thelerner

Happy 4rth.  It it wasn't for our Founding Father's we'd be.. we'd be.. Canada!?

which, imo, wouldn't be so bad.  i was just hanging out in Vancouver, nice city.  Chicago-ish but cleaner. 

I heard Tommy's story, as a Zen fable, where it wasn't the Buddha but a samurai who came upon the monks meditating and gave them the can't polish a rock into a mirror analogy.  The book explained the samurai was wrong.  Meditation is part of enlightenment but he was correct that it's not the only part.  You shouldn't stink of Zen, it's a living practice not a sitting one, though sitting is a part of it.  

If you don't bring the practice into your life, sitting will not bring enlightenment.  But sit daily and bring the insights and practice into everything you do.  

I forget his name, he was the founder of Aikido's nephew(or was it uncle?) also was of a mystical bend, never famous but an amazing martial artist.  After giving a dharma talk a listener asked 'So we should strive for emptiness?'  The man surprised the asker and audience by stating emphatically 'NO, not emptiness, you want Fullness.  Awareness of everything and understand that emptiness is a part of the Fullness.'  <I believe its from the book Pre-World War II Aikido Masters.>

After like, ten years in Ki-Aikido being told 'keep One Point' ie a focus on the Hara, one is finally taught- When you're aware of everything you are also keeping One Point.  A defused focus, clear mind, the ears- see, the feet-listen, the senses spread.. is a higher level of One Point, then a clear mind focused on one's center. Certainly more useful in a martial sense.  

It's also a whole world harder.  Just keeping a quiet mind all day is very hard.  Meditation has lots of benefits but achieving a quiet mind is much easier when you're just sitting (or just walking).  From there you can focus on Hara or breath, and finally get the focus on the Fullness around you- the one that has your thoughts flowing like a river, your body sensations and the swirl of the 5 elements happening all around you.

Rawn Clark has a fun but difficult guided meditation- Center of Stillness Meditation where you put your  7 senses (he includes thought & emotion as senses) into separate orbits around you.  Not too far from Taoist practice of Sealing the Senses.   It has you sitting in emptiness, like a planet aware of your senses orbiting, aware of the other peoples orbits and has you focus on the web of life connecting all.   Worthwhile but not easy and even to bring into 'normal' life.  

I've always thought Dharma speeches are the third 'leg' of practice.  They can be about any aspect of practice and life but many are about compassion.  Cultivation can easily, perhaps at times necessarily fall into isolation and selfishness.  Listening to a great teacher talk about compassion helps break us out of it.  

In Shamanic cultures when there is sickness the Shaman might tell the person a story.  In listening they improve.. at least their spirit does.  Tech makes it easy to collect great dharma speeches, to have them on hand just as we would pills in a medicine cabinet.  

Maybe one day I'll make some.  They'd begin- 'If this is emergency, call 911.  Otherwise, shut up and listen..'

9 hours ago, Apech said:

Yes we have free will.  

I am forced to agree.  

I don't know if it's free will, but my mind is constantly rolling dice and acting accordingly.  

Someone watching me from a distance would determine I'm a 'real' albeit boring, 'D&D' character living in a mundane world.  With some decisions made rationally, some seemingly randomly but from a set spectrum of choices.. mostly through a culture lens.  

My life is in an orbit  but my decisions and life's randomness act like gravity, pulling me off course.  

So, I believe I have free will.  I'm just not sure how 'powerful' it is.  If it's a strong or weak force.  I tend to scoff at astrologies yet I can see how my .. stats and the storyline I'm in, control me.  

Maybe all theology comes down to who we think the Dungeon master is.  

I don't want to pray to a deity that's transactional or needs buttering up.  I like the concept that prayers that seem to start by praising God are really meant to have us focus on the Greatness,  Beauty and Awesomeness of the world.  To give thanks for our lives and all the good that goes on around us.  I like Rabbi Nachman's practice of having a personal relationship with God; talking regularly, as to friend, loving creator, cheap psychologist.  

