Bubbles

Hello Zhongyongdaoist, all I salute your initiative to upgrade TDB threads to a higher level. This is a hard task. As English is not my first language, I will not participate more in this discussion because it is very time consuming for me to write down in English such content, and my TDB time has drastically decreased. Just a few thoughts about Plato not being a mystic. Should people read carefully Plato's writings, this kind of statements could be avoided. Hope my thoughts make sense. We can read in Republic VI, 490 ab “that the true lover of knowledge (ὅ γε ὄντως φιλομαθής) is always striving after being—that is his nature; he will not rest in the multiplicity of individuals which is an appearance only, but will go on—the keen edge will not be blunted, nor the force of his desire abate until he have attained the knowledge of the true nature of every essence by a sympathetic and kindred power in the soul, and by that power drawing near and mingling and becoming incorporate with very being, having begotten mind and truth (γεννήσας νοῦν καὶ ἀλήθειαν ) , he will have knowledge and will live and grow truly, and then, and not till then, will he cease from his travail.” We can see that reaching reality involves a physical challenge, and eros plays a double role: (1) eros is the way of seeking (the constancy of the philosopher’s love for truth plays a key role in reaching his aim) (2) the end of the quest is a kind of union with what is. The words used by Plato to describe this belong to the sensory and sensual register. The successful quest for Truth is somewhat linked to bliss. Another example I find interesting is that Plato shows in the Symposium how such an empirical reality as love can, under specific requirements, bring us beyond empiricity. To recognize this, a special attention could be given to the very words Plato uses, words that hold traces of the materiality so hated by some neo platonists. It is the same vocabulary used by Diotima to describe the contemplation of Beauty Plato uses to describe the turmoil felt by the master when he contemplates the beautiful young males. Diotima uses two words for the action of seeing and for what is seen: θεάομαι and εἶδος. We perhaps shouldn’t forget how Plato insists in his texts on the origins of the words (Cratylus) and the importance to have a rightful use of them. The first word means to gaze, to observe with a lot of attention an object worthy of interest and the second the appearance, the figure , the look of someone. The verb θεάομαι in its participle form is used in the Symposium to denote the contemplation of the young males (211 d 7), the contemplation of the laws, and activities (210 c 3), and the contemplation of the essence of Beauty (210 d 5, e 3, 211 d 2, 212 a 2). A similar comparison could be done between Symposium 211d, Phaedrus 51 a- 253 c and especially Charmides 154 a – 155 e where the erotic seduction is unequivocally referred to. In the Charmides, the beautiful Charmides is contemplated in his in εἶδος the same way one would contemplate the immanent apparition of something transcendent. The beautiful Charmides is said to be a agalma άγάλλω which is among different things a sacred statue infused with magical powers. It is probably no coincidence to find the very same word used to describe Socrates as the perfect lover, the perfect philosopher. The English word used to translate άγάλλω is image but everything is lost in this translation. Symposium 216e 7 “Know you that beauty and wealth and honour, at which the many wonder, are of no account with him, and are utterly despised by him: he regards not at all the persons who are gifted with them; mankind are nothing to him; all his life is spent in mocking and flouting at them. But when I opened him, and looked within at his serious purpose, I saw in him divine and golden images of such fascinating beauty that I was ready to do in a moment whatever Socrates commanded: they may have escaped the observation of others, but I saw them.” It seems that to Plato, the quest for Beauty, in its essence and absolute form can’t be cut off from the erotic experience, should we not forget that Diotima’s exposition is about quest for Truth as an erotic ascent. Edit to add: Sorry I just saw your last post. I thought there was no new post after post #52. I quoted the same text from the Republic VI...

