Antares

I believe that "lineage" means the line (direction, connection) back to the Primordial Being (state of mind) and this is not any sort of ideas based just on one's beliefs system or just any systematization of techniques but first of all is based on state of mind and level of energy (vibrations) of certain teacher(s) and this is what passing down to a disciple. Do you think this transmission possible without authentic "lineage"? It's quite interesting word which consists of two words "line" and "age". It kinda points out on something what has been proved by time to be effective method. I have met few people who said that they were spiritual being initiated in lineage but they scarcely could prove it by their deeds. Sometime "lineage" is distorted - people adding something new on the top of authenticity; sometime they count lineage as something what is passed down technically e.g. some movements, breath patterns, philosophical ideas and so on. But if there is no realization it would not be authentic and would not be the authentic Lineage. More over that there might be "spiritual" realization but there are different levels in it and only authentic teacher can pin it down exactly. Many initially authentic teachings which led to high level realization were distorted to the levels of lower realizations keeping the ideas, some techniques in itself but without real masters with real spiritual realizations. Taichi is good example. Nowadays it is mostly system akin to calisthenics and you scarcely can find authentic taichi teacher. The same goes for Shaolin arts for example. People referring to Bodhidharma and stating that their system is the same what he taught but if you watch all these systems you will see how they greatly differ and sometime not even similar. And far not every one out of those people have Bodhidharma's realization but stating that they maintain lineage which coming from BD .

That's not only the distinction between them imho. You pin down they approach only but I believe that also it is the matter what exactly they do. Even if one sincerely loves what he/she does without egoistic narcissism but does wrong method whether it be distorted/not complete/fake... I would not count that person among cultivators. Delusions are very deep by nature and it's difficult to recognize where you are wrong until you have good spiritual teacher. I am not sure what exactly you wanted to pin down in this thread but first you should clarify what you count as Cultivation in general.

Your statement is equal to call such prominent Taoist immortals as Lu Tung Pin and his teacher silly people. Elitist? Might be yes, but not silly. But that depends what you want to cultivate. There are few different levels of attainments according to Taoist authentic doctrines. Qigong cultivation does not require "transmission" as such. And works with postnatal qi mostly and does not give high level attainments. Better health, vitality, some psychic power, martial power - all this yes. But much more chances to get deviations with practice. That's actually the problem in the West ( and China as well) that people don't know much about Tradition and do not realize the difference between diff kinds of cultivation.

And not every qigong is useful. There could be quite harmful elements even in "well known" qigongs which can deplete prenatal qi. Also we have to confess there are many fake qigong "masters" unfortunately. I think you are right, some people have "karma" to believe fake or not legit masters or practice something from books, video etc... Oh, I do not say all this completely WRONG but it can be waste of time and energy in most cases. I think person needs "right" karma to meet right teacher.

I would say that for real cultivation one needs real transmission from authentic master from legit lineage. The problem is that there may be only few legit masters in the West who can do transmission. Other ones would say you do not need transmission only bc they can't do it. Most of the people (95% approx) just do qigong thinking they do real cultivation.

Irish Cream Liqueur

I have mine with Irish Cream. Very tasty

I read few books on TCM featured by westerners but they did good investigations on the subject and had practical experience in Chinese clinics. It's something new to me that authentic TCM' food recommendations are close to paleo diet and that it's recommended by taoists masters. I read something that they have nothing against meat and even alcohol but I am not sure it should be consumed every day. For example I give the reference the to authentic taoist teacher' words: http://all-dao.com/nutrition-fasting.html And I brought another evidence that Chinese taoist had bread every day. But I trust to scientific notions on gluten as well. So I am kinda frustrated. I will have a look the book you are referring to. I read that fermentation affects gluten such the way it would be digested much easier. Is there in the book you are referring to "authentic TCM" recommendations or there is scientific perspective only? I have heard already about 99% of human existence time paleo "evolution" and also I heard such theory that people did the surge in evolution bc of agricultural revolution. There is also raw paleo theory stating people had been eating raw for thousands years. But from the TCM perspective that's not recommended to go raw. So I need to investigate more on the subj. Will get that book and read it

