Pietro

One of the greatest Buddhist monastery in the west, the one from Pomaia, in Italy, was burned. No human beings was harmed, but there were more than a million dollar damages, and, more importantly, some buddhist scripturs, some in single copy, were destroyed. Also the great meditation room was destroyed, and the fire reached the roof. The news touches me personally as I have been in that monastery a few times, and my mother have actually gone there for some workshops in the past. The abbot has announced that they will ask for some economic help. (But I ignore what to do if you want to help, I think eventually the request will reach their website)

They think it was caused by a n electrical shortcircuit. Candles were off limits for security reasons where the flame started. But I ginore what scriptures were lost. Thanks for your interest, Pietro

My dear Mak, it was a pleasure to come and visit you. And when I came in the temple, there were many rules. I might have broken a few. If I did I am sorry, it was not my aim. I remember that there was a clear sign: do not walk with the shoes. I took them off. Then you pointed me the waiting chair, I sat there, and waited. All this was a matter of manners. Manners are a bit more difficult to recognise when someone is entering into a novel environment. Just two days ago I was celebrating Christmas with my family. We had so many traditions, and manners. It took me many etrs to learn how to follow them. The reason for them is not so much to silence each other or to sontrol someone, but to permit to everybody to coexist. But manners are often not written. It is not like laws. Are unwritten rules. And often the people who share some rules are not even themselves aware of them. But when someone arrives and changes them, everybody need to face the decision: is this new way better? Acceptable? Or should we remain to our previous way. I know, it is change, and as spiritual people we are often welcoming change. But not all change is positive. In this case, when you arrived, we had some uses. Those uses were that no single topic would dominate the scene. We had similar problems when the Kun Lun people were writing many topics. But if you were not here at the time, you might not know. I have always supported you, because I feel that your presence here is important, as part of the great family of taoists. But as this is a family we all need to coexist. And asking everybody to compete by writing more is not the way. It is not The Way. So what the community is asking you (quite strongly as nine people out of ten would agree) is that you focus what you want to say in a smaller number of threads, or keep them in a separate area of the community. We all have a room in this community which is our own. In this each of us is maintainer. The rooms are here: http://www.thetaobums.com/Personal-Practic...ussion-f15.html and they are easily reachable from the front page. This is mine: http://www.thetaobums.com/Pietro-f71.html And this is yours: http://www.thetaobums.com/Mak-Tin-Si-f93.html So we are not trying to censor you, nor to put you down, nor to rule you out. We are also not making up rules to stop you, but we are just trying to share how things are being done over here, were done before, and we in the great majority, would like to keep on doing them. Like in your temple there were rules and manners. I tried to follow them. Will you try to follow ours here? With my Best Regards, Pietro

Actually the open nature of the messages is really important. People tend very often to ignore private message, and any critic that is coming from a single person is seen as a weirdnes from the the criticiser part. Often we consider seriously a critic only if it gets combined by many people. And regarding face... Mak seem to be quite happy to criticise other people. So since he is happy to play by our rules, why shouldn't he deserve the same honor. For the matter, I do agree that mybe having the messages about Fu together would be better for both Mak, Mak students and the rest of the gang. Having all of them in a thread, or having Mak starting a Personal Practice Discussion, like Mal is doing here: http://www.thetaobums.com/Mak-Tin-Si-f93.html

Hmm, this message is not what I sent. But I have lost the original. The message included a quote from Albion post, which have remained. Instead of deleting the whole post I just added this disclaimer. ********* what arrived******

I would say it has elements of both sides. I have noticed that it is quite easy for whoever knows something that can work in some occasion to generalise it and make it fit for every occasion. If you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. So the idea that you can use Fu for every occasion, and everything is explainable via spirits and Fu is superstition. Coming from a period where the understanding of nature was lower. But then again there are situations where I have felt spirits. And situations where fingers in the shape of a sword were helpful. Years ago I remember a shaman speaking with a young, new age, guy. He was accusing some pains in his belly, and started in his head the movie of what must have happened in his n'th lifetime to give him this karmic problem. The shaman asked him what did he took for breakfast.