breaking my promise to post only on specific threads but this is not a personal post. source: http://plumvillage.org/news/an-update-on-thays-health-19-feb/ Official Announcement Plum Village, France February 19, 2015 To all Plum Village Practice Centers, To all Practice Centers and Sanghas World Wide, To our Dear Beloved Friends, As we enter the Lunar New Year, and our practice centers conclude our annual 90-day Winter Retreat, we are very happy to report that our dear Teacher continues to steadily make extraordinary progress. Thay has now moved to a specialist stroke rehabilitation clinic, where he is receiving the best possible professional care. The team of monastic attendants work closely with doctors, nurses and professional therapists, and accompany Thay twenty-four hours a day, offering massage, acupuncture and comfort care, and helping Thay with his physical training. Thay is steadily recovering his strength and rebuilding his muscles day by day. We have been struck by Thay’s great determination, motivation, courage and concentration as he sets his own program to train himself to learn anew how to sit upright, stand, and move his limbs. The medical team is also helping Thay learn to swallow again, and last week Thay was able to drink his first cup of tea since November. The attendants prepared Thay’s favorite tea in his cup, and Thay even signalled to invite everyone to drink a cup of tea with him. Contemplating the tea, Thay smiled, put his hand on his heart, and looked up. All could clearly see that Thay was reminding everyone to bring our mind back to our body and to look deeply into the tea, really enjoying the tea and the presence of those around us. During the last full moon of the lunar year, Thay enjoyed watching the moon rise from his bed, and invited the attendants to enjoy it silently with him. In the peace and joy with which he enjoyed the moon, we can see Thay’s love for the wonders of life and his generosity in teaching us to cherish these wonders at every moment. With each week that passes Thay is becoming increasingly alert and engaged. Although Thay is not yet able to speak, he has begun to vocalize, and is developing a means of communicating silently with his attendants and physicians. Thay’s path of healing is still long, yet we know that every moment can be a moment to deeply touch the wonders and miracles of life. We are very grateful for the great compassion and support that Thay has received from his global Sangha Body, creating wonderful conditions for his recovery and healing. We are thankful for your practice of mindfulness and prayers sending positive energy to Thay, and for your letters, donations, and the many beautiful children’s drawings. Here in France the cold winter is beginning to give way to beautiful blossoms, in time to decorate the hamlets for the Lunar New Year, Thay’s favorite festival. Last week the community prepared hundreds of traditional “Earth Cakes”, and stayed up all night with music and song to cook them over open fires. Each New Year Thay offers us a compact “parallel verse,” to guide our practice in the year to come. For this New Year of the Goat the Plum Village elders have chosen an excerpt of a poem written by Thay, which hangs at the altar of the Still Water Meditation Hall in Upper Hamlet: Look deeply to understand clearly Listen deeply to truly love These phrases have been written in calligraphy and prepared in “diamonds” that can be printed and posted around your home or workplace, as gentle reminders to practice. Wishing you health, happiness and many fruits of the practice, The Monks and Nuns of Plum Village

taken from the Electronic Frontier Foundation: https://www.eff.org/issues/bloggers/legal/liability/overview **************************************************** Are the legal issues with forums, bulletin boards, chat rooms, web pages and the like significantly different from blogs? No. While Legal Guide for Bloggers is focused on blogs, the legal issues discussed here are broadly applicable to a wide variety of types of online publishing. For example, a web page where you place your thoughts and opinions is similar to a blog. An online forum where people can post comments is similar to the comment section of a blog. Do the commenters on my blog have a First Amendment right to say whatever they want in the comments? Generally no. Unless you are a government entity operating a public forum, you have a First Amendment right to publish your blog in the way that you want, which includes the right to choose who may participate in discussions on your blog. Nevertheless, we encourage you to allow wide-open and robust debates in the comments on your blogs. Private action to edit or delete comments may be legal, but can also exclude important voices from a debate. I’m upset that a moderator disemvowelled my comments. Is that illegal? No. While we are aware of no court cases regarding disemvowelling, removing the vowels from a post is a form of criticism and commentary on that post. Even if it not explicitly permitted by the blog’s terms of use or an acceptable use policy, a court would likely consider the edit to be a fair use of your comment. But the forum moderator edited some of my comments, deleted others and is being a jerk! Please tell me all the legal claims I might have against them so I can sue them into the ground. Being a jerk is not a reason to sue someone. Nor is there a claim against blog hosts for exercising their free speech rights to control their forums. Even if there were any valid claims, please remember that lawsuits are expensive, not very fun and should only be thought of as a last resort. If you don’t like what someone is doing, you can start your own blog and express your opinions there. ********************************

