Yascra

@zerostao, okay, what exactly do you think I did understand in a wrong way of what you've written here

 

let me guess; you dont play tai chi, do you?

or qigong?

or meditate?

you're not an athlete either most likely.

 

I can't think of a more direct way to tell someone that in their opinion the addressed person doesn't practice anything that might be relevant to a forum like the one we're writing on.

But if you had something else in mind but calling me a noob who doesn't understand what you're talking about when you wrote this, you might well let me know.

 

This way to adress me is first of all not about any topic. It's just setting up a picture of me as a participant who has not a clue anyway.

yascra, curiously enuff i didnt say that you probably didnt play a wind instrument....

what i was trying to convey is there is a lot more to the breath than you stated in the post that i quoted.

 

Ah, BS you're talking. Yes, of course, what you're calling me is just a complete noob, stupid, spiritually illiterate etc ^^

Of course I know about energy aspects.

But who cares, as obviously you prefer to make wrong assumptions than taking into account that maybe someone is not an idiot though writing things you don't get. What would be the point about posting and reading in this forum here if I wouldn't practice spiritual stuff.

 

What I'm telling you is, no, energy is not linked to your mechanical breath.

If you shouldn't get what I'm talking about I'd sincerely ask you to think about things before answering.

What is your definition of breath and/or breathing? If I may kindly ask...

 

I would say using your muscles to expand lung volume, creating low-pressure to get fresh air into your lungs is breathing in.

Allowing your muscles to relax, thereby compressing lung volume and releasing air is breathing out.

 

Thanks for asking.

let me guess; you dont play tai chi, do you?

or qigong?

or meditate?

you're not an athlete either most likely.

stick around this forum awhile and avoid the 90% posts that are just here to take up space to hide th eposts that are worth digging for, and if you are all about wu wei, which would be good you will still from time to time come across some of the most incredible, useful, amazingly beneficial gems

 

a mechanical way to put air in your lungs is called a ventillator and by learning how to breathe prpoerly you can avoid ever having to have to rely on one of those.

cheers!

 

Well, if you're not aware of the fact that many parts of your body are working quite mechanically, that's really not my problem.

Using muscles and bones is mechanical work.

 

But thanks for assuming a lot of things that aren't correct instead of taking into account that I might have been aiming at something different.

 

Of course I do practice. I also do play a kind of flute, or different flutes, so it would be better for me to know something about breathing.

Maybe just stick around long enough to learn how to use the search-function to get a more complete impression of people before judging them. Thanks in advance.

As regards Admin. Well if the board needs oversight and some levels of technical permissions for certain things fine. But I mean ... imagine sitting in a cafeteria enjoying a skinny latté when the manager bursts in with a big stick and throws a few people out. Hardly conducive to free and frank debate is it?

 

lol

But that's more like a worst-case-scenario you're putting up, isn't it? You know, when I'm sitting in a cafeteria and talking friendly with someone, and suddenly have someone walking in who's shouting around how sh*tty this place here is, and that we are all stupid etc. .. then I really like someone who has this option to not discuss too long about whether we would appreciate this person as a member, but just have them kicked out, and who draws the consequences to really put this person out of that space where I'm trying to talk.

So I think in regard to the topic we're discussing right NOW .. when we've already stated that insults etc. might not be the environment teachers would feel comfortable in .. sorry, but it's not very the way to improve things.

 

I for my part don't discuss personal stuff that's relevant to me in an environment in which certain kinds of behaviour are tolerated with nobody caring about it.

 

But, to be very honest, though I feel that it's actually this topic that upsets you a little at the moment .. sharpened mod or admin action is not the topic of this thread we're writing in now

Hello Kodoninja,

and welcome to The Tao Bums

I think being skeptical about what you might experience or about things that are new to you is not too bad in the first place. Finally you have to find out things for yourself to be sure about them, right? ;-)

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Good luck and all the best to you!

Yascra

The point is, what I think .. well, actually I think that most possible options are already there.

 

Articles for example - you might well get together some users, via OT-threads just for organization, or in their PPFs, who just put together their ideas and experiences and make a nice article series out of that.

All you could do to improve that, in my opinion, would maybe be some direct link to articles, based maybe on how many users liked that article. Don't know how to actually do that, but it should be possible somewhere.

 

PPF.. well, that's indeed a space where you do have the possibility to control things, but sometimes it's not so easy to navigate them and find really helpful one's - if you should not already know about someone who contributes good stuff So that's more the hearsay-variant. Maybe writing some good articles to get attention and then having a link to one's PPF in the signature might help with that?

