Michael Sternbach

On 13.12.2021 at 9:53 PM, questionmark said:

I'd like to know what would be important for you when you choose a TCM practitioner!

Are there specific qualifications you'd deem important and which one are those, how important are international recognized qualifications, does there have to be specific techniques? Is acupuncture always necessary or are there some who (seem to) only deal with decoction (extracted boiled herbs)? 

 

Would be great to get some helpful insight! Thanks!

 

 

It's easy!

You get better: They are good for you! 😊

You get worse/die: They are (were) not good for you!* 🙁

It's as simple as that, really.

*At any rate, not good enough!

The full realization of yourself.

If there's such a thing.

On 21.12.2021 at 2:23 AM, Daniel said:

What is your opinion of right-and-wrong or good-and-evil?  Do they exist?

 

I vote yes!  They do exist.

 

Theft, Murder, Rape, Kidnapping are all wrong and evil.

 

If wrong and evil exist, then certainly good and right exist.

Right. And wrong.

Happy New Year!

Michael

On 28.12.2021 at 5:01 PM, Seeking said:

Have you noticed this? Maybe its just the Chinese way of disinfo to weed out the real from the fake by who sees through the trick and who falls, hook line and sink. The way I see it is like this:

 

Intuitively I sense that a lot of practices/forms that are in the public domain are either obviously watered down, incomplete or just straight up forgeries of the real deal. Its hard to express linguistically because intuition is preverbal but on an energetic level its like this:

 

There is a "field" shall we say, an energetic blueprint of wholeness that is around certain forms. One very popular form on here has it present and correct but only at the foundational/middle level as there are higher aspects of it that are obviously not released to the public yet. Its like I can feel the "shape" of the form, its non physical point of origin and then there is whats being taught and you can compare and contrast the sensations, if you get what I'm saying? Like a glass half filled with negative space in the rest. Whats that old saying? "If a man is thirsty give him half a cup. If he truly thirsts he will ask for more". Like I said, its cultural and naturally ingrained in the Eastern belief system and seems obvious to me.

 

I do get the feeling that during the Qigong boom of the 70s lots of half assed info was spread that was then further mangled in translation with compounded errors added on by "Masters" in the West who pay obesience to Oriental gentlemen that aren't actually equipped to sweep the temple steps, let alone guide anyone else. Simply put they're faking it to people who can't tell the difference anyway.

 

Its super common in the magick field for those of you who know as Grimoires are parallel to a form and people hold them close to their chest. Workings that are shared are often flipped, edited or distorted to keep the originator in a place of power or just to plain through the followers off course and waste their time in pointless busy work. The parallel in the energy fields is quite evident and I'm wondering if anyone else has spotted it?

 

Out of respect I won't be naming names as to what I see as fraudulent as that really doesn't serve any purpose as its up to the practitioner to be discerning and heed that inner wisdom. Sometimes its like this:

 

 

Where the whole practice is correct but taught "off script" so that the pieces are in the incorrect order and there is not optimal correlation with the energy field of the form in its optimal state. Others are more like:

 

 

In that what you have will never fit, no matter what you try. Most people are just happy enough to have some pieces to play with due to the distraction and busy work it brings even if cumulatively they are running on an energetic treadmill as a total waste of their effort.

 

Intuition is preverbal but hopefully you get my imagery and intent. There are also loads of other factors like cultural cues which are self evident and felt like they never needed to be expressed when mouth to ear teachings were written down only to have them literally translated centuries later and make absolutely no sense. Yet people dare not question "the old ways" because they lack the discernment to see what I've outlined.

 

Do you agree or disagree? Or is my attitude of nonchalant bravado showing again?

Hi Seeking

True, esoteric teachings are sometimes incomplete -- for a variety of reasons. And not all of them are of a mischievous nature.

Yes, sometimes there is a limited amount of information offered just as a "teaser" ("come visit my $5000 seminar and we will teach you the rest"). Sometimes something is meant just for beginners -- to be supplemented with more advanced information at a later stage (either by the original teacher, another teacher or "your inner teacher"). Sometimes the author was themself unaware of what was missing. Sometimes some important information was lost in translation. There are many "sometimes", many possibilities... It may be hard to put a label on a given case.

But he, why bother? Is the cup you mentioned half-empty or half-full to you?

If you (as you say) can sense what is missing, or how a practice as handed down could yet be improved, why not simply fill in the gaps yourself?

Alright, some may consider that kind of pragmatic attitude disrespectful to tradition. But like the Sanskrit poet Kālidāsa wrote, some 1600 years ago: पुराणमित्येव न साधु सर्वम् purāṇam ity eva na sādhu sarvam, 'Not everything is good simply because it is old.'

Michael 

Philosopher's Stone

Proserpina and Pluto

New Horizons

Ocean Form,

I never stayed at a Buddhist monastery, but I meditated with the monks in a Zen temple in Kyoto back in the day.

Before that, I once joined a sesshin with a Western Zen monk/teacher conducted in a hotel. It included several hours of zazen practice  over a number of days.