Thanks for the post but don't understand what's the problem with gluten. Only some people can't digest gluten (they missing some ferments for this) and may be Siberians and Americans were such the case with gluten (as well as casein) and for all others gluten is worse digested but it's not problem at all when grains are fermented for few hours in lightly acid water (with vinegar). This what I do before I cook grains. And what do you suggest to eat instead of grains? Meat? Grains (whole brown rice, oat), buckwheat are good source of plant protein and I prefer it to animal protein but I have free range eggs as well. Fermentation helps to digest gluten well. As for your link to worms in grains.... I tried to read but I could not. Does that man has transmission in authentic Taoist sect? It seems to be scientific research with excogitations and references to another scientific excogitations on subj. Is there any reference on authentic traditional text where prohibition on eating any grains are stated? I do not see any conjunction between grains and "worms" in energy body. Is it bc of gluten? As for ketogenic diet. It supposed to be diet with 70- 80 % fat consumption. What kind of fat they advise to eat? Any reference on this in authentic Taoist texts??? So TCM is absolutely wrong with food recommendations but scientific fancies are alright?

Does any solid scientific work prove this statement? I read another works how it can be harmful for liver and adrenal glands. The problem with this theory is that it was not proved by long term practical experiment and exists only in theory. Some people use it for materials for their book, they sell it, earn money on it but do not do it themselves on long term basis. There is simple solution - to avoid "fast carbohydrates" and eat only twice a day. Or three times if one has fast metabolism system

Enjoy. BTW I stumbled upon TCM doctor opinion that warm plain water is the best drink and medicine ever existed on Earth. That what I drink mostly adding "dragon herbs" compounds or DH's tea bags with plants. But that's me. Warm water is good for kidneys, stomach and spleen. But much of cold water is bad for kidneys. And makes body excessive with dampness. Or you can add teaspoon of honey to the glass of warm (not hot) water. he he Sorry, Ghost cat, I forgot to add one.... to this post he he

In this thread yes!

Any sugar, artificial sweeteners, cola like, soda like... drinks are bad for kidney essence. It depletes kidneys yan essence. The more one takes it the less kidneys yan and worse blood circulation. You can say oh i just take it very little amount... For me that only mean you deplete kidneys yan slowly. Slow and steady

Wish you long journey, he he

.Natural crystallization is not what I meant. Okey. No stress

I hope you know that honey produces harm chemicals when heated up to 60 C. And that it must be raw honey otherwise it has near sugar qualities.

"Ketogenic diet" does make sense only for those who are diabetic or largely overweight. It is reserve option of a body metabolism. Dangerous for liver and spleen.

Tao_meow, you know what? I have never stumbled upon any authentic taoist (I mean not doubtful qigong masters who call upon bigu and so on) who said anything against grains. I personally would be careful with such theories. I read orientalist E. Torchinov essay on this (he was very good orientalist) and that was mentioned in that essay that there was notion of "abstaining of five grains", which meant some mundane human qualities which taoists should abandon and that there was a notion of "grain immortal" meaning Gui Xian (ghost immortal) which meant attainment of "false immortality". They say TCM at least 3000 years old. And I know that modern prominent taoists ate grains but not meat at all. For example renowned Lu Zijian who died at age of 118 : http://www.danwei.com/knight-of-the-yangtze-lu-zijian-dies-at-the-legendary-age-of-118/ He ate bread every day and rice. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1370&dat=20011205&id=v5kVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nAsEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6606,686593 He said that And I doubt that he drank coffee and I am sure he did not eat any meat at all. http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/7-9-9/59524.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkMbMJ9JFaY

As for cholesterol I can't argue with it. I came across some scientific notion that the harm of cholesterol is myth and even that we need it, especially men. So I can't take fully the idea of the coffee harm and anyway I don't take it more often than twice a day. But all food has two sides as I mentioned before. There are modern scientific notions about it and another is "homeopathic" which is more about how certain food affects the mind and energy. I read Haneman's (the father of homeopathy) point of view on coffee and he ragarded it as medicine but not drink which can be taken every day. Yes it stimulates stamina of the body and good for concentration but after short charge of energy the discharge is coming. And then you need more and more coffee. It's stumulant and no any scientific research can indicate this from its limited perspective.

