ankhmor

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Everything posted by ankhmor

  1. Good day folks! I tried to look into common history of qigong and yogic asanas (the physical bit of yoga), and so far has had no luck with google. I have just two pieces of information. -- Qigong seems to have been fairly evolved by 2nd century BC. That's the dating of the silk scrolls depicting qigong practice. -- Around the same time period, there is the earliest written mention of asanas, albeit without specific examples. That's all I've been able to find. The google search of a common history keeps leading me to yoga and qigong comparisons, but I'm not interested in that. I want to learn about their common history, if there is one. Perhaps they have a common ancestor? Perhaps they originated completely separately? Perhaps we know nothing? Best wishes, Anton
  2. There is a world of people born into the most dire circumstances. Take the millions that live in slums. What is that?

  3. How does suffering come to be

    ankhmor replied to ankhmor's topic in Daoist Discussion

    Well, wow... this got out of hand and off-topic real quick. To clarify, the reference to slums was not about people being born with less, it was about people being born into leprosy and life in very literal feces. What is that? PS. Many of the replies sound like they are written by people in very comfy situations.
  4. Thank you Spotless. I've been thinking about what you wrote. There's some understanding of it, perhaps. There's still a long way to go it seems.
  5. To help me understand: Given that we are born with Karma/frequencies, are there then people born with no possibility of ever becoming interested in meditation (shedding their frequencies)?
  6. Thank you spotless. Let me ask you another, perhaps more important question: What is your understanding of free will and how do humans fit in it? I am currently reading a book called "The illusion of conscious will" by Daniel Wegner. Also I recently stumbled upon a podcast from NPR http://www.radiolab.org/story/revising-fault-line/ The gist of it, as I gather, is that the feeling of will (feeling that we cause actions with our thoughts) is an illusion; the reality is that there are unknown mental processes that cause the actions we take AND create the feeling that the actions were willed. In other words, the feeling of willing has nothing to do with the action happening. It goes hand in hand with us being born blank slates, and learning everything from our environment, from someone else -- that even with all the free will in the world we are biased, moulded by outside influences. My favourite bit of information is this video: You are Two. It's only 5 minutes long. With this video in mind, and the above, where does meditation fit in? Cheers.
  7. Hello Spotless, I've once again come to pester you with questions First, somewhere (I can't find it) you mentioned that yoga as practised by many is nothing but calisthenics. So what makes yoga yoga? Cheers
  8. Thank you, Spotless
  9. Hi Spotless, I just came back from a Vipassana meditation center (Goenka's traditon). In case you don't know, the technique that they teach is one of being aware of the sensations on/in the body. To achieve higher levels of concentration they start their courses with anapana (breath awareness) meditation. The techniques are very simple. During the time there, I asked the teacher a question (paraphrasing and expanding on the details of my practice -- perhaps you have some comments): What are your thoughts on the teachers answer (the question is open ended on purpose, perhaps you will address what dantiens are, give warnings, ask questions)? Thank you.
  10. Apologies. Thank you.
  11. Apologies for barraging you with questions Spotless. This is a common theme, if not the theme, of my meditations. How many times have there been a peak experience during a sit, to instantly disappear because the "i" becomes scared of losing this peak. I have trouble staying unattached to pleasant sensations. It's like asking "how do you throw a ball?" -- "go throw some balls" is the answer. Still, the question is, are there techniques for cultivating neutrality? Thank you.
  12. Thank you. Can't be reminded of this often enough.
  13. Spotless, Here's a few of questions for you, if you don't mind. What is a subtle body? What are subtle energies? There's another quote to add to the above, but its elusive; it starts something along the lines of: "moving energies is child's play, ..." What are you thoughts on microcosmic orbit meditation then? Thank you
  14. When there's attachment to the a result, the result disappears. In meditation, i've been swept in waves of pleasure, losing wonderful sensations which give rise to the pleasure in the first place. The worst have been when i aimed for those sensations in following meditations, to find nothing, to boil in anger; what kind of meditation is that?
  15. ​ ​you said that you will continue your post, perhaps you were going to answer these questions then. ​so, if the goal is to break the addiction to resistance, how can one achieve that? ​ ​ ​in which ways are music and drugs useful then? It seems that they are often used as a tool in some traditions.

  16. coming with a question

    ankhmor posted a topic in Welcome

    Hello. Perhaps this is rude, definitely selfish -- i searched for a Daoist forum just to ask this one question. The question is asked on buddhism stackexchange, so far receiving no satisfactory answers. http://buddhism.stackexchange.com/q/18738/5849 There is a sense that i'm asking for too much, asking a question that can not be answered in words. Perhaps the Daoist community has a different take, a more hands on answer. Perhaps this question is of interest to others as well. Thank you. PS. To add a life example to the question: Sometime in the morning i wake up with an urge to pee. Sometimes i can stay in bed for 10-20 minutes, for no good reason, knowing well that there is no escape from this bodily function. In that state, i examine my volition: i can easily get up, and just as easily stay in bed. So what phenomenon makes that choice? Why is it that one day i get up right away, and other days it can take "forever", yet feeling that the choice is "right at the fingertips"? Who is, what is volition? Again, thank you.

  17. coming with a question

    ankhmor replied to ankhmor's topic in Welcome

    Could you please clarify what you mean by "resistance"?

  18. coming with a question

    ankhmor replied to ankhmor's topic in Welcome

    Thank you for the warm welcomes To clarify, I'm looking for the Daoist perspective, not the Buddhist perspective, though in general I don't really care which perspective it is as long as the answer is there. The question copied from Buddhism stackexchange is below: This is a third attempt at formulating a question. This question and this question have been asked, but not formulated in a way that conveyed the question. So now, in a third attempt, the formulation shall be: what is volition? EDIT: The answers still do satisfy the question in the mind, although they are answers to the question on 'paper'. Apologies for the lack of skill in phrasing the question. Let us see if the following clears up what is being asked: Imagine life as a series of moments; one moment after another in a line infinitely long. Imagine that there is a decision that must be made, to chose A or B, both equally likely to be chosen (for whatever reason, such as lack of understanding which is the right choice). This decision is present only in a single moment within the infinite series of moments. What is that single moment of choice? What is that single moment made of, what substance, what phenomena? Who/What is doing the choosing? Why A over B, or B over A, if both are equally likely? Thank you Jeff. If you don't mind, could you elaborate on your answer. It seems true, what you say about me having some degree of "volition" (is there a better word?). Sometimes there is a feeling that it can be "touched", but it always stays out of reach, too elusive to be studied. How would one get closer to "touching" volition? Thank you, Anton