idquest

I liked this book: http://www.10methods.com/excerpts/ There are several chapters available for free so you can try and see for yourself.

First we use method(s). And after that we drop the method(s) and sit in stillness. If you can start with stillness and without methods right away, it's good; but reality is that virtually nobody can do that. As for the length of sitting - 1-2 hours per sit is a good start.

Seven immortals including Lu Dongbing? Eva Wong has a translation if you are interested.

You perhaps should ask Mitchell about this? On a different level I feel your question is rather about what should be a priority, ming or xing practice. If so, you know very well everybody has their own opinion on this. I think they should be practised at the same time and that you can't really separate xing cultivation from ming. But this is my opinion.

'Unparalleled detail' in this context means the detail of the practice have not be described with such accuracy and precision before. Which is obviously a subjective point of view. It has nothing to do with being enlightened or not. Just a description. I'd say somewhat fair criticism.

You are missing the fact that this wealth re-distribution is already happening. But now it is happening through various vehicles like welfare, unemployment insurance, old age pension, child allowance and so on. Half of the population is already getting this money anyway. If UBI is implemented correctly, all those vehicles should disappear and be replaced by one universal one. The likely problem with implementation, of course, are corrupt politicians.

I heard recently the newest gender studies recommend using 50 different genders to classify human beings. I don't get it, call me old fashioned or so...

I watched that video in the OP for 5 minutes. It is a condescending piece of s***t that assumes a person watching the video is a dumb and can't tell left from right. That was clear from the very first seconds of the video but I gave it whole 5 minutes of doubt. As MH said, summarise the video in two paragraphs and people will make their own decision as to watch it or not.

The key difference between democratic capitalism and socialism is that capitalist systems have checks and balances built into them. By itself, capitalism is as bad as any human society taken over by thugs on the top. But in democratic capitalism those thugs are watched by other groups of thugs who want their share of the pie and this creates balance. In socialism though, all dissent is ruthlessly destroyed. That means that thugs in power don't have any checks and balances and they rule until they are destroyed by powerful economic realities. Talking about intelligent society is just utopia in its clearest form. There is exactly zero chance of such utopia to be realised in real human society. Examples are abundant. The success of USA democracy is because of two things, in my view. First - there were checks and balances built into the system from the very beginning. Second - nations that formed that society (ango-saxons, irish, scottish, and later from other parts of Europe) had sufficient political culture to fully adopt these values in their society. This is one of the reason why USA-made type of society does not work in other countries - peoples are just different out there and they just need different social systems.

Here is one small problem which is called Government Bureaucracy. It proliferates in geometrical progression unless put in checks.

Jing Qi is simply Jing Energy.

WOuld you say the energy is condensing along the central channel or not? I'm confused with the words 'in all directions'. From the pictures of swirling dervishes I've seen the rotation is quite aligned with the central channel.

Well the next step - they will introduce an empty homes tax. This is what they did in Vancouver BC. The tax is 1%, the cheapest detached house is about $1mln, so an owner of an empty house has to pay $10,000+++ per year. How much did you say they want for relocation expense?

Not sure how it is in the USA, but in Canada there is pretty much guaranteed income around $1,000 Canadian. Which is not a lot by any measure. Now, to distribute this $1,000 to those who need it, there is an army of bureaucrats whose job is to fill out endless forms and maintain 'social' files on those in need. What a UBI in fact does, it eliminates a bunch of federal and provincial (state) bureaucrats and streamlines the distribution system. Of course, if implemented there will be some abuses of the system. But have you given a thought of how much just one government employee costs? With all their benefits and huge pension plans? I'd say from purely practical POV, the UBI should be a good thing.

The MCO circulation is a prerequisite for the opening of the central channel. The central channel is a big deal. If you want to compare ida & pingala, you should compare them to the central channel, not to the MCO. If you have feeling that Buddhist teaching resonates with you more, follow your intuition. But making intellectual judgement based on books that you don't really understand would be unwarranted.

Qi is built with separation of yin and yang. On of the ways to separate them - doing physical movements so that the connective tissue gets activated. What this means is that not any callisthenics will generate qi but only performed in a manner that activates the connective tissue. So the answer to your question is yes and no. Regarding waving arms - if you are an experienced cultivator, you will notice when it is indeed waving the arms and when it is deep internal work.

It is likely that change occurs in the connective tissue rather than in nerves. A number of respected practitioners have this opinion. It is difficult to verify but you can safely take it as a working hypothesis. As for the changes in the abdomen, it is likely that the connective tissue either grow with practice or becomes more conductive. Again, nobody really knows.

This is a good reminder indeed - ancient texts describe results of the practice and they are not result of theoretical thinking.

My kefir grains are quite choosy. I usually make kefir from goat milk, but sometimes there is a break in supply and i have to buy cow milk. The grains would not eat cow milk, they rather starve then eat it. Not sure why.

Well, a slight problem here is that 'living out ones natural span of life' is not very easy to achieve for majority of people and this is exactly why most people need longevity techniques and so on. Just a reminder that daoists consider a normal life span of 120 years. Something to think about.

Here is why we need secrets: Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. (Matthew 7:6 as I'm sure you all know). When you have some pristine realisation, you don't want others spoil it with dirty hands. You want to make sure it falls into decent hands. Not even talking about lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. part.

I'm not sure that being well intended is a daoist concept at all. You can't even say that in terms of reference for humanity because there are so many ideas what they are.

Whatever you think the modern world is - Dao is always bigger. You think this generation is something special? Think again.

Dao is neither flexible or rigid. It just is. Man wants to follow /align with Dao and for that man has to be flexible or rather wu wei.

I suggested that you tried removing legumes temporarily and see what difference if at all it could make. If no difference - continue with your traditional diet. If you notice any difference to the better, make a judgement on how to build your diet in future. I suggested two weeks so that effects from your current diet would fully clear from your system.