One difference, imo, between magic and religion is the focus on God's will, not ours.  In religion we can petition but we accept what we get.  We can ask with humility and hope but we accept that the Universe will decide and keep going the best that we can.  

So.. for me, asking for something in prayer means putting my mind to what I like in the world, earth, sky, grass, lakes, rivers, netflix, friends, family, breath..  Give thanks for it all and my life.  Throw a desire in there, petition.  As I've gotten older, I rarely ask.  Que Sera, sera, whatever will be will be.  Which in my tradition is kind of one of God's names.    

On 4/18/2025 at 4:02 PM, Nungali said:

 

To you regularly blindly believe random badly made   'wow factor'    cheap Russian videos ? 

Yes, yes I do.  I'm sure people chase random strangers into book stores and record as they teleport all the time.  It's the sound effect of the teleport I have a problem with.  From my research it should be more of a 'Bampf'. 

On 4/18/2025 at 4:02 PM, Nungali said:

 

My goodness, what happens when you watch a movie ?   Do you believe in Spiderman too ?  

 

It's Spider-man, he's sensitive about the hyphen and while I've never seen him,  I have noticed suspiciously large spider webs.  

In Ki-Aikido there was the assumption that if you got the lower dan tien inorder, the rest took care of themselves.  It was very hara oriented.

One easy practice I picked up from Stillness Movement qigong, a medical style gi gong, is when in seated meditation keeping your loosely folded hands against your lower dan tien, versus a few inches away on your lap I'd normally do.  Touching the dan tien in meditation helped me get a better feeling for the area.  Plus you're not doing anything, you just have your hands facing your dan tien, a light focus.  

Something to try if it connects to you.  

Today, March 18th, the site is working like a charm, best it's been in months.

For me at least.  Thank you Stirling and all the mods working 

toilessly in rooms full of mice on running wheels to bring us this site.  

Hopefully not a fluke but using Chrome on a Mac, the site's speed and response is great.  Like the old days.  

Kudos to the mods involved.  

Fingers crossed it keeps up.  One never knows if it's one's browser, computer or the site.  

Welcome to the site.  The only recommendation I have is pretty generic.  ie When things get strange or over heated, slow down or stop any energy based practice you're doing.  Similarly when energies get strange.. ground. 

Just sitting w/ a clear mind is good, or even a slightly distracted mind, ie music or guided meditation.  If sitting brings on the problem, walks in a peaceful place are great, particularly if you work on keeping the mind clear.  Be a mirror be a camera, walk and be.  Getting some exercise, tiring out the body then letting it relax.   Find out what is 'grounding' to yourself.  

I'm making some chili right now.  That is grounding, to me.  

Out of advice, other then classic warnings.

One of which is Never meet your heroes.

The hope is that they recognize you as a kindred spirit who they're longing to take in and teach the secret sacred ways.  

The reality is you're quickly filed under Annoying Westerner and the more you push, the more likely you're thrown out or sent on an eastern snipe hunt.    

Solution is as old as time.  Find a teacher who's better than you are.  Not famous, no books, not an exotic art, not even a master, just a person willing to teach who knows more than you.  One who's dedicated decades to his art and is willing to share.  While studying keep an eye out for an opportunity to study or take a seminar with someone from WLP's lineage.  

Meditation: the peaks, valleys and plateaus.  

Tonight the site is loading on my Mac in Chrome And Safari.  

Yay, and thanks to those beating the Machines into compliance.  

I've defaulted to Safari on my Mac and last week the site was so slow to open I ended up clicking away.  Today I clicked  and got an error message.  I panicked a little then used Chrome browser and it opened, a bit slower than usual. 

No complaint but wondering why Safari is acting up with the site.   In any case very glad it's still here.  Nothing lasts forever but was reminded how much I value the site, its people and its history.  

