Ninpo-me-this-ninjutsu-me-that

I live in China, have done for quite some years now. I lived in Thailand for about a year before; Thailand is nice, but it's somewhat like living in your own country but with an Asian flavour...at least that's what I felt. I can't say China is fantastic or anything, I just found I became somewhat addicted to the sometimes infuriating cultural differences, it's quite marked, as opposed to Thailand... at least as a comparison in my mind. Maybe after you have got some money together you should take a tour of Asia to really get a good idea as to what you like and are looking for. Vietnam seems to be getting more and more popular these days, at least amongst the expats I know. I'm not really sure why myself as I have never been there, but the general idea seems to be that there are foreigners there but not enough to spoil the overall experience of the place. How long did you study in Nanjing for? You must meditate outside? Or you simply prefer to meditate outside?

If you want to find some decent martial arts and Qi Gong all you gotta do is go to the park(whichever park, no matter)at about 5am - 6am+ in the morning. See what you can find, that's where it's all happening. Chinese people get up way early, that sucks! But, that's where you will find what you are looking for. The language may be a problem, at first, but Chinese people are very forgiving in that respect. The park. I kid you not.

Ya, definitely there was something lost in translation between between the east and the west. Partly it's like you say, with the example of people learning a bit then opening their dojo, the other side is the deeper concept. We break down techniques to 1. do this 2. do that 3. finish with this. That's the way our mind works, the western mind I mean... but the Asian mind will say it's only one technique, there is not the separation of 1, 2 ,3... in their opinion. If we cannot see and perform it as one technique then we are not doing it right...I get the feeling that many Asians have kind of given up on westerners for this point. It's simply the way we've been trained to learn. We separate and quantify, they don't. Many would even go as far to say that there is actually only one technique in the whole art. Which would be a concept or feeling. In any case, I think I'm going off on a tangent.

I agree with you totally, but right now, whether you know it or not.... you are working as a collective for the betterment of other consciousness. The possibility that you don't perceive(maybe you don't or do, I obviously can't say)it is not the point... you do. The connection is there. You may be more closely connected to others that you are not aware of at this time, but I can assure you(that may not be worth much mind you)that your developing consciousness is helping others as a collective. Frankly speaking the English language is somewhat useless at expressing the inner. But every single one of you working on yourself is helping another... somewhere, somehow. Give yourselves a pat on the back.... you may never know how you have helped another... but you do.... The man that wants immortality will never get it, as immortal desires are based on the fear of ego death, and fear of change, fear of change is contrary to Daoist teachings, it's a contradiction. If it's possible, it's not possible with the ego.

Agreed. I think the basic techniques of the 'I punch like this and you defend like that' variety(as in use the exact same punching techniques from the style)were only ever used as a basic frame work, and then then teacher would mix it up a bit, I mean the teachers of yore. But it seems that, due to, IMO, larger and larger classes and a turnover of students, it's kind of got stuck at the basic teaching structure...to the degree that many teachers don't know of anything else and even fear that. There are quite a few other teachers around that begin at a different beginning, and a arrive at a totally practical destination, themselves and their students. But it's harder and harder to find teachers that still maintain the traditional movements and then take you to the next level. Some of the traditional styles simply don't work as they are(or require a serious amount of years of practice), then the teacher changes it to a more practical form of movement...my only problem with that is that then what you are actually practicing is not the 'tradition' it's supposed to be. The other side is that not everyone is physically gifted enough to use certain movements in combat. The basic problem, in my view, is how fluid is the original concept of the art, can it encompass different kinds of movement without compromising its tradition. Ya, I've played with that technique before, got my fingers hurt doing that with bad timing a few times. Not many people kick that high though or in that way. I much prefer the side step arm under then a forward movement and lift. It hurts their head when they land.

