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i've checked several times this morning. All of them slow in every action. Additionally got a bad gateway error at one point totally bombed. we are in conversations with the powers that be, to fix this thing again.

Beautiful. In Zen such experiences are called "makyo". Having crazy experiences is part of the path, and a fascinating one. Having them means that you have begun, and are moving forward toward understanding, but not much else generally. I would call most of these sorts of events "experiences". Experiences, like all other relative phenomena are impermanent. How do you know what is important or not? Ask yourself, has it created a shift toward something permanent? Is it something I can see is true in this moment, and in ALL moments? Real insight permanently and dramatically alters your understanding and world view. THESE sorts of experiences are the ones to ask about.

My load times are very slow since yesterday.

They’re everywhere!

Bulls in Altamira cave, Spain. Amongst the very first by the first Homo Sapiens:

Yup. I think you have to be there in person, and have practiced for awhile to be able to judge. And I can say out of the 6 people who had aggressive spontaneous movements, 3 of them clinged to that spontaneous experience. Enjoyed it, relish in it. Vocally mumbling things like "love, yes, yes, love love". Did not want it to end, do not plan to end it. Have no control over it, has not plan to manage it. Almost knocking other attendees over from their movements and rolling around, when most of them just wanted some silence to experience the subtle conditions of the exercise. There is a blindness to the setting of the workshop that was really alarming. Alarmed Damo as well. He understood what was happening, and he had to try restraining them eventually.

The Middle Way is not the way of the renunciate. We are not giving away all of our belongings or wealth, we are renouncing clinging and aversion to wealth and belongings. We won't solve suffering by giving people our wealth, or food, or it would already have happened. The source of all suffering is a lack of Prajna (Wisdom) which is insight into "emptiness". Our instruction as bodhisattvas is to be WITH suffering where it happens. Be kind. Be present with those that are suffering, when you encounter them. Be generous when the opportunity presents itself, but not at the expense of your personal security. Taking care of your finances, as long as it is not at the expense of others is fine. Where "self" has dropped away bodhisattvas will find that what they need is taken care of. They are free to be of benefit when and where they encounter suffering. -

"Meditative insight views" could mean different things for me but hopefully I'll address your question. There are visions like webs of light, Northern lights, ripples, distortions of time and space, demons, yidams, dakinis, immortals, OBE's, seeing across distances of time and space, so many different experiences! These things do not have meaning or significance in and of themselves. They are considered, in dzogchen terms, the spontaneous display of the base, nothing aberrant about it, simply the natural arising of the 10,000 things in the openness of awareness. It is our minds that add the meaning and significance, those minds being a product of conditioning and circumstances. So our eyes play a role, our brain, atmospheric conditions, our emotions and memories, expectations, you name it; there are countless interconnected variables that give rise to our life and meditative experiences. Such experiences can elicit aversion, attachment, confusion and other reactions and come easily become obstacles when we engage with them. It is said in Bön dzogchen teachings that, and I paraphrase, 'When the sounds, lights, and rays encounter the mind of the practitioner, they are impure because they reflect the mind which has the nature of samsara. When they encounter the mind's nature (ie. the practitioner resting in the nature of mind, the non-dual state), they liberate spontaneously and remain pure, reflecting the nature of liberation.' Pure and impure in this context simply refer to whether we grasp or allow the experience of visions to spontaneously liberate, they are not judgmental in a moral sense. Then there are what I would call insights - meditative experiences that leave a lasting change in consciousness or that open us to another level of understanding or experience in our practice, in our view. These experiences can also take many different forms because there are many ways in which we are disconnected or out of touch with our deeper essence. Similarly, they only have the meaning and significance we impute on them, however they can be reliable indicators of our progress on the path so they are useful to student and teacher alike. Nevertheless, we must treat them the same as any meditative experience, in dzogchen practice that means to leave it as it is, don't engage or analyze, simply abide. These insightful meditative experiences can become even more formidable obstacles as we can be very attached to experiences that indicate spiritual growth.

At least he realized something . I have had to nurse some casualties that were the result of that practice that went to 'Rajneesh meditation' some self appointed orange gurus put on . They had no interest whatsoever in damage control or after care of people that were effected adversely from what they instructed them to do . MANY of these people stopped wearing orange robes , stopped their outer association with the movement and masked it ... but still go around teaching various things from their 'system' under other guises . Now, coming from a western perspective ( which is what the Rajneesh exercises basically are ) , it comes from Wilhelm Reich , known as the farther of modern western body work - and most 'body workers' (including some so called 'light workers ' ) and a whole range of different therapies as well . The idea is that these movements or convulsions ( or twitches, spasms , pains , paralysis ) in certain parts of the body are the physical counterpart and blockage of internal unresolved psychological issues . BUT the next step was to 'work on ' those areas with massage and similar therapy . Not just to let the person flop all over the floor ! Fer goodness sakes ! It can get to ridiculous proportions and become grotesque !

