rene

Both, same time - has many manifestations.

19 minutes ago, Kongming said:

So I think I've made a thread with a similar question on here before, but figured I'd ask again in a different way.

 

Over the past year or more I've been trying to turn myself into a modern Viking...not necessarily in the context of a plunderer or raider so much as turning myself into a badass warrior insofar as possible. This includes nurturing a warrior mentality, training in boxing/fighting every day,  lifting weights and growing in strength, and really just embracing that sort of Conan the Barbarian life despite its lack of utility in the modern world.

 

My question is it possible to proceed along the Daoist path (or similar spiritual paths others might follow, such as yoga, etc.) simultaneously with the above lifestyle? Can the above lifestyle come into conflict with ones cultivation or practices such as qigong/neigong and especially the potential practice of neidan?

For me, there is no conflict - but it depends on one's perspective towards the two seemingly (but not, imo) different ways; nor do I see a "lack of utility" for either path in the modern world.

19 minutes ago, Kongming said:

 

Finally what do you think is the best way to integrate these two paths? For example, is it best to do neigong prior to or after exercise? Where does zhan zhuang fall? How about meditation?

Others might speak to this - my exercise is chopping wood, moving rocks, hauling water, shoveling snow. The integration, for me, comes naturally.

19 minutes ago, Kongming said:

In short I feel a strong inner urge or call to follow the warrior path, and yet I also don't want it to get in the way of what I see as life's most important or highest goal, namely spiritual cultivation aimed toward liberation and/or transcendence?

This depends on what you are trying to transcend or liberate yourself from.

IMO - the highest virtue is to be true to who you are.

If it is in your spiritual nature to follow the warrior path - you might find liberation when you do just that.

1 minute ago, rideforever said:

 

Listening to Laozi you can radically improve your life.
ooops .... not allowed to do that, am I !!!!!

Not allowed to do what?

14 minutes ago, rideforever said:

 It's not a question about what the world is, but how may I explore in order to bring about a better world.   How can I improve things and enter a higher world.
 

The Laozi, Ch 29 (F/E)

Do you think you can take over the universe and improve it?
I do not believe it can be done.

The universe is sacred.
You cannot improve it.
If you try to change it, you will ruin it.
If you try to hold it, you will lose it.

So sometimes things are ahead and sometimes they are behind;
Sometimes breathing is hard, sometimes it comes easily;
Sometimes there is strength and sometimes weakness;
Sometimes one is up and sometimes down.

Therefore the sage avoids extremes, excesses, and complacency.

43 minutes ago, ilumairen said:

 

The one who is able to listen. 

The one who is able to hear.

7 minutes ago, rideforever said:

 

Yes ... listen quietly peacefully.

Let's all be quiet nobody disturb anything.

Love is love, everything is everything, everyone is everyone.

Peace we are all so sleepy and peacefully.

Lovely happy dreams.
Unicorns, fairies, rainbow bodies, sleepy very quiet, fish and chips.

So sleepy and quiet.

So peaceful very peaceful.

 

That is only half of the whole.

7 minutes ago, rideforever said:

 

WAKE THE FUCK UP, YOU ARE ALIVE, ACT LIKE IT

 

Buddha was not a lazy sleepy coward !

That is the other half.

Life is fullest with: Both, same time.

Or so it seems to me. (-:

10 hours ago, Lost in Translation said:

Bump!

 

Scrying has always fascinated me. Anyone got any info to add to this topic? 

Here's an interesting link, basic info, haven't read it all yet ~

https://lonerwolf.com/scrying/

6 minutes ago, thelerner said:

Perhaps

to understand Tao,

we need a poet,

not a scholar

If the poet evokes, rather than describes, I agree

:googling substrate:

Limahong - you need to stop trolling the threads.

You've posted 14 times in this thread in the last hour - with one line comments or multiple pictures.

You've created invalid quotes of others - very disingenuous.

I filed a complaint with the Mods.

You and they can do whatever you and they wish - I'm putting you on ignore.

7 minutes ago, Limahong said:

 

... output?

Well, aint we just the prodigal pair.

Nice to see you!

21 minutes ago, Mig said:

Why is there this obsession of having a name that is not translatable or may not even have a correspondence in another language, now I see, if it was a German or French term then scholars write and try to pronounce it in German or French, just giving an example. So why if it is Chinese, we need to have a word in English?

