Apech

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Posts posted by Apech


  1.  

     

    This unite might be more similar to the Chinese concept than the idea of ending.

    In a way all channels unite near anus. Point Huiyin (Ren 1 at the perineum) is also called Haidi (bottom of the ocean) and Xiaji (lower extremity). It is the point where all 8 extraordinary channels are said to unite. The ren is sea of all yin, the du is sea of all yang and the chongmai is channel of blood (all all the channels). It is not an ending but an union.

    In some texts there is an idea that (like hindu muladhara) the knot where these all channels are born is inside an up from this point below the navel area (true dantian or mingmen). Some other text give different places of birth for these channels but in any case they meet at the ren 1.

     

    This is good.


  2. Article titled Seeing the body might interest you. Look at the Greek picture of human in the article. It shows the idea of meridians in Hellenistic period. It might be possible to get more information about Egyptians by looking at the Greeks.

     

    Thanks for the article. Yes the Greeks are one of the main sources for info on the ancient world. As to Fig 5. b ) - I know it says its Hellenistic but it is actually Medieval from Ashmolean 399 which is 13th Century :post-3061-128696270783_thumb.jpg

     

    it will have been based on Galen I guess because he was still the authority - but its not actually Ancient Greek. Even so its interesting and if the Greeks thought in terms of internal structures like this then the most likely origin for this way of thinking was Egypt, simply because Egypt was already ancient when the Greeks first came on the scene.

     

    It is quite possible. Please keep me informed about the actual word. It is very common to loose lot of meaning and accuracy while translating.

     

    -mibale

     

    ps. Sorry...am very slow at responding. (been bit short of time nowadays)

     

    The book I'm using Ancient Egyptian Medicine by John F. Nunn (he is a trained doctor) says this about the metu:

     

     

     

    …[the Ebers Papyrus] contains the enigmatic statement that "All come to his heart. They distribute to his nose and all unite at his anus". This would seem to apply to all twenty two metu listed …Such a scheme would accord very well with the Egyptian concepts of circulation of noxious substances from the bowels through the metu to the rest of the body … it remains extremely difficult to see how the metu could lead to the heart, to a specified organ or region and still unite in the anus. Clearly they cannot correspond to any anatomical structures recognised at present. However, it is conceivable that there was a word play between the words for 'anus' (pehuty) and 'end' (pehuy).

     

    So I think we have to decide either that the Egyptians were confused or ignorant about internal structures - which is hard if not impossible to believe - or they were describing structures which were not physical in the usual sense (i.e. meridians) - which, given their religious/magical focus is easy to believe.

     

    The possible word play end/anus is typical of the Egyptians. They clearly saw a flow both to and from this point and ascribed (some) illness to toxic flow from the bowel to the rest of body ... which could overwhelm the heart (the seat of consciousness). So I think they were saying that the anus was a major nexus and not necessarily the end as in where the whole system finished.

     

    Don't worry about being slow in responding we are spanning five millennia here :) so time is not an issue.


  3. Sorry but this thread is about the Eye of Horus, its use for fractions in Egyptian mathematics and what this means symbolically. All this is supported by facts drawn from Egyptological research.

     

    If you want to discuss conspiracy theories why don't you start a new thread.


  4. apepch7,

     

    Sure. Here is an example:

     

    "The waters in the human body are these: the four seas, the five lakes, the nine rivers, and the three islands. These are some of the names that have been given to them: hua-chih (Radiant Pool), yao-chih (Green Pool), feng-chih (Phoenix Pool, t'ien-chih (Celestial Pool), yu-chih (Jade Pool), k'un-chih (Pool of the K'un-lun Mountains)...." (page 65 in Tao of Health, Longevity and Immortality)

     

    Etc.

    OK that could be called obscure ... but are you saying a) deliberately codified in poetic imagery, or b ) deliberately wrong in some way - mistakes put in to stop the reader working out the secret?

     

    Not the same thing of course - some things are almost impossible to describe in literal language.


  5. There's still much to learn, much to compare with your own practice, and much that makes you see how your practice is incomplete.

     

    Really, read the books (especially Eva Wong's) if you're interested in Taoist alchemy, and you can see for yourself.

     

    Scotty,

     

    Could you give an example of the sort of thing you mean.


  6. Most of what you have reflected here is very sound A7. You have this unassuming knack for creating posts that makes plenty of sense :)

     

    To paraphrase Winston Churchill - I have a lot to be unassuming about (haha).

     

    Was just pondering a bit.... I think watching the process ought to be simply that - to watch how things arise and subside without resorting to analysis. I am just wondering if by asking how/why things happen would in some way obscure the mere act of mindful attention to what is in the present? Since everything is energy, as you say, perhaps it would be quite futile then to investigate the nuts and bolts of the process cos that sometimes make things more solid than they actually are. In Tantrayana, its taught that the moment arisings are seen and recognized to be without solidity, these arisings, as mind-winds, whatever form or shape they take, are instantly pacified and let go of right at the moment of noticing the mind's empty nature.

