Iliketurtles

I've tried public discussion on this particular topic before , it was a catastrophic failure. Unfortunately I am only talking with people in private about it to prevent that sort of thing again.

Derailed

If you say so. Something that bothers me is people's toxic behavior, which means unfortunately I can only communicate in private about this topic. Thanks.

Asked a few times in other forums, turned out badly, will stick to private discussion only as a result.

Ocular hypertension.

I can't have coffee even decaf as the doctor says it raises my intraocular pressure.

Yes.

No it has nothing to do with any particular religion, philosophy, school, sect, lineage or practice.

Strangely this thread has become a discussion on immortals somehow, so I felt it deserved a title change.

I think private discussion is best to prevent conflict.

It is the correct strategy, thanks.

Yes. I am looking to have private discussions, with qualified people assuming they are willing to help. Public discussion on such things doesn't seem like a wise idea to me for the reasons I have previously stated.

I can in private sure.

That is correct. So far it has only resulted in a few people telling me they could not or would not help, and several others wanting to argue about how stupid my questions are and how I should give up and quit being an idiot.

Bump.

Thank you, I will message him.

I've already emailed countless academics and done all I can do with google. As it has already turned into arguments in private, I think public discussion is best avoided for this reason.

I would prefer to speak with people who who have a degree in eastern religions or some similar qualification.

I am sure that there are some serious people exactly as you describe here. I am not talking about this forum, but my experience in other spiritual forums have led me to believe that such matters are best discussed in private to prevent conflict. It has been my experience that serious seekers usually remain silent and lurk to avoid conflict with the most egoic and vocal members of the community that want to control the narrative on every topic. It has also been my experience in other forums (not this one), that for every serious spiritual seeker as you describe there are one hundred people who are not qualified to have an opinion on the matter. The people not qualified to have an opinion usually are the loudest, and most aggressive. I certainly appreciate that you have a different perspective on this matter. I respect that your experience differs from mine and you have reached different conclusions than I have as a result of that.

Discussions like this always seem to turn into flame wars here. My hope was to find some academic or someone who has studied either Daoism or Buddhism in a professional manner, rather than via an armchair. The questions are both philosophical and historical.

There are many teachers who refuse to accept any money what-so-ever on principal, they only require you be a serious and dedicated student.

Against my better judgment I am going to comment on this post. It's really frustrating for me whenever you share something openly on forums like this it seems to come back to haunt you people will dig through your post history to dig up things to attack you with so I'm sure that will certainly be the case here in the future. I sincerely believe that when you have sex you're not just swapping bodily fluids you're exchanging shen or soul energy. In doing so you are also necessarily exchanging karma, both good and bad. If you were having sex with someone who is mentally and emotionally unstable, all strung out on hard drugs and has little to no regard for their own life or well-being you were inheriting massive amounts of negative karma. I suppose it's possible if you were to meet a mentally and emotionally stable, prostitute with very good karma who saw very upscale clientele, and wasn't strung out on drugs and did care for their own well-being and life etc that perhaps it could be an uplifting exchange of karma but it's really hard to tell and that sounds like probably a rarity to me in this industry.