kyoji

I'd assume because it was much more of a patriarchal society and there is a complete lack of lunar ( feminine,yin) influence on Christianity as far as I can tell.. I am just a toddler on the path though, so this is all a bit confusing for me. I suppose the lack of dual cultivation of these forces can account for the the very polarized thought in the world today, as a large part of modern societies are based on christian principles, but i do not have a deep enough experiential or intellectual understanding to say much more with any certainty... I don't think this lack of the feminine principle is only a result of societal norms in the cultures in which these systems arose, I think that the fruits of the cultivation when you only focus on this solar / masculine principle is quite different than dual cultivation or solely lunar feminine cultivation and I think that true adepts know very well what they are doing in these regards, with a clear goal in mind ( some of them at least )... What these fruits are,is what I am trying to find out before I devote myself to any path. It seems to me to be a newage fallacy to think that all paths lead to the same place when you are not even cultivating the same thing... I am just too new to these studies to understand what the goal exactly is on the right, left and razor edged / middle path. My premature and overwhelming experience of the divine seemed very motherly at first really, and was very dark and confusing. everything was there but it was without substance and can be best described as infinite potential. Kind of like how there was potential for me to be born when i was but a yet to be inseminated egg inside of my earthly mother ( an as above so below kind of dynamic ? ) The masculine moving principle did not come til later and then things felt a little more clear.. my awareness was not so foggy at this point, but I was still rather confused about what i was to do, or not do for that matter. It was whiter than white, but I didn't know what to do with the light. I got frustrated at not having the means to complete this circle that would move clockwise and counterclockwise changing back and forth, and it continued to turn into a luminous man sitting in full lotus posture and then completely exploded and then there i was disoriented and back in my body, sitting in my room. I felt like I had tried perfecting the circle infinite times with no success, but had no recollection of the other times, it was just something i intuited. Made me really start to truly consider the idea of past lives and reincarnation. Anyways, that is enough of my confused rambling for now. I really enjoyed reading this thread. Thank you Fa Xin.

Late to the party, but I agree 100%. I had never read the apocryphon of John til now... The only major discernible difference for me is the masculinity ascribed to the one here, as opposed to the femininity ascribed to it in Daoism..