As for paleo and abstaining from grains it would be off topic. I can only say here that I trust TCM. And there is point of view that grains are most balancing body and mind food. The scientific notion on the harm of grains coming from western perspective on food as consisting of certain nutrients differs from ancient TCM's perspective on food. In TCM it's more about qi of the certain food. And it's more about cooling, warming or balancing qualities. The same is for coffee actually. It's warming but drying out when taking in excess. It's god for people with yan deficiency. I have never seen anything against grains in TCM. I came across the point of view that abstaining from grains is only daoists metaphor and should not be understood literally. But meat if you go with idea of paleo diet... It has some warming qualities but everything is about amount. And I would say it's not spiritual. Meat is concentarted form of animal's consciousness. I would be careful with this theory. I myself tried it for few months and quit it. It was good for the body but bad for my mind. Now I prefer grains and vegies and eggs. But another case with SUGAR. It's not only bc glucose but it 's more coming from perspective that it's poison - absolutely unnatural product which does much harm, there is no any qi in it, nothing balancing whatsover. But in TCM there is praise for honey. It has yan warming qualitiy and reach of useful nutrients according to scientific point of view. So I prefer honey to sugar when I have tea or coffee.

It depends on the amount of course. I stumbled upon a research where scientists said that even small amount of sugar is bad for the body. If you have one teaspoon may it is okey but if one has 3-4 cups of coffee per day adding sugar plus they have extra amount in other food. And in coffee there are two bad substances which are called cafestol and cahweol which form bad cholesterol and bad for blood vessels. I wish you to live long but we should think of our health in any event in everything we do if we are concerned of good health. I am not sure that 7 cups per day is good for health promotion. I heard of 4 cups per day as safe amount of coffee. Anyway the more coffee the more bad cholesterol in a body

Coffee is tasty drink and it is warming up but... bad for blood vessels and blood circulation. I am not sure it's good to have it more often than once a day. Some people add sugar to it what is twice as bad imho

No, no.... This is not celts. Celtic culture is the part of pre-historic Bon Shamanism as well as Nordic (German) culture and Siberian shamanism. Taoism has its roots in ancient shamanism as well as mentioned cultures. Only some aspects are common for all of them. But methods and some aspects differ in them. They have different goals I think. Druidism and shamanism have diff goals in comparison with spiritual teachings akin to alchemical Taoism and Dzogchen. Taoism is very vast and not everything is the same in it. And there was mix of ideas and conceptions between ancient Bon and local cultures and teachings and methods of new great teachers like Buddha or Lao Tzu who brought new ideas and modified teachings according to time and place. I would not say that Druidism and Taoism is the same thing. Let's say at present we don't have Druidism in the authentic form and it's lost.

IMHO both Taoism and Druidism have they roots in "pre-historic Bon of Eurasia". Do not confuse it with modern Tibetan Bon which is very similar to Buddhism. Some more information here: http://boandbon.com/contents.html

Alles, I was not aggressive to anyone here. And I did not insult anyone here. As for FPCK straightforward and down-to-earth you should elaborate more. How you can estimate my state of mind, mate? You are going again to aggressive estimation of my state of mind. Do you like it so much to esteem me? When I said of "abuse" that was many times when instead of going on topic about nature of this qigong some of you began to esteem my personality. Last episode with Zen Bear was very strange... But I realized he is busy man and does not want to waste time for forum. And I have so many questions.But this is life - people want to know what they do... No one is perfect. I have had some good results from FPCK - more clarity, more calmness and so on..but it seems to be too soft and requires very good karma and previous experience. I will come back to it later when retired. I had certain questions which I could not find answers here. I am not looking for shen cultivation system and health system. It should be only side effects of authentic practice. Did you read that thread btw? At this stage I need ming+xing cultivation system.