Because some people need to put things in recognizable boxes so they can try to understand them.

.

35 minutes ago, vonkrankenhaus said:

 

Notice what kind of "thing" they say this is:

"Formless", "reaching everywhere", "the Way or Course", etc.

 

So, unlike any and every "thing" you can see or name.

 

And notice stuff like this: "Heaven is great; Earth is great; and the (sage) king is also great."

 

Which means this is not a philosophical treatise so much as a socio-political one.

 

I would not look here for the best explanations of YinYang or Taoist cosmology, for example.

 

And this "thing" has no form - so no up/down, inside/outside, etc.

It is also infinite and already everywhere, which no other "thing" is.

 

And this is a "thing" which is described as "the Way or Course".

 

What other "way" is an actual "thing"? The way home isn't. The way to get along isn't.

 

Maybe I am an idiot for disagreeing with Lao Tzu, but I do not think Tao is a "thing".

 

Let me know what you think.

 

 

 

 

-VonKrankenhaus

I dont think you are in disagreement with Laozi's ideas about Tao at all - rather with the words of the TTC, which everyone argues about, are incomplete, insufficent, because they're words...

The Tao that can be spoken...

Words dont work, and even Tao is just an idea. (-:

warm regards

All fixed paths are bound in the mind's framework.

That's why so few escape it.

1 hour ago, zerostao said:

3d printed downloadable plastic guns may have run into a snag. maybe 12,000 have already downloaded a little earlier than the August 1st agreed upon date. This could be in the courts again. In the meanwhile don't worry that millions of downloads already occurred before the previous court battle began. Whatever the court decides, there is no stopping what has already been downloaded.

I'm not much for plastic ware, myself. A judge ordered a temporary halt to Cody Wilson's Defense Distributed and they will likely comply with that order. Didn't stop another site from opening up overnite with the same blueprints. And they are operating under the premise that Shall Not Be Infringed applies to their 1st & 2nd amendments.

When a sufficient number of folks ignore a 55 mph speed limit the law changes.

When a sufficient number of folks smoke weed, the laws change.

Like it or not, we live in a nation and culture of guns. They are not going away and restrictions will be removed.

When a sufficient number of folks decide that the two party system has outlived its usefulness---

like I said beginning August 1st and here we are.

Yeah.

I'm sticking with my plan.

Keep cool, travel light, stay low.

10 hours ago, voidisyinyang said:

Consider for example the book "Yogis of Ladakh" - as is noted - very few monks have the real Tummo abilities. And tummo is just the foundation of the real training! - and that book was from a while back. As Helena Norberg-Hodge notes - WEsternization has destroyed most of Ladakh very rapidly - aka "Little Tibet."

 

So maybe there is some tibetan monk somewhere with these abilities. I looked into joining a Tibetan monastery. But first of all you spend years just studying the material. My friend was financially supporting one monk - as he did his study work for years. Then he died suddenly - can't remember the cause - before he did any real meditation work. And now the monks all have cell phones, etc. with tons of Western distractions.

 

Like I said - this website is a great example. People on here claim celibacy is not necessary - and then post all sorts of low frequency cult type comments - and then readers are susceptible to such gaslighting manipulations. Then the moderators have no idea what's going on.

 

And you find the same problem even in Tibetan monasteries - or in say Bhutan or Thailand - lots of abusive scenarios.

But on the other hand - all I can say is "good luck."

I could give you positive information - but as I said - if I did - then a mob of people would clamor to pull me back down. haha.

 

Oh Drew - I doubt anyone would keep you down for very long.

2 hours ago, steve said:

I think one of the more straightforward paths one can follow is Dzogchen.

The basis of Dzogchen is that there is nothing to be done to achieve realization, you are already there, you're just distracted.

It is simply a matter of resting body, speech, and mind enough to recognize the truth; and then stabilizing that realization so that it can be a part of every waking, sleeping, and dying moment.

Steve, hi (-:

If there is any path that may lead to this, what you describe might be the most effective - because it moves from the complex to the elegant simplicity. I especially like this: "..and then stabilizing that realization so that it can be a part of every waking, sleeping, and dying moment."  It's what I call "Both, same time".

warmest regards

2 hours ago, Starjumper said:

 

That someone, nope, no clue, but who are you thinking of. Lao Tzu?   My teacher always put it this way "somebody upstairs" and he would point upwards.

