Trunk

I don't see what you are trying to say with your above comment.The basic premise holds true no matter which tradition. In another tradition (such as Buddhism), "Mind of Tao" would just be called something else (such as "Buddha-Nature").

I just bought an ipod nano last weekend. Convenient, though I'm still figuring out how to organize the files with playlists & folders. I bought one of those gizmos to have it play over the fm in my car. In addition to harmonica lessons and learning monty python songs, I have an eye out to put dharma talks on the pod. If anyone has any good links to sites with downloadable talks, that'd be helpful.

In Taoism, mind is Tao. Chia skips that, and because of that, everything is turned upside down - and the practices are prone to create confusion and suffering. Without that, there is not a basis for purification, and it's not really even Taoism. -- later edit -- To teach the sexual practices without the above foundation is especially a travesty, unconscionable. But, it's great for sales.

Hey, everyone is different - we're all in different places, playing out our roles in life. If you've been benefitting from your interaction with Chia, have at it. I've already talked endlessly on these topics, much of it is online, and I don't feel a need to go at it all again. Best of luck to you. Trunk out.

Ditto.

To use a coarse metaphor, you're trying to put lipstick on a pig. Chia had a role to play: he (& company) introduced pop-Taoism to world-wide popular culture. Part of how this was done was by leaving out Foundational Principles, and writing it in such a way that it'd be palatable to current modern mindset and appetites. He went for volume, not quality, depth, authenticity, and was hugely hugely successful. Ok, mission accomplished, he fulfilled his role: the whole world now knows that Taoist esoteric practices exist. However, he introduced pop-Taoism, not authentic Taoism. I've summarized this before as "selling sensation and marketing it as Taoism". Now, a sort of critical mass of students have done enough exploring, of Chia's theory, system & methods, and of other Taost and non-Taoist wisdom - so that they are wisening up, and want The Real Thing: authentic Taoism, or any authentic spiritual practice. That's a large part of why TTB's exists: enough of us saw this sort of thing, and there was friction, and it was really best that we left in order to move forward. I mean, genuinely, "thanks for the intro" but there's deeper waters and the truth is the priority, the only priority. It's not about liking Chia, or not liking Chia, it's not really about Chia at all. It's - really, solely - the imperative for spiritual progress. That's the larger social dynamic that this conversation is taking place within. For Chia to "get back on track", to get in sync with the needs of the wisened-up market place, ... he'd have to re-write his whole system from the ground up, by the inclusion of deeper principles ... and all of the repurcussions, implications, re-alignment, of his previous work that that would entail. Entire re-write. It's just not going to happen. So, if you're going to ask this crowd, here, "what can we do to help with what you need?", you're going to get a tsunami list of things that Chia is - practically - incapable of, and presumably unwilling to do. "Go deeper, re-write your entire system." How can we expect anything but a protectionist attitude toward their own system? That's all we've seen so far: not a listening ear nor an unbiased pursuit of the truth. I mean, I have some actual gratitude for the immensity of what Chia & co. did. But am I interested in a more polished version of pop-Taoism? - Nope. I'm interested in authentic teachings, thank you. And I'm not interested in empowering, promoting, the confusions that are inherent in pop-Taoism - I'm interested in clarifying the knowledge to the level of Wisdom, and pop-Taoism is not about that. If I study with a teacher, I'm interested in studying with an authentic teacher. These are just the facts of the times. Plenty of us here have been this way for quite a long while now. Want specifics? Read the HT archives. Max's posts, Plato's posts, my posts, sbiel's posts.

PacificTao.com has all of Chia's videos on dvd. But as far as getting on track?... His work needs major theoretical adjustments (and a number of more moderate) that are simply never going to happen. He will continue to spread his mix of information/mis-information. Chia contributes what he contributes (mostly past tense), the rest (re-work, refine, morph it into something closer to authentic) is up to the next generations, of which we are a part. Move on. That's just the reality of it.

Margaret Naeser's book is an excellent little reference for exploring patent medicines.

Oooohhh, we've been around; you wouldn't believe.

"The Galaxy Song" (aka "universe song") by Monty Python - from their movie "The Meaning of Life", and here's the vid.

The (very) short explanation is "joint rotations". He just goes through all the major joints and rotates, often in a number of ways. Starts simple (but is thorough), and builds. By rotating the joints it promotes circulation through the connective tissue of the whole body (not just locally at the joint).

