Vajra Fist

There's still some good stuff around the shaolin area. Wugulan style under Wu Nanfang and Shi Dejian. Shaolin xinyiba under Hu Zhengsheng. Both styles are internal and trace back to the temple before the revolution.

I think the best things that happened in my life were down to chance or accident. Finding a career, moving abroad, meeting my wife, even IVF for our son. But I don't think I ever had a passive attitude toward these things. I worked hard to get a job, I was looking for a long-term partner. So while success or failure depend on fate, divine provenance or luck - however you want to see it. You still have to care about it, and strive forward in pursuit of your goals.

Qigong is largely a means of health maintenance. In many ways, going to the gym is probably better for that if you have time. It is possible to practice alchemy, but it's very labour intensive getting to that point. And people at the furthest point along the path tend to talk about jhana as the ultimate achievement. Honestly I feel like meditation is the best use of my time, if I only have two hours free every day. Edit - I am quite keen though on exploring the relationship between qigong and the clarity and stability of the mind during meditation. Lots of Buddhist teachers are incorporating qigong into their teachings now because of its supportive effect in this regard. In addition, sitting for long periods can sometimes make the body (and the mind) somewhat sluggish. Qigong seems to counteract that.

I'm not sure tbh. Better to ask a teacher. John Dolic says no meditation at all. Others like Lisa O'Shea and a guy in Germany I emailed said meditation is fine, so long as it doesn't involve visualisation. Instructions are quite vague.

Thanks for the clarification. I've seen long term dedicated students of this system say this to other people on other threads as well. Appreciate you being willing to set the record straight. For the record, I don't think I'm particularly evil. I'm just a middle-aged dad who enjoys walking the dog and painting plastic model kits. I've never felt inclined to hurt anyone. But it did make me wonder about whether I was a real bastard in a past life. Perhaps I'm just insensitive to what it's doing internally. I wouldn't say I'm a particularly subtle person. Maybe time to give it another go

Don't be daft, you were one of the good ones. Glad to see you still around.

I didn't say anything about anyone in particular! Ignore me, your post just reminded me of dramas in the past.

That's alright, just practicing cultivation of speech

.

It didn't really do anything for me too. I noticed a bit of a mellow feeling during forms, but nothing really carrying over into daily life. If anything, I found myself becoming a bit more irritable. Some former members here were quite enthusiastic to point to earlier comments on how this system doesn't work for 'evil people'. With the implication being that I was an evil person. I wouldn't see myself like that personally, but who knows.

I'd probably suggest following a tradition. From what I've heard, Rob Burbea's jhana course is a good place to learn whole body breathing from a Buddhist perspective. Similarly Thanissaro Bhikku's guided meditations also lead you there gradually.

Thanks for the recommendations! We really enjoyed Death's Game

That's very interesting! So karma is basically how you relate to the experiences of your life? If you're happy or regretful, angry or sad when you experience memories of your past. And if you no longer have craving or aversion, and have perfect equanimity when these memories arise, that effectively means karma is extinguished? I wonder why in early buddhism they emphasised mudita, I.e. cultivating joy at the recollection of your own good deeds. Is that to increase the weight of good karmic causes, for those unlikely to reach the goal?

In Buddhist cosmology there are six realms. The lower rebirths are places of suffering, hells, ghosts and animals. The higher births are of humans, demi-gods and gods. In some traditions, these correspond to mental states. For instance: Hells - anger Ghosts - greed Animals - ignorance Humans - desire Demi-gods - jealousy Gods- pride/torpor Generally speaking, one would need exceptionally good karma to be reborn in the higher realms. So the issue then comes to your next life. If you spend your life in cultivation, but fail to reach the state of an arahant, where you have extinguished all karma, then you will still be subject to rebirth. Unless you've entered the stream, there is a high likelihood that whatever merit you have generated from your practice will be transformed into good fortune in your next life. You might become a chief executive of a company, or else be reborn in the realm of the gods. But even there you will be subject to rebirth. After extinguishing your good karma, you may fall to the lower births again.

It's like no backsliding. I.e. you will no longer be reborn in lower realms, you will encounter the dharma in every lifetime, and you are guaranteed to eventually attain nibbana within five rebirths. Stream entry works like this. Pure land doctrine is a little different and is mainly based on the Amitabha sutra, a mahayana text. The principle is if you recite Amitabha Buddha's name (a practice known as nembutsu/nianfo) then at death you will be reborn into a pure abode. This is kind of like a special training environment where you can cultivate and eventually realise buddhahood. The idea is that you are no longer subject to rebirth. You are therefore protected from falling onto evil paths, being lost in samsara and not encountering the dharma again in hundreds of thousands of rebirths.