rideforever

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The original DVD of BKF Heaven and Earth, like all of his original DVDs ... is excellent. I found this once second hand on Ebay. Magnificient. It goes into all the advanced concepts including opening/closing, cavities in the body, the orbits, different advanced breathing and many things. With a huge amount of demonstration. It is very grainy probably done on VHS originally. Likewise the original DVDs for Dragon & Tiger and books that I bought when they were on sale, the highest most intelligent and well demonstrated and well educated things I have ever seen. I cannot quarrel with someone who needs to pay the bills, but I do notice that it has changed things in Energy Arts. One particular thing that I notice is that the materials have got longer and longer and longer and longer ... which is not of benefit to the student. The original material was concise complete and direct.

Thanks for that, I appreciate it !

You mean from BKF ? Michael Winn does a version of this with only one movement, he says that he and BKF learnt it from the same Chinese teacher and there is only one movement ... his version is on youtube. That's another thing the need to monetize has created .... the usual situation on this planet, where it's difficult to find a good plumber.

I had a reading that it was a spiritual gong ... I practiced it for several months seriously but I felt it was not right internally, the effect was not correct. It did various things but there was not a integrated result and it began to feel dangerous as if there were pieces missing. When I do Dragon and Tiger, have been for a long time, you can clearly feel the total integration of your body in a natural unforced way. My body said no to Wild Goose ... but it is an attractive style, animal styles are, but I have to be honest. There are certain rather strange moves that don't feel good, and the sequence also doesn't feel good ... in the first third of the first form I felt there were problems. Also in general not knowing what it was meant to do limited what you can do with it ... you can't deepen the effect if you don't know what the effect is. In D&T there are 2 books the second has clear technical guidance for the flow of qi ... which is quite simple and not alchemical.