     

    I agree about the nuts and bolts investigation. Its hard enough getting to know anything about one's own responses and if this is about other people you can't possibly know the causes and processes - you just don't have that kind of information. I see it more like negotiating a terrain. Just as when you go for a ramble in the countryside you learn to climb hills, cross streams and so on - you don't ask why is there a hill, how did it come to be (unless you are a geologist I suppose but that's different). So I think when you go into situations - say if you work in an office, then you will be very conscious of the atmosphere, the tensions, the relationships - you just have to find your way around without either falling on your face or being dragged into the mire .... So yes - avoid the over analysis ... and in particular anything that does draw you in - well its your hook probably ....

     

    It takes practice, but when distilled into habit, it can be intuited spontaneously that all what we call the world is essentially nothing but changing moments arising and ceasing by themselves. On a deeper level, actually there aren't even changing moments, but simply subtle winds stoking the mind that give rise to what we then perceive as 'Changing Moments'. Our mental involvement in trying to analyze the process may only serve to temporarily halt/hinder the luminous display of all that is. Its as if the moment we decide to think of something, then that very decision turns the mind outwards, giving rise immediately to reflections of past/future, or to put it another way, mind is born when thoughts arise.

     

    'subtle winds stroking the mind' - I like that. I might see something like that alone on a mountain but in rush hour traffic or in the middle of a blazing row??? I think we need useful praxises (praxi? praxes? ... whatever) to deal with the world.

     

    Am thinking... Is there mind when/if at each moment we allow discursive thoughts to simply come and go without latching on to them and creating 'stories' from their self-generating energetic displays? The masters seem to point to 'No Mind' - and i am really interested to fully grasp what this means.

     

    Your thoughts?

     

    (I might have misunderstood that particular aspect of your post, and if thats so, please excuse this gibberish that have been written.)

     

    Have a good day A7. :)

     

    Yes again ... I agree no-mind ... 'I don't mind if you no mind' :lol:

     

    But I guess all I would say is that when even Buddhas and Bodhisattvas come to teach ignorant fools like me ... then they have to be able to empathize with my perspective. So I think they have two eyes - a transcendent one and a relative one - so when I say I'm worried about whatever they don't piss themselves laughing at my stupidity they can actually bend down to help me. It's like 'in the world but not of the world' - whoever said that???

     

    Maybe I didn't get you ... but its a nice conversation.


  7. It's not like I "don't like this" per se, it's not like I'd want to get rid of it. I mean, this sensitivity is exactly what I've been training for, and now, rather than visualizing or having a strong intent to feel something, I'm actually feeling it AS it happens, which is great.

     

     

     

    This is good.

     

    I would say that what you are feeling is an inevitable consequence of cultivation and it won't go away. Its a difficult problem I think and while some of it goes back to your own stage of development or spiritual maturity the fact is that the world is full of people who are not cultivators and continually splurge their feelings and neuroses all over everyone else.

     

    I think the real reason people become hermits is because at certain times they need the space to work on themselves with out the interference ... this is why Milarepa kept moving to higher caves until he was ready to teach. But that's kind of extreme and he was engaged in a very fast track system.

     

    I don't have an off the shelf answer just a few points from my experience. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance - you have to watch the process all the time, observe how it happens, when it is strongest and so on. Track it so you know its routines and spare yourself the worst if your own energy is low. You have to deal with everything as energy (for want of a better word) - feelings of others are just energy no matter what the form - awareness can transform them ... as in 'consciousness is the catalyst' ... i.e. something that facilitates a process without actually taking part. And lastly understand that the ground of a certain way of working is this environment ... its like a terrain which can get to know, understand and negotiate ... through this develop real compassion for others.

     

    Hope this makes some kind of sense.

     

    :)


  8. HI,

     

    Before I go on I must point out I am not an expert in this.

     

    From experience I have observed that a lot of people become interested in sex/qi and so on ... in fact its probably the sex part that sparks the initial interest (:))... but they try to control or sublimate the energy somehow in a rather unholistic way. What I mean is they think that just somehow putting the batteries on a high voltage charger is somehow going to sort everything out ... give them powers or whatever. Its a bit like trying to tie a knot in your willy so nothing can leak out and thinking your going to be happy and healthy IMO.

     

    IMO people should not be celibate to become spiritual ... they may become celibate because they are spiritual (but that's different).

     

    I think that non-ejaculatory orgasms is a good aspiration BTW its just that you have to approach it holistically ... the redirected energy is going to excite higher centers ... heart and head ... your emotions and thoughts will be changed ... so you have to work at refining the whole of your being from day one.

     

    If you learn to concentrate ... and by that I mean rest your mind without effort (not furrowed brow stuff) ... and then observe your body's response to sexual excitement ... follow the feeling inward ... to its root ... the feeling changes radically so that you can approach a different kind of orgasm. So I would start with lots of sitting meditation during which time you moderate but do not stop your sexual activity (not while you are sitting but in life :lol:). Learn to experience your body as a zone of feeling and not a physical object. Feel rather than think or visualize. Look at the feelings as they are without trying to change or judge them. Follow the feelings to their essential core and see where that leads you. Experiment and learn your own way.

     

    That's it.

