Okay, “Enlightenment or bust” might be a bit dramatic, but…

"Dang Zang" is an empty name. The blog has to do with the dharma; material related to Buddhist teachings (Tibetan style in particular, Kagyu in even more particular), meditation, gurus and lamas be they genuine or flaky, books and events. I do have a more personal blog, Pica Pica, and a site for my work.

Oh yes, it's by Alex Wilding

Archive

  • The Road to Castagnetoli 24/01/2012
    It turned out that the helicopters were not doing anything about a bridge, but were installing poles to restore some electricity supplies. Last week, however, we heard that the bridge to Castagnetoli had been reopened, so we went to take a look. As you will see, it is more a triumph of ingenuity than a triumph of Read more... The Road to Castagnetoli […]
  • Helicopters abound 16/11/2011
    Stuff has really been going on! A few days ago I walked up the hill and saw that the bridge to Castagnetoli was in exactly the same state (see earlier post), and the only activity was the harvesting of fallen trees. If and when there was going to be any attempt to replace this bridge, I Read more... Helicopters abound […]
  • A few figures about the rainfall 16/11/2011
    The epicenter of the storm on 25 October was Brugnato, in the Val di Vara, which is just about 8 miles as the crow flies south-west of where we live. By road, it would be a great deal further, as there are mountains reaching up to 1000 m in between. They recorded what is described as Read more... A few figures about the rainfall […]
  • Flood disaster, but we ourselves are OK 31/10/2011
    Picture above is near the bridge just down the road. I know that this has been on the national news in other countries, but probably not for long. In case anybody was worried, the first thing is that we are okay. In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, let me just mention that after a very Read more... Flood disaster, but we ourselves are OK […]
Sunday January 11th, 2009. Posted by Alex:

Flakes and charlatans revisited

The other day I stumbled across something called “Tibetan Heart Yoga” being taught somewhere near here – in fact I think it was on one of the Google adverts here. “Whatever is that?”, I thought in blunter words. I’d never heard of it.

It turned out that this is the hybrid system launched by Michael Roach:(Picture Scott Vacek)
He started out as a good guy, but fell in love. Some monks fall in love and deal with it, of course. In his case he went into a 3-year retreat. Problem was, he took his “spiritual partner” Christine McNally in with him. He still wears monk’s robes, but this is OK, he says because the hours a day that they practised “special physical yogas” were a) hard work, and b) he perceived her as a divine being and “you don’t break your vows if you engage in high yoga with a divine being”. Do I need to say more? See the Diamond-cutter site if you really want more detail.

Or, on another tack try this from the so-called five Tibetan rites, who say that:

Two thousand years ago, Tibetan monks claimed that the aging process could be reversed. They developed the Rites, by condensing 21 yoga exercises into 5. What would easily take a couple of hours to perform, could then be completed in 10-20 minutes. It was not uncommon for Tibetan monks to live to be 120 years of age, while still enjoying exceptional health!

Err… the Tibetans are very proud of their religious history. There were no Buddhist monks there until just over 1200 years ago (in 779 or 781 CE). Try reading the story about how this system came to be “known”! If it were worth the candle, I could go on – it’s a juvenile mishmash of fantasy and popular hindu-based theosophy. I say nothing about whether it might work, at least up to a point, but it is a stupid and dishonest presentation.

Mind you, the guy I talked about in this message, Ronald Lloyd Spencer, is a whole league worse!

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