Hello fellow bums, I would like to start off a thread dedicated to the void. I don’t have a ton of knowledge on the actual alchemical process unfortunately, but I have a pretty good beginners grasp of the heart of daoist philosophy, and am also quite interested / familiar with Buddhist ideas mainly ch’an / zen. I have a very rudimentary sitting practice , and have a hard time sitting for more than 10-15 tops, 2x a day. I am slowly increasing the number but some days are much easier than others. At this point your probably asking what any of this has to do with the void? Well for me, the idea of the void/ emptiness / sunnyata was such an abstraction that I couldn’t really conceptualize it ( go figure ). it was spoken about so often in the literature, but was so elusive to me. Until the day I visited it.. or at least believe that I did. Last December I met a lady in the business of plant medicine, who happened to have some changa.. a smokable Dimethyltriptamine containing blend. She knew I had a handful of prior experiences with psilocybin mushrooms, that I treated very sacramentally. They really opened my eyes to so much more, and were got me interested in Buddhism / Daoism / Tantra in the first place. She warned me that this changa was a completely different can of worms, but thought my head was on my shoulders enough to see what this plant blend had to offer me.. it it offered me everything and nothing all at once. a few weeks after meeting this new friend, and being gifted the plant blend, I decided I was ready to go. I had my apartment all to myself, I got comfortable, prepared with a bit of meditation, and lit up... The result was like nothing I ever expected. I was completely gone before I could fully exhale. Before I was fully gone I had a brief moment of great energy dispersing through my body like lightning, before feeling my body go completely limp and feeling like I had floated out from my flesh prison!I Floated to... nowhere ? I was in what I feel like was the tranquil turmoil, or the ancestral not yet arising... I hadn’t read about these concepts in daoism until after this “trip” and I want some insight from some of you with more experience than I, on the way. I was in complete darkness but I felt i could see. My life flashed before my eyes, and I felt every little bit of my human experience in one big yolked soup of raw emotion. Slowly I started losing everything. The names of my loved ones and their faces, words, numbers .... everything, every shred of my worldliness. It was unsettling, and I tried settling into it, and I did until only one thing was left, my awareness of absolutely nothing. I thought I had died.. But at the very moment everything settled, there was this.. hesitation. and everything started shaking unstably inside of this void. There was ringing during the whole experience, and it grew louder and louder as the void shook until this white light started chasing itself in a circle, like a dragon chasing its tail. This circle would not complete itself, and I felt like this weird broken circle was unique to me somehow. I felt a familiarity at this stage and like I had been there before. The next thing you know the ringing reaches its pinnacle in volume and frequency.. but the shaking of the void halts, and the white light that makes up my little broken circle, then turns into a completely white silouette of a man in full lotus, and it started shaking again until there is an explosion of only whiteness, and the next thing you know I am back in my room, just sitting. I tried scratching off these scales I saw all over my arms, to no use so I just stopped trying to. They looked light that of a dragon or snake. I had one of the greatest laughs I’ve had in my life, followed by a ton of cathartic crying and reflecting on the experience. Energetically I feel changed ever since, as I can perceive the energy moving through my body randomly, like I could when I was a kid. There were some blockages cleared, but not all of them, and I guess that is why I am here. I need to cultivate without the use of anything other than my practice, food and water. I know that psychedelics have served there purpose but they have run their course in my life and I need to put in some real work. I had one experience of spontaneously healing my mothers wrist shortly after the experience, but I didn’t even know what I was doing. Something came over me that I can’t take credit for, but worked through me somehow, and I healed her wrist after cortisone shots and painkillers failed to relieve her. I feel like I am meant to heal, but that it is a capability that most if not ALL of us have on some level even if we have forgotten our capabilities. I know this was a very broad post, and probably comes from... 1) my underdeveloped understanding of a lot daoist / Buddhist teachings due to my young age, and lack of exposure thus far 2) and the futility in trying to describe mystic states with mere words however, I’m just trying to create some dialogue and see if anybody can relate to my experiences through experiences of their own.. no matter whether they were induced by prolonged fasting , meditation/cultivation practices, entheogens etc... i also want to hear from some people on what the void, and emptiness means to them, even if it has nothing to do with anything that I’ve said.. I may very well be misunderstanding The nature of the experience I had, but I can’t deny the after effects on my mind, my body, and my awareness. I am not ready to die, but the fear of death has subsided more than I ever thought possible, and I feel very.. free. This place was beyond time.. beyond distinctions. I feel like it is ultimately what gave way to us and what will be left when all else is said and done...whatever that means. I need some some kind of orientation towards these experiences that come over me, and not even so much control them / the energy as much as understand and develop a relationship with it... hoping to find some help along the way, through you all. Thanks for taking the time to read over my ramblings, and I know that all of my knowledgeable brothers and sisters in dao will give me plenty to contemplate on these matters. kindest regards, kyoji

subscribed : - ) great chat, looking forward to further youtube content.

I have never read anything about Kabbalah until now but this all seems eerily similar to what i experienced and detailed in the original post, and also seems to have a lot of parallels to daoist cosmology just using different terminology and metaphors.. http://numerologypro.com/docs/theshattering.html The shattering reminded me of the last few posts on this thread, and here I am. on a side note.... this had me howling. classic marbs. i didn't get to interact with him much before his passing, as i am new to this forum and relatively inactive.. but some of the old posts i dig up of his put a huge smile on my face even if they are sometimes mostly always off topic Sometimes i'm not so sure there is A topic. Maybe he wasn't either.

thanks for sharing @voidisyinyang , i found her story and ramblings very useful : - )

This.

