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Hello, I am looking at prospective retreats to go on when I finish this degree (as a little holiday, and maybe to clear a lot of gunk out of my system). There are so many free retreats to go on (which is great), but, I'm just wondering where to go, if anyone has any personal recommendations of schools, locations, organisations, teachers, etc? Generally I just want to go somewhere where I can do some kind of meditation (preferably some kind of mindfunless of breath, but, whatever works), for a long period of time. However, if there are any Taoist/Neidan/Neigong/Qigong retreats that involve meditation, I'd be interested in attending (not so much for Yoga, as, I already know a lot of the language, and I'd like to learn some Taoist terms/techniques, etc). I could perhaps just dedicate the time at home, tell others in the house that I will be silent for a week, turn off my computer/internet for a week, and draw up a timetable of meditation, practice, reading (got a lot of JAJ material to get through) and walks etc. I guess the advantage of a retreat is no distractions. Any thoughts welcome.

I am currently reading a book on Zen called "The Three Pillars of Zen". I read this part: I can't help but feel that the basic premise here, that overcoming the pain is some form of spiritual breakthrough, is false. I went to the dentist a while ago to get a bridge put in. When they were taking an imprint of my teeth by placing a dental appliance in my mouth filled with quick-drying-cement, something happened and I found myself in a horrible amount of pain. I think it may be related to the fact that I have one tooth with a rather large mercury amalgam filling in it that was reacting to the chemicals in the 'cement' that they had mixed. I was in a horrible amount of pain, similar to the effect when you touch a piece of metal, like a spoon or metal appliance directly on the filling. I had to hold the appliance in my mouth for two minutes! I was screaming and shocked. Such pain! I used all my willpower and endured the two minutes of intense pain. A little crowd of people whom were curious about what the screaming was all about soon gathered. Anyway, after that, having endured the torture and great pain, I felt like I was high. It was a great feeling. I was so elated that I didn't even consider the high-priced payment that followed. The effect lasted for about 1 hour. I felt like I was floating on clouds. My point is this: sure, great amounts of pain will eventually release endorphins in the brain and make you high. It has nothing to do with spirituality. I laughed when I read about the response from the Zen teacher to the student, especially when I remembered the effect the intense pain caused me from visiting the dentist's office. Reminds me of "runner's high" or "jogger's high". Granted, great pain can cause some interesting states of mind, but where except in Zen do you find the idea that overcoming pain or pushing it unti the brain releases joy-juice is something spiritual? Question: Once you overcome the pain from sitting extended amounts of time, does it ever come back in later sessions? If it does, then it isn't any form of accomplishment, is it?

Is there a significance we cannot measure? Is there a meaning that does not fall victim to the thoughts that compose us? Can we identify without clinging? Can we identify without anything? Do not all currents of the mind eventually subjectify? Do not all currents of the mind eventually die? Do not all streams of belief, meaning, and significance through the passage of time become unbelievable, meaningless, and insignificant? What then remains? What then.

When I was last posting here, many of you were asking me when my book would be available to purchase. I have been busy with that project and it is now available at Amazon and on Kindle. I made an effort to present many of the pith instructions that I have received from mainly Dzogchen masters, Mahamudra masters and Zen masters, so that anyone could experience the "shift" into Enlightened Mind easily and in a relatively short time. The material is presented in generic language without the need to know anything about Buddhism nor the Tibetan teachings. To learn more about the book please visit my website: www.wayoflight.net Please share your feedback or comments! Jackson

I wasn't even aware of this until today! Noted Master Nan Huai-Chin Reported Dead in China

