Inedible

The more time the orbit is running, the better, yes. It is grounding and energizing and balancing and it refines energy.

Excess stress makes transforming sexual energy more difficult. Stress is very good, but chronic stress is harmful. The problem is that muscle tension impedes the flow of chi. In order to reduce the intensity of emotions we are trained both to breathe less and to hold tension in the body (muscle armor?). The purpose of semen retention is to conserve energy, but if it stays stuck instead of being circulated and transformed, it is not much better than any other blockages where there is too much energy. The body may be forced to compensate. If you do choose this technique, be sure to use relaxation and circulate your energy. It only works if you can avoid excessively thinking about sex. A bit of awareness as continuously as possible on the third eye helps to detach from the sexual energy, draw it upward, and transform it. The microcosmic orbit is vital.

Why not increase flexibility and try to use the full lotus more of the time?

Forcing the MCO to run "forward" when it wants to go "backward" is definitely bad. Once you find it runs a certain way on its own, it is better to let it go that way. This includes when the orbit seems to want to run on a "wrong " axis rather than turning through the middle of the front and back. You only need to apply effort to get the process started, but once it is running it is better just to pay attention to it while it does the work.

If this is advice, your method of delivery needs work.

Good question. In what way?

Isn't this an improvement? I find it hard to believe that I first came to Tao Bums thinking I was going to learn a lot here about actual practice.

Actually, I did go through a strict Buddhist phase before I started meeting Buddhists and they kept disappointing me. The group that met closest to where I live was just depressing. Here's the one series of books that has most helped me to understand (at least one version of) both enlightenment and growing up as a healthy adult: http://www.wisefoolpress.com/

As long as there is a certain amusement value left you will stay? That's why I do, anyway. Eventually, though, we will both have other fish to fry.

Maybe someone could look it up. I don't recall where I read it. There was a story about Buddha going to a monastery where the monks were ignoring one of their own who had become ill. The monks ignored this person's suffering, claiming that they were just letting karma run its course. Buddha told them that it was wrong to refrain from trying to ease suffering and claim it is because of karma, and he personally tended to the monk until he regained his health.

(1) If I were in a position to stop killing of dolphins I'd have to at least try. (2) That fish is out of water and hurt really bad and dying slowly, so I'd kill it quickly. (3) The "chef" is going to take exception to seeing the fish killed early, and is probably going to want to hurt me for it. (4) All I have to defend myself is the chopsticks. I just have to cause enough harm to get away. (5) In a previous life Buddha killed a merchant after learning through telepathy that this guy was going to kill everyone else on the boat and take their stuff. (6) Refusing to act is still an act that generates karma. (7) We expect nature to be cruel, but in civilization we expect basic ethics. Civilization is based on trust. (8) The video of the fish didn't bother me anywhere near as much as I thought it should, but I know that it would be a much stronger reaction in person.

Don't lie to us. You can't even pass up this thread without acting in the form of writing responses. I know you'd kill the fish to put it out of its misery and then you'd stab the chef with those chopsticks. On the other hand I do believe you'd smile while you did it.

Fine. Cut the carp and just say what's on your mind without mis-using words from established traditions. As for this ... I can't decide if you sound more like Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin. http://www.glennbeck.com/ http://www.facebook.com/sarahpalin

I'd like to add that if you have to resort to false modesty and sarcasm you aren't really qualified to say that a fish is actually a Bodhisattva Mahasattva. (How can you know about Sunyata and Bodhisattvas and not know the core ideas of Buddhism? The Four Immeasurables are called Immeasurable because they are felt equally for friends, enemies, self, and those sentient beings who are neutral and not in any of the other categories. They are Immeasurable Loving-Kindness, Immeasurable Symapthetic Joy [happiness for the happiness of other sentient beings, whether temporary or permanent happiness], Immeasurable Compassion, and Immeasurable Equanimity. Each has a "near enemy". With Loving-Kindness, the "near enemy" is attachment and the "distant enemy" is anger. When you cultivate Loving-Kindness and find yourself reacting in anger to sentient beings, it is clear that this is not Loving-Kindness and that is a clear warning sign. Attachment can be mistaken for correct Loving-Kindness, and so it is a more serious problem. The Four Immeasurables are the basis for cultivating Bodhichitta, the motivation which makes one a Bodhisattva. Bodhichitta has several levels ranging from the Aspiring Bodhichitta of ordinary sentient beings to the Relative Bodhichitta of a Bodhisattva who has developed the first jhana and entered the first Bhumi, and finally to the Absolute Bodhichitta of a Bodhisattva who has directly perceived Emptiness of Inherent Existence in meditation. Only a Buddha can directly perceive Emptiness of Inherent Existence outside of meditation, while also experiencing Relative Truth. For the rest of us, including many Bodhisattva Mahasattvas, it still really hurts to be dipped in hot oil and thrown on a plate.)

