Pietro

And I'll buy you the beer! Thanks I'll dig all this. I open the link, it contains tables and info. Cool stuff, not newage speak. Talk to you later. Cheers! Pietro

Teach her Go (Igo, Baduk, WeiQi). That's a real daoist game. And then we can play together!

Thanks. You mean the Greatest K&L, isn't it? That's very considered. Also interesting that you refer to other Daoist schools. Feel free to PM me if you wish to share more that you can't share publicly. I went to the link, but the article can't be read from there. In any case I read : The Alchemy of Love and Lust from Theresa L. Crenshaw which should contain pretty much an updated summary of the western medicine knowledge on the topic for the lay reader. If you have access to the article, can you look up what are the bibliographic references it uses?

Hi Little1 It's that an inside joke How do you distinguish retention from celibacy? It looks like from your description you call celibacy when the energy is kept cold, and retention when you warm it, but don't shoot (RJ style). Yes, I am aware that if you work with warm energy this might lead to making your jewels bigger. Although I never knew there were practices to change it on command Thanks, where can I get more info about it? Let's rephrase this: the alchemical practice can lead to it; being ill can also lead to it. There might be other situations that we are not aware of that can lead to that too (nature? internalized alchemical process? other process all together? being a freak?). Like when women stop menstruating, they can do it because of spiritual reasons, of illness, but also for a bunch of other reasons. (Like being very focused into something).

Or maybe not. I had the testicles being able to reenter my body about 10 years ago. Now, can yopu please share more, if you know. :-) Thanks. zaza, yeah we know about that. There are other ways to squeeze the prostate. Also when you dissolve, you should dissolve the prostate galnd. This helps (without physically squeezing) Drew, what is ionization? And why do you mention it in this thread? NeiChuan, running the microcosmic will not stop those changes from happening. The mc runs all the time. Doing it consciously just makes it easier to be celibate.

I just wanted to share with everybody an interesting, albeit superficial, source of news I have found. I am sure you all know it, but I also think not many of you use it in this way. The source is Google news.. with search keyword: Taoism. The fact is that in Google news you not only can make a search, but can also set up an email alert every time an article appear that satisfies the search you have requested. It is now a few months that I have it set up, and I receive about 1 email every couple of days with an article from somewhere in the world where they speak about Taoism. Accepted that this is not where you are going to find your next teacher, still I find this information to be quite valuable to get an idea of the perception of Taoism around the world. We are a small, and old religion. If you were to do something similar with Christianity or Buddhism you just could not read keep up. The search is here: http://news.google.com/news?q=taoism there is a button at the bottom of the page asking if you want to have an email alert every time articles come out. Would be nice to comment those articles, maybe we could devote this thread here.

There was an interesting article in the news about the first female priest in Taoist religion. From China Daily: But I am surprised... first female taoist priest in 2000 years? I thought taoism was more female friendly. And if we are speaking about different taoist groups: first female priest in this taoist group... then which overt taoist group can go back 2000 years? Anyone wants to chip in?

It might look balanced, but at the end, if you take a random man, and a random woman, the probability for the man to have offspring are about half the probability for the woman to have offspring. (i.e. a women will be able to have at least a kid with a probability that is double the probability for a men to have at least a kid.) And this for all the history of the human race. Such a difference in reproductive possibilities are huge and had to produce a serious phenotypical difference. So I am not surprised that we are different. What does surprise me (actually what impresses me) is that such a simple explanation can cover such a wide range of phenomena.

I really need to stress the article I linked before. Please read it. It really explains how men and women are different. And why evolutionarily it made sense. So much of what you are discussing is just related to what is there. Please, do read it. http://www.psy.fsu.edu/~baumeistertice/goodaboutmen.htm

I know this article is too long to be read by most of you. I post this for the others. Is There Anything Good About Men? by Roy F. Baumeister For me it have reframed the whole problem of gender in a totally different way. I don't know how many times have I read it. Please, if you like it, share it around.

Thanks for the question. I also would like to know. Mantak Chia type is obviously one. And it can be divided into hot and cold energy work. But others? I know that the white tiger books point to another. I think your questions is very wide, and we should avoid answering from a single point of view. Com'on who knows something. Share if you can.

Gosh I am so envious! Mine is still on its way...

Well, the lady is absolutely able to remain by herself for some months. When I bought the house, she came with it. And the previous owner was dead from a couple of years. So she "should" know how to catch them. I mean, every single door has a cat hole to let the cat in. Is how to teach your cat to catch mice, one of those secret pieces of chi gung that you are keeping for yourself in case you get old and weak? Because I might be prepared to pay quite something. But you would have to come here and show it to me. raw I am pretty sure once the mouse is dead the cat will get the hint...

