Wanderer

I've always felt it necessary to question authority, even (and especially) the so-called 'spiritual'. This area of endeavor - like politics - is rife with misconception, misrespresentation, and almost certainly, exagerration. When I first posted this exact topic 2 years ago some here took offense at my broaching the subject, as if I had slaughtered the sacred cow of spiritual idealism. While everyone is entitled to their opinion it's good to see that the people here (on this thread) are more mature in how they handle unpleasant topics. http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/6592-stripping-the-gurus/

Dude, I never "asked" anything! I just asked if anybody ever heard of this guy, pure and simple! I already said I'm not completely convinced. But there IS something to be said about calorie restriction. I've seen it talked about on the Discovery Channel at least twice, as well as written about. Peace, Chuck

Thanks for your responses guys. I, for one, am undecided on whether to believe that all this is a load of BS, or the real McCoy. Yes, I'm familiar with the calorie-restricted diet - and it's claims. In fact it's been around for years, and as stated in the article, IS scientifically validated. I suppose the part that I'm skeptical about is: how much of this is for real? I mean, did this diet really do all this for him, or was he doing something else apart from (or in addition to) the diet? My only guess as to why this isn't more popular is that most people enjoy eating too much to bother with such a practice. After all, who wants to spend the rest of their lives cutting back on their calorie intake when surrounded by all that good food? I suspect not many do, evidence to the contrary notwithstanding! You know what they say; eating is one of those pleasures that rivals sex, and for some, surpasses it. I guess this is the sexual equivalent of coitus interruptus, or in this case 'caloric interruptus! Oops, there goes the neighborhood. Anyways, it's still a fascinating read, and should anyone decide to try it, hey, I'm all ears!

He goes by the moniker 'Elixxer' and sells a program that reputedly can DRAMATICALLY slow down the aging process. http://www.elixxir.com/

I'll post this reply under the "for what it's worth" department. In the book 'THE EYE OF REVELATION: The Ancient Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation' it hints that the 5 Tibetan Rites have the ability to regrow hair, as well as the practice of - don't laugh - rubbing butter on the scalp twice a week. In fact, one of the characters in the book (Col Bradford) allegedly regrew a full head of hair from the two aforementioned exercises and recommended them to men who wished to regrow their manes. So if you don't mind doing a few exercises and smelling like popcorn, this just might be the ticket. BTW I've been doing the 5 Rites for 2 months and have gotten excellent results; most notably an increase in energy. They are WELL worth looking into and have a famous reputation for their rejuvenative capabilities.

Thanks for the heads up, Krishnamurti remains my favorite teacher after 30 years of reading/listening to his materials.

While some of the practices in the book (Sexual Teachings of the Jade Dragon) may be of value to practitioners, and of no harm to others, I've always felt something inherently wrong with the overall scheme of the book itself, which to put it succinctly is sexual vampirism. Page 29 pretty much sums up the 'Mission Statement' of the book with this disturbing revelation: A Green Dragon serves no other purpose than to be a provider of semen and sexual energy, and he does so in most cases unknowingly. A Green Dragon is led to believe that he is being seduced by the White Tigress purely for sexual pleasure...After a White Tigress had sexual interplay with a Green Dragon and she depleted him of all his sexual essences and energy, he would be symbolically considered a "Fallen Dragon". This is taken from an allusion in the I Ching: "A fallen dragon withering away upon the earth." Anyone who's snugly wrapped can see that using another human being in this manner is pure D wrong. No if, and's, or but's about it. End of story! In his terrific book 'The Art of Chi Kung: Making the Most of Your Vital Energy' Wong Kiew Kit calls these kinds of practices immoral, and adds: We believe that no one should derive benefits, no matter how great or tempting, from the suffering of others. Taoist masters tell us that such unethical sexual practices, like black magic and superstitious rituals, are corrupt deviations by people who do not understand the true meaning of Taoism. ANY (emphasis mine) practice that willfully harms any other being just cannot be right. Amen to that, and words to live by!

