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Some of you may decide otherwise, but we are in fact STILL the same people who used to have more time to chat with you before we took on this thankless and unpaid job out of love for the board and your company. We were, and are, STILL your friends.

my highlighting Ah to be young and to still think everyone else is to blame and not know as yet that’s a complete dead end. Happy days.

Returning to the OP:

Hello BigSkyDiamond, That statement applies only to the first level of Flying Phoenix, which consists of the12 standing meditations taught on Volumes 1 through 5, and 7 of my Chi Kung For Health DVD series, plus 12 more "Monk Serves Wine" seated mediations that have not been published. The second level of Flying Phoenix qigong, which consists of 9 standing meditations that has some postures and body mechanics most similar to Tai Chi Chuan, "crosses over" the border from purely healing energy cultivation to cultivation of a versatile energy applicable to martial arts and any type of work or "kung." I hope this clarifies a bit. Sifu Terry https://www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html terencedunn.substack.com

Too much Qi lingering in the head Too much thinking Liver Yang rising Heat Dampness/imbalance If you have (like most people do) any of the above or all of them (very common) anything you mentioned is going to cause you what is called kundalini syndrome, seeing ghosts, communicating with spirits and bizarre stuff which fall under the umbrella of the "ungrounded syndrome." To prevent that, do the following: 1. Leg work. Foundation exercises like low basin walking, kung fu leg conditioning work (five stances), Asian squat, closed legs squat. 2. Walking meditation with bare feet for many hours a day when seated meditation practice is heavily emphasised. 3. Hiking for many hours in the natural environment. If the practitioner suffers from being very ungrounded stop any seated meditation and work heavily on the above until the problem is corrected. This could mean months or even years depending on the length of the ungrounded state; eg. University student, academic, white-collar professional, etc. People born in Fire years or under a Fire sign like the Horse are particularly most at risk.

No manager to damage her!

TM has no manager!

Human madness will not end. There will always be extremes and there will always be differences of opinion regarding what is madness and what is sanity. As Jiddu Krishnamurti famously said, it is no measure of health to be well adjusted to such a sick society. But that does not mean we can't improve our situation and that of others by beginning at grass roots levels. Human "civilization" is at least 5 - 6,000 years old, possibly older, and yet nothing meaningful has changed in our collective and individual psyches. We are evolving technologically and possibily intellectually but not psychologically or emotionally. In many ways we feel more sophisticated, more knowledgable, more capable, but if you look at our situation, inequality is worse than ever in history, our destructive potential is more formidable than ever before, the effects of our presence on Earth more destructive than ever before. When you look at our behavior and its effects, our species acts very much like a cancer - growing without any restraint or sensibility, choking out all competition, destroying our loving host, and putting our very survival at risk. It's nice to imagine that something or someone will come along and change all that but the evidence does not support such a dream. None of our religious, political, or intellectual leaders have made much of a difference overall. Certainly there are regions and groups that do better than others and this fluctuates over time but overall I see little evidence of collective psychological and emotional growth. While this may sound and feel very discouraging, there is a solution as described above. We must free ourselves from the shackles of ignorance and limitation imposed by millennia of conditioning and sabotage. We must discover and remember what it means to be fully human, both individually and collectively. That can only start by turning inward and looking at the truth of our own personal situation. For me, this is the core and purpose of spirituality.

One challenge for me was hearing the silence in my tinnitus.

I discovered Korean TV series and... WOW... such wonderful stuff! A few of my favorites - It's OK To Not Be OK, Crash Landing On You, Vincenzo, All Of Us Are Dead, Bloodhounds and Extraordinary Attorney Woo. I started watching When Life Gives You Tangerines and after crying through the entire first episode I haven't yet managed to continue but I will eventually. Perhaps we need a TV series thread, I'm always open to suggestions.

Imo spiritual practice is not about ‘leaving my body’, but about becoming aware that God/Krishna is ‘inside my body’.