Late to this discussion.. But the avoidance of women during their time of the month may in some cases be a way of avoiding the accompanied emotional release they experience ? I'm sure during certain parts of cultivation it is best to keep all negative influence to a bare minimum... But maybe I am speaking out of turn. Just some food for thought. " The Emotional Release of Menstruation... Menstruation is a time that the female body uses in order to release what is known as emotional debris - essentially, it is a method through which the body is able to allow any residual emotion that has not been dealt with and stored within the Blood, to be purged along with the menstrual Blood (Tian Gui Shui). Similarly to the way that the body will purge Heat in the Blood. This is another reason why it is so important for the connection between the Uterus and the Heart to remain open via the Bao Mai. It is this mechanism that allows the emotional debris that is stored within the Heart to travel down to the Uterus and be expelled, enabling a woman to ‘let go’ of emotions that have arisen during the last cycle. The menstrual period can be split into five key phases, each relating to a specific quality of emotion. The body will go through each of these phases, which progresses in the order of the Sheng cycle of the Wu Xing, processing emotions and issues that relate to that specific element. This cycle begins with water and the processing of fears and insecurities, before moving onto Wood that involves the processing of frustrations and feelings of resentment and so on through Fire, Earth, then Metal type emotions. Disruptions in the menstrual period can highlight issues with the body’s ability to let go of specific emotions, indicating which emotional factors are excessive, and highlight imbalances between the different aspects of the Shen. For example, should the bleeding during the third day (out of five) of the menstrual period be heavier, lighter, or more painful etc, it indicates an issue with the ability to process and release Fire type emotions and an imbalance of the Shen. This is a hugely beneficial diagnostic tool, and helps us to identify issues that may be disrupting the rest of the menstrual cycle."

Thanks for sharing, Dwai. I have listened to it a few times over now and I enjoyed it muchly. Cleared up a few little things for me. I like his somehow lighthearted intensity.. may just look into his meditation courses.

There is no other. Dust mite, tea kettle, shit stick, All belong to one.

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Miss you too, Marbs.

Can you clear up how one blows their chance exactly ? btw.. GREAT thread, my friends.

Hello friends, looking to get some opinions on learning mandarin in order to delve deeper into the dao, and potentially receive transmission from a true master. I only speak English, and a rudimentary level of French, but am quite young and have plenty of time to learn. However I do understand this is quite the tricky language to learn. tips and tricks from anybody who started learning from age 20 and up? as of right now, I have a feeling that my teacher will be li song feng, of the five immortals temple at Wudan. It is a strong gut feeling that this is the place to go and learn. I believe he only speaks Mandarin, and this is why I am asking.. anything helps, my friends !! I would like to know how long it took some of you to become proficient in the language, and what steps you took to get there. Kind regards, Kyoji

Ahaha, well then I'm a big ol' dingus... I missed the first post and only saw the one I quoted hehe. glad we are on the same page though, or else I'd have wasted a whole lot of my damn time prepping my body unnecessarily. After years of stubborn weight lifting and repetitive workouts, Ido portal really gave me some much needed perspective, and my body/mind continuum has benefited ten fold. Kindest regards, Kyoji

With all due respect.. What level of proficiency have you reached in qigong, or your own movement practice, to make such definite claims about the ease or difficulty of one or the other ? Some of the movement ido works on is very close in some ways to the gymnastic/joint &tendon prep modalities taught in shaolin and wudan.. And some of the greatest taiji / qigong artists I've seen are also practicing inversion, strength work etc... Why one or the other ? I think a wide variety of movement practices and preparatory work could really help fertilize the ground for the inner arts to land on. Why is it that there is so much conditioning for children who grow up in temples ? Most westerners did not have this kind of formal training and our mobility is not even in the same league. Pretty hard to do anything properly when you are stiff as a board, achy and broken. Should you be practicing the internal arts when you can't even touch your toes, or have 0 overhead mobility ? These are just my two cents. Nothing more, and nothing less. Just trying to keep the conversation rolling, and maybe I am offside. But that just doesn't feel right to me. kyoji

