Sebastian
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Everything posted by Sebastian
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Circular breathing vs breathing with pauses (Bruce Frantzis related)
Sebastian replied to markern's topic in General Discussion
Thanks for sharing your perspective on breathing Freeform... I found it very interesting. Would you mind describing the 5 stages in more detail, for inspiration mostly, and also to be exhaustive with this thread ? You mentioned there were signs. Also, for those that don't know, and since this is relevant to this thread, Freeform shared some breathing instructions with Ting here... I thought they were great. I can't contribute too much to this thread, but I was told by one of my teachers that the practice of listening to pauses in between breaths is what the Buddha taught his son Rahula. With this understanding In-breath out-breath pause/rest yang yin non-conceptual awareness I haven't practiced this perspective enough to contribute meaningfully to this thread. But mechanically, and energetically there does seem to be a complete relaxing or reset of tension to change the mode of breathing, between the in and out breath. When the OP wrote that his pauses increased, I didn't see that as conflicting with Freeform's advice, unless he imposed the mind on the silence by stretching it somehow. I prefer the non-doing approach of Ting and Freeform's approach, but even in non-doing, I think we all have that switch to neutral gear between the in and out-breath. I think it's significant, especially because I can't grasp it. You can grasp everything else in your Ting, almost like engineering work - German Bosh style - but there is still that unknown agent, like the spoke of the wheel that is allowing everything else to work. That's where I think Buddha was coming from, but it's hard to stay... I need to practice more to know. -
Well yesterday you were mine. Seriously, I enjoyed your post thank you.
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Hey Bums Recently I've been thinking about the power of spiritual affinity, and its real-life effects. Let me begin by showcasing what I mean by "effects". It is said that Saint Francis developed stigmata in his hands and feet because he was so connected to the image of Jesus on the cross that his physical body was imprinted with the information. It is also said that one famous counterfeit painter that had a deep affinity with DaVinci re-created his paintings and they were almost as good as the originals, at least to the untrained eye. When he was caught and asked how he could do work so exquisite and precise, he just said he imagined he was the Master Painter when he was drawing them. He was mostly uneducated and didn't have access to advanced tools, but he was sincere when he pretended to be DaVinci. And his sincerity somehow led to perfect forgeries. These two examples are for inspiration, so please don't take them at face value, although these stories have been passed down. But they illustrate the point I'm trying to make - namely, the power of "spiritual affinity" between two people. A less fantastical example would be someone I know that sincerely connected to her Master, and then found herself waking up at 3:30 am in the morning for no reason. She only knew later that this was the time that the Master used to rise. Anyways, I could go and on. But it might be more helpful for you to gain a feel for this. So let's do a small exercise. Think of all the Masters and people that are very close to you in your life. And then think about the times were you caught yourself speaking like them, imitating them, or behaving like them. You might be surprised. You might say you respect such and such, yet you never caught yourself acting like them. But every time you read a certain author, maybe a scholar or a columnist you enjoy, you might notice that their energy carries into your day-to-day and you might use the same words or style of writing as them later in the day. This is what I mean by spiritual resonance. In other words, effortless transmission of energy between two actors that are somehow closely linked, yet could be miles or times apart. I still can't pin-point what this is, maybe it's karma related I don't know. But it seems people have it or they don't. And what I know is that it opens a huge door for spiritual development if the person you have affinity with is achieved spiritually. Personally the person I resonate with most is someone I met around when I first joined DaoBums and who guided me briefly. It's not an intellectual conclusion, weighing all the qualities of that person and then making an informed decision. No nothing shallow like that. It's just an objective observation. I notice that when I connect to this person even briefly, I find I speak like him, I write like him, I think like him, I organize my day like him, even without knowing what his day looks like. Basically, these things are "taught" or revealed to me by the energy, which has a life of its own. I easily learn new things from it. Somehow the door for transmission is completely open, like for that fellow that was learning from DaVinci as he was counterfeiting the paintings. Anyways, sorry to get "new agey" with this observation, but I thought I would share as it may have some value for you. Think about all the people that you resonate with in your life, and see how much of them are in you, or "are you". This might be the path you need to focus on, even if your intellect is reluctant. And maybe the spiritual game is not only a matter of choosing the most powerful Master like Buddha or Jesus or Medicine Buddha, but finding the one you resonate with most. And being sincere to that Master like the DaVinci painter, who also evidently admired him. These things usually go hand in hand. Anyways, I'm rambling. Do any of you guys resonate with certain people or have any stories to share ? Thanks, Seb
