Nintendao

I'll go into a Daoism and qigong bookworm phase. Even if not to take on physical practices, just beefing up on terminology, concepts, culture, context, perspective, appreciation. Hope I can be of help to other seekers someday. Hoarding the pdf collection https://www.thedaobums.com/topic/49954-jun-yu-xian-repository/ (How are you doing by the way @OverseerFeatheredImmortal!) Yang Jwing-Ming stuff is usually pretty solid. Also this looks neat: https://the-eye.eu/public/Books/Occult_Library/Taoism/Louis Komjathy - Handbooks for Daoist Practice/

At least maybe it's in terms anyone can understand, even if not able to practice. Then if people interested in the topic can see the gory details instead of a bunch of poetry, they will be motivated to finally "shit or get off the pot"

achoo

The chemical heat source seems shady, but doesn’t necessarily discount that genuine qi healing is also being applied. The heat just another tool, like an acupuncture needle, or a therapeutic substance. Allowing the patient to believe it’s a tangible magic felt, may only serve to open up their mind to accepting what’s really taking place. edit (to the OP, where they used known pure water; the lye often can be in a dry state absorbed beforehand into the paper towel)

It's interesting how the fella receiving the treatment commented that the floor seemed to undulate (5:30) as the pain was going away. Damo Mitchell talks about direct experience of "vibratory information," even as a mechanism for non-spiritual minded people to grasp what might be going on here. http://www.scholarsage.com/daoist-talismanic-fu-符/

@flowing hands, the use of talismanic water bears at least some resemblance to something you've shared before. Have you experienced its use in healing?

Well, @Mithras! When returning to college, you may wish to devote a moment each day, and imagine walking alongside the immortal scholar Lu Dongbin. His finely honed blade slices through a flimsy page, as easily as you have already seen through idle distractions. He well knows the dream of achieving alchemy can last a lifetime, conversely a whole career of worldly affairs can be dreamed in a single afternoon. Extreme austerity though, can become yet another indulgence. Do all things without ado, but still with an ever present joy, in the wisdom that behind there is a greater depth, propelling your destiny as smoothly as the ocean waves. Though froth and spray will arise on turbulent surface waters, to tempt the mind to tangle, they will dissolve just as quickly. To study the classics is foundational. Look to the sages Lao and Chuang for comfort and perspective. Ponder the Secret of the Golden Flower when you are ready to reflect the light inwardly, and digest the Neiye to nourish your eternal heart.

Olive oil. Salad. Dash of teriyaki sauce, Jazz up the flavor!

Zhang Guolao, Where'd your donkey go now? Folded up in your pocket!? Sounds like magic, but how? Cao Guojiu, Royal brother true, Exit, stage left, To breathe life anew.

for with me there’s none as there can be only one a pure heart of dao

It almost goes without saying, but if you're on any non-prescription drugs then stopping or at least decreasing that should be a top priority. Now, this may not actually be as obvious as it sounds. Even over-the-counter sleeping pills and antihistamines often contain deliriants that can build up and cause some super strange effects. Heck even "supplements" such as ginseng can mess with your energy in unexpected ways. Just stick with plenty of good food and water for a clear mind and strong body, goes a long way to improving your defenses even against those other kinds of attacks.

Hey! I read through that whole site last year after I saw it linked somewhere by @Taoist Texts What's great is there are a tons of extra notes going into details of history and context and translation, hyperlinked right into the main text. I also like having the Chinese version placed along side each verse. You can copy into Google Translate and get a feel for what each character represents, able to reflect more on what the English version is talking about.

Seven Taoist Masters is a fun one, too.

Drink up, me hearties, yo ho!

Here's a few more for the Ba Xian. Han Xiangzi, Played his flute in a tree, Fell off a limb, And defied gravity! He Xiangu, Knows how to brew, The finest of potions, From herbs that she grew. Li Tieguai, Don't despair if you die, For another spare body, Is surely nearby.

