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Hello! I am prplz. I am from United States and doing research into Religious Daoism. I am currently in the process of filling up a notebook full of everything I am learning. Religion is my favorite topic to study and Daoism is a fascinating one. Here is the public link to my Microsoft OneNote Notebook: https://1drv.ms/o/c/9a6c2acc534b149a/EtuJW1RlD2JArozByJ2j4AYBxa01V-MyhzbLri0UcN4osQ?e=srzjia I am glad to be here and I can't wait to learn more about Daoism!

Dear all, for a long time im searching for my spiritual path, and i really like daoist paintings, ( painting them), really resonate with them. Also like tibetan buddhism ( second to daoism). Would like to take the daoist path to keep doing the paintings, but there is no daoist group in my city. But there is a buddhist group where I frequently go. Is it "ok" to go the daoist path alone?? Is in my situation recommended to do this, or is it preferable to go to a local group of a spirituality that i dont want thaat much..? Any advice is greatly appreciated. This forum is kind!

Dear Dao followers, We are happy to invite you all to the new courses of lectures starting May 2024 at Dao De Center! (LIVE Online via Zoom) Traditional Texts of WuLiupai School We have two HUGE firsts: For the First time ever, the traditional texts of the WuLiupai School are now available in English AND also available for non-disciples of the WuLiupai School! This new course of lectures is from to the secret book written by The Teacher of Single Yang - modern patriarch of 21th century of the Ancient Daoist WuLiupai School. This book was never published before and is revealing the deepest wisdom of WuLiupai School. The course includes the Daoist knowledge from the highest antiquity - the knowledge from the times of Lao Zi and Huang Di and at the same time the invaluable experience of modern practitioners of the genuine Daoist methods. Everyone can participate in this new course regardless if you are WuLiupai student or not. This book is being kept inside the heart of the WuLiupai School and this is first time it will be provided in English as a series of lectures. This course is a must for the WuLiupai practitioners, however it will be beneficial for everyone by giving a unique universal knowledge on how to improve your practice and life. So everyone is invited to join! Please invite your friends & family, co-workers and co-practitioners all people you know. Let's all get benefit from the Daoist Knowledge of Traditional WuLiupai School. The WuLiupai School (The School of Wu Chongxu and Liu Huayang) initially branched out from Longmenpai School in the 8th generation during the Ming dynasty (16th-17th centuries) and preserved the Daoist knowledge from Longmenpai School and accumulated the best Teachings from Buddhism and Confucianism. Schedule: Sunday 07:45 - 08:30am / UTC time - Please use the time converter below to find your timezone https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html?iso=20240505T074500&p1=tz_gmt&p2=240&p3=195&p4=179&p5=215&p6=213 Price: from 100 USD / per person / per month (in case of 20+ students attending) + payment system fee. For additional details and questions please contact Dao De Center directly via email Email: [email protected] Skype: daode-world1 Phone: +7 921 377 88 01 (whatsapp/telegram/viber)

Dear Dao Bums, Where do you get your herbs in the European Union? In my country I get K'an Herbs and their other department Mycoherb from a local TCM company. Sometimes I also get already formulated herbs from Pine Mountain, Seven Forests & White Tiger from a Dutch TCM company that I know through local TCM connections. However, when I want to buy raw, single herbs, I need to get them from German or British Amazon, or sometimes I'm lucky and find them in specialised teastores or bazaar-like shops in the big cities where I live. However, lately I'm looking for american ginseng & dendrobium, and no matter where I search, I can only find them being shipped from outside of EU (e.g. USA or China). The problem with getting them from the US or China is that the delivery will be more than 1 month, and when you finally receive it, you have to pay extra tolls because it's from outside the EU. So I'm desperately searching for a place in the EU, because then delivery is usually within 7 days, and trade within EU is toll-free. Do you have any good places within the EU to get raw single herbs?

Fellow Daoists Can anyone tell me How can I open my meridians??

I've tried to understand a clear way into Daoist cultivation, but I can't find even the basics of it. Could someone please explain how to begin (and proceed) my way into cultivation?

I am a Daoist. Is there any Taoist Temple in the UK?