Was Sean's directive ever about eliminating politics from spirituality and not allowing its discussion on his site OR Was it about not allowing a specific touting of 'non - spiritual' , materialist based , anti environmental , right wing ,obviously negative ( and should be self-evident ) prejudicial, bull shit ? It seems a case of ; the Captain has retired to his cabin and won't come out , he already pointed the direction . Now a bunch of 'mods', which changes and recycles through the 'ordinary sailors ' ( but not the mutinous ones .... some got a go for a while but, Cap came out and invited them to go overboard , then went back in the cabin ) who together grasp the handle of that big sluggish rudder and try to do their best to hold the ship on course , through all sorts of different conditions and other sailors yelling advice and abuse .... and the storms and reefs that assail it .

I am never separate from God, it’s always together. It’s not “merges”, it’s ‘together’, we’re friends.

i remember attending a writing retreat that was on a peninsula so there were tides and much opportunity to sit on the high bluffs and listen to the water and the waves. Talking to one of the guys from class on break he mentioned that he had lived for a time in Hawaii and so there was the constant sound of the ocean waves. I commented how wonderful that must have been to always have that sound present. He shrugged and said, "Not really. It actually sounds like traffic." He wrote wonderful poetry. His poems are still among my favorites.

“Someone once said that learning Chinese is "a five-year lesson in humility". I used to think this meant that at the end of five years you will have mastered Chinese and learned humility along the way. However, now having studied Chinese for over six years, I have concluded that actually the phrase means that after five years your Chinese will still be abysmal, but at least you will have thoroughly learned humility.” (https://pinyin.info/readings/texts/moser.html) As for me, 7 years, cracked my brains, little result. lol, cry emoji here.

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Sifu Terry has said FP is NOT a martial art energy. He said FP could not be used for martial arts. The Doo Wai forms that Garry Hearfield teaches in Australia are for kung fu. It's a different energy. FP is an energy for health.

It’s nothing to worry about. But you must leave all spiritual practices behind for a while. For now, let daily living be enough in itself, learn to appreciate the mundane. Focus on grounding. Eat healthy. Go for walks in nature, do more exercising. No porn. Try doing voluntary work. Your mind is playing you tricks, do not feed the problem by giving it attention and the problem will disappear. Be well.

That's awesome! There is little more valuable in life than being able to do that.

However, the Dalai Lama defies China to say successor will be chosen by Tibetan tradition. " "The Dalai Lama has declared in a direct challenge to China that the centuries-old spiritual institution bearing his name will continue after his death and that only his inner circle, not Beijing, will have the authority to identify his successor. ...ahead of his 90th birthday, the 14th Dalai Lama said the Gaden Phodrang Trust, which manages his affairs, would oversee the search for his reincarnation. “No one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter,” he said in Dharamshala, the northern Indian hill town that serves as the seat of the Tibetan government in exile. “In accordance with past tradition, the search for my reincarnation and the naming of a 15th Dalai Lama will be carried out.” Also: "The new Dalai Lama will be born in the free world.” source

'Glamour' is generated by all sorts of practices and is dependent on specific 'energy voids' in the receiver .

I'd also add that there is really no "we", as in multiple and different variations of the eternal Self, thus just one Self in the many of us which are only apparent or relative we ('s) - which may be a party pooper for some who want to build up and keep their hard won separate identity. "We" could say we is used as a relatable manner of speaking, or a handle.

ok, then I'll raise you three absolutes

After a few more months of practice and not feeling a lot of benefits from it, I think I might have found the reason why: After checking everything, just to be sure, my doctor send me to the sleep clinic and long story short, I have a moderate case of sleep apnea caused most likely by a low jaw being too far back that disrupts completely my quality of sleep. But from what I remember from early pages, good quality sleep is a must for FPCK to work and it looks like I didn’t have that in quite some time... So I guess I'll pause my practice for the moment and will try again once those apneas will be sorted. Thanks for the help of everyone and especially @zen-bear for taking time to answer around here multiple times!