I'm really curious why immortality is such a compelling subject. I know it's one of the Daoist precepts(some say, others disagree)but nothing could be more dull in my view. My point is only this: I'm fairly sure a majority of you here have experienced other states of mind, and experienced things which show you that there's way more up ahead. That your consciousness will be able to do and experience things that would make a physical body kind of redundant. I'm not trying to say that life is dull and lets get the hell out of here as soon as possible, I simply think that immortality(in the physical sense)would be a huge sacrifice. It's not one I would ever want to make. If you experience the 'other' things, thoughts of physical immortality would be enough to drive you insane, because you then have 'comparison'. I know maintaining a Daoist perspective might take the edge off, but still, that sounds like a nightmare to me. Maybe if you could materialize for the weekend then rock off on Sunday night it would be OK. That could work.

Ya, There are occasions when it's understandable though, such as a teacher really needing to show a specific technique and so requiring a certain attack. You made me remember another thing, I attempted to use some of the forms techniques in sparring, and was told the techniques were not actually supposed to be used in fighting. :D Actually, they were fairly effective because the other students were so used to sparring against certain other techniques! Oh the irony!!

It's true. But it's also true of wherever you go, it's just covered up by using chemical names and terms you've never heard of, or know anything about.

I'm not American, I'm English but I have to say I've never looked back since leaving my country. It was surprisingly easy to do. Sell and go. I would imagine it would be a totally different situation with children though. I will say what England does have over America is the health care system. But Dependant on which city you live in, many Americans do actually have a better quality of life(from those I've spoke to)than what I had in London. The irony is many people, particularly in the east, seem to think that living in the west is like living in the 'land of milk and honey'. Even when I tell them otherwise they refuse to believe me. They think in simple terms such as higher salary, without considering that the cost of living makes sure most of that disappears. Realistically, if I wanted to go out to a restaurant to eat in London I could do it maybe maximum 4 times a month(2 people), whereas where I am now, I could do it everyday without it making too much of a dent on my finances. Also if every month I wanted to buy a TV or other so called expensive item I could do so no problem. The only two things I couldn't afford to buy every month would be a house and a car. And what I earn isn't that much(at least in comparison to the west). As far as I can make out, so called 'developed' countries are simply more expensive and more restrictive with laws ad-infinitum. I remember reading a statistic a while back, and if I remember rightly, it was 1 in 4 British people want to leave the country for good. Generally people leave before their thirties or in their mid fifties plus. Otherwise they have their duties to take care of. I advise before thirty, but it's better late than never.

June 2010. Book still unread. We should have a Zen and the Art of Motorcycle book club chapter by chapter sort of thing. I'm fairly sure if you or I have anything to do with it though, we'll give up half way through.

ROFL!!! I remember asking my first teacher a question "well, what do I do if a person grapples me?", the style of gong fu I did at that time was based on kicks, punches and some basic Chin na, his reply was simply "you don't let them!". I loved my teacher, but even at that tender age I knew something wasn't quite right, Bearing in mind the majority of fights end up on the ground. The previous month I had had just that situation at school, I really had tried 'not letting him' grapple me! He just didn't agree with my rules.

Giving it up, that certainly is the difficult part. I have seen in many ways how human life and all it contains, is geared towards side-tracking realization. This effect seems to have grown exponentially in relation to societies so called development. The choice to be here at this 'time' can be viewed as a 'one way or the other' kind of thing(I'm struggling to find the exact term I'm looking for). Whereas there is possibly more information freely available as to 'spiritual development' than perhaps at any other time in history; there is also a world filled with a huge amount of distraction opposing that development. Looks like the last chance saloon to me ,if there is such a thing. Beliefs about important people in our lives do seem to take on a life of their own, which then has a direct effect on our own decisions, even when we don't know it. If a person can get past/through/out of the parental conditioning they are, at least, well on their way. Your post was very stimulating Goldisheavy. I enjoyed reading it.

She probably looked through the peep hole and decided it was best not to answer!!! :lol:

Whatta' card!

Actually........ there is more evidence to suggest that you, Marblehead, are immortal, much more evidence to the positive than to the negative. To the best of my knowledge you have survived two wars, now you gotta admit.... that's a bit suspect! You must be doin' something right! That's fairly immortal so far.

