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I´d like to stick up for the power of words, those pesky amalgamations of letters so often maligned in spiritual circles. Words can indeed convey the feeling of "wind against my body" in such a way that another person understands and feels, at least to some imperfect extent, your experience. There are a few tricks to using words in this way -- metaphor, image, syntactic symbolism, the aural music of language. You can´t just say "it was windy" and hope for the best. A true word artist can structure a sentence so that the various phrases mirror the experience of being out in the wind vividly.

You always say that. Practices and systems have their place, yes. I always say THAT. Haha. - There are mystics and monastics. They have an uneasy alliance because their understanding of the "truth" is very different. The mystics have realization, then tell others about their lives and experiences, but many ask that what they say not be written down, knowing that if someone copies their life exactly it is unlikely that such a person will arrive at illumination. Monastics have no realization. They hear the teachings of a mystic and copy it down, codify and solidify it into a rigid set of practices and rules that might still be helpful, but can only point at the deeper reality. They protect this secret knowledge at all costs. Sometimes another mystic in that tradition appears, but often the teachings from that mystic (while utterly compatible from the perspective of any other mystic) are different and sometimes seemingly contradictory to the monastics. Those mystics are often outcasts in the systems they practiced in, though not always.

The wind on your body can be the Dao, or it can be Hurricane Katrina... a non-duality, OR a duality, both existing in the same moment. In order to communicate with words we must assume the garb of separate beings, and exchange the symbolic, dualistic, mirage of language. Some would never wish to do that and exist in silence, but here we are instead. You replied to me, with no great hardship, using an exact quote you wanted to reply to. Thank you. I have also quoted you with your actual words. If I am polite I might ask you for some clarity, when I am not sure I understand what you have said. You might reasonably expect me to reply to your actual words too. What I am suggesting my earlier post is that we ALL offer the courtesy of replying with a quote from the person we wish address rather than a personally constructed, paraphrased, or even purposely twisted response. I would also hope that the intention is to assume the best about others, rather than instantly make up our minds about the nature of what has been said by them. _/\_

I train his system along with my taiji practice. Here are the parallels that makes his system very translatable and supports taiji practice and methods. Vital frequency = physical body, jing Astral frequency = Chi/Qi quality. Mental frequency = Shen quality. Akasha frequency = Wuji quality. So you train to transform the energies from vital to akasha, similar to jing qi shen, wuji. The term "transformation" is important. These frequencies are not just some random energy you pull out of thin air. You have to cultivate the prior energies to a certain extent before there is enough to transform into the next quality, vital being the most fundamental. You work on all of them, and some more then others depending on the phase of your training, and what you personally need for your goals. I have done Damo's methods too. I know he always downplays feelings, sensations and imagination stuff. But if you do this long enough, that kind of statements are really half truths. And half truths are quite harmful and leads to confusion. The truth about feelings, and imagination, is you need to know the context of what layer you are feeling, your attitude towards feeling, and same for imagination. The movement of the mind does trigger Qi, energy to move in specifics ways. It is not without its function in any practice. To abandon feelings and imagination completely is impossible. Developing a more refined context around it is the way to go.

Nothing bad unless you’ve taken what is called a “sankalpa”. Sankalpa is a promise between yourself and a deity (for instance, with Lord Shiva) to perform certain practices/ritual for a certain period of time. Depending on the deity and the type of practice (tantric ones are both potent and dangerous at the same time), stopping your practice is not a good idea. But if it’s just your own personal practice, there is no harm in stopping. Only that usually when we undertake a spiritual practice it is especially normal to encounter difficulties (consider it as being tested) - those who can persevere will grow, those who don’t will not (or not as much).

I think being consistent is important part of practice. Like my practice has been on and off for a long time. So, I am stuck where I am. But what I have learnt in the mean time, it will stay with me. Advance? Move to the next stage? No. It is just being here is better for me, now. I do encourage you to do what brings you joy. Joy that is not absent that which brings true happiness for you and others. Something along the lines of wisdom and compassion.

Obviously there is no particular manifest (in any form) Buddha that exists outside of the manifest or subtle universe, as for Buddha nature that is not bound by the laws of manifestation such does not apply. Thus or anyway for someone in the manifest or subtle universe that walks around saying there is no god or manifest being/universe is incongruently nuts if or while they also walk around profoundly proclaiming or implying there is (or was) a particular manifest Buddha. (outside the laws of manifestation)

I suggest you evaluate my manifesto https://ottyg.narod.ru/manifesto.html

But you did rather well there ^ ! I even started to feel the gliding floating feeling ( without all the little bumps ) as if I WAS cruising along new asphalted bike path .... and yes it is very similar to the gliding feeling I would have when walking home at night from aikido training .

