silent thunder

Yea, studying with Zhou had a massive impact on my quality of life.

I had the good fortune to acquire a Ye Ming Zhu. Extremely rare form of flourite that absorbs and radiates Qi. Found in China. Charge it for an hour in sunlight and it will emanate light and heat throughout the night. I've had mine for about two years now. It's like a direct line to the Pillar of Light. The connection is vibrant and two way.

Seems that bias is a by-product of belief. Developing a belief and building bias is a mutual process. Like bees and flowers, neither would exist without the other.

That is some delicious irony

True enough, if you experienced this, it would be a simple step to close the door and dismiss the whole lot. Gets back to reality tunnels and protectiveness of them in the end for me. That which reinforces my reality is held up as a banner of truth. That which challenges or alters it, is attacked, dismissed or ignored.

Reminds me of The Grand Inquisitor. Most people don't want the responsibility of waking up.

Really awesome distinction. I have first hand knowledge of that as well.

I study with GM Zhou and his forms are what I practice daily. His compassion is amazing. His power is profound. I believe the power and compassion are inextricably linked. My direct experience of the heat of Qi transmission/healing broadened my world, after years of kung fu and philisophical study. It was that experience that altered my perception of reality and birthed the motivation to begin daily cultivation practice.

I love this. Live the question.

I'm not threatened anymore by teachings that don't serve me. I simply let them go. But I don't need to attack them either. Timing on one's path has a lot to do with relevancy of teachings and I can see where many people are served by teachings that are anathema to me. I was raised in a fairly fundamentalist mind-set but it couldn't hold me past age 14-15 when I read the bible for myself and stopped just believing what I was told. Even following a lie will serve truth in the end, as eventually the lie will be exposed and the truth will be revealed. All lies serve the truth when revealed as a lie.

Yes Tibetan Ice has some really good insights and is widely versed. But not all wisdom will be relevant to all other's paths. I can't dismiss all of Adya on another's accounting, I must run it through my system. I get the protectiveness factor and that is likely a major source of the dismissiveness. Not wanting to muddy the waters, nor sully the holy. But I come from a perspective that it is patently impossible to hide truth, nor to sully the holy. If it's manifest, it's holy to me, be it a dog turd, a consecrated altar or a merit crystal from a monk's remains. I guess it comes down to where you are on your path. There are certainly many teachings in the christianity I was raised with that no longer serve me. But they did serve me at one point and still do, insofar as they show me what I am not aligned with currently.

Yea, all to often it seems to be a gut reaction that allows folks to disregard things without really encountering them or giving them a chance. Guess it gets back to fundamentalist thinking and reality tunnel protection.

No doubt, as with anything, I run it through my filter and see how it plays out. But then, I do that with the classics as well.

I hear Tolle denigrated as a useless new ager frequently... Adyashanti and Pema Chodron too, which is surprising since they seem to me to come from established Buddhist systems. It's almost as if there is a cultural bent toward thinking any new insight, or new take on a teaching is a lie or useless tangent. Perhaps this is the effect of having been lied to so prolifically in our culture by media, government, teachers and family.

Yea, it took some weight out of my self punishment when I realized what was happening. I've also noticed a similar cascade effect from various foods, sugar, caffeine as I've become more sensitive. When I drank coffee, just the thought of getting a really strong cup of Turkish Mud, would be enough to start the cascade, before even a sip was taken. It's present in my reality every day all day long and most strongly influenced now, by the breath.

I'm curious as to why there seems to be a bent toward disregarding teachings as useless that are coming from present age teachers that aren't based solely on a school of classical thought/philosophy.

I haven't come across this particular teaching, but it's an interesting point. Belief is so intimately tied to perspective and perspective is functional reality for any given individual. I would venture that believing something makes it real for the one believing within the parameters of their perception.

Nice!

There are no accidents. This struck me one day (like a hammer) when my wife read it to me from a book and it got my bell ringing deeply. At the time, I had been having something of a life review during meditations. Nothing intentional, just old tapes playing and memories resurfacing semi-consistently from the pool of the past while the mind was quiet. I was allowing them to do their usual thing, play out and fade out. Thoughts like clouds come and go. No biggie. Some of these memories were very painful. And usually, I will have sympathetic vibratory resistance creep in when these surface, but this time I didn't feel that. I felt a tug, but it wasn't the usual tug of shenpa or emotional/resistance/tension as I re-associate my presence* with the angst of memory. This was a different tug. It was like a prodding from a deeper awareness, sort of like being poked in the ribs by a buddy to notice something nearby. I took this as a good sign that my practice was paying dividends, but the tug wouldn't go away, it was still there and I was thinking... 'ok what do I need to learn from these old memories?' When my wife read me that statement, the bell rung and I had an epiphany. None of those were accidental. They are a natural flow of conditions and I am a part of those conditions. Looking back on my life to this point. The things that happened to me that were horrific, or sad or any of the events that I typically would view as 'wrong' 'bad' or 'evil' were all as intrinsically part of my Path as any of those 'good' 'happy' or 'correct'. And my Path is not wrong to me. Notwithstanding the fact that this is all thought/form and illusory. It really struck me that there had been no accidents in my life. That without any of the 'accidents as I used to view them', I would not be in the presence I am and I feel, honestly that I am where I must be, should be and want to be. I'm feeling this is pretty kindergarten level stuff as I type it out. But I'm going to shunt that feeling of pride in favor of feeding my curiosity as to what some of you feel about it. So what do you think... are there any accidents? *I say 'my presence' instead of my 'self' sometimes. I find that it includes an intimation of temporariness that I find accurate and implies being in the present moment.

I just stopped. Used to drink it constantly, but it needed to go. I could tell the impact it had on my system and it was not good. It might have been a cause of an irregular heartbeat I dealt with a couple years back... Dr.'s have suspicions to causes, but no locks. I could just tell how amped up it would get me, so I knew it had to go. That made quitting very easy. So I just stopped. No coffee, no tea. Lemon in hot water has become my drink. My son loves it now too. It was a great change for me.

I don't gamble but if I did... Play the game to win. Gamble only what I can afford to lose. Don't become attached to any hand or game. Let my opponents take care of their motivations and life situation.

If everyone is at the table of their own free will, I don't see a problem.

Either I am a living mockery of my ideals... or I have set them too low. Charles Ludlam

Funny how happening upon The Path is so natural. Not so much about finding The Path, as it is becoming aware that you're already on it. Welcome to the TaoBums mate.

Cool observation. From the time I noticed that I engage in spontaneous yoga poses and mudras, it's been an interesting process being aware of myself and watching others and seeing them engage in the same. It happens a lot. I work in construction and now that I'm aware of it, I frequently see my co-workers (who are not into yoga or cultivation), releasing and incorporating muscle qi after a strong lift, through spontaneous yoga and yoga-like postures.