I completely understand what you are saying but perhaps people have different standards. For example, I don't care at all about my posts being deleted or hidden if the mod team feels it right to do so according to the situation. I mean I don't have any sense of ownership towards my posts in this regard. And in the specific case of Flo, I can see why Flo as a member felt necessary to ask for the entire thread to be hidden. The fact that it had been done without prior notice etc.doesn't bother me at all. I don't think it is so important to discuss and question mods action: the intention was good (Preserving Flo's intimacy, privacy and feelings), even if some here find the means and manner were not tasteful to them. Best,

That's unfortunate, Flo. Being part of the moderation team is being exposed to the constant suspicion of misappropriating and misusing the position for personal interests. The word used for what mods can do is "privilege"; but anyone who has been part of the mod staff for some time knows that there is no real 'privileges', only capacities given to serve the forums and enforce the rules to the best of one's ability. And no one sees the daunting task of moderating. I hardly see any privilege in being able to hide an insulting post or hiding a thread when its content reveals too much of a member's intimacy.The mods are seen like being a kind of clique where people all agree to take power. But reality behind the screen is not like that. Mods often disagree with each other. Not only mods are working for the forums and not for themselves, not only the work is not especially a pleasant one, but they are on top of that regularly attacked for not doing this as perfectly as members would like. Come on..

I am not in a position to honestly assess what motives Sean has. It is not my business, actually. If Sean makes money from the Dao Bums, it is all fine. To me, it remains that Sean doesn't owe us anything, and so we are just his guests. TDB doesn't belong to us.

I like when the site crashes. It is good reminder that: -everything is impermanent -the site is a space given by Sean ( not primarily ofr us to have stupid bickerings). We shouldn't take it for granted. How much does it cost per month? Do people think about that? Thanks Sean

_/\_

Is this mastery part of the Vajrayana teachings you have received ?

Sorry, I didn't understand! I thought it was just a problem with uncontrolled sexual urges, not with sexuality in itself. edited for conjugation

Hi Flofolil, As long as you are doing the pendulum movement between lust and trying to suppress lust, you won't find a balanced life. I don't think there is a quick solution for finding the equilibrium point. Imo and ime, vipassana meditation can help a lot. I made a search and find some simple online instructions and advices. There are many publications available about vipassana, free or for a fee, but they may be a bit technical with a lot of buddhist vocabulary. Here is the link : HERE The key process is to learn to observe your feelings, emotions, sensations instead of being controlled by them. It is a long term process to be proficient at it, and reflecting about what sexual desire is etc helps too, but I can't see how you would succed in having a balanced life without that. Neither indulging in, nor trying to suppress but just observe and be free. Hope it is of some help.

Damn it! I just wrote a post and a glitch made it disappear before I hit the 'post' button. In short, I was saying that I can't practice while watching a movie or similar things. What I first liked in zz, is the fact I could check my posture, relax my body bit by bit from head to toes, observe all the feelings (and shoulder pain!) occuring during the practice. Since each session was different, my mind was busy without being distracted. I agree that I tend to have a reverence attitude towards the practice, because I associated it with a sacred moment. The very first time I tried zz, years ago, I just tried it out of curosity after bying Master Lam's book. During the second or third session, a strange thing occured: I was practicing in wuji position, and suddenly, I felt like my arms were moving on their own and put themselves into the holding the ball position. It was like some energy was lifting them without any decision coming from me. Since this little event, I thought there was more in this exercise than an endurance thing or a physical exercise... Also, I feel that my practice is more effective in a calm environment and even more in a natural one. When I took up zz seriously, I was exhausted since months, and nothing could help me. I was renting a bungalow for 3 weeks in a pine tree forest. On the 2nd week I began zz, and when I left the bungalow, my fatigue was nearly gone. I couldn't believe it. I noticed that each time I can practice outside in a natural environment, it is a stronger experience. My 2cts!

