newbjpt13

You guys have gotten me more interested in better English translations of some of the books listed here. Can anyone give me what translations they feel are translated into English best? The last time I read TTC was about 2 years ago and I doubt it was the best translation. That being said I don't take the books as seriously in a dogmatic mannerism . I really enjoy more traditional Taoist books but don't view them as precepts that must be followed exactly and more as a tool to open and free our minds. I do feel though that studying those Philosophical books is important to help prevent what religious Taoists call "disintegration into evil" when studying energy practices like the meridians and such. On that note I bow out of this discussion and hope people leave their recommended translations.

Yeah, sorry that was an improper explanation on my part. There are different practices in Taoism so I am not sure if the one I read is the same practice as the red dragon thingy. It is called Female Deer Practice from what I read and has precise actions very similar to what breastfeeding infants do. You are correct about the woman's period and how it prepares for the next egg. However, there are actually 3 stages in life where a woman does not produce an egg and because of that there is no period. One is post menopause, two is during pregnancy, and three is while breastfeeding a baby daily. The hormone levels in woman are different during these phases. Also, when you examine different animals the length of time humans give a mother's milk to her child is seriously out of whack with nature. A woman should possibly breastfeed or pump her milk for three years for her child. It is possible for a woman to start lactating without having a child.

On a side note, this has been a good thread to read through.

That is interesting. Evolution is also a course of nature, it enabled us to evolve to higher realms of thinking beyond the other animals. If evolution is also natural could you not say that due to our higher intelligence our ability to recognize the benefits of such a technique is nature's way of ensuring that our species does not overpopulate and overstrain our world? At what point do we define a difference between the natural of the biological creation and the nature of the Tao which is in some ways precedes nature.

Maybe, but I don't feel like spending 30 more minutes examining and rewording myself You have no idea how long I already spent rephrasing myself. Maybe I will eventually rephrase it.

I would say I fell into Taoism cause traditional Baptist style Christianity made my life very painful and sad when I was young. It creates a cycle of constantly feeling some "inherited sin" from supernatural forces that makes it impossible to escape. This creates a cycle of constantly feeling guilt and shame over doing "sinful acts" and such the shame creates a cycle where it is very difficult to change due to the unbreakable labels they place on it. To me, Taoism at its root after you take away all the supernatural claims and immortals is a system based on the pursuit of perfection of the health of the physical body and uniting with our other bodies. I feel that wu wei is a real concept for many things in life. By this I mean that the pursuit of health of the physical body accomplishes wu wei in society without us being perceptive of it. The pursuit of the health of the physical body abolishes concepts of greed, selfishness, and lust without even validating whether such concepts exist or discussing the "morality" of things in society. Our eyes are not meant to spend extended lengths of time staring close and up front. If we are concerned about maintaining our good eyesight it will naturally lead us to have no interest in smart phones or Nintendo DS. We will have no desire to spend long lengths of time on such devices up by our face for hours on end. Or something like abortion, for example. The fetus is deeply bonded and attached to the woman's uterus. I mean deeply attached. Abortion really tears and peels away some of the inner lining of the uterus. This is VERY bad for the health and increases odds of cancer. If a woman cultivated a deep desire for health of her physical body she would give birth to the child and give it up for adoption. Other religions focus on the evils of this action and cause conflict in society and increase anti-religious resentment amongst those who wish to have this right to abortion. If the way of pursuing the health and transformation of our physical body were followed there would be no though or reflection on morality and would just not abort the child. Also, there are negative health benefits upon a person by having to many children and a woman may weigh the benefits of having 7 children. There are ways in Taoism that modern science even shows could be effective for a woman to naturally stop her period if followed correctly. Modern medicine for stopping periods is damaging to her health. This is population control that people worry about. Another example is getting to much meat in our society. If we realize cooking meat is terrible for our health we would decide to freshly butcher very healthy animals and eat it slightly raw within 10 minutes of the butchering. This practice would lead us to consuming far far less meat and save more of the damage modern agriculture does in growing enough corn for cows and so forth. I don't think there is anything wrong with eating meat like some Taoists suggest. I think, though it is toxic to our health how we use it. I also feel it is not about needing meat in our diet as much as not having access to more potent Yang Tonics that have less bad side effects. Deer antler and ginseng are some of the most expensive tonics out there. What would cutting back on the way we consume meat to benefit our health do to society? I feel wu wei is a real concept, but it is done through the effort of pursuing physical health. As a result of placing modern technology in perspective of what is good for our health or bad for our health we will naturally begin to accumulate more and more money since we often use it for things that are bad for our health.

