Falun Dafa

Or Falun Gong as it is sometimes called. I dunno if any of you know what this is, so I'll tell you. Falun Dafa is a chinese meditational practice (or Self-Cultivation practice if you want to use their phrasing). It was only was only introduced to the public in 1992 but it's been taught in private for a very long time, it's one of those ancient chinese arts, or is at very least derived from such. Anyway millions of people around the world learn it, however in china (where the good part of 100 million people practice it) it's practice is outlawed by the communist government, mostly because so many people practice it and they see that as somewhat of a threat. People are tortured and killed for practicing it there, sucks to be them.
Anyway the point of this post is that we actually have people here in Frankston who practice it, they gather on sunday mornings at 9 am in the frankston gardens (the George Pentland or whatever they are called) by the duck pond. It's free to learn, that's one of their principles, so I think I'll go along this sunday and check it out. It's been highly acclaimed as being good for improving mental and physical wellness. It's actually quite simple as far as exercises go I believe, there seem to be five main ones which look pretty straight forward.
Anyway, if you want to read more about it then there is the website, which I shall add below, and also on that website there is a book that can be downloaded for free, Zhuan Falun, it's pretty much their main instruction manual/philosophical basis, and also another one which is recommended for beginners, Falun Gong.

Website: www.falundafa.org

Zhuan Falun is a pretty hardcore book it seems, some of the topics it discusses are:

* the origins of qigong and the long-forgotten meaning of "cultivation" (I believe falun dafa is a form of qigong)
* the roots of illness, and their fundamental removal
* karma: its origin, effects, and transformation into virtue
* Falun Gong's relation to qigong, Buddhism, Taoism, and other cultivation methods
* the meaning and function of supernormal abilities
* the question of eating meat and the issue of attachments
* genuine, integrated cultivation of mind and body
* what is Enlightenment, and what is Consummation?

Also I had another dream last night, don't remember much because it's nearly 8pm now but I do remember that there was a shop that had many swords in it, among other things. Some looked like strange wushu broad swords, but I picked up a short, almost knife-like sword. The blade was fairly flat and straight and had edges on both sides, and curiously the tip was rounded. Strange as it looked it was extremely sharp and I accidentally cut myself between my thumb and forefinger with the faintest of brushes from the blade.