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When it comes to interpreting these text, I am out of my element because I do not read or speak Chinese. Still, two things occur to me as I read the above. Here, I would understand the "common people" to mean ... any person from the set of "common people" as a representative of that group. That is, attainment is potentially available to all. Roth's note: ... vital essence is secured through developing the "inner power" that comes from the mental concentration attained through breathing meditation. I take "inner power" to mean de, which I have always understood be more than just concentration. That is, encompassing other qualities as well such as intent, sincerity, etc. ... a broader definition rather than focused on mental concentration. This is how these readings make sense to me. Thoughts?
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Yes, that is a particularly interesting aspect of Roth's work ... and one to be noted. He lays a really strong foundation for his methodology, describing the technic involved and how they are applied. This lends considerable credibility to his analysis because his results and conclusions cannot be viewed as arbitrary. In a sense he throws down a gauntlet for academic rigor. It's really quite impressive. On the other hand, because of the antiquity the texts he is working with, it is really difficult to validate his conclusions. It is only through the strength of his methodology that his conclusions stand. So, there is still a little room for possible disagreement. It would be interesting to see if anyone else can mount as rigorous an argument for any other point of view. Regardless, for the rest of us he provides much to consider.
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I have a different perspective. I mean no disrespect to anyone but I don't share the enthusiasm regarding these teachings. I see these videos as a cautionary tale. One can be blessed with powerful intellect and enormous knowledge and still never have a taste. One can have a thorough understanding of ever aspect of a bar of chocolate, its physical characteristics, chemical makeup, the source of the beans, manufacturing process, and so on; but if you never actually eat the bar, you will never experience chocolate. This person in the videos is missing a fundamental point regarding emptiness and the nature of citta. I do not question his translation of the sutras but each adjective discussed among those 17 points describes a specific characteristic of the abiding nature and none of these adjectives preclude the view of a self-empty abiding nature. Furthermore, whether the abiding nature is empty of self or not, makes no difference in terms of our realization, it's just theory. The teachings on emptiness are designed to help us let go of our conceptual blockage to deeper realization. They are not meant to be a comprehensive and definitive description of reality. That is beyond concept and description and best approached with openness and direct connection through meditation. When we grasp our conceptual understanding as truth, our realization is necessarily limited and blocked. If the teachings (whether shentong or rangtong) are bringing one closer to a direct realization of the abiding nature, meaning a direct personal taste, they are priceless. If they are causing us to adopt a specific belief, a conceptual view, then they are an obstacle. That very conceptual framework blocks the openness that is necessary for direct realization. This is perhaps one reason why it is said that a study of sutra takes countless lifetimes to bring us to liberation. There's a Tibetan saying about this that I'll loosely paraphrase. The Tibetans talk about it in terms of butter and skin but that's not something most of us can relate to. If life makes us hard, there is always the Dharma to help us. If the Dharma makes us hard, we are in real trouble!
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Yes. The end of suffering. The Buddha said "I teach only two things; suffering and the end of suffering" Now that the true nature of the goal has now been revealed, the Absolute, Brahman, doesn't mean that the whole of Buddhism collapses. On the contrary, it points to a shift, but still relevant to the teachings on impermanence, suffering and not-self. 'All that arises must pass away' still applies, only the one thing that doesn't arise or pass way, the Citta, is not subject to this. It's like being in a movie theatre. The screen is the Citta, on which the various movies, our life circumstances, come and go but it's essence never changes. It knows no good or bad, right or wrong, it just is.
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It's deeply linked to emotional balance : to master one's sensibility to avoid getting lost in it. That we all can agree on. The daoist practices meditation/qi gong/tai chi it's all good to me and it seems that I can't quit them anyway. Dao's manifestation is not a minimalist/economic system rather the contrary. If we take earth's life forms, it's something that tries and fails a lot, nurture and fight itself. It acts unlike something that knows were it goes but more like something that tries anything in every directions. If it favors nothing it is because it "desires" nothing. If it desires (wants) nothing, is it because it goes nowhere or/and because all is already set up. No accidents but DNA replication errors. So if you have somewhere inside you a question like "why is there something rather that nothing ?" or "what's the purpose of life ?" daoism will not answer it but dao let it appear. These questions can be extinct by a "shut up and feel", they can and maybe they should if they are to much weight to carry. Still I think they have their part of beauty and I have interest in them. Better have balanced doubts that a dubious balance !
