Taomeow

The deeper taoist approach to analyzing food energetics starts with what the food "has" and proceeds to what it "does" in the given body at a given time, when consumed in a particular shape or form or combination. For this, the entire food item is analyzed as a "being," with everything it entails, and then its interactions with the human being, the relationship, is assessed. One starts with simple (for those who have thoroughly mastered the concepts first) yin-yang assessment, then the wuxing (Five Phases) affiliations which manifest at the first simple step as taste (e.g. salty is associated with Water -- kidneys, bitter with Fire -- heart, etc.), warming or cooling (or neutral) nature, and which meridians the qi of the food enters upon being ingested, and whether it will ascend or descend there, and whether it's drying or moisturizing, reducing or producing to certain organs or the overall body, fast or slow in its action (a spectrum -- yin to Slow yin, yang to Fast yang), and which organs it will nourish and which it will deplete if overnourishing its target (e.g. Sweet taste nourishes the Spleen-Stomach but at the expense of the Heart if you overdo it), and which energies affect which aspect of the "affiliated" organ(s) -- e.g. asparagus acts on Kidney yin but cinnamon acts on Kidney yang. Then the person who is going to eat is matched to the foods she's going to eat based on her unique needs: age, male or female, which wuxing affiliation the person is, which imbalances are manifesting, what her lifestyle requirements are (do we want a healing diet right now to recover from an illness, a supporting one to counteract the stress of a challenging job, a difficult emotional situation, or physical performance in demanding conditions, e.g.); also climate, season, and even time of the day. And then interactions between different items that go into a particular dish -- a "literate" taoist dish is like an herbal formula, it is thought through and understood in its enegetics and effects completely. All of it is fascinating. I've studied pretty much every nutritional paradigm in existence, and no one-diet-fits-all comes close -- and of the individualizing ones, perhaps classical pre-Buddhist Ayurveda is a second, but IMO not even a close second. Taoist food analysis is the richest and most complex science under the sun -- but every one of the many consecutive steps toward mastery is simple, and congruent with the overall scope of taoist arts, sciences and practices. You study nutrition, you simultaneously study Heaven and Earth in all their manifestations. This is great fun.

In respect to the yin-yang spectrum of foods consumed by humans. Of course nothing is yin or yang by itself.

This is completely wrong -- but where the author is getting it from is probably the macrobiotics paradigm, they have all yin-yang foods reversed there, for reasons best known to them -- mostly they designate foods they like as yang and foods they don't like as yin, that seems to be the only criterion. Here's the real picture: Alcohol extreme yang Sugar yang Coffee yang Achiote (?) no idea what that is, sorry Basil yin -- he got this one right, the only one Spices yang Eggs balanced -- egg white yin, egg yolk yang miso yin honey yang salt extreme yin The numbers are, obviously, meaningless.

Man invented the atom bomb. Somehow It never occurred to a single mouse to invent the mousetrap. -- A German aphorist whose name I forget

Of Water and the Spirit: Ritual, Magic, and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman, by Maliodoma Patrice Some It is not specifically about communication with plants, and overall it's such heavy duty African shamanism (and some other heavy-duty themes) as not to be expected to be empirically accessible, but there's one episode there that can perhaps generate some ideas. The author, in the course of undergoing an excruciating initiation ordeal, is given a task, one of many, to see a tree. To see what it really is. A particular stand-alone tree is pointed out to him, and three elders in charge of his initiation position themselves at some distance, in the shade of some other trees, observing him. Maliodoma, however, is instructed to sit in the open, in full blazing African sun, naked, and I seem to recall he had no food and even no water, though I may be wrong about the latter. He was told that he can't leave the spot until he sees the tree. So, he looks and looks -- well, it's a tree. However he looks, it's a tree, dammit, and nothing is going on with it, and he doesn't know what it is he is supposed to see. He's getting hot, thirsty, tired, fretful, and always fearful of failing the quest. So after a while he decides to make things up -- he's imaginative and he reports to the elders, "I can see it! It's all shining with multicolored lights and it's really this and that," whatever it was that he made up. He delivers these lines very convincingly but the elders just laugh at him. "Quit lying, and keep trying." So, if memory serves, he sat there through the day and maybe the night and the next day, half-dead of overheating and despair, and then... ...well, I won't give it away in case you want to read the book.

