mbanu

A Taoist shouldn't have any virtues. Te as virtue is a bit misleading. It means virtue as in "by virtue of". Te is the manifestation of a thing's original nature. When a thing is in accordance with Tao, Te is the natural consequence. Dogs bark by virtue of their being dogs. One could say it is a part of their Te. However, to transform barking into one of the Canine Virtues would be a mistake.

You could become an urban hermit. Move to a city where you don't know anyone. Live alone in an area with indifferent neighbors. Change your phone number and don't forward the contact info to friends and relatives. Get rid of your internet connection. Get a job where you work alone and don't interact with the public. Spend your time in places where nobody bothers to linger, or never thinks to look for. Why do you want to become a hermit?

Most of these places are probably just houses in the suburbs. I suspect that Taoist monasteries aren't that hard to start, rather the trouble is in becoming self-supporting.

A lot of practitioners run hot as a byproduct of their training (or perhaps too little grounding?). An understanding of TCM would help them recognize the signs and adapt their diet accordingly.

The best description of a big-m Master, I think, was "The True Man" bit from Thomas Merton's book on Chuang-tzu. Big-m masters are useless, though, because they no longer hold attachments to their students, which make teaching in any sort of meaningful way impossible. Really what most people need are little-m masters, and the ways to recognize them depend on the student's own level of development. Unless a student has reached the state where they can formulate certain questions, the sort of answers a master on a higher rung of the totem pole might give would only lead to suffering, and really aren't necessary for gaining the benefits Daoism can offer. In many ways, Daoism is a lot like a painkiller; being on a stronger dose does not necessarily mean that you have moved up in the world. Really a better thing to study, if one wants to study traits, is to determine how to recognize a Daoist con-artist.

I'd find it entertaining if moderation became the norm. This forum was founded, after all, because a certain segment of the HealingTao forums actually enjoyed posts from the Ron Jeremeys of the world, and discussion that wasn't strictly canonical. The reason Kunlun dominates the board is because people delight in arguing. If it weren't Kunlun, it'd be something else. Don't forsake the basics, keep things in perspective, and maybe post an image macro or two. It'll be fine.

A Taoist shouldn't have virtues.

I think TTC 6 may be about this subject. I'm a fan, but mostly because Fred Rogers was.

Kun Lun isn't Taoism, it's just a hobby that's popular among Taoists. Like drinking.

What makes Taoism seem more appealing? What have been your thoughts on life after death?

Wherever there is life, death is unavoidable. One feeds off the other. Why distinguish between one type of death and another?

Bleeding can be useful under certain circumstances. However, blood loss is usually only a step up from semen loss. That doesn't mean that if you donate blood it's the end of the world, (ladies lose blood quite frequently, and still live to a ripe old age) but I'd be careful of considering blood loss a cure all. The misunderstanding and misapplication of Greek medicine's bloodletting techniques helped lead to Greek medicine's eventual rejection in the West.

What makes an old Lao Tzu more precious than a new Lao Tzu?