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I like some abstract and impressionist art, but never put art on my walls. I don't really know very many paintings or art, but If I did put art on my walls, I might put some like this up (just chose some I like after searching Google Images, to give an idea of what kind of art has impact for me) : "Dali - The Persistence of Memory, 1931" (I first saw this when I was young and thought the melting clocks were very cool) "Haida Raven" "Tom Thomson - In The Northland" "Abstract Painting,1950 by Lawren Stewart Harris" "The Grey Tree, 1912, by Piet Mondrian" Even more modern stuff like this I think is nice, even if it it was created for more commercial purposes: "Abstract art deco seamless pattern Premium Vector" When you give people examples of what type of art you like, it gives them a window into your mind/soul...

My wife and I had been hiking along a rising bluff of cliffs overlooking the Pacific ocean far below, in Big Sur when we were met on the path by a man veritably glowing with energy and joy walking the other way. The man gazed at us with a wide smile, almost as if recognizing us, then said unprompted "when you get to the fork up ahead... go left! ... it's magical! unbelievable!" Then he continued on downhill behind us walking as if dazed, and was gone. We smiled and chuckled a bit, me wondering if he was lit up on entheogens of some sort. I logged his prompt and wished him well, then we continued our hike. When we got to the fork, we flowed left and then eventually came to rest from the uphill climb in a grove of Trees. It was a perfect morning for me. Cloudy and cool with a light breeze. The unforgiving California Sun masked by a marine layer. We wordlessly agreed to come to a rest after the long uphill trek and sat down. After settling in place and after soaking in the enormous view of the Pacific Ocean, I looked up and was struck by several dozen Monarchs flitting about between the branches of the trees we rested beneath. The Sun had begun peaking through the thinning haze, and the flutterby's were enjoying the warmth of the emerging sunshine. And as my eyes rested on the space between the trees it really struck me, I'd never seen that many Monarchs flying in one small spot. We normally remain silent on our walks so I pointed up and smiled and my gal smiled seeing so many flitterers about us. And then it happened. Eyes seeing but not yet perceiving what they saw shifted, and as realization settled in awareness my mouth gaped open, I gasped audibly, stood up as my heart cascaded upward and outward with the realization... that there weren't just a few dozen monarchs flitting in the emerging sunshine. The trees we sat under, were Eucalyptus... this is California I realized and we had come to rest in a grove where the Monarchs return to hibernate, lay eggs and then pass on. This is what the man had been reacting to and urging us toward. There were so many Monarchs resting in the trees that only the trunks were visible. What I had assumed to be heavily leafed branches were the bodies of millions upon millions of resting Monarchs... so thick they dragged the branches down with their weight and utterly obfuscated the tree upon which they slept. My spirit expanded, samadhi enveloped awareness in the entire hilltop, the cliffs, the trees and the settling gut sense that this same pulsing of Monarchs, Sun, Eucalyptus Grove, Wind, Cliffs and Ocean had breathed this action countless times throughout the history of this plane... and here I was, rising in spirit among it, fully aware and wholly saturated in effortless gratitude that such a possibility as this arises in nature and I am part of it. I don't know how long we rested in silence in this grove. Eventually we came back to our bodies, and headed down to our campsite. The next day we hiked a different path, without even bringing it up, there was an unspoken realization that to do so, would run counter to the gift we'd been offered to be a part of... but that meeting has never left me. As is my wont... I began researching Monarchs and that's when I came to learn about this relative immortality that they seem to express as a species. In one year, four to five generations of Monarchs are born, travel and then lay eggs. Eggs hatch in about 4 days. The larva feed I forget how long before forming the Chrysallis that houses their transformation. Then once the Chrysallis is complete, a sack within their body releases enzymes that dissolve and liquify the caterpillar body... and the alchemy of transformation begins is earnest. 10 or so days later, the Monarch pushes its way out of the shell and emerges to continue the course. Monarchs live an average of six-eight weeks, before laying more eggs and perishing. But an astounding thing happens each fourth or fifth (i forget exaclty) generation. The Monarchs of this generation exhibit an immortality of sorts as they outlive all the previous generations combined and make the entire return flight to the ancestral nesting grounds in California or Mexico. They live four or five times longer than their predecessors! And return unerringly to a place they've never been... to where their great great grandsires left generations ago. In perspective, if a human lives 80 years. That would be like me, living 320 years and traveling back to my ancestor's farm in Trondelag Norway coming home to where my great great grandmother was born. Riveting to mull the mechanics behind it... do they eat a different food? Do they have a significantly different physiology? Metabolic rates, even basic perception... I've long had the suspicion that what science calls 'Instinct' is the ability to recall Ancestral Memory. To be able to recall Great Grandma's memories as if one's own, allowing simple expression of the seemingly mystical process. I have no interest in immortality myself and would turn it down if tacitly offered. To contantly witness the passing of any who share a connection would be a seemingly unbearable burden I'd not wish on anyone. But this Monarch longevity certainly seems significant, as it relates to 'relative immortality' and Alchemy and all the myriad Taoist practices and philosophies I've studied and followed. Long, healthy, vibrant life. What are the ramifications and implications to other species? i wonder while i wander. The alchemy of dissolving one's body entirely! (Or in my case, my mind processes). Literally liquifying and then reforming from a walker to a flyer itself seems the peak of alchemy and a great link to Taoist notions of inner alchemy and longevity. What must it be like, to experience the liquification of one's own physical body? Is it as painful as my experience with mind has been? Or is it blissful, like the emanating waves of ecstacy that regularly roll out of my abdomen and cascade out across my physical and subtle form? For the past five years, my internal and external life have been in complete challenge, disarray, upheaval, chaotic flow and incredibly painful loss and hardship. Yet they have also been the most liberating, expanding and rewarding, internally. Dozens of those closest to me have died... and my own process of inner inquiry has led to a now unstoppable process of dissolution and as yet... unkown destination. For some time I described the process as the feeling of constantly unfolding. Like a lotus, ever opening... old petals peeling off effortlessly while a ceaseless unfolding of new ones occured. It seemed to fit the feeling, but was unsatisfying. And then one day when researching the Monarchs Alchemy I realized why... I was misperceiving the process. In reading how the caterpillar releases a sack from within itself that literally digests the body into liquid... I had a piercing and revealing insight that I had been mis-describing my experience as unfolding. My new self was not unfolding... my old manners of perception, my old mind was dissolving! This subtle shift opened up magnitudes of blocked and sealed energetic flows in an instant of realization and abject familiarity and intimacy. vajra! In a flash I understood why the experience of the butterflies and my mind and body's reaction to them would not let go of it. There was a clue within! A clue to my very human, modern process, revealed in the ancient interplay of Monarchs. I have not been experiencing an unfolding, that is to come. I'm approaching it now, the reforming as what is to come... but the process has been one of dissolving of my former way of interacting with life. Total dissolution. Loss of all connection. Complete withdrawal. Loss of inertia or gravity for all former pursuits. Unpleasant in the best of it... painful and disorienting in the extreme in the worst. I now see why some of my teachers tried to shoo me away from the process. It's far from pleasant, yet I wouldn't put the toothpaste back in the tube now, even were that feasible. All of life is Alchemy to me. I started this incarnation as a sperm and egg. My Mum ate food that became a human. I eat food that becomes human... yet no where inside my human form, is a human element. My form is made of the same elements as Monarchs, only the arrangements differ. Like the sacred tones of the solfeggio scales, arrange in myriad, uncountable melodies and harmonic patterns. Alchemy playing out right now, while I type this... remnants of last night's meal transforming into blood cells, bone cells, hormone secretions... all without a thought from me. Alchemy as I inhale what was exhaled by countless beings, plants and clouds before me. Alchemy as the skin I used to consider the defining edge of my simple self, transforms into the very intimate connection, bridging me to all that is from this chair, to the center of every galaxy. Such simplicity is overwhelming and intoxicating... and in the face of all this interplaying Alchemy the one thing that keeps resurfacing is... allow release simply be Such a trust is growing out of this simple observation. A radical trust that I can eat 10,000 fish and never turn into a fish. I am what I am and am intrinsically woven into and through all else of form and non-form. This is it. I am this. It is natural.

