Yin and Tonic: A Taoist Quiz

New game inspired by

http://forum.healingdao.com/general/message/11122%5C

(My favorite is question # 17
I really like it when Mathematics and Kundalini combine to produce such gems.)

So, I thought we could create our own quiz on Eastern Mysticism/String Theory/New Age, etc.
However there really must be a correct answer. Post the right reply, then post your own multiple choice question.

Want to play?

I'll start the ball rolling:

Ram Dass is:

1. The author of " Plan for Tomorrow Before It's Too Late. "
2. The brother of Haagen Dass, a.k.a. The ice cream guru.
3. Some dude named Rick Alpert who hung out with Timothy Leary.
4. Green Lantern.


Cheers,

Mario

I'll take B for Maharishi and A for Lemuria; though rumors that Creed was awarded an exclusive contract to supply fragrance for The Royal House of Lemuria are untrue.

(It was about 5,000 years later in Atlantis)

I'm stumped by kbe's quetion.
He did get the answer to mine right.

It looks as if it's by a Chinese Chan master but it feels too modern, so I'll have to pass on that one, Boddhidharma forgive me. Someone had better answer it, though--before Gort goes ballistic ( see the bottom of his post!) I shall not post again until this is done AND someone else takes a crack at "Indigo Children. "

Klaatu barada nikto,

Mario

No, that was an Italian/American Shaolin master who became a legendary bouncer in New York.
Although he briefly made a living as a DJ, he went on to found his own system of Kung-Fu based on the ancient Tiger/Crane style: Hung-Gar.

However, he re-named it Hung Far Low for reasons I'd rather not go into . . .



Here's two that no one can find in Wikipedia, and spoil the fun. So open your third eye!

#!. Why do Zen Monks wear black robes?

A. To get to the other side.
B. It's a Japanese thing. Though sometimes they opt for brown--go figure.
C. It's very slimming
D. Not to be confused with The Dalai Lama, or other Tibetan masters, who lean towards red and gold.
E. Who is it that is asking the question?
F. All of the above.


Hm . . .I'll take A and B The right answer is probably E but I've forgotten my mantra.
There is an interesting parallel to Christianity in a guru " Taking on the karma " (or sins?) of his student. Not to mention Pentecostals, being "Slayed in (The Holy) Spirit "--- but that's another story.

OK. Gang, here's another you won't find in Wiki:

#2 What is the lineage/founder of India's "Godmen"


Imagine going to an open air auditorium to hear a holy man.
The stage is surrounded by large stemmed flowers.
As The Guru enters, the flowers all bow to him for a few seconds in recognition of his powers!!

Cool, huh?

According to "The Sorcerer's Apprentice " A delightfully funny travelogue by Tahir Shah.
India has about 500 "Godmen" in the big leagues. Some are consulted by politicians, rather as if the PM of Israel would consult Uri Geller before making any important decision.
After considerable research, Mr. Shah is convinced that their founder and their lineage comes from:

A. Krishna.
B. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky.
C. Jiddu Krishnamurti
D. Erich Weiss
E. Ascetic Sadhus

Cheers,

Mario

You are corrrect. And as kbe would say, hot on the trail as all the answers are indeed swell, and I could not disagree with F "all of the above. "

However as to #2 What is the lineage/founder of India's "Godmen"

(According to author Tahir Shah)

I fear I may have made it way too difficult. Here's a hint: THE FOUNDER was better known by another name---No, it wasn't Odo from Deep Space Nine--

***************************************

As to Haunani's
Another challenge:

YANTRA is

1. A matchmaker for the new age (a perfect job for the aging hippie!)
2. Worship involving external objects, designs, or symbols.
3. Enlightenment through stir-frying.
4. One or more of the above.

I know this one, it's B. Some people go to pieces over mandalas or cathedrals, or Tibetan prayer wheels, which is OK by me. However, I would worry if their object of veneration was a machete or an AK-47.

************************************************** *******************

Meanwhile, as you ponder the hint I gave re India's " Godmen" here's another one--which I hope will be far easier:

In the Soto Zen school, there is a tendency to strive for 'gradual enlightenment' rather like a ripe apple "suddenly" falling from an apple tree.

The prescribed method of meditating in the Soto Zen Set, as taught by most 21st century masters is:

A. Sit cross legged, stare at a wall with eyelids half closed, and observe/ manifest your True Mind.
B. Drive a car fast while your significant other is screaming insults at you, yet remain completely calm.
C. Sit in a comfy chair and watch any film by Andrei Tarkovsky twice in a row, and remain wide awake.
D. Sit and and watch paint dry. Do NOT let your mind wander.

(This includes making comparisons to Tarkovsky films )

E. Sit, stand, or lie down but do NOT think of a pink unicorn for at least an hour. If you do, start over.
F. Lie down and look at the shapes of clouds; let your mind wonder and open yourself to creative ideas.
G. Sit under a freezing cold waterfall and recite from Dogen's "Shobogenzo. "

Gassho,

Mario

Wait a minute. No one answered Toalady's Wushu question yet!

