Gerard

Not sure if I replied on this thread before but this is my take which clearly conflicts with the Buddhist view on the soul: If there is no eternal soul then this reality wouldn't exist in the first place. I firmly believe Buddha missed the mark here. No self doesn't equate to no consciousness because without one you and the entire reality you created wouldn't come to exist. So I'm aligned with the Hindu & Taoist view in that regard even the latter doesn't touch subject directly. Then nirvana also is a failed model since from my perspective nirvana only entails the end of the journeying, not the end of everything. Existence keeps on going for eternity for all of us beyond nirvana.

By ignoring people you are ignoring an ASPECT OF YOUR OWN SELF. Everything in this world...and the entire REALITY for that matter is a tiny aspect of your ENTIRE SELF. So basically there is no self as EVERYTHING is YOU and VICE VERSA. This is wisdom and it takes time to realise about it; discipline and dedicated practice will open you up to this eternal truth, if it was meant to happen in this lifetime of yours. We are all learning as ever evolving souls. EDIT: And by the way, what is the SOUL? What are we all really? To grasp this with your current human mind would be inconceivable. The magnitude of it is ETERNAL and INFINITE. The Yin & Yang dynamics are like the tentacles of the octopus. But you do not want to mess up with these two, oh no! Good grief no. This is the legacy of ancient Taoism and continuously passed on for countless generations for over millenia. It's a SACRED LAW. But I know most here are fully aware of it, no so much unawakened humans who have no idea of what is really going on within us.

A. Wisdom, intuition. B. Internal changes from basically after 6 months of practice. Opening of the mind, loosening of the entire energetic and body, connecting with Taoist principles and also the entire body of TCM medical knowledge. About paranormal? Please define it as from my experience most of it is a direct result of being ungrounded.

Are you doing grounding work at all? If not, start now. It's a MUST not a maybe. It should become a priority in your daily practice. How many hours do you spend every day looking at electronic devices and or doing mental work? If yes, start trimming down the excess.

Likewise. Practice more important than intellectualism but I find fascinating the relationship between inner reality according to the Taoist framework (and also a bit of Buddhism too) and Western cosmology.

One.

If the Big Bang occurred 13.8 billion years ago, then take this value of how old we all are since reincarnation doesn't work in a linear way. You'll experience one if your future selves after this one or go back 4,000 years or elsewhere in another realm for that matter. BB is expanding into our future; it didn't mean a conventional explosion of matter into existing space. Instead, it was the rapid expansion of space itself. Now you can see how the big picture works if you bring together the concepts of singularity, BB, yin-yang, the five dimensions of yy, reincarnation, sentient beings being eternal and the Tao itself (sum of all consciousness). I firmly believe the historic Buddha experienced the BB. Other seekers may or may have not experienced it directly.

They fear this Animal. Well for starters: "Quod es fui quod sum eris" That is "what you are, I was; what I am, you will be." So nothing to fear because WE ALL BECOME A FIRE HORSE starting on 17 February this year and ending on 5 February 2027. Likewise on 2020 and the fear the Metal Rat brought along (pandemic). Humanity lived in fear that year. Rat = Water = Kidney and associated emotion Fear. The Horse is Fire = Heart = Wisdom = Joy Time to look within your Heart and resolve blockages in the organ and associated meridian of energy (unresolved chronic anger, resentment, hatred, restlessness, palpitations, insomnia...) The Horse is the only Animal that entails complete change and transformation, which is a wonderful thing. There will be a new YOU emerging after the Year is over. Enjoy the Fire Horse.