In Hinduism, there are 4 goals of life (Purushartha): 1) Artha (material wealth and security), 2) Kama (pleasure and enjoyment of life), 3) Dharma (following duty and religion, right conduct), 4) Moksha (spiritual liberation and salvation). I've always mostly been interested in dharma and moksha, so my spiritual search in sufism, hinduism, buddhism, daoism etc, in the areas of qigong, meditation, rituals etc, have always been in these two areas. Lately I'm feeling quite contented with my spiritual life. This has brought me a curiousity about how these traditions can also be used for upgrading the artha and kama side of life. What are your experiences and greatest hits with using spiritual traditions for upgrading kama and artha? Personally these are some of the things I've tried, which I felt worked: Kama: 1) Dan Rose "Sex God Method" or the "DEVI method" - this book blew my mind, upset me, broke my innocent view of women and sex, yet changed my sex life forever (for the better). 2) Daoist Sexual Qigong (a combination of postures, massage, breathholding and meditation, including genital weight lifting and swinging weights). 3) Daoist Lovemaking (using all of your body along with the art of feeling, knowledge of meridians and qi, as well as stages of arousal and different types of orgasms, to upgrade your lovemaking experience). Artha: 1) I've done a 41 day sufi ritual consisting of daily tasbih (reciting names of God) as well as salawaat (prayers for the prophet). On the 39th day, I got a call out of nowhere, inviting me to a one month job, which gave me 5 months of salary. At that point, I had been un-employed for 1.5 years, my savings were nearing 0, that's why I got so desperate that I decided to try a money ritual. 2) For several years, at every full moon I've done a money mantra from Vethathiri Maharishi. It was given to him by a yogi in astral form, when he had lost his business and had suddenly become very poor. He was great in meditation and spirituality, and had used his business to serve his community. They survived of his wife selling food she made in the streets. After he started this mantra, they built up the "World Community Service Center" and he became a famous Guru, respected by scientists, researchers, poets, celebrities and politicians. He's even on stamps, and his programs are in schools and universities. For me personally, I feel an energy building in my system when I do the mantra. I can't say for sure which results it has given me, but I do feel energy from it. 3) When I did a 41 Ganapati Tarpana (water ritual to the hindu elephant God), on the 39th day, I was called by my aunt, asking if I could tutor her girl friend's daughter in French. It was a few hundred bucks, very easy, 5-6 weeks in a row. On the 44th day of the ritual (I continued it for 3 more days), I got a call from the last place I worked, asking if I could come back for another 6 month project. 4) When I did 41 day Ganapati Yantra Puja, from the 38th day I started receiving inspiration on how to write a book and sell it using social media. Something I never thought of before! I'm still working on this project I can see that selling products online to the English speaking global market has unsurpassed potential for moneymaking, compared to simply working at a 9 to 5 job. Questions for you: What are your experiences and/or greatest hits with using spiritual traditions for upgrading kama and artha? God bless you!