*And yes, ody it was Erich Weiss aka Harry Houdini. The book in question tells you how they fix it for real flowers to 'bow' when The Holy Man (?) enters the auditorium. Now that the cat's out of the bag, Tahir Shah got the lunatic idea after graduating from university in The U.K., to go to India and find the great Feroze, a master illusionist--and become his apprentice. It turned out many of 'The Godmen ' were former students. It's a great read *


The purist's answer is none of the above, or it would be to a saffron robed Shaolin monk (yep they're still around ) or to full contact 5 times European champion and Shaolin stylist, and a nice guy from what I hear, Eshan Shafiq----Google him for some amazing bouts.
However I will answer C--er--I mean 4. A showy martial art taught throughout China, esp at The Peking Opera. What the hell, without Wushu we wouldn't have Jackie Chan movies.

Cheers,

Mario

P.S. I like Hillaire's writing style. No wonder none of my director friends make it to Sundance; they're stuck at Cannes asking about awards in bad French!

It was?

OK then I'll take C.
Though The Ghost Dance is the one that really rocks!

********************************

Which one of these great scientists was NOT considered a Mystical Crackpot by detractors?
Or for that matter, by friends?

( Note that I'm not listing scientists who were simply religious or mildly eccentric, so Francis Bacon is not a candidate, despite his works on theology and unproven rumors of membership in occult societies, nor George Washington Carver, even if he did like to talk to flowers; nor the devout theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate, Abdus Salam)

Here we go:

A. Pythagoras-- (Yeah, the guy with the hypotenuse)
B. Paracelsus
C. Sir Isaac Newton
D. Leonardo da Vinci
E. Emanuel Swedenborg
F. Wilhelm Reich
G. Carl Gustav Jung
H. Nikola Tesla


Cheers,

Mario

double vision--i mean double post. Sorry

No, ody you have! Go to the head of the class.

The only other possible candidate besides Leonardo would be Tesla who, despite his OCD, and his belief he was receiving messages from Venus or Mars; and that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets, did not go for mysticism; unless we use that word broadly and apply it to Tesla's 'Field Theories' in which he "debunked " Einstein:

" I hold that space cannot be curved, for the simple reason that it can have no properties. It might as well be said that God has properties. He has not, but only attributes and these are of our own making. Of properties we can only speak when dealing with matter filling the space. To say that in the presence of large bodies space becomes curved is equivalent to stating that something can act upon nothing. I, for one, refuse to subscribe to such a view. "

At 81 he claimed he had completed a dynamic theory of gravity and solved all the problems ( left by Einstein?) but Tesla died before publishing it. Or perhaps it was spirited away by the government along with his 'death ray' or teleforce. weapon which he claimed " could bring down a fleet of 10,000 enemy airplanes at a distance of 200 miles . . . and will cause armies to drop dead in their tracks. " I better not write about this more lest black helicopters start circling overhead.----Suffice it to say Tesla made Edison look like a dimwit by comparison. An amazing man.

Pythagoras? Google or have fun and watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlBA9_3zj9w

Paracelsus believed in astrology, but then so did a lot of scientists in the 15th century; however coming up with a " Magical Alphabet" and making magical talismans crosses the line.

Sir Isaac Newton far from his image as a total 'rationalist' was a also an occultist who--Oh, here's PBS:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIJlg...next=1&index=9

Swedenborg First met God in a tavern; then had dreams and visions to proclaim The Truth. Freaked out The Queen of Sweden by giving her messages only known to her dead brother. He's probably better known these days as a founder of a church than as a brilliant scientist in the fields of chemistry, mathematics, metallurgy--and inventions.

Wilhelm Reich Took Freud's Libido to the nth degree. Orgasms produce the building blocks of the universe and control weather. The orgone energy is blue. (could it be love?) If you haven't read him he'll sound at times like Yoda talking of The Force. Unfortunately he felt persecuted by the government. (The FDA wanted him to stop selling machines which he claimed cured cancer or dissipated clouds) Like a latter day Galileo he died in prison for his beliefs.

C.G. Jung Also believed in astrology, which was not cool with 20th century science--unlike the century of Paracelsus---Sometimes as a last resort he would send a patient to get his horoscope done so he could finally understand him. " Magical " coincidences frequently occurred to him which formed the basis of his Theory of Synchronicity He also had visions or, as he preferred to refer to them, " Confrontations with the Unconscious." He preached, and famously published--" Seven Sermons To The Dead "

. .
Around five o'clock in the afternoon on Sunday the front doorbell began ringing frantically...but there was no one in sight. I was sitting near the doorbell, and not only heard it but saw it moving. We all simply stared at one another. The atmosphere was thick, believe me!

Then I knew that something had to happen. The whole house was filled as if there were a crowd present, crammed full of spirits. They were packed deep right up to the door, and the air was so thick it was scarcely possible to breathe. As for myself, I was all a-quiver with the question: "For God's sake, what in the world is this?" Then they cried out in chorus, "We have come back from Jerusalem where we found not what we sought"
--That is the beginning of the Septem Sermones. (Memories, Dreams, Reflections, p190-1)

Needless to say, I'm also rather fond of Reich and Jung In fact, all these gentlemen were quite colorful geniuses.