It is all fine if your present diet feels right for you. I was only stating some general points. If you want to know more about Five elements ('five phases' seem to be more appropriate ) you can easily find some information on the web TCM+Five elements. Otherwise, I uploaded a file I found: it gives an explanation of TCM principles applied to diet source: http://tcmdiet.com/resources/tcmdietgroupebook.pdf Best, edited for syntax tcmdiet.pdf

Fine! If I may add something, since you've mentioned sitting meditation: I've had a very good experience with sitting meditation practice just before sleep. It gives clarity to the sleep (for lack of better words) and to the morning rise. It is very easy to set this up: just introduce the sitting practice between the last thing you do before going to bed and going to bed. I began with 10mn, and it made immediately a difference... Just an idea.. I wish you a very good practice!

Hi MiffyMog, If you have time for it, standing and doing the Ba Duan Jin in the morning and standing in the evening would be very good..The morning session is more powerful than the evening one, ime Each time I felt I could stand more than the duration I planned, I did, and at some point it lead me to increase naturally my daily standing duration. If you have time only for one standing session and prefer the evening session, then you can do the Ba Duan Jin in the morning. There are always days when it is more difficult than others. Of course, it requires a little motivation and will, but in my experience, it shouldn't be done in a forceful way. I don't know if I will be able to explain it clearly, but if your mind/spirit/will is settled once and for all about doing zz, then it is like brushing your teeth or doing the dishes. You just include whatever mood you are in, into the zz, and just do it in a relaxed manner. You will be surprised to see that when your timer buzzes, you have finally made it Take care!

I am quite surprised..I am not sure where I spoke the way you describe. Probably my wording was less than perfect as english is not my first language. So first of all, sorry _/\_ I suspect it was in the first post I wrote in this thread, since the second was only to quote an article.. So I'll try to sum up what I was trying to say and leave the thread so that it won't turn into a debate that would be useless to RyanO. My point was not to speak about becoming a saint. I was only saying that hesitating about commitments can be an hindrance in any path. When one resonates with a specific path and choose to follow it, it requires commitment in the same way it requires commitment to learn piano playing. Let me repeat that RyanO said in the OP that he was looking for 'highest truths'. In Buddhism, in Daoism or in any authentic gradual path, strong dedication is required. This dedication means that one doesn't follow his emotional and psychological ups and down but that one sticks to his commitment. Making vows in front of a teacher or to oneself doesn't make any difference to me. However there is a difference between digging in the same spot for 40 years and digging here and there as one wishes. Following our wishes carries the risk of falling into what Chogyam Trungpa called spiritual materialism. Here is a quote from Chogyam Trungpa taken from Cutting through spiritual materialism **************** "It is important to see that the main point of any spiritual practice is to step out of the bureaucracy of ego. This means stepping out of ego's constant desire for a higher, more spiritual, more transcendental version of knowledge, religion, virtue, judgment, comfort or whatever it is that a particular ego is seeking. One must step out of spiritual materialism. If we do not step out of spiritual materialism, if we in fact practice it, then we may eventually find ourselves possessed of a huge collection of spiritual paths. We may feel these spiritual collections to be very precious. We have studied so much. We may have studied Western philosophy or Oriental philosophy, practiced yoga or perhaps studied under dozens of great masters. We have achieved and we have learned. We believe that we have accumulated a hoard of knowledge. And yet, having gone through all this, there is still something to give up. It is extremely mysterious! How could this happen? Impossible! But unfortunately it is so. Our vast collections of knowledge and experience are just part of ego's display, part of the grandiose quality of ego. We display them to the world and, in so doing, reassure ourselves that we exist, safe and secure, as "spiritual" people. But we have simply created a shop, an antique shop. We could be specializing in oriental antiques or medieval Christian antiques or antiques from some other civilization or time, but we are, nonetheless, running a shop. Before we filled our shop with so many things the room was beautiful: whitewashed walls and a very simple floor with a bright lamp burning in the ceiling. There was one object of art in the middle of the room and it was beautiful. Everyone who came appreciated its beauty, including ourselves. But we were not satisfied and we thought, "Since this one object makes my room so beautiful, if I get more antiques, my room will be even more beautiful." So we began to collect, and the end result was chaos." ******************************** I hope it is more clear. Take care

Well, from Chinese medicine viewpoint, raw diet is not good because raw food needs lot of qi to be digested. It taxes Spleen and Kidney. Food should be warmed, at least by steam or rapidly in a wok. Dietary principles say that balance between five elements should be seek, with a strong foundation in neutral flavor- Earth element. Raw diet is too cold and yin.