I am not qualified to go in depth on Buddhism. Stoicism and Taoism however: Daoism avoids giving clear instruction, Stoicism is firm in the rules it’s followers must follow to achieve their goals. They both have similar messages, and stem from the same roots, though influenced by two different cultures. They combine well. In managing stressful situations, both disciplines choose to detach from guilt, anger,or sadness. The general world is materialistically oriented and externally focused. If you don’t have fruits to show for you labor —the houses, the cars, the titles, the awards—you do not have enough value. Daoism and Stoicism sees past this fallacy: they know that all we can really focus on is our own action. They also know that true learning and development happen under the surface. No matter the oucome, we can always take away the lessons of experience from every endeavor. We have the Stoic concept of the Logos. Logos represents divine reason, in which all things in the world exist and change. It is where the world came into being from and the reason behind continual changing. This is an impersonal type of higher existence, unknowable, yet it is perfect in its reason and harmony. Complimentary to this Stoic concept, is the Dao. Dao is different than the Logos in the way that Dao does not necessarily represent divine reason, I would rather say that it is more of a divine instinct in the way things are ordered. Daoism teaches that ones' life should be lived in a state of flow, without forcing anything. Effortless living, where effortlessness gets all the necessary things accomplished without straining. It is the belief that when you allow yourself to be yourself, when you reach enough relaxation, your inner nature shows the WAY, your life becomes easier and more effortless, yet fulfilled and accomplished. Once we get in accord with our inner nature, our actions become the extension of ourselves, and thus must not be forced. Lao Tzu, like the Stoics, believed that fear came from ego. When we focus on our own individual gain or loss or the perception of others, or when we ascribe an identity or outcome to ourselves that we “should” be living up to, then fear naturally results. However, when we approach situations with relaxed, non-attached humility, we realize that fear is simply created in and by the mind. “There is nothing so wretched or foolish as to anticipate misfortunes. What madness it is in your expecting evil before it arrives!” — Seneca (a great Stoic) Moderation in one’s action, emotions and words is a key principle of both Daoism and Stoicism. These two seemingly different philosophical views carry the same message. Both are potent and they complement each other extremely well. Don’t learn and practice for show, do so to be better. Be forgiving of others, but don’t demand forgiveness for yourself. Try to hold as few opinions as possible. Keep in touch with poverty, while not being impoverished. If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.