Dear Dao Bums, In the spirit of sharing, what are your personal greatest hits? My personal top 3 is: 1) Simplified Kundalini Yoga (Vethathiri Maharishi), 2) Talisman qigong (Zhongxian Wu), 3) Sri Vidya (Amritananda / Devipuram). A little bit about each: 1) Simplified Kundalini Yoga (Vethathiri Maharishi) In this system your chakras are opened and empowered by a master one by one, allowing you to tangibly feel the pulsating vibration of energy in each chakra. It takes all the guesswork away, you don't need to rely on outer feedback anymore, you can yourself feel how strong your chakras are. Meditating on each chakra provides specific benefits. It's a complete system for increasing and transmuting sexual energy (kaya kalpa), building health through physical exercises (asanas, pranayama, massage and acupressure), building energy through meditation allowing you to achieve peace of mind and enlightenment, introspection for improving your moral character and getting rid of negative karmic imprints (vasanas/samskaras) and finally philosophical explanations for God, the universe, evolution, astrology etc. Beside the chakra meditations (7 inside the body, 2 outside, 9 in total), there are numerous other meditations which give unique benefits: Panchendriya (5 senses): this strengthens your 5 senses even until old age, and further gives your mind control of the senses. Panchabhuta Navagraha (5 elements and 9 planets): harmonize with universal forces and energies, cultivate energy, improve your destiny. Nityananda (meditating on the energy pervading all over the body): gives ecstatic pleasure and strengthens energy all over your body. Divine State Meditation: helps you to again and again understand and feel the oneness between you, the universe and all living beings. Lamp Gazing: improving eyesight, purifying and energizing your soul, mind, brain and energy, and over time can give supernatural skills. Mirror gazing: one of the most powerful meditations, increasing energy in your body manifold very quickly. Over time can also give supernatural skills. Above is a general description of the system, let me share my personal journey and breakthroughs along the way. 1st breakthrough: when I got the first initiation, I felt a little something between my eyebrows, but not very noticeable. However, when I meditated that night, my God, it was insane. The vibration was so strong and powerful, my mind became completely still, and I just sat in complete peace. 2nd breakthrough: when I got the third initation, sahasrara chakra, I was blown away. When I meditated on the vibration in the crown chakra, I felt the same orgasmic pleasure as just before ejaculating. However, instead of being in the prostate area, and ending after a few seconds, the orgasmic ecstasy just stays in your crown chakra and brain during the whole meditation. At this point... I increased my meditation time a lot 3rd breakthrough: when I got my dwadasangham chakra (12 fingers above the head) opened, after about 1-2 weeks of meditation, one day I felt it REALLY open. Immediately, I was flooded with information. Questions and doubts about life, the universe, things that had happened to me, answers just flooded my consciousness. And whenever I thought of a question, the answer immediately came. I felt at one with God. This also made me meditate much longer, because it was just so interesting. After some weeks, I had no more questions, so I just sat in complete peace and oneness. Nowadays, whenever something is going on in my life, I sit and meditate, and I will understand what's going on and why. 4th breakthrough: lamp gazing. I got SO much more energy after starting lamp gazing. It probably increased my energy levels 5 times or so. 5th breakthrough: when all chakras were opened, I realized just how weak my navel chakra had been. I got so much more energy and much better digestion when I could finally meditate on my navel chakra. 6th breakthrough: mirror gazing. This exercise is insane. My energy must have increased by 10 fold or more when I started doing it. To this day, I can't understand why it is SO powerful, but it increases my energy so much. I rarely ever fall sick, and I am always full of energy now. 7th breakthrough: becoming a master and initiating others. You simply do mirror gazing and meditation on the morning you give initiations to boost your own energy. Just before giving initiation, you say a prayer to God and Vethathiri. Every single time, energy just floods into your system, empowering either your hands or eyes, depending on which initiation you're about to give. It's truly magnificent. I can only imagine how powerful Vethathiri had been while still alive in the body, seeing that such strong energy still comes, simply because of his sankalpa to help as many as possible through SKY. 2) Talisman qigong (Zhongxian Wu) I was doing a 3 day workshop on his cosmic orbit qigong, which I really enjoyed. Due to a ticket sale, I would stay 3 more days after the workshop before flying home. Because Master Wu also stayed some days after the workshop, he decided to offer a one day workshop on "calligraphy healing qigong" for just 25 euros. I was so sceptical and there was no way I believed "painting" could be used as a way of healing. However, I was there for 3 days with nothing to day, and 25 euros was nothing, so I decided to try out the workshop. I came there just to pass time, expecting nothing. However, when we did the mantras, mudras and visualisation, I really felt energy come into my body. Then he asked us to practice healing on each other, and I just didn't believe it to be possible. To my great surprise, it worked! The lady I worked on could really feel my energy and that of the talisman inside her body. I was so surprised. I thought it was probably because I had already been meditating daily for 4 years. But there was no way that this elderly lady with no spiritual background could perform healing on me, she had no training, nor any energy to give. Even when she used the talisman to heal me, I really felt the energy from the talisman coming into my body! I was so surprised. It was not that powerful, but it still worked. I was blown away. Master Wu told us to go back home and practice daily for 49 days, then we would have access to this talisman's healing energy. We could use it on ourselves and others, or even to paint a talisman on paper to use for improving fengshui in the home. I went back home to practice, still not really believing it could be possible. I saw everything through the lens of hinduism: healing I considered a kind of siddhi, and acquiring siddhi is extremely difficult. At that point, I had done years and years of daily mala japa (chanting with prayer beads) of a mantra, completing many purascharans, and it had been quite difficult. And that was just to purify myself, come closer to God and prepare myself for higher sadhana (spiritual practice), including other sadhanas that could produce siddhis or supernatural powers. When I got back home and started practicing, I would do the talisman healing on myself, and I felt that it worked. About 10 days into my 49 day practice, my parents heard about my 49 day project. From that day, they asked me to call them every day when I was practicing, and they asked me to help heal different issues. Also as remote healing (something I didn't even believe in at the time). No matter what I did, it just worked! It worked every single time. They would call me after the healing and tell me everything they had experienced during the remote healing. About 21 days into my 49 days, random friends of my parents would call me and ask for healing. So during my 49 days, I hadn't even finished the 49 days, still the talisman energy was helping me to heal myself, siblings, parents, friends of my parents, and also a few strangers. This experience completely exploded my worldview at the time, and that's why I decided to keep training with Master Wu. I've since then learnt the talismans for all 5 elements (White Tiger, Green Dragon, Red Bird, Mystical Warrior and Mother of the Big Dipper). Mystical Warrior is northern water energy, Mother of the Big Dipper is central, earth energy. I actually spent all my money, and even lend from my grandmother, to travel and learn these talismans (at the time I was still studying, so I had low funds). I spend as little as possible on food and hotel when I was there, so I could pay everything back to her when I got back I still use it for myself, and sometimes if others ask for healings. I also use it to bless what I eat and drink sometimes. 3) Sri Vidya (Amritananda / Devipuram) This is a formerly secret system of Hindu Goddess Worship, which Amritananda has decided to share openly with the world. All Goddess worship can provide great supernatural powers, and the energies also have a great effect on our wordly life, e.g. increasing money and succes, healing etc. I never really cared for hindu ritual worship, I felt it to just be an empty show, and a way of extracting money from the poor. Priests and astrologers convincing poor people they had bad karma and needed to pay huge sums of money for them to do rituals on their behalf. However, when I saw a picture of Bala Tripura Sundari, I felt strangely attracted towards it. These weird feelings prompted me to try and do the beginners module. In the end, if it didn't work, I could just stop after the first module. I got diksha (initiation) for the mantras for the root, sexual and navel chakras. Furthermore, I learnt several rituals for each chakra: tarpana (water ritual), puja (prayer ceremony) and homa/havan (fire ritual). I did it just to try it out. First I did a 41 days tarpana for the root chakra God Ganesha/Ganapati (elephant God). I actually felt energy coming into my root chakra and circulating in the 4 nadis of the root chakra. This suprised me a lot! Further, when I was about 38 days in, I got a call from someone, offering me a side hustle to earn more money. On the 44th day (I continued the ritual a few days extra, because there were a few days my wife didn't do it with me, so for her to also reach 41 days, we extendend it 3 days), I got another call, yet again with another side hustle opportunity. I was really surprised! Firstly, I actually felt the mantra opening and circulating energy in my root chakra and nadis. Secondly, I felt the ritual actually had an effect on my worldly life! This I felt to be the magic from movies, books, series etc, where a wizard does certain rituals to change his life and acquire powers. Therefore I continued with Sri Vidya, and it just keeps giving. I have been given mantras and rituals for the root, sexual, navel, heart and 3rd eye chakra, and I am in the process of completing them all (tarpanas I have completed for all, pujas I have 2 to go, havan I am currently in the process of finishing for all). After this, I will get the final and ultimate mantra for the crown chakra, as well as the ultimate ritual performed directly on the Sri Meru / Sri Yantra / Sri Chakra. This is supposed to be the ultimate, making it possible to acquire all worldly pleasures, all spiritual powers as well as complete enlightenment. Conclusion: My personal greatest hits are: 1) Simplified Kundalini Yoga (Vethathiri Maharishi), this taught me deep meditation. 2) Talisman qigong (Zhongxian Wu), this taught me healing. 3) Sri Vidya (Amritananda / Devipuram), this taught me rituals and mantras to assist my worldly and spiritual life. Question: What are your personal greatest hits on the spiritual path? You can include a small summary of the system, as well as your personal journey and breakthroughs God bless you!