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Thank you very much for your thoughts.
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Thank you very much for your reply. This has taken a rather more philosophical turn than I was expecting. I’m not sure that discussions such as this are actually that useful to have, but just because I’m an Indigo and have an opinion on everything here goes. I have issues with conflating objective reality and intuitive experience. We know the great power of conscious belief in molding one’s experience - Christianity, just as one example, can be palpably true to a devoted believer even though its central teachings are objectively false. Not to single out Christianity, it’s just the most obvious example of intuitive experience leading one to an objectively false conclusion. Of course there are limitless other intuitive experiences a person could have that would lead them to other conclusions with just as much confidence, but which would be antithetical to Christianity. This is why we must use both logic and intuition; reason and feeling. All truth and virtue is a matter of finding the mean between the extremes. We all know the great problems and limitations of the naturalist method, but the other extreme is to assume that everything we intuitively feel equates with reality. People who do this without subjecting their intuitive beliefs to at least occasional scrutiny from their God-given sense of reason usually end up falling into cuckoo spiritual beliefs. Or they confuse genuine intuition with a mere liking for a particular belief, which they then adopt and defend with religious fervor based on nothing other than it making them feel good. They're all heart and no head, just like the hardened naturalist is all head and no heart. I know we've all met one of these people at spiritual gatherings (minimum!) All this is to say that there is a role for objective evidence in our lives. You feel the indigos are true, I feel that they’re not. The only way, then, to determine the truth of the matter is to ask whether any objective evidence exists to support this belief. To date, none has been forthcoming. Anyone?
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The other part of you is more reliable than the part of you that needs "evidence". Forget about these agendas and give less of a ***.
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Did I post this already ? Who cares !
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Daoist Internal Mastery - new Wang Liping book
Bruce Qi replied to Bruce Qi's topic in General Discussion
thanks so much for this as i took one look at the book and basically gave up before i even tried ! can i ask , which part is the golden flower ? -
im looking for authentic positive good daoist priest who know chakra art,qigong and magic spell to solve some spiritual problem.(urgent)hope someone can help
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Such a presence indeed! About six months ago I was scrolling through photos of her, and her eyes on one photo sent a shock throughout my body. Her presence is still with us today very much. I hope you liked the book. I always get the impression that her teachings come from her own realization. For so many people I feel they are just repeating what they've been taught or heard elsewhere. Maybe this is the mark of a true Saint.
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Indigo children - fact or load of crap?
silent thunder replied to paragon's topic in The Rabbit Hole
What can any man take from the word or experience of another? I have never known the mind of even my wife, the mother of my son, except when and what she chooses to share. And then, as with anyone, it lies with me to look within and find the truth of their words resonating or not within my own awareness. You have the anchor of the universe in you. As does every blade of grass, every stone and every ant. The answer you seek. Your truth... how could I or anyone know that better? You already know it. My answer, is not yours. But one thing I have witnessed in my wife's path of awakening is that an earnest question... From my own very essence I have experienced... when one asks of absolute reality with complete authenticity. There is always an answer. Do I always hear clearly and do I possess the ken to comprehend seems the only distinguishing features. -
My guess is that if the methods are the same, the result must necessarily be the same.
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You mean if it has turned an indigo colour ?
