SirPalomides

Gendao, one of many problems with your historically illiterate narrative is that “Christian Zionism” is a modern ideology, chiefly found among Western Protestants. Christians in the Holy Land by and large have no sympathy for it.

I might need to backtrack on this one, and put a query to the forum here: is it kosher for a Daoist teacher to charge money for training leading to ordination? I read a comment from Michael Saso where he unequivocally warns against anyone charging money for a Daoist ordination, which has dire consequences for the person selling these ordinations, and also saps the strength of whichever lineage is being transmitted. Some counter-points, perhaps: the Four Dragons teacher does not guarantee ordination at the end of his program, though the program is billed for that specific purpose. Also, Saso states that it takes at least ten years to train for a proper Daoist ordination. I don't doubt that this is a widely observed standard, especially considering the many complex skills that go into a functioning Daoist priesthood. But I've also heard of a lot of cases of initiations conducted without such extensive training- but also without any mercenary considerations.

Darn, I was hoping you would be someone who knew more than I did. I'll let you know if I find anything else. I did find this fascinating lecture by Terry Kleeman on initiation rituals in early Tianshi Dao: https://www.international.ucla.edu/ccs/article/164072 I vaguely recall him mentioning the Yao in passing but I could be imagining that.

I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean but pretending to be dead when someone tries to "ping" him seems likes Zhuangzi's style.

Does anyone here do bonsai AKA penjing trees? I have a couple of willow trees I got from cuttings in the wild a few years ago- nothing worth showing yet, as I'm still getting the trunks and roots to grow out more. Also found a holly seedling last summer and potted it just for the heck of it, it seems to be surviving so far.

Jordan Peterson, serious academic... oh boy

If you’re looking for pre-Han Daoist texts... well Daoism was really founded in the Han. Laozi, Zhuangzi, et al were sort of made “Daoist” retroactively.

She hasn’t visited since May 2018 so I’m going to wager she’s seen enough of this madhouse.

經 (Jing) is variously translated as classic, scripture, book, etc. It is used in all kinds of texts. For example the Buddhist Heart Sutra is the Xinjing. Confucian classics like the classic of poetry (shijing)and book of filial piety (xiaojing) also use this same word (jing). Some non-religious texts also use the term. It is not a borrowing from Buddhism. I don’t know where you get this information because it’s not accurate. Tons of Daoist texts have this name, eg the Taiping Jing, Qingjing jing, Huangting Jing, Yinfu jing etc. I don’t know what Chinese sources you’re searching but if you had an electronic version of the Daoist canon the word 經 would come up a gajillion times.

The Way to Buddhahood by Yin Shun is the best overall guide to Mahayana Buddhism, at least as developed in China.

I'm hardly knowledgeable here but the Yao are an ethnic group living in southern China as well as Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. At some point they converted to Daoism big time, so that everyone, or at least every male, is initiated as the equivalent of daoshi. This is reminiscent of the early days of the Celestial Masters or Wudoumi Dao which was an apocalyptic faith-healing movement that invited everyone to repent and become "seed people" for the new age. It seems what would be called ordination now was more like baptism in that it was offered to everyone in the community. At some point after the original community was dispersed the ordained Daoists became a discrete clerical order and as far as I know there hasn't been any move to reverse this trend. My understanding of this history may also well be oversimplified or wrong.

If he's being called "zhenren" then it seems that he is.

That's cool. I had read that the book was officially given the title Nanhuajing, didn't realize the title also referred to his person.

That's an excellent review ZYD

Does Zhuangzi have a cult anywhere as an immortal? Laozi was deified but I don't recall hearing anywhere of Zhuangzi getting similar treatment, despite his great importance.

I picked up this demonic soul-sucking black sword in Chinatown the other day, anyone know any good Taiji sets for that?

Don't the Grey Lords hang out at Tanelorn?

From personal experience my family has a main shrine for gods and ancestors at the old family house and then aunts and uncles have their own mini-shrines at their own homes except the Catholic ones who have, well, Catholic shrines. Ritual is pretty simple and not done every day. The selection of gods depends on who and where the altar is. Fujian people often have Tiangong (a version of the Jade Emperor) or the sea goddess Mazu if they do a lot of stuff related to sailing, fishing, etc.

British Nazi attempts lighting synagogue on fire, lights himself on fire instead

Speaking of the Gongke (morning and evening prayers) there is at least one text of it available in English from Parting Clouds Taoist Association. And yes, laity can do it too.

I’m pretty sure on Wudang itself the ritual is fairly standard to what you would see elsewhere. A friend of mine got in a relationship with a Wudang monk and even after he left the monastery he did some version of the gongke every day.

In addition to the above Brock Silvers suggestion I would highly recommend Michael Saso’s book Daoist Master Zhuang as a very detailed portrait of the work of a Daoist priest in Taiwan. He reveals a lot about daily life and a surprising amount of esoteric stuff- don’t try this at home is the watchword for a lot of it. You can also find a lot of videos on YouTube of various Daoist rituals. A German Daoist Association priest, Patrick Liu, has been releasing tutorial videos (in English) of the morning and evening liturgy, including how to use the various implements, how to set things up, how to chant, etc.

I’m not sure what other books you’re looking at but “jing” is a very common ending for other Daoist scriptures.

It is a very weird dance but one in which there are many moving parts and a full-out war could be started from one little mistake or overreaction. Both sides have “proxies” that they don’t have full control over and it is very easy for a handful of hotheads somewhere to do something dumb that drags everybody else in.

I don’t question your experience but I wonder if there is some disagreement here among practitioners. Maybe it has something to with the purpose- the teachers I have in mind are less inclined to the martial arts aspects of practice and more offering a preliminary stage toward sitting-forgetting meditation.