Notes On The Lack of Intelligence in Internal Arts The energetics of many styles and lineages seem to be lost. I noticed this when I learned Dayan Wild Goose Qigong. After practicing it for a while I bought some reference manuals which purported to show the energetics but they didn't. What they had was when the hand goes down in front it's the conception channel and every time the centre of the palm happens to be adjacent to somewhere it said that the Laogong was stimulating some point. But this is all baloney. They simply don't know what the purpose is. Some medical qigongs like BKF's Dragon & Tiger have a particular energetic method like first wake up the LDT, then connect the legs to the LDT, then the upper body, then ... and so on. Which is why I do D&T. It is well designed and also a natural qigong. It did not feel safe to do Wild Goose anymore because the movements didn't seem to make sense, there was not a particular point to it. and they were also asymmetric which is strange for a medical qigong. And I noticed that a lot of big talking Western teachers had grey hair, I ended up learning it through Grandmaster Hui Liu from Vancouver ( I think ) because she seemed healthy and also painted beautiful traditional Chinese paintings. But I dropped it when I realised that it wasn't a sound practice, like with many things you have to invest a lot of time to realise it is not good, although there are many beautiful things about Wild Goose. Shane Lear also has a good soulful style. With regards LHBF, I have just had another look at Helen Liang (Vancouver)'s DVD with the energetics purported to be on it ... but again it is the same kind of thing. If the palm happens to be round about the head then Laogong feeds the Upper Dantien. This seems like Baloney. Although she comes from lineage so she probably does know inside what is going on ... I assume anyway. When the palm happens to be at head level you can't say Laogang feeds upper dantien ... and get away with it; that is certainly not the point of the movement that's just a silly coincidence. And then there are the very many "Tai Chi" people who do formless arm wafting and just don't care. Like I said earlier, my body refuses to do BS, it won't let me. It seems for many people that the more unknown the movements are the better. Rooting : many practitioners talk all the time about rooting and the kwa. I sense that this is because they don't truly know the energetic intent behind each movement or the style as a whole. Rooting is not the point. The point of internal styles is not to transmit the root into activity, that is a prerequisite and not the point of a style. And I cannot be sure that Rooting is appropriate in all styles either as the root can be taken from the LDT. FaJin : some spend a lot of time smashing younger students against a mattress with FaJin. What is this about ? Does it come down to FaJin power in the end ? Well if so, just disregard the style and work on FaJin ... for instance FaJin from a distance, or knife FaJin ... you could study FaJin as it's own style. But mostly the FaJin is pretty boring. Does FaJin work in combat, do MMA use it? Why can't you FaJin from a distance ? Perhaps all people want is a trick then they sleep well. But I sense that people simply refuse to practice intelligently so that the rest of the movements become useful in combat. That's why so may people revert to kickboxing when in combat. Well I am not sure what to make of all this, but doesn't smell good. And the same can be said for Taoist Alchemy in general, although there are so many wild ideas that I can't be completely sure, but as I have said becoming enlightened at the LDT is possible and requires no alchemy, it requires recognition and intelligence. And doesn't require a lot of qi. Many alchemical methods and Qigongs I have seen create qi structures that are unnatural obstructions in my opinion, and would have to be dissolved in order to enter the natural state which will take a long time. Other ideas like you can regulate your entire being from the basement in the LDT do not seem sound either as a roof requires its own tools to fix it. And the idea that you will be "physically immortal" is a strange one because there is only one world and you would certainly be mad to wish to revisit the human realm. Also as I have bored people with ... many senior-type teachers say that enlightenment is Awareness as in Indian spirituality which means they do not really understand Taoism. But that's fine. Also, in terms of the Secret of the Golden Flower. In the book the author specifies a practice, he tries to be unusually clear about it mentioned many points in the body to use as reference points. Well ... as it turns out there are many people studying the Secret of the Golden Flower and they are doing different practices that come from their "teachers". This is incredible. Perhaps somebody is making jam Golden Flowers sandwiches somewhere. Through my travels I have noticed many people failing because their ideas are incorrect. And I am also sure that if you have correct ideas then you will succeed. Also the TTC is not a text that points the way to Indian type realisation, it is written by someone on the road to a LDT realisation. Also I don't really know what the heart-mind is, but there is a centre of feeling in the sternum that is commonly known as the "heart". It is not a Dantien. The heart centre is one thing, the middle Dantien is another. Okay, well I am pretty sure this will not make any difference to anyone, but there it is. And I suppose we celebrate 2000 year old teachers because 99.99999% of people are wafting. And that's just fine ! Well, it's gonna have to be. And there's more. Most of the breathing practices I have seen are extremely harmful imo. Breathing is the lowest function you have that naturally takes you to the source. Any interference with it whatsoever will destroy your journey home. Playing with your breath is an easy fun game that gives you a sense that you have done something ... but this is not the way to become one with the breath ... that would require sensitivity and inner feeling and time. Feel the breath inwardly at the belly, merge with it, merge with it more ... until you are not more : no adjustment necessary : do not do it from the head. Flying Phoenix from what I have seen, like many qigong styles, uses a lot of this breathing work and in my opinion is a style that is done from the forehead ... in other words it is a style of awareness control of your functions and not taoist at all. Control is always attractive because it quickly give s you a sense of doing something, and you can force things and do 30,000 repetitions and really torture yourself so that you are head of the class. But all this alas has nothing to do with Taoism. And nothing to do with spirituality. The problem with control methods is that they give results. But ... they are not the droids you are looking for.

I am certain that people have no idea what they are doing with the economy, with spirituality, and with the internal arts !!! But I was gratified to find that Chen Xiaowang had used his intelligence to understand the energetic principles of his tradition, their understanding is using this you can reach a high standard in 3 years, without it 20 years. That comes from the lineage. Personally I am not able to do bs anymore; my body won't do it. My body says to me, they don't know what they are doing, > leave. And so I leave. As for LHBF it is a fragmented tradition, I have seen the same move done in 50 ways. No it's not because they have got their own style ... that's very polite. No, they just don't know what they are doing. Each style is a transmission of an energy state or an energy being. And each move has an energetic (and mechanistic) intention. You should know all these things when you practice. But people don't and don't care. That's okay. But I care that's all I'm saying !!! A lot of people who are no longer in a lineage and still practising degrade their movements because they don't know the principles behind them. That is really the key thing. I was thinking a few days ago that the benefits people receive from Tai Chi are mostly due to body--mind integration and conscious-subconscious integration. Yes they get some enegetic health benefits. But what they don't get is the Tai Chi energetic body of the tradition - I think that's rare. Nor do they get enlightened, that is also rare. And the majority do not know the energetic intention of each movement. And if they do get enlightened or awakened ... it is through Awareness, simply because they are very aware of their movements and practice a lot. It is not the true Taoist awakening which happens through the Dantien. There are some who get the whole shebang, but not many. There is a lot of this kind of thing in human culture. People do A and get B. People talk about C and mean D. E and F think they agree and fight with G and H. But actually E and H agree and F and G are on the other side !!! Maybe it's all a bit better or a bit worse then what I am saying, grey is a difficult colour to benchmark. Where's my coffee ?

