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One of my favorite quotes "Sometimes people misunderstand the principle of "not-correcting" anything in Dzogchen and they allow themselves to become distracted. But the practice of Dzogchen means that one learns to relax whilst all the time maintaining one's presence in whatever circumstances one finds oneself in." Chogyal Namkhai Norbu The Self Perfected Sate

I heartily agree. Watching, observing, being mindful, being present, living in the moment, living in the now - whatever you choose to call it - is the key. This is 24/7 - like breathing, except unlike breathing one can forget for a long time.

In Aikido there was a saying, Don't leave your Aikido on the mat. It meant this stuff is to be used in real life. Not the martial techniques, but lessons in awareness, movement, mind body stuff. Lately I'm going over Adyashanti's stuff. He seems pretty down to earth. What I'm pondering is his saying that if we keep meditation special and as a separate consciousness, then its not affecting our every day life, ie its either not going to get us to enlightenment, or its a slow rout, as long as meditation is separate 'special' activity. I think Musashi said your warrior walk should be your everyday walk. Adyanshanti seems to want our meditation to be our every day mind. Not even quieting mind, nothing special, just watching it. Thus it'll settle down by itself, but keep watching it, for its tricks, its moods. Anyhow.. I suppose we need to do things mindfully.. yet beyond that.. how do we stay in meditation.. what mindset do we need.. ? Its kind of Pollyannish, but the mindset It's All Good, seems to be a good one. And when the shits hits the fan heavily, it can be naturally dropped. Or is no mindset the best. thoughts..

Moving body and body parts is expression. In disease, intake is the issue. Because that's what is being expressed in symptoms and behaviors. Body and brain, etc, are 100% built from the Environment, in the form that we call "food". If they are malfunctioning, we would first look to see what they were made of, and how. And the entire body can be rebuilt to function better in any environment - but not by just meditating or doing exercise. In other words, not by only altering "expression". If "intake" is okay, then expressions will also be okay - "appropriate" - no need to try to change them, etc. -VonKrankenhaus

I thought his comment held wisdom in it, and didn’t see how it framed you in any way. I guess the same thing applies the other way, since it is a discussion forum and there will be comments which don’t match our own way of thinking - therein lies where we learn and grow.

Learning from Nature is certainly far from RATIONALISM which is the stigma associated with Internet discussion forums. Do not try to explain how it works, it happens naturally but overtime as the society's brainwashing you have been subjected to since the day you were born takes a long time and continuous effort to eliminate. You learn from Nature when YOU ARE IN NATURE. It's a symbiotic relationship if you like the analogy. It permeates your entire being and tunes you in with its rythms. Don't think, feeel!

Have you ever heard of a planet with the shape of a doughnut? Or a moon that comes with a moon of its own? http://top10platform.com/2018/11/17/10-weird-things-that-could-exist-in-space/ At least some of these peculiar objects will most likely one day be confirmed to actually exist somewhere out there in the vastness of space. Enjoy! And feel free to discuss any of these thought-provoking possibilities. Hey, Marbles... This topic is for you!

one also has to factor in the odds of the moon being in the exact position to perfectly cover our sun so we can see a full eclipse.

for me, this is one of the reasons, that I focus on my hara/tanden doing classic focus meditation, along with what the west calls "mindfulness" at some point both merge, I can be focused on my center, and still aware of the whole shabang . very much like MA training when one is both focused on what is going on right in front of him'/her, and also focused on what is going on around him/her. it all merges. also, taking my walk in the hills is meditation, laying in bed at night is also meditation. I just don't use the excuse that I have heard from many neo-non-dual folks that "I meditate 24/7, because I don't need to go somewhere and sit for a couple of hours every day", which I suppose could be true, but a sitting practice is kind of laser focus like lifting weights or going for a run, it lets me go deeper, and hopefully I can take that in my daily life.

As usual the topic has been hijacked by those (primarily ViYY) who have nothing to offer but their own endlessly repeated and irrelevant hogwash. Maybe it is time to retread into my own Personal Practice space where I can at least throw out the rubbish myself. Don't know exactly how that works, but I will learn soon enough...

This reminds me of a neat mindfulness practice found in the movie Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Sometimes when the scientist guy would be working on something, he'd say out loud with dramatic effect whatever verb he was doing in that moment. At the time it just seemed cute, but later I tried it just messing around and it actually seems to help concentration. Say I'm using a knife in the kitchen, if i think "I hope i don't cut my finger," I'm actually much more likely to cut my finger than if i simply say "Slicing!" Then if i'm transferring some contents of one container to another and i say "Pouring!" I'm just less prone to having my mind wander off and end up spilling things and making a mess.

