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Just as Jesus was not a Christian, the Buddha was not a Buddhist. The Buddha was one amongst countless beings that have become realized , dropped their fetters, and seen through their mistaken belief systems. Is Zen Buddhism? I'm not sure why that would matter. It IS a vehicle for realization, but it is a VERY direct one that will not suit all students. Zen DOES throw you into the "deep end", but, really, there IS no deep end. Realization is actually a very simple affair - in one moment you believe that a particular set of bodily sensations represent some kind of reality as a separate person, and then, miraculously, in the next moment you don't. In this respect Zen is far simpler than most vehicles... that simplicity isn't a bug, it is a feature. Nothing is missing in Zen (though there could be more emphasis on compassion training, IMHO), it just may not be meant for you. If one is drawn to follow a particular set of teachings they should, absolutely. Does this mean that there is something wrong with those other paths? No, not really. Having no tradition or path at all awakens "beings" all the time.

Welcome!

It is the case with Damo Mitchell and Adam Mizner as well. It is a well-known fact that excess fat can prevent or impede energy circulation. It boggles my mind how blind, deaf, and willing to be deceived some are. It’s understandable not to have third-eye vision, not to be able to assess someone’s spiritual development, or not to see how much energy a teacher possesses. However, ignoring the physical condition of someone who claims to teach : martial arts, longevity and health, immortality, and youthfulness is astonishing. People who only meditate often neglect their physical body and develop a weak physique. However, they should eventually realize that having a frail body will become a significant chokepoint or bottleneck on the path of cultivation. The story of Bodhidharma comes to mind that has created Shaolin, because he faced that very problem after prolonged sitting.

Finding an acceptable teacher is difficult, for in and out of China, from old days to now. Yet there is a simple way to see part of the teacher's level i.e. by external appearance. It is not unlikely audition for a model, we look at their body shape, face, voice and details. For philosophical Taoist, they can be any shape. But cultivating Taoist, especially Neidan type, the body matters, because the system claims to be creating immortals. So if a teacher cannot demonstrate any successful result on his own body, we have to wonder he got the real stuff or not, or his own teacher did not how to impart knowledge, or commonly, he is better in talking than doing. In the case such a teacher keeps on increasing weight to obesity level, we must be cautious. After all Taoists are known to be thin and agile, while Buddhists are known to be fat. There is however a catch. If the teacher only starts at mid-age or even older, his body shape and general condition could be difficult to reverse. When a teacher started off at younger ages as some of them being discussed are, they become rather fat, clumsy or even frail over the years. Then something is not right.

Non-conceptual clarity.

@-ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ- knows lots about that. Hi Yoda. Welcome to the forum.

Oh dear . Seriously ? I am sure you can get your opinion across without being such a ...... literalist ! What is the difference between a literalist and a thief ? A comma . - A literalist takes things literally while a thief takes things, literally .

Nerve heard this guy before as well as so called “人学” ， “圆功” and “圆子”。It is very interesting that this guy speaks "普通话" but on his website you can not find anything written in Chinese except a few chops in Chinese. I watched half part of a video of him, and it seemed for me that I saw an acter instead of a master of qigong. It looks like that he created so called “圆功” in 2013. Sine 1950s there are more than 100 Qigongs practiced in China and they are more than enough for people. I do not understand why someone would "create" one more new qigong.

Hello everyone! I am new here. I just started practicing Flying Phoenix Chi Kung and TTP31(Tao Tan Pai basic meditation). I look forward to learning more from you.

😊

It is because Qigong is Qigong. A names was given to it is what one thinks it is. Given a name to it that makes one's new invention and write a book to make some money!

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I guess this leaves some of the most famous teachers who were also formidable undefeated fighters out in the cold... but thanks for correcting their ignorant ways. Cheng Manching (the first master to bring taiji to the West and establish a school here) stands corrected: Yang Chengfu stands corrected: And as for the spiritual types, sheesh, even the Buddha stands corrected: (By the way, just so you don't suspect ulterior personal motives -- I am, and have always been, thin with no special effort.)

