Chá Rén 茶人

As Bodhidharma said, "You have to struggle to understand." In order to know non-desire, detachment, and peace, you must first know the contrasts of addiction, craving, and chaos. "This isn't a weekend retreat," according to Palahniuk's Tyler Durden. Letting go is the answer. But how can you understand that until your hands ache and cramp from holding onto what you love? Falling is the answer. But how can you feel that until you have stood on solid ground?

Historically, per the Yellow Turban Rebellion/Way of 5 Pecks of Rice, etc. in the Han Dynasty, Taoist practices were a way to rebel against society and survive with detrimental bureaucratic practices in place (excessive taxes and lack of available land for lower classes, etc.). You don't need the government, or money, or anything, if you can wander into the remote mountains and live on rare herbs and pine trees. Conversely, the Tao can also be abused, temporarily, to gain worldly power and material wealth. There are severely adverse consequences to this path if done with self-benefit in-mind. In the end, the 'fettered mind', one obsessed with gain and loss, is not Tao. This is easier to preach about than actually achieve, however.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_women_who_led_a_revolt_or_rebellion This is interesting. The list is wayyyy more extensive than I thought it was gonna be.

Mastery is an overused word nowadays. Three of my friend's moms are "Reiki Masters" because it says so on their certification. Mastery can be reached, but it takes a long time and a lot of love. Hiro mastered sushi. Bruce mastered martial arts. Zeppelin mastered rock. Most of us will never get above true amateur status even if we become professionals. Mastery is not a popularity contest.

I am curious as to what everyone knows regarding the use of gold, silver, copper, iron, etc. for spiritual, energetic, or medicinal effects. Copper-charged water created via copper cups is common in ayurvedic medicine, and is said to heal a variety of ailments including stagnant energy and nerve issues. It is documented that copper or silver cups or cookware are antibacterial and decrease the spread of disease. The reason why I ask is two-fold. I have worn a Sterling silver chain with various silver pendants for as long as I can remember, so I cannot speak well on the effects of wearing noble metals. I haven't not worn silver in quite awhile. Does anyone notice any effects to wearing silver, or maybe when you got married and started wearing a gold ring? I have been brewing my tea with a (clean) 1oz silver coin in my iron tetsubin (japanese tea kettle) in an experiment to recreate a "silver kettle" effect without dropping several hundred dollars on an authentic antique kettle. It seems to add a vibrancy to the water, it breathes more when it boils and has a very pure look to it. It brings out subtle sweet and floral high notes that would otherwise go unnoticed. In addition, I seem to be dreaming more and sleeping more as well too. I often struggle with insomnia, so this has been a good thing relatively speaking. Meditation seems easier. It may just be in my head, but I swear my hair has taken on a blonder sheen this past week. Placebo? The coin is still 100% okay so far. My thinking is that if I am ~70% water, I can raise my energy/vibrational levels by raising the energy/vibrational levels of the water I ingest. I have been wondering what adding a gold 1/10th oz. coin to tetsubin water may do....("instant enlightenment", lol...or maybe just a pretentious attitude...) Any thoughts on all this? Safety concerns? Anecdotes? Note: Definitely not referring to old Taoist methods of cinnabar, mercury, or lead ingestion. There have been many documented deaths from those.

Probably not a bad way to hide the family savings in a useful household object hahah.

The Tao Te Ching speaks of abiding with the mother, source, tao, etc. The mother is described as nourishing and non-acting, yet accomplishing everything through this non-action.

Imagine silver water pipes in your house.... that would be amazing...

Paraphrasing Ragnar Lothbrok from "Vikings"... "A man provides and fights for his family." It could be argued you're an adolescent while your "self" only includes your body, and you become a man when your family, or even your society, become of greater importance.

I would add our current world is struggling exponentially worse as women forsake their roles as nourishers. Nature made women able to take something small and refine it far past what most men would care or are able to do. -Give a woman a hunk of meat and she will cook you a meal. -Give a woman a house and she will make it a home. -Give a woman seed and she will give you a child. I find it hard to believe the general health in America (e.g. autism birthrates, obesity, etc.) would not be drastically improved with more women being mothers and home-makers. I am sure someone reading this thinks I am a chauvinist pig, but the system worked very well for thousands of years, and my grandparents were a lot happier than my parents.

