HOW TO GO IN SEARCH OF TRUTH

[Suliman]

I've been thinking about this question for a while now and ill try and be as clear as possible.

 

In alot of Taoist books it mentions its key to find a teacher and learn the true ways and understand properly from the illumined. As to start practicing the true teachings without guidance or guides they say "who would dare set to work" and if a "slight deviation causes tremendous loss" then its silly to not find a teacher.

 

The question is i do not know where to start and hope (or pray) that someone can shed some light here.

I have considered travelling around china and searching for a true teacher but will that be foolish? , would i find the right one? how would i know because i cant say im exactly anywhere near in harmony with tao or life and so cant uses forces beyond my control to synchronistically have this happen.

Many true taoist masters had a teacher and often found the right guy to teach them.

 

Should i continue on the path im on living without a master in this mundanity that surrounds me,evermore in darkness to the true reality (even though ive got books they can only give me so much- i work very slow lol).

I have considered going to China in search or continuing on my path in life practicing virtue as it says in most taoist texts-

im confused because in many teachings it says when the student is ready the master appears,does that mean i should continue my mundane life reading and practicing truth but living and striving in the world until i harmonize my life with nature and then at the right time the master will appear OR SHOULD I earnestly search in China for a true master.

 

---Any advice or anything even related to this issue will help me a hundredfold and so would really appreciate any input

Thanks guys

[Sloppy Zhang]

Everyone and everything is (or at least, can be) a teacher, because everyone and everything contains lessons that can be learned. If you believe we're all part of something, or if you believe there is some unifying force which connects us all, or exists in all things, or if you think there is some natural way that the world works, then why do you need someone to tell you what it is? The truth should be self evident to anyone willing to look at the situation as it's happening. Free of delusions and propaganda and personal bias- just see what is.

 

To this extent, it's important to still your mind, listen, and observe. Don't look at something and think you know what it is. Just look at something.

 

Watch a bird fly. Watch the sun rise and set. Observe the changing of the seasons, and what things change with it. Observe human interactions. Observe your own body. Relax. Don't think, feel (Bruce Lee and Qui-Gon Jinn said that, so it must be true!)

 

Travelling to China would be a serious waste of time and money, unless you speak Chinese, have some kind of contacts there, or if it was really your destiny (if you believe in that kinda stuff) to meet a master there.

 

 

Maybe I'm wrong. There weren't a lot of good teachers in my area when I started, so I learned to become self reliant. I'm not averse to having a nice teacher who knows what they are talking about to show me the way. But there aren't a lot of people with both genuine knowledge, and the ability to genuinely pass it along.

[Starjumper]

im confused because in many teachings it says when the student is ready the master appears,does that mean i should continue my mundane life reading and practicing truth but living and striving in the world until i harmonize my life with nature and then at the right time the master will appear OR SHOULD I earnestly search in China for a true master.

 

No, it means you start learning tai chi NOW (not chi kung!) from the most authentic teacher you can find and work your ass off and get really really good, in addition to sitting no mind meditation, then some true master may think you're worthy to accept as a student.

 

Also, there's no need to got to China, there are just as many true masters in the West. It's just that for every guy you read about in books or on the internet there are twenty who you never hear about, and they are usually more powerful. It's better to work through referrals, networking, but don't wait, grab the bull by the balls and run with it. Just stay away from most chi kung, as it's reeeeally pathetic.

 

Edited for spelling

Edited July 26, 2010 by Starjumper7

[beoman]

Just stay away from most chi kung, as it's reeeeally pathetic.

How come? doesn't tai chi have a large chi kung aspect? (I'm assuming chi kung = qi gong)

[Starjumper]

Well yes, tai chi is a type of chi kung, in facts it's quite a good chi kung, it's a true nei kung, better and far safer than most of the mind game stuff out there. For example, I won't have someone as a student who does the MCO as it is very detrimental to energy cultivation, and it would be advisable to not accept one if they did it much in the past either, because the damage runs deep. As someone said in another thread, maybe only 10% of the people will show ill effects, but that means that another 80% are hurting themselves on some level but not feeling the effect.

Edited July 26, 2010 by Starjumper7

[Suliman]

thanks guy keep that coming thats great

 

love the "Relax. Don't think, feel (Bruce Lee and Qui-Gon Jinn said that, so it must be true!)"- u know when i was younger that was my favourite saying and bruce lee is how i first starteod learning tao and due to ROCKY 4(LOVE THE MUSIC LOL INSPIRED-well when i was 8)

 

 

In reply to quiet sitting and tai chi- many texts that ive read due to Liu ming just call them abberant paths and side tracks so i try not to use them in my practice but im not adverse to anyone who regards that path for them(each to his own preference and nature i suppose)

 

I think your right about the mundanity even in China ,well to search for a genuine teacher must be so hard now with all the false practices etc.

You also caught my heart with the YODA quotes ,i read and became very very inspired from the joseph campbell stuff in the past.

But it concerns me that i now am aware of a greater truth outhere and true knowledge of liu ming chang po tuan but i dare not start the practice myself so do you think i should do what i can ,practice virtue until an extreme and then maybe ill be ready?

[Suliman]

thanks guy keep that coming thats great

 

correction :

i meant thanks guyS keep that coming

[beoman]

Well yes, tai chi is a type of chi kung, in facts it's quite a good chi kung, it's a true nei kung, better and far safer than most of the mind game stuff out there. For example, I won't have someone as a student who does the MCO as it is very detrimental to energy cultivation, and it would be advisable to not accept one if they did it much in the past either, because the damage runs deep. As someone said in another thread, maybe only 10% of the people will show ill effects, but that means that another 80% are hurting themselves on some level but not feeling the effect.

 

Is the MCO that detrimental? How come? I tried doing it a few times.. it was even in a Tai Chi Chuan book I read, although they called it After Heaven Breathing and it was a bit different than that Spring Forest QiGong exercise (the small universe meditation). should i stop doin it?

[Starjumper]

Is the MCO that detrimental? How come? I tried doing it a few times.. it was even in a Tai Chi Chuan book I read, although they called it After Heaven Breathing and it was a bit different than that Spring Forest QiGong exercise (the small universe meditation). should i stop doin it?

 

I would recommend that you stop if by 'doing it' you are referring to the mind game way as taught by Chia and praised by great masses of misled