I heard Tommy's story, as a Zen fable, where it wasn't the Buddha but a samurai who came upon the monks meditating and gave them the can't polish a rock into a mirror analogy. The book explained the samurai was wrong. Meditation is part of enlightenment but he was correct that it's not the only part. You shouldn't stink of Zen, it's a living practice not a sitting one, though sitting is a part of it. If you don't bring the practice into your life, sitting will not bring enlightenment. But sit daily and bring the insights and practice into everything you do. I forget his name, he was the founder of Aikido's nephew(or was it uncle?) also was of a mystical bend, never famous but an amazing martial artist. After giving a dharma talk a listener asked 'So we should strive for emptiness?' The man surprised the asker and audience by stating emphatically 'NO, not emptiness, you want Fullness. Awareness of everything and understand that emptiness is a part of the Fullness.' <I believe its from the book Pre-World War II Aikido Masters.> After like, ten years in Ki-Aikido being told 'keep One Point' ie a focus on the Hara, one is finally taught- When you're aware of everything you are also keeping One Point. A defused focus, clear mind, the ears- see, the feet-listen, the senses spread.. is a higher level of One Point, then a clear mind focused on one's center. Certainly more useful in a martial sense. It's also a whole world harder. Just keeping a quiet mind all day is very hard. Meditation has lots of benefits but achieving a quiet mind is much easier when you're just sitting (or just walking). From there you can focus on Hara or breath, and finally get the focus on the Fullness around you- the one that has your thoughts flowing like a river, your body sensations and the swirl of the 5 elements happening all around you. Rawn Clark has a fun but difficult guided meditation- Center of Stillness Meditation where you put your 7 senses (he includes thought & emotion as senses) into separate orbits around you. Not too far from Taoist practice of Sealing the Senses. It has you sitting in emptiness, like a planet aware of your senses orbiting, aware of the other peoples orbits and has you focus on the web of life connecting all. Worthwhile but not easy and even to bring into 'normal' life.

Thanks for the reply. You have given me plenty to chew upon. Guess understanding will come later with experience. Thanks.

This is not a misperception. We have cobbled together a certain set of sensate phenomena and identified those elements as belonging to a "self", but, as you seem to have noticed, whether they are always present, and what they might include changes all the time. Those elements we call "self" are most often where we find our awareness. So, what if we have awareness of a bird chirping in the nearby forest, or of the shadows on the floor moving, or our cat rubbing our leg as it walks by? They are also where awareness finds itself. What we ARE is awareness, not the arbitrary collection of places we create that awareness seems to locate. Awareness is the fabric of all things. Everyone has had the experience of emptiness. It happens naturally all the time, we just need someone to point out what it is. What you describe in the first paragraph above IS emptiness of "self". It is one of many ways to be aware of "emptiness". Another common feeling of "emptiness" is experiencing a sort of WHOLENESS - a loss of feeling separate from the phenomena that surrounds you... finding that "I" is what EVERYTHING is. Awareness is obviously part of everything that is experienced, or you wouldn't experience it. Awareness is what is always present. Pure, clean, silent and still awareness is Buddha Nature, Rigpa, Nirvana, Nirodha, god, etc. etc., and it is ALWAYS right here, underneath your mental story of the world. Does it? I don't think it does. You see that what you are is awareness. You get the intellectual point, but you are still missing the insight... the EXPERIENCE of "being" awareness. When you notice that you are awareness in your practice, rest in that stillness. Do this as often as possible without trying to make or contrive it into happening. Don't grasp at the experience, only patiently notice it when it arises and it will come more and more often. Eventually you will notice that it happens all of the time on its own. Eventually you will see it for what it is.

Stretching won't help Jing directly, but indirectly it creates overall well-beings that is beneficial to Jing, Chi, Shen. Jing is more from conservation.

As far as I can see, the human is designed to undertake responsibilities in the local cosmos. The counter move is to teach humans to believe that they are weak and dependent upon others - including gods and religions The enthusiasm for oppressing Earth humans is so strong that I suspect a degree of panic

Yes. I went through the same experience, “disconcerting as I believe myself to be this whole person”. Now, I have two legs to walk and two brain-halves to think - these are all part of my body. ‘ I ‘ am the awareness.

Like, you have the right to choose anything, but if you make the wrong one, you are subject to the eternal wrath of a white-clad, seemingly benevolent wizard in the sky, or rather he turns you over to his friend, darth vader, to whom he turns a blind eye and lets him have his way with you. Now, the real question with this is does god have free will? if he does, what ethical system does god follow and where did he get it. If he got it from his overlord, where did that overlord get it, and so on.