Dear Dao Bums, I would like to ask about your experiences and/or opinions on this topic: "karma visible in our energy field". Let me share some of my stories: 1) Master Zhongxian Wu A fellow student of Master Wu shared something with me: when you visualise your liver as green, that day when you see your whole liver as completely green, that organ is fully healed. As long as there are spots of other colors or dark spots, there remain some potential problem in that organ. Similarly for heart and small intestine as red, lung and large intestine as white/grey/transparent, kidney and bladder as blue/black/purple, spleen stomach and pancreas as yellow, and liver and gallbladder as green. The black spots / spots of other colors are karmas (from ancestors, from yourself or from the universe) remaining in your body, potentially causing you to fall sick later. 2) Chunyi Lin As long as there is a channel that is not open, it means there is a wrong energy blocking it. 3) Danish Mystic Martinus Martinus states that all of our karmas are visible in our energy field or aura. So someone could be walking around with a car accident in the aura, and for the psychic this would be clearly visible. 4) Damo Mitchell In one of Damo Mitchells books (I think it's his big one "a comprehensive guide to daoist neigong"), he talks about supernatural powers. One of the powers is the ability to view the whole qi field around a person. This makes the practitioner capable of predicting a person's future, as it's all visible in the different layers of the energy field. 5) Native American in Peru A coworker of mine spent 1 year in South America in Peru, trying to learn Spanish. When she was visiting a mountain deep in a jungle, as she was descending, a native american approached her. He warned her, that he could see in her aura that some bads things were just about to happen to her, and that it would be quite difficult emotionally, but that after 1 year, things would improve. When she got back to her hotel, her boyfriend called her and broke up with her. The next day she got a call that one of her parents had fallen sick, and that an animal on her childhood farm she loved had died. Everything the man told her came true in the next year, and when she pulled through, suddenly everything improved drastically. 6) My own experience After having a very mentally disturbing nadi reading last week, I went to meditate. I am initiated into Sri Vidya, and sat down to say my daily mantras for each chakra (japa). As I was going through each chakra, I saw some different dark spots and shapes inside each chakra. I intuitively understood what they meant, and understood that it was karmas from past lifetimes. They could be exhausted by experiencing them, and some of them could also be resolved through the mantras and rituals of Sri Vidya. I was happy that there was only one chakra that had a lot of bad karma stored in it, the others were much easier to deal with. However, it's going to take 1-3 years of intense rituals and mantras to clean up the worst and most intense stuff. Conclusion In the end, karma is simply energy. We have sent out energy through our thoughts, words and deeds, and this energy is bound to return to us. However, we can to a certain extent mitigate these energies, by building up opposing energies of sufficient strength. One way to do this is through qigong (posture, breathing, mantra, mudra and visualisation). Another way is through action (being good, serving others, giving to charity, forgiving, helping others etc). It's also possible through deep meditation on each chakra coupled with introspection and improvement of character (as done in SKY). Sri Vidya also gives very simple yet powerful ways of building energy through mantras, mudras and rituals. Depending on how strong your negative karma is, you need to put more energy into trying to cancelling it out. But it all comes to down being able to somehow get access to see and understand what the karmas are before they actually hit you, so you have time to build up the energy to try to neutralize them. Of course, in the end, karma is simply an educational tool of God, so another way is to simply learn our lesson then the karmas get wiped clean (according to Danish Martinus). Question What are your viewpoints, experiences or stories about the idea that karma is tangibly present and visible in our energy fields? God bless you!