So I found a good read when I was younger, maybe 10 years ago or so, a book by Mary Summerrain called The Phoenix Rising. Another book she wrote, Dreamwalker, spoke of a concept that has been on my mind for a while and I figured it's time to just hash it out and put it into words. Maybe get some answers just doing so, but it's here as well, for discussion. (note, for some reason I cannot use the enter key to add vertical spaces between paragraphs, this wont be easy to read.) So! SummerRain makes note of something genuine: That a holy person, sage, monk, or other spiritually aware and/or advanced person's lifestyle is irrelevant. You can be a dreamwalker, as noted in this book, even though you drink sodas, smoke cigarettes, and eat red meat. MAYBE spiritual titles are irrelevant, that this applies across the board, or perhaps it's only relevant to dreamwalkers? It rings true, in my ears, that a physical lifestyle influences only the physical life-world, and is irrelevant regarding spiritual and/or psychic experiences and ability. So I am wondering to myself if it matters a person's sexuality, gender, diet, habits, addictions, or lifestyles have any genuine meaning in regards to practicing anything of the spiritual/energic sort? I personally do not believe smoking dope and promiscuity are going to directly inhibit immortality, but as with all things, everything in moderation...

There was a time, some years ago, when I had a need to have a conversation with a certain person. As a private conversation, it had to be undertaken in a place that was not where he lived, where he worked, or where he went when he was not working; it had to occur on the way that he would travel between these places. The reason for the conversation, the details of it, and the consequences to the person beyond it are of no consequence to this story, it is a story of an experience. Along a path that the person was known to take, beside the trail with it's rocks and bushes, overlooking a small forested area, I found a place to wait. I did not know when the person would come this way, only that he would, in time. I settled in beside a bush, and focused my mind upon stillness. In order to remain undisturbed, I set my mind to be like that of a rock: unmoving, undisturbable, unremarkable. As time went on, people walked by. Some looked in my general direction, but I noticed that they did not see ME, or the "I" that is me ... they only saw a rock sitting beside a bush. All of myself, my clothing, my body, my kit, my tools .. only percieved as a rock beside a bush. No great wonder to myself, for after the first few hours of sitting, the desire to move had all but gone, the presence of musculature and mode of motion had all but fled from the conciousness. The illusion of time had been so contracted, that a moment and an hour were nearly imperceptible. The sun traveled( oh, illusion!) in it's arc, and as twilight began to set in, a spider dropped from the bush to the top of the rock that was I. To the spider, I was a permenant feature, or at least unlikely to move, and so she began to go about her business, spinning a web. The concerns of the spider, where her thoughts were, were so simple; squeeze here, relax there, follow the pattern so ancient and ancestral to her nature. In the pattern and the following of it laid the key to continued survival; the web spun, the insects caught, the meal consumed ... one day, she would mate and lay her eggs, but not now. Observing the spider, I could have easily reached out and flicked her away. Squashing her fragile body between my fingers would have been no heroic feat - but I was a rock, imobile of my own nature, and so she finished her work. For a time we were as one, the spider and I. Both waiting, both waiting. A life, a destiny, a meeting; chance, but not by chance. Life taken and life preserved, life continuing. When I arose to complete my purpose, the tearing of the web seemed the greatest violence.

Hello from Germany, I am not much of a forum writer but have enjoyed reading a lot of threads in this forum very much in the past so that I thought it might make sense to register one of these days. Thanks to all of you who create this relaxed yet often extremely well informed atmosphere here. My core practise is Soto Zen style Shikantaza, although I find it more than just intellectually stimulating to look deeper into the commonalities between Zen, Dzogchen and Mahamudra. Have a grea start to this new year. All the best, Winterson

Hi! My name is Lara, I´m from Argentina but I live in Costa Rica right now. I´m a Spanish teacher. I practice soto zen. Nowadays I´m working on a research about the influence of the non-dualistic zen conception (specially as it can be read in the xinixin mingand the thaoist works of Lao Tse) of good and wrong in some western literature as Kerouac´s The dharma bums; Cortazar´s Rayuela (Hopscotch) and some short stories and the poems of Pessoa signed by Alberto Caeiro. If someone knows about any other pice of literature work that reffers or works about this topic I would really apreciatte suggestions! Sorry for my spelling or grammar mistakes! Lara