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Loved this, thanks. Shows that sincerity and innocence goes a long way in the spiritual world. Is your friend Jeremy Winborg ? I ask because he also draws Native American scenes and people with a modern touch, like you described. Check him out at least, I like his work. One of my favorites of his is this one, which goes hand in hand with the spirit of your quote. I don't know if you recall, it's the story of the daughter of Jarius in the Bible, she was deathly ill. She was also convinced that just seeing Jesus she would heal - she had a child's-like innocence and faith about it. Then one day Jesus happened to be around her in a crowd of people, and she mustered all her strength and secretly touched the hem of his garment. Instantly Qi flew by and she was healed. Jesus felt it but he didn't know what happened, so he asked the person who touched his robe to stand forward in the crowd. Then the lady came forward, embarrassed, and told the whole story. Then Jesus saw her sincerity. He explained that he actually didn't do the healing, he didn't do anything at all.... he said something like : "you healed by yourself through the power of your faith and sincerity of heart". This is true in Qigong too. If you image a Divine Light in front of you, and you make a sincere prayer to it, with an innocent and receptive heart like that girl... energy will start to shift, very strongly.
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Powerful quote Everything. I know I tend to get caught up with this. As you write, I become "like them", which at the same time is becoming like Me. It feels wonderful, so then I feel grateful to them, and then I feel I need to follow them to pay respect or something. So that's where I get caught up sometimes. Spoke to me as well. Perhaps these specific Masters we each resonate with are literally open doors to our higher selves. That would be the true meaning of an "open door" - A port hole, somewhere in the universe, where energetic information comes through effortlessly. And this happens between two people who have spiritual resonance. So we each have different doors. You can still connect to anyone of course and receive some energetic information as well. It still works. But I'm saying there *might* be some special people in your life, or magic doors if you will, that will just heighten everything about your own experience and speed things up for you. You just have to be lucky enough to find them somehow, and then tap into them, effortlessly as you become like them, effortlessly. That's how it feels to me at this point, at least. Heck yeah... I know of no other Qigong enthusiast that connects to Raccoons to build up Qi. Mostly during mating season though, that's when their Yang Qis are rising. By the way, that sounds like a typical Blink 182 chorus, lol.
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What book was that out of interest ? He has quite a number of them. Can you explain what you mean by Niwan, like the center of the head ? No matter the teaching style or the way this guy chooses to engineer everything, you've got to give props to this guy. Just for the fact he's an MIT PhD who speaks both fluent Mandarin Chinese *and* Japanese, and also went quite deep in the internal arts, even if he's doing his own thing "McGuyver" style. Hope I can be like him one day, at least meet him half-way haha. Although I don't like engineering my practices at all, but I'm sure he has many valuable things to say. I enjoyed one of his books a while back. It's very interesting the image you choose Cheya. I know a Master that is quite far along spiritually and she also showed me that image, the same as your avatar, because it matched her own experience too. Out of all the images she had access too, she chose that one, just like you. I think it's significant. She also gave me that image on a postcard, so when I see your avatar I think of that. You know what they say, great minds think alike, haha.
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Hey Doctor Bacon.... good 2 cu.
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Anything weird about you Zork ? Looking at your avatar and your penchant for Latin.... did you know that 'insect' in latin is 'insectum' ? Well, I think we all learned something today. Although it's only a semi-brag because I just Googled it. Thanks, Sebby
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Not my type man.... mostly interested in raccoons in the 15 pound-ish range. But I think your avatar is quite good looking.