I heard a teacher say that, on a practical basis, if you want to acheive enlightenment, that (paraphrased) "you have to meditate such that you purify oceans of it (karma) at a time" because there is just so much of it. Appreciate your posts, btw, and that you are still dropping by occasionally.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not out-right recommending that people take these supplements; I don't know enough about them. But I'm getting interesting results, am fishing for more knowledge, and think they're worth having on the general radar screen. So, I recently started taking several supplements, both in capsules: - malic acid with magnesium - cherry extract Stubborn blocks that I've had, bound-up tissues in hard-to-get places, have been resolving very quickly .. like, from the very first day I took these, and I've only been taking them for about a week - only 3 doses so far, as I take a day off in between. For those with stagnation issues, the above is worth investigating. I'd be curious to hear anyone with knowledge / experience re: those supplements.

Booby traps: unintentional errors in the HT system.. examples: lack of emptiness teachings, lack of teaching about what goes on within the deep-centers and how to actually produce a functioning tan tien, over-confident presentation of the m.orbit, insufficient acknowledgement of the dangers of "healing love", overly forceful presentation of iron shirt packing techniques, .. the list goes on. My site was meant to address many of these things, to some degree, along the lines of clarifying principle - which is the real solution (not attack). 2 strikes: Well, the HT (Chia's side, and the books) teaches as if the HT is all worked out and pat and "here it is, 1-2-3" - when, in fact, there are many errors - and even with very good methods & presentation it's still a difficult (& risk laden) path. So, if teachers are trained with that party line, and just give the standard HT spiel of how-it-is, then it's just perpetuating mistaken ideas. So, HT teachers have the burden of rising above and beyond the limitations of the (HT) system that they were taught. It is my impression that some do, by diligent work, becoming doctors of Chinese medicine, studying in other systems, and so on.

Yup.And, unfortunately, we've seen over the years that the HT party line is riddled with serious booby-traps. So, if you pick a HT instructor, it's like they have two strikes against them already - and have to show considerable insight, experience, training, honesty, beyond the party line to be acceptable, imo. Read the entire Iron Shirt 1 section of AlchemicalTaoism.com for an intro to what's unsafe about the original packing.

Found this vid on youtube of Leon Redbone.

Interesting... I wonder if the packing has been revised for safety. (?) (It desperately needed it.)

You mentioned hemp oil back in the raw-blending-threads, and I went and got some: yummmmm. Immediately upon drinking I could tell my body really liked it, very nourishing. Almost out, gonna go put it on the shopping list.

When I saw the title of that by Sonnon, I just chalked it up to the usual bullshit criticism that one school often shovels towards another school. Just my snap judgement, is all. (Though I'm not convinced that bridges to the forehead are safe. Aside from that, though.)

Interviews! What a cool thing to do! Fun read.

Yes, this is Keith. Did you used to post as "Tear of Ra"?

I'm not good at comparative stuff w/in Tibetan Buddhism, but... the 6 Yogas of Naropa is more native to the Kagyu & Gelugpa lineages, and Dzog Chen is of the Nyingma lineage. There are 4 major lineages of T.Buddhism: Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya, and Gelugpa. "Dzog Chen" is the name that the Nyingma's call the Big Nameless, and they undoubtedly have specific ways to accomplish and refine that. The Nyingmapas might use the 6 Yogas of Naropa, but I don't know. The Kagyu & Gelugpa lineages are closely related, and the 6 Yogas is integral to their advanced practices, and "Mahamudra" is the term that they use for the Big Nameless.

Pistols are one-legged squats. I think that pistols are too dangerous for the knees, at least for me, so I'm currently sticking to hindu squats, and lateral squats, and looking at Kurz's dvd occasionally for good ideas. Everything but the lateral squats (which is in my previous post, this thread) in the squats link. btw, again, Kurz's dvd is excellent. Here's intuflow. Look in the "additional reading" section of my site for a short description, maybe others could chime in w/ an intuflow description. It's become very popular here, sort of a standard.

I've recently gotten into reps of "lateral squats". Wide stance, each foot 45 degrees out, and slowly lower into one leg, then up, then slowly into the other leg. I find that I do these only so low as I can maintain root in both feet. I find that the amount of reps, and the depth, varies a lot depending on how warmed up I am, and just different days, and that if I go lower than 'good root' then I tend to strain my knees. Similarly, here. I was awfully insecure through jr high & high school. I seriously needed intuflow! .. just to process the tsunami of adolescent angst. Looking back, I really admire several socially brave guys. Two people come to mind that didn't just hang in a clique, but deliberately made a wide variety friends.

I think the arts really pay off; they're enriching all down the road. Really, I can't say I'm using history, biology, chemistry, any math past algebra, etc., etc., most of the things I took in high school (and probably not using any of what I learned in college). I think everything I ever did in english, reading, writing, was worth while - especially the writing; it made me think. A year of forced piano in grade school would've been nice: all of western music is based on musical organization that is represented by the piano's layout. Understand the piano, and you've got a good basis for a lot.