On one hand, I do completely agree with you - feeling is huge, it's the best way to get out of our head. The way one feels a great song they enjoy, or the way one feels driving a car on a summer night with the windows down. Yes! Totally! On the other hand, if I am paying attention to something... let's say I'm washing the dishes. To notice how I'm feeling at that moment will distract me from the task, and it is easy to get lost from there. The next day, my girlfriend is complaining how her coffee tastes like detergent. To break down my practice a little bit more... Let's say I'm washing dishes and I'm off in la-la land, thinking about yesterday's dinner. I notice this, and I start to pay attention to washing the dishes. Pretty soon, after maybe 30 seconds, I will start to feel a very calm, peaceful energy come over me. My mind is quiet, colors are brighter and everything is vivid. This is the presence I relax into and reside in....... until tomorrow's breakfast pops into my head and I start the whole process over again.

And feeling! Pay attention to what you are feeling.

Keto but for the raisins and apples, lovely sugar bombs :-) A SWEETish taco -- sounds interesting! RC

for me, it’s just paying attention to what I’m doing. Nothing more than that. I don’t encourage my mind to play with itself or watch it play with itself. Best to stick to and merge with whatever I’m doing.

That’s right! Keeled over, even.

Chicago's filled with great taco places. One favorite The Taco Joint, first rate mexican style tacos. You have to pay extra for a clean glass. In Chicago you want to find a great Mexican food, follow a police car. Police know great tacos and you probably robbed either.

We have a wonderful mezcaleria, Clavel in downtown Baltimore, with amazing tacos! It's tiny and loud. I LOVE their huitlacoche tacos with a shot of El Buho and a michelada chaser. Mmmmm

I`ve been in semi-retirement lately but feel inspired to emerge briefly to offer an idea for a future Taco Tuesday -- picadillo. 4 tablespoons olive oil 2 pounds chopped lean beef (hamburger, in my experience) 2 onions, finely chopped 1 clove garlic, chopped 2 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped 1 pound tomatoes, peeled seeded, and chopped 3 canned jalepeño chiles, seeded and chopped 1/2 cup raisins 1/4 cup pimiento stuffed olives 1/3 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon cloves salt freshly ground pepper 1/4 cup slivered almonds Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet, and brown the meat; then add the onions and garlic. When brown, add all the other ingredients except the almonds, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer gently, uncovered, until cooked, or about 20 minutes. Fry the almonds until golden in a little olive oil and sprinkle over the top. from The Complete Book of Mexican Cooking by Elizabeth Lambert Ortiz This recipe is neither nut-free nor really a taco, but it is keto-friendly (I think) and delicious (I know). Picadillo is one of those Mexican foods that I didn`t know about until I actually came to Mexico. My Mexican partner loves picadillo and often has it stuffed into burritos and, in Zacatecas, as a filling for gorditas.

We start them from seed, around 60 days to flower. You could probably grow it indoors in a sunny window.

Heard about White Holes first in my elementary school days, at a time they were all the rave in astrophysics. Then they have no longer been heard of for a while. However, the idea is still out there, and it's as fascinating as it ever was. Take a look... https://www.space.com/40422-are-white-holes-dark-matter.html

Yes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeostasis

so again what that validates is that you validated something only for yourself, it's not proof to anyone else (including those at Tao bums) nor does it carry any more proof than someone giving witness of Lord Jesus Christ, so obviously telling our particular and private stories are not the same story of another... although there are cases of someone who is directly involved in the same experience that could have had very similar validations. Anyway, a person revealing their personal practices in detail on the internet is at best dubious and at worst very foolish. Besides who wants men in white suits coming to take us away after we tell somebody about this or that...which can happen.