 

 

Um, you talkin' to me?  Do you also have green eyes?

LOLOL Never mind.

10 minutes ago, Marblehead said:

My comment was a generalized statement and not directed at anyone in particular and especially not you.

 

Sure, we should question our experiences, whether physical or mental.  The physical ones are fairly easy to track.  More difficult are the mental ones.

 

But we should be making too many assumptions else we will start feeding ourself illusions and delusions.

 

Aw...whats the matter Sir Marblehead? Did you lose your tool?

Hope not - for it was the Tool of No-Tool.

10 minutes ago, Raindancer said:

I don't know if your text makes sense, but it made sense to me. I can relate to everything you just said, I just don't know if I would call it emptiness. It's hard to find a word which describes that room in me which display different types of calm nothingness, peace? 

 

And thank you, I'm glad I'm doing fine in some area at least 

You are right, it's hard to find a word that describes this. And "emptiness" is probably the worst word - especially here in TDB, because it has a special meaning and usage for the Buddhists among us. "Peace" is a good word, for there is a calmness...but even those words aren't enough to express the entirety of it. It's enough, I think, that we each know what we're talking about.  

29 minutes ago, Starjumper said:

It could have been an introduction to your spirit guide or initiation in to some sect,

.... or 'someone' simply wanting to get a look at someone with a pure heart.

Lets go with that...and you can easily guess who that 'someone' would be.

Just joking of course, but we do share the same birth date (15th day of the second lunar month in 615 B.C. which corresponds to mine) so who knows? 

2 minutes ago, Raindancer said:

 

Oh, that kind of communication I can relate to! Though I have never really described my own experiences as communicating, I don't talk or listen, I just feel. Maybe that is what you do too? I am really not used to talking about these things, so it will probably take a while before I'm used to it, sorry if I come across a bit confused xD

I think you're doing fine! With some folks - what they mean comes through the words they choose; which is a good thing because 'words dont work'. LOLOL <--(that's a TTC joke)

My communion exchanges vary in nature; in all cases I enter empty with no expectations and always leave full - with the shape of the emptiness changed.

What happens during, though, varies with what is around me where I choose to sit down. LOL

Mostly I just watch, from a place of gratitude and grace, and everything that 'comes in' abides.

Sorry if that didn't make sense - again, words don't always work (on their own).

Maybe something came through them.

1 hour ago, Raindancer said:

 

1) I agree with that, I guess that's why I ask others, since I don't know. (or did I misunderstand you now?) I want to learn, I want to know. If I can't know, that's fine, but I thought it was worth a shot.

 

2) I've never seen that blue sphere since, so all I can do is think. I guess I'm too curious for my own good. Do you mean that I somehow should be able to communicate with this energy?

 

Raindancer - from your post way back that you asked me -

1) You didn't misunderstand. 

2) Curiosity is good, imo, as long as we're okay with maybe never finding out!! LOL

As far as communicating with this energy? With the sphere, I dont know.

I do know that (for me) there is a kind of communication - almost more of a spiritual communion and exchange - with the life and spirits up here on the forested mountain where I live. 

1 minute ago, Starjumper said:

Hi Raindancer,  I just started a thread on UFOs' a couple of weeks ago.  

 

I see it as having two possibilities.  It could have been one of the glowing ball UFOs that are frequently seen by many people.  It also may have been some kind of spirit entity.

 

I would say if it was large like two meters, seemed solid, and it had hard edges then it was one of the UFOs.  However if it seemed a little transluscent and had soft faded edges and was small er then it could have been some kind of spirit entity

Steve - glad you joined the thread. The first experience with entities I had was when I was 3, laying on my grandma's bed supposed to be napping lol but wide awake - a very small sphere, maybe the size of a grape, that brightly emitted in a frenetic kind of way all the colors in the spectrum, came in through a closed window, hovered over the corner of the bed for a bit,  and left the way it came. I got the sense it was just looking at me, and I just looked back at it. If any 'information' was exchanged (in either direction) I'm not aware of what it would have been. 

Any guesses or thoughts?

The most straight forward path is to stop seeking it.

The more you chase it - the farther away it will go.