alleswasderfallist

but he's here, so he's obviously... WillingToListen

I just came across this article. Taoist monk Fung Doe Duk's account of receiving the Flying Phoenix meditations as retold by Grand Master Doo Wai. The Goddess' instructions are very sobering. This practice will reject those who aren't pure in heart! I will keep this in mind. It's easy to become content with good health and let your guard down, forgetting the purity of your purpose! http://tibetan.tripod.com/ch-phoen.htm

Thanks for the advice. Does this apply to the Mahamrityunjaya Mantra and Gayatri Mantras as well? Are these unsuitable to someone without initiation/a guru?

Steve, your determination is inspiring. Thanks for sharing Eric's readings. I'm recommending him to a relative who could really use his help.

The CIA is enlightened enough to know which New Agers to support and which not to? Seems unlikely at best. As far as the CIA is concerned, we're all New Agers, regardless of our opinions on Plato.

Did anyone else just see 'Special Head' sitting cross legged in the air on Americas Got Talent? My dad called me in to watch it since he knows I'm into Indian stuff. He usually doubts most of what I tell him about Eastern science, but lately he's been opening his mind more. We were both pretty amazed at Special Head, and I'm wondering what you all make of it? To skeptics, can you find a 'rational' explanation for what Special Head did? (Not being smug, I'd just like to know if anyone's thought of some sort of trick this guy may have pulled.) Call me gullible, but I'm convinced that Special Head has developed some powers. And one more thing: the timing of this incident, if it turns out to interest a lot a people in the East, couldn't have been better.

I've been getting into these subjects lately too. Michael Schneider's book A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe is pretty informative, though elementary at times. I plan to read Iamblichus' Theology of Arithmetic after I develop a deeper understanding of some of these concepts. I've also got a book called The Geometry of Art and Life on my shelf that looks quite deep and challenging. Can't wait to get into it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdL4d3hEJ0Y Here's Special Head btw

haha, I think I spoke too soon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=etSivpBHUmE

Why would an awakened person theorize about past and present as if they're separate?

Hi ChiDragon. The way I understand 也, it is more like an equivalency marker when two are used. A single 也 at the end of a thought puts emphasis on what is said. A noun phrase followed by 也 followed by another noun phrase and 也 is usually saying that the first is a subclass of the second, to my understanding (but it's been a few years since I've taken classical Chinese). Maybe you clarified this elsewhere. That said, I'm thankful for the in-depth information you've provided here. Looks like I have someone I can ask about ancient Daoist texts

Thanks Steve, that was a very interesting read and completely answered my question.

Steve, I agree completely. When my friends or relatives show interest in learning FPCK and they want to know more about it, I try my best to give them a sense of what a privilege it is to be able to learn the art, and what inconceivable wisdom is hidden behind the meditations. A few years ago, when I first became interested in esoteric arts (mainly through elementary Dzogchen practices and some very watered down qigong), I felt like I had the mental faculties to mix and match arts and guide my own development. I eventually realized that the energy body and the spirit world are much too deep to begin to understand using my rational mind and logic, which I'd come to rely on and value very highly. FPCK along with unstructured meditation is showing me slowly that there is still very much to learn in life, and it's a wonderful reminder to adopt the disposition of a child, humble enough to learn. I think that a lot of arts that are freely available to Westerners nowadays, like Dzogchen practices, Qigong, Yoga, etc, are very high systems that would only be available to novice monks or cultivators after they would traditionally spend much time developing humility and diligence. Because of circumstances, these arts are in a dormant phase and history, and it is necessary to spread them. So they become freely available for people to learn who may not recognize the great privilege of learning (which is all of us, when we don't approach learning in earnestness). I try to remind myself to practice and value the art like someone who deserves to be practicing. We are the ones who ultimately choose to be worthy of the art or not. BTW, I see that you do Jenny Lamb's Yi Gong along with FPCK. I have her DVD and I am waiting till I have a solid FP foundation (I'm currently working on relaxing into volume 3) before I learn something else. Do you feel that your FPCK practice helps you understanding Yigong, or vise versa?

Hope that title got your attention I was searching for some research articles on Spring Forest Qigong, particularly external Qi healing (or even better, distance healing) to show my dad, who has several serious health issues. I came across this little doozie, published by 'An American Atheist'. One of our esteemed forum members is mentioned. http://anamericanatheist.org/2011/10/29/investigating-woo-spring-forest-qigong-research/ The debunking is half-assed at best. But more interestingly, what's with the fight he's picking? Does being an atheist make one an establishment blowing materialist? I have nothing against criticism and peer review; but like I said, this person is calling evidence 'anecdotal' because it's subjective (and it has to be, by nature of the study and variety of cases treated). I guess I just wanted to gripe a bit at the whole 'skeptic' culture. I don't think I've met any real skeptics who call themselves skeptics. Persons I would call skeptics realize that the mind is the least skeptical of all things. Similarly, most people I've met in awe of their own 'atheist' status are fanatically religious in defending their notion of reality, which they've every reason to believe will be reduced to superstition by the progress of the next 100 years. Sorry if this has been shared before.

This is awesome. What stands out to me more than anything is the Capoeira guy's superior timing. Anyone here practice Capoeira? Does his style of ground-fighting/takedowns show a lot of extra-Capoeira training, or is this standard Capoeira?