Homemade qigong is an advanced form of creativity. As in everything else, I would rely on the tradition here: every master of every taoist practice started out by learning from masters that went before and imitating what they were doing for the longest time before proceeding (some, not all by any stretch of imagination) to creating their own routine, their own form or their own formless expressions. If you start with your own inventions instead, without a background in the classical forms, chances that you will create something that can come close to the latter in its value are pretty much nonexistent. Creativity is overrated. Not everyone is a natural born author of whatever he or she would undertake. There's way more artists that good artists, and way more good artists than great artists. The same applies to qigong. If you are a Leonardo of taoist practices... hmmm, even Leonardo started out by imitating patiently and laboriously the masters that went before. To say nothing of genuine taoist masters, for whom lineage is everything, and creativity is maybe a hobby on the side, not the mainstay of what they do -- or else serves a specialized purpose. E.g the purpose of instructing beginners, which is the origin of some of the newly created qigong forms (simplified for sloppier easier acquisition), or the politically motivated transmogrification of taiji into a competitive sport (for which purpose special competition-geared forms have been created in the very recent two or three decades.) If there's a clear goal in mind, one might choose a type of qigong to specialize in. Some are good to teach to particular groups (youngsters, seniors, martial artists, people with disabilities, general population -- different groups have different needs.) And some are for those who would invest into a system of ideation, sect, cult, or agenda. (A good example of a qigong heavily invested into an ideology is falun gong, the most popular of them all before persecutions began.) I would at least try a few types of already existing qigong and establish a foundation -- with silk reeling, eight pieces of brocade, five animal frolics, six healing sounds, something tried and true -- before getting into the uncharted territory. In fact, I really don't like the uncharted spiritual territory at all (except as an exception to the general rule), the night is dark and full of bafflement (in the best case scenario...)

@ zoom: the power you really need to shoot for is reading comprehension.

And another "by the way." I know someone who could set stuff on fire with his intent long before cultivation -- this might come naturally and spontaneously to people whose wuxing phase of Fire is blazing in their bazi chart. Episode from a picnic: it had rained, and the fire intended, and tended to with utmost care, wouldn't start no matter how everybody tried. So, this guy strikes a pose, holds his hands over the fire pit, and proclaims, "Let's get this fire started!" And a column of fire shoots up higher than people's heads! With uncanny blue and purple lights shooting through it! That's because of his chart -- Fire proprietary, Fire excess, Water deficiency, and a Fire Horse to boot. That, and he was high as a kite too, which definitely should be considered a factor. I would advise anyone who wants to learn pyrokinesis to get a bazi reading first and find out why they want it and why it impresses them so. In all likelihood they will find that they have Fire deficiency, and a consequent desire to have access to Fire within. This can be remedied, but not to the extent that you will develop a talent for pyrokinesis, you need an excess of Fire in the chart for that.

By the way, "spiritual" means "in communication with spirits, deities and immortals." Nothing else, contrary to new age beliefs. It does not mean "good" or "bad," "ethical" or "unethical." Not even close. "Higher" spirituality means simply that the spirits you can access are more powerful, more securely established in the spiritual world, and more inclined to get involved in your affairs. E.g. the Jade Emperor is not possible to access unless you are quite extraordinary, while Quan Yin may respond to your need even if all you have is a sincere heart and an incense stick. Higher spirituality means you are not entirely clueless about where you are and who you're with when you get in touch with the unfathomable world of spirits, deities and immortals. What's more important, they know you. If they don't, they can use a lesser spirit to check you out -- anytime! -- e.g., it could be the spirit of the driver you cut off, he cursed you out of his Heart Shen, his Heart Shen effectively informed his Greater Shen of the injustice, the Greater Shen reported it to his all seven subtle bodies, the subtle bodies are in touch with the celestial realm (whether the cut-off driver is aware of it or not), and that's how the Jade Emperor learned that you are an unethical driver, and the consequences of this information reaching him are anyone's guess. As a Chinese proverb goes, "one walks knee-deep in buddhas." Meaning, you are as spiritual as the next guy/gal -- because you are surrounded by spirits at all times for all purposes. Masters, however, are conscious and competent in this situation, while lay folks are not. Profound old lineages are all about this kind of spirituality -- you learn where you are, you learn what to do there, you learn what the consequences of doing or not doing things there might be. You have free will, to an extent, and destiny, to an extent, to make or break your advancement. "Advancement" is in the eye of the beholder in taoism and has as much or as little to do with ordinary human values as sewing needles applied to a silk garment with the same needles dropped in your brother's bowl of soup. The tools may be similar or even identical -- the goals and the outcomes may be worlds apart.

