neidan practitioner

Was it this site? Link: Taoist Resource It contains many translated articles by the Jade Empror, and others, including the scripture of forty nine chapters that you posted the other link to.

Thanks for posting that!

Hi Janus, You may also want to check out "Revealing the Tao Te Ching: In-depth Commentaries on an Ancient Classic", by Hu Xuezhi (Author), and Jesse Lee Parker (Editor). Link: "Revealing the Tao Te Ching" by Hu Xuezhi Hu Xuezhi is a practitioner and teacher of taoist internal alchemy meditation in China. This book is edited by Jesse Lee Parker (Dao Zhen), who is a member of this forum, so if you have any questions about this book, Dao Zhen should be able to provide more info.

Actually, assuming a person were concerned at all with facts, yes you did: "Of course the tao is all that there is and contains the so called cosmos, but that is a much larger topic. Although a very easy one unless you are totally self centered." Not a problem. As you were.

Or, perhaps, he meant exactly what he wrote, that the tao that can be spoken of is not the eternal tao.

Hi Trash Filter, Speaking of tanks, just look around the world to see what happens when people seeking power, or fame and fortune, get some sort of means to carry out their desires. I think, there is a good reason that certain higher esoteric teachings have been kept hidden over the centuries, and why traditionally those practicing those higher esoteric practices have sought out remote places to practice their arts, and why these higher levels of the practices were only taught to a select few who proved themselves to be of a high enough moral character to be trusted with the knowledge. At any rate, I was just expressing my point of view on the matter, and I am not really interested in dwelling on it. Everyone is entitled to their own point of view, of course. This is really drifting off topic from the main theme of the thread anyway, which was more about those seeking power, and fame and fortune who are willing to throw themselves at questionable masters in hopes of finding a shortcut to their goals. Such has been the way of the world througout history. We live, and we hopefully learn something along the way.

Hi.

Agreed. There have been a wide range of practices that have somehow fallen under the common name of 'taoist' practices, but some seem to have little or nothing at all to do with spiritual cultivation, (or self cultivation, if you prefer that term), or they seem to contain gross distortions of mainstream taoist esoteric practices, or outright bizarre practices. 'External Alchemy' and 'genital weight lifting' come to mind. I have also read posts by some in various forums, (not necessarily here), seeming to indicate that they absolutely believe certain famous 'masters' out there are immortals, or are at least very advanced beings, because those 'masters' have demonstrated certain nei gong abilities, or because books have been written about them claiming or hinting that they are immortals, or 'advanced' beings. Just because someone has achieved some nei gong ability, or just because someone has made some claims about them in a book, does not make them an 'immortal' of course, assuming a person believes in the concept of taoist immortality in the first place. Also, IMO, spritually developed individuals most likely are not going to charge large sums of money to take you on as a student. It seems to me, they will teach you only if they are inclined to do so, and likely will not charge you much or anything at all, in such a case. We all have the ability of discernment, to some extent or other anyway, and there are times when that ability should be put to good use, in my opinion. Just as a spiritual teacher might put a potential student through a series of tests, sometimes over several years, to help determine the potential student's true character and motivations, I think a potential student should use their discernent as best they can on the potential teacher as well. Just to be clear, folks, if a 'master' starts talking about a 'cultivation practice' of drinking urine, or asks you to taste your urine, etc., and you aren't running out the door as fast as you can within two seconds, you may want to start brushing up on your discerment skills a little bit. Yes, I have seen posts where people actually seemed to be seriously dscussing such things. Anyway, that's just my take on it all. Ultimately, everyone has to make up their own mind.

I guess Lao Tzu must feel pretty silly right about now, considering he wrote things along the lines of "The tao that can be spoken of is not the eternal tao.", and the like; when, as you have pointed out here, it's really a very easy topic to talk about it. I find the whole topic quite abstruse and incomprehensible myself, but I see now the problem is that I am just totally self centered. Roll over Lao tzu, and let's rock this joint tonight.