Hi, I have been reading up on Marine Phytoplankton in a diet. I was wondering if there is textual sources that old Taoists might have used it in their cultivation? I might start taking that sometimes. After I switched to vegetarian and got a cheap tracfone that I only turn on every few hours I have found I have more money available for other strong foods. Is there any (sub)forum section just about nutritional discussions?

Yeah, welcome. This place is so cool! Quite a bit of useful information. I may even donate a little bit of money each year.

Hi, I am looking for some good Taoist Canon books. Please note I am looking to read older ones like maybe over 500 years old kind. I am basically looking for classics, maybe even some with fantasy stories. I already have PDF of: Divine Farmers Materia Medica (Read) Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic (Browsed) The Spiritual Pivot (Yellow Emperor's Sequel (Not Read Yet)

Thanks, I read all the pages and it was informative. I need to spend some more time on the site learning how to navigate it seems.

Why bother thinking about it and just live your life in pursuit of good health and good friends? I kept asking the same things about life and finally though to myself, why does it matter to know all those answers. When getting the answers becomes unimportant to you it allows you to study existential questions or study science just as a fun pastime without getting caught up in knowing everything. To me, I realized asking existential questions in a deep club of people with utmost seriousness to the point of getting headaches from all the questions stems from our own selfish ego.

Hi, I have been researching Shilajit. It is the premiere herb in Ayurvedic Medicine. It is from mountains where bacteria, plant, and animal material have been decomposing for thousands of years. In the hottest part of summer it can ooze from the mountain. Ayurvedic medicine says humans saw white monkeys eating it long ago from the rocks and eating a lot can extend ones lifespan a lot. I have been studying modern scientists' studies of it and it does have amazing properties from their perspective even. The substance has the highest known levels of free ions to bind with toxins for anti-oxidant affects. Also, the highest acid content in it is able to merge with nutrients in a colloidal state for best distribution. It should be noted that all the known forms of life have carbon in its structure. While we need basic elements in our diet from the periodic table of elements this substance can alter those elements by making them organic by adding carbon to them improving our use of them. I am going to buy some from American company sources that visit India to check for quality since some supplements are not genuine and dangerous fakes. I was wondering if anyone else has added this to their strong food diet and noticed improved healing, or just general well being. I have also surprised myself by deciding to reduce meat in my diet. I will still have my Polyrachis Vicina Ant Extract, some eggs, and organic dairy since they have B12. I also will have shellfish like clams, molusks, or scallops once a week. It turns out that those animals are the highest known source of vitamin B12. Clams can have around 1000% daily B12 value in 100 grams serving. I was also studying the modern science studies on the toxins formed from cooked meat and the process makes far more bad byproducts than cooking vegetables ever could. It turns out that vitamin B12 is a byproduct made from bacteria symbiosis with its host. Although, it is not very usable in its host. That is why eating meat is important, in our current society. Some vegetarians argue that vitamin B12 problems is a modern phenomenon due to all the pesticides and anti-bacterial use in our society. Some studies were done out in the wild of freshwater with no human development within several hundred miles and vitamin B12 was in high amounts per 8 ounces. I guess some fermented ingredients like Kombucha can have a little due to bacteria used for fermentation.

