture on it it goes milky again . Then after a few months it appears to have dried out or sealed itself , that no longer happens , but now its wearing out already after one year ! Crap, I did a LOT of work sanding back my kitchen work surfaces only for this to happen . I might have to do it again ... all over again. My techniques with spirit based is to give a sand and paint with 1/3 spirit based clear finish 2/3 spirit , dry . A finer sand paper then 50/50 clear finish and spirit . Finer paper and 2/3 finish 1/3 spirit . Finer paper and clear finish . The another finer fine sand and a last coat . I did my kitchen ceiling boards like this * ( T & G pine ) to protect against dirt grime oil grease from cooking , 20 years later still good, no mold and a quick wipe over with a squeegee mop keeps them looking they where just done . * ( builders usually give you one coat up there , its too hard to do . But I did it all BEFORE I put the boards up , its very easy -but time consuming - just be careful after each coat to wipe any off that got into the tongue and groove joint and to sand the joint as well each time ) - looks like deep shiny 'Japanese lacquer ' . Here is something for a very fine finish ; sandpaper fig leaves - they do wear out quick, but then you just pick another leaf .
