My Holy Trinity - Buddhism, Taoism, Music

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MisterChi
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Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2010 1:55 pm

My Holy Trinity - Buddhism, Taoism, Music

Post by MisterChi »

Greetings. I'm still ambivalent about defining myself as a Buddhist. I have a Buddhist practice, and a Taoist practice, and am busy waking up like everyone else. I recruited heavily from the likes of David Loy, Jack Kornfield, Stephanie Kaza, Stephen Batchelor to hack out a thesis on the geography of consumerism, a Buddhist deconstruction of Los Angeles. Whether I actually internalize the principles I understand intellectually is another matter.

I stick to Buddhism for my ethical and social theory but I'm sold on my Nei Kung practice for getting grounded physically. I'm not the first to discover the two go well together. 1 hour of nei kung in the morning, 30 min. meditation in the evening. I also share the views of many that the human race will be culled this century due to a depletion of energy and ecological collapse, but that's no reason to be gloomy, right? :twothumbsup: My plan is to be living in an eco-village near Prince George BC within 3-5 years.
Good to be here. I turn 50 on 9/12, fell like 30.
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bodom
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Re: My Holy Trinity - Buddhism, Taoism, Music

Post by bodom »

Welcome MisterChi!

:anjali:
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
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retrofuturist
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Re: My Holy Trinity - Buddhism, Taoism, Music

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings,

Welcome to Dhamma Wheel.

:buddha2:

Metta,
Retro. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
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jcsuperstar
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Re: My Holy Trinity - Buddhism, Taoism, Music

Post by jcsuperstar »

:hello:
สัพเพ สัตตา สุขีตา โหนตุ

the mountain may be heavy in and of itself, but if you're not trying to carry it it's not heavy to you- Ajaan Suwat
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Kim OHara
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Location: North Queensland, Australia

Re: My Holy Trinity - Buddhism, Taoism, Music

Post by Kim OHara »

Welcome to DW :hello:
You'll find company on all of your interests here, I'm sure, though you don't identify your preferred music ...
'Nei kung' is new to me - sounds like it ought to be something like qi gong or tai chi, both of which I know. Care to tell us more?

:namaste:
Kim
MisterChi
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Re: My Holy Trinity - Buddhism, Taoism, Music

Post by MisterChi »

Nei Kung is "internal chi kung." http://www.neikungla.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; External forms of chi kung manipulate energy using movement and breathing. Nei kung develops the ability to manipulate energy with the mind. To be purely reductionist, it is a technique of increasing the sensory awareness of one's own nervous system until the ability to "run" energy becomes an act of will. If the preparatory work of acquiring the capacity for deep relaxation is performed - yoga, stretching, etc. - the practice is relatively easy to learn, quick, and exquisitely pleasant! My meridians began to open up at the 2 year mark, and it's been a year of continual, joyous, steady opening since then.

I'm currently awaiting an answer to a question I posed to a chi kung master who also teaches Vipassana: where are the areas of overlap, and what might I miss out on if I make my nei kung practice the default meditation technique?

Oh, and as far as music goes.... that's complicated. The jazz/rock fusion of the 70s was my musical babyfood; Chick Corea, Weather Report, John MacLaughlin, Jean-Luc Ponty, with plenty of Zappa thrown in. So I guess Billy Childs :sage: is the guy who really does it for me now. And Soundgarden and Audioslave when I'm driving!
:thumbsup:
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Kim OHara
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Location: North Queensland, Australia

Re: My Holy Trinity - Buddhism, Taoism, Music

Post by Kim OHara »

Hi - and thanks for the reply.
MisterChi wrote:Nei Kung is "internal chi kung." http://www.neikungla.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; External forms of chi kung manipulate energy using movement and breathing. Nei kung develops the ability to manipulate energy with the mind. To be purely reductionist, it is a technique of increasing the sensory awareness of one's own nervous system until the ability to "run" energy becomes an act of will. If the preparatory work of acquiring the capacity for deep relaxation is performed - yoga, stretching, etc. - the practice is relatively easy to learn, quick, and exquisitely pleasant! My meridians began to open up at the 2 year mark, and it's been a year of continual, joyous, steady opening since then.

I'm currently awaiting an answer to a question I posed to a chi kung master who also teaches Vipassana: where are the areas of overlap, and what might I miss out on if I make my nei kung practice the default meditation technique?
:thumbsup:
My immediate (uninformed, so beware!) response is that nei kung sounds a bit like the body-scan meditation I have done and might be much closer to shamatha/samadhi than to vipassana. If that's so, what you would miss out on is, um, vipassana. :thinking:
MisterChi wrote:Oh, and as far as music goes.... that's complicated. The jazz/rock fusion of the 70s was my musical babyfood; Chick Corea, Weather Report, John MacLaughlin, Jean-Luc Ponty, with plenty of Zappa thrown in. So I guess Billy Childs :sage: is the guy who really does it for me now. And Soundgarden and Audioslave when I'm driving!
:thumbsup:
I also enjoyed - still do, sometimes - Weather Report, EL&P and others, though my main interests are on the classical side. Maybe I should try listening to Billy Childs. :smile:
KIm
MisterChi
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Re: My Holy Trinity - Buddhism, Taoism, Music

Post by MisterChi »

Check this out, Kim.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JIRUVZi ... re=related" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I read the news and often find myself getting full of rage and despair over the stupidity of our species. And then I hear a performance like this and burst into uncontrollable weeping over our capacity for creating beauty and inspiring hope.

Enjoy. I never even heard of this guy before last night.
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Kim OHara
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Re: My Holy Trinity - Buddhism, Taoism, Music

Post by Kim OHara »

New to me, too - but great!
Thanks,
Kim
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Admiral
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Re: My Holy Trinity - Buddhism, Taoism, Music

Post by Admiral »

Welcooome :group:
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