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What about all the members here that have third eyes opened. Did you think of that ? When mine opens, you're gown down man ! 👋 Please proceed.
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Very interesting.... Sean may have been a bug in a past life. 👋 Carry on.
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Weirdo !
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Liminal Luke in his teens Personally I prefer the water sprinkler harp.
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How does that even work ? Reminds me of the inverted raccoon yoga pose....
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Jing-Qi-Shen vs. Shen based cultivation systems
Sebastian replied to anshino23's topic in Daoist Discussion
Sorry guys, don't mean to hijack.... but I have a sort of joke I'm looking to place. Qi is the money in your wallet. Jing is what's in your saving's account. Shen is your stock in the universal divine energy. You know what they say - you need a balanced portfolio ? So get all three. A system that uses only one is unbalanced imo. Ha ! It's not funny Sebby - GTFO ! < escapes > (just exited the thread) -
Hummm... Batman call. Maybe this will work.
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Jing-Qi-Shen vs. Shen based cultivation systems
Sebastian replied to anshino23's topic in Daoist Discussion
These questions are above my pay-grade to be honest. When I answer I try to answer the person who asked the question and not the question. I could answer you, but I would have to go an intellectual space. I prefer to respond and balance the energy that asked the question. For example, the mind is always doubting and trying to find assurances that its moving in the right direction. It is trying to solve everything and come to a clear-cut answer. But enlightenment, no matter the level, can never be a matter of following practice A or practice B or a 1-2-3 process. It's like we're cultivators worrying about the best spiritual brand to be stamped with. Even if you get branded with the best stamp, and you're sure many people have enlightened with the same stamp, at the end of the day your path will still be unique. It won't be Longmen that will enlighten you, it will be your subjective and sincere efforts over a long period of time. The mind wants a clear cut answer and has no tolerance of uncertainty. But Tao is very gentle and allowing of many different ways. For example, if you identify as a die hard Longmen practitioner and think all other paths are weak in comparison, you might skip out on meeting a Tibetan Master one day who was visiting your city, and maybe he would have "pointed out your mind", and helped you go all the way. But since you asked, I'll try to answer. Honestly, I have no idea if he could re-materialize his body or not. But he was considered a Saint. To give you two more examples of Masters that reached spiritual heights without much body preparation, Sri RamaKrishna, who also had cancer eventually but preferred to keep helping people pretty much full-time instead of seeking treatment. And the Six Patriarch of Zen, he enlightened listening to the Diamond Sutra, and then his body had to "catch up" for many years which was a grueling process. At the end of the day, whatever happens, happens. Que sera sera. Just take small steps, stay sincere and do what's natural. What's natural is usually revealed by the heart or strange coincidences, and not the result of reaching a conclusion with the intellectual mind. Even if we review each practice system in this thread, have 10 scales for each, and make the best decision.... at the end of the day, we achieved nothing. Just firing up the intellect mind I mean. That doesn't mean your question, or any question is not significant. It is, it is a cry from your soul. Anyways, hope it helps. -
Jing-Qi-Shen vs. Shen based cultivation systems
Sebastian replied to anshino23's topic in Daoist Discussion
I would say that both perspectives exist, and both can indeed be correct. It's just a matter of emphasis. However I will also say that the body is important, at least in this lifetime. And from my perspective, skipping the body is a big mistake, because it also needs to transform to sustain the spiritual and energetic transformations that occur. But then again, enlightenment is enlightenment. It has nothing to do with how good your body looks. Some people have enlightened without doing much physical conditioning, and some enlightenment masters had terrible bodies and cared nothing about it. For example Sri Ramana Maharshi meditated until his cancer spread but he had no interest/will in even changing his position or seeing a doctor to heal it. Some *very* famous/contemporary Tibetan Masters who are quote "enlightened" have diabetes, quite a lot in fact, because they are doing very heavy duty mental