Regarding Gall Bladder 14 above the eye, this acupuncture point appears to be located at an inconvenient point on the GB merdien where it goes down to above the eye before turning 180degrees and going back upwards. What are the implications of this design ? It seems this point gets blocked a lot which is not surprising given its design at the apex of a U-turn. Does it work like this ? Or does it not work like this ? And why was it designed like this ? And are there any secret channels that actually have it continuing down through eye along another meridien or something ? ( I seem to remember there is a bridge or regulator meridien that flows straight down through the eye to the stomach meridien )

I think it's better that you put the board flat and also that it is 3 times the length. That way you can put your feet flat and can do Zhan Zhuang rooting and moving from the root. With the board that short you end up with the board inside the arch of the foot and the front third and rear third of the foot are not on the wood ... that is not good as those areas have major energy centres that need to transfer energy into the ground. What you are doing is more like mountain climbers do and snowboarders, it's about being on edge and clinging on stressing the muscles. The platform is also too high, it is dangerous. It looks like some athletic equipment but it is only supported on one side. This means you can easily flip backwards and land on your spine. If you press down with the toes you will push the front supports into the ground which might spring up slightly tipping you back where there are no supports and off you fly. I suggest you have it 4" off the ground so that if you fall you'll be fine. Better still do it somewhere flat on the ground. You can later add difficulty by doing left right weighting, or lifting one leg according to the traditional training. What do you do in ZZ apart from standing ? A lot, but perhaps it is difficult to understand. You are meant to gradually relax and unwind all the soft tissues in the entire body, progressively over time. Being very relaxed and standing in the correct posture your body feels all the small and large tensions pains in the body and the mind starts playing up due to the lack of activity. You confront yourself but remain relaxed. That's the point. But that might mean nothing to you without being taught. It's not about being tough holding on defeating the clock or getting strong or developing muscles. Anyway, move from your belly, the form is very complicated and probably took you a long time to learn, and you can move around well ... but if I were you I would personally do it 3 times slower without the sword paying close attention to being fully rooted at all time paying attention to the shape and resting of the belly kwa legs and earth. And moving from down there. Checking you are rooted then making one move slowly, then rechecking you are in root and continuing like that. Doing the form from the base of the mountain. In each posture entering Zhan Zhuan again before the following movement. Very challenging.

Help needed for enthusiastic Mandarin translators ! This teacher purports to demonstrate the basic principles of LHBF in the following video, perhaps someone would care to translate a bit a the beginning so we can get the flavour ?

Oh yeah they do the whole emotional-music thing in a lot of videos on chinese arts ... but they don't fool me, I switch the volume down and look again. Often after I look again at what they are actually doing .... I turn the music back on, and switch the video off !!!

I recently saw this teacher, this is the best I have seen. I am attracted to LHBF but it seems impractical to learn it, shame. So many people doing so many different things called LHBF, what can you do. Even with the school and teacher in the video below, I have seen half a dozen versions ... all with variations in the form - what is the meaning of that ?!!! Does anyone know about this teacher style or school, it's in New Kowloon apparently.

And another view of the switchback at GB 14.

This is what I was thinking of it's part of the 8 extraordinary meridiens from Mantak Chia. Go straight down through GB14 down the stomach channel. Michael Winn has a nice form for working on these although I don't do Healing Tao anymore.

I was just watching a few minutes of Richard Hammond on youtube watching a large jet of water being opened by a huge valve, it's part of a hydro project. Anyway as the valve is opened and the water begins pouring out .... in comes the violins, the soaring music, the emotional music ... fuck me if I can't even remember what is happening, so much my emotions are being manipulated. Turn the sound off. A lot of "science" is like this. Nobody is learning anything, they just play pictures of planets or electrons or whatever, and then get the orchestra. It's the same manipulative techniques used to sell toothpaste. No wonder we have such a sciencey world and still people are stupid. I don't really like any of that. I don't like being manipulated, it's some sort of masturbation for phoney people.