 

Question-threads, I think have also worked quite well in the past, at least those made some part of how I found this place here.

So I think it's really not an issue of lacking options.

 

To answer the question of what you might improve, I think all you could do for that sake is bring in some structure. In one forum I've been on there was a user who created a thread, for example, including a link-collection to worthwhile contributions and threads, adding posts with some excerpts and quotes of those threads. So it would not even be necessary to do that in a complicated way that changes the whole design. I think I've even seen such approaches somewhere on the forum here .. unfortunately with some of the links not working any more.

Problem of that approach is that it is work for the person who's doing it. As moderating team you could appreciate such work by sticking it.

 

At least that would be the most easy way to improve something, I think.

 

Problem of any "class-room-subforum" I'd see would be .. well, it doesn't really matter on which part of a building you set up a hierarchy. Teachers will meet in the teachers room, and students will be students even in other threads if you just have that idea in people's heads. As someone who is sick of teachers I'm afraid that might cause trouble on the long run.

I myself was very good at this and am sure with a little practice could get back into the swing of insulting others.

I do take issue with insult for insult sake - it is good if one wishes to feed their ego but what is the point.

Why be nasty to hurt others - why the need.

So IMHO although one may be very knowledgeable in a subject or proficient in a martial art,

if they can't control themselves they have achieved nothing in this life.

 

Oh, I never really liked insulting etc. in general. It is only - well, I really DO like the idea of this cafeteria-setting. In a temple where someone is sitting on his or her throne it is quite clear who will be kicked out if the person on the throne doesn't agree with something. Even if it should be the person on the throne who talks rubbish .. and I have personal experience with that happening. I mean, I'm a Western student with no real lineage that would care for me or my development, so it's up to me myself and heaven's help to some degree. Even with holding up a daily practice as good as it's possible as a householder I SHOULD in theory not be the one who understands more than persons who've had the benefit of growing up in a community in which any kind of spirituality is appreciated, instead of ridiculed like it tends to be the case on my society. BUT .. I found it to be like that.

That does not mean that I'd like to be the person on the throne. But it does mean that I've had the experience of abuse of that "artificial" hierarchy by persons who were definitely not so great in their own practice.

 

People notice if someone really cares for them, I'd say there are some positive examples in here in which you can see that. So if someone is really a good and balanced person willing to teach and to give insight, wisdom, knowledge, yes, there might be some few people who might bring in personal issues and attack even such guys, that's the disadvantage of "same level". But my impression is that most people will be grateful for such possibilities, and those who are not interested might at least be fair enough to appreciate that this particular person who's teaching has something valuable to offer (at least to others), and let them do that in peace.

What I was aiming at was that I'd say such balanced persons would be able to handle some few people who misbehave, and not blame others for that. Report functions are available for everybody who feels s/he's being attacked or offended.

 

At least I know on that level that I won't be kicked out here just because I'm not crawling in the dust due to some titles of which some "teachers" are extremely proud. Not everybody who is acknowledged publicly as a teacher is a high-level practicioner - which is okay in principle, as long as those low-level teachers don't get the power to give me a suspension because they're jealous that I'm able to bless my food on my own, and don't bow whenever they enter the room. Might sound ridiculous, but that's what I have encountered even in real live. I don't need that kind of teachers, and I definitely don't want them to have power in some subforum just because they have enough charisma to accumulate some disciples or fans who follow them. Once begun, where would you stop that?

 

It's a difficult issue in the whole spiritual scene.

It would be a great idea if you would have some test to make sure that someone is a good teacher, which would per se be someone who would never abuse any power you give to them. Well, as mentioned earlier in the thread, basically I'm okay with that, but people wouldn't like my tests and observations, and definitely people wouldn't like to wait 2 - 6 years until I'd approve them as "good teacher".

[i really don't care about system or religious background, I'm just talking about good practice and personal development.]

 

And no, coming back to that, insulting people is not my plan actually ^^ I've never been very good at it anyway. As long as I don't see people harm others I tend to not even bother people with very honest (negative) opinions of mine. Unfortunately bad practicioners are extremely good in feeling offended by just seeing someone holding an opinion they don't share - and that's the sort of "not my problem" I really wouldn't like to cope to much with in my free time.

 

'nough said, so far, I assume. Have a nice day

But then Nietzsche declared God dead and didn't replace it with anything. He left it up to man to find his own way. (Of course, he offered a lot of his own suggestions.)

 

I think Nietzsche was an idiot. Spitting all the time on people and an attitude without whom and which he wouldn't have been able to live too long, or comfortable in any way. Typical case of someone to whom you'd wish that anybody would listen to his ideas, so he might get an idea what his creations might lead to, by directly tasting the consequences himself.