Yin is inherently more passive and receptive than yang. Yin nourishes. Yang directs. I would argue that genetically (and very much against the modern paradigm) women are happier when led than leading. Not that there have not be effective female rulers in the past. The idea that women are "subjected to the rule of men" is a modern paradigm. Before feminist movements, a woman married to a strong man had financial and physical security. Try and tell me Melania Trump would rather be cutting business annd political deals into her 70's like her husband. I doubt it very much. In prehistoric times, scarcity of food sources (and the ability to hunt such sources), as well as physical protection from other tribes as well as animals would have been the two foremost factors in acquiring power. Your leader would be whomever could hunt the most food and protect the tribe the best. Not discounting possible shamanic or medicine woman roles. Doesn't anyone remember being on the sandlot as a kid before we learned how all the way we were acting were incorrect?

Update on Quartz and Amethyst in tea: Added white quartz and purple amethyst to my tetsubin water. My initial impression is that the flavors of my hongcha are blending more coherently. This tea specifically has an overpowering butter note on the first or second infusion which is now blending in much better to the fruity tones. Conclusion: White quartz and purple amethyst harmonize water, blend tastes, and decrease overpowering or overwhelming tastes. Effect is likely more subtle than most people would pick up on, but is definitely there. Based off one impression at least.

"Born with a silver spoon in his mouth" was originally a dual reference to a child being both rich, but also very healthy, due to antibacterial effects. Supposedly silverware users fared better during the medieval plagues as opposed to ironware users.

You bring up a good point about the healthy balance between deprivation and overload of, well honestly most substances, elements, etc. Like dehydration vs. drowning. You are seriously approaching mad scientist status with all these ruby lasers and homegrown selenium crystals. Very cool stuff man. It's also quite unfortunate the knowledge and methods we have lost with time as you mentioned (i.e. magicum electrum).

The mystery within mysteries.

The word "Tao" is not the moon. It is just a finger pointing at the moon. We are all lost fools looking at our own hands and missing the celestial splendor within our view. I am amazed at how foolish I was just last year, almost every year. "Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken." -Tyler Durden

@silent thunder I'm actually very jealous of that home-distillation set-up you have. Doesn't get much better than that. Unfortunately hormones and some meds make it through both R.O. and distillation. Wish I had a good spring nearby. Oh well... You definitely have "intention" as an added ingredient which makes a big difference. I have one of those dispensers too (food grade steel though....dumb purchase from 2 years back...shoulda gone ceramic....) and I have to try that amethyst trick now. Sounds like you have your jewelry set-up down! Since you wear them so much, do you notice any changes to your qi, emotions, etc. when you DON'T wear them? Swimming or formal events or whatever. I am also interested if you notice increase qi flow from the copper. Western Science is very negative of its reviews of, for example, copper bracelets. Their historical use is indisputable however. Also, do you get a synergistic effect from the combo of gold, silver, copper, etc.? I love your method of utilizing positive sound to change the structure of your water. When I play guitar I sometimes reach very deep meditative mind states. Regardless, I have noticed music, especially self-composed or types you personally find especially "beautiful" can greatly increase emotional processing and decrease anxiety/depression. I do have to stop cussing like the "Dude" from Big Lebowski around my water so much though haha. Can't be good... @Nungali That ruby laser is badass. I met set of some red flag with my relatives if they find out I'm trying to build a death ray, however haha. Very cool stuff. https://teamasters.org/five-stages-of-bringing-water-to-a-boil/ Here is a link for the tea temps btw. You're totally right that intuition makes more of a difference than almost any other skill in a dish. My cooking went up to a whole new level after studying 5 elements theory. Your quartz plant supplementation seems interesting as well. I will have to research further. I have supplemented pepper plants with Epsom salts (and even a minute amount of borax salt) to good effect before. It is crazy how most life forms can benefit from trace elements in the proper dosage.

What effects did you get from the quartz? I have a little quartz and amethyst stone sitting in my closet unused. You have me wondering now. I've heard copper can add an acidic or metal-y taste to food sometimes; have never tried personally myself. Something about boiling a coin or crystal resonates with me more than "colloidal" and "monoatomic" products. I tend to be super old school because most commercial products nowadays are very low quality, and old methods apparently worked very well sometimes. As for the yixings, as long as they're functional, the character is probably a welcome addition. Wabi-sabi?

"You consider me a young apprentice. Caught between the Scylla and Charybdis." Good jam man. One of the best old rock opening lines ever. Another thing I should mention, I rarely let the water reach full "raging torrent" boil. The water is called "old man water" after that as it supposedly is less oxygenated and tastes flat. I catch my boil right around 190 to 195 F when the water is kinda breathing. In between "fish eye" and "string of pearl" boil. Brass is one that definitely had not occurred to me.