On 1/27/2025 at 11:02 AM, Master Logray said:

This is a thread 10 years ago.   Interestingly many names at that time are still active now.

 

 

Arguing keeps us young 

On 1/12/2025 at 1:32 PM, Sinai said:

5 pages have passed and no one gave me some example about what i am looking for, only sarcasm

Kind of surprised this didn't end when you learned about the Greece seminar in 2025.  

To some extent that is mission accomplished.  You found a way to contact him.  The very very expensive seminar.  

If that's out of your price range and you're still obsessive you could go there, not take the seminar, not meet Wang Li Ping but hang out nearby hoping to contact and befriend a seminar taker.  With luck, humility and the power of friendship you might get pointers and perhaps develop a relation with them.

Even if meeting anyone falls through, you could do worse than a week or two vacationing in Greece.  

We had an old thread on astronomical events.  Couldn't find it. 

Here's an interesting one that comes along every 14 years.   Wolf eats Mars!  ie A total Eclipse of the Mars.

Happening today Monday the 13th.  

Here's a good article on it-

https://www.space.com/stargazing/the-full-wolf-moon-eats-mars-on-jan-13-heres-how-to-see-it

"...on Monday evening, Jan. 13, when it will cover the planet Mars, now shining as bright as it will get in this new year of 2025.

An opportunity to see the moon occult a bright planet at night does not happen too often; for Mars, a specific location on Earth can see it happen (on average) once about every 14 years. So, if you are fortunate to live in the occultation zone and the weather cooperates, this upcoming event is one that really should not be missed.

The moon will be mere hours past full phase during the occultation. Traditionally, the January full moon is known as the "Wolf Moon." At the moment it officially turns full  —  5:27 p.m. EST (2227 GMT)  —  it will be diametrically opposite to the sun in the sky. By sheer coincidence, Mars is also opposite to the sun, though its actual moment of "opposition" will not come until late on Wednesday, Jan. 15. Still  —  both objects, the moon and Mars will be near enough to each other so that during Monday evening, the moon will temporarily hide the planet from view, and much of North America has a ringside seat to observe it"

5 minutes ago, Nungali said:

A pair of white cockatoos  flew down the valley this morning .

that seems pretty exciting to me.

Today while driving I spat out the window,

but it was closed, and the loogie landed high up.

It slowly slid down,

but it was cold outside and

the slime trail started to freeze.

I wondered if the main ball

would freeze before 

it got to the bottom.

I checked it a few times

while I I drove.

Then I arrived at

the restaurant and

forgot about it.

now that's Boring.  

Sinai, if plan A, part 1- is find a senior student to give you contact information.  Out of curiosity, what is your pitch to Master Wang Liping?  What do you want from him and what do you offer him?  

Old cartoon, vaguely political enough that I had second thoughts.  

Happy New Year everyone.  I predict, it will be.. interesting.  

I'm working on- God is what's left when you remove all the noise.  

Hmm, has the age of Wang Liping seminars passed?  Too bad, I heard good things about them, but they were also very expensive.  

Sinai, I bet if you keep on the hunt, you'll find a senior student eventually.  Check their credentials, which might be difficult.  In the meantime keep practicing and keep an eye out for credible esoteric Taoist practices.  Even if they're not on LiPing's level they might still have much to teach.  

What about most downvoted Topic?  

I have this historic one- 

On 9/18/2024 at 8:11 AM, liminal_luke said:

To make real progress with spiritual cultivation, imagine a golden flow of chi going around and around the loop of the microcosmic orbit.

No, that's silly,

but I'm selling a course in True Spiritual Cultivation ™ , it's 100% guaranteed and has the approval of all spiritual masters alive And ascended.  I'm offering those on the bums an exclusive special offer, 95% discount bringing the price to $888 a month.  

My Guarantee:

Within one month you'll be more spiritual than 50% of all people.

Within 3 months more spiritual than 70%

At 6 months you'll lose points and drop down to 40%

but at a year, you'll raise into the mid 80's.