I would be happy to support, but I am unconvinced that this form of support is the right solution. First of all, to me the situation shouts 6th hexagram loud and clear. I don't think the trouble comes from evil spirits, nor from a technical problem. If it was a technical problem you could solve it technically. If it was coming from spirits you would need a Fu. But this is an ethical problem between human beings. So, I wonder, why doesn't our guest follow the istructions of the I CHing, and look for a man that both him and David respect, and they look for a compromise that they both can respect. It seem obvious that "gossamer" received a lot of damage, if his story is true (Don't take my doubts personally, I always doubt of everybody). It seem that also David ended up losing two jobs (he might have legally deserved to lose them, but his inner heart might feel differently). So it seem that both side are harming each other in many different and creative ways. "gossamer" has reached the point of frustration that he is considering killing the other guy. David on the other hand has threatened to kill "gossamer" friends. We also know David name (Because "gossamer" told us), but we don't know gossamer name. In short the situation sounds less unilateral than we are superficially led to believe, So for now I hold upon the money. But I am happy to support a different solution.

Hello, I could not find my diet. Admittedly it is quite rare, but 5 possibilities are really too few. I eat in a lazy primal diet. Primal diet means raw diet, which includes raw meat, raw dairies (unpastorized), celery juice and honey. A mixture of raw butter and honey, raw muscle meat (should be internal organs, but they are hard to find of good quality), and celery juice represent the background of my day. It is lazy in the sense that apart for cooked meat and chocolate I eat practically everything else, also. Especially when I am in social situations (often), travelling (always), or too lazy (the rest of the time). But my diet is still there in intent. Pietro. ? We could if we would. But I don't, so we can't. Someone posted it in the Bruce Lee Thread

It is now more than 2 weeks from when I met Mak Tin Si. I have been asked by a couple of Bums to share my experience. In the past I have always enjoyed and found useful the review written by others over this or that school, workshop or teacher. So moved by a sense of duty, more than a sense of creative generosity, I decided to add my coin. I was passing through Toronto, on my way from Canada to Europe. So I decided to take the midday off and go and see our very honorable Taoist Priest. Reaching him wasn't the easyest thing in the world. You need to take the subway until the latest station, and then bus number 2. Which is not on platform 2 (or it would be too easy ). In short by the time you have figured out everything, you might need to go the next day. The Taoist Temple, from the outside is like a shop. It reminds me of the Meditation Shop in Ubud, Bali. As I entered A very nice Temple was on the left, while the Tin Si, was giving suggestions to one of his disciples on the right. I made the greeting gesture, as we learned in our school, and he made the greeting gesture of his school. It was funny, for a second it seemed he stayed a second trying to sort out my greetings. I was then adressed to the waiting chairs. Above the waiting chair a sign: here is where faith is born (or something similar). I found this clever and telling. Clever because people, at least at the beginning can get easily bored. If they know that there is something special that is going on in that time, they will not get that easily bored. I found it telling because of a long lesson we received from Bruce on how Taoists do not consider beliefs and faith to be important. Something was already not in sync. I waited for probably half an hour, while the priest was going through his teachings, and suggestions. It was obvious that FU were very important in his teachings. He practically had FU for every occasions. My regards for privacy prevents me to enter into any detail over what they were discussing, so I will just gliss over it. While I was there I also had a good time to observe the room. The temple was beautiful. And it had something peculiar. If you can feel/sense spirits, this temple was packed. Have you ever seen a room so crowded that you cannot move. This is how the area in and around the temple felt to my untrained eyes. Eventually the student left, and the priest was ready to speak with me. We spoke briefly. I asked about the temple, about the heritage, I also aksed about the story of Taoism, and a bit about FUs. All the time he answered holding some weird multy threaded whip in his hands. It made me think he was expecting some weird demons to come out of me at any time. It was weird, as he did not seem to feel the need to hold such defensive tool for his student. My sensation was of a person who was very honest regarding his work about FU, knowledgeable about spirits. But also a person who claims that an immortal is teachin him, in dreams. In nearly everything he said I felt he was telling me the truth, or at least what he honestly believed being the truth. When he was speaking about the immortal, from China, which he never met... well in that moment, it was not so much that I did not believe him. It was that I felt he did not believe it himself. Sometimes life pushes us in a role where we are not hold a mask, and are not even allowed the benefit of doubting about something. So all together, I would say a mixed review. Very competent in some regards. Very honest in some aspect. But I wouldn't hold my breath that his immortal-teacher would materialize in front of him very soon. When I left I also realised: he did not ask me a single question about my path, my school, and my practice. He probably was not interested. Pietro

