dmattwads Posted March 21 My general understanding of Buddhism is that typically one focuses on cultivating the mind and it is assumed as a given that the energy will follow suite. What I want to know if I am understanding correctly (or not) is if the concept in Taoism in general is to cultivate the energy and then let it affect the mind? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cleansox Posted March 22 I would say that you cultivate both, perhaps with more emphasis on the energetic aspects but you also still the mind and look at your behaviour at large (see for example the 49 barriers). 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
exorcist_1699 Posted Friday at 04:34 AM (edited) People who follow the Buddhist way must know the Taoist framework of jing-qi-shen otherwise they very likely will fall into the trap of ignoring the importance of body energy; people who follow Taoist way must know Zen's criticisms about attachments to ideas, forms and statuses otherwise they definitely will be entangled by those tricks of MCO or visualization , not capable of achieving anything great . Edited Friday at 05:56 AM by exorcist_1699 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RiverSnake Posted Friday at 07:11 AM Lot of different approaches: Energy, Mind, Emotion, Body Postures/Mudra Taoist practices tend to focus on energy cultivation.....though i am hesitant to make that a rule of thumb as what we experience as Westerners in terms of Taoist practices is limited....same thing likely applies to Buddhism and it's various sects. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
exorcist_1699 Posted 21 hours ago (edited) There are two things , as preconditions , you need to have in order to attain an eternal life or something spiritually great : 1) You are capable of initializing qi . Unable to get such an ability beforehand means you get no criteria to measuring how good or how high a level your spiritual practice is or will be . Note that praying , visualization or how well you imagine things , is some kind of subjective experience or creation , hardly be any kind of criterion to judge itself , and is unmatched to a criterion like qi so reliable . The subtlety of qi strangely corresponds to different layers of emptiness or your emptied Mind. 2) You somehow know what a genuine emptied Mind look likes . In capable of tasting some flavor of it will either make you mistake those talks in Buddhist Sutra as philosophical stuff , or make you ignore what Taoist emphasize on some spiritual presuppositions before doing your MCO . What always happen are that those keys and terms are written there clearly for you , yet you wholly overlook them . Edited 21 hours ago by exorcist_1699 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Indiken Posted 19 hours ago (edited) 3 hours ago, exorcist_1699 said: 1) You are capable of initializing qi . Unable to get such an ability beforehand means you get no criteria to measuring how good or how high a level your spiritual practice is or will be . Note that praying , visualization or how well you imagine things , is some kind of subjective experience or creation , hardly be any kind of criterion to judge itself , and is unmatched to a criterion like qi so reliable . The subtlety of qi strangely corresponds to different layers of emptiness or your emptied Mind. Does qi has to be felt? If so, what is the feeling like? I think I felt qi. There was "qi" rising from dantian to lungs rythmically. This was inner breathing. Is this the right way to feel qi? I had the same feeling couple of days ago, yet could not keep handle of it. I think because I could not keep concentration stable. Edited 17 hours ago by Indiken Share this post Link to post Share on other sites