Yes. And never once did I look for "attainment," that's not what I'm in it for. It's like a bridge over troubled waters. Like a subtle breeze that keeps your inner world well-ventilated. Like having a secret room where all is familiar and yet something will always surprise you -- a gift someone left for you there anonymously, something that will make you chuckle -- oh, that... I didn't expect that. Thank you...

I am not a "psychic" (whatever that means -- I am a taoist and we don't have the term nor the definition, anymore than calling someone a "scientist" gives her credentials in physics if she is a Ph.D. in applied linguistics -- the term is too broad to have any specific meaning unless you are qualified to specify what the scientist under scrutiny does and what the psychic under scrutiny does). I am, however, one of master Wang Liping's first Western students, so for purposes of this thread I am not a "random person." Nice to meet you too.

Good. Whatsoever was intended, will return thrice. If it was a blessing, you will be blessed to the extent of its power, times three.

Wherefore art thou taking words spoken in jest out of context to dam them? Dam returned thrice, Purple Rose Seal.

Yes, I realize that people lie, however master Wang Liping primarily taught and teachers the Chinese in China -- recent exposure of Westerners was the outcome of much begging. Western non-students have nothing whatsoever to base any personal opinions on -- and collecting or generating rumors and insinuations does not strike me as an advanced practice or a reliable pathway into one. Whereas with his Chinese and Western students, master Wang has zero debunking rate -- and in the case of the former, he's taught thousands and some of them have known him for decades. Oh, and your psychic friend is full of shit, speaking of 'lying when it comes to attainment." The technique he uses is Cold Reading, I can see it clearly in my crystal ball (I have a bit of "attainment" myself, if I say so myself.) Look it up, you could learn this over the weekend -- throw in some NLP and you will be as psychic as your friend and can go around devaluing "attainment" of any master whose name happens to have been mentioned. Great fun.

West meets East West grabs everything it can -- loot, spoils, freebies West disparages everything it failed to steal One of those threads. They are always the same. Spiritual colonialism. High-attainment imperialism.

My understanding of perfection is consistent with its place as the first of the Three Treasures of taoism. (Taoists like to group their treasures In threes.) A perfect treasure is non-negotiable. It is not a treasure because someone appoints it as treasure. It just is -- by itself, ziran. I have little first hand experience of personal perfection. Perhaps my command of my native tongue, and my coffee, and that's about it. But once you know perfection in even one small thing, it engenders a longing for more. Perfection begets perfection, much as disorder begets disorder, sloppiness begets sloppiness, clutter begets clutter, and poverty attracts poverty, not money, and chickens lay eggs, not bricks. We are always told that "opposites attract," but similars attract stronger. Look at any tree. Leaf, leaf, leaf, leaf, leaf, leaf... not leaf, needle, brick, rock, paper, scissors. Once the tree has mastered the perfect way to be what it is -- leaf, leaf, leaf, leaf, leaf, leaf -- it doesn't want to experiment with any which imperfect way to be what it is. It is satisfied with being perfect -- for hundreds of millions of years. Taoists emulate that. Taoist(ish) parents might want to teach their kids that. What can beat a life skill that remains useful for hundreds of millions of years? If you are a tree, along the way you will invent animals to carry your seeds around (as Terence McKenna put it), begetting more perfection. Maybe it's just me, but when I was fourteen and someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up, I said, "I want to be the inventor of the cat."

California may. Texas definitely will. Secession session.

Depends on whose definition of perfection is used. If it's the parent's definition, it's pretty much emotional abuse, to saddle the kids with striving for that. But what I mean by perfection is an inner imperative to unfold into who you really are. And a kid who lives an inner life of something less than what he or she really is and intends to spend the rest of his or her life getting more and more "whatever" inside, assembling a personality out of "whatever," will never be happy no matter how much it is allowed or encouraged by the external authority source. We are all meant to be perfectly perfect at being who we are. Why settle for "whatever" if you can be real? I think it's a recipe for disaster in every case, to never find out how magnificent you are when you have put in some effort into being the whole you -- the perfect you -- or as close to that as your effort can take you. Remember that "perfection" only sounds like a noun -- but in reality, it's a verb. It's a process. A brilliant chameleon. This is something that protects against all the BS of competing with others, of envy, insecurity, low self-esteem, and the rest of those depressing feelings and drives -- to know that you are unfolding into who you are, and "perfection" is your birthright -- not contingent on how anyone else reacts. YOU know where you're at vis a vis who you were meant to be. No one else does. So, making perfection one's inner value also teaches honesty with self and others, and humility, and many, many good things. I don't know if it can be taught outside taiji though.