I totally agree with you - there are regular posters on this forum who solely rely on "intellectual" analysis - and even go so far as to "self censor" if someone claims direct experience information. So what I recommend for people is to seek out qigong masters who have strong healing abilities. I first saw a poster on a telephone pole in 1995 - for qigong master Effie P. Chow. I was so skeptical I called the number, asked for a discount for the admission fee. I heard her respond in the background and then the lady on the phone said - "half off" - so I had only to pay $10 for the qi demonstration - and my girlfriend accompanied me. She didn't feel anything but she had serious health problems - so maybe her channels were too blocked up. I felt strong magnetic force pushing my hands apart - after qigong master Effie P. Chow said she filled the room with qi - and she told us to make "qi balls." Then after almost everyone was gone - a security guard wandered in, stating, "Just wondering what was going on in here since the fuse got blown in the room behind you." That was the room just behind Effie P. Chow. Almost no one heard this security guard say this - and Effie P. Chow didn't really respond. haha. So then I was set on investigating this more and in 1996 I went to S.F. where Effie P. Chow teaches - but I didn't have the money to actually go see her in person. But I did find a couple more qigong books or energy healing books - one called Biosonics. See my background was in music training and my own theory was that music explained this healing energy - a certain kind of music-math philosophy that got covered up by the West. So I kept studying this on my own and then I started practicing Yan Xin qigong with the chinese community at the U of MN - also I was celibate- and I was asked by the organizer, if anyone had felt anything. I stood up to the microphone and reported I felt get heat in my belly. I had no idea that this was supposed to happen. haha. So that was 1997. I also went to see a Tibetan monk give a lecture. When I got home I thought I had a headache which I never get. Then I realized it was a peculiar force sensation just in the center of my forehead. I had been listening to the Tibetan monk with great concentration - so I realized that the energy point must have gotten activated. So my friend at the house told me about how she had practiced qigong meditation with Chunyi Lin and a philosophy professor - at a community college. I didn't think too much about it until Chunyi then gave a talk to my graduate class on spiritual healing. I had read David Eisenberg's book "Encounters with Qi" that reports telekinesis. Chunyi looked just like the qigong master that did telekinesis in that book. Also I felt heat from Chunyi as I sat right next to him talking. I didn't say anything but then he said, "If you sit nearby me you will feel heat." That surprised me - like he had read my mind. So then when I took his community class - it was at St. Thomas University - and he said he would walk past us but not touch us - as we did "moving of yin and yang" and he did the "sword fingers" to send energy into us. He said we would hear a shaking sound from his fingers moving. So as he walked past me - my eyes were closed but suddenly as I heard the shaking sound - I saw a bright yellow light and my heart filled with this amazing love bliss. When my girlfriend picked me up (a different one) - I had to admit to myself that the love and bliss I had experienced was better than anything I had experienced with my girlfriend. haha. So then I kept studying on my own and was determined to study with Chunyi Lin. http://springforestqigong.com So around this time in 1999 - I started reading Mantak Chia and also I started reading the book "TAoist YOga: Alchemy and Immortality" - so it turns out that book is very dense. I highly recommend it. It gives great details of the qigong training. And then I finished my master's degree by doing intensive "self-directed" research through the African Studies department in Nonwestern Philosophy by doing the qigong meditation. So then I had been reading tons of meditation books as part of my research and I took more classes and I meditated. So at the Level 2 class - Chunyi said how he could read what percentage someone's organs were blocked. So during the break I went up to him and asked him what percentage my right kidney was working. I had been feeling some heat in my right kidney. But as he stood facing me - he looked THROUGH my body and I felt a strong LASER bliss just precisely on the right kidney. Then he said - "about 70%" - and I just got this big smile and said "thanks." And so to prepare for the Level 3 weekend retreat to open the third eye - as I read the Taoist Yoga book it states when the heat gets very strong in the lower tan t'ien then you can enter into serenity - the first level - as a fasting. And the Level 3 class also teaches fasting as "qigong feasting" or bigu. So being a nerd - I thought I would "skip ahead" on my own to prepare for the class. So I fasted for a week, just taking a half glass of water the whole time - and my qi energy kept getting stronger and stronger! The top of my skull got soft and pulsated with qi energy. I had very strong bliss and also created a water that flowed down - seemingly from the Ether - from the pineal gland - that I would then swallow. I did not experience hunger and I needed less sleep. So when I went to the retreat - there was a man in the front who smelled like death - like rotting flesh. I wondered how anyone could stand to be in the same room with him but then Chunyi said that "qigong masters can smell cancer" and it smells like rotting flesh. So also I saw ghosts float in from outside the room - yellow lights shaped as humans - and hover around Chunyi as he sat in full lotus doing healing meditation. I did not say anything to anyone but again Chunyi explained - that he regularly heals dead people as spirits that come to him. I had read about this in the biography of the most famous Thai Buddhist master Phra Acharn Mun - so it made sense. Also I saw Chunyi CREATING spirits that broke off the top of his head and then floated out to heal students. OK so then I went home and I went to work on Monday - and I had some very wild intense experiences that week. I won't go into all the details - but later when I told Chunyi about some of them - he said I had an enlightenment experience. But also he said my mind was confused. I realized I had thought of the Emptiness as this "static" spatial realm - as Westerners are prone to do - when actually the Emptiness is eternal motion that relies on continual purification and harmonization of the energy. I was then studying Master Nan, Huai-chin - and more books. Then I read one scholarly book a day for 10 years - of Western science - to try to convert my experiences back into Western science. Then in the end I returned back to the book "Taoist Yoga: Alchemy and Immortality" which was the only book that was able to explain my experiences. Also the only 2nd level qigong master Jim Nance - of Chunyi Lin's former assistant - he also explained my experiences to me - as I was able to study with him directly for a couple years. He is at http://guidingqi.com