I appreciate the wisdom of your comment and offer my response as an expression of my current feelings, not necessarily as a rebuttal. I don't know you well but well enough, I think, to know that nothing I say below will be anything you don't already realize. I see a lot of sickness in my society, and our global society, and a lot of good also. While it may not always be healthy, seeing clearly is the first step towards change. I think it is important in a healthy society to rail against those causing abuse and harm to the most vulnerable among us. Equally important to spread awareness among those who may be ignorant and well-adjusted to it. Calm and stability are priceless but won't always stop starvation, torture, extermination, and the host of other atrocities going on. Sometimes action is needed and, of course, it is important that action come from that place of calm and stability to be effective and appropriate.

I don’t think it will end, but I feel you’ve got your heart in the right place.

if you are talking about directing the flow of chi within the body, i have been cautioned (by several teachers) not to do this as it can result in chi deviation, imbalance, and subsequent problems. Rather, trust the innate intelligence of the chi to go where it is needed, and by whatever route is needed. in other words, the chi is smarter than my limited understanding. This resonates for me. if you are talking about using the whole body to breathe in and breathe out, yes that can be done, but i was given the caution (by more than one teacher) to not do this for very long as it can overload the system with unpleasant results.

reminded me of DDJ ch. 70 [start ch 70 MWD B (DIO)] 吾 言 易 知 也 wú yán yì zhī yě - We say: change awareness, 易 行 也 yì xíng yě - change behaviour. 而 天 下 ér tiān xià - But in our society 莫 之 能 知 也 mò zhī néng zhī yě - it’s not possible to be aware, and 莫 之 能 行 也 mò zhī néng xíng yě - it’s not possible to be alright. … [end ch 70 MWD B (DIO)] 是 以 圣(聖) 人 shì yǐ shèng rén - Therefore a ‘wise and moral’ person 被 褐 bèi hè - meets with the darkness 而 怀(懷) 玉 ér huái yù - and yet has a pure mind.

Have a cup of tea with my daughter and chess board losing and winning

Just saying hi and introducing myself. I love taiji, bagua, and neigong/qigong. Happy to connect with others.

Human madness waxes and wanes. It will only end with humanity ends. As to you, remember you are a spirit, not a human. You can end your madness at any time by embracing this.

It would tear us apart again.

That is a huge achievement. I know, because same here.

my view (and my experience) is that when we change ourselves, then our view of the world changes. we change the world when we change ourselves.

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Well, I like 'Marv ' ....

I made a recording of myself and some friends back in 1969, doing some traditional songs, some originals, and some covers (the covers are me covering John Fahey tunes). Dug it out for a friend a couple months back, and this week decided to make a YouTube video out of it. Have to turn it down right away, maybe I could have done better on the volume...

Something called Hun Dun primordial chaos still exists but is hidden and not in use! The odd thing about DaoBums is that nothing ever actually ceases to exist but is simply hidden from view. I am sure there is something deeply symbolic about this.

Julie Andrews performance was amazing. Agreed!

Yeah ..... DONT SAY TRUMP ! Ohhhh ....

Mhm, that has been a constant struggle for me as my mind is like the wind. During Jappa (chanting) and Kirtan («singing mantra) at the temple it becomes calm tho, it is wonderful. Kirtan: https://youtu.be/VP623hMbAIA?si=u2LX_5ce_oBXhSSw

ah yes, the erudite tomes on the other thread. curiously there is no thread on how many hours a day a person spends on Netflix and how many shows are on the "my watch list." There are 72 shows ready for me to watch. My fun reading is not even reading, my fun reading is pure Netflix. i love the post above !!!

No Sir, my health might be quite far from ideal, but I am certainly not dyeing : ) I am confident that they were not refering to that either, as they stressed that I could continue my material experience in this very body and this life time. Not a bad idea, all three of them will be gone for about a month or so.