Yes, I am in Italy, and I suffer quite badly haing to work in the cold north. FInally I found a job in a warm country. My next academic job is in Portugal, so hopefully this will take care of itself. Pietro

Hi Mak, Ahh, that what it was. I should have asked. Instead of just assuming (around here people say ass-u-me, to mean that when you assume you make an ass of yourself and of the other person, as I did). Sorry about that. I too, tried for all our encounter to keep myself in the heart-mind. As I have been instructed. That was the blessing as it is coming from the tradition I come from. Yes, I realised when I wrote it that I was being imprecise. I just could not remember better. You did not say that you met him in your dream. But let me clarified further what I said, why, and where was it coming from. For a period of my life I have studied with a native american sciaman. The teachings were mostly about emotions. And in a particularly good series of workshop we participants were all able to be very well in touch with our emotions. Once this level was reached we discovered that in this state we could easily spot if someone who was speaking was not being totally truthful. I worked on this for a long time, so now I know that this is done by hearing the vibration in the voice. When a person is telling the truth, all the truth and just the truth, then its voice vibrates with the emotions, but does not falter. Instead there is a particular way in which the voice vibrates when you are saying something that you do not believe yourself. FOr all the conversation your voice was connected, honest. When you explained how your teacher was this immortal, I felt it faltering. It is hard to explain for me what I felt. And of course you can deny that it happened. Or explain that it has another meaning. I felt I could not write this review without raising this warning, as I perceived it. I felt if I did, I would not have been truthful myself to the task I was doing. Said all this I find very interesting your explenation about taoist altars. I also would like to clarify that I did not find the energy to be packed, but to be packed with presences. Like if there were many beings in a little space. How interesting! This is such a clear example of a cultural difference. In the culture I come from asking questions (not too much, kids can easily exagerate ) is regarded as making a person at ease, in general. As you let the person speak about something they are really interested. And meditators who usually disregard in some sense some of the usual social norms, still tend to ask often many questions. The meditator world in the west is so differetiated, that each meditator can often tell you some really interesting and diverse stories. *********** Something I would like to add to my review: I also noticed that Mak did not have a full mastery of English. So he expected his students to learn Chinese. Personally if I were to study with Mak I would be grateful for this extra element, as there are many teachings that are implicit in a language itself. Some time ago someone (goldisheavy?) commented that traditions should be translated. Yes, that is true, but to translate a tradition you need to have mastery both in the tradition and in the language. If you knowledge in any of the two is limited this will give problems later on in life. Probably Taoism in Nature's teachings will eventually all be translated, so that people do not need to learn chinese. But this will not happen at least for another generation, maybe more. Only a taoist who is mother tongue english will have the proficiency to translate something of the depth of a tradition. Cheers, Pietro Hello fizix, you sound frustrated. Even though Mak is selling Fu's, so his presence over here is increasing this business, my understanding is that he is not using this money for himself. Also he seem to be very nice in only commenting on his own threads (and few related, like this one), so if you do not want to read his point of view, you can quite simply ignore him. Regarding the fact that he can teach or not. I am not sure about you, but I surely don't know, for example, how to open, and keep an altar like he does. This for example is something on which I have a lot to learn. Although of course you might not be interested, yourself. Pietro I'll be travelling for the next days, until after Christmas, so I might answer later any comments. I hope the review was helpful. Pietro

Ron Diana, may he reach the Tao, tried to cure his cancer using Hamer medicine. It did not work.

Thank you! Finally someone with clear ideas. Can I ask you other questions, or was this just a one of?

I wonder how old can you be and still do it. P.

Scary! And cool, yes true. I remember a movie where a person was in a futuristic jail. And he was dreaming of having sex, and was awaken by the robot, who sensed his happiness, checked what he was dreaming about, and then awoke him. The moment a society reaches a point where we can check what each other are thinking a big leap on the level of (forced) integration can, will and must happen. Are we all going to become monks with a clean mind? Succesful monks, with a clean mind! Even if this does not happen it can still be very bad. Think about a situation where no one checks your mind... except when they want to frame you. This is not hard to imagine. So people check your mind and realise what a dangerous monster you were in your secret internal world. So they force you into hospitalization before you act out your fantasies. In a sense I might even prefer a world were we all can read each other minds. Also think about the next level of exhibitionism: "Here is a webcam of my mind." And voyerism: "I know you were dreaming of me, don't deny it!" I can see the Game just rising to new heights!