ok, so you validated this or that mystery for yourself, cool,... but you are having doubts about other people validating mystery for themselves?....That really takes the shrinks cake for if you are as experienced as you believe you are then you know that you can not prove or be made to prove mystery to anyone else and that someone else can not be expected to or be made to prove mystery to you! Thus your presumptions about some kind of concrete public "validation" that apparently meets your criteria for approval are way off imo.. Btw. someone pointing is helpful but it is not a validating for them - which only they can do.

Its disappointing to think someone would be dissuaded from participating in a conversation because they don’t hold the same view as the OP. I was thinking of posting something similar to Gerards comment, but will refrain from doing so after reading your reply above. Kind of sad, really.

I don't think it's about dignity. Animals instinctively give chase to anything that runs away. Walking away slowly is simply a tactic to avoid further conflict.

Well, I'm gonna buy stock in Brussel sprouts. (-:

Hi everyone, Saw this thread awhile back and thought it was pretty much dead ... extict ... bereft of activity. Noticed it active again ... and having interest in the topics, read through the thread. This would appear to be the third revival. So far, I have heard ... Discussion of self. While I understand there is little use of the term "self" in the received DDJ, I think its fair to say that the self is the target of many of the points in DDJ ... most especially if we are talking about practice. (Lately, my interests have been captured by Daaoist meditative practices and how they take one from thinking about Dao to doing something that informs one's understanding of the world.) Discussion of the feminine. I have to say I have a lot of trouble with this. In a Marbley sort of way I feel like having "feminine" as line of analysis and discussion is sort of unbalance. I feel like we are walking a fine line here. Probably just my own modern western male point of view feeling a bit disenfranchised but I'll get over it as best I can. Buried in the detail of discussion of the feminine context I see a lot thst rings true. But I do have to reject the bold assertion that the Dao is feminine. I have struggled to long to dispell male/female, light/dark, right/wrong images and arrive at an understanding of Dao as undifferentiated potential to want to yeild to the notion of Dao as Feminine. I rather like Dawei's ... I think ... charaterization of Dao as process of potentiation enough to want to stick with that for the time being. So, where does thay leave us. ... or find us ... in this thread. Have we worked these two concepts enough to move on? Is there enough of an ember of interest for this thread to flame up again?