... and not 'just' paintings . This is what we usually see ; a still picture . But if you watch a film of some of them , like Lascaux (or ever had the advantage of being there ! ) and it is filmed right ; IE, a slow 'procession' past the paintings in flickering torch or candle light , you will notice they also use the rock surface and the flickering light to make it look as though some of the animals are moving . This is also apparent in some of the still shots where we see multiple outlines ; ..... the paintings 'come alive' .

Welcome to the board, BSD. Hope you can find the support and information you seek!

I saw some long load times last night, but things seem OK this AM so far.

The 'Bad gateway' error seems to have returned. Is anyone else facing issues?

Yes, all from Master Wu is 100% safe However, would definitely recommend you take the time and effort to go to a live workshop. It's worth it!

Something that happened to me last weekend made myself contemplate again the content of this thread. I was invited to attend a protestant “exorcist” ritual, and it broke my heart. It wasn’t one of those hoaxes which are rehearsed and performed with paid actors; rather, it was genuine and, therefore, much more saddening. The Pastor pretended to banish a demon from a believer and… that’s it —nothing more than that. And it’s a damn shame to see how the modern use of christian demonology completely contradicts the ALLEGORICAL approach of the Holy Bible itself. Something I’ve noticed throughout the years is that christian demonology is a field which is very much pursued by young and curious christians. And it’s a damn shame that they are taught that the “lesser stuff” is more important than what is (unfortunately) reputed as “basic mysticism” —and that is, in my understanding, due to the work of some spiritualists who tried to corrupt the meaning of the Holy Bible and, possibly, also had psychotic tendencies. As some of you might have read in my last posts on this thread, the christian esoteric postulates completely refute that type of ritualistic approach. It’s no coincidence that Christianity and its mystical roots are grounded in LIGHT and LOVE. And the purest manifestations of Light and Love are more than enough (!) to free someone from hardships. It’s also no coincidence that both the Holy Mass and the Protestant Service are grounded in INCREASING THE LIGHT —meaning: attuning one’s consciousness with the Divine—, NOT fighting, removing or avoiding darkness, hardships, demons or any other things! There’s just no way, from an esoteric standpoint, to conclude that there’s such a thing as literally removing demons from someone. I have a strong belief that this narrative is used exclusively to making money off of people’s desperations and miseries —or, in the most optimistic scenario, made by someone with a very naive understanding of mysticism. Christian demonology has become a fertile land of complete lunatics. And I frequently see people who have a history of mental illness or who come from a “RolePlay Games” background seeking this kind of knowledge and/or producing their own works/opinions in this field. And that’s why I once again bring up the title of this thread: “Why focus on the negative?”. Why waste time thinking of the darkness (absence of Light) when one could be thinking of the Light? Why not spend your precious time invoking God’s ineffable Light and Grace, which protects and guides us to his incognoscible Glory?

This morning about sunrise, the Snake lurking below the clouds (wind movement). It is a windy clear day today which I love the most. icon instagram html And the other day this cute "red bellied black snake" which was observing me while I was watching her too. Stuck out his tongue a few times and then suddenly, zoom! It took off as fast as lightning.

Topics people of today consider serious issues. Were things I was stressing over 10 to 20 years ago. Like this campaign back in 2012: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_M._Walker_(U.S._Comptroller_General)#Campaign_for_fiscal_responsibility There's no need to discuss things that will take the rest of the world 5 to 15 years to figure out. I'll simply wait 5 to 15 years for it to become common knowledge. Feel free to revisit this in future years when what I said is proven accurate to a degree that people like you are no longer disputing it.

Its not 'far fetched' ... its down right wrong , and its been proved to be wrong and now the accuser has been shown he is wrong ... he wants to knock a;ll the pieces off the board and run off he keeps doing this on all sorts of subjects and it usually interfaces with his religious 'faith' , which he is probably doubting , as he keeps bringing it in to all sorts of things he is trying to argue about . Either that or he is 8 years old . We can only really go by quality of content here , regardless of what people claim about themselves

What a lame and stupid response . Its also a duck out and typical . You'debate' like a little kid that just got obviously busted and is using the most lame excuses and attempted tactics to worm his way out of it ! Now .... got to your room ! and no dinner for you !