Hi @Yueya , thank you for sharing this pdf. I really enjoyed it for its clear simplicity : - ) the only part that I actually had to chew on for a bit was the term "heart mind" , and although I have my own ideas about the meaning.. Would you mind sharing your understanding of the heart mind with me and future visitors to this post ? Your brother in Dao, kyoji

It can feel like you are locked out of heaven once the monkey mind gets ahold of the experience on the come down, can't it?

...

"A state may be ruled by (measures of) correction; weapons of war may be used with crafty dexterity; (but) the kingdom is made one’s own (only) by freedom from action and purpose. How do I know that it is so? By these facts:–In the kingdom the multiplication of prohibitive enactments increases the poverty of the people; the more implements to add to their profit that the people have, the greater disorder is there in the state and clan; the more acts of crafty dexterity that men possess, the more do strange contrivances appear; the more display there is of legislation, the more thieves and robbers there are. " Dao De Jing Ch57

Glad to have you here brother. Similar experiences to yours are what brought me here not so long ago. I blew through some blockages too forcefully, and with chemical intervention at times.. Twas a recipe for psychosis for sure. I don't reckon I would be here any other way though, and for that I am grateful. I think this is a fairly common phenomenon in any spiritual tradition, usually caused by doing advanced work before mastering the basics. There are a lot of knowledgeable wayfarers here that are willing to answer questions you have , and I have learned plenty since joining. This forum is even good for a big ol' belly laugh sometimes too. Your Brother in Dao, Kyoji

Cook Ting was cutting up an ox for Lord Wen-hui. As every touch of his hand, every heave of his shoulder, every move of his feet, every thrust of his knee — zip! zoop! He slithered the knife along with a zing, and all was in perfect rhythm, as though he were performing the dance of the Mulberry Grove or keeping time to the Ching-shou music. “Ah, this is marvelous!” said Lord Wen-hui. “Imagine skill reaching such heights!” Cook Ting laid down his knife and replied, “What I care about is the Way, which goes beyond skill. When I first began cutting up oxen, all I could see was the ox itself. After three years I no longer saw the whole ox. And now — now I go at it by spirit and don’t look with my eyes. Perception and understanding have come to a stop and spirit moves where it wants. I go along with the natural makeup, strike in the big hollows, guide the knife through the big openings, and following things as they are. So I never touch the smallest ligament or tendon, much less a main joint. “A good cook changes his knife once a year — because he cuts. A mediocre cook changes his knife once a month — because he hacks. I’ve had this knife of mine for nineteen years and I’ve cut up thousands of oxen with it, and yet the blade is as good as though it had just come from the grindstone. There are spaces between the joints, and the blade of the knife has really no thickness. If you insert what has no thickness into such spaces, then there’s plenty of room — more than enough for the blade to play about it. That’s why after nineteen years the blade of my knife is still as good as when it first came from the grindstone. “However, whenever I come to a complicated place, I size up the difficulties, tell myself to watch out and be careful, keep my eyes on what I’m doing, work very slowly, and move the knife with the greatest subtlety, until — flop! the whole thing comes apart like a clod of earth crumbling to the ground. I stand there holding the knife and look all around me, completely satisfied and reluctant to move on, and then I wipe off the knife and put it away.” “Excellent!” said Lord Wen-hui. “I have heard the words of Cook Ting and learned how to care for life!”

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you don't spend enough time around babies, maybe or maybe i delude myself with wishful thinking..

I really like ted nottingham's youtube channel for breaking down the 4th way, and the work of Gurdjieff. As for Ouspensky however, i'd agree his understanding appeared rather limited. The strange life of Ivan Osokin is the only book of his I've read and i don't plan on picking it up again.