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I used to sleep at last GFs house , hanging over the river, virtually, from a high cliff. The night time noises from it ! She used to ask 'Can you hear that ." I would say, " Its just the river ." But one night the noise was crazy ... I cant describe it. Like some strange undine language. It was just too weird, so in the morning I went to investigate. I found a huge log with a hollow in it that was on water surface level, up against the bank, one end was open and split with water in it but the other end was angled deeper and had more water in it and the hollow ended inside the log, ie, only open on one end. Ripples from the rapids where making little waves go into the log and lap against the back wall in a gloop gllop clobble glibby blop gloggen glibbal noise ( told ya I couldnt describe it ! ) and being amplified back out the log like . We also have an occasional 'murderous owl' visit at night . You should hear that! A few times people have evacuated from our camp ground thinking it was a real murder being committed, a violent assault and once even a 'demon infestation' It sorta sounds like a baby being tortured ...... over and over again . I much prefer these guys - I never realised they like water so much ! 2 nights ago I was in the bath out in the forest, the fire under it had died out and the Moon was out and huge froggy * swooped by my head and landed in a tree and stared at me. Then he flew over and landed in a tree right next to the bath and curiously and intently watched me as I washed , relaxed, got out and dried myself . Funny buggers ! * Tawny Frougmouth owl . They try to hide in the day time by pretending they are a broken branch on a tree Spot the owl You can get right next to them , but they won't move , just pretend they are a bit of wood ..... with little slit eyes that follow you around
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good for him https://ctext.org/pre-qin-and-han/ens?searchu=民氣
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Hi Yueya, I have yet to read any of the Neiye main texts ~ I am still with your booklet ... the gist of the Neiye. Why? I am preventing an information overload on myself ~ unwittingly. Can I use your Neiye gist as a compass on a road less traveled... like a Feng Shui compass? When there is no one size that fits all ~ there is also no one Neiye path that is for all? - Anand
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When I arrived in the desert back in 2000, for the first time in my life, I experienced allergies. They'd come mostly in the Spring and high Summer and are always at their worst when the dry hot air blows in from the East. Natives call it Crazy Wind. Science calls it the Santa Ana's. Got great advice from a nutritionist I had a conversation with. She recommended avoiding pharmaceuticals and finding a local source for raw honey. Since the bees are local, they're processing from a slew of plants in the area and taking small amounts of the bee processed pollens will eventually allow the body to build up antigens over time. Plus... local awesome honey. Took a few years, but I no longer have allergic reactions... except of course, this year, which saw record rainfall all 'winter' and resulted in massive blooms all along the West Coast. So much pollen in the air you can taste it. So a few weeks ago there were some runny nose and watery eye days, but nothing like the full on fatigued, stuffy headed, itching neck, coughing like I have a cold reactions I got when first moving here. Honey is simply amazing stuff. Bees have always been a favorite of mine. Now I downright worship the wonder buggers.
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Aphantasia is the inability to form mental pictures in the mind's eye. It's a fairly common thing. *particularly it seems among the recent design teams I've been building scenery for* I never knew this was a thing until a couple years ago, when I was trying to pin my wife down in describing a house in a dream she was relating to me. I kept trying to get the fine details of the rooms when she said point blank... "well I don't actually see anything when I dream... it's just... you know... impressions." me: wait, what? her: I don't see anything in my dreams... i just, you know... feel it. Turns out it's rather common, some estimate up to 18% do not form clear mental images when imagining, but only deal in conceptual notions. Picture a red ball on a beach. Depending how much energy and time I put into that, I'll be able to tell you how many sand dollars are lying about and if anyone left litter after their picnic. My wife will just experience the feeling of a beach and a ball, but not actually picture any specific ball or beach. It utterly blew my mind when I started digging and found this word Aphantasia. It horrifies me honestly. In my work constructing props and scenery, when someone is describing something, I can't begin working on it until it becomes clear in my head. Once that picture arrives with all the substructure, then I can start, until then, I have to doodle and allow the image to crystallize, or I'm just stumbling around. It also explains why sometimes in my business when I'm trying to describe to a designer how we'll go about constructing what they've drawn, to explain the substructure, their eyes just glaze over and they get lost. We end up having to make small scale models in order for them to see it, as they cannot visualize what I'm describing in words. This has made me much more patient at work... wish I'd known about it 20 years ago, would have prevented much frustration.
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I agree completely, which is why I'm asking the question. At the same time, I do require some evidence behind claims before I accept them. Care to elaborate on your experience with them? Can you see their auras, or how do you know they are real? Thanks
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Thank you all for the responses, very helpful and I learned a new term, anapanasati. I don't usually buy booze when traveling for work. I will definitely try the rainbow fruit meditation and consider timing and affects of practice. It is not typically an issue but it crops up often enough. Thanks again.
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Indigo children - fact or load of crap?
silent thunder replied to paragon's topic in The Rabbit Hole
Indigo's are very real in my experience. I didn't look at your test, but I'd be mighty skeptical of the source of info the test is basing its judgements and descriptions on. Astrological descriptions can be so vague and puffy as to cover most of the population, doesn't mean all astrological information is useless. Always important to be authentic and present in these manners and not simply reject whole swathes of life on reaction. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, when the water is soiled.