Yes, this is the other side of it but this too has a problem and I have seen it in many fields ; do the 'symptoms' resolve through practice ( meaning do the decrease and go away and the practice bring obvious benefit ) or do the 'symptoms' just keep manifesting, turn into some type of 'practice' and there is no obvious resolving ? ) I have seen some 'practice' acting out these symptoms for years actually , and they still had the problems they started off with in the beginning that the 'meditations and practices ' were supposedly a remedy for . These practices can have their own type of 'addictive quality'.

Quite often I have images and concepts dropped into my mind to help particular situations.

Ultimately, Prajna is holding NO view. The teachings are not the realization, and keeping traditions pure is nice idea from a cultural perspective, but means nothing from enlightened perspective. A good teacher will do whatever it takes to wake you up, whether it means quoting Rumi, Nisagadatta Maharaj, or Ren and Stimpy.

This is super silly, but can someone drop the "self" and still have a name? Arhat John goes to back to work on monday: "Hey John, how was your weekend?" "Who is John" "John, are you alright?" "The person you call John is an illusion of the mind, he does not exist" "I guess that explains the illusory TPS reports that you were supposed to have on my desk by Friday." "Peter, if only you understood, you see, all is one. There is no differentiation between me and you, or between us and the TPS reports. It is all the same, and by our very presence here, the TPS reports are here also." "Just get me the reports by 3:00 pm John or your fired" "... [Deep Sigh]... Okay Peter"

Then he would already have money rolling in without a need to continually post new Youtubes . More faulty 'reasoning' on your part . And it appears that your 'reasoning' here is the only proof you can come up with . Typical ! You have soooooooooo much trouble admitting you are wrong ! Can a closed down YouTube channel be accessed ? AI Overview No, a closed YouTube channel, meaning a channel terminated by YouTube or the associated Google Account being deleted, cannot be accessed. Google's policy states that they may delete inactive Google Accounts and their associated data, including YouTube channels, after a period of inactivity. If a channel is suspended or deleted, the content is also unavailable. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjHBvUl25R9pz2SA7DhFDMw By the way ..... did you agree to that million dollar bet or not ?

Just started practicing this form again yesterday. Wishing @cheya all blessings on their next stage of their journey.

Pragmatically speaking, the level of evil in the world today (and since time immemorial) is closely tied to the amount of unconscious fear and unchecked desire people are carrying. At its root, it’s fear of suffering—not death, but suffering in all its forms. The more unconsciously someone fears suffering, the more likely they are to engage in evil actions: exploitation, theft, abuse, manipulation, etc. And the flip side is also true—the more someone is consumed by desire, the more likely they are to harm others in pursuit of relief, control, or gratification. But underneath both fear and desire lies something even deeper: the illusion of separation. The belief that we are isolated, disconnected beings trying to survive alone in a hostile world. Once that illusion takes hold, self-preservation becomes the highest priority—regardless of who gets hurt. Layer on top of that a lack of self-awareness (ignorance), and you've got the perfect conditions for evil to flourish: people blindly reacting to internal chaos, with no understanding of the root causes driving them. Even in extreme cases—rape, torture, senseless violence—the perpetrator is often trying to escape some kind of internal torment. They’re not acting from pure malice but from a twisted attempt to feel power, pleasure, or release from their own existential pain. That doesn’t excuse it—but it helps explain it. As for whether evil has increased, who knows. The world population is at a record high, so the raw number of evil acts may have gone up, but proportionally, it may have actually dropped. Either way, the level of evil we experience is a direct reflection of how much fear, desire, and unconscious separation is driving human behavior. The less those forces control us, the more harmony naturally emerges.

Religious beliefs commonly are binary - good and bad players. It seems however that Reality is much more complex. Thus rebellious children are often carrying trauma from long ago. They are defending that trauma - in the instinctive hope that they will be free of it at some stage The first step to freedom is to love oneself. Most societies do not teach that - probably to encourage obedience. Very few societies teach how to love oneself.

Thanks, @Taomeow! I´ll go ahead and keep practicing mostly slow then. I can do the moves fast (more or less anyway; won´t be putting out a video anytime soon ) but when I practice slower I feel more integrated.

FWIW: If you're going to be getting in-person classes in Yang, I'd stick with that for a while before branching out into Chen. I'd focus on the basics (which are shared in all styles) -- if you learn alignments/centeredness, weight transfer, rooting/stable connection to the ground, silk reeling, yao/kua engagement, sung, yi (intent) and eventually some qi management, you'll be ready for Chen and able to compare which works better for you personally. But if you choose to give it a try from a video (which I usually don't find useful for beginners... but who am I to blow against the wind), my advice No.1 is, make sure you know exactly what you're doing with your knees before you do!