And I like very much yours. Can you describe it better, so maybe I can start playing with it, and maybe realise it? I was also thinking about advertising on the couch surfing network. I also like the idea to have a house that is so essential that I don't fear anyone will steal anything. A bit of a problem with the computer. But I need a computer as long as I have a daily job, and I have an office as long as I have a day job too. Also, although it is going to be an open house, and I don't want to charge any rent or similar, I do expect people to contribute. Either by helping in the house or helping with the house, or however they themselves will suggest. I think the question: "How do you expect to contribute?" can be made quite directly. People are generally quite honest in wanting to contribute, and we all have a sense when we are being taken advantage of, when we are taking advantage of, and when it is fair. I want to make it fun, and relaxed, and open. And also a place were true cultivation is possible, as well as it is possible to enjoy the silence.

I am on my way to Portugal. I am just starting a 5 years post doc at Coimbra university. The land over there is very cheap respect to European standards, and in some places can be both secluded and practical if you are still working in the world. I have observed that there are two type of retreats. The first type is where everybody is practicing the same thing. Like Dao Zhen plan, for example. TO do this you need to have enough people to be interested, all sharing the same path, and the same teacher. What I want to build is different. More akin to an open house for taoists practitioners. I like the saying, if you come you will not be turned away, if you leave, we will not ask you to remain. I am right now in the process of discussing about an old house next to a village. The house has about half an hectar of land. Some of it is the side of a hill. It has a well, and a stream. It is an old house, in the sense that it is perfect... if you are ok in living as they would live 200 years ago. FOr now, there is no hot water. A fire place in the kitchen. And that's all. I expect to renovate it, and make it a bit less spartane. For example I am thinking about not even having Internet! Once I have bought it I will look for people who want to come and share the dream, the space, the practice and the work. I am an instructor both according to Mantak Chia and to Bruce Frantzis, so if anyone who lives there wants me to share some of the practices I will be happy to do so (and viceversa). But I am NOT looking to build yet another community who survives out of workshops. I will keep my daily job in town. At least for the next 5 years. But whoever wants to come and share will be welcome.

There was some work on worms showing that worms who had their tubes cut so that the sperm would not go out would live one tenth longer. Yes, it is true that 1 tenth is not immortality And it is also true that most human beings are not worms.

Hello Mak, here is Pietro, it was nice to meet you in Toronto. I don't think the problem is so much on which one came first, but if the Taoist tradition is unchanged. If a person refuses to accept (as practically every westerner would do) that the same immortal came physically down to teach in two different occasions, (and thus the continuation would be coming from this metaphysical connexion); then what prove do we have that Taoism was indeed unchanged through those times (2 thousand years!) of great political turmoil? And since the people you are reasoning here are not your disciples, you cannot use the mystery card ("oh this is a mystery!"), nor the immortal card ("an immortal told me so"). And then you need to use only reasoning, observations and hard proves to show your point. So let us look at the hard proves. The first signs of Taoism are around 300 BC. Taoist tradition (i.e. ZhuangZi), claims that Lao Zi is older, but of the same generation of Confucious. Most historian now agree that while Zhuang Zi was an historical figure, and Confucious was an historical figure, the Tao Te Ching was written by a series of teachers (for references on this see the introduction to the Tao Te Ching from Victor Mair). Various different versions of this book has been found in tombs, before it congealed in the final, actual version. And that the story of having Lao Zi being an older person in the same generation of Confucious is thus part of an inter-religious dialectic between Taoism and Confucianism. If Lao Zi was seen as older than Confucious, his teachings were thus seen as more valid, or more true. In any case, even accepting the historical existance of Lao Zi (1), and the Zhuang Zi dating (2) you can push the origin of the Tao Te Ching back to 600 B.C. , but not before. Before that we are in mythological time, and nothing has been proven (yet, at least) about a Taoist tradition. Yes, I personally suspect that there in fact was such a tradition, but matter of fact, we don't know. And it is important to divide between own desire and wishes, and the hard facts we know. The historical Buddha was around 500-600 BC. So in any case historical Taoism as we know was there did not predate Buddhism by a whole lot. But then there is another important element. Even if Taoism predated Buddhism (3), you assume that Taoism remained unchanged in those two thousand years. What most people here seem to agree is that yes Taoism was there. But it changed a lot in those years. The fact that something is a law of nature (even assuming that it is) does not make it obvious that it was discovered in 600 BC in China. There was a strong influence of Buddhism in China for hundreds of years, in fact for more that a millenium. And in China, as you surely know, the situation was that the three religions were competing for the favour of the emperor. But more than that, Buddhists and Taoists would often have dialectic fights on their respective traditions (for a great example of one of those please refer to "laughing at the Tao"). In those fights the buddhist trained in the Indian school and indian universities would routinely win. In such a situation it is not strange that Taoism started to have an ethics that so much resembles the Buddhist one. I think you could still at this point appel to your tradition, which I think it is fine, but the tradition you belong to is unfortunately (apart for metaphysical continuations) not unbroken. In fact you refer to yourself as starting a new tradition. As such I think you can say that "in our tradition we say that". But you cannot go as far as saying that "this is so". To do this extra step you need to have the solidity of proven facts. And unfortunately the facts seem to fail you here. Yours, Pietro