Are we inconsequential. Another theory is that the entire universe is a machine to slowly grow conscious beings. These beings will not be the mass produced kind, but having grown slowly on their own in a dangerous place will have great power of reality. Eons of time have elapsed since the beginning. Most the universe is made of simple matter. On some planets life has evolved in stages. On very few are their beings approaching consciousness. If one being anywhere becomes consciousness it is the fruition of the entire universe, the culmination of the entire purpose. For mankind, this means nothing as the species is mostly animal ... but for a few they understand and their eyes are full of stars. They are the source looking at the source through the vehicle of the soul. They made it, or rather the source made it through them. Our evolution requires the day and the night. The disidentification that Sagan talks about and the commitment and engagement. There are no easy answers because to grow requires struggle. Nothing is for free. Even surrender is not free because only intelligent beings can do it, those who have been in the wars and learnt. The seasons of this world force us to grow and through growth there is a yield. Sagan is saying the same thing as is said in The Imitation of Christ, "vanity of vanities", of the total vanity of ordinary human life. Somehow he misses the religiousness of how he sounds, the awe and wonder staring at the stars. But it is no different from the religious, the very same words with the very same feelings. That is why people love Sagan. His mother was highly religious. But in the chaos of this planet, those who think they are religious aren't, those who think they aren't are, and everyone fights about this and that when they are on the same side. Or they think they are on the same side and aren't. Humans are on the ladder of consciousness, this particular rung somewhere between animal and angel is known as "tragi-comic". Nobody watches science in order to look at dead atoms. They look at the Cosmos and feel the spirit pulse through them.

Until I read Jan Silberstorff's book on Chen I didn't think anyone really understood TaiChi, but it turns out somebody does. As for LHBF I have heard many people talk about it. They repeat exactly the same things. They don't know anything. They are attracted by some mystery and legends, but they don't know what they are doing. It would be good if somebody good document some basic things like the difference between TaiChi movements, what the internal intention is, and compare that with LHBF movements. Chosing some simpler universeally-agreed movements as examples. This is a very basic thing. But I would be very surprised (happily surprised) if a single person on the planet could do that. Just a very basic thing, one TaiChi movement with the internal intention, and the same with one LHBF movemenent. Such a simple thing.

I was listening to Sheila the other day and she was describing her meetings with Osho during his 3 years silent period when he actually met his family and senior students every day and withdrew from the public but was not silent. She said that she would sometimes tell him that someone had asked what to do with this and that swirly energy or chakra opening or experience ... and he would roll his eyes and say "Sheila why you waste my time ... just tell them anything you want". He was not interested in powers at all, nor in experiences, he was interested in letting students unscrew themselves by shaking out all the garbage and being more natural and simple with their needs and desires; and in his later years often just sat quietly absorbed in deep states saying little.

Interesting reading. I think human life is very difficult and confusing. It can seem desirable to fly away with imagination, to wish to be Siddhi powered or Bodhisattva. It's a bit like when people talk of their past-lives they were always Cleopatra or Alexander the Great ! Nobody ever remembers a past-life as Joe the postman. Anyway it's good to have an awakening but it doesn't really fix anything. Many spiritual people live with a small awakening or awareness whilst the rest of them is simply dying or in stasis and they hang around in big groups and each one of them has 0.5% awakening and sort of desperately cling on to it. This isn't so good. You are what you are and there is gold in there, within the "ordinary life". Unfortunately "ordinary material life" is hated by spiritual people as well as ... scientific progress people. Everybody hates "ordinary material life". But I tell you if you are in love with a woman is beautiful to you ... then it's everything. It doesn't matter if you are rich or poor or Bodhisattva. Because you are you, and she is she. There is no escape, it's quite a deep thing. You cannot be something else, so the only way is in. And don't imagine there is nothing in there. Both the spiritual and science people are telling you to improve from your "ordinary material life", they stand around and tell you that your life is sh1t. All of them do. But I tell ... it is gold. There is nothing ordinary or material about you. If you come to know you. It is all made of stars.

