Shagrath

Thank you very much for honest answer. My wish is to learn Wang Liping system, but there are many unsurmountable obstacles. Earnings, country I live in, etc and yet I have high interest in those topics. Life can deal strange hands sometimes

Thank you.

Thanks for the insight. How long do those retreats with Master Liping last? Does he have some levels he goes by? For example you need 10 retreats to learn all techniques, and then its to you to practice. Or after first retreat you have homework until next year, then you learn level 2 of the practice?

Thanks freeform, I have couple questions about this. I would really appreciate your take on that. 1) In his online course Nathan Brine says there are taoist practices that are "higher" then neidan. Would you have any idea what it would that be? Some meditations? 2) What is the difference between golden flower and golden elixir? Some say its the same, and that those are just different names for true nature of one self. 3) Where can I find more about those practices? The only resource I know about Shangqing is book by Isabelle Robinet. Can you recommend some teachers, websites, books?

And you can always go to more academic books by Livia Kohn, Eva Wong, Fabrizio Pregadio, Louis Komjathy and Isabelle Robinet. Maybe Stuart A. Olson, Tom Bisio, etc. Just find the authors page on amazon, and search titles about alchemy.

Hi all, Recently I saw this video of Nathan Brine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi16r-tST98 about using the Celestial Eye in Taoist alchemy. That explanation sounded A LOT like Dzogchen's thogal. Slightly different narrative but seeing the lights and light visions are quite the same. It was amazing to see this similarity is different traditions. Does anyone knows something about this? Are there any more Taoist sects next to Longmen sect that have this kind of practice? Longmen sect is part of Quanzhen sect, which incorporated both Buddhist, Confucian and Taoist practices. Can one tell if celestial eye/thogal is historically Taoist practice borrowed by Bon/Buddhists or Bon/Buddhist practice borrowed by Taoists? edit: maybe even both Taoist and Dzogchen came to same practice empirically. Who knows....

There is a UK based dzogchen and mahamudra teacher James Low. He uploads all of his lectures to vimeo and youtube. Here are the links: http://www.simplybeing.co.uk/ https://vimeo.com/jameslow https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBedQobRrnDDaYUEtPi46pg/

I am more then satisfied with Mingyur Rinpoches online courses Joy of Life. https://tergar.org/ Also there is https://dharmasun.org/tte/ what Aetherous suggested. School of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. There is also https://samyeinstitute.org/ This is online platform for teachings of Phakchok Rinpoche. He is grandson of famous Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, and nephew to above mentioned Mingyur and Chokyi. Those schools are both Dzogchen and Mahamudra traditions (nyingma kagyu), and Tulku Urgyen Rinpoches lineage.

I am more then satisfied with Mingyur Rinpoches online courses Joy of Life. https://tergar.org/ Also there is https://dharmasun.org/tte/ what Aetherous suggested. School of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. There is also https://samyeinstitute.org/ This is online platform for teachings of Phakchok Rinpoche. He is grandson of famous Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, and nephew to above mentioned Mingyur and Chokyi. Those schools are both Dzogchen and Mahamudra traditions (nyingma kagyu), and Tulku Urgyen Rinpoches lineage.

Honestly, I have never been much into koans.

Thank you very much for this answer. It made a lot of thing much clearer. That guy said that next to those several exercises for concentration, focus and will development, in later stages there is A LOT of meditation, no-thought states, emptiness etc. Thank you once more

I believe that it's like you are saying. I do not have much experience in TB practices nor TB philosophical system. But still I wish to push concentration to those limits, for some deeply personal reasons and plus because if one person could do it and I saw it, why could't I also.

Yes, it definitely would. And would also be really miserable to put one religion on that level. I think you misunderstood me a little bit. I do not want to be able to bend spoons. That is the furthest goal. What I wish is to develop deep understanding of emptiness, and laser like concentration and focus to be able to bend spoon. As I said in original post, I wish that bending spoon, moving some object, or sprouting seeds be the test of my concentration and will and absolutely be not the goal in its self. Anyhow, I am already studying Mahayana buddhism. For now Nagarjuna, Dogen and Paul Williams and practising shikantaza.

Thank you. That is actually great place to start. I will dive into yogic practices to search for an answer. But the true problem is following. I know the drills (there are several of them, and I have never read anything like it, but I never gone deep into yoga), but what later. How can I actually apply the fruits of practice to actually make seeds sprout. Just will it really hard? Visualize? Sing Despacito out loud while I am turned to west to face Puerto Rico and focus on sprouting? I do not have a clue.

I agree with you totally and I am aware of consequences of going that road by myself. Thats why I do not want a teacher nor am I seeking one. I just asked for some possible literature or some advice, nothing else. I am involved in other practices with some authentic teachers, and I just want to try out this a little bit (few years ).