Pls give me techniques for becoming powerful. I have done every possible things in the modern world to be come powerful and now when I looked through ancient ones i found daoism and I have already done some breathing techniques but i don't feel any different because i don't know the science behind it. If any senior can help me I am willing to do anything

New interview up:

Dear Dao Bums, I have searched and read all of the stories about Master Yuanming Zhang on this forum. I read some stories/reports/controversies, which stated that he was actually one of the teachers of both Master Zhongxian Wu (Master Wu) and Spring Forest Qigong founder Master Chunyi Lin. Supposedly, they then took some of his teachings, went to the west and became big stars using his teachings. I personally know nothing about this, but it's a pretty juicy story. I hope to engage with you on the following three points (regarding Master Yuanming Zhang): 1) can you either prove or disprove the idea that both Master Wu and Chunyi Lin copied Yuanming Zhang? Or share some stories related to these reports. 2) do you have any personal experiences or stories about Yuanming Zhang ? 3) if any of you are interested in his teachings, he hosts a 2 hour zoom meeting this Sunday (17th of July 2022) on meditation. I look forward to hearing what you guys have to say Be blessed!

I have been studying about human intelligence for a while and ironically its what led me to spirituality. I realized at some point it wasnt just about the brain. After studying buddhist and yogi techniques I came across certain methods. In shigon buddhism there is a mantra that Jkukai used to get supernormal memory and learning. In hinduism they use the mantra of saraswati to increase intelligence and memory. In patanjalis yoga they say samayama(dharana,dhyana,samadhi) on any object can grant u siddhis based on the object. However I dont know what object they use for supernormal memory and learning. Now I was wondering what will be the daoist method. Reason why I am curious about the daoist method is because Daoists are very logical and hyper efficient in creating their techniques that their methods are one of if not the fastest amongst all cultivation cultures. The reason why I want the siddhi of supernormal memory and learning is that I noticed that in the past this particular ability was very important to cultivators and their students. It seemed to help them see through the veil of what they were being taught and obey the instructions given correctly. Today most of us are of average intelligence which makes it tough for us to understand the instructions. Also imagine if u could learn languages like pali,sanskrit and mandarin quickly so u could read classics and original documents.

Hi, I'm doing Zhan Zhuang and am interested in meditation, spiritual practice in general. I have recently very much enjoyed books by Anthony de Mella, Lester Levenson, Rob Nelson, ... I'm also learning Mandarin and now I would love to start reading/learning with Chinese books that have a similar paradigm hoping that the added interest and motivation because of the topic will support the learning. Any recommendations would be greatly welcome! Thanks!

