What are your goals?

[Kajenx]

Do you have goals with your practice? If yes, what are they? If no, why are you practicing?

 

I'm really curious after the "Mastering the Emotions" thread because I got the impression that emotions weren't all that important to a lot of you guys. I'm pretty single minded these days. I don't have much interest in truth or immortality or the various forms of magic. I'm even pretty selfish in that I don't really worry about the fate of humanity anymore. I mean, I really did think about these things quite a lot in the past, but somewhere along the way I started dropping things off. Maybe I found the answers I was looking for? Hard to say. Now I'm basically down to, "I want to be perfectly content. Always. No exceptions."

[Daeluin]

To merge my de with tao.

[CloudHands]

Hi

 

I don't practice for the sake of it... nor to gain power or "immortality" and I don't care about fighting. I have few interest in Buddhism enlightenment (maybe because I don't fear suffering that much).

 

I think I'm a very sensitive person and I could have had a more peaceful life, I took the lesson and adapted my strategy.

 

Tai Chi fuels my life, it makes me play the game more than ruled by it. Every year since I started I'm more in control of myself so more in charge. Overall I feel better and the peaks are smoother. I think that's the best way I found to be who I am.

 

Taoism is the only system I couldn't destroy, it's almost tautological yet it's very powerful.

[GreytoWhite]

Mainly to straighten my spine and become a more stable but still emotionally free person.

[Vitalii]

I don't practice for the sake of it... nor to gain power or "immortality" and I don't care about fighting. I have few interest in Buddhism enlightenment (maybe because I don't fear suffering that much).

 

Immortality in Daoism = enlightenment in Buddhism.

 

Inner Alchemy methods allow to penetrate into the depths of essential Being. Through study and comprehension of inner world in a state of peace and quietness, we penetrate into the mysteries of Being. Methods of Inner Alchemy will help to return to the roots, to touch original (“divine”) nature and direct own knowledge to understanding and connection with the truth (with Dao). Therefore, it becomes possible to understand the world deeper, and to result in a more adequate interaction with the outside world. A Master who attained perfection by practicing techniques of Inner Alchemy is called the “Immortal \ Inhabitant of heaven \ Saint” (仙 – «Xian”).

[CloudHands]

Immortality in Daoism = enlightenment in Buddhism.

 

I know, I don't believe in things that don't move.

[zanshin]

Physical and mental awareness, vitality and to stay relaxed and in the moment. Sounds pretty simple, but find it pretty hard to do at times.

[Daeluin]

I know, I don't believe in things that don't move.

 

Hexagram 52 of the I-Ching is called "Stillness", and is composed of mountain over mountain.

 

And yet it is all about movement.

 

I think people get confused by the idea of stillness. The idea isn't to turn into a rock... rather to settle into such a perfect balance that all things are done without doing them. "All things" here means all the things that are part of our highest evolved destinies, relative to our cultivated capacity to accomplish "all things".

 

It's pretty typical for a person's "ego" to think it knows how to accomplish its own destiny, but how can one part of our whole selves know the destiny of the whole? Cultivating stillness helps us come into greater alignment with our capacity for doing "all things", by getting our ego's out of the way so we can just be natural and whole.

[GrandmasterP]

+1

In much the same way that 'emptiness' is very 'full'.....

True 'stillness' is incredibly dynamic.

Edited June 27, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[CloudHands]

Hexagram 52 of the I-Ching is called "Stillness", and is composed of mountain over mountain.

 

And yet it is all about movement.

 

I think people get confused by the idea of stillness. The idea isn't to turn into a rock... rather to settle into such a perfect balance that all things are done without doing them. "All things" here means all the things that are part of our highest evolved destinies, relative to our cultivated capacity to accomplish "all things".

 

It's pretty typical for a person's "ego" to think it knows how to accomplish its own destiny, but how can one part of our whole selves know the destiny of the whole? Cultivating stillness helps us come into greater alignment with our capacity for doing "all things", by getting our ego's out of the way so we can just be natural and whole.

 

That's a very nice reflexion. I think people get confused by the ideas

Don't rocks move (or evolve) ? It's another matter of time than ours or a different kind of vibration but I think it does.

 

Your next sentence goes to the point. IMO perfection (if any...) is death, absence of move, absence of life, absence.

You can approach the balance, maybe even stay in touch with it but I don't believe in the "nothing to add or remove" idea. That's not something that happens in nature for what I know.

 

What I say is that any person/element has to feel what he needs, that's IMO how someone get the closest to its balance.

 

"How can one part of our whole selves know the destiny of the whole?"

Wut ? Too complicated for me... Sometimes I wish I could speak English better.

[Daeluin]

IMO perfection (if any...) is death, absence of move, absence of life, absence.

 

To what you describe I think on images of absolute yin or absolute yang.

These images feel very dead indeed, and I wonder if they are even possible.

 

On its own this word feels so heavy with bias.

Yet when used to describe the tao I feel it begin to dance.

Is anything in the tao not perfect?

Hah, such a word is the death of its self!