I haven't just see them. I have practiced them, and I have practiced with another Master who is actually my current teacher who was also ordained as a Taoist Priest in China. And who often chants Taoists lithurgies while we are practicing. But I would be interested to meet, if this was possible. I am right now in St. John's, Newfoundland. And I have a plane back to Europe (where I normally live) on sunday evening from Toronto. I might arrive on Saturday or early on Sunday so that we have the time to meet. Of course if it would fit you as well. Regards, Pietro

Actually I am not yet fully convinced that you cannot dispense yourself from using FUs (is this how you make the plural?). There are energy practices in the west, available to the general public, where you do use energy from the stars and planets. And they don't use FU, at least not in the way you have presented to us. They are being sold as Chi Gung and Nei Gung. In fact in every school I have been involved with they would start with energies around us, but eventually they would work also with energy of the stars. Respectfuly, Pietro

Absolutely, the function of a religion, from what I have understood is to 'save' its members. What exactly means to save someone depends on the religion, but generally there is a vague understanding that things are not as cool as they could be or as they should be (at least in respect to our mind or our spirit), and as such we need to find a way to either go there, or change them, or change ourselves. In short reach the state where things are cooler. (NOTE: things are a bit more complicated, as sometimes religions work their way around. FOr example a priest I know, explained me that actually the aim of Chrstianity is not to go to heaven, but to bring heaven to earth. The fact of going to heaven after you die, is more a byproduct of this. Like I remember a Buddhist teacher saying that we were doing an exercise not to reach enlightenment. Our aim was just to do the exercise. Enlightenment, was just a possible byproduct) As such a religion has a function, and in respect to that function you can define a religion to be more effective or less effective. Also this is a bit of circual logic in all this, as a religion is both defining the aim, the way to reach it, and when people have reached it. How do you get out of this circularity? You use society. You use the social feedback to know where you are. Both the common non meditative folks, the meditative people, and the people who are universally recognised to have achieved something. Buddha didn't just became enlightened. He became enlightened and then he teached, and the people took up his teachings. This is a way to permit to society to give a feedback on you and know if what you have achieved has an objective value, or it is just another personal dream, another folding of the Samsara. Another way to know if you have reached something of value is to ask someone who has done so. Or to be tested by someone who has done so. All those methods have been found in the millenia to push people into finding an objective, shared, salvation. And this because all the culture have observed that human beings are very prone to two big weakness: self delusion, and escapism. So each teacher tests himself constantly. They go to each other. They get feedback from their community. They try to understand their enlightenment in the general theory of their religion. And sometimes of other religions as well. The research for a salvation, although done in solitude, is part of a general human quest. We are all in it together. The fact that a religion is popular does not necessarily mean that it brings to any form of salvation. It can as easily bring to a form of escapism and self delusion. People thinking they have reached something then going home and they bite their dog, they slap their kids."But", they say, "all is ok, because all is part of the Dao". This is a way to use the Tao Te Ching not to reach something, but to avoid doing any internal work. I am not saying you do this (how could I know), but that this is a risk. So now we have people from different religions, they are all popular. Are they all equally good to let you be saved? Maybe. But then let us look at things under stress. Because many things which seem to work well under no stress fall apart under stress. Take people who have gone through major trauma. Rape, torture, seeing their children dying sudden and avoidable death. Those are trauma that can remain with a person for the rest of their life. Some of those religions will help you out of them, and some will not. Authentic Taoism will, I know this as a fact. Authentic Buddhism will. Authentic Chrsitianity will. Will their New Age counterpart work as well. I doubt so. So we have a difference between traditions that will help you when things are really bad, and traditions that will only help you when things are moderately ok. And is not a small irrelevant division. This is to answer your question: why assigining a value to religion? To avoid spending time to learn something which you think will help you when thigs are rough, and then discovering that the boat is sinking and the safe jacket is full of holes. But now it is too late. There