Dear Dao Bums, What I wanted to share today was my very interesting discovery about the parallels between the TCM and qigong meridian system, and the chakra, nadi and petal system in Yoga and Sri Vidya. The two channels in the agyna chakra: Ksham (क्ष) is the left side of the forehead, it is the left, outermost bladder meridian in TCM. Ham (हं) is the right side of the forehead, it is the right, outermost bladder meridian in TCM. The bladder branches into 2 channels on each side of the spine, i.e. 4 channels in total. An innermost and an outermost on each side of the spine. The four channels in the muladhara chakra: Sam (सं) is the left, lower kidney meridian (i.e. from the muladhara chakra and down to under the foot) Vam (वं) is the right, lower kidney meridian (i.e. from the muladhara chakra and down) Sham( शं) is the upper part of the right kidney meridian (from muladhara chakra and up through the body, through the lung and finally into the brain) Ssam (षं) is the upper part of the left kidney meridian (from muladhara chakra and up) The six channels in the swadistana chakra: Lam (लं) is the left, lower part of the spleen meridian (running from svadistana chakra and down to the big toe) Bam (बं) is the right, lower part of the spleen meridian. Bham (भं) is the right, upper part of the spleen meridian (running from svadistana and up) Mam (मं) is the innermost bladder channel to the right of the spine, running from swadistana chakra and up alonside the spine Yam (यं) is the innermost bladder channel to the left of the spine, running from swadistana chakra and up alonside the spine Ram (रं) is the upper part of the left spleen meridian (from swadistana and up). I can't wait to journey through the rest of the chakras and nadis, and clear the channels even more (nadi shuddhi). I'll keep you posted as I discover more If you'd like to know a bit more about the background, read on: There are mantras for 6 chakras and their individual nadis. There are 2 nadis in the agyna chakra, 4 nadis in the muladhara chakra, 6 in the swadistana, 10 in the manipura, 12 in the anahata, 16 in the vishuddi. That means you need to memorize a total of 50 sanskrit letters and their mantra, which is going to take some time Saying the sound of the sanskrit letter in the "petals" of the chakra, activates the nadi. Saying the sound of the sanskrit letter in the middle of the chakra, activates the chakra. All of this knowledge is from Hinduism, namely the Yoga and Sri Vidya tradition, as taught by Guru Karunamaya. I've written about my experiences with it here: The method is simply "sandwiching" an empowered mantra from your guru in between the sanskrit letter for each channel. This 1) activates the channel, 2) sends energy from your guru mantra into the channel, 3) closes the energy inside the channel. For example: lam aum nama shivaya lam. So far, I've only mastered the agnya, muladhara and swadistana (which I've described above), so the next one I'll work on memorizing and opening is the manipura chakra and its 10 nadis Be blessed by the Divine! May we all enjoy good health, long life, prosperity, happiness, wisdom and peace

This paper basically states that Daoism and Yijing comes from Indo--Europeans. Is this even possible? Can this be true? https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350522856_Indo-Europeans_in_the_Ancient_Yellow_River_Valley?_sg[1]=

For those of you well experienced in Buddhism and the other arts. I'd like to open a discussion about the differences between the systems. What similarities have people noticed and what differences. This paper gives some examples - Daoyin is mentioned as being the same as pranayama for example or that Hatha Yoga came from Buddhism. Would you agree? https://www.researchgate.net/publication/359231046_A_Brief_Overview_Comparing_the_Core_Theories_Cultivation_Practices_and_the_Interrelationships_of_Buddhism_Daoism_Brahmanism_and_Yoga?_sg[1]=

I have been an avid reader of William Bodri's work and some of Nan Huai Chin. They seem to imply that Buddhism and Daoism are doing the same thing but from different angles. Buddhism is from the angle of mind/Shen. While Daoism is from the angle of Qi. Bodri talks about how the first 4 jhana's or form Jhana's are alchemical in nature hence why they are called form Jhana. They purify the form realm of a person's being which is yuan jing, qi and shen. And then the formless jhana's work on emptiness itself. They say its slower than alchemy but safer. As one achieves each jhana the alchemical transformation occurs naturally on its own. They say as one becomes extreme yin true yang qi rises and opens the extraordinary meridians. He emphasizes Anapanasati or Skeleton Visualization. Do you guys think his right. Also on my own as I started reading books on daoism like Damo Mitchell, Wang Mu laying the foundation, Jerry ALan Johnsons Neigong book, Taoist yoga and even Nathan Brine the disciple of Wang Liping. They all talk about xing and ming. Ming represents jing to qi to shen transformation. While xing represents working with ones true nature. The two seem similar to buddhist Shamatha and Vipassana. Cuz Shamatha or concentration practices do not work with ones true nature rather they help to purify ones mind until it becomes comlpetely still and pliable which is at fourth jhana.Plus they seem to be energy transformations as one climbs the jhana ladder. At the point of fourth jhana you have reached yuan shen. Then from 4th jhana one can practice Vipassana cuz the mind is still and strong enough to look back on its own nature and observe itself. Similar to Xing practices in daoism. Do you guys agree with this?