I can sit in full lotus for hours and I can tell you that it's just a comfortable posture for meditation. It allows you to sit on a hard surface for a long period of time without pain. It's a fundamental skill if you are a buddhist wandering ascetic who has taken the vow not to buy a cushion.

A samurai walking his warrior cat, by Noguchi Tetsuya

Unignorable Synchronicity... About half an hour after posting this thread, I hear my wife say... "Aw hey... Monarch in the house. And you just moved your picture..." After logging off I'd just rehung a framed version of the picture in the first post, next to my desk so I could soak it in. I get up and looked over to see this Monarch fluttering in and about our dining room, then back out to hang among the spindly remains of our passed milkweed and then checking out the two straggler twigs who popped up in neighboring pots... and the lavender that's just starting to bloom. She danced around for a few minutes... realized there wasn't any real estate available and headed out. She let me get a bit of video. Couple hours later, I'm passing through to the kitchen when Maya, our short hair female is clearly telling me to check things out on the plant table as she's doing her 'please let me touch it!' dance. I settle in and in a few seconds it moves and I see it. This one is a beast. Looks about ready to make the change. Then while I'm suggesting going to the nursery now and not waiting for the Farmer's Market tomorrow; our son spots a second, in the dirt of a neighboring pot, cruising fast. Not quite as big as the first. By the time I've grabbed my keys, he's spotted a third one, tiny little guy, right next to his face, halfway up our screen door framing. "They're everywhere!" He says in his best Halo Grunt voice and we head out to the nursery, talking about returning to find mom hosting a kitchen covered in caterpillars wearing hats, reading 17th century french poetry to each other, while sipping milkweed tea. So, it's official, we're now a Monarch Foster Family. kizmit. synchronicity. I love life. In the midst of this anxiety and tension... such simplicity reminds me unignorably that Alchemy is always playing out... aware of it or not... and we're all, always a part of it. More to follow...

Just about anything by Arthur Racham, especially his trees The Tempest Woman in the Woods The Trees and the Axe

I don't know about the veracity of his lotus claims, but I do know that I gave him $20 just to see what it was all about. It wasn't specifically to do a lotus posture, but he referred to it as a reading. I emailed him a photo of a drawing I did, shortly after my husband Joe died. The drawings I do start with an eyes-closed squiggle, and then my right brain takes over from there. He did come up with the feeling of death in the drawing. There were many more specific things in the drawing that he didn't pick up on, but those things were so specific to Joe and I, that I wouldn't expect anyone to catch it. He was also very nice to deal with, and he took the task very seriously, contacting me several times while he considered the drawing. His reading wasn't awesomely impressive, but on the other hand he did pick up some things. He said he had never done that kind of a reading with a drawing. I was just curious. At the very least, he will take you very seriously as he's doing it.

I asked him on several occasions to explain his music theory by citing practical examples. Not once did he cite examples, but instead he would ramble on about Quantum Mechanics and how his theories were the basis of some grand unified theory that only he and a few others comprehend. I guess I had better discipline myself and master full lotus.

I am pretty sure he was referring to your recognition of bad writing, and continued investment of your own time to the tune of 600 pages. If you were to suspect someone were a huckster, but the material was still well written, engaging, and had some merit on it’s own regardless of any hucksterism this would be one thing. But to invest valuable time in suspected hucksterism which is poorly written is another matter entirely. Improving one’s own flexibility seems a well grounded goal with some health benefit. Wanting to achieve the “o @ d” touted by someone who you flat out disagree with on many aspects of what they’ve presented has the ring of wizard’s first rule to me. And I will again take this opportunity to state, given what little was shared regarding the supposed “o @ d’s” I have very little reason to suspect I would be wrong to assert he misread and misinterpreted the experience of the young females involved. Nothing he wrote indicates orgasmic bliss to me.

" Baba Yaga as depicted by Ivan Bilibin, 1900 "

I doubt anyone in Russia knew any feng shui at the time the picture was painted (1899) -- perhaps with the exception of some resident Chinese. In the tale they were used as night lights around the supernatural Baba Yaga's residence ("a hut on chicken legs," incidentally, which also responded to specific voice commands -- not just in this particular tale but in all others featuring this protagonist. You had to say, "Hey, hut, turn your back to the forest and your front to me," and it did. Or vice versa.) But when Vasilissa was given one of the skulls and took it home to the evil stepmother and her two evil daughters (with a nod to Cinderella), it did vaporize them. And she lived happily ever after.

