morning dew

I disagree with this as well. I think we'll just have to agree to disagree on 'masters' and things such as the method of authority.

That's not my experience, personally. I guess we operate in different ways, which is fair enough.

Good question/thread. I'm not 'A Daoist', although I'm certainly interested in Daoism. Personally, I don't like the whole idea of having a 'master'. To me that has implications of life guidance and a father figure and some kind of 'power relationship', etc. I would say I really enjoy training with my current Tai Chi teacher, because he's a good guy and we have a laugh and get down to training and the advice is minimal and always on point with the training. I had a Qigong teacher before him, who was a nice enough guy. He would, however, keep giving life advice and having 'thought of the week' readings after meditation at the end of the class, etc. Personally, I can come in here for all that kind of stuff (or just read up on it myself) and chat to people as equals, etc. whenever I feel like it.

I've only read bits and pieces of Crowley's stuff, but it seemed to me the 'Eastern' parts in general seemed a little bit dated – I'm sure they were advanced for their time, though. Just curious if there is anyone on here who has deeper knowledge of both. If so, how relevant are Crowley's ideas on Eastern stuff now and would time be better spent on many of the more recent books that have come out for understanding things like Daoist practices etc?

It wouldn't surprise me if they all were the same person. I've seen all sorts of bizarre behaviour over the years on forums.

Yeah, moderating in general is a pretty thankless job. You couldn't pay me to ever do it again. I think the worst part of it is having to read all the huge, mind-numbing posts and rants, and having to address them seriously. I quite enjoy being able to skim or ignore people or just laugh at their rants.

I have very recently started looking at the Yijing again. I'd be interested in some pointers as well.

Interesting questions. To be honest, I can't really remember. I don't think either went very well. 1) I don't really enjoy people 'attacking' me when they could just tell me calmly what the problem is. 2) I have zero desire to 'fix' people these days.

Well, that's a good question, but looking at the Wiki link I don't think it's that simple. Both King Mu and Emperor Wu appear to have failed to follow her practices and instructions, and didn't attain immortality. There appears to be more to it than just eating fruit.

Yeah, exactly, it's not just a matter of getting energy to make the body function. I'd be quite happy to not have to spend money on food shopping, but I think for the time being I'll carry on eating, personally.

Yeah, he wrote that book. It's a very good book, IMO, depending on what you're into. I read it years ago, so take the following with a pinch of salt: It's a very short book. In the preface he's joking around with his wife and an interviewer, and his wife says that he doesn't like to talk about enlightenment because he's never experienced it. He basically replies it's not an important part for him; being present in everyday life is more important. I'm pretty sure he uses the saying: eat when hungry, sleep when tired. I suspect this idea is along the lines of wu wei. He's Soto Zen, so emphasis is on practice (zazen) and this takes up the first part of the book. I can't remember that much about the other two parts. I think he briefly touches on the eightfold noble path (but that's only a page or two) – there's not that much 'mainstream Buddhism' and ethics in it, which is why I liked it. I think he also talks about 'big mind', which is something along the lines of being non-conceptual and viewing everything as a single, gigantic organism, and 'small mind', which is like the personal self/ego that conceptualises everything. I suspect this idea is along the lines of wuji vs 10,000 things (if I've understood it correctly). That book, for me, was more of a stepping stone into things such as Daoism, although I have fond memories of it from what I can remember. Somebody else on here is bound to know more about it than I do. It could actually make an interesting thread, if you were so inclined to start one.

Well, I can't really generalise, but if it worked for your friend then it worked, which is the main thing, IMO. Personally, I'm not really bothered about enlightenment, although I practice a bit of seated meditation (counting breaths) at night. My main goal right now is relaxation and a calm mind throughout the day – I'm not really seeing the point of being able to meditate for hours in a quiet room or cave and becoming 'enlightened', but losing equilibrium as soon as you walk out into a busy city, for example. I always liked S. Suzuki's approach to Zen (and Buddhism in general), personally. My two cents

Eight pieces of brocade Cloud Hands Wu Tai Chi Seated meditation (counting breaths) Walking along the sea

I hate to say it, but the first 5 mins of MC's video made me cringe as much as listening to Wayne Dyer chanting 'Dao' over and over again in between the chapters of the DDJ on his audio book lol. Being hung by the balls is a little bit harsh, though; I would've said hung by the ankles for a little while, maybe.

Do birds and snakes and dogs have their own way/dao?

https://energyforsuccess.org/product/decision-making/ Sounds a bargain for only $4200 …

Yeah, I would have said it's for Brian to answer his own path; it's not something I can answer, personally. Also, to say Wu Wei (with capitals) implies that the ocean would have an optimal way to organise itself, IMO (unless I misunderstood you). I don't think it does, personally, and if it does it's way beyond human conceptualisation. I'm more like Marblehead: it just does it's own thing and doesn't care about human ideas of good and bad, or even human logic (I don't see how Brian's example could be resolved for all the different, individual perspectives/'waves' involved). Or at least, this is my current understanding of Daoism. I'm always up to being educated.

Yeah, I'm guessing something along the following lines, perhaps? From the perspective of the ocean, it's all just waves going up and down; from the perspective of a single wave, not all waves (or movements of that single wave) are going to be valued/preferred. Yeah, it's already very complicated and this is just examining desirable outcomes from your particular perspective/'wave'. We haven't even taken into account the desires/perspectives (in these questions here) of the birds, the blacksnakes, the rattlesnake or the ants, bacteria, etc. that would've eaten the dead blacksnake, for example. It's an impossible situation to calculate, IMO, and I agree all choices are problematic, as you said above. From my personal perspective/'wave', I'm glad your wife was okay, though.

Same question as to Brian, if you fancy answering it.

This is interesting. What kind of choices did you have in mind? Ones that waste energy?

Thanks. I look forward to watching the next video.

Thanks, I enjoyed this. I thought it was very good and clear. I had a question about the first couple of techniques. How do you tell when somebody's going to jab as opposed to doing a full on punch? It seems to me you won't have much time to decide how you're going to decide to weight the legs, and whether you're going to push into them for a jab or fold and deflect them sideways for a full on punch. I'm guessing the answer is practice until it becomes instinctive?

This is a thread for people who want to have a look at different styles of (short form) Tai Chi that everyone is currently practising. Below is a video that is about the nearest to what I'm doing right now, (Energy Arts/BKF) Wu Tai Chi short form, from an advanced student. If anyone fancies sharing videos of their fellow students, teachers (or even of themselves), I'd be quite interested to see what everyone's up to, and maybe even discuss the similarities and differences between the different styles.

Thanks. This second video is so funny. It cracks me up the way he's so jolly and laughing as he sends people flying everywhere. Yeah, the music was a bit of a strange choice for the first video. I'm going to sit down and watch that properly over the next couple of days.