I started as a Buddhist practicioner cause I read on a reddit forum how Jhanas could increase human intelligence. For some reason as young as I could remember I always felt humans could be better and we were not using our full mental power. At some point I came across Daoism. I found their extremely datailed and logical approach quite fascinating. And in studying daoism I came across Bill Bodri who seemed to equate the 2 different traditions. It almost seems like they are doing the same thing through different approaches. Someone said the buddhism achieves freedom from karma or enlightenment by making ones consciousness egoless while daoism seems to make ones consciousness so powerful that its karma cant pull it back to earth what they would call the yang shen. Furthermore the jhanas and the transformation of the three treasures were seen as the same thing were first jhana body is full of jing hence the pleasure or what they call piti and sukkha. In second Jhana the jing transforms into chi. Hence the feeling of joy and loss of body awareness, By third jhana the chi turns to shen. Hence the contentment. By fourth jhana you reach emptiness. Hence the equanmity. Then the immaterial jhanas where one breaks the emptiness. And finally enlightenment where one unites with the Dao. What do you giys think?

I started reading taoist yoga and i must say all the nei dan information dont look like instructions to me. They look like biographical information of the alchemical changes of the energy body as one cultivates towards samadhi. There are too much steps and processes to be aware of that I believe alchemy infromation was more like sign posts that your on the right track rather than steps to actually follow. I mean there are easier ways like anapanasati and skeleton visualization from the buddha or samatha(concentration) practices in general. Instead of the risky practice that is alchemy. And yes you can not achieve samadhi without alchemical changes happening inside you. Else it would be false samadhi. Nan Hua Chin said that samadhi without change in your body is a false teaching that has infected buddhism especially zen. He encourages people to learn about alchemy only to use it as a referral that they are on the right track rather than an instruction manual. His book Tao & Longevity: Mind-Body Transformation shows how alchemical changes happen in the body using practices like anapanasati from the buddha. He says its based on the rule of the dao that extreme yin gives birth to yang. So the stillness from anapanasati where at some point you slow down to the point of having your breath, pulse and thoughts stop(hsi), gives birth to the yang chi being born. No need for all the alchemical jargon just slow down and become still and the internal alchemy will take place. its like our bodies mimicking creation. Where from wuji came taiji and from taiji came yang chi of heaven. The secret of immortality. It has also been said in yoga that physical immortals are in samadhi 24/7 hence they are constantly in touch with the yang qi of heaven. So if alchemy is just another way to samadhi or wuji why do Daoist treat it like its some super secret when there are even safer and less cumbersome ways of getting to samadhi. After all the emptiness is called nirvikalpa samadhi in other traditions.

Hey! I'm looking for daoist classes online, to learn daoism, use of talismans and etc... If I need to pay it's ok but if know a place for free it would be better, It's been hard for me since pandemic crisis. Thx in advance

I've been reading about the fact that practitioners in the art of Dao like to have their hair long. And some. In a knot up top. Somehow all of this related to the pineal gland, as it is an extra storage of energy they say. Has anyone here manipulated their hair, and found that it activated the pineal gland. Squeezing the hairs on the top of my head have given me somewhat results but I'm not sure, I think I'd like a second opinion on that. Squeezing seems to be important. My hairs are naturally in a spider hairstyle that I maintain without training. Don't ask me how. It just stays that way. And the more I go along my practice; the more it stays that way. Morning nighttime - it stays that way. So it is easy for me to grab it and squeeze it. You could say. They are like antennas. But that hang about. Waiting around, like a spider's legs. Perhaps Wicca style. But I'm not sure.