Your spider-sense is buzzing wildly in alarm, but your conscious mind is unable to process that you have wasted your reading commitment on complete trite ramblings of a confused person. What do you expect now? Personal congratulations or some achievement unlocked so that your computer says a melodic 'ping' and splashes you an image of fancy trophy? You should be thankful that there aren't any sufficiently practical instructions for messing yourself with flawed practice. How funny would you find it if some creepy guy at McDonald's started giving you O@Ds without asking your consent or having much control over his so-called ability? #metoo How about connecting with live human beings in the traditional manner and having consensual and grounding sexual fun instead of seeking to distort spiritual teachings into stupid sexual tricks? In general, compensating the lack of sexual activity and mundane happiness with spiritual bliss seeking is a recipe for disaster. Haha, you are pretty funny how you tried grooming and prepping the Bums with your talk. No chance. You should consider yourself lucky. You currently are very fortunate indeed!

Like others, I would recommend avoiding the flights of intellectual fantasy Drew indulges himself in but that is your choice. I've had training by lineage masters in Daoism and Bön Buddhism and no one has ever emphasized the need for full lotus. There are important points of posture during seated meditation but the specific position of the legs, other than crossed in some way, does not seem to be critical. That said, here is an excellent program of stretching to guide you to full lotus posture: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25711032-becoming-the-lotus

My concerns about full lotus is the possibility of developing blood clots and joint problems which can result from long term holding that position.

I find that these days people too easily attribute all kinds of ridicule as sarcasm. Getting under someone's skin is where the vitriol of sarcasm takes place. There hardly was anything insulting, contemptuous, or bad faith characteristic of sarcasm in anything I wrote so far. Personally, I would see the edginess of my occasional humor more confrontational than cutting; at least I sincerely try to have that effect. I understand if you found my third post here very hyperbolic and stylistically offensive, but you have to take into account that Voidisyinyang's biography in itself is so far out and begging of disbelief that sometimes I just wonder how it can actually be real and not originating in some creepy Internet meme. Yet, it certainly reflects how many people get into meditation for wrong reasons and get attached to warped side effects.

Even when I was young and flexible I never managed full lotus - I later found out through an X-ray for back pain that my L4and L5 are fused together (from birth) - which probably explains why. I think that it is advantageous if you can do it - certainly Buddhist tantra recommends having your knees below the level of the LDT. This is to align the nadis and so on so you don't get problems arising from poor posture. But not essential, half lotus, or chair sitting is ok - but cross legged with your knees next to your ears is not ok. The Orgasm at a Distance thing is a bit controversial (there are a few threads on it) - my personal view is that while it is possible it should not be a goal - it might happen spontaneously but should be let go of immediately - especially if it is occurring with random people including underage girls (as in the case of Voidisyinyang) - not only is it unethical but also the subtle bodies of such beings are undeveloped/very mutable and should not be interfered with. There is a heart centre 'orgasm' which occurs which is more or less benign and more loving than sexual - it has to do with joy and wonder and wishing the best for everyone and world. This is free from the desire/lust or power control which impacts sexual feelings normally. Sex is a natural energy closest to spirituality - nothing wrong with it of course - but be careful its very powerful and can distort you.

I’m really confused. You know the guy is a huckster and, worst of all, a bad writer, yet you still think he may be on to something, to the extent that your read his 600 page book? Don’t you think there are better things to do with your time? With all the teachings and advice out there, some good, some bad, much available for free , why fixate on this one?

@virtue Well said, but be sure it wont be as well received as it should.

My son and I were sitting on the porch of a house we rented in the foot hills of Mt Hood in Oregon. This butterfly flitted about us, checking out my son in depth. He held out his hand and it came to rest in his palm. It grew quite still and after a time, we realized, it had passed. We set it in the branches of the bonsai. Just months prior, I had a similar experience while walking up to the beach on my birthday. A night moth, up uncharacteristically in the early morning light, alighted on my palm and died. Like little deaths, life unfolds, dissolving reforming... just as my mind, body and subtle bodies do. When I resist, or try to prop up and hold on... i experience incredible tension, anxiety, wracking pain. As this Alchemy continues to play out some through my intention, the vast majority beneath and beyond it... as through my cultivation and self inquiry I become able to more directly relate to it, i find increasingly i'm able to release radically into the flow of life and simply abide in raw unperterbed presence... there is a wonderous expanding of sense of self, releasing of long held blockages and a sense of bouyancy emerging. muddiest waters left to itself, undisturbed rests in clarity

Another by Ivan Aivazovsky, “The Black Sea at Night”