Every animal of each phase turns up every SIXTY YEARS. Because of simple math: 5 x 12 = 60 Earth Dog 1958 then 60 years later it was 2018. Water Pig 1983 will occur again 60 years later, which is in 2043. Horse governs Fire-Heart so expect from humanity crazy things to happen this year as currently the *Heart is out of control due to excessive Wood movement at a global scale: excessive thinking, sexual activity and lack of grounding. *I'm no better since when I was reborn on this current cycle: came here with too much thinking, thinking of women as sexual objects & ungrounded due to study and modern lifestyle. A human = a small microcosm expression of the macrocosm. We all on this Earth have a share of WHAT WE ALL REALLY ARE. With our thoughts we create reality and this world. The question is how many are really aware of it? Only a few most likely. The rest are ASLEEP or partially awakened.

The image should reflect the Wu Xing element at play: Fire. Horse is ruled by Fire hence it is a double Fire Year which will eventually create a strong Earth Year: 1968 ruled by the Monkey. 1969 is Yin year also ruled by strong Earth due to the influence of the 1967 Goat Year which is a blend of Earth & Fire. This is Taoism, a science. Confucianism is also at stake here: we follow the advice of wise masters who know what they are talking about due to their profound experience on the subject matter. Also Taoism and Confucianism is not about ME but what benefits the ENTIRE COMMUNITY. More about that here: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/815b/a37e2cc6462f0dcce3d3068dbe25b909baf7.pdf Posting child-like images is beyond the scope of this forum as it is completely unrelated to the science of Taoism. So far all the Animals placed on the forum banner starting from 2016 (Fire Monkey) have somehow reflected the spirit of the Year, which in 2026 is FIRE. A couple of those Horses are good as well as the one I posted. Let the admin/mods people decide which one is going to be included in the forum banner.

Who really knows but tbh they don't seem to care. The connectivity problem is repeating itself again 1 year later. Isn't it a coincidence? Trouble logging in and I couldn't log out. A message popped up stating: "Sorry something went wrong, try again later." But I was logged out. Browsing the forum is a lot slower than before, let's say the last time I visited the forum 3 weeks ago.

An appropriate image for the peak of Yang year not something that belongs to a kindergarten assignment.

Maybe this report will answer your question: ‘Self-termination is most likely’: the history and future of societal collapse I fully agree with it.

Remember Buddha Boy? An update about him: Ram Bahadur Bomjon Please refer to the "Legal issues" section.

Refer to my first post. Wish the OP good luck though.

Sorry deleted due to the OP not showing what is deemed as "correct etiquette." 1. Many people devote their entire lives to heal and charge money accordingly. You pay for your services and you get help. 2. As above, there are also others who have little clue of healing and they still charge. Let's hope one doesn't seek help from this category because you'll never heal yourself. 3. In Asian countries that I'm familiar with, China and Taiwan, there are some highly experienced practitioners that not only don't charge but also don't even bother to help those who experience energetic trouble. They just remain anonymous and good luck finding them unless you have a letter of recommendation as well as knowing who they are in the first place. You can offer them a million bucks and they won't even bother. It's what is called the clock More about that here: Master-student relationship

Here's my pick:

Here's a list: (My favourite movie ever! Especially the rooftop scene) 2001: A Space Odyssey Wings of Desire Jeremiah Johnson

You are wasting your time with "fairy tales." Those who follow this path are bound by their egos, and the "ego" is one of the biggest hurdles of this path. The key to successful practice is to loosen up the entire body, then you'll access EVERYTHING contained within yourself. Ba Gua Zhang plus foundation work (grounding exercises) did it for me. Expect a lot of hard, consistent and disciplined work though. Finally, you'll need to find a competent real life teacher, not books and online courses. You won't go far if you don't. Good luck.

Well, another animal about to go and a totally different one is arriving on February 10. Every year around the 4th of February when the annual Feng Shui energy is changing; the bells of the New Chinese Year are not far away. Not only do the annual 9 Flying Star change, but also the three gods (cosmic energy constellations) move to different compass directions influencing our lives. I'll write a full report soon with some predictions.

Thanks for deleting the messages. No idea why that user was hijacking this thread with that post. Anyway, keep enjoying (or enduring) the Year of the Wood Snake.