Oh vey. Yes, Zen is Buddhism, unless you mean some new age interpretation of the word “Zen”🙄 🙏

Which reminds me of other strange things like that ; People who think they hold a privileged arsehole position : Legal jobs , especially solicitors and lawyers . When I had to use one in a years long case in the Supreme Court , I first assumed he was a greedy money grabbing bastard . Then some 'suspect money' was paid to bribe him to take the case on but we made it look like legal assistant fees ( and that work I actually did ' 60K's worth at his estimate ) which the prosecutor suspected and started cross examining us on . The solicitor was freaking out that I would snap under cross-examination and put him in , I assured him I would not ..... as long as we still had a 'defense running ' ( 'nice' way of putting it ) And because they froze our accounts ( or tried to ) so we could not fund a defense ( that's how they work ; yes, we will fight you in the ring ... tie his hands behind his back first ) he had to keep working for free which he didn't like at all , one time outside court he abused me ( Oh ? Its all right for YOU to do that ? ) including saying " You got me over a barrel ." I responded " Oh ? How does it feel when its the other way around ? " he went off ! " You are not supposed to talk to your solicitor like that , I am a professional and we are to be treated with respect ! " I patted him on the back and said " You'll be right ..... barrel boy ! " and he " And your not supposed to touch your solicitor as well ! " Chefs ... where on earth did they get off thinking they can throwing emotional tantrums, being rude to staff , etc . I had to work with one guy that tried it , I immediately questioned why he thought he had the right to be like that at work when no one else or no other jobs allow that ? " Its a creative genius thing, where are temperamental; and and are under a lot of stress at work , and we do important work feeding people, its essential ! " Me ; " Yet if someone under 10 times the amount of stress and responsibility , like a a paramedic, a nurse , a police officer did it ? " The guy actually slammed his knife down and walked out . I went out to find him outside sitting on a bench crying ! Curious that law, medicine and food are covered there . What other professions , that are supposed to be for our service , do you lot find self important arseholes in ? .

Why I first went to a TCM practitioner : I went to the regular doctor and told him my symptoms , he listened with this smarmy look on his face , then... get this ... THEN he says, " I don't think so ." He didn't think I was having the symptoms I described to him . I really wanted to reach over grab his hair and jerk it down and smash his forehead into the desk ..... I really wanted to , so much so , the muscles involved in that where twitching .... bastard ! I restrained myself , walked out and down the street , saw TCM and went in . Doctor did the usual checks and examinations and asked me nothing, and I said nothing , until he started asking me if I felt this or experienced that , and his questions where virtually a list of my symptoms that Dr Dickhead did not believe I was having !

The problem with their talk is that it does not align with reality. It is a classic case of pulling the wool over someone's eyes or engaging in scamgong manipulation. Do I need to point out that Nathan Brine looks extremely unhealthy and frail? Is this the result of secret lineage 20+ years of personal training under grand master wang liping? Daoists make bold claims about health, longevity, and immortality, yet all we see are sickening footages of individuals suffering from the effects of a modern American diet. They are frequently found in worse health than the average person who does not practice any Daoist arts and has never heard of the "wonderful health benefits and immortality practices." I don't think you should advertise or endorse morbid obesity. Yes, it is a different kind of belly. Different kind of fat as well, usual fat is bad, but this one must be a holy one. And no, they are not dying like all other mortals, they simply enter mahasamadhi and ascend to divine realms. It reminds me of the copium statements made by some people defending "Gurus" who smoke cigars and drink whiskey (and take God knows what substances behind the scenes), as if this is an external show to humble their followers' egos. Certainly, it is not a dreadful, harmful addiction or a lack of self control. The truth is, addictions stem from a weak mind incapable of controlling the body. They also arise when there is no leverage between the mind and the body, and when there is no adequate spiritual development to begin with. Such a human would truly be an animal without an active spiritual component.

Not to name names but in the last 5 years. There have been MIT and Princeton grads who made their diplomas look like toys they found in a mcdonalds happy meal.

.... to dispel a demon ; turn it off and turn it on again .... anyway The 'Hierarchy of Beings' concept is what was the essential dynamic behind the 'possessed' people that recovered in DR Van Dusen's research ( in the link I previously gave ) . He was surprised to find dynamics in the patient as described by that theory according to Swedenbourg ( who himself seems to have been troubled by the phenomena but found his own way through . I also saw a fascinating documentary where a disturbed young homeless woman managed to navigate herself out of it via the same method .... using her dog companion . Well, if it works ....

I cant seem to get rid of this 'text background demon now , hang on .....

it was actually two companies that joined ..... to get her . More word fun .... if you have mental disorder they send you to psycho the rapist .

The united states is 249 years old. Most of its history being that of a moral nation, it has achieved longevity and long life. By contrast nations like nazi germany which commit atrocities usually have shortened lifespans nazi germany lasting only 12 years. The USSR which committed atrocities lasted 69 years. Whether people or nations, committing atrocities does typically shorten life.