Oolong Rabbit

I would agree for the most part, but could you elaborate a bit on this one point. Are you saying that external things do not have any inherent power aside from your personal beliefs towards them. Wouldn't the images of the taoist deities be "charged" by the intention of millions of people worshipping (directing intention/mind)for generations?

Goldisheavy, thank you, thank you, thank you!!! You have filled in some of the blanks on where my intuition was guiding me. This really clarifies why many of the taoist writings warn against too much learning. Much learning tends to create more and more tangled belief structures, which become "blockages" to manifesting one's intention.

Interesting explanation Templetao. Many thanks! I am going to guess you study under Waysun Liao.

The chinese don't refer to jing as one of the "three treasures" for nothing. Sex would only deplete the jing you stirred loose. Not recommended unless you are really proficient in sexual alchemy. You need to convert the jing to chi, and the chi to shen. There are many qigong forms that work on converting jing, but the most straight forward technique would be meditation. So wag your tail, then sit or stand.

You are probably going to stir up the jing that is stored in your tailbone. Best to do exercises that are going to refine the jing afterwards, ortherwise I would avoid this practice.

Oh well, I tried. To summarize, if all is mind... then what is qigong really? If you ever noticed, the high level masters can do their forms with minimal/small movements. The highest masters can do "qigong" without moving at all. In any event, why would one want to practice their system if you don't subscribe to their philosophy?

Like I said, I am not a Falun Dafa follower, nor do I have any desire to be. The FD system deals in absolutes... all or none, take it or leave it. I don't subscribe to a lot of their beliefs, but I think Li Hongzhi does provide some high level cultivation theory openly. Why do I think the qigong would not work well on its own? Let me explain it this way. Qigong is not a one way street. Movement guides intention as much as intention guides movement. You can do all the postures and movements but if you are doing it outside the FD framework, you are likely already starting from a conflicted position. This would in turn create a mental blockage from the get go rendering the system ineffective. Make sense?

I don't buy the claims that Li Hongzhi is the messiah etc... but there is some very good info about cultivation in the book. Many of his conclusions I have already arrived at through my teachers, and by investigating my mind. Also I think copying the forms probably will not do much for you.

For the record, I have no affiliation with Falun Dafa, nor do I plan to. I have heard many bad things said about the organization and Li Hongzhi, and I have no idea if any of it is true or not. Instead I opted to read Zhuan Falun with an open mind. I just finished the first chapter, and in my opinion Li Hongzhi is definitely sharing very high level teachings. I can understand how some of this information would really piss off people that hold attachments to certain views. Anyhow, this is just my opinion. I am not looking for a debate or argument.

I just saw the latest clips. This is further proof to me that Jiang is a con man. At 45 seconds in on the video you can see Jiang quickly touch the guy's stomach in the area of the burn. The clip with the woman starts with Jiang's arms on her shoulders, so I can't confirm he touched her abdomen, but I am sure he did. This is a chemical burn, the same as the shirt video I deconstructed a couple years ago. I can't believe people are still buying into Verdesi's bullshit.

Just found this on youtube: I am guessing he is also Indonesian (note the Kiris swords hanging on his wall). Actually, I just read that he is Malaysian. The egg scene actually makes me wonder as I have seen that faked by magicians before.

I am not sure if many of you guys are familiar with Ingo Swann's work at Stanford (alongside physicist Hal Puthoff), but his website is a treasure trove of information about remote viewing (clairvoyance) and the human potential. Ingo has proven some abilities under very tight controls, and takes a more scientific approach. http://www.biomindsuperpowers.com/Pages/Superpowers.html He's also got some really cool papers contributed by other writers here: http://www.biomindsuperpowers.com/Pages/3.html This essay is fantastic: THE MARTIAL ARTS AND THE SUPERPOWERS OF THE BIOMIND excerpt: Why the older arts have not lost their process of developing the superpower while the modern sport forms have is a point that needs to be addressed. This point was brought home to me one sunny afternoon in Japan. While walking down a quiet country street, my teacher turned to me and said: "Charles-san, we need to make a gentlemen's agreement." Having already spent some time with the Japanese and their ways of doing things, I wasn't about to agree to anything until I heard the terms. In fact, I tried not to look too interested. That way, if agreement was totally unacceptable, no one would (hopefully) lose face. So I just nodded to wait and see what the "agreement" would be. "You see, Charles-san, your training has to change now, and it will be very dangerous." You can imagine what I began thinking: DANGEROUS?! I was already nursing a cut where a very sharp and fast moving katana (Japanese sword) had grazed my hand. In those days, we generally trained with "live" swords - that is, very sharp steel ones. My teacher continued, apparently ignoring my reaction: "And, you see, to do what's next, I will have to train you very hard. So, if I accidentally kill you, I hope you have no hard feelings. Agreed?" Anyhow, enjoy!

I've studied taoist taichi for about 4 years now. The emphasis is much more on the qigong side than the martial aspect which suits me just fine. Admittedly, the knowledge of the instructors does vary a lot, but the best obviously studied under Master Moy directly. The society is not perfect, nor do they claim to be, but they do a lot of good. At the end of the day, like most things in life, what you will get out of it depends on what you put into it.

Pu erh tea is beneficial to chi, probably because it has detoxifying effects on the blood.

I have the whole series, but have never watched that dvd. I think I gave Sean a copy of the series to loan out a couple years ago.

I second Durkhrod's opinion. Watch this video. He explains things pretty well.

In the Dragons of Wudang documentary, the sifu would get them to practice taichi in a graveyard before dawn. Good place to cultivate yin energy, but I don't think I would recommend doing it with an undisciplined mind.

Thanks for keeping this thread alive. Joel exudes a very gentle wisdom, without a lot of ego. An amazing teacher. BTW you can download the entire courses to your hard drive/ipod. Just right click each file... "save as"). Brgds!

I've been through this whole gammut when I was considering it. The bottom line: vasectomies are not natural, so by extension not in accordance with the tao. Our bodies are bio-energetic systems. It's just not a good to start snipping wires. That's my 2 cents, and obviously others will disagree.

Not the ball turning, but the turbine spinning ine the lower dantien yes. I actually read his book a few weeks after I experienced it the first time and was like ahah! It kicks in after about 15-20 minutes of breath work in half lotus. And the sensation get very intense the longer I practice. That really is a great little book. Brgds!

For the record, I have never had a flu shot, and honestly can't remember the last time I was sick. Many of my friends and co-workers get the flu shot religiously, yet they still get sick year after year. I hope New Jersey parents take to the streets over this Draconian evil: Zrml6ka_4e4 The following links are awesome resources, and if you have children you owe it to them to watch these videos before you decide to inject them with chemical/genetic cocktails: http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=vacc...emb=0&aq=f# http://video.google.ca/videosearch?hl=en&a...a=N&tab=wv# Brgds!

I just watched part 1 last week. It's a great film. The overlap between buddhism/taosim and quantum physics is quite astounding. Planning to watch part 2 this week.

The complete National Geographic documentary: Dragons of Wudang has finally been posted on youtube. They say the master shown at the start of part 2 is named Wang Li Ping. Is this the actual master depicted in Opening the Dragon gate? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJxVsnSNu0M...ted&search=

It takes time/practice for the muscles, tendons and joints to open up. I study a Yang 108 form and it took me at least a year to learn how to "sit" properly. Until my posture was corrected, my knees would always hurt. Now they don't bother me at all. In all honety, I can't imagine learning any internal art from a dvd.