Cheers,

Mario.

You're welcome! And Hillaire has brought back a memory that may indicate E is not all that spurious.

Early 1970's talking with my first live-in gf. She asked about an article I was reading on Jiddhu Krishnamurti. I forget if it was by him or by Peter Fonda who bumped into JK at the beach and became friends.

* I love California*

Anyway I quoted something JK said which sounded 'spiritual' but rather odd to me:

" I am celibate because every part of my body is vibrant with love. "

She didn't miss a beat: " Oh. You mean he's impotent? "

If the allegations that Besant sexually abused her 'adopted son' are true, it wold explain quite a bit.

-------------------------------------

Around this time I made the acquaintance of one of these grandmotherly ritual witches cosmic whatever ( It's California, folks) who was always seeing white auras around everything, esp things that were utter crap.

However, she had had been present in 1930 when, at a mass rally of Theosophists, Krishnamuti--The New World Teacher and, according to Besant, the re-incarnation of Jesus and
--well Jesus knows who else--
Went up to the podium and politely told them to, as we would say these days, " To get a life. "

This despite many in the audience, including "granny" having seen The Holy Spirit descend upon him.
I asked her the obvious question: Why would he deny his divinity if he was The One, and break with Theosophy and, for that matter any other form of organized religion for the rest of his life?

She replied that-- well, he could have been The Christ had he proclaimed himself that day, but his courage failed him so " He didn't make the grade. "

**************************************

This story has no sequel, unless Life of Bryan based a few scenes on this e.g; "Only the true Messiah denies his Divinity."

Cheers,

Mario

Lan Caihe is

A. A famous transvestite musician.
B. One of the 8 Taoist Immortals.
C. A philosopher-beggar who was cavalier towards money, like Diogenes the Cynic.
D. Some dude who affected wearing only one shoe, like Oedipus.
E. A drunk who would often sleep in the snow but with alleged psychic powers, melt it.
F. A deity that curses anyone who looks her up on the internet.
G. An all-girl Japanese thrash-metal revival band, popular on Youtube, and throughout Western Europe
H. A through E
I. A 17th century Kabbalist
J. None of the above.

Say, aren't they in the process of recording a Scandinavian Heavy Metal Band called Ragnarök?

Inspired by the wealth of information and terminology we have gotten:

1. Crop circles were formed by

A. UFO's
B. Post modernist hands on artists with a flair for a hoax.
C. The Great Earth Goddess
D. B and C, they were inspired by The Goddess---see Jung on mandalas.
E. Schizophrenics.

2. According to Kundalini Yoga when the top chakra finally 'opens' it can be as if a current of light passes from the spinal column to the brain, or as if something 'pops' on top of the head and it feels as if a viscous fluid descends. In any case it's life altering. The IQ might increase, fears may vanish, etc.

Which one of these individuals did NOT have a top Chakra Kundalini experience?

A. Gopi Krishna
B. G. Gordon Liddy
C. Jawaharlal Nehru
D. " Pretty Boy" Floyd
E. B and D
F. C and D

3. " You will regret your stupid blasphemies! "

Comes from

A. 2nd Isaiah (the LORD is speaking )
B. The Koran (The Prophet speaking directly to a crowd)
C. Euripedes ( Dionysus is speaking)
D. Dogen ( Trying to help a Zen monk)

4. "Lie down and look at the shapes of clouds; let your mind wonder and open yourself to creative ideas."

Was in fact a method often used by:

A. Hakuin
B. Leonardo da Vinci
C. Nikolas Tesla
D. Shirley Mc Laine (see her autobiography)
E. Monty Python

Cheers,

Mario

P.S. I haven't the foggiest as to ody's question but from analyzing the sentence I'll guess E. " None of the above. " Though it could be A. *sigh*

King Pentheus: " You will regret your clever answers. "

Dionysus: "You will regret your stupid blasphemies! "

The Bacchae

( I forget which translation. Somewhere when the two first meet. The god is brought in to the king as a prisoner, he's a foreigner who is accused of corrupting the morals of Thebes.)

A tragedy by Euripides circa 400 B.C.

One down, three to go.

Pax,

Mario

Well, your batting average remains high!
For (1) I agree, it's D. I say agree because while we can prove crop circles were done by post modernist hands on artists with a flair for a hoax, how on earth are we going to prove they were inspired by The Goddess to any skeptic? Unless, of course they've already agreed with Jung on mandalas But then they'd probably be Jungians or artists themselves instead of skeptics. (Is there such a thing as a post-modernist skeptic? I hope not)

However I believe one of the reasons you're stumped on (2) is that Gopi is not Lord Krishna's first name. The gentleman in question was, I believe, born one year before or after 'Pretty Boy' Floyd--I forget which.

Oh and don't forget folks, I asked which one of these individuals did NOT have a top chakra kundalini experience
Here's a hint: There was at least one who did have this experience, wrote an autobiography wherein he described the event--but nowhere used the words chakra, kundalini, or yoga to describe what happened to him one day when he first began to experience a sharp pain on the top of his head followed by . . .

Cheers,

Mario