Hello klr,

and welcome to The Tao Bums

Sorry, personally I can't help you, but I hope you'll find someone in here who might have some good advice :/

Your introductory post has been approved and you'll be able to post on the forum now. Please keep our Terms and Rules in mind when participating here.

 

 

Good luck and all the best,

 

Yascra

Hello Roman,

and welcome to The Tao Bums

Hopefully you'll find what you're looking for here Your introductory post has been approved and you'll be able to post on the forum now. Please keep our Terms and Rules in mind when participating here.

 

 

Greetings and all the best,

 

Yascra

Thank you all so much for your postings

And sorry if you find me lacking in discussion, but ... I'm a bit slow at times, and tend to need some time to digest things and go into them.

 

As far as I get it, the word "philosophical" is a bit misleading in this case. My association with "philosophy" is more that dried-up stuff that might have been inspired by cool persons some hundred years ago, maybe Greek or so, but tends to refer to a kind of discussion that's just for the sake of discussing things, without any thought of application. So .. you don't take it that way, I feel?

I think, as far as I've read through it, the Chuang Tzu is absolutely made for practice. You can take it as things to study, though I feel that this is like "studying" poems - you can spend too much additional words on them, but that will just destroy the beauty of it. Things like appreciating aesthetics.

 

So, hmm, still thinking about it, and exercising in practice of course, lol

Thank you so far for some interesting input!

 

Best to you,

Yascra

That's really interesting. Has he said anything?

I would say he rarely speaks, but he tends to smile in a very friendly way

How long had you been chanting for before this started happening? I've been trying to do it whenever I've not been focused on something else for about 16 months.

 

Do you tend to see similar stuff often? Maybe my 3rd eye is just too clogged right now.

I don't know what about my 3rd eye, but I tend to feel and see a lot of things. Though I have to say, very often I have problems to trust those perceptions of mine.

 

Well, that's the point of it. I don't count that mantra you know, and I rarely chant loudly, more silently or in my mind. But actually he appeared right when I started that practice.

I have to say that I have had quite a connection to Avalokiteshvara as well long before.

 

One day you might just open your eyes on that level and see him sitting right in front of you

Joyful and peaceful, I would say

Hello stillnessinmotion, and welcome to The Tao Bums!

 

Nice nick you chose, and thank you for this beautiful introduction

 

I'm sure you'll find some possibilities to discuss things that work in here, and maybe get some new impressions

Your introductory post has been approved, so you'll be able to post freely on the forum now. Please keep our Terms and Rules in mind when participating here.

 

 

Good luck and all the best,

 

Yascra

I doubt Zhunti exists, but the mantra still works. Just use the idea of Zhunti as an archetype of the nature of the Buddha you can become, instead of invoking a person invoke your own wisdom and compassion.

 

There's no point debating whether or not Zhunti exists... we have to assume something doesn't exist until a good reason to accept its existence comes up.

 

Actually I'm not "invoking" a "person". But I definitely have to say that I have contact to some very cool and beautiful being on the astral plane who helps greatly by working on my energy system. If you should look for him, he's looking more like an androgynous male to me

 

Oh, and usually he appears in a form with two arms. I sometimes also see him in a form with .. more .. arms, BUT that still scares me. Of course that should not inhibit anyone of regarding that mantra as some more "transcendental" thing - actually it works on MANY levels simultanously. For me it's just a strange thought that you never seem to have direct contact to or perception of that being like I do, for he's quite active in working on me, would be really hard not to notice that to some degree

 

Finally, yes, he can't hardly be "not me". But I think that should hold true for every enlightened being out there.

 

 

Best to you, and sorry for double-posting

For me, the fact that could hardly hurt, it's something that shouldn't be taken for granted.

This is the main reason for which I'm in to this thread: to read of experiences with this practice.

 

But it's difficult because people are usually not aware of the most subtle transformations that happen in their spiritual practice.

 

I'd say that mantra speeds up a lot of things, though this effect might depend on your karma.

But I'd also say that it hurts, or helps accelerating things, including chances to work through bad karma. When this happens, it's not necessarily a nice experience.

At least you're done with it afterwards.

 

Btw, I do not recite it extremely often in a sense of strict recitation. The mantra just ate up most of my other mantras

Hm, topic would better be placed in the Tech-Section I assume?

Sorry, don't have an explanation, as for the only idea which I have concerning editor-settings, you would not even be able to choose another font or size.