I postulate that every single one of you posting on this thread is immortal! Where is my evidence? Where is yours that I'm wrong? Prove it!

What a golden ray of sunlight you are! I have the answer to Golds question. There is such a thing as immortality and I have seen it. The specific techniques are as follows, all Gold has to do is simply kill Conner MacCleoud in Highlander. THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE! It also can't hurt if he's listening to Queen on his mp3 player at the time. I hope this has helped clear the whole thing up.

"you think anyones gonna attack me while I'm wearing these bad boys!"

Personally I believe the naughty little entities that fly around and feed off humans don't like it one little bit when people start cultivating and making the right kind of progress. It cuts off their food. I've had some weird experiences down that path. I remember one occasions when the inner eye, third eye, or whatever one would like to call it, opened as a result of meditation.... something flying around that I saw noticed I noticed it and then threw some kind of energy blob over it, closing it. As far as I can make out when progress is happening all kinds of things come along to destroy your balance, it seems such a common phenomena that it can't just be coincidence. I think the above poster has a good point though, you should be viewing it as good karma. On a serious note though, have you considered what might happen if your gf is at home and you are not? Thieves usually case a joint for a while, and they don't like their work to go to waste, they also often wait about 2-4 months before doing the same place over again. And they DO usually try to do it again. In the area I grew up the majority of the people I knew were thieving b*stards, most of them are either dead or in prison. I still think you should get a dog. Seriously. A nice cross breed pitbull/labrador would do the trick. They have a balanced combination of aggression and control, female is best. The other plus is although they are a cross they look almost like full pitbull, so people who see you walking the dog in the area will think it is, and I assure you, weapon or not, they won't break into your house again. Anyway...I'm somewhat off your topic at the moment, so I'll leave you to it. Woof.

I think it's non-aggressive as long as it's not you doing it; the cat, after all, will be following it's own God given nature. It's win win! Make sure you hide the claws after though. I have actually been contemplating the meaning of 'work', and I concluded it was pointless..... then I ran out of money and thought better of it. I think you need to forget about passivity if they kick your door in and come armed with baseball bats and razors. It's seems past the point of reasoning. You should invest in a dog, and I'm not talking about a poodle either.

I suggest you fit your cat out with some custom made steel claws, and set him in front of the doorway ready to pounce. Make sure he/she knows the difference between the chavs and your gf though. I'm hoping, for your sake, that won't be hard. .....John???? Really??? Your parents were obviously about as imaginative as mine. ps. I have been totally cured of my genetic sarcasm as you can see. Cured at last cured at last cured at last!!

I have been noticing a disturbing trend recently on the TaoBums, I'm not one to report anyone, but I have been deeply shocked to see people constantly pointing out certain peoples disability...yes, that's right.... the disability of 'sarcasm'. Sarcasm is not a choice!!! It's a well known fact that the desire to be sarcastic is created by too much of a certain chemical in the brain, the brain chemical known as 'ectoplasm'. Long time sufferers have extreme difficulty maintaining a normal conversation with others without being sarcastic, this is certainly not helped by the general population frequently finding such sarcastic comments wildly amusing, yet still remaining very ignorant of this illness. Some of the most famous and successful people of our time have suffered from this disability ,and yet, against all odds, have managed to be successful and maintain normal and fulfilling relationships. Here are just a few: Bill Clinton Bill Hicks and the list just goes on and on! So please, the next time you look down upon a sufferer try to understand, Sarcasm is genetic. For those who have to live with a sufferer or simply to gain a broader understanding of this disability, I highly recommend the book 'The Joy Of Sarcasm', with wonderful illustration for the whole family to enjoy and a selection of sarcastic put downs for you to try on those dear to you.

It does depend on the context Pietro, that's certainly true. I would suppose if people use sarcasm to not go deep within themselves or establish a connection with others then that would be a problem. I just don't know how true that is though. In any case here is something unbelievable: http://02d9656.netsoljsp.com/SarcMark/modules/user/commonfiles/loadhome.do