Maddie

I thought I would bump this interesting thread with the reminder that most people in the world who practice Taoism do so religiously which involves the Taoist gods and rituals and praying and it's actually very uncommon for most taoists to know anything about internal alchemy. That being said if you don't happen to have a Taoist priest or Temple around you are there any Taoist deities that you can get to help you?

It has been a while since I read it, I'll have to go back and take another look. I would like to know what the common narrative is. How Dan Tien breathing, MCO, YYJ, all tie in together. My main approach had been mainly just a mind only approach until I began to experience all sorts of physical affects from it that no one told me about, which caused me to refocus on the physical cultivation side again.

Interesting. It's been a while since I read it, but I don't remember seeing any direct connection between the DDJ and inner alchemy. Do you know where it is?

Actually to see how the DDJ connects to practices such as Qigong, Tai Chi, and Nei Gong is something I would really like to see.

So that sounds somewhat equivalent to Buddhist Nirvana or enlightenment?

I think what I would like to know is what are his source texts for this? I ask because I've read a lot of Buddhist sutras, granted more of the Pali texts than the Mahayana, but still the main theme of Buddhism on I read it is the four noble truths and the eightfold path, and that desire leads to suffering and therefore the path to liberation that is to let go of desire. I've never read anything about making all these extra bodies so I'm just wondering what is the source text?

It is nice to know what the end goal is in a system. Without knowing to me it sounds like a family is going on summer vacation and they're packing up all other stuff and everybody gets in the car and they start driving and then the kids ask the parents or they are going on vacation and nobody knows.

Does anyone know if his book about Tendon Changing and Marrow Washing are authentic and/or has anyone tried it with results?

I think I'd like to keep it in this thread as it seems to be one of the most commonly discussed aspects of Taoist practice, so I am curious to see how it relates.

I've been trying to catch up to where he's at now, and it seems that now he insists the the physical body is vital in cultivation.

To focus on clarifying another question. Since converting Jing to Qi is pretty basic to inner alchemy is a good and safe place to start therefore doing lower dan tien breathing in order to accomplish this? *edit: Also what exactly is the point of the MCO?

I'm reading those articles that you posted, and they are interesting. At the same time they are SO different than the Theravada Buddhism that I spent most of my time studying the past several years. It's hard to wrap my head around it.

Interesting. It would seem then that he does not update his "Meditation Expert" website very often then because his old views are still on there. I guess he is less "mind only" than he used to be. I wonder what cased the change?

Very much so. So much so in fact that is wasn't even called Hinduism before the British came.

Yes after having been in a cult when I was younger I always get uncomfortable when someone says only my way is right and every other way is wrong.

It sounds like in a lot of ways it's the Chinese version of Hinduism.

Do Mahayana not chant the Pali texts or study them very much? I've noticed that the Pali texts have a very different feel and even the energy from chanting them is very different.

One thing I have often wondered about is it seems on Brodhi's website he thinks the MCO is a bad idea and I'm not sure why he thinks that.

I've taken up Dan Tien breathing again and after having done it a few weeks now notice this feeling like a golf ball there when I breathe. Is this normal and if so what does it mean?

That is a good question, and there is more than one way to answer that. The first answer would be that if you don't feel that in your life as it is you are in a place to devote that kind of time and energy to serious cultivation, then the traditional approach for most lay Buddhists throughout most of history has been to make enough merit in this life so that in the future they can be in a situation where they do have more time and the mental capacity to do more serious cultivation. So for example if you are a simple farmer and have kids and have to make a living you don't really have time to do hours of mediation and other cultivation methods. On the other hand if you are a farmer what commodity do you have? food. So you feed the monks, you do good deeds, you make merit and so then in your next life perhaps you can become a monk too. On the other hand lets say you perform non-virtuous acts and harm others then it increases your likely hood of being born in a bad state of affairs where you are unable to cultivate and most likely experience a great deal of suffering. Another way to look at it is it is generally thought that in order to have the mindset to understand dharma and have the inclination to want to cultivate this requires merit. This is why often you can try to explain dharma to some people and they just don't understand or have no interest. They simply don't have the merit that would incline their minds to such teachings. So the affect merit has on the mind is important to consider as well. I was speaking to a Zen monk one time and he said that he believed that the reason that many Americans didn't progress far in meditation was because they did not practice morality and didn't understand how it affected their meditation practice.

In the Buddhist tradition it's generally advised for laypeople to begin with making merit by being generous and giving donations to the monks and the community. After that the focus is on building morality. This is mainly done through the 5 precepts. The monks have the vinaya which I believe is something like 227 rules. Building morality in and of itself isn't enough to enlighten somebody but it is a very good way to build a foundation for further practice. Also if the average lay person doesn't have enough time in this life for more dedicated practice living a life of virtue and morality and merit making will help to lead to a life that's possible in the future.

The discussion on the topic of immortality from a Daoist point of view causes me to wonder where Bodhisattvas fit in from a Buddhist perspective, or even Saints from a Christian point of view.

That's actually a really good point. I'm not sure what the implications are yet, but it is a very interesting point to ponder.

hahaha, something weird is going on lol

I mostly was talking to western Theravada monks and I kept telling them about these side effects and they kept acting like they either didn't know what was going on or thought I was weird lol.