I know that some temples and monasteries in Japan offer lay/foreign practitioners the opportunity to join a sesshin as well. A Google search will bring up various options.

However, it's quite possible that you could find something like that in your area too.

Cheers 

Michael 

Cow

In this podcast, Randall Carlson talks at length about the reasons why the Azores should not be disregarded as a possible location of Atlantis.

It's true that, according to contemporary academic consensus, the Azores don't seem to have formed a coherent land mass of appropriate size within the timeframe in question. However, research conducted in the late 40's/early 50's repeatedly showed evidence for just that, including beach sand and the remains of surface zones organisms in core samples taken from the sea floor.

Submergence of this large Atlantic isle could be explained as being due to both glacial isostatic adjustment and rise of sea level subsequent to the melting of zillion tons of ice at the end of the Ice Age.

This screenshot from Randall's presentation indicates what the area may have looked like some 20.000 years ago.

4 hours ago, Apech said:

 

What if you didn't?

Then Nungers would have spared me many head palms!

On 29.11.2021 at 10:07 AM, Draco said:

What if Atlantis is also an alchemical stage?

Atlantis is generally described as a prehistoric utopia, a world that had reached an advanced level of spiritual, scientific and technological achievement.

However, at some stage things went south... The Atlanteans had become too proud of their achievements and, according to Plato, the Gods decided to punish them for their hybris and imperialistic behaviour by submerging the isle in the ocean.

I think this could be likened to the initial stage of the Great Work of Alchemy, the so-called Nigredo, in which your starting matter undergoes dissolution and destruction, as it is being reduced to its First Matter (prima materia).

The whole subsequent process aims at restoring and elevating this First Matter to its final perfection (ultima materia), a state in which it will even be able to transmute base metals into gold, heal any disease in living beings, and extend their life span indefinitely.

If again we wish to draw an analogy to the story of Atlantis, we could consider the fact that the knowledge of the Atlanteans was never truly lost, but disseminated - in bits and pieces - throughout various cultures. At the proper time, its reassembly could indeed lay the foundation for a new perfected world, a Golden Age, for which the Philosopher's Stone could serve as an analogy.

Atlantis is as much in our future as it is in our past.

Hi Shad

For me, the question should be rephrased: "How do I live with my desires?"

🙀😅😉

Yes, they are fascinating creatures indeed. Just sad that learning about them inevitably involves cutting them open for those scientists interested in them.

How about a news line: 'Octopusses peered into a scientist's brain - and were shocked at what they saw' - for a change.

I heard that proper sitting in zazen induces the microcosmic orbit automatically.

From my personal experience, I can say that, many moons ago, when I started practising zazen, I experienced strong and exhilarating energetic effects that I didn't expect. As the few books on Zen I had read at the time emphasized sobriety and basically a 'common state of mind'.

Rarely are altered states of consciousness during meditation discussed as such in Zen. But that doesn't mean they don't (or should not) occur. I found learning about them from non-related sources... enlightening.

Concepts and emphasis may differ from one system to another. The psycho-physical system that individual practitioners are working with ever stays the same regardless.

It took me some time to piece together a picture that would explain my internal experience more in depth. Today alchemy is definitely an important part of it, however.

Some may object that concepts are not important in cultivation, that only experience matters. But we can't help reflecting on our experiences, and the conclusions we draw will colour our further experiences inevitably. So we better choose our concepts wisely.

Zen practice and alchemy... Yes, they are clearly connected to each other in my book - as well as to many other things. And that's cool with me.

Owls

Twirlywoos

Hi Tristan, welcome to TDB.

Great that you are seeking a path of self-cultivation at so early an age.

When I was about your age, I started studying martial arts and Eastern philosophy (Zen, Daoism).

But everybody is different... What are you feeling most attracted to?

Ah so desu ka?

r

Squid 🦑

Detergent

1 hour ago, Apech said:

Deus vult

Déjà-vu

Vote

Such measures are indeed a double-edged sword. Arguably, some of them could be saving lives. By the same token, they could destroy lives as well, as they wreck havoc with countless businesses. And so on.

On the one hand, there is the medical side that I feel we can't always trust the media to represent in an unbiased and balanced fashion. Most of us may not be medical experts - but even amongst the latter, there is an appreciable degree of disagreement. And what about naturopathic views? They tend to diverge from mainstream opinion almost by definition.

On the other hand, there are ethical implications as well - when push comes to shove, what do we value most? Our safety - or our liberty?

Obviously, different individuals will have different views on all that. I feel, now more than ever, staff should uphold TDB's traditional position as an independent platform for open discussion. A last bastion of uncensored exchange between free thinking and self-determined individuals, if you will.

Understandable as the administration's concerns may be, what each reader makes of the information presented here should be left to their own discretion.

As things stand, I prefer not to tick any of the optional boxes offered in the OP. What I shared are simply some general philosophically inspired guidelines that I suggest you take into consideration.

Cheers

Michael