work to reach their spiritual heights - imagining intricate worlds of Buddhas, pure realms, without connecting to their bodies much. Let me make clear though, it's not every Tibetan lineage, and I'm not judging these amazing Masters in any way. Just noticing and sharing what my Masters have cautioned. Diabetes isn't too hard to manage, and it also doesn't mean that these Masters aren't enlightened or anything because they have this disease. So at the end of the day enlightenment is enlightenment. No method can claim to be the sole path to enlightenment. But the method you chose will have a real impact on your health. That's all. If you're already a very mental person, than a school that uses Zen riddles might not work too much for you. If you have high blood pressure, than a school that starts with working on the Upper Dan Tian would also seriously backfire. So I like the approach of Taoism. It's very practical. You start from the bottom up (Ming), but you're also working from the top down (Xing). You respect both your body and mind/ethics, and become a developed and balanced human being. When you make some spiritual progress, you benefit in an organic, whole way. It sounds exciting to skip the ground work, but you need to keep balance in mind. Hope this helps, -
This was a very interesting observation. Because there are indeed many different kinds of fasts. Once my Master was telling me about his own experiences with celibacy over the years, but then he cautioned that fasting "as a process" was more important than what you were applying the process too. It depends with what you most resonate with, and what empowers you the most. He was saying you could fast of negative thoughts for example, it doesn't have to be only sexual. You could also literally fast and not eat once a week. But the main point is that if you take any one fast sincerely, let's say fasting from US news for example for a month, then it will have a real effect on you energetically. Fasting done like this will brew a sweet energy that pervades your entire being. As Walker stated, thinking is a huge drain on our energetic resources, and if you don't get thinking in check it can sabotage all your other fasts. For example if you're celibate, but you don't fast mentally about the opposite sex. If you fast from sweets, but desire them all the time. To me, the most helpful fast would be to fast from yourself, from your ego's inner wants and needs. Then you can be more serviceable to the people in your immediate environment. Anyways, thanks for the discussion, now I'm going to think of a fast for the next 30 days No more ice-cream, no not that one, darn !
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Hey Raul, I was suggesting that it may be helpful to not think in terms of extremes, as a solution to anything. I hear you though. In this case, it might indeed be a case of lowering emissions for you, but why reduce them to 0 ? That's what I mean between balance and extremes. If you reduce them to 0, they likely will happen during the night. My advice is to release, naturally, when your lower centers are full, that way you won't take a big hit every-time. And to stay away from extremes, both ways, which means avoiding artificial stimulation with the mind or audio/video sending signals to the body, and full on retention. In between a sweet spot can be found. That's all I'm saying. And much love and good luck to you in your path. You're lucky to be a musician, enjoy your life. Seb
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Listen to Freeform my friend ... that is my advice, and I second everything he said about Chia. Out of all the things you have listed, your wonderful goals and aspirations, none of them depend on celibacy. As one my teachers used to say "one process does not lead to another". You want to do all the things you listed ? Just do them. You don't need to take a detour. Celibacy only leads to celibacy. But the mind gets so tight, it tries to convince you that you need *something* to do these things, and that this *something* is so special and that you're life would be lacking without it. And that you would never meet your goals without it. Don't fall for it my friend. A natural life is already sacred. Why not be content with what you already have ? Doing retention practices at your age is not natural and it won't help because you need to heal your way of thinking first. The dangers free-form cautioned about are real. I feel you are sincere in your aspirations, so look and see if you are sincere with the requirement of celibacy to meet these aspirations. And look at all the things you associate with celibacy, and see if they are balanced or decorated. Decorated through the readings of various authors like Chia or others. A natural life is a Divine life. Never let anyone sell you anything or place anything in between you and your natural life.