I recently learned about an interesting website called The Book of Xian and Shen (BOXS), which catalogs information and pictures for Chinese gods from all over the world. There are currently 2,000 listings and counting. https://www.bookofxianshen.com/ It is based on the work of religious scholar Keith Stevens (d. 2016), who wrote the amazing Chinese Gods: The Unseen Worlds of Spirits and Demons (Collins & Brown, 1997) (fig. 1). I recently volunteered to help the project. So far, I’ve written two articles (see reference no. W1001 and W1011) and updated two other existing listings with information and pictures (see the bottom of W8620 and W9305). Fig. 1 – My well-worn personal copy of Chinese Gods (larger version). Due to the great number of listings, there are no direct links. Instead, the site has adopted a somewhat confusing (but necessary) cataloging system based around reference numbers, pinyin, Mandarin, and Wade-Giles. However, it’s easy to use once you get used to it. For example, if you were going to search for Sanqing, the “Three Pure Ones“, using, say, Pinyin, I recommend first getting the reference number (RefNo). Deities —> Tabular Listing of Xian Shen Deities —> Field: Pinyin —> Type: Contains —> Value: San qing (you may have to play around with the spacing like I did here) —> Filter —> Then look for the correct listing (since other listings mentioning them might appear in the list) —> ☰ —> copy the “RefNo”, in this case W5540 (fig. 2) —> Deities —> Deities Page with Full Listing Side Bar —> Field: RefNo —> Type: Contains —> Value: W5540 —> Filter (fig. 3) —> The listing (fig. 4) If you know the Mandarin or Wade-Giles for the deity you are looking for, the process would be similar. You would just need to change the field to “Mandarin” or “Wade-Giles”. You could just jump to “Deities Page with Full Listing Side Bar” to search using pinyin, mandarin, and Wade-Giles, but it’s been my experience that a different listing will pop up first based on a higher RefNo or Romanized spelling. First finding the reference number seems to be the easiest method for me. I can’t recommend this website enough. New gods, as well as new stories or beliefs associated with more established deities, are appearing all the time, so it is very important to catalog everything as soon as new information becomes available. If you would like to volunteer in some way, please contact Ronni Pinsler using the “contact” form on the BOXS website. Fig. 2 – How to acquire the reference number (RefNo) (larger version). Fig. 3 – How to navigate to the listing (larger version). Fig. 4 – The listing as seen from the top of the page (larger version).

Open discussion. I'll start with an anecdote. As my life is setup right now, I work in an emergency department as a doctor. I see all kinds of people there. I face pretty intense situations and have to keep my cool. Throughout my months of taking upon the "doctor" role, I have become more and more confident in these types of situations. At first I held a lot of fear about what would happen and how to handle specific situations, but once you learn it, a lot of that fear disappears. This is not to say that the work cannot still be stressful, in that there's a lot to do and many obligations, lots to manage at the same time, pressures, it can still be depleting, etc. - but I wouldn't use the word fear anymore to describe my feelings toward it. As I drove home from grocery shopping today with my significant other, I crossed the road turning left, following the rules correctly, looking right and left, seeing a car to my left that blinks to the right, and think "okay, free ahead", and suddenly this guy overtakes the car in front of him about to turn, driving at least 70km/h where you're allowed to drive 50 km/h and has to push the brakes powerfully to avoid colliding into the side of the road. Instead of seeing his own mistake, he turns his car around, drives behind me and flashes the lights multiple times. Drives closer and closer very aggressively. At this point not only my significant other but also myself feel adrenaline rushing into the body and fueling the mind, "what should we do?" "maybe he'll hurt us". The classic fight-and-flight response. We've heard lots of stories around where we live which is close to a ghetto-place where many crazy things unfold. We turn the corner and he's still following aggressively so I decide to drive the car to the side, and he drives up next to me, and I roll down the window slightly. I think as he realises I'm not going to blame him, he simply says "Didn't you see I was coming?", and I just said something like, "It was a very unfortunate incident", and he says, "oh okay, just look next time", he seems to cool his demeanor and then gives a nod and drives away. Afterwards I'm struck by a deep disappointment in myself. Why was I that afraid? Why did my body and mind react so violently? It did not in any way or form help the situation. There was no point to it. I could've had the same conversation with him, perhaps much better, if I had been in a fearless state of mind. Instead, I was unconfident and afraid and answered him timidly. My significant other said it was overall well done as I defused the situation which could've gone a lot worse if we were unlucky and I had pushed him, as the guy was clearly looking for a fight. Maybe. I still can't help but think that fear ultimately doesn't help and it surely doesn't feel like it's a wise or elevated state to be in either. On the contrary. So that made me think... what is fear exactly? It disappeared as quickly as it came. But is it just ignorance? Ignorance of the unknown? Or is it rather all about attachment to life? Being afraid of losing what one has? Or is it instead simply all due to weak "kidneys", and people with strong kidneys never really feel fear like that? Either way, would be curious to hear people's thoughts. How does a practictioner approach fear? How does a practictioner eventually overcome it completely?