I try to remember to hold my tongue to my roof when not talking to people. Lol, again these little things are important but tough to remember. I think another benefit to the tongue touching the mouth is that it makes it far more difficult to breath through our mouths and forces us to breathe deeper through the nose for maximum oxygen intake.

Yep, heard of quite a few of those recommendations before. I heard it's good to chew the food in your mouth about 100 times before swallowing, tough to remember but I try. I am doing better on liquids around room temperature. One of the problems I have is that knowledge of North America herbs is not to vast. I have heard of a mushroom that grows within 2 states of Michigan that has possibly more L-Theanine than tea for lowering the brain wave frequencies down one. There is probably more information if one probes Native American knowledge of herbs, one of the problems with this is that there is still much knowledge lost through time since Native Americans did not have an early writing system like China. I have read about 2 of the most ancient books of Chinese herbology that even historians trace back around 1500 years at least. I take 4 herb concentrates a day with 12 total kinds and take Saturdays off from it and a week off twice a year. I take: Chlorella, Ganoderma Lucidum, Eucommia Ulmoides, Qian Shi Ginseng, Gan Cao, Astralagus, Goji Spirulina, Atractylodes, Polyganum Multiflorum, Cassia Obtusifolian Ant, and Pearl Power internally

Yeah, I plan to read some more Taoist books as time goes by. I read Tao Te Ching and Chang's books. Yeah, it is getting there that is difficult for me with a long history of consuming addicting modern food. So, I have been teaching myself how to prepare and cook a lot of food. I have given up on any recipes involving long cooking times in the oven since that is how more toxins form and practicing stir frying a lot with some great sauces like organic fermented rice Mirin and fermented soy sauce. I also have started trying to take the time to put my veges and such in boiling water for about 1 minute to get off contaminated byproducts, natural or otherwise. I also have spent a long time looking for sweeteners without to much sugar and am going to try Monk Fruit extract. I can't quite give up using some modern sauces since I like the way they enhance flavor. I don't plan to give up meat, but I try to cut it back to maybe under 8 ounces daily in my stir fry. I think there is enough evidence that meat is needed in a diet. However, maybe if vegetarians would cut out grains and soak all legumes the vegetarian route may be the healthier option. I feel Taoists and vegetarians try to spiritualize it to often. I get Taoist texts explain the importance of being vegetarian, however they also may have not had the ability to study organisms at a microscopic level. We see now with microscopes the truly complex structure of the amount of organisms we destroy through breathing in air. Could it also not be said that for us to only define life by the forms we can see and experience an egotistical view, which we are not supposed to cultivate? If some evidence suggests that a little meat, just a little mind you is beneficial could we not eat it in our pursuit of balancing our health? In a way to refuse to eat a little meat to maintain our health is degrading to the life forms we destroy but can not see a daily basis. Although, I also admit being a vegetarian may be better for health if grains are avoided and legumes used in moderation. When Taoists cling to tightly to ancient texts of how spirituality is tied to abstaining from all meat without considering the changes our understanding of the universe brings through even modern science is it still Taoist? The thing I still find most interesting in modern nutrition is about grains and the Taoist Bigu practice. When grains are heated some natural substances are formed into Acrylamide. Acrylamide is one of the most damaging carcinogens known to science. Grains are the highest sources of acrylamide. The EPA even makes acrylamide dumping illegeal. Even the FDA is beginning to acknowledge some of the dangers of it. Grains also have the highest levels of phythates, which leech some of the most important nutrients from our bodies. Although phythates are found in many natural foods. Although, soaking grains and legumes for over about 8 hours decreases phythates a lot. The thing I find amazing is that the Taoist Bigu states that the grain worm demons consume the body from inside out as they report to heaven. However, what does cancer do? It literally and figuratively consumes the body from the inside out when it attacks new cells. I find it interesting that much taoist nutrition now includes large amounts of legumes and grains. I have a hypothesis that due to Mao Zedong's cultural revolution damage in recent history has caused Taoisim in China to not be aware of some of its older health practices such as Bigu.