I love how the family is seen as the last people who would notice something similar. Personally I find that practitioners are way nicer than non practitioners. SOmehow the internal coherence seem to expand outward. Or they just have accepted themselves. I remeber going to new age parties and meeting many fat women. Now, I am not attracted by women who are overweight, but those were all different. Because they practiced, they accepted themselves, and then it was also much easier for you to accept them and perceive them as they were. I have never seen an ugly buddha. Eve when they are externally ugly, the internal beauty just shine through.

Ok, so how do I explain to my cat that she is not getting any more food until she has found and eaten the mices that are around. I am tired to be waken at 5 am by mices running in the space between the ceiling and the roof! I went with the cat to the roof, and raised some roof tiles, and proposed her to enter below, but she now pretends to be too much of a lady for that dirty job. I am tired of supporting such a useless bum cat! She should earn her food!!

you go through the 3 stages multiple times in your lifetime. At different depths.

Dear Lin, in the other thread you mentioned about a certain practice: Can you tell us more about it? Where is it coming from, how is it done. What are its steps, and signs of a succesful outcome? What can go wrong, and what should be done if it happens... and so on. It looks like a very useful practice. As Harry Frankfurt puts it in his essay or truth: truth is important to survive and to remain alive. Thank you very much, Pietro

I would translate it as: the sound of the big bang can't be heard! In fact we should retranslate the whole TTC from the point of view of modern physics. NOT quantum physics, just astronomy.

Ok, so according to Star translation (which recovers thevarious translation arounds and compares them) the line you refer to is (I think) ta yin hsian sheng with ta that has been translated as (great, the greatest, perfect, highest yin (music, sound, music note, tone, sound) hsi (without, void of, "soft", "rarefied") sheng ( sound/music/tone) and the last two have been translated together as is faint, hard to hear, silent, "is hushed". How from ta yin hsi sheng we reach Music in the soul can be heard by the Universe really beats me.

I was waiting for someone to come up with pickup material. It has saved the ass (or the sausage) to so many taoists around here. Generally speaking the best starting point is still: http://www.fastseduction.com/youarenew/ Personally I find it quite funny to try to make positive someone who is called "Non". I mean, start getting a new username. What about "yes", or "yeah", or "if you can afford me" or "expensive". But so far Non has been pretty congruent with its username. Witch is really right. You should hear her, for she speaks out of experience. Btw, witch, do you still hate me? :-x I use to be so angry at women. I thought nature was so unfair against men. It changes when you get older, and you see women who were so pretty, and so much nice in their prime suddenly start to crumble like buildings under a tornado. Taoists are usually able to hold on to their jing (and tits) longer, but for the average women... bad news. Once they are over 40 their reproductive cycle is pretty much over. And you are still there, up and running. Over 50 if they don't have a partner they can as well become lesbian. Look at who is going at dating sites. Not who the dating sites are advertising, but who actually is there. Young men, old women. For them it is even worse, you see a situation which is potentially getting better every year, they see a long slow descent. And for some this happens after they had the whole school at their feet. They could make people double their age tremble, just by looking at them. LATE EDIT: reading better markern message I realise that I am the one late, and Non is not new to the pickup world. Sorry 'bout this.

Yeah, the blind leading the blind. Look MH, I am sorry. Because my aim was to ask directions from someone who might have something to say. Not to hug each other in a delusion contest on who is more confused. People who think illusions and reality are the same are effectively claiming that sex and masturbation are the same. Eating and imagining to eat are the same. Killing and reading a spy novel are the same. Pissing and dreaming about pissing are the same. Luckily their body is smarter, or they would wake up every morning in a wet patch. There definitely are practices to separate illusion from reality in Taoism, and I suspect also in Buddhism (maybe even more so!). But of course the mental person will find all excuses to deny them. Until they fall into the real pit. And then they cry, and come back here.

oh, sorry.

Yes, but as it was pointed out above, there is only a certain point after which the earth just cannot take anymore. But the good news is that people have started using Permaculture at big scale. Reorganising farms of thousands of hectars, consulting with the US ministry of agriculture... So maybe not all is lost. Amen to that? Really? You must like to live in a culture with torture, dictators, poverty and imposition. For me I would rather stay in any time of native American versus any time of ancient China.

Very good consideration, Steve. One thing I would be very well aware of is that Daoism has a tradition of being under and secluded. They/we know how to do it. We don't need external garments, or external recognition. We lived many times under oppressive regimes. So I think that Taoism is well alive, under. I just do not believe that it will come out of the closet because the government have invited it. I mean, some of the small guys will....

Agreed with most of your analysis. Just a question. How would your analysis change if we had, within 5 or 10 year, unlimited amount of energy through Nuclear fusion? (not fission, but fusion). I am not interested (ok moderately interested) why you think this is not possible... assume it is possible, and tell me (us) how would the situation change. Since you correctly link our surplus with the extra energy coming from peak oil, having another form of abundant energy might change the picture? Or not?