Hi RyanO, Please find below found on HH the Gyalwang Drukpa's website. It explains what Tantric vows mean. I find it good. Hope it helps, Wishing you the best! ************************************* The mystery of samaya First of all, whoever supposedly has given you samaya or so-called Tantric vows, is he or she keeping his or her own samaya pure and unbroken? You must understand that you cannot give away things that you yourself do not possess. If the teacher has broken his or her own samaya with guru and Vajra brothers, then he or she has no samaya to give you. Samaya has to come from a pure and golden lineage, unbroken, and the teacher giving you the samaya also must have been keeping the samaya pure, golden and unbroken. It has to be a beautiful lineage, pure, golden and unbroken. Samaya is not something that just pops up from nowhere, no way! Samaya has a lineage from Vajradhara up until your own guru. Samaya is actually nothing but the realisation, the Mahamudra or Maha Ati realisation. For example, I as the guru must have the Vajradhara realisation from Tilopa to Naropa, to the rest of the lineage masters and then to my own guru, or from Guru Padmasambhava to my guru. Once I receive the samaya, I have to keep it preciously. Not only keeping it, I have to practise it, I have to realise it, I have to sustain it with pure motivation for the benefit of all beings and pass it on to qualified disciples and students. A qualified disciple is one that is ready and that has the quality and qualification of realisation or understanding. In this information age, a lot of Vajrayana teachings have been translated, with contents partially extracted and communicated to the public. Sometimes out of compassion and kindness, Vajrayana masters give Anuttarayoga Tantra teachings and initiations even to beginners for them to have a connection with the Vajrayana path. Such teachings often come with samaya vows. However it does not mean that the students receiving them who lack the qualifications to practise and the realisation are bound by these vows. The students must have some realisation after practising, and having received the samaya from the Annutarayoga Tantra, there should be some genuine effect after practising. If there is no intention of practising nor receiving the samaya vows, and samaya vows were received without any intention or understanding, then the students would not have received the samaya vows at all. Basically, both the guru and the student must be qualified in order to effect the samaya vows. Samaya is not a joking matter or something to be abused. It cannot be passed on like a piece of mundane contract, it is a very serious matter. The one giving you must have the pure samaya, and the one receiving it must be ready and must have the quality to receive it. Generally, we say that a student needs to be a perfect vessel to receive the teaching, and in the case of samaya connection, the guru too needs to be a perfect vessel to pass on the teaching. Think of samaya being pure nectar. If a guru is not ready or does not have the authentic samaya, he or she is like a contaminated vessel, and no matter how golden and precious the nectar is, it would become contaminated. So when it is given to the disciple, the samaya is also not pure and golden. It's become something else other than what we all know as samaya. Just because I have given you refuge and now you are bound to me by samaya. Definitely not. Refuge is not samaya. Samaya is not a dark spell casted on you. We are followers of Buddha's teaching, we are not followers of a cult. While we always blame that this is a Dark Age full of teachers with impure motivation, let's check our own motivation as followers, whether we are seeking a path of liberation for the benefit of others, or we are just roaming around and hanging out in a fan group. As the Buddha says so many times in different teachings, "My teaching is a means of practice, not something to hold onto or worship." Once again, I urge everyone, including my own students and disciples, to investigate your teachers, their teachings and their actions. An authentic teacher would not be afraid to be tested. Return to the basic principles taught by the Buddha. The Buddha gave us the 5 refuge precepts so that we do not harm others and then he gave the Mahayana Bodhicitta precepts so that we would protect and help others. We should at least be practising these two levels of precepts well. At least we should have this motivation of not harming and of helping others, this is the least we can do if we call ourselves Buddhist practitioners and if we genuinely want to be good human beings. ******************************************* Source: http://www.drukpa.org/index.php/en/news-updates/news-in-2014/360-the-mystery-of-samaya