I haven't picked up any dreams from the mainstream dream dispenser ever since the last one went bust. (That was my American dream, which was something else to someone who was not born American -- it didn't mean a house in the suburbs, a car, and snubbing the Joneses. It was a dream of freedom. I thought America was about that. But what I got instead was a house in the suburbs, a car, and the Joneses who would snub you if you don't wash it as often as they wash theirs. And will inspect your lawn for dandelions, and snub you if you have any.) If your ideal of happiness is to sit back and take things less seriously, teach your kids that. Whatever it is, if it is real, it's worth it. If, however, you think it's about happiness and then you sit back and take things less seriously and are miserable, it might mean you didn't contemplate your ideal thoroughly enough. I thought mine was freedom, but what I did toward getting that had a war on dandelions as the practical outcome, and this has little to do with freedom, on closer inspection. So now I have a different dream. But one reason I made many mistakes was that no one ever taught me anything about real dreams who had any experience living them. I was ignant. Ignant.

Teach them how to learn. Make an idol of competence and show them how to worship it. Make another one of inner richness -- of treasures not for sharing with just anyone but for illuminating the soul -- and show them how to worship this one. Make a third one of a dream, a big one, because only great goals move the soul to action, small ones bore it and put it to sleep. And the last one of skills, not "just in case" skills, not skills of fear and insecurity, but skills of building that dream, making it real. Place one idol in each corner of their room. Worship one per day together. Don't teach them anything you are not doing yourself. Every week, spend four days on that -- can be minutes, can be hours, but got to be four days every week. Take three days off, ask them to forget all about it for three days, empty their mind, fill it with whatever randomness life puts in their way. Teach them not to take more than three days a week off their task, the task of acquiring perfection, nondecay, immortality. Also sprach Taomeow.

As you pour yourself a scotch, crush a roach, or scratch your crotch, as your hand adjusts your tie, people die. In the towns with funny names, hit by bullets, caught in flames, by and large not knowing why, people die. In small places you don't know of, yet big for having no chance to scream or say good-bye, people die. People die as you elect new apostles of neglect, self-restraint, etc. –whereby people die. Too far off to practice love for thy neighbor, brother Slav, where your cherubs dread to fly, people die. While the statues disagree, Cain's version, history for its fuel tends to buy those who die. As you watch the athletes score, check your latest statement, or sing your child a lullaby, people die. Time, whose sharp bloodthirsty quill parts the killed from those who kill, will pronounce the latter band as your brand. Joseph Brodsky

I have one made of bamboo. This: I use it before a bath or shower, for about 3 minutes, for vigorous slapping. Sometimes I apply a few drops of essential oils to the broom. Some of these intensify the impact -- e.g. cinnamon. Very good for any muscle tensions, tiredness, assorted aches and pains of physical exertion or stagnation, for mental fatigue, and for brightening the mood -- slapping of moderate intensity causes the brain to release endorphins and the body, prostaglandins. What the same samurai massage tool does when it's made of wire I've no idea though. Sounds a bit scary. Usually, in these practices, traditionally folks would start with something milder and then proceed to something more harsh if they're up to it. In any event, if you are going to use it, keep in mind that you probably can't slap your own back so strongly as to be in serious danger, but I would be very very careful with the front and the limbs -- and I would still start out with bamboo even if I wanted to "graduate" to wire a few months of regular use later.

The only "agenda" I may be "pushing so hard" is for you who didn't read a book I recommended (and not to you, to someone interested and already "pushed" by the propeller of his own experience without my assistance or hindrance) to stop badmouthing the book and the author at least until you read the book. I will keep "pushing this agenda" until you repent or until I drop the conversation for lack of desire to validate this kind of ridiculousness with any further exchanges. Oh, and the Japanese woman's eating style is not an "agenda" either. More like comic relief, it was intended. Too bad it didn't work.

This Japanese beauty does not look unhealthy to me... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B24vl0-OzMw