Martial Development

Here is a link for you to buy the DVD. Let us know how it works out for you.

What is Taoist, the script? The characters? I find it hard to believe that anyone who understood and accepted the Daodejing would set out upon a transgalaxy "peacekeeping" mission, i.e. Starfleet.

Normal philosophical discussion.

FYI, Bruce Lee was a big fan of Napoleon Hill.

Not to hijack the thread here... But I was sitting in a field yesterday, watching an innocent worm frolic in the dirt. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a bird swooped down and chomped on the worm! I like worms! I don't like birds! Is there anything we can do?

"Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language." - Wittgenstein In other words, philosophy can revse the damaging effects of one's previous "education". It can also be a pair practice, analogous to intellectual Tantra if you like. Real followers of the Tao solve their problems, and subsequently join the rest of us in the real/imaginary world. Fake followers of the Tao stew in what they pretend to be intractable spiritual dilemmas (e.g. "I am not my body")...all to avoid getting a real job?

Stephen Chow did a two-part series on the Monkey King which was pretty good. Can't remember the names of the movies, but you can look them up.

I don't know whether the story is true, but the New York Times thought so. Here is their story: http://www.martialdevelopment.com/blog/li-...0-year-old-man/

Having just finished a ring donut, I ask myself what happened to the hole. Did it ever really exist?

Sorry, but I think the cons listed above are very real and the pros are largely imaginary. If you try to force or trick yourself into becoming a monk, you will not succeed.

To "sit" means to stand in your horse stance as if sitting down in a chair; i.e. with a relaxed upper body, straight-ish spine, and without holding the pelvis at either extreme (forward or backward). One of the many reasons to seek personal instruction, is that what may initially feel to us like an "extreme", can in fact be correct posture, and vice-versa.

Hao style might be more suitable for someone with knee problems.

If you learned that you are not yet qualified to learn upper dantian practices, then you learned something valuable, and you learned it the easy way. Count yourself lucky that you didn't get what you wanted--unlike these unfortunate souls.

The video title was wrong. This is actually the Lost Harmonies, Missing Methods Fist, also known as Watered-Down Boxing.

People do it in the current days too. Actually, it's hard to justify not doing this, if you are serious about neigong or martial arts.

That link is dead now, here's a mirror: http://www.corrodedreality.org/2009-05-Amu...es-to-Death.png

"Wuji" is just a piece of jargon, and knowing the term is not the same as embodying it. P.S. Not entirely sure it is worth embodying anyway.

Thus I have heard: you don't feel chi, you feel its side-effects.

Very good answer!

They say Houdini was not killed by a super punch--it was a decent punch that he was not fully prepared to receive. If the opponent is better, then he will not let you prepare, and your "iron body" suddenly isn't worth quite so much. I would not go so far as to say that body hardening is fake or useless though.

And some who imagined that technology and convenience impeded their practice, will discover too late that it facilitated their practice.

Don't be hasty, we'll find out on Sunday!

Not the same. A lesser experience.

I once attended a Tai Chi seminar by a man famous for his "empty force" skills. The organizer split it into mini-courses, apparently against the master's wishes. So the master ignored the published schedule. Half the enrollees were interested only in empty force, not in any of the foundational skills. They showed up late, having no interest in the other material. And the master said to them, "Sorry, you missed it." They were pissed! Some didn't even want to stay for the rest of their two-hour "mini-course". Some wanted a refund. I'm not sure whether they deserved one or not.