Hi RyanO, It looks to me that Vajrayana Buddhism and the Guru thing is a variable here. The commitment question would appear to you as a problem whatever path you would take. When we are looking for some real spiritual practice, leading us to ‘highest truths’ as you put it, we have to pay the full price for it – No bargain, no highest truths without going out of our psychological and emotional habituations, comfort zone etc. The exterior path- Vajrayana, Daoism etc- is just a diluted projection in time and space of what it take to us to find within ourselves the highest truths. Making vows and commitments to a Lama is making vows and commitments to the Buddha Nature, pure and natural, that is the very core of oneself. And even if we had to follow a path without any external father-like figure, we would still had to make commitments to ourselves in order to move forward and pay the full price. The danger in avoiding any commitment is that we will just make spiritual shopping, believing we are true with ourselves when we are just following the sloping of our personal inner distortion and just remaining in a comfort zone. I am not saying that you are shopping nor I am judging you. I understand you are coming from a place where this commitment is a sensitive question. I am only saying that there is a risk here. This is just my perspective, and I may totally miss your problem and the whole enchilada Take care edited for grammar

I have found the article below which explains in plain language what I was trying to say. Underline is mine. *********************************************** Yang Sheng: The thing about jing by Xiaoyao Xingzhe The Lantern: Volume I, Issue 2 - Article #12 In the last issue we looked at jing/essence as a trust fund of inherited constitutional energy, intended to be used for procreation and emergencies only, but regularly wasted through failure to understand that: a) it is not infinite, and b ) it can be replaced only through long-term quiet accumulation in the midst of stillness. Jing/essence is, in fact, the power of our youth. Those with less age quickly. Shang Yang-Zi quotes the Daoist acupuncturist Ma Dan-Yang about its importance: “The most precious thing people have is jing/essence, but it is very limited … [Ma] Dan-Yang says ‘Sex is worse than tigers or wolves, it destroys a person’s beauty and bearing, it ruins good actions. Wasted jing, extinguished spirit -- these simply lead to premature death. Those who would aspire to the Dao must avoid [excess in this regard]. Others, of less intelligence, quip that the span of their life is set by fate, why not enjoy it? But the old saying warns: when the oil dries up, the lamp goes out; when the marrow is exhausted, a person dies. You must know that jing/essence is the root and basis of your body – how long does a tree last when its root is cut away?’ To nourish life, first treasure the jing/essence. When the jing/essence is full, qi will flourish, and then the spirit will be hearty, the body healthy, with few illnesses. The organs inside will function perfectly, the skin outside will glow, your visage will be bright, your eyes and ears and brain sharp! And all of this from reducing the wastage of jing/essence in your youth. If you have done this, and on top of this can reduce desire altogether, you will live a good long life.” It is not only ejaculation that wastes jing/essence: anything that disturbs its quiet repose and incites it to movement has already caused wastage of the jing, as it has become transformed into active energy waiting to be used. Jing is potential. Once this source has been tapped, that activated energy cannot be easily transformed back into the potential that was. So what disturbs jing? Anything that excites desire, especially sexual desire, disturbs jing. Little desires cause little disturbance, the greater the desire, the greater the disturbance to the jing/essence. Desires modified by control are much less disrupting. This, of course, is anathema to a consumer-driven society (or at least to the information media fueled by advertising), which is why these sorts of ideas are not very popular, but we should be able to see that in fact unbridled craving for things is ultimately weakening for the whole society: less essence, less spirit, less will. This idea, that desire not skilfully controlled will easily drain jing/essence, also shows up the potential danger in the Taoist sexual techniques advocated by so many popular books – dangers in fact warned against for centuries by Daoists themselves. Thomas Cleary’s Sex, Health and Long Life provides a balanced introduction to the topic. But how do we build up jing/essence, then? Well, how about a little peace and quiet, first … ************************************************************* source: http://www.thelantern.com.au/resource_detail.php?id=55 *************************************************************

Exactly. Thanks for that.