 

A general suggestion of mine for this size-thing would be, if you use a Windows-system, to click "Strg" + "+" simultanously. That will expand everything in your browser, so you don't need to adjust your own writing-size all the time, and will be able to read all the other things as big as you'd like to

(To turn the size back to "normal" just click "Strg" + "-")

 

But of course that doesn't solve your font-problem. Maybe really try a Browser-update? I just checked things out and everything worked fine over here.

 

All the best,

Yascra

I don't understand what's so great about breath. It's a mechanical way to put air in your lungs. Nothing less but necessary for survival, but also nothing more than that.

Zhuangzi Chapter 2:

 

'If you allow your mind to guide you,

who then can be seen as being without a teacher ?'

 

Still, all that living people seem to be interested in is "lineage" aka "association", and if you refer to "Vajradhara" you might be worshipped for that when you'll be dead, but as long as you're alive they'll call you a faker or mentally ill.

true will is forged in the fires of hell

 

This is a comment based on remembering which of the possible roles as "tortured" or "torturer"?

You know @Nungali, I think my problem with it is that, what people teach you, is always form stuff.

I feel I'd like to learn things, for I'm aware of the fact that I lack knowledge about a lot of things. But what I see to be offered is never what I'd like to learn. And, knowing that, I've really lost any interest in playing all those BDSM-games you have to do with any potential teachers. Always play the little nice child without intelligence and a brain and wisdom and experiences. Always first being taught that everything you've done till then was BS (usually without having been asked WHAT you have been doing inparticular), all the time being aware that just that expectation speaks for the low level of the person you're having contact to at that time.

I've come down to seperate new teachings into "might help with something" and "will clearly be a waste of time", and guess in what category I have to put most of what I encounter.

 

You can do rituals with groups, very great, great group sex, but as soon as you're finished with it, people will go on with their bad behaviour anyway. Just keep quiet as long as you're "in it", but even afterwards you're not allowed to do anything than serve as kind of a battery for some (group) spirit.

I'm sick of it.

Well, I can do mantras etc., and have effects from them, but what for? Karmic recompense is sure anyway. Try to grab something and hold it, and you'll just have more trouble to let it go lateron anyway, so what's the benefit of it?

 

Do all that energy stuff, great, but dying is something most great masters did as well, so why care about it? You'll loose all those nice physical things at death anyway, and at least in my life I don't have a need to be able to shoot energy out of my hands. There might be different setups, in times in which there was no electricity, and no firearms .. and those times might occur again, but very probably not as long as I have this particular body I'm using right now.

 

Is it normal that you're completely on your own if you want the "real stuff" and not just some nice feelings and nice decoration?

If any of those guys who left over the last years were really masters, why didn't they manage to lead their disciples to mastership as well? Why do spiritual people nowadays seem to be too superficial and have too little wisdom to find out on their own that any nice little feeling you might have will vanish as well as any bad feeling or sensation you might have or experience? Why does it seem like just religion is left, and real spirituality has left everywhere anyway?

 

Well, think I should stop that, could go on with a lot of it. What is not just a waste of time of which you'll later find out that it wasn't worthwhile anyway, in your opinion? Save people - lol to that. You can even purify people's karma for them, and still that will just be a cause for them once again not to learn the lesson, for obviously people tend to only be willing to learn any lesson the moment they do experience negative consequences of their actions. In the end you cannot ever save anyone at all, for either they'll make a decision one day to save themselves, or they're lost anyway, and in the latter case all you can do is cover that bad state with some sugar and nice colours so they don't notice anything. People simply don't want to make efforts to free themselves. They want to be and stay children who can't judge for themselves and make decisions on their own, just blinding themselves about the fact that karma doesn't care whether you're ignorant or not, and that going through consequences of your actions is something nobody can and will protect you from.

 

But, lol, you could regard mantras as the anaesthetics that help you not to notice too much of that karmic recompense. In that regard it's cool to be just unconscious.

Hello knight,

welcome to The Tao Bums

No worries, just proceed at your very own speed I'd suggest Things are easy going here, no need to hurry or put pressure on yourself. Your introductory post has been approved, so you'll be able to post freely on the forum now. Please keep our Terms and Rules in mind when participating here.


Good luck and all the best to you!

Yascra

 

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Lol

 

Reminds me so much of the words with which I was kicked out off my Organic Chemistry final examination. Just that the guy doing so left out the part with being polite.

Please link posts where he spammed and directly insulted other members before I joined.

 

You know, there is this little bar in the upper part of the forum, in which there's written the word "Search", and if you click the settings right besides that you even have more options to ensure you really find what you're looking for.