People tell me that Christianity can be an authentic spiritual path and I believe it. Unfortunately, my personal experience of those who profess Christianity has been profoundly negative and shaming. Maybe I´m just unlucky? Do parents in predominantly Buddhist countries tell their children they´re bad people for not believing in the doctrine of, say, dependent co-arising? I wouldn´t know. My personal history thus far has been peopled with tyranical believe-or-else Christians, an attitude I haven´t found so much in yoga classes or studying Tai chi. Jesus may be loving; the members of his church are decidedly less so. Many years ago I went on a pilgrimage walk to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. It´s a nominally Catholic trek although people of all spiritual leanings undertake the journey. You can´t help but see a lot of crosses along the way and I actually came to find the image meaningful, although I didn´t subscribe to Christianity then and don´t now. To me, it seemed like the intersection of horizontal and vertical lines mirrored the alchemical intersection of fire and water I´d learned about in my Daoist adventures. (This potent mixing is repeated once again, to my mind anyway, in the triangles of the Star of David. But that´s another story.) I felt a sweetness that went beyond words in the paradoxical intersection of horizontal and vertical that is the cross. But that was then. During the following twenty years I´ve reverted back to the ornery anti-Christain you see before you today. Live and learn -- or not.

.... that was the feet though . As far as sitting with another and both of your thighs touching the others thighs ... ... try it . at McDonald's of course

Stoicism for me is very precious. I would recommend the book Enchiridion to everybody. It is a short book written by Epictetus. In it he explains the difference between the vulgar and the sage: the first seeks outside his happiness or his misfortunes, while the sage knows very well it is all within. It is a great philosophy for the endurance of all kind of hardships, always with serenitude and tranquility.

I wouldn't say any post is necessarily offensive, but some are more likely to produce offense or negative feelings in others. Personally, I think confrontation, as a spiritual tactic, works with people who know each other and have some trust established. Online, I see it just produces arguments, bad feelings, etc. Which is not to say that I'm somehow above it all by any means. Sometimes when people say outlandish things, they want attention, praise, honor, etc. I don't think that is the case here. I think there is a likelihood that he is suffering from a physiologically based mental illness. It is not uncommon in real life spiritual circles, and I imagine is even more prevalent online. And of course, spiritual practice itself can be quite destabilizing. People can approach it differently--- some will agree potentially reinforcing the delusions. Others may be polite, pretending what is being said doesn't sound like mental illness. Others may deride, which may not be the best strategy in such cases. No solutions here, just a different view.

@C T Are you saying that I should have enveloped my message in an O@D instead to make it effective learning? Anyway, OP probably has his/her mind set about this matter already and I'm not seeking to change it. My cautionary remarks were more meant to the casual readers who browse this topic by chance. I hope you all ample wisdom and discernment.

First you deflect the question. Then you lie saying that you don't have a problem with qi deviations and now you say that you know how to do that. How do i know that you aren't lying again? How hard is it to just say "We haven't had a case like that but we know how to handle it"? That is the exact response i had from one teacher. But no, you had to underline how "awesome" your style is.....

Hi Maqi and welcome! Hopefully you find your stay at the Dao Bums pleasant. How much experience do you have with Flying Phoenix since you say you are returning to it? You can access the Flying Phoenix discussion thread as a registered member now. Two years ago the thread was attacked by spammers and scammers who kept derailing the discussion into nasty directions, so it was taken to a more private location where Sifu Terry could have more control over it. Things have remained much better after that, so the arrangement is kept.

Do you know the folk tale this picture illustrates? For an extremely ancient story dating back to pre-history it's got uncanny technology in it. The skulls can switch from emitting bright light out of their sockets to projecting military grade lasers. The gate to Baba Yaga's domain is opened and closed by motion sensors. Inside she operates three pairs of autonomous hands that go about cleaning like a Roomba and apparently also demolish all the trash on the molecular level (Baba Yaga explains it without explaining, by stating that she doesn't like to take the trash out of the house -- a play of words on the proverb "to take the trash out of the house" which means to reveal controversies and secrets to the outside world.) And Vasilissa herself is in possession of a magical doll, the deathbed gift from her mother. Also without an explanation of its origin but with operation instructions: the doll has to be fed, and then voice commanded to perform any task, which it accomplishes with uncanny speed and efficiency, like a very advanced robot. When Baba Yaga discovers its existence, questions Vasilissa and gets a response that the doll is "a blessing from her mother," she kicks Vasilissa out immediately (without harming her) muttering that "those who have been thus blessed are not welcome here." Apparently she is wary of the alien technology superior to what she herself is in possession of. At least that's how I read it today -- when I first read it at the age of about 5, I had no idea. All of it was just chalked up to "magic." Most people would still read it on the level of that 5-year-old today . But I've since developed a few doubts that all those magical fairy tales have nothing whatsoever to do with Arthur C. Clarke's assertion that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Vasilissa the Beautiful (leaving Baba Yaga's hut) by Ivan Bilibin

