forestofemptiness

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About forestofemptiness

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  1. How to become awakened

    I see, a Zen/Dzogchen/Mahamudra/Shaivite/Kriya/Yogic/Christian/Daoist/Aikido/Tai Chi 13th Bhumi Bodhisattva with 14 "masters without a physical body" who diagnoses your enlightenment based on photos for 200 euros a pop. Sure, sounds totally legit. https://openheartopenheart.blogspot.com/2016/01/full-list-of-my-teachers-and-masters.html https://www.amritamandala.com/bhumi-analysis https://www.amritamandala.com/founder-and-master
  2. Lighting up a LED with your body as an antenna?

    I haven't looked that far into it, but the most common methods use an external power source--- either a battery or the field generated by the tesla coil. Some research has shown that it is possible to light up bulbs and led lights with static electricity, so it wouldn't take much.
  3. Lighting up a LED with your body as an antenna?

    I'm surprised Verdesi didn't fall to the ground and somersault backwards. I mean, even the guy looks a bit uncomfortable with the over-reacting.
  4. Recommendable and not legit systems

    A negative ion generator is not necessary. In the video I posted above from Randi, circa 1995, the device in that case was a "small battery-powered device worn on the body that develops very high voltage at very low amperage, that can be directed from the body of the performer to anything that’s at a lower potential than he is. It’s a form of Tesla coil, and it’s very effective." The bottom line is: 1) John did not demonstrate the criteria you propose (i.e. open to all skeptics/professional debunkers, involving being naked, involving being handcuffed for some reason) and 2) John's video is inconclusive at best, as any video would be. You appear to claim that it could not be faked, but it can and has been faked. Of course, there are many other problems with the "Western" Mo Pai system, not the least of which is that it is considered dangerous and incomplete by at least two Westerners who knew John personally (Kostas and Jim M).
  5. Recommendable and not legit systems

    I note that the longer video is a bit different than the presentation here. In this longer video, John ceases contact once he learns the initial film is made public. Years pass, and he reached out again to Mr. Blair for a brief time. He then refuses any more testing after the chopstick incident. So it sounds like he only opened himself up for a very short period of time to very specific individuals, which undercuts this myth that he was open to testing generally. I would also note in this video it is clear that he is wearing his slippers when they are touching his arm and feeling the shocks. Again, not saying he is a fraud, but these videos are hardly any sort of "gold standard" for testing. The Final Qigong Demonstration of John Chang (martialdevelopment.com)
  6. Recommendable and not legit systems

    I don't think he was open to all amateurs, nor do these people appear to be professional debunkers. They were introduced to him by the filmmaker John had a prior established relationship with. It is certainly a weird crew: the CEO of an organization initially formed to find the yeti, a doctor who is well known as a competitive sailor, and a neurologist. Neither rank amateurs randomly calling him out, nor an established team versed in either mechanical or electrical engineering, illusions, nor fraud. Rather, they seemed to be contacts of the filmmaker John already knew and was quite sympathetic toward him given his prior documentary. I would note that he wore neither handcuffs and still had his shirt and underwear on, so he failed your established criteria as well. But I would hardly equate this to some stranger calling him out and he immediately agreeing to whatever terms they set out. In addition, Harry Houdini famously went through strip searches from doctors before his escapes. One trick he was said to have used was to put a lockpick on a fishhook, and when he met the doctor would give the doctor a friendly pat the doctor on the back, hooking the lockpick on the rear of the doctor's jacket. At the end of the exam, he would then give the doctor a thank you pat, picking it back up. So here we have a fraud that arguably may have passed your criteria. Most importantly, we don't see his feet. If he had a device in his sandals as is often done, he could have slipped out of his sandals during any search and then put them back on before any demonstration. So there are still ways to defraud in that video (obviously, since it is not well accepted in the skeptical community, as no demonstration would be). An example here: So again, it falls back to your own personal experience. I'm not saying John was a fraud, but the proof is not as conclusive as you claim. So again, why go through all the effort at the request of some one you don't even know?
  7. Recommendable and not legit systems

    Gee, I wonder why more people aren't signing up to be stripped, handcuffed, and probed by strangers in a hotel room. Seriously? I wouldn't do this to prove that I can speak English. The fact that you can't see how people would not be willing to sign up for such a thing is troubling and quite frankly undermines the credibility of these posts. Nor could one expect anyone who mastered fa qi to subject themselves to testing by amateurs anyway, or professional debunkers. No matter what you do, it won't be enough. In addition, you've already made it clear that you prefer to hide behind anonymous rumors and innuendoes rather than give people a chance to rebut your allegations. And anyway, the gold standard isn't scientific testing, but self replication. Without being able to learn it yourself, there will always be doubts. Plus, who cares if some one else can do it, if you can't ever learn to do it yourself?
  8. Ask Swami January 2023

    Thanks for flagging, it is like a greatest hits compilation. 1,500 questions!
  9. My apologies--- I asked a serious question and thought I received a serious answer.
  10. The issue is that a set of finite, impermanent causes or conditions produce finite, impermanent effects. They cannot give rise to a permanent, non-finite result-- it would be like fire producing darkness, or constructing space out of wood and steel. Intense spiritual experiences, while certainly valuable to the seeker, do not necessarily carry any truth value. Plenty of people have intense and ecstatic experiences that they claim validate tradition claims. In addition, for every person who feels an intense presence in around a realized person, many people feel nothing. We can say that they lack sensitivity, but really we are just valuing our subjective impressions over others.
  11. How do you know that the moon is made of green cheese? How did you arrive at that conclusion? How confident are you? Unless you are saying that people who claim to have experienced siddhis or abnormal events are somehow beyond all reason and logic, to which I would ask the same questions above.
  12. It is interesting to use the word "permanent"--- how do you know the transformation is permanent and not going to "run out of steam" say, under intense torture, brain damage, chemical imbalances, death, or at some distant point in the future?
  13. I wasn't aiming at your posts--- I find that your posts are always open minded, curious, and respectful.
  14. This is a point that is often overlooked. In this case, either one has a narrow view of the world, or the world is in fact narrow. In a narrow world, there is only a certain set of facts that can be true, and must be true for everyone. This is the source of much conflict and suffering. In the Mahayana Buddhist worldview, there is no objective, underlying reality. The world is a dream or a magical display, and what we call reality is really a group dream. Accordingly, the world is much more fluid, and many things may be true depending on one's karmic view. For example, a day at the beach to a human is often relaxing, but would be fire and molten metal to a hell being. How the world is experienced depends on one's karmic propensities. Our world becomes more heavenly or hell-like in harmony with our view. Which is not to say that any dream is entirely subjective: each dream has its own set of rules. Personally, I have noticed that people on the more awakened side of the spectrum have a wider view all around. So I would say the right answer is the one that works for you and delivers authentic results, given your current karmic makeup. Not everyone has the ability to progress with hard core jhanas, and not everyone has the ability to make use of sudden awakening techniques. This is why we have so many teachers and teachings--- it is the generosity of the divine. A narrow view in that sense denies such generosity.