宁

精 jing 氣 Qi 神 Shen 靈 Ling 無極 WuJi 炁 prenatal Qi

Thanks Taomeow! And I reiterate I know nothing about nothing. It's really hard for some of us to trust their own feelings about what they study. It's the biggest responsability ever, to study and practice, but take the implications of them as matters into your own hands, and shaping your life accordingly - or better yet, allowing that understanding to shape our actions. We're standing in front of the process, blocking the way. About taking the chanse for it... My thesis is this: I think Verdesi's genius is that he really does that. He puts his life on the line for his research, and gives no more and no less than everything. And then candidly asking for the highest price on the market. Good for him, there's too fiew that do that. If he is a con-artist, he is an artist nonetheless, and people are more attracted to an artistic view of daoism than they are to the real but dry doctrines. Especially in the West, Plato and Kant are pillars of our culture, and one of their principles is that goodness, truth and beauty often go together. Beauty opens many doors, especially doors to a man's soul. Look at the great artistic qualities of the stories of Verdesi! Man, he should write a book! But artistic and beautiful don't necesarelly mean TRUE. As it is the case with him. For me, at least, this is a very important lesson. Coming back to taking a chanse for finding your path... I think it takes a leap of faith to jump from the mind level to the heart level. Faith is the leap itself. Without it, you may be stuck on the LINEAR side of the daoism, no matter how close you are to it. And it's a real loss, because what daoism taught me better than anything is that the NON-LINEAR is waay better than the conventional one. Being trapped into the linear is like not being able to see the forest because of the trees. Generally speaking, only a friend would tell that to a friend, don't you think? Other's won't care that much

I know nothing about nothing, but I agree with the lady. I think there are different types: - ones you would find in conventional daoist society: with lineage and doctrine and specific activity and so forth - and ones you can't know that are daoist, don't wear "daoist" tags on them, and are as daoist as Dao itself - and of course wannabe daoists, attracted to power tales, mostly because they can't generate any kind of day-to-day power and transformation. Life in itself should give us a sense of completion and wellbeing. In this context, I think daoist practice would be to regain that sense of completion, wellbeing, happiness, peace with yourself and the world. Anything that goes that way, no matter what label it wears, must apriori be daoist... The first two may be different layers of the same.

bump

"The real lesson in all these romantic kung-fu novel tales - is that there is no "secret system" that REALLY works. It all comes down to each individual working REALLY HARD in whatever system they are attracted to - People work, methods and schools don't do anything alone." (M. Winn)

i agree with hagar. i know about a guy that use to have a saying: only a perfect moron will look for a perfect teacher. many would like to learn from Jesus, but fiew would be capable of learning from his very lesser apostle. i'm always amazed at the world of spiritual seekers: there are many-many of them that search for a perfect spotless master... with the result of always being dissapointed. humans are still human. it's like with the girls that always attract the wrong kind of guy, ending up with a great distrust towards love and romanticism...

i made a special place on the taobums to talk about issues like these. it's the link in my signature. there it says how to handle books and different practices. i'm happy to see you are searching, it's a good omen. E

it isn't like i feel the need to correct you. here, i'm the one that jumps of his seat everytime someone starts yapping mantak chia this, mantak chia that, yikkady yakkady i owe much to his teachings, i think it's only fair. and i don't do it everytime. most of the time i preffer letting them yapp their yapp sorry, i can't always be serious

Oh no Kan and Li, as taught by Master Chia, needs specific environment to practice, that is, Darkroom. The Darkroom in Tao Garden has been completed quite a fiew years ago, and since then Master Chia is often practicing and teaching the higher Kan and Li formulas. Michael Winn talked about it before this happened. I'm still not sure how and why does Mr. Winn consider practicing Kan and Li outside the Darkroom environment, but I'm sure I'll find out more in the future. Jumping to conclusions based on scarce information is not a good attitude, and won't lead you very far.

Thank you Exorcist. Really interesting. You seem to have touched a little on the topic of my interest in the paragraph about Shang De. If you want to, you can give us here your perspective on Jing.

I learned that in love matters you just HAVE TO agree with an Italian. Neh? I only disagree with people that are close to the way i see things, but not exacly my way. Isn't that general? Ian, my point was that when ego prevails, most of the things happen to us, they are not ego induced. Our egos tend to form a sub-conscious network with all of the ego-controlled people. Underground consciousness. Ego doesn't give you identity, any more than the self gives you one - the self is an expression o the super-conscious human network. You're right, it sounds like fancy semantics. But it could be true...