Thanks for the reply @Nungali. Lots of good points. A) The wedding band being more than just gold. Using intention to charge an item (true love, hopefully, in this case) can make a simple item into a powerful talisman of healing or destruction. This is especially common in the Nordic system with the Elder Futhark runes. Or sigil magick in general I suppose. B ) It sounds like you find differences in the qi of water boiled differently as well. I personally slow boil my teas and infusions because it seems to give them a calmer, deeper qi that resonates in my core. Can anyone elaborate if I instinctually went towards silver to nourish my depleted yin stores as a young, active male? C) The urine thing is definitely true. Didn't wanna be the first to bring it up lol. It's been coming out looking like fresh mountain spring water lately haha. D) Your shamanic camping experience sounds amazing. That was exactly my thought with the spring water effect. Japanese iron tetsubins are partially designed to take flat water and make it taste like sweet spring water by imparting ferrous iron into it. I figured a desired spring would have trace rare minerals (silver, gold, quartz like you said, etc.). I should clarify I only add the coin to the boiling water in the kettle. It never touches the tea. I forget the name now, but there was a famous volcanic vein of clay that appeared in Taiwan due to an earthquake awhile back. Tea craftsmen discovered it made excellent clay teapots/gaiwans due to the quartz and other trace elements. Daniel Reid in "The Art and Alchemy of Chinese Tea" actually mentions how he broke this type of teapot and still adds the shards to his various kettles to make them taste more like spring water as well. Gives the tea more of an earth-qi boost. E) Thanks for the tip. So essentially ensure that my kettle water never comes out the murky gray that you mentioned and I should more or less be fine? And lastly... the healthy substitute more mercury... I think I would be riding a Celestial Dragon with Zhang San Feng and Jim Morrison through a time warp if I knew the answer to that one.

-Avoid entheogens until you are in a better, more peaceful state of mind. "Set and setting" are important in altered mind states and your "Set" is not proper for that sort of extreme. -Find a good Sifu to help guide you. Therapy is an overrated western method, which may not benefit you. -Clean up your diet. Especially processed and conventional meats, which are loaded with both artificial hormones and natural stress hormones due to slaughter methods. When we consume this sort of meat, we are eating an animal that was energetically distressed at the time of death. We then consume this bad qi. Even praying over your food helps a little bit (sounds weird. I know...). -Cut out alcohol if possible. -Try a meditative technique or even qi gong or taiji if you feel it is easier to meditate or flow while moving. I do. - You are obviously a thoughtful and conscientious person; the world does not reward people such as this often at the moment. You are going against the grain. However, you are more than your illness and struggles. Try to identify your most positive traits and "name yourself" with those. Not "Hi my name is XXXX and I am disabled.". Instead, "Hi my name is XXXX and I am a thoughtful Taoist." We all have varying degrees of traits. I could identify with my negative ones...instead I am a tea person. Check out Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.

This thread title reminds me of the Japanese ascetic practice of Sokushinbutsu, or self-mummification via diet, exercise, and meditation. There are ~20 mummies just chillin' over in Asia made mostly of tree bark, resin, and heavenly qi. It is amazing that the human body can stave off decay past death based mostly upon the replacement of its physical constituents with more durable (if slightly toxic...) elements. Or one could look to Li Qing-Yuen who supposedly died in 1930's at the ripe age of 256. His diet was almost entirely rice wine, he shou wu, lycium berry, aged wild ginseng, gotu kola, and lingzhi mushroom. Lots of qi gong and walking.

"You Can't Cheat The Balance Sheet: You can pay your Doctor. Or you can pay your Teakeeper. You can credit your Grocer. Or come due with the Reaper." This is what you write when going over your monthly budget on Excel, while sipping on Golden Needle Yunnan Dianhong. A tea-inspired poem on the consequences of our decisions on our physical well-being and financial health. We always have to pay someone. We decide whom with our dollars, our time, and our actions...the world gets shaped accordingly.

Unfortunately there are many more people and dollars lobbying for exactly the opposite of what you are prescribing, @thelerner. We are reaching Orwellian-mandated GMO's and subsidized crops such as wheat, corn, soy, etc. for much of the U.S. population already. Taoist eating fights Big Brother. It's hard to control people when they eat little conventional food and never get sick. Bigu itself started as a peasant movement to decrease reliance on the State and its control of most cereal crops.

I did bigu, except with white rice still, for approx. 6 months around 2 years ago. Very interesting results. I got a lot lighter feeling; it is literally easier for me to sit up off the ground from my perception now. I did lose about 10 lbs or so. I also gained more mental clarity as well, and began reading a lot more as opposed to watching tv. On a side note, I feel as though I digest food easier now. My stomach has been a lawn mower since so started that diet. I didn't become immortal or dance among clouds or anything unfortunately. Maybe next time without the rice. Also, upon eating bread again I noticed a relatively strong high the first couple times. Similar to being a kid and falling asleep in a warm place. Very odd. Maybe we are mass-medicating via our diet with wheat?