Hey gang, I'm buying the book and willing to give it a go (mostly out of curiosity) but my question is, is it necessary to be zapped by Max to make progress in this practice? Thanks, Chuck

As a kid growing up in the 70's Bruce Lee was definitely one of my heroes. I still have a book my brother (also a Bruce Lee fan) gave me for a present by Robert Clouse called 'The Making of Enter The Dragon.' Clouse was the director of the movie. Here's a couple of quotes taken from the book: "I have been asked many times if Bruce was really as fast as people claimed. All I can say is he had the fastest reflexes I've ever seen. In one shot, Bruce was supposed to be in a stand-off with Bob Wall. In order to see his hand lash out and hit Bob, we had to speed the camera to 32 frames. At normal speed it didn't show on film." "Bruce also demonstrated his skill with the palm trick. A person would hold a dime in the palm of his hand, only to have it snatched away before the victim could close his hand. Some said Bruce could leave two cents in change on his good days." BTW here's an interesting article about Bruce's death that I wasn't aware of. http://www.bruceleedivinewind.com/death.html

Yeah, based on what??? If you're going to make bold statements like that then please have the courtesy to back up your stuff. Tell us WHY you feel this way, or HOW you came to your conclusions, or WHAT sources you're drawing from that paint a different picture than the one presented. Don't just throw out a comment and walk away thinking you've proved your point. The fact is, I'm already aware of some of the gurus he mentions in his article, so it isn't news to me. I've heard or read stories over the years that say precisely what Falk is saying, so it ain't exactly original. Probably many gurus have had allegations made against them at one time or another, I guess that's the nature of the beast. I read Falk's bibliography so it appears that there is a lot of documentation to back up his claims. It isn't all heresay, though some here might choose to believe otherwise. Finally, it isn't my intention to tread on people's toes. I'm not trying to disparage ALL gurus, spiritual teachers and the like, that would be foolish. But I think it's important to acknowledge what another person says, regardless of how painful, if there is a measure of truth to what they're saying. After that, what you choose to believe (or disbelieve) is YOUR business, and personally I don't care one way or the other what conclusions you guys come to. But for the sake of discussion please don't say "it's BS", "it's careless", "it's pure crap," etc, etc, etc without filling in the blanks as to how and why you came to your conlcusion(s) otherwise your comments just sound vacuous.

For me personally it was difficult to accept the fact that Krishnamurti had carried on an affair with his friend's wife for 25 years. I'd actually heard about this long ago but dismissed it. I've read many of his books over the years and saw him in San Francisco in '85, so for me this was the proverbial 'bitter pill'. I can't prove one way or another just how much of what this guy says is true though I suspect much of it is. If this is so then what he's saying isn't "a bunch of crap" nor is he "clueless" as some here have suggested. Shining a light on people's heroes is always a risky business and usually entails a backlash of criticism from followers and naysayers. Nobody likes to read about the foibles of people they admire. If anything I applaud this guy for having the courage to step forward and do what few would dare, painful as it might be to many people's precious, preconceived ideas. It takes courage to tell the truth! But most important it proves one thing: even the gods aren't perfect!

I think a little Mark Twain might be in order here. For your perusal, some of my favorites from the Humorist himself. 1) Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. 2) In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards. 3) It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt. 4) Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer. 5) All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure. 6) Familiarity breeds contempt - and children. 7) Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example. 8) The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot. 9) The radical of one century is the conservative of the next. The radical invents the views. When he has worn them out the conservative adopts them. 10) The report of my death was an exaggeration.

Hi gang, here's an interesting little expose of gurus I happened upon just recently. Even if you don't agree it makes for very interesting reading. BTW you can download it for free. Chuck http://www.strippingthegurus.com/

Thanks Smile, Robert has a great site. For some reason I wasn't able to download the interview with Maureen Caudill. Do you have this one?

Many people are not good visualizers (including myself). What makes Robert's approach unique is that he uses 'tactile imaging' which is far more effective for opening channels and removing blockages than visualization. In the audio he claims that for many chikung and kungfu masters the idea of tactile imaging is one of the secrets of their astounding abilities. However this idea was lost in translation when westerners assumed that tactile imaging was the same as visualization, and the reason why, for many, the results of long hours of practice leads to dismal results.