The expression Learning by doing may be relevant.

well ok, but we don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water either, btw the first echo, or the first prana/light may not be the source but is dam close and connected. (thus discounting same with cosmic sounding generalization is kind of like smiting one's own face)

is the view expressed above saying that if someone says the physical (manifest) universe is "not real" or is an illusion, then that also includes that Shakyamuni (or any of the masters) are also "not real" and are illusion? i am seeking to understand the gist of the opening post, which at first reading i like.

One problem with quoting and attribution is that English is very imprecise. The same word can mean dozens or even hundreds of subtly different things, and some words are so abstract that their meaning seems to float off into infinity. In English, it is quite easy to equivocate on someone's meaning, or perhaps just misunderstand. I am personally of the opinion, however, that words are meaningless (and the fact that they can be coherently generated through AI seems to confirm my understanding), that they carry no more significance than the song of a garden bird, the harmonic relationship of one utterance to one-another being their only meaning in logic and understanding. We can build computer tools to better understand and simulate that harmony, but it cant scratch the surface of the feeling of gliding seamlessly on rollerskis across a newly asphalted biking path (or tai chi, or whatever). The wind against my body seems to be the only true reality.

What I referred to as the god particle in my previous post, might perhaps be better referred to as ‘the elixir’ - “Golden Elixir is another name for one’s fundamental nature. There is no other Golden Elixir outside one's fundamental nature. All human beings have this Golden Elixir complete in themselves: it is entirely realized in everybody. It is neither more in a sage, nor less in an ordinary person. It is the seed of the Immortals and the Buddhas, the root of the worthies and the sages.” Liu Yiming (1734-1821)

Anyway Nini , how do I know that's you ? <peers into visor > I cant actually see you in there ..... YOU could be AI ! Or maybe its just the snazzy helmet for your new motorcycle ?

Obviously, but my point was that there is no need to travel to the far east to find a good teacher. When the student is ready... That's how I found mine, in a suburban park of Brisbane, Australia. I wouldn't travel to China even if they pay me to learn from an stranger plus the following: https://waqi.info/#/c/2.761/11.953/1z

There's still some good stuff around the shaolin area. Wugulan style under Wu Nanfang and Shi Dejian. Shaolin xinyiba under Hu Zhengsheng. Both styles are internal and trace back to the temple before the revolution.

Not really any more dangerous that going on a meditation retreat or working with the most direct practices. Real, transformative spiritual practice digs up our most protected and ancient pain, attachment, aversion, and leads to a "death" of sorts - it inherently includes risk, and inevitably creates some difficulties for the practitioner. Realization necessarily breaks all of our closely held beliefs about who "we" are what "reality" is, any clinging to what you thought was "true" or "real" has to be let go of.

Aren't entheogens a fairly common cornerstone to shamanic ritual? They were in my experience, but I was admittedly only ever a dabbler. I know a couple of people who have had entheogens as part of their "path" or even the moment of illumination, myself included. While it wasn't part of the moment when understanding dawned for me, it was part of the story. I wouldn't discount it entirely, myself. These substances CAN be quite beneficial in softening or even removing conceptual concretions of the "self" when there are experiences of "unity"/no-self or other/etc. The danger they pose is primarily to those who already have intense grasping to "self" or underdeveloped and weak "self" to begin with, like those with more profound mental health issues such as schizophrenia. Of course, these substances can be unpredictable and have mixed success without some screening and supervision, and aren't really necessary in most cases. Whatever method or lack thereof that works for one person very likely won't work for another. It can happen in countless ways - for some there will be the sound of a pebble on a pot, for others it might happen while in a dentist's waiting room, or while skydiving, or even after ingesting Lysergic acid diethylamide. Most are never going to worry, or need to worry, about abstract conceptual underpinnings as they are entirely dualistic in nature and have no real bearing on the complete realization.

Agreed. But the concept of divine is rather limited - being derived from a word meaning shining. That means there were eye witnesses to the divine entity "god, divinity, good spirit" in Hindu religion, 1819, from Sanskrit deva "a god" (as opposed to asuras "wicked spirits"), etymologically "a shining one," from *div- "to shine," thus cognate with Greek dios "divine" and Zeus, and Latin deus "god" (Old Latin deivos), from PIE root *dyeu- "to shine," in derivatives "sky, heaven, god." Fem. form devi is used for "goddess," also (with capital D-) for the mother god