    • Like 1

  9. Are you following Temple's book?

     

    Curiously my right hip is also blocked. In one of the youtube videos (or comments on them) someone said that usually the reason for one hip being more flexible than the other is sitting on the chair with crossed legs a lot, with one leg on top more than the other. For myself though I'm not sure if it's not an injury from basketball, I once fell on my hip, perhaps something moved.

     

    No, which book is that (I should probably know but I'll ask anyway).

     

    I think my right hip is probably an old old problem. When I was 11 I broke my thigh bone and was in traction for 6-8 weeks. I don't think it was set with proper alignment and so I have had knee and hip probs on that side since. Also I used to do Aikido and I had a tendency to stress the right side too much which ended up in a bad knee problem which has not gone away.


  10. Well been doing stretches for a few days now and my posture is improving but have realised that my problem is not so much my dodgy knee or my fused L5 but my right hip which lacks flexibility. It feels oddly like its too strong if you see what I mean. Any good stretches for hips?

     

    Nowhere near full lotus BTW can't get my right knee on the floor but its not brushing against my ear any more (ha ha).

     

    The year long gong continues!!!


  11. yea no there aren't any women that care to be in my presence so that isn't an option. any new ones too. in fact it's all predetermined it seems that they all will avoid me for some reason like I'm unfit for anything, for any feminine presence. not even Goddess.

     

    Clearly I don't know you or your circumstances but these things are like a feedback loop. Its all about feeling ... if you feel good about yourself then people will tend to feel good about you ... ( I know this sounds like a cliche but its true).

    • Like 1

  12.  

     

    I am still somehow caught up with the inherently taoist principle that there are many (different) ways leading to the tao. But, I guess, in the light of what you said we need to consider that there can be many forms of enlightenment even if there is only one tao. I find this interesting and good food for thought.

     

    If enlightenment = realizing the true nature of reality ... then how can there be more than one form of enlightenment?

     

    This is just a question BTW :)


  13. I wasn't aware I was using a "new age" term.

     

    Apech, come back with the difference between "awareness" and "consciousness" again? Please, i can't splain it as well as you can :wub:

     

     

     

    hello

     

    I just go to the etymology of these words ...

     

    consciousness = 'with' 'knowing' ... that which allows knowing to occur ... maybe?

     

    awareness = similar to consciousness but with the sense of alertness for danger ... think of the word 'wary' which has the same root.

     

    universe = Lat. 'one' 'turn' meaning everything within the cycle of existence.

     

    so universal consciousness would mean something like that which is everywhere and allows everything to be known. If you were religious you would mean the omniscience of God ... I think this may be Tao as mother of the ten thousand things - better ask a proper Tao scholar.


  14.  

    Loneliness is probably a factor, especially the type that isn't sexual at all, but still craves a feminine presence... as too much male presence is not good for me as it already has been. But I'm always in a state of lack, and since I'm in a state of lack, to seek it would only put a temporary cap on it, but the explosion is still waiting underneath and ends up never really doing anything because I'll just get more lack.

     

     

     

    If you look at male and female as pure polarities (like + and - electric charge) as distinct to human genders, then we are all a ratio or proportion male and female. If you crave a feminine presence then your body is telling you that it wants to balance. Because you are slightly out of balance - especially if you feel unhappy. The best thing, since bodies are very wise, is to give it what it feels it needs. It would be theoretically possible to achieve this balance with inner alchemy but quite difficult. I think you need to go and be in the presence of women that you like. I don't mean sex - I mean genuine warmth, conversation and so on.

     

    If you want kundalini arousal and so on - then the world can be a great teacher. If you interact with it with the right heart + spirit then it can provide a kind of wholeness in practice that is difficult in isolation.

     

    These are my thoughts on reading your posts. Do with them as you see fit.


  15. Hi apepch7,

     

    I guess that you are saying that there can be no immortality except within eternity?

     

    But how would that correspond to the taoist concept that everything comes from one, only to eventually return to one? (doesn't that defeat the concept of eternity?)

     

    Depends what you mean by eternal ... there's two versions. Eternal as in a infinitely long period of time ... or eternity as in stepping out of time in an instant ... to quote William Blake:

    To see a world in a Grain of Sand,

    And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,

    Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,

    And eternity in an hour.

     

    If immortal means a physical body that never dies - I don't believe in that because all physical things are subject to entropy ... eventually they decompose ... its natural and in accordance with Tao.


  16.  

     

    So yes, my understanding is that immortality is not a physical or even a spiritual thing but more at the lasting memory of a person after they have passed on. So, in my mind both Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu are immortals because they (their wisdom) still lives in my (and many others) mind.

     

    That's not really immortality unless the minds in which they live go on forever. But it is a common belief - indeed there is an Ancient Egyptian story called "The Shipwrecked Sailor" where the hero of the story who has been marooned on an island and is saved by a god in the form of a huge serpent, asks the serpent what he can do for him .... the god says "make my name remembered" ... so even the gods care about this... being remembered for ever. And since people still read and study the story I suppose it has worked.

     

    To me immortality is about relating to that which is eternal. In any non-dualist system there is the individual and the infinite, like the atman and the brahman - if you realise that these two are not different then in a sense you become as immortal as the absolute ...