There are indeed people who are like this. They cannot take responsibility for the awakening that has happened because their intelligence cannot capture the meaning of it. The awakening has happened only energetically, and due to this may not be permanent. Such people normally have a partial State of Awareness, which is the shallowest of states and occurs behind the front of the forehead. That state has a very faint energetic body which is very difficult to feel. Because of this such people say they are everything and everywhere because they can't sense where they are at. Such people can quote any lines from any scripture in any tradition and think that's them. There are a lot of people like this on the internet monetizing. Such is the world. In the same way as nobody knows how to run the economy nobody really knows what they are doing in spirituality. I have heard several high profile internal arts teachers say that the real spirituality is the same kind of awareness that they have in India and that internal arts are of a lower practice. Which is an honest thing to say, but it also means they don't understand the difference between awakening of Awareness, of consciousness and of the LDT. They think it's all the same. Many people seem to be attracted to Taoism because they think it means go with the flow or something. Anyway it's a mad planet, believe me or not !

No, when you talk about enlightened qualities you are still trying to get something. You are not ready to die. That's how most people approach spirituality, they want to stay themselves and then add something to it. The strange thing is that half of spirituality is based on people trying to add something to what they are; the other half of spirituality is genuine. He did not say he was depressive or in pain, he lived in exceptional health his whole life. The process of change though was very painful, he called it the calamity, the sudden shattering of his identity. In my experience people who talk of qualities they have are in shallow states. They sort of get to live the dream, they remain as they are but are able to experience so aspect of awakening and feel great. They can broadcast quite a lot of noise about their discoveries and powers and discuss different energies and faculties and whatever. Then those who are surrendered are different they are quieter, they are absorbed, they don't care which qualities they have because they know it's meaningless. And then there are those who are finished and aren't really alive in the ordinary sense. Some teachers play a sort of act, like J. Krishnamurti. He gives them what they want, polite English spoken very sweetly saying lots of nicey nicey things all above the line. Others promise energies and healings in big gatherings, again this kind gives them the spectacle that they want. Some like Sadhguru answers any question on earth, because being enlightened means you can do that of course. Anyway, for me I like those like Nisargadatta, oh he makes me laugh. Sitting in his crappy little brass lamp shop selling crappy string-wrapped packs of beedi cigarettes to the bums of Mumbai for 1/2 a ruppee, with the smog and stink of Mumbai streets coming through the door. He sits with some students and screeches like a saw hacking through steel ... he screeches his Advaita teaching. Him, I like !!!!

I would say it must be considered enlightenment, he died during the process and says it clearly in his memoirs. He is clear that "you don't want this", because seekers do not really understand what such things mean. They imagine it is an awakening thing that can be added to what they are already, they don't really want to go through death. His enlightenment is the same as the death described in Zen , which is described as the withered tree, followed by the withered tree grows new shoots. You give up breathing and stop breathing, until something else revives you without your will. My definition of the difference is that awakening is any number of objective states that you may embody on this side. But enlightenment means that you have died to the manifest world and are on the other side, and live from the source.

Existence is exploring by dividing into new forms. If any of these forms become self-realised it then becomes permanent because it is like a tunnel from the source to the source through a vessel. If the form does not become self-realised it is discarded. This explanation ... explains why we are here. The idea that we are undoing everything so that we can not exist is not very good, is existence so stupid? And are we, monkeys, smart? Why should we follow the path so that we don't exist any more? These are all bad ideas. Humans live in a "world" formed by the partial development of the "mind" organ. Because it is partially developed it gives rise to many wrong ideas that are ancient and wrong. But ... if you can imagine evolution gradually developing species then there is a point where a species gets the beginnings of the mind organ and starts to think a lot and have ideas, and all those ideas are ignorant and have wrong things in them, due to the mind organ being just the beginning, like the beginning a new kidney. This is unavoidable. This is where the human exists. Evolution cannot give a species a fully cooked mind. It gives them just the beginning. Because such a mind allows them to murder everything else on the planet and so this species feels confident. But in fact its ideas although sometimes being very good ... all carry within them delusion, delusion due to the mind being a very provisional beginning of the mind organ. Imagine a species that is blind and one day gets 1/8th of an eyeball. Now it can see. ... something. And so it can get more food and mates than other species because it can see a little bit. It feels very good about itself. The species becomes excited and rushes about a lot. It falls into ditches and is a bit surprised. It runs into trees and is also a bit surprised. The species has only developed 1/8th of an eyeball. Such a species may develop a religion based on cutting out the 1/8th of an eyeball, or that the world seen through it should be killed or is not real. Kill the ego, you don't exist.