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Here's a small tip. When you can't control your thoughts, use a spiritual approach. While we can't control the mind, we can control our internal spirits, and they always respond to us beautifully. This works because our minds are actually made of Spirit..... Our thoughts literally rest on Light, which rests on Spirit. So instead of wallowing in the mud trying to fight fire with fire (thought is "fire" in Taoism), you first raise your vibration to meet the vibration of Light. Then thought becomes malleable again. Then you focus on your Spirit, and you send a message like this: "The Universal Divine One of Peaceful Mindedness" (from the Integral Way tradition) This does a few things. 1) Before you were focusing only on the black spots of the whiteboard. Now, you focus only on the white, and you find the black is being drowned out by spirit. 2) The statement above achieves two things. It automatically raises your vibration by appealing to your sense of Divinity, and it sends a message which is embedded in the statement. Eventually your Spirit produces the message, and the thought arrangement you have will be different after you uttered the statement. 3) This cleans your sub-conscious. Watching US news for example subjects your sub-conscious to a lot of hatred and random messages. The unruly state of your sub-conscious is reflected in your conscious mind and thoughts. That said, it's not easy to rise from levels 1), 2), 3) when you're stuck in an inner dialog. The first step is to let it go. You need to be sincere and say you're indifferent to whatever outcome or story is playing in your head. You know the statement. "Whatever will be, will be". Only by being neutral can you raise yourself above the mud and reach Spirit. Practically you are molding your mind in a new way, by working with spirit. When your mind is unruly it looks like a ball of wool, all wrapped up. But when you focus one end of that ball on the Divine, you are literally unraveling your mind, and flattening it. This is not just imagery, I know some Masters that can actually see the shape of mind. And they can see what you've been paying most respect to in your life, depending on how angular your mind is, or what its predominant shape is. There is another way to do this however, and that is virtue, or dedicating merit and thinking good thoughts about people. This connects you to Spirit in the same way, and cleans the mind at its source. So by doing good deeds, your mind will start to function in a natural away again. It really seems that only the mind led by Spirit can be harmonious. When there's too much "you" in your thinking, you'll find that your thoughts play tricks on you, or that they become unruly. In the Bible they say: "commit your works onto the Lord, and your thoughts will be established". I realize this is not mainstream psychology at all, but this my own sincere experience as a novice. And it really works for me, and I hope it helps you as well.
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A lot of people here struggle with self-worth or acceptance issues, so I thought I would share some personal reflections on this... which may be helpful to some. 1) You had value before you had to prove value. God placed you here, and knows your value. 2) The only value that matters is the value that God sees through its eyes. 3) You were loved before you had to seek love. 4) And as a continuation of 3), you can love only because you were loved first. 5) You were accepted before you had to make society accept you. 6) You were whole before you started looking for wholeness. If we recap, you were valued, loved, accepted and whole when you were placed on this Earth. And when you started looking for these things, you were still valued, loved, accepted and whole the entire time. But you thought you weren't because you started using the eyes of others as a reference point, and you lost the most important connection that mattered, the connection to the true gift that is you, to what was gifted to you by the Divine. Jesus taught to pray using the word "Father". Why did he do that ? Because as a child of the Divine, you realize that you are already valued, loved, accepted and whole. The Father and the Son are One. You don't need to please an external authority in society or in spiritual circles to have these things. Society may never accept you, no matter how much you try to bend yourself to please it. And expert may never accept you, no matter how much you try to reach their level of expertise. But a child will accept you. A puppy will accept you. And the Divine will accept you, it will never turn its back on you.
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Thanks Everything. Some cliffs notes, in my own words, from what I understood from your post. Yeah, I agree. Some nice realizations in there. I also like how you say love your emotions even when they are bad. In other words, view everything in your life, good or bad, as a gift. Thanks for sharing.
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If you're gay, know that you don't need to convince anyone of your value as a human being. If you're divorced, know that the Love of God will never divorce you. If you were abandoned, know that the Divine will never abandon you. If your heart is torn in a thousand pieces, know that something is holding all the pieces together. No matter how fragmented and helpless you become, just turn yourself to the energy that owns you. Or that Guides you. Be sincere. With your sincerity, the energy will slowly pick up all your pieces and create something beautiful. Like this cup of Japanese Kintsugi, which is literally the art of precious scars. In Kintsugi pottery you display your scars with pride, and the creations are viewed as more refined than general pottery. Then it doesn't matter if life scarred you or not, you can brew your own wonderful tea to the people around you, as an offering to the life that holds you and your pieces together.