Imagine a skilled magician artist wished for you to vividly recall the experience of tasting a delicious piece of fruit. They would know the perfect combination of pigmented goop to smear into just the right shape that, when photonically interfaced to your retinal array, would trigger the pattern recognition capabilities of your cerebral cortex to electrically signal olfactory nerves in the same sequence as was once induced by certain volatile organic compounds, and presto! You might actually begin to physically salivate. Nobody would have to put that kind of thought into creating and viewing paintings. It all "just works" and the experience is completely obvious and familiar. My crude spiel on physics and biology might stand a chance of being useful in proving to someone completely blind why museums got so popular. A thousand years ago, science nerds did not exist, yet plenty of people still liked paintings, so the blind would just have to take their word for it, perhaps relying on poetic comparison.

one of all, in All holographic feedback loop all of all, in One

Hello! Sometimes I think about "what is a Taoist Painter?" Say you take some amount of paint, and apply it onto any object. In that very moment, you are technically a painter. Likewise some people these days are so bold as to consider themselves a taoist, simply by understanding and applying virtues described in the Tao Te Ching. Now of course, there are painters, and then there are Painters. Painters usually fall into one of two categories, practical or artistic. Practical painters might specialize in beautifying and protecting things like houses, vehicles, and furniture. Artistic painters are a different breed, concerned mostly with the capture and conveyance of ideas through imagery and color. Naturally there's lots of opportunity for crossover between the two, but by and large they are readily distinguishable. As with Taoists, occasionally you'll be able to tell just by what kind of hat they're wearing. The tools and motives of a painter working at a construction site may bear little to no resemblance to those of one in a portrait studio. Yet one is no less a painter than the other. A sailor painting a battleship may require strict adherence to military standards of quality! Meanwhile VanGogh is out huffing paint thinner while looking for that perfect angle on a landscape. Yet each has their revered place, and all rely on the infinite pliability of the Paint.

ways of dividing like hexagon bee hive cells protect the larva

Wow I recognize all of these moves from my own research into Alcoholic Intelligence:

Nice! What might be happening is you're moving awareness more than anything else. Have you read any of what @freeform has been sharing on the topic? It seems at first, the actual energy is still staying more in the head, and being used to perceive in greater detail the different flows of blood, metabolites, and electricity that is pulsing around in the hand at all times already.

@Earl Grey that sounds cool asf. Especially the part about the qi fills the empty cavities. It reminds me of something Lao Tzu said about the Tao being like an empty vessel, whose use is inexhaustible. What all that means in practice is of course no more transmittable here than if you could literally reach through the screen and punch me. It’s really that big a difference I think. Just imagine that! It doesn’t even make sense. I mean, I can totally picture it happening, but if it actually happened I might freak out. So now back to @Scholar - I hope your question is hypothetical. I can understand curiosity of what all’s out there. Or is it something you actually hope to try? (even though it’s already been made clear why you probably shouldn’t) In either case, are you able to elaborate a little on what it means to “direct my energy to my hand”?

So what’s the real answer here then? Short of belittling the question, and the purely physical approach, and giving examples of things that aren’t it, is there known to be some specific sort of temporary “structural integrity field” siddhi? I mean I guess we can go ahead and call this one a “no” even if it has to be wrapped in a “that’s not even how any of this works” or “such knowledge is not meant for you” but it can be neat to think about sometimes.

Wow, Beefmaster Fistybricks there got a few thought provoking responses! Here's a follow-up. The impression I get is still less about violence or even ego than of sheer pride and respect for an obscure form of training that gave his ancestors an edge on the battlefield. Who knows what else is he a cultivator or just want a gimmick to intimidate or impress or score a few bucks on talent shows. What if it's a truly rough neighborhood and having a weapon built into one's body still has practical benefits? Or they could be just plain nuts for no reason other than they can Google Translate on the vid title: 70岁农村大叔苦练铁砂掌30年，一只手拿出来都能吓坏西洋鬼子！ The 70-year-old rural uncle worked hard for iron sand palms for 30 years, and one hand can scare Western devils! 30 years of slapping a training bag. Energy over time! It's so simple, but easily overlooked. Totally agree that too many people just seek the end result for the wrong reasons, and without even understanding what it is. This is all of course only one indisputable example to making "bones stronger and less prone to breaking," as stated in OP. What's maybe worse is the guys doing this exact same kind of thing, but wearing silk robes and going through some mystical looking energy summoning routine before doing the break..