Green Tiger

How would the Mo Pai gauge spiritual strength? None of the quotes you cited are referring to why the Mo Pai was originally developed. Just because it can, at high levels, lead to a practitioner becoming a hsien, that doesn't mean that's why the practice was originally developed. I have no idea why it was originally developed. I was going by what Kostas said. But really, what does he, or you, or I, or anyone really know about the founders of the lineage? It may be your goal is to become a hsien. It may be that every practitioner currently utilizing the mo pai practice is trying to become a hsien. That doesn't mean it was originally developed to become a hsien, and it doesn't mean that it couldn't be used to achieve other goals. That could change from one practitioner to the next. What was yoga originally developed for? I believe it was originally developed to raise personal bodily awareness and maintain health. There are some who say certain yogic practices can lead to enlightenment, kundalini awakening, and a host of other things. Is it accurate to say that most people practicing yoga today are trying to achieve enlightenment or awaken their kundalini? Is it accurate to say that the point of yoga is to achieve enlightenment or awaken kundalini? The point or goal of any practice is a very personal thing. Not every guitar player wants to be a rock star, though many certainly try.

Some Wai Lun Choi quotes from Real Gold Does Not Fear the Fire. From a St. Paul workshop, October 1995:

Gnawing on an iron spike. Nice image. Also a rather inspiring message. Is the "bottom of the bucket" dropping off the same idea as the "*poof* of oblivion?" I once met someone who was born a 'seer', meaning she could see things most people cannot. Energy bodies and things like that. For a while, when she was young, she said she always assumed everyone else could see it too. She was surprised to find that most people were blind to it.

Nope. In a perfect world, each state would be an anarcho-syndicalist commune in which everyone would take turns acting as executive officer for the week...

You can't expect to wield supreme power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!

I only consider this acceptable if they have been given the appropriate swords in the context of an aquatic ceremony. EDIT: I'm sorry, I'm really bored today. We had an ice storm this morning and I was one of the few people who made it to work.

I think I have a tough time differentiating visualization from intent. Like, for instance, when I shield I definitely 'see' the shield in my mind, which I sort of think as my intent, but could also be construed as a kind of visualization. I also feel the shield surround me simultaneously, which definitely isn't a visualization, it's a feeling.

You guys might be interested in this: http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2013/01/nz_most_free_country_on_earth.html He discusses how New Zealand was recently declared the "most free" country in the world. They based the decision on a number of factors, ranked 1-10.

I was a little surprised the Feds let that go without a struggle. Says good things about respect for state's rights and disillusionment about the so-called 'war on drugs.' Interesting side note, I read yesterday that the new cannabis industry made $5 million in 5 days, which sounds great, but one little hiccup: they can't put any of it in a federally insured bank. http://www.policymic.com/articles/78489/colorado-made-5-million-in-5-days-off-pot-the-problem-it-s-illegal-to-put-the-money-in-federal-banks

That girl needs to open her own Hogwarts, pronto. Brandi's House of Hexes. Don't wait, Brandi, you can't pay for this kind of validation!

That was my first reaction. I started practicing qigong because I liked how it felt. It helped me to realize that I was using way more effort in my taiji practice than I needed to be. Now taiji feels great too. Nothing better than waking up with plenty of time to bask in the glow of the practice. I've got to get up early to really enjoy it though. It's not the same if I feel like I have a limited amount of time. It feels so much better to approach the practice like I have all the time in the world.

You're right, of course. Without conjuring the Mo Pai founders, we'll never know for sure why they developed it. Kostas seemed to have an opinion, though, and he was close to Chang, who did, in fact, have a manuscript for the system. Regardless of why it was developed, I think the more important question is "Why would someone want to practice it?" My suspicion is that the intention of the practitioner will change the outcome. Kostas also alluded to this in his interview. Page 1:

I'm not playing games. I quoted a student of John Chang as saying the system was primarily developed for combat. You disagree. Why do you disagree?

So what is the end goal? Granted, I never read Jim's book, but Kostas's book (and his TaoBums interview) indicated that it was primarily a martial system. Question from page 9 of Kostas's Tao Bums interview: Answer (same page): And what is with this repeated "sour grapes" accusation?

I think, based on what I read in The Magus of Java, the whole point of Mo Pai was to be able to utterly destroy your enemies with hadouken. Immortality (and possibly enlightenment) seemed to have been a byproduct of the training to achieve massive hadouken power. Hadouken, of course, is the Street Fighter term for energy blasts. John Chang seems to use his power mostly for healing and shamanism. I feel like Kostas intimated that he was kind of working out the lineage's bad karma through his more altruistic work. I dunno, it's been a while since I read it.

Fook Yueng, specifically. I was interested enough to investigate. A documented friend of Bruce Lee's and a martial artist. I couldn't find anything about his qigong. The videos of his students demonstrating the martial art are available online. http://gravityflow.webs.com/fookyuengchuan.htm No, but I bet it was more entertaining than that time he hung out in a glass box for a month. Also: A really good blog post about Master Fook Yueng. http://geneburnett.blogspot.com/2012/04/master-fook-yueng.html "My joke about him was that he was the only one I knew who could make a coffee mug tap out." Sounds like you were very fortunate to study under this man, Starjumper.

I also get the impression a lot of Bums are young. I'm willing to bet a lot of these guys working with books and DVDs are under 25. Nothing wrong with that, per se; that's how I started out. But eventually, if you want to continue to pursue this stuff, you've really got to find a teacher with whom you can meet at least once or twice a year (at a minimum).

Awww . . . I love Snow Leopards . . .

I recently mentioned in another thread that I had an experience where I connected with a spirit that I associated more with a female energy. Could 'God' be a mother? If you believe the creator/creation relationship, a mother kind of makes more sense. I also got the impression that what I felt was something deeply connected to the Earth, though. So maybe Gaia? *shrug* Someone who is more experienced with talking to spirits once told me that I had some sort of connection to the 'Virgin Mary' or mother spirit. She didn't really elaborate, but when she told me that, the first thing I thought of was that experience. The impression I took away from it was that she was very sad. Sad for her children.

Can we get this thread back on topic, please? I know what everyone really wants to know is, "How do I pick up a lizard person?" Well, it's much easier than picking up a human. You just have to make eye contact, lash your tongue at her, and bob your head up and down. If she likes you, she'll lash her tongue at you and tap her foot.

I live here. Grew up here: 10 degrees right now. Not too bad. The wind was making it feel much colder the past couple of days.

¿Habla español? My instructor speaks a sort of Mr. Miyogi-esque broken English, but he's Hispanic. Throws a lot of new students off. They be all like, "So, are you asian or . . . " I actually thought he was Chinese the first time I met him. EDIT: This is my internal martial arts instructor, not my qigong/neigong instructor. The martial arts guy is pretty much strictly a martial arts guy.

I was re-reading this book last night and was struck by something in the introduction, in the section titled, "Why Practice Nei Gong? For a while now, I've had the sense that Nei Gong isn't something someone just stumbles on to and picks up like a hobby. There is a sense of destiny about it. Not only do I agree that, if you are not drawn to it, it is probably not the right time for you, I also think that if it is the right time for you, you don't really need to go looking for it; Nei Gong will find you.

I was chased by dog when I was pretty young. It was the first and (perhaps?) only time I've ever peed myself out of fright. Took me a long time to warm up to them after that.