I read the Bible. Cover to cover, old and new... twice, different versions. KJ first and another after that, forget which now. Matters not. Many sections I read dozens, hundreds of times... Reading it was the only course of action I had, for of all the most crucial questions I ever posed to church elders and my mum, all of the most important, the most distressing and challenging... were systematically ignored, cursorily dismissed with gross over-generalized simplifications, or responded to with seemingly, wholly irrelevant non-answers. Which was then usually followed up by accusations of my faith... claims I was disruptive (i was) and pressure to 'get out of your head and into your heart',. 'just trust god', 'if you had jesus in your heart, you would know peace, not inquiry." All were common for me to hear in Sunday School. Questions of my Faith were common... which always struck me, for it was precisely my unflincing belief that was driving me to uncover the truths that i had faith surely must be present. If anything, through the actions of those I knew from the Church, I steadily began to wonder if many of them possessed the faith they claimed so diligently. "methinks she dost protest too much." That line in Hamlet was like a bolt of lightning for me in realization of the self deception and rationalization that was so prevalent among the adults in my congregation. So I finally just opened the book they all kept claiming contained all the answers. The direct word of God. And read it for myself. Houston... we have a problem. My Mum was so proud, while it was ongoing. "you should see his bible study! It's so intense, he reads the bible non stop. I think we've got a preacher on our hands." If only she knew what was unfolding within me, or what was coming; she'd have ditched that bible pronto, for, once finished I'd approached her and asked... Me "have you read the Bible?" Her "Of course!" Me ".... All of it?!" Her "Well, no. Not all of it." Me "I think you should. I did and from now on... I'm done with any kind of organized Christianity." Turns out the shortest route to Apostacy for me, was to read the source material myself.

Padmasambhava, by Nikolai Roerich

Creation of the Birds, by Remedios Varo

Available through Three Pines Press, $59. https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/product/daoist-internal-mastery/

Christianity, as a path, was redeemed for me by Anthony Demello. Its presence in the lives of many is a different beast altogether.

I thoroughly enjoyed my lockdown time. Alas, I’m back to work full time which for me is more stressful.

In my opinion, the greatest leader of all time, was the great Stoic Marcus Aurelius. I f we had his equal as President of the USA now, we would become great again. Sadly, there is no one visible, anywhere in the world, who is close to his equal.

Hi welcomer and virtue! Thank you for access to the thread. I do not have much experience with FP yet, just figured it would be easier to practice with support of the forum. Looking forward to all the input!

That's a good question. What drives people to experiment with their health and sanity?

Very good stuff. Some of it iconic.

source from, "In Search of the Miraculous" by P.D. Ouspensky, page 97. "....It was not bread and wine at all but real flesh and real blood. A magical ceremony similar to blood-brotherhood for establishing a connection between astral bodies"

Anyone interested in awakening through Christianity would enjoy studying Father Anthony Demello's writings and talks. He was an enlightened master, born a Hindu, later became a Jesuit, and a psychologist. It is not at all difficult to find evidence of spiritual depth in the Abrahamic teachings. That said, I think it is easier to see when looking from a place of already understanding rather than ignorance. The esoteric understanding of each of the traditions is well hidden, not too dissimilar in that respect to Daoist scriptures. And the number of those indoctrinated into these methods is very small. Perhaps this is why it has been so effectively corrupted and manipulated? One can say the same about Laozi. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/laozi/ You can't trust what you read or hear in any media in any given moment today, let alone 80 years ago... In the end, the understanding is in us not in a written or spoken document. Any of the wisdom traditions can speak to the right person at the right time. Any can be misused. We need to take responsibility, find what speaks to us, and work with that. In my experience, the more deeply one's spiritual awakening the less likely they are to criticize other traditions. This is because once awakened, it is easy to see the truth in any of these writings.

Hello to all FP Practitioners and Friends of FP: Here is a link to the current issue of my new Newsletter with general info and teachings about Qigong and Meditation, along with sign-up info for my weekly Livestream 2-hour concentratd Tao Tan Pai Basic 31 Meditations followed by Flying Phoenix Qigong practice: https://terencedunn.substack.com/p/sunday-may-24-memorial-day-weekend Each issue contains lots of of additional relevant and fun stuff, too. Please subscribe for free to get automatic email updats on all my Zoom Livestream classes (one on Sundays at present; ramping up to 4 different ongoing weekly classes): terencedunn.substack.com Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend. Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimanai.com/chikung_catalog.html

A pure heart of dao, a heart of romaine lettuce, olive oil. Salad.

Here before landing, and there before taking off: Sun Tzu's strategy.

Thank you for making me aware of Kinuko Y Craft. I had actually read several science fiction books with her illustrations and did not realise it. I think I may buy this calendar.

Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (1818) – Caspar David Friedrich

Dear Michael, Thank you very much for your affirmative critique of and positive feedback on my observations and the clarifications that I have tried to add to this Qigong discussion. And you're welcome--I'm glad that the observations I made find congruence with your three decades of experience in medical qigong. As a teacher, I'm constantly doing basic education to inform folks that there is a wide spectrum of Qigong arts ranging from purely medical to purely martial to purely spiritual types. But I think due to too much reading books and blogs, and gossiping, and not enough hard practice of authentic Qigong, a lot of people aren't getting to a level of discernment where one can recognize and differentiate between Qigong methods. Yes, what bothers me the most these days is the real problem of more and more people subscribing to the simplistic, naive, self-limiting and growth-stopping notion that qigong is nothing more than "intent plus energy." Recently there was some hour-long program on PBS narrated by james Shigeta called "Qigong" produced by a very inexperienced self-proclaimed "expert" (someone who studied with some master in China but who obviously didn't understand what he was studying--other than calisthenics aspect), who has propounded the false idea throughout the show that Qigong was the original precursor that gave rise to Tai Chi and all the internal martial arts. This idiotic re-writing of Chinese martial and yogic history is actually insidiously propounded by certain commercial/corporate interests. --i.e., the company that distributes the very mediocre Qigong DVD's produced by this same producer of that PBS program (you can easily ferret all this out) wants to make a lot of money selling DVD programs that teach a "generic" brand of Qigong. So when you see the continuing perpetuation of this totally false notion of a universal, generic "Qigong" style,just be aware that there is corporate greed behind it. I remember in the early 1970's when I was beginning my kung-fu training with Sifu Douglas Wong, there was hardly any mention of Qigong. There were hardly any books on the subject because it was jealously guarded secret. 40 years later, there are shelves and shelves of books on Qigong! What happened?? Did all the martial fraternities in China, all the Taoist and Buddhist spiritual orders suddenly decide to cough up the Whole Truth about their highest secrets? NOT ON YOUR LIFE. Starting in the early 1970's when we students and when our sifu's spoke about "the internal" it was with a grave reverence because we knew Chi Kung (how it was romanized back then) was most deadly and dangerous, because there are some forms martial qigong that can kill without leaving much of a trace, and undo a life system that no western physician (or most eastern doctors for that matter) can possibly explain through an autopsy. But this is America, and you see the dumbing-down and dilution of every product, commodity, or idea--in order to sell more of it more easily. I've been a U.S. citizen since 6 yrs of age and I graduated from the Harvard Business School (for my sins) in 1980, and I function well in a capitalist society and understand mercantilism thoroughly. But when this stupid, ignorant, and mercenary re-writing of Chinese yogic history is starting to pollute the mind of the masses (in the same way that the PRC government printed and disseminated tens of millions of instructional pamphlets filled with line drawings teaching generic "qigong" and "tai chi" just to pacify the masses starting in the early 1970's--and this downstream hokum flowed to the West, got translated into books and videos, and that's all what the masses think Qigong is,) and I'm now spending inordinate time educating people that come to my classes (or use my DVD's) to the contrary--that NO, the the Chinese martial arts came first, weapons forms came before fist sets, and the internal arts (qigong and neigung) evolved to different degrees of sophistication within some Chinese martial art traditions--and not all within others, etc. And to see the misinformation of that Qigong show on PBS only irks me. To make this clarification once again, I'll offer two arguments or justifications of my observation: I will use first make a rational argument that Qigong, by virtue of its definition (that any beginner or even layperson in China would know) cultivates and gives rise to numerous forms or "flavors" of internal energy; and then secondlyj, I use an anecdote that I had told earlier on this blog to PROVE that qigong is not intent plus energy: (A) let's start with the three essential components of Qigong. The three elements that make Qigong Qigong are: (1) "Xing" the regulation shape-form of the body; (2) I (or Yi in Wade-Giles) - or mental focus, which is the regulation of the heart-mind (xin); and (3) Qi (chi) "breath-energy" which connotes the regulation of respiration by esoteric breathing methods--and not just "natal" breathing!!!. If you just think about the range of variation within each of these 3 Qigong parameters--Xing, I, and Qi, then you know that the most heavenly and sublime spiritual healing energy can be cultivated (such as that of the FP system), or the most hellish "toxic" and deadly energies such as those cultivated in various dim mak (dim mor) traditions. I mean, one doesn't have to be a scholar or a historian to understand the truth. But what's making it more and more difficult to parse the truth about Qigong out these days are the money-changers and the confusion they sew by propping up ignorant non-experts willing to do their bidding as "experts." Because diluted, pedestrian forms of Qigong can be sold through books, videos, classes and weekend workshops as instantly gratifying "quick-fixes"--just like diluted Indian Yoga has been for the past 25-30 years in the West, I fear that as a teacher, I'm going to be one of the few lone voices in the wilderness screaming against dumb and dumber. ( A while back, I shared with this discussion thread in a posting addressed Sifu Garry Hearfield [who studied with GM Doo Wai as well (but much more recently and many years after I had trained