 

You can approach the balance, maybe even stay in touch with it but I don't believe in the "nothing to add or remove" idea. That's not something that happens in nature for what I know.

 

In nature do things care about having something to add or remove?

 

What I say is that any person/element has to feel what he needs,

 

Yes. Feeling comes from our senses, and they are important tools for us to adapt ourselves to our situations.

 

Sense is related to the metal phase.

Metal is controlled by Fire,

Fire is related to Social Harmony.

 

When we use our senses to help us flow based on what is most harmonious, everything becomes naturally more fair and just. What is most harmonious depends on both the internal AND external elements of any situation.

 

that's IMO how someone get the closest to its balance.

 

What about when feelings are attached to?

From what I've seen, needs which arise from fixation on feelings do NOT create balance.

 

"How can one part of our whole selves know the destiny of the whole?"

Wut ? Too complicated for me... Sometimes I wish I could speak English better.

 

When we attach to our senses senses we condition the mind into patterns.

 

Some people eat cake, feel good and forget about it.

Others eat cake, feel good, and store the memory away.

This attached sense merges with other attached senses, so that we "know" when we feel a certain way, and are in a certain part of town, and have enough money, and have no pressing obligations, and there isn't a long line, and when it isn't past a certain time, and when that person we don't like isn't around, when no one is being violent, and when mercury isn't retrograde, we can go eat cake.

 

We live in complicated, demanding societies. Before we are set free to live as "adults" in "the real world", many of us have been trained to memorize an overwhelming set of rules and regulations, so we can "survive".

 

We often become so conditioned by attachment to regulating sensory input that our patterns become our identities. When our patterns persist, cycle upon cycle for decades, we would rather die than change the pattern.

 

But.... these attachments and patterns are literally attached and encrusted all throughout our energy body. Not only do they get in the way of our natural energy flow (causing dis-ease), they block our senses. It takes time to process senses, and the more attached we are, the more we must focus on processing instead of awareness.

 

Our senses are just one part of who we are. When we don't focus so heavily on sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell, and dissolve the encrustation of our attachments, we begin to learn there is more to who we are. As we become more empty, and refine our awareness, our spiritual sense increases. This is resting sense on social harmony in the self. But this is just fire and metal. There are five.

 

Here is an interesting story of what is possible when people live in full awareness of the moment. This isn't about powers though, but self-discovery. healing, and merging into wholeness. Not isolated, but in flow with our environment. As we empty of this life-time's conditioning, deeper layers of conditioning emerge from past lives. Our destiny is to dissolve this conditioning. The key is flowing harmoniously with life in our own unique way. Ultimately we won't want to add or remove anything because that would break our living connection to tao - we will spontaneously change in the way that maintains this connection. But the way is long, and what is right is what is right in front of us.

 

It is so awkward to write about this stuff without actually knowing anything about it. How do you know if you're wrong? If you're wrong how much confusion will you cause? What makes sense from every angle you look at it still doesn't cover the angle you aren't aware of. One must be, not think about being.

 

And see? My attaching is encrusting the original intention of this thread, which is to allow people to share their goals.

[Miles]

 

Immortality in Daoism = enlightenment in Buddhism.

 

Inner Alchemy methods allow to penetrate into the depths of essential Being.

its very interesting.

Is there a difference between Taoist meditation and Buddhist meditation?

[Vitalii]

its very interesting.

Is there a difference between Taoist meditation and Buddhist meditation?

 

it depends on each specific meditations.

We can not talk in a generalized sense about all Daoist and Buddhist meditations

[Miles]

 

We can not talk in a generalized sense about all Daoist and Buddhist meditations

 

I see.

Thank you.

[KenBrace]

My goal is to preserve my soul after death and escape the cycle of forced reincarnation. To live as an immortal spirit, free from the bounds of karma, reincarnation, and death.

[joeblast]

[hagar]

Embody the fact that we are all allready living in perfect, mysterious paradise

 

[Perceiver]

This is an interesting thread with a lot of wisdom in it.

 

I entered the qigong world mainly to reduce the side effects of spontaneous and accidental kundalini syndrome. As i progressed in the exercises i found myself becoming wiser about the nature of reality and my emotional true self - something that i had not expected but for which i am very grateful.

 

My goal is now to continue and deepen that journey.

[manitou]

I think people get confused by the idea of stillness. The idea isn't to turn into a rock... rather to settle into such a perfect balance that all things are done without doing them.

 

What a perfect description of wu-wei, IMO.

[Rocky Lionmouth]

General goals:

Mainly development of a personal and spiritual kind.

Im very curious about my systems long term benefits and the whole "explore thyself" trip. Also hopefully to pass on something of value to coming generations of practicioners.

And just mastering the techniques in new ways to see what happens after.

 

One thing i've seen Grandmaster do are these seemingly effortless, minimalistic techniques that blow me away everytime. Even when they are simple illustrations of a concept or point, its all very clear and useful knowledge and skills. I'd like to be able to teach that to myself and others.

 

And of course: wealth, cars, mansions and minions.

Edited July 15, 2014 by Rocky Lionmouth