Experiences with Fasting - Page 4

whiskeytown · #31 11-25-2005, 11:19 PM

I will say this - you get a nasty case of the runs after a day or so...

I found this out while taking a walk, so be careful where you go the first couple days - and be careful with the fruit juice - it can make it worse - [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

I also had a depressive phase where I didn't eat for 4 days - until the 4th day I hardly noticed, but then my stomach started knotting up a tiny bit.

RB

KaneKungFu123 · #32 11-26-2005, 01:16 AM

i think reading about this stuff before you do it is just going to put an idea of what you want it to be in your head before you do it, robbing you of the genuine experience. that is why i hate when people talk about calebrities or what some zen master said. just do your own thing, without expecations and see what comes of it.

ps: i love the toaist story.

craig r · #33 11-26-2005, 01:18 AM

[ QUOTE ]
i think reading about this stuff before you do it is just going to put an idea of what you want it to be in your head before you do it, robbing you of the genuine experience. that is why i hate when people talk about calebrities or what some zen master said. just do your own thing, without expecations and see what comes of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

My understanding of Zen or Buddhism is that you cannot expect anything from any situation. Most things can't be gauged, because nothing is constant. I am not saying I believe this, but just letting you know that Zen has some of the same ideas you have.

craig

jokerthief · #34 11-26-2005, 01:24 AM

[ QUOTE ]
that is why i hate when people talk about calebrities or what some zen master said.

[/ QUOTE ]

OK. I'm a little tipsy so please bear with me. I'm beginning to suspect that KKF is not an American who is living in Taiwan but Tawainese pretending to be an American living in Taiwan. Calebrities? You can't be serious. This isn't the first strange spelling error he has made. You either aren't a native english speaker, have an eighth grade education, or are prone to drink alchohol on the weekends in ridiculous quantities. I need to go make a tin foil hat. BRB.

KaneKungFu123 · #35 11-26-2005, 01:31 AM

are you making fun of tawainesse people??? [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

jokerthief · #36 11-26-2005, 01:34 AM

[ QUOTE ]
are you making fun of tawainesse people??? [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

No, I'm calling you out with my conspiricy theory. I'm halfway through making my tinfoil hat btw.

phil_ivey_fan · #37 11-26-2005, 09:52 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Here is a story, a Taoist story which are always good.

When I am going to makea bell stand, I never let it wear out my energy. I always fast in order to still my mind. When I have fasted for three days, I no longer have any thought of congradulations or rewards, of titles or stipends. When I have fasted for five days, I no longer have any thought of praise or blame, of skill or clumsiness. And when I have fasted for seven days I am so still that I forget I have four limbs and a form and body. By that time, the ruler and his court no longer exist for me. My skill is concentrated and all outside distractions fade away. After that I go into the mountain forest and examine the Heavenly nature of trees. If I find one of superatlive form, and I can see a bell stand there, I put my hand to the job of carving; if not, I let it go. This way I am simply matching up Heaven with Heaven.

[/ QUOTE ]

drugs are better because A) you don't have to wait 7 days to kick in and B) you don't have to starve yourself.

theBruiser500 · #38 11-26-2005, 03:35 PM

[ QUOTE ]
i think reading about this stuff before you do it is just going to put an idea of what you want it to be in your head before you do it, robbing you of the genuine experience. that is why i hate when people talk about calebrities or what some zen master said. just do your own thing, without expecations and see what comes of it.

ps: i love the toaist story.

[/ QUOTE ]

"My understanding of Zen or Buddhism is that you cannot expect anything from any situation. Most things can't be gauged, because nothing is constant. I am not saying I believe this, but just letting you know that Zen has some of the same ideas you have. "

maybe kane, interesting point. but i would interpet what craig wrote differently. the act of fasting will not mean much in itself, it will just make me hungry and upset. for it to mean anything i have to know why other people do it, what the ideas are behind it - to add this meaning on my own. and, even the act of fasting itself would not happen itself unless other people hadn't given me this idea. so if i'm going to follow their idea doesn't it make sense to know what their ideas behind it are?

astroglide · #39 11-26-2005, 04:01 PM

[ QUOTE ]
i think reading about this stuff before you do it is just going to put an idea of what you want it to be in your head before you do it, robbing you of the genuine experience. that is why i hate when people talk about calebrities or what some zen master said. just do your own thing, without expecations and see what comes of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

well said

MMMMMM · #40 11-26-2005, 06:04 PM

Hi Bruiser,

the translation I have of that passage by Chuang Tsu is somewhat different, and does not reference fasting, but rather meditation.

I can't find it at the moment, but if you would like to read it, along with the most beautiful translation of Chuang Tsu (which happens to be my favorite Taoist literature), you might wish to pick up CHUANG TSU, Inner Chapters by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English. It is very poetic, and the photographs in the book are simply phenomenal. The "inner chapters" of Chuang Tsu are those chapters which scholars agree were actually written by Chuang Tsu. Feng and English, at the time of writing, were involved in running The Stillpoint Foundation in Manitou Springs(?) Colorado, a Taoist foundation and retreat.

Since you like Taoist stories, the best stories I have come across are in a little out-of-print paperback by John Blofeld, titled THE SECRET AND SUBLIME, Taoist Mysteries And Magic. Very enjoyable reading, which chronicles his encounters amongst the Taoist hermitages in China, before, I believe, the Red takeover of the country. It is much more enjoyable reading than his later works, so if you can have a search done for it by a bookstore, or perhaps find it on eBay yourself, I am sure you will enjoy it. If you would like to be see inside remote mountain grottoes, to witness the Taoist Autumn Festival, to share green tea and talk with bearded Taoist sages, this book is for you.

In my teens, I developed a keen interest in Taoism and Buddhism, which has stayed with me throughout the years, so I can relate to that which you find interesting about these things (by the way, when I was in my teens and early 20's, my political views were far more towards "modern liberal", also, so you and I might actually have more in common that way you might guess, heh).

Another book you would enjoy is The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen. You should be able to relate to this trek journal (with a great spiritual twist) especially well, after your own fascinating trip to Nepal.