with the GM)] a training "accident" I had around 1993 when Grandmaster Doo Wai of the White Tiger Kung-fu system (Bok Fu Pai) instructed our study group to buy a bunch of very small pet creatures and had each student attempt to revive (with the FP healing energy) one of the little creatures that was allowed to dessicate and die beforehand (the Grandmaster was able to do this everytime he demonstrated his healing energy on these and other small creatures). However, none of us students at the time could do it...and we had been practicing the FP system and more advanced healing qigong meditations for about two years. When it was my turn to attempt to revive one the small creatures that was placed in the same container/pen as the other living ones, I tried and tried, circling my palm in a certain direction and mentally issuing the energy from my circling palm. I felt the energy issuing from my palm but nothing happened to the dead creature. The Grandmaster instructed me to keep trying. so I tried and tried, but still nothing happened. So I finally gave up. I felt kind of dejected at failing the exercise, but about 20 seconds later, when everybody had given up and were taking a break, one of the students, I think it was Tino Baguio, yells "Holy Shit--they're all dead!" Everyone gathered around the container and sure enough, everyone of the little pet creatures was dead. So despite my absolute, clear intent to heal and revive the one creature, I totally (and embarassingly) "misfired" the internal energy in my body at the time (because I had also been religiously practicing the "most martial" qigong systems that the GM had taught me as well as the medical Qigong system.) Instead of having a healing/resuscitating effect, I had a deadly effect on the entire lot. GM Doo Wai told everyone with a twinkle, "Yeah I saw the energy go into them and it was the wrong energy." Then the GM made some adjustments on my wrists and inside elbow points with jiao and declared "Don't worry,that won't ever happen again. When you want to heal, the healing energy will come out; and when you want to hurt, the martial energy will come out." So far so good. [but regardless of the GM's reassurances to the other students back then, none of them would ever spar with me again.] I cite this accident story again to reiterate the point that if Qigong was indeed a matter of "intentionality" plus metabolic energy, then I would have had a salient effect on the tiny little creature and his peers would be alive today because my healing intention was pure. The fact that I had the most pure, earnest healing intention (that everyone in the room could see and clearly feel), and yet the "wrong" energy issued from me (because on a daily basis, I had been doing a higher percentage of martial qigong exercises than FP Healing Qigong exercise.) is clear proof that Qigong is not merely "intention plus energy." Rather, what I've learned and what I try to teach is that Qigong is a diverse body alchemic knowledge populated by a wide range of very esoteric, powerful traditions that cultivate many different forms or "flavors" of internal energy. ***Another case that substantiates this point: in the late 1970's when Taoist Priest Share K. Lew was at Sifu Douglas Wong's White Lotus Kung-fu studio in Van Nuys in the late 1970's visiting his friend Master Hsi Hung Hsi, the famous Hsing I master who had flown into town from Taiwan, afterwards, Sifu Lew said to us "Master Hsi, his energy is very different, it feels very, very different from any other chi I know..." (meaning different from any form of normal human energy as well as yogically cultivated energy in all the Chinese systems--of which Master Lew was widely knowledgeable in). No one knows what type of internal cultivation Master Hsi mastered in addition to his Hsing-I Chuan's internal tradition. Mark, thank you for sharing your MA background even though you say you're not a MAist. I am old friends with author Robert W. Smith, and I have all his black and white films that he took in Taiwan in the late 50's and early 1960's--including the footage of Chen Pan Ling demonstrating repetitive line techniques--that someone else posted on youtube: And yes, I can relate well with your affecting your horses one way with Qigong and then very differently when you assume a Hsing-I posture. As you know, domesticated animals are very sensitive to human energies and the psychic energy that is cultivated through Qigong training. And also wild animals for that matter: Even before I learned any of the White Tiger internal systems in the 1990's, when I as practicing the Tao Tan Pai internal system (taught by Master Share K. Lew) in the late 1970's while I was living in the hillside community of Los Feliz in L.A., one densely foggy evening I was in a horse stance doing slow Circling Palms, a skunk appeared at my feat out of the foggyy blanket and stayed there just looking at me for about a minute (he never sprayed me, thank God.) and then disappeared down my driveway. On the other hand, 15 years later, after GM Doo Wai had taught some of us a very powerful martial qigong that is effective at a distance, he instructed us to try it out on dogs. Not to kill or maim them, but just enough to see their reaction. And when the energy was directed at them (by holding one's body a certain way), they always became very defensive, bothered and hostile--to say the least--barking up a storm. Thank you again very much for affirming my position that there is so much more to Qigong and Neigung that just metabolic/respiratory energy and intent. As you can see, I'm kept pretty busy responding to questions the best I can on this discussion thread...But if there are other discussion threads on taobums where you think my "two bits" might be beneficially heard, let me know which ones I should take a look at. When I have time, i will read them, and decide whether or not to add a comment or two. Thanks again for chiming in with your note of resonance with the truth. Lux et Veritas, Terry

Completely forgot I had the first two tapes (old school VHS). The standing form definitely balances energy well and to say the seated forms open the neck is an understatement. Thanks for the reminder.