@freeform wow, sounds like quite a night it turned out to be! Just love it when this sort of stuff happens, i’ve had a couple less dramatic ones and witnessed one similar thing a guy i had no idea was ”packing” sensitivity. I can feel it when something is about to happen from the shift in energy/mood/smell and i can definetly tell when someone with some juice is involved, i feel something turn in me towards it like a compass needle. Weird. I have a few of similar stories... I remeber talking a 40 something oddball straight, he crashed an afterparty at my old place where i lived with my ex and was not doing much to brighten the mood. He was stone cold sober and brooding, an acquaintance of an acquaintance, i never got his name but he was an obvious loose cannon. Something compelled me to talk to the man, i was going to throw him out when i approached him but i felt like a warm shower of a bubbly liquid, like fizzy water, running over me from head to toes, just faintly but it was there and i change my whole approach, within a minute he’s talking to me about his cocaine addiction, how he’s friends with a bunch of stick up kids half his age who run around with guns and make all sorts of messes and that he’s come to a point of considering suicide because he thinks his road is set too deep. All the while i’m listening and just ripping the guys excuses and negative outlook to pieces, not being kind either but having this fatherly warmth in my voice (where’d that come from?) and telling him he should pick up music, like just hitting keys and see what comes out. Reading this guy beforehand i’d never approach him like that, he was armed and he was definetly carrying product, i think he’d plan to sell some powders at our place but he never got the chance to even float the idea. He just looked at me dismantle every idea of helplessness he held on to and when i said ”sit down and hit some keys, improvise” he just went pale and asked how i knew he’d been trying to get back into music forever but he was terrified of what could happen, since he had nothing to loose now he was scared he’d get his hopes up. I casually told him that was bullshit, that he was clinging to his fears as if they were reality and he just went silent, nodding. We sat like that in silence while everyone else seemed to just merry on about and not even noticing us. He stood up, offered his hand and a long hug and said to me he was going home to fire up his keyboard, very seriously thanked me for letting him stay a while, waved goodbye to everyone with a big smile and just left. This happened during a period of daily inward practice and i realized only after we’d been sitting right across from my altar to Guan Gong, he’d been staring at it on and off while talking to me. I dont think it was a coincidence. Another time my ex walked in on a burglar who’d decided not to take anything except a minor amount of cash and a pocket knife (he returned both) when he entered that same room where the altar stood, he said he’d realized it would be so mean and callous to steal our computers because we used them for work (he hadn’t opened them) and he was crying while i scolded him and told him he was being reckless and an idiot, he could get hurt walking into peoples homes. He was on his knees begging for forgiveness and promised to tell all of his junkie friends to leave our courtyard alone (it was one of those summers when a lot of down and out folks were looking for stuff to pinch and sell, our yard was easily accessed and it had become a problem with these ”visitors” messing about) and i took his info from his ID (he actually handed it to me) as security. Then he left, thanking me and promising to make good on his word. Oddly enough, not a single incident happened the following years until i moved out after separating and took my altar with me. Nowadays it’s becoming a frequent spot for trespassing and disturbances again. I cant say it’s this or that but i strongly believe the altar and my routine of practice in that period directly affected these incidents. It’s not like huge deals, no fireballs or telekinetic wizard fighting, but two different unrelated occasions with uninvited criminals that were deeply affected by being there and i remember acting spontaneously, not a premeditated word or action and it all just fell into place. To me it’s odd at least, but i don’t look gifted horses in their mouth with such things

This is a Buddhist word, is it mentioned even once in the TTC ? Probably not, they use Tao it means something different. Buddhists shave their head, Taoists do not. Meaning what exactly ? For the Buddhists it means forcing equality on outcome on everything and being forced to be kissey kissey to everyone and not eat animals ;.... just eat vegetables because they don't mind do they ! Nonsense, Brussell sprouts do not want to be eaten by vegetarian, hate all vegetarians. For the Taoists equality is means .... Heaven and Earth are impartial; They see the ten thousand things as straw dogs. The wise are impartial; They see the people as straw dogs. Additionally Buddhists want to be the greatest of all martyrs the Bodhisattva who is forced to watch X-Factor for the next million years until Simon Cowell and all sentient monkey beings are free. For Taoists it is : Three in ten are followers of life, Three in ten are followers of death, And men just passing from birth to death also number three in ten. Clearly you are strongly identified with the Buddhist way of force-Complete-dedication-and-head-shaving which is 180 degree separate from the Taoist way of surrender and and sliding into the bath. And I mean 180 degrees ! Here we go, let's get a bit of heart in their and that will smoothe over the complete lack of comprehension of the TTC. Okay okay okay .... I'm really really sorry. Come on group hug, kissie kissie, yes we are all One, alright alright, yes we are all very very One. Okay. Do excuse, but is correct, good friends with several Brussell sprouts. Strange how Buddhist everything these days. Buddhist Taoism, Buddhist Christianism, Buddhist Quantumism, Buddhist Secularism, Buddhist Kebab Shop, Buddhist Sex Position. Very strange how monkey brain has space for only one word and every few years words changes and spread round like virus. Who knows what virus goes round in 2020 ? Poor Buddha he just monk who sat under tree. Now everyone eat Brussell Sprouts and want to save Simon Cowell. Has anything in common ?

Rulu's latest and probably last collection, titled The Tathagata Store. Here is an excerpt from the Sutra of Unsurpassed Reliance, page 203:

T This is how I`ve mostly seen chicken roasted in Mexico. It`s delicious but what you`re describing with just chicken breasts, onions, and tomato all spit-roasted together sounds even better.

I want to get a standard started for interviews whereby there is at least a brief bio/background. It can be a free-form kind of write-up or simple answers to three questions: 1. What teaching/system/lineage has the interviewee been exposed to? 2. What form of practices has the interviewee been exposed to? (qigong, alchemy, Taiji, shamanism, magic, etc) 3. What is the interviewees most recent (last few years) interest in energy arts, self-cultivation, or spiritual practices? Ideally, If we can get this for the 'gathering of questions' stage it might help people come up with questions. I would like to keep it to a very minimum but any comments on welcomed on this.