Yoda

All of this is rehash... I was hoping maybe rodgerj might bring this discussion up a notch to include some advanced K topics perhaps?

So this is about the fall of the Han dynasty including the story of the ultimate MA Master, Lord Gwan and his oath brothers all sworn to die on the same day. It's all cross, double cross, tricky stuff and don't bother to show up to a fight with fewer than 100,000 soldiers! It's funny the size of the armies in China for a mere skirmish dwarf those of a full on conquest in the west at this time. I don't know what the relative populations are but China has always been big. The book is essentially a military history and you get to know the main characters but it's hard to keep track of some of the other guys sometimes. Yoda

Cao Cao's tomb discovered? http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre5bq0bx-us-china-tomb/

Aside from vibing out Max directly from his photo, another cool K sampler drill is to do Kunlun at different times of the day... the practice is strongest between 1-4 am and especially 3:00 to 3:15 am... you can set your watch by it... I've found that it is accurate to within seconds. From a classical Taoist perspective, that is a very strong indicator that it's a ghost practice.

A friend just emailed me this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investiture_of_the_Gods About yet another dynasty pulled down by demons!!! Fairly expensive on amazon, but looks worthwhile. I'll see if there's a pdf out there.

Just finished it! Great book! Really an incredible story of Geung Tai Gung going from mere peasant to total genius super Taoist advisor, prime minister, warrior, and military commander. And finally he transformed the fallen into Taoism Gods... Interesting to see who made it to Godhood... many warriors from both sides did, his ex-wife who left him did, the evil king did, but the demoness Daji wasn't mentioned. The names the new Gods were given were pretty interesting too... the star of universal muddling dipper... what's that? There is a youtube in Chinese of the story out there somewhere, so I'll check that out at some point too. here's a trailer:

Facing demons based path of enlightenment is certainly popular. Here's Aleister Crowley's take for example: Adeptus Exemptus chooses to cross the Abyss, which is the location of Choronzon and the illusory eleventh Sephira, which is Da'ath or Knowledge. In this example, the adept must surrender all, including the guidance of his Holy Guardian Angel, and leap into the Abyss. If his accumulated Karma is sufficient, and if he has been utterly thorough in his own self-destruction, he becomes a "babe of the abyss," arising as a Star in the Crowleyan system. On the other hand, if he retains some fragment of ego, or if he fears to cross, he then becomes encysted. The layers of his self, which he could have shed in the Abyss, ossify around him... who will eventually be broken up and disintegrated against his will, since he failed to choose voluntary disintegration. So did Aleister just become enlightened there or did he more fully surrender to the influences of his Holy Guardian Angel who was a bad dude? Judging by Aleister's personal life, one has to wonder. The best way to judge Max's path is to look at Max's photo for awhile and to vibe out whether we want to be like him or not.

Another pass through K-ville! For anyone new to the debate and particularly studious, definitely look up the Kunlun follow up poll and the sex with entities threads. New twist: Rodgerj is in the house! Rodgerj and I went through parallel meltdowns about Kunlun but Rodgerj went back to spontaneous qigong and I went on to study with Mak Tin Si. Rodgerj has lots of great K experiences and is a very advanced K practitioner so would be a good source of information if he feels open about sharing it at some point and is a great guy. Amongst the pro-K people who are willing to share their experiences, he is quite possibly the most advanced. To my mind, the benefit of spontaneous qigong practices is that it is super fast developing the subtle body rapidly and puts one in touch with guardian angels/spirits/etc which enables one to learn new practices and concepts as needed. The problem being that these friends are super high level practitioners are subtly stealing positive energies while teaching whatever it is that the practitioner wants to learn. So the K practitioner learns how to do all sorts of nice siddhis and realize lots of happy insights but it's all Faust in the end. To my mind, the downside is unavoidable. Others, like the writer of "Aghora, Left Hand Path of God" claim that a long term positive outcome can be attained through left hand means but that the path is extremely dangerous and not appropriate for most practitioners. Yoda

Don't try to get all complex with your analysis... if it feels crappy don't think detox think crappy. Look for long term luck, energy, relationship, fiscal, livelihood and health decreases to go along with these experiences as confirmation.

what a mess... Jesus really needs psychiatric help, I'm afraid.

There is always room for improvement so I'd say go for it!

I'm sorry to hear that... I hope he makes a full recovery!

I highly doubt that anyone else will ever be able to come close to what Trunk has achieved with his alchemicaltaoism.com. Having said that, it would be very fun to see other TTBs integrations.

Some Taoists avoid meat, eggs, and alcohol during the lunar 1st and 15th for a smoother ride.

Great reviews! So the 3D was successful then... good to know! I've heard that it leans left which will be an issue if I see it with my fasha in law.

I just got a Xiangqi / Chinese Chess set for my daughter. I suck at western chess but maybe my luck can turn around... and I should be able to beat a little kid a few times at least!

Pietro, I'd love to hear about how Go is Taoist and which version is the best! Your pal, Yoda

sigh... do I know how that goes... they couldn't even catch us for awhile and now we are the model citizens. Yoda

Thanks for the great thread everyone! I'd like to add that there are lots of disagreements on the nature of Taoism Gods even within Taoism, but in my view, Taoism Gods did not create the universe or anything like that... they were simply normal mortals who over the kalpas learned about the existence of the Celestial Realm and learned how to get there. Once a few mortals made that attainment, then getting to the Celestial dimension becomes easier for later generations of Taoism Gods, Immortals, and us mortals. Very much like immigrating to America... it's easier when you've had some family members get there already. But if they are going to help you get a visa, green card, find a job, and make a life in the Celestial dimension then they have to like you and think that you are an asset to the team. Per the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Lord Guan was simply granted godhood by the Jade Emperor as the Jade Emperor approved of his strong sense of honor... and it didn't seem like he was a great student of Taoism in other respects... he wasn't overly respectful of Master Sleeping Dragon and even disregarded Master Sleeping Dragon's direct military orders on at least two occasions... a big no no in the Chinese military. Lord Guan did it with style, so what can you say? Also, if one is interested in having any sort of worship or relation with the Taoism Gods, it's best to find a good teacher as a lot of things can go wrong... like worshiping ghosts posing as gods (like in the Journey to the West) or doing something wrong... Master Sleeping Dragon was interrupted during a ceremony and died as a result! The best crash course about how religious taoism works are the chapters in Journey to the West in my signature line... you'll get the general vibe. The mindset doesn't fit perfectly with the modern ideals of freedom, equality, and enlightenment. The religious taoism mindset is more military/corporate: stronger relations on the one hand but less freedom on the other and very hierarchical. Yoda

looks good!

I agree in the sense of karma/law of attraction: when I feel good my relations follow suit. When I don't, I get out of synch with friends, family, and clients in all 10,000 ways. Tao Toe, Kyle

the news dude said it was a successful missile launch and it looks plausible.

Tanktop, wrench, library.

it looks like a rocket doing what it's supposed to do... the exhaust cloud from the rocket's path and the spinning light from a rotating rocket moving away from the photos. An out of control rocket would be all zigzaggy and random or simply an explosion... the way all mine ended up!

I didn't research it very far. I'm assuming they may have found some construction related carbon. I'm sure a quick google could bring it up if I'm correct.