I kinda agree with Pietro. For once, you can start wherever you are. If you wait until you're really good, that'll never happen. You become more subtle as time and experience go hand in hand. Sex or love-making is primally a physical event that in time can tune one into the non-physical. There are indeed many layers, and Space and Time - as understood by the Chinese, play a large role in the dynamics of the layers, which of them surface, and when. Ego has a really small power. Ego is like a puppet-president put up by the conquering country, to give the illusion that everything is in control. Meanwhile they plunder. This is one thing i can't really understand, Ian. Why do you think Ego has any power? It is only the real mind that has power. The mind that seizes the moment. Not the one that has an idea, and that idea MUST influence the reality. The process is the other way around. You start from where you are. L1

Hello S.Y.D, I loved your article on Shen, Ling and Ling Hun, even though it was on another thread. I still think that knowing a bit about the elemental basics of human being is a good thing. I understand that the traditional way you are not taught anything prior to experimenting it yourself, yet I'm not sure is common for each and every daoist school. Maybe it stems from buddhist concepts of the mind and reality?! I'd like to know more about the Jing part. This Jing seems to be a lot of different things, according to the context. MTC depicts it quite differently than alchemy. Some say that Jing is Xing, Form. Others speak about the prenatal and postnatal aspects. Also the Yin and Yang aspect of Jing. I'd like to see your oppinion on it, if you please. Also, if you belive if there is or isn't a link between Jing and human physiology, hormones and neurotransmitters. Also what is the non-physical part of the Jing. Many sides of the problem, you can pick any of it (or all) Thank you E

I am... It took me a really hard time to understand at least one tintsy bit why the heck do all of the old generation love Spok... and cocky Kirk. Jean Luc has style, and noblesse, and prestige... Loved Deanna Troy. And Data. Worf. Right, different taste for a different generation. Sorry if I offended your idols.

I'm a Jean-Luc Picard guy, I can't stand Kirk, he's too coky and Spok is not so cool... a matter of taste, heh?

In the light of fresh info, I stumbled upon a new theory. It's a possibility... You all are well aware that the world-wide program of gradual intoxication has reached higher and higher rates. The air we breathe, the food we eat, the water that we drink. The way that we think and feel. The way we act. Our models and values in life. Not too many have good knowledge about it. The "dyno's" of the TTB had the advantage of finding out about these in time. And as lazy as they are, or would be, they step by step developed some kind of ressistance regarding the use and abuse of this-now toxic environment. Many of the new comers may be just victims, unaware of what is happening to them. The efect of toxics is very much present in the level of consciousness that one can have and express. Hence the present level of the Forum. It's a really sad theory

http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?p=563

Oh my, this means his gongfu is REALLY that good!... Look at the size of that virus!...

It's a miracle!

I thought that was only a metaphor

Ah ok. From my experience with forums (i have two of my own), the events that you describe are not the rule, but the exception to the rule. The rule says that things get interesting when a lot of garbage is tossed by a lot of people. Usually the gems are found in that garbage fight. Besides, it may be that the last events bored you, but certainly it made the forum very lively with different characters, some of which really have something valid and interesting to say. You know, I'm not the one to tell, but this all thread idea seem so simmilar to: "Ya rascals, when I was your age I... I... yadda-yadda!!" Maybe we/you're getting old?? Kidding aside... this is how it seems to be L1

I'm no way anywhere you comparing the amount of posting OR time spent on the TTB. I joined just before the BIG BOOM, a period when newcomers were joining by the thousands. Many of them inactive, some of them left now. Let's face it, the forum begins to be interesting when there's a big fuss over a specific practice or teacher (there were some 5 or 6 cases largely debated). So my take is that the crisis is due to the lack of "fresh meat". Too little to have an opinnion on, or criticise at. MTS made some waves, but he's small fish. For me it's so interesting seeing everyday how good and bad succedes on the forum. Time whipes it all out. Dust in the wind. The big buddhist truth about the impermanence. The big daoist truth about change. I'll throw in an idea, considering my experience with the Yin Xian Fa thread. If you miss some of the old threads, look them up and bump them up. Many would be interested, if the only know what treasures lie beneath these dusty internet pages. L1

Great! Genius! I thank myself for bumping it up again