I don't recommend nor suggest 'forcibly suppressing sexual desire'. I talked about regulating all dimensions of your being (body, breath,qi, mind and spirit). This is done through qigong, neigong and meditation. As I said in my previous post, even if you don't have sexual activity, having sexual thoughs have still some bad effects that indeed will be worse if there is no outcome (I mean ejaculation). If you diminish your sexual activity but don't balance your life on the other hand, it is anything but normal to have the symtoms you decribe. So, neither I said you should stop having any sexual activity overnight, nor I said you should go ahead and masturbate every other day. When asking for help, it would be good to receive advice with an open mind ( otherwise why asking for other's advice?) and be objective when reading them, questioning yourself and then make your own opinion. No one ask you to accept blindly anything. I suggested you consult a TCM doctor and read medical literature. Good bye

Hi I don’t know exactly what your sources are but I would check against medical literature if I were you. Best selling books about sexual cultivation are sometimes misleading. The symptoms you described in your first post are: restlessness, irritability, heart palpitations and anxiety. These are heat signs linked to Heart yin and Kidney yin deficiency. Kidneys (for prenatal) and Spleen (for postnatal) are responsible for giving the Heart Shen an anchor into the Jing. The Jing is supporting and the Shen is animating. Jing and Shen need one another. Kidney yin or qi deficiency is often caused by over indulging in sex. It can lead to destabilizing the Heart/ Shen who loses its base. But it is reciprocal. Indulging in lustful thoughts (and generally speaking in exciting emotions) uses up Kidney yin/qi. The signs you described are often associated with Heart and Kidney who don’t meet/communicate anymore. Believing that solo cultivation is a solution seems more trying to correct a wrongdoing by another one: Heart and Kidney have a special connection through the Minister Fire in Ming Men who is the counter part of the Sovereign Fire of the Heart. When you are having a lot of sexual thoughtd and lust in your Heart, you just stir up both Fires and lose qi even if you don’t ejaculate, and especially if you don’t ejaculate because your excitation have no outcome. So you see the root problem is in the Heart-Shen- I mean the mind. The more you will indulged into sexual thoughts, the more you will indulge into sexual activities and if you practice semen retention on top of that, you will not solve your problem, you will just heat up your body. Control you mind and it will help. If you are looking for quick and easy fix, you may be disappointed. Herbs, acupuncture, diet and balanced life can make a noticeable difference quickly but, only stabilizing the Shen will solve your problem in the long term. Mind is the root. Then you may try sexual practices if you are still interested in them. The steps are: regulating the body, regulating the breath, regulating the mind, regulating the Qi and the Spirit. For that you need, qigong, neigong and meditation. This is just to explain my point of view. You should try posting your problem in the thread dedicated to semen retention. There are a few members here who seem quite happy with it. I attached some excerpt of the Suwen- the foundational text of Chinese medicine. The Chapter one is specially helpful in understanding that a peaceful heart is a requirement to qi cultivation. Good luck neijing.pdf

Hello, Please find below some links and informations provided by a eminent TTB member Trunk, hoping it can help you pondering about the semen retention practice. Link 2 is very clear. As far as Kidney Jing deficiency is concerned, you may ask a TCM practitioner for a real diagnosis, especially if your are a young or middle aged man. At any rate, chances are that sexual cultivation is not, in that case, the best way to go. Herbs, diet, qigong/neigong may help more without risking internal injuries. Semen retention can be practiced by simply avoiding or strongly diminishing sexual activity. Link 1: http://thetaobums.com/topic/30784-healing-tao-cautions/ Link 2 : http://alchemicaltaoism.com/HLDangerMain.htm Best

Why off-topic ? It doesn't seem more off-topic than "I lost my libido, help!", "what made you laugh yesterday", " Will concentrating on my root chakra help with hair loss?" or " How can i love you as my brother when you are just as f... up as everyone else?" threads...Actually, I find it better than most.