79 replies to this topic

[Jetsun]

Pretty interesting video, he talks about his life and about Taoism. What do you guys think? he comes across like he has a lot of enthusiasm and looks like he has a lot of power, yet it seems like he has a pretty big ego for someone who practices so much meditation and he is often out of shape. I guess you shouldn't judge Taoists though as they are meant to defy usual conventions.

I do like his Water meditation and practice it a fair bit, yet I am not particularly drawn to him as a master or guru, I wonder if that creates a problem as people say that it is good to practice the methods of someone you want to emulate.

[orb]

That's not a bad judgement - that's the main idea of any spiritual path.
The skill is going to be useless as we get old.
The power is going to be lost because our batteries do have a limited life span.
And what is left is exactly that - your Ego.
And if we don't take care of it - the ego is going to be too dirty or too weak or just plain wrong and not allowed in Heaven.

[Ish]

If what he's saying is simply the truth, maybe there isn't a big ego behind it.
OR maybe there is, I don't know Bruce Frantzis.

What I do know is that sometimes being "modest" can be a subtle (or not so subtle) form of ego clinging.

Either way, I enjoyed the interview, and from my feeling he is legit. The dissolving technique is great too.

[Reed]

I do like his Water meditation and practice it a fair bit, yet I am not particularly drawn to him as a master or guru, I wonder if that creates a problem as people say that it is good to practice the methods of someone you want to emulate.

I saw this interview the other day and also enjoyed it. However, I'm in a similar situation to yourself where I'm not sure if I'm that drawn to him as a person -- it's difficult to say for sure as I don't really know him -- and I also wonder whether that might create problems in the long run.

I've only been working on his water method a few months so I can't really comment on how good it is yet (seems okay so far) but I know a much more advanced person who has found it personally useful and also with his students.

[GrandmasterP]

Hadn't heard about this guy before I came on here read a couple of his books since and enjoyed the interview, thanks for posting it.
Good guided meditation at the end.
Here's someone who has made this sort of thing his life's work and made a living from it along the way.
An interesting fellow with a fascinating tale to tell which is told well.
In a pond containing not a few sharks and charlatans, Mr. Frantzis is of the righteous system-sellers I'd venture.

[Jetsun]

I do really like his Water Method meditation, I think it is a really powerful technique and his books are some of the best books I have read in this field, he talks about healing and meditation in important areas which I have found very few teachers talk about. But there are a few contradictions in that I would personally expect so see him a bit softer if his methods go beyond what most others do, I see some Buddhist masters and they seem much happier and open hearted than he comes across. And his method is meant to clear any traumatic imprints from his system but he says in his autobiography that he had seven automobile accidents in seven years which suggests that either he is really unlucky or some sort of karmic imprint is trying to work its way out of him, or something is going wrong anyway.

[GrandmasterP]

Maybe he's just a bad driver.
;-)

[Reed]

But there are a few contradictions in that I would personally expect so see him a bit softer if his methods go beyond what most others do, I see some Buddhist masters and they seem much happier and open hearted than he comes across.

I think that this is roughly what my concerns revolve round.

Maybe he's just a bad driver.
;-)

[Jetsun]

Maybe he's just a bad driver.
;-)

Could be, but whenever I see things like this in sevens the alarm bells start ringing. Passing through the seven gates or tests or defeating the seven demons seems to be the passage through the chakras in nearly all paths.

[GrandmasterP]

Sevens!
Aaarrrgggghhhhhhh.
I much prefer...
"Comes in threes"

[i am]

He's the real deal. Having said that...I just get a feeling from him...he thinks highly of himself. In a way I don't like. But I like his books, his system is for real, and he is accomplished.

[GrandmasterP]

Maybe it's that element of salesmanship. He has been pitching his wares this twenty years past or more according to the interviewer in the intro. Most salespeople come across (to me anyway) a bit like Mr. Frantzis does in the interview, not that he's hard selling anything he just has that slightly 'slick' manner.
I'm not saying that for a bad thing at all it's just the impression I've got from seeing him here for the first time in person.
I enjoyed the books they contain BS-free QiGong forms and are well written, anyone could learn something useful from them.
My abiding issue with any of the system sellers is that with QiGong, these days; you can find everything you need for free online.
That said , a lot of folk don't know where to look nor what for so, from what I have seen of it; Mr Frantzis system is the best I've come across for a sort of 'one stop shop' to get anyone up, running and cultivating successfully.

[Creation]

Jetsun,

Thanks for posting! I enjoyed watching this.

About Bruce not being "soft": It seems to me that the point of the water method is to let go of whatever is obstructing the spontaneous flow of your energy, and to do so in a way that is very gentle and unforced. But that does not necessarily mean that you will be gentle and unforceful after you have done so; that will depend on you personal energetic composition. For example, a fiery person can practice the water method and that would bring out their natural fieriness, but tempering any negative tendencies or imbalances that they may have accumulated.

Re "ego": When I feel a person as "egotistical" in a negative or spiritually unwholesome way, it either feels like a defensiveness coming from insecurity (trying to protect their conception of themselves, their "rightness", their "OKness", etc.) or an offensiveness (is that the opposite of defensiveness?) that is trying to get a response from others people (wanting praise, adoration, respect, prestige, etc). I do not sense either of these from Bruce. There is a certain expressiveness, boisterousness even; he is not at all reserved or meek. I personally do not find this to be indicative of lack of development, but just who he is. Now, someone could certainly feel a personal incompatibility with this type of person that would make Bruce a bad choice for a teacher, but that is a separate issue.

Edited by Creation, 04 January 2013 - 05:49 PM.

[thetaoiseasy]

Bruce has a good mind.

[idquest]

http://www.taichimas...-roll-the-ball/

[RobB]

Bruce has a good mind.

A friend of mine who trained a lot with Bruce (qualified under him, travelled to the states to train, hosted him in Europe) says he has a huge amount of material, some of it very rare. He also says that he has absolutely no heart.