Thanks for finding those quotes of Sifu Terry's. I may be going out on a limb here, but I believe that even though FP seated meditations subsume zazen meditation, the quality of one's meditation isn't profound enough in the early stages (for most of us, myself included) such that doing extra zazen won't help more than extra FP seated practice. In a nutshell, I mean that there are certain things things that zazen can teach you that FP can't teach you - BEFORE ONE HAS REALLY ATTAINED A DEEP MEDITATIVE STATE OF FP PRACTICE, DUE TO ONE'S INABILITY TO STAY IN THE MOMENT. Sifu Terry has said that even if the mind wanders, FP energy will still move through the body and your meditation will still be working. But from my personal experience, I think that the energy works more profoundly when the mind is relaxed. I feel like FPCK will eventually relax and tame the mind, but in my experience (PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG!), it does this by taming the various energy channels of body first. Sifu Terry's instructions don't go much into practicing mindfulness, probably because FP practice subsumes eventual mindfulness/ development of awareness. But he's also said that your mind can wander and you'll still be benefiting - whereas in mindfulness practice, a wandering mind is precisely what you're fighting against. So doing some mindfulness practice may add a bit of depth to everything you do, including FPCK Again, this is all from my experience - hope it helps. btw Eugene, if you don't mind me asking, what is your country of origin?

I have some of the same issues as you Eugene (ie liver/kidney problems from a not-so-healthy past). I don't know how long you've been practicing, but I believe FP, combined with abstaining from certain extreme behaviors, can really help you. (And in my opinion, completely abstaining from sex is probably an extreme behavior for you at this time... though I don't know you personally, forgive me if I assume too much.) Based on what you say, however, I think it would be helpful to add some quiet sitting meditation to your practice (if you haven't already). It's a huge, huge step in your path when you overcome the mindset of expecting something to happen. The best way I know of to do this is Zazen. Just sit there for a short time not worrying about what experiences you're having/not having. This really carries over into your FPCK, from my experience. My impression of FPCK is that it is primarily (or in the beginning stages at least) a qigong for health. Spiritual evolution will follow regular practice, but if you're not satisfied with the state of your mind, it wouldn't hurt to try something a little extra to first tame the mind. If you're worrying about the effects of the qigong, this will retard your growth. Please note, these are my opinions.

Awesome choices, I like the idea of meditating on ecstatic poetry. I'll have to add some Tagore in there.

One doesn't need to think of food combining as a diet regimen... more just of good habits that you can work into your regular diet however you want. You can be on the Paleo-diet, the Atkins diet, the whole-foods vegetarian diet, an Ayurvedic diet, or a fast-food diet, and still make an effort at proper food combining. Just know a few things to avoid, if only the worst combinations (like milk + bananas, pasta + tomatoes, etc). I suppose this does make Italian a little difficult.

Sure thing. Thanks for the word 'trophology'! Hadn't heard that one.

Interesting - I see some similarities with Ayurvedic food combining: http://www.ayurveda.com/pdf/food_combining.pdf

Get multiple opinions, of course. An alternative to seeing a psychologist/doctor would be to request a healing from a qualified master. Perhaps someone like Jenny Lamb, Chunyi Lin, or someone like that? I'm no expert, but your problem sounds like something energetic. Then again, I've been called a flake... http://www.easterninternalarts.org/# (Check out her testimonials) http://www.springforestqigong.com/ Keep an open mind. Hope you find good help!

My view on diet has been evolving a lot over the past few years. I originally read about the Paleo diet, decided that the logic seemed sound, and tried it off and on for the better part of three years. Then I got into the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, which isn't a whole lot different. I then started studying Ayurveda, and began seeing that I might not have understood the full picture. I began to see how complex this subject is, so at least I no longer feel like I can tell people what they should be eating with authority. Seeing 'Forks Over Knives' reinforced the notion I'd picked up from Ayurveda that moderation is far more important than the Paleo folks would like to admit. Also, it would seem that flatly proscribing starches doesn't take a lot of evidence into account. So I'm left with influences from a variety of conflicting diet viewpoints: on the one hand there's SCD/Paleo logic, which still makes sense to me. Then there's the vegan/whole foods/China Study way of looking at it, that seems to have the best evidence to support it, but is also polar opposite to Paleo in many respects. Lastly there's Ayurveda (or TCM/energy based medicine), which seems like some sort of middle ground - I can mix Ayurveda with either Paleo or whole foods/vegan, but not both. I started a water fast two days ago, inspired by a thread here. I think I'll go 10 days. I would really like a better idea of what I should be eating when I finish. I've been reading 'Fasting and Eating for Health' by Joel Fuhrman, and his diet is basically whole foods/vegan. I'm leaning this way, and seriously considering going vegan after the fast. I still have major caveats with eating grains/starches. Is this unfounded? Can anyone recommend a book that's pro-grain and counters Paleo-arguments? I would love to start eating stuff like chia seeds, buckwheat, quinoa, oats and the like. So can anyone with more understanding offer some experience/knowledge on the matter? Which points are valid of the respective philosophies? Are there certain grains to be avoided, and certain grains I can eat liberally?

Thanks Sifu Garry, good advice. If you don't mind I'm gonna ask a quick question about the systems you teach. I would like to supplement my Flying Phoenix training with some martial qigong. I've seen your videos and I like them, but does one of your systems include iron shirt type stuff where the body/legs/chest/head are toughened? (Maybe this is a dumb question, I just don't think I've seen this in your videos). Also, do Shattering Palm and Burning Palm have different martial focuses? Thanks!

Thanks! I'll devour this