Apech

simp simp

What is it - if not qi?

I had to look up IYKYK ... (touches finger to side of nose).

Dear Friends, I sense a certain bad temperedness has come among us. This thread is about unpopular opinions not unpopular people. Let's stick to ideas and not persons. Non-duality and kundalini suffer from those most pervasive and pernicious of effects which are popularisation and commercialisation. In the market places of the weird which we inhabit, kundalini has been devalued by being devolved to non-specific energy movements or even worse psychological effects, moods and so on. It is questionable for instance whether the most well known exponents of kundalini raising and kundalini syndrome and the like are actually dealing with kundalini at all. At the same time kundalini is glorified as a goddess in the more mystical among us - resulting in a completely confused view as to what it is and what it is good for. Non-duality is a perfectly sound philosophical view which underpins some of both buddhadharma and vedanta. It is useful to those practicing these schools because it allows an intellectual base which supports practice. It is arrived at through careful examination of the nature of reality - and not surprisingly there are a number of subtly differing views which can all be classed as non-dual while not fully agreeing with each other. It has nothing to do with the vague notions which pervade the internet these days - which are all basically monist or 'oneness' sales pitches, or the musings of people who have had 'experiences' and so on. They should be treated as non-serious. I trust my thoughts are sufficiently unpopular.

I wasn't taking that particular subject seriously. oh secret effort! how exciting. In the Egyptian tradition there are Ushabti which are figurines placed in the tomb to carry out any work required in the Underworld - such as fertilizing the fields, inundating the irrigation channels and carrying sand from East to West. Obviously in the ordinary world this is about having servants to work for you. But in the internal world it refers to laying down of patterns of function so that certain things happen automatically for you. In the same way as you put effort in to learn to ride a bike - but once the pattern is established the riding becomes automatic - same for learning to drive etc. In meditation you can apply certain techniques to achieve a result. Once this is established then the technique becomes unimportant if the result is happening. I think this is similar to wuwei.

You wish!

Shut up and dance

But not as unpopular as teen genocide!

@Taoist Texts - above from Charles Luk Taoist Yoga - maybe 'independent of the practiser's will' and 'automatically' suggest the idea of spontaneous MCO?

Bump. I can't even remember why this thread came about.

Be as gentle as doves and cunning as serpents.

That must be a first - a Gilbert and Sullivan quote on DBs.!

I didn't realise there was a fad. I first read Charles Luk in the early 70's when it was first published in England. There was Mantak Chia I suppose - then our dear friend Damo Mitchell ... is this what you mean? you are welcome. 1) I don't think anyone is saying literally that. 2) well you can push a bike up a hill and free wheel down the other side - without effort.

I scanned that chapter but couldn’t find a reference to the mco happening spontaneously etc. if you find something let us know.

Can you tell us what those descriptions are?

You are right TT I should not blurt out things that sound like claims - I consider myself chastised. And you are right I am struggling to find references to this in either Wang Mu or Charles Luk (although Taoist Yoga does refer to the vitality rising 'automatically' being driven by the prenatal breathing) - which are the two books I was referring to on the laying foundations. I think, to answer your question I picked up this idea when I was taught Qi Gong and Nei Dan in the early 1990's. My teacher was Chinese from Hong Kong so I would doubt he was affected by western made-up lineages. If you consider this to be a misconception perhaps you could explain why (?). Life, health and strength to you too. A.

yes thank you - it’s quite a time since I was taught this so it’s hard to remember sources.

What then is kundalini and what is 'Shiva'?

nuf said old bean, nuf said.

That part comes from my own experience - though I do believe I have read it also but for now I can’t remember where.

you have robes? Interesting collection of objects!

abandon the desire to do …. Care to elaborate?

There's time for someone to outdo you yet - but you have set the bar. We might get a cracker from Uncle Steve yet! Who knows?

Well my experience of groups of meditators is admittedly limited - as I tend to avoid them. I am even disenchanted with the 'sangha' which I am supposed to be connected to - especially now as they are talking in terms of national co-ordinators for data management and such. Yukkity yuk yuk. I think the body is a very interesting topic - mostly because we all think we know what it is. When of course we don't. In the text I study it calls it the illusory body (Buddhist of course) and I balked a little at that. But then I thought that actually whatever we think the body is - is probably illusory. In fact if you think about it the body is more like a community of things - cells, bacteria, parasites, organs, skin, bone, muscle, blood etc. etc. I think I read that there are over 7 trillion cells in the human body and even more commensal bacteria ... so what is it exactly and what keeps it going all together? eh?

Brother Luke I do think that euthanasia for 18 year olds may be the most unpopular opinion so far