idquest

I'm studying his online curriculum. Very impressed. And I can compare to others...

Less theory, more practice. The more people talk and use professional jargon, daoist or not, the more dualistic they become. Talk less, practice more.

Open and Close refers to the fundamental characteristic of the Universe which is pulsing. WHile you cultivate, you find this quality of pulsing everywhere from physical movements to stillness meditation. It is fun to observe.

I'd agree that the goal in Daoism is to go XIAN 仙. The problem is that this is translated as 'immortal' to English which does not render all meanings of the character. Perhaps a better idea would be 'transcendent' rather that 'immortal'. I dislike the idea of 'going back to source'. The whole life set up in the Universe is about going against the current of increasing the entropy; while going back to source would just mean to dissolve in the entropy which is, how one of the Daobums members put it - just become a cosmic fart. If somebody's goal is to become a cosmic fart - sure. I personally don't find this motivating.

I practised his system for about 3 years and found it with either little effect or, in some respects, even detrimental to my health. Although I did receive a few good tips from him in the workshops.

In my current experience, alchemical daoism is indeed related to tantra and samadhi; and perhaps it even originates from early 1st millenial tantra tradition. Having said that, there is specific value in daoism that I can't see in other systems - alchemical daoism seems like more disciplined way to access and release all bodily energies from gross to subtle. As opposed to many yogic systems that are pretty laid back in this regard and mainly strive to move energy to the head right a\way.

AFAIC the inner smile practice is very similar to one of the fundamental practices from vipassana or other similar systems. In daoism there are countless practices similar to the inner smile. Any teacher can make up their own names for the practices so for me the names don't really matter. What matters is what they do to the body.

I found his style wuji to be counterproductive for me. But this is how with any teacher - it is useless to gather anecdotal evidence, what matters is your personal experience, not somebody else's. His courses are very accessible, just try them at a nominal cost and judge yourself.

One more question though: are there any benchmarks / signs of the progress? It is not easy to practice something for many years without any sign posts along the way. I'm also confused with your remark that there is no way to determine whether one has qi or not because sensation-wise the states a cultivator is with or without qi are identical - or so I understood your remark. I hope you could clarify.

Cost is reasonable for the authentic method. The problem is that the goal - faqi - is not really inspiring. How do we move forward with accumulation of qi: - applications - higher level practices (middle and upper DT) and the central channel. Are they too far away from the accumulation of qi stage?

Anybody studied the text and practised from it? Some techniques from this text are widely practised across the world, and some not. I'm interested in a systematic review of the text and appreciate any input. Google gives out a couple of good references but not enough for a systematic study.

Hi FB group is active and it is accepting new members as far as I know. The last addition was a week ago.

I haven't met Wallis personally so I can't say from my face-to-face experience. Remote assessment is not easy. Just remember that if you only watched his free Youtube videos, you can be sure that he can offer much more when you become more involved. Overall, I have an impression he knows what he is talking about. The practices he teaches on his paid portal and in the retreats are deep.

Yes and he also teaches esoteric practices from the VBT.

Swami Lakshmanjoo talks about the final goal in Kashmir Shaivism (tantra). From my personal study (which is very limited of course) Chinese neidan and Kashmir Shaivism are very closely related. I could also add to this mix tantrick Buddhism as well. Not talking about Hatha yoga which is a direct offshoot of tantra.

I should have been more accurate in my OP. It is not the goal that I compared Kashmir Shaivism and neidan but rather methods and practices. Just read a meditation handbook 'Vijnana Braihava Tantra' published in 9th century A.D. and judge yourself.

So you do not disclose any methods at all but you require that Damo Mitchell discloses his methods that he normally teaches only closed door. Am I missing something?

THis is a good point. Just to note that Wang Liping teaches only sitting meditation and has quite a number of returning students internationally (or pre-covid anyway). But generally yes, very few people feel connection to a sitting still method as a primary method of cultivation.

In the place I live, selling sex is legal. At the same time, buying sex is illegal. Even though this seems to be ludicrous and contradictory, if you think a bit there is a lot of sense in it. The person selling sex most often does this because of difficult life situations. Whereas a person buying sex acts as a sexual predator feeding on those more disadvantaged in life. Rather than putting blame on prostitutes, it would be more accurate to think of those who push them and encourage them.

Using qi comes at a cost, even when people feel abundance of it. The sudden death of that Chinese master from apricot garden about 5 years ago came as crude awakening for everybody in the field and it forced people to reassess how and why they use qi externally. Sorry, don't remember his name, no disrespect. Also, I didn't say DM stopped doing that, I said he scaled back.

Damo's old first students from something like 2005 or so used to mention that when he started to teach he would demonstrate really weird things. Nobody mentions these things now, so it is hard to tell what he is really capable of. I can only say that he scaled back significantly on qi emission/transmission during his workshops (prior to Covid of course). I'd stand in wuji and suddenly feel how my body would start to melt, and only after 3-5 minutes to notice that he was walking around poking his qi-fingers in people's backs. Not recently though.

IME it does have a genuine lineage connection. And it should be practiced with caution, few at a time and with breaks between days.

Haha, talking about coincidence! Thanks, dwai!

Many thanks, dwai, much appreciated. It is indeed what I was looking for.

Psoas = 80% of the core