He had an unusual enlightenment. From what I understand he did the practices of the Theosophical society which are multifarious. But it is certainly not an Indian enlightenment. Different cultures developed different parts of the inner being. For instance in Islam and Sufism, they have a tradition of poetry of love, of the sweet sounds of the Quran sung in the early morning, or roses made of mosaics. This is totally different to the type of experience that is held in the TTC. What is the cause of the difference? It's because they are working on different parts of the inner being. Islam on the heart (meaning the centre in the sternum between the nipples) and Taoists on the Dantien (ldt). These organs of the real being receive different aspects of the Source. The love aspect or the energy substrata aspect. UGK had no idea what happened to him, he spent most of the time saying there is no enlightenment and there is no difference between me and you ... (apart from all these differences !!!) I think that almost all enlightened people have no idea what really happened to them. They just triggered the thing, they don't really understand how or why. Not only that but people often teach practices different then the ones they did themselves. Another strange thing. So, in this world where most people don't care about such things and there is great confusion, what can be said for certain? Certainly the inner being has many different centres each which can be individually enlightened, and that different cultures have specialized in. Why would that be ? It has ancient origins, the Indian cultures flowed into intellectualism, the middle east perhaps more into the heart, and china into a grounded belly orientation. Who knows exactly. Perhaps different immortal beings came to earth and gave a transmission of different parts of the inner being. I don't really know about physical immortality, but the Dantien is the reception/ transmission point of the energy of the Source that flows into the "physical" body and so enlightenment there produces very positive results. The Heart if awakened also heals the body in a different way as the divine energy flows in. Do you really want to be "physically" immortal in this body forever ? Perhaps a little down the road you will not wish this. Perhaps it is the confrontation with your own death that leads your identity to be beyond death. In China and India they did so many practices it is impossible to say what they all mean or where they all went. Is a "lineage" going somewhere different to what is available in the inner being (that is made by the source) ? Perhaps people in a particular lineage add a certain flavour to their awakenings but their awakenings must be about activating one of the possibilities that existence has placed within you already. Perhaps only pure awakenings (without lineage) are .. pure. I don't know. Existence is rich with possibilities, choose your way and succeed.

I was thinking today that all the strange gods of Hinduism with many heads and arms .. is idolatry, or a god other than your real self, a discomfort with what you are. With Taoism there is a devotion to Tao ... a sort of abstract universal thing. In Christianity there are no 8 arm gods. There are only human beings, the walls and glass of the church is covered in images of human beings, fishermen,.mothers, nuns, soldiers, judicial figures. People human beings. This is a superior religion that reflects the divinity of human life, more or less. It is a human religion rather than some channel to "the source". I had a quick look at Father Ripperger's books on exorcism today and these guys are very serious. Christianity is barely known. Going to church is the least of it, that is like the exoteric circle. Within Christianity are many surprising secrets. Buddhism is a powerful path but it is not very human, the Buddhists aren't very good dancers. There are emptiness. Because in India they smoked a lot of hash it is possible that they channelled a religion from a different world, from the Buddhist planet or something where people don't dance and don't have a sense of humour. Not sure where Judaism is at at the moment but I did hear that most of the kibbutzes in Israel are now secular. When Israel was formed they were very religious, but only about 5 out of 100 are still religious. Krsna'ism might be more human centered because they worship the personality of godhead which I think means they worship a big person ... so it is not an abstract deity, and the stories of Krsna are of him dancing and playing on Earth. No matter the disaster of organised society, I am certain that a world with no rules would become a worse primitive hell very quickly, and that there is no freedom other than the Way. And that the chaotic world we live in is totally appropriate for a species as low down the ladder as we are. Also I think that mankind has lost faith in itself. It has lost contact with who it is. And accustomed itself to being extremely negative like a big circle of people standing round and eagle and criticising it for flying. After some time the eagle would be ashamed to fly. That is what we are doing to each other. But perhaps at the end our consciousness is just too low and we have to change that.