Let me put it this way: Most of us are quite convinced that Santa Claus isn't likely to be visiting this December because we now understand that it was just a story our parents told us. That knowledge is true no matter WHAT events take place in our day to day life, regardless of how difficult they are. So it is with understanding of the Dao. I stand by what I said above 100%. "Self" is a pernicious delusion that is at the heart of our suffering. Once that delusion is understood it is always present, regardless of how one behaves. The knowledge does not create a perfect "person", but does alter one's behavior substantially. Justification is a different issue. What we are talking about here is "spiritual bypassing" - using real or imagined "enlightenment" as some justification that all behaviors are "perfect" is delusion. Gnostic knowledge does not excuse bad behavior. This sort of teacher is deficient in compassion training. Any teacher that acts in a questionable manner would call it out immediately and correct themselves, or submit to correction at whatever level necessary. Again - it doesn't mean that they aren't enlightened necessarily. It takes many years after "awakening" to drop the most pernicious aspects of "self". Some things never go away. Some will never be teachers, and it isn't important that they ever are. An understanding of the Dao is always present, even when anger arises, and a master with no "self" may witness anger arise in the body, but not experience that as "self", or "mine". It's just plain human and kind to open up to those you see struggling, even a "master", if you have a close enough relationship. What could be learned about the teacher's process in examining their feelings and thoughts about a sticky issue? If this person really knows that all appearances are ultimately "empty", possibly a lot.

maybe ask them, ask the teachers. what it means and how to go about it.

The most realized teachers are calm, kind, thoughtful, and humorous. They are unperturbed by almost any NORMAL life circumstances. Having said all of that, they are earth-bound, live in human bodies. They are experiencing what we would call "enlightenment with residue", that residue being the human story they still experience. The Buddha and Jesus still got angry for short spells as any "enlightened" master you meet on this planet will. I personally think it is good to see someone you respect handle a difficult situation with aplomb, even when the first thing they say is, "Shit!". Emotions should come and go like rain, or the tide, or the sunset. They are manifestations of impermanence that don't ultimately belong to a person. Where there is an hour, or a day of non-stop fretting and worry watching such a teacher closely or offering to help is not only human, but the reply should be illuminating.

You shall !

Some spiritual masters DO go to protests. Here is a picture of my late teacher Jana Drakka at a protest: She isn't shouting, or giving money, or waving a flag, but I think her message is quite clear, and its effectiveness can be measured by the space she is creating, both mentally and physically right where she is, though its real effects are much larger and less visible. It is the policy of the San Francisco Zen Center that NO monk living there can demonstrate at a protest EXCEPT by doing just as Jana is here.

Long ago after a few years of meditation I was pleased with how harmonious I felt - 95% of the time. Then my meditation shifted to a deeper level and emotional trauma showed itself. I had suppressed that most of this life. Largely it was past life trauma including attention from the Holy Inquisition.

Does anybody ever wonder is the whole god idea is something that's been handed down generation after generation, and it's all just one big fantasy? That it was originally set up, as someone said before, to control? How wonderfully controlling it is to engender fear in people in order for them to stay on the straight and narrow? That we are intended to grow up with the same attitudes and beliefs as our parents? It seems that the god concept is a very comforting one, and I understand people wanting to believe that there's something out there (apart from us) that watches and cares what we do. Something to turn to in times of sorrow. But I propose something else; that God is none other than the wizard in the Wizard of Oz. When Dorothy and friends went behind the big scary wizard, they were confronted with nothing more than a plain human being! I think this story about the Wizard is a crucial acceptance of that which we don't want to believe: that there's nothing out there going to save our asses. There's nothing to pray 'to'. But this is not to say there's no god at all! I've come to the realization that the intelligence of god is our very DNA! That is god, to me. The incredible intelligence involved in a fetus growing into a child. When I found out that there is no difference between cells when they're first produced, that the only thing that differentiates a hair cell from a skin cell or a bone cell or a heart cell, is how they line up next to each other! Such intelligence! And how does the fetus know how far out finger cells should go before they turn around and come back down the other side? I think there's a sort of DNA in everything, including minerals. It's the intelligence of the universe, as I see it. and when we do pray, we are praying to nothing more than our higher selves, and our higher selves, communally, are God. I say communally because I think that we all share the same higher self. The things that differentiate us are our separate conditionings. But it occurred to me one day that the reason I see the soul-sharing among all of us, is because when you see something sad, you get tears in your eye. And so do I! This is a crossover from a physical observation to an internal expression of sadness, and we all share the same configuration. This communal god I speak of is found by self-knowledge, not be anything that any preacher or guru can tell you. If you can peel off the layers of your conditioning, you will get down to that which is true. Your true identity, and we all share it. We are God.