CowTao - the "near enemy" of equanimity is absence of caring. The "distant enemy" of each of the Immeasurables is its opposite, and it is easy to recognize the "distant enemy" when you are cultivating the Immeasurables, but the "near enemy" is a fault which resembles the state you are actually working to cultivate.

A healthy diet helps control sexual desire / compulsion. So does avoiding sexual situations, thoughts, and imagery. Physical exercise helps your health and reduces stress, which can reduce compulsion in general. In general, I suggest that you don't try to fight it directly. Just make sure that when you do give in to a compulsion, you try to find a way to satisfy the urge as completely as possible. If you find that you keep doing something over and over and over motivated by compulsion, it is possible that the real desire just isn't being met and you need to approach it in a different way. Anyway, mindfulness is your friend here. Give in, but do it mindfully. Fighting it makes it worse and it makes it much less likely that when you are forced to act it will really be your choice.

It seemed to me that the question was from a person who can do the microcosmic orbit meditation while sitting down, and wondering if it would be possible to run the orbit while standing, too. The simplest answer is just "yes". I'll even go so far as to say that it is possible to run the orbit for hours at a time while going about ordinary activities. Driving may not be the best choice, but anything you can do while daydreaming is good. It involves the same sort of splitting of awareness.

Energy goes where awareness is directed, but that does not mean it is necessary to be aware of the energy and its qualities. It is only necessary to hold awareness where you want energy to gather and to trust the process.

The more you practice a technique, the easier it becomes. Then you need less effort to make it work. Even things like the microcosmic orbit get easier with practice, so that you need less of your awareness to cause the energy to flow through the orbit. At some point in your practice you even find that the energy is flowing on its own and then it is better if you stop pushing and just go along for the ride. It only took me a couple months to get to this point, but my teacher hadn't warned me about it and the worst part was that the energy kept trying to flow in the wrong direction. My teacher said up the back and down the front, but my energy wanted to go up the front and down the back. I grabbed it firmly with my concentration and made it go the way it was supposed to, but it resisted even more. I concentrated harder and got the energy to go the way it was supposed to. It didn't take long for me to start feeling congested, like my body was full of snot. Naturally I kept going anyway. It was getting results, so why quit? Then I found that I was having trouble keeping food down. My teacher eventually told me that in the beginning you guide the energy with your mind, but when the energy flows spontaneously and the orbit runs itself, it is important to just ride the flow - even if it wants to go the wrong direction. He said that he didn't teach that part because it didn't occur to him that any of his students would actually do the meditation enough to get it to work that way. It took me several months of using the Six Healing Sounds to balance out my condition and by then I was planning my meals based on how they might taste coming back up. Anyway, I have since learned a technique from Huna where when you breathe in you focus on the crown chakra and then you shift your attention to your tan tien when you breathe out. As your attention alternates from tan tien to crown and back again, the energy follows through the most suitable route available. This may or may not be the actual microcosmic orbit, but sometimes you just have to trust yourself. It takes very little attention to do this technique correctly so you may find it easier to use sooner in standing, walking, and doing tai chi. Most of the effort will be in getting the flow started. You can do this sitting down and let it warm up, then stand and let it keep going. Just watch it a little, to encourage it to keep going.

Standing is good and even walking. It just takes practice, and remember to gather the energy in your tan tien from time to time.

Given that it is a small cavity and that you are putting it off, you may want to look into the claims made by the tooth soap people that using nutrition and brushing with soap enable the enamel to repair itself. http://toothsoap.com/

There are herbs that are helpful in reducing the frequency and intensity of migraines. Please look into the possibility of using feverfew and cayenne. I do not know enough to say anything about drug interactions and any other potential problems, or even to suggest dosage, but I have read that many people with migraines find these helpful. There were other herbs as well if these don't work out, but I read they were best. Craniosacral therapy also has been shown to be helpful in cases of migraine, if you can find a practitioner. As for the Kunlun, I would suggest getting the migraines under control first.

My guess is that whatever fillings you put in your mouth, your energy body will quickly adapt to having them there. It also seems likely to me that most of any effect it will have will come from believing it will have an effect.

Do they have the same metaphor in India where in Raja Yoga also there are instructions for focussing the eyes on the tip of the nose in order to change the flow of energy in the body? If you have a tendency toward headache, it is suggested to avoid focussing attention above the neck. Belly breathing and awareness in the tan tien is much better if you have this tendency. (I can gaze down my nose indefinitely and not get a headache.)