is also that aspect in everybody. But if you read well what I wrote I did not put all facets of Taoism on the one side, and all other religions on the other. When you read a book what is important is: can you get what was the message of the author. If you got another message that is nice and dandy, but it is not what the author wanted to say. You can start a religion on that, but you cannot claim that that religion is coming from the book. At most that it has been vaguely inspired by the book. That is it your interpretation of that book. You might think that you are getting what the authors of the Tao Te Ching meant. But can you be sure? Can anyone be sure? If there is a continuous tradition who have passed on the meaning along side the book you would know. On the side of many great texts there is an oral tradition that accompany them. This is not meant to take away your freedom to read, enjoy and interpret the tao te ching as you like. Just to claim that that is what it absolutely meant. Oh yes, the bible is a mess on this regard. And Greek, most of the new testament was written in greek by people who spoke greek as their second language! But the bible had a vibrant alive tradition that kep itself alive through the millenia. I mentioned this priest. One time he explained me (I don't remember what the question was) how there was a great debate in the 6th century about what to do of the Christians who first were Chrstians, then when the Romans would take them they would deny their Christianity, and then once they were free, they would try to go back to christianity. And that (St.)Augustine in that occasion said that "no, the gates of the Lord are always open", and as soon as a person declares its sins, and its desires to be accepted, he would be accepted back. (Sorry if this is not exactly it, I am no christian). This priest then concluded how this have been, from that time, the position of the Church. Can you see how there is a debate, an answer, and a continuity in this story. How Christianity takes shape through a collective effort of its members? If you read the creed, you are reading an history text. Every line, every claim is some 50 years of internal discussion in the church. What I am saying is that when a tradition passes through the bottleneck of a single or few person who have to carry the whole tradition, and were not trained to do so, often the religion looses parts of its identity. And possible parts of its healing powers. This is why traditions who are not very popular (like Taoism) tend to have lineages. This is to make sure that at least some person know the whole tradition, and can pass it on. But yes, this brings all sort of power play, that are just not there in more popular religions. I am unfortunately not familiar with them enough to comment. I would need to know how much of the internal teachings of the church has passed on in this community to be able to comment on their effective healing power. Healing power which might still exist, but be coming from the previous local traditions. That is exactly the point. You assume the core values can be picked up from reading the Tao Te Ching by itself. I don't make such assumption. O I test my understanding by going to people who have passed down the traditional meaning of it. No, but the first time you went to the bakery you went with someone who told you which shop was the bakery. There is a risk if you go there alone that you go to another shop (say the shop of self delusional mushrooms). If many people go to the same shop you might be right that that is indeed the bakery. But if back in time there was a time where a single men found this bakery, and he did not know how a bakery looked like. He might have assumed that was a bakery, and then propagated the error. Those are the cases where it is useful to confront your experiences with the people who use to go to the bakery before that one person, and check if the stories collide. Indeed religions evolve over time. I never said this is not so. I am only saying not all evolutions are equally helpful to let you reach a place of equanimity, compassion, and balance.

Benny, there was a previous entry on the same topic: http://www.thetaobums.com/Fu-healings-t7581.html And there some general informations about the paper and the color, were given. Check it out.

Dear Mak, thank you very much for those extra information. I find them very interesting. You explained us that taking a photo of a FU symbol makes it leak its power. And now we learn that then FU symbol can be taped on the living room wall, for example as a protection. Now this seem to imply that from that moment you are going to have top be very attentive to anyone with a camera of any kind. It seems that all those FU while being "very powerful" are all very fragile. It is very easy to have them lose power, and in any case they will lose power in 49 days. Are FU experts able to feel the FU power, and just say, without knowing the history a particular FU went through if it had lost power? Or can you find yourself surprised, expecting an effect, finding a different effect, and then having to explore the history of the FU to find out what was the cause of the leakege of power? Many thanks, Pietro