The God Particle Within There is an idea in the spiritual traditions of the world that the divine is not separate, not distant, not a figure above, but a presence within. But what if this inner divinity is not only real, but also functional? What if it is not merely a state of mind, or emptiness, or spaciousness, or holiness, but part of our subtle architecture, a refined, intelligent essence working ceaselessly to restore wholeness? This deeper understanding shifts everything. It reframes the divine not as an object of worship, but as a mechanism of transformation, actively embedded in the very fabric of our inner being. Not metaphor. Not abstraction. But an actual medium: subtle, dynamic, and purifying. In this vision, the self is not merely a vessel for thought and experience. It is a structured field, layered, responsive, and capable of immense refinement. At the core of this field lies something subtle yet profoundly intelligent: a filtering presence that tries to separate what is real from what is reactive, what is timeless from what is temporary. It does not force, yet it governs. It does not shout, yet it clarifies. It acts like a crystalline thread, a current of luminous essence that brings truth wherever it flows. This essence is not born of effort. It cannot be constructed by the mind. It is never absent, merely covered over, almost silenced. But it can be uncovered, found beneath the sediment of old impressions. It is not ours to create, but ours to discover, when the more assertive aspects of the self begin to fall quiet and the deeper, subconscious forces awaken. What becomes clear is that this essence is not a static stillness or blank awareness. It is a responsive intelligence, one that gently and systematically purifies distortion. Like a clear stream flowing through a clouded vessel, it enacts transformation not through struggle, but through contact. Its very nature reveals and dissolves what is false. Its flow is the return to sanity. The mind may attempt to name this essence, to contain it within ideas. But I propose it is not an idea. It is a subtle reality, not merely an inner event or a shift, but the unveiling of what may be called the essence of God: a presence so innately pure and intelligent that its activation realigns the entire system of self around what is most real. It is the final key that unlocks the final process. For many, the longing for truth begins with a sense of absence, of something missing. But the God particle within is not technically missing. It is hidden. And it waits, not passively, but quietly, until the self becomes transparent enough to allow contact. What is required is not belief, not even faith, but recognition. The subtle pathways of the self must open, not to ideas, but to actual subtle function, until this ultimate presence is revealed and restored to its rightful place: to cleanse consciously, to filter, to complete the subtle body. In this view, the divine is not separate from the structure of self. It is its deepest layer, its most essential root. And it is useful, not because it offers escape, but because it offers ultimate purification and clarity. It does not require worship, only space. It does not demand sacrifice, only honesty. And it does not ask for distance, but intimacy. This is the inner essence that makes liberation possible, not as a singular event, but as a steady unfolding of what has always been within - not potential or emptiness but a specific causal essence, a liquid diamond consciousness, the God particle within.

Unpleasant I'm sure, but not dangerous (despite that Godfather vibe.) Probably wouldn't have been a huge deal for me -- I prefer to not encourage in myself the shrinking violet/pearl clutching conditioning many women have been subjected to. Besides, in a lifetime of living with cats, this was the first bird a cat of mine ever dragged in. (My grandmother's cat from my childhood did catch birds, but she ate them on the spot.) WIth cats, like with everything in life, you gain some, lose some.

My cat, who normally exercises her hunting instincts on insects and Amazon delivery people, moved up the evolutionary ladder yesterday and caught a sparrow. She brought it home unbeknown to me, as she also usually does with June bugs because she's afraid someone might take the bug away from her and let it go. Those green metallic things are built like tanks, and even those that have visible dents on their wings from cat teeth fly away nonchalantly if you remove them from further involuntary games with said cat and take them outside. So when she dragged in the sparrow, I wasn't aware of it until the poor thing was dead, whereupon Monkey put it at my feet and declared, with ear-splitting triumphant meowing, that I won't starve today because she brought me a gift of fresh food. I later discovered feathers all over my bedroom and bathroom -- but I wasn't aware of anything going on there, the murder was committed in complete silence and secrecy. Which reminded me that here a popular brainwashing-induced belief is that cats must only be kept indoors in particular because they kill birds and are a threat to the bird population. All kinds of horrifying figures are typically pulled outta someone's/media's ass to confirm it -- one can can kill a million birds, cause the extinction of a whole species, yada yada. But... over the years, I've been noticing there's scarcely a cat in sight in San Diego, feral or otherwise -- months can go by before you encounter one outdoors -- yet the bird population has been declining. Whereas in June I was in Corfu, Greece, and there were cats upon cats everywhere, nobody's cats, somebody's cats, cats hanging out in the restaurants in hopes of a bite from a patron's plate (I myself fed several every day, and saw some other people do likewise.) Yet there were many, many birds. More birds than what we have. Way more. Here's some Corfu cats I encountered.

A danger at home that is just nuts! Besides the many hazards one may have around or in their homes like falling trees or a natural gas explosion, there is a new one with several cases of exploding garden hoses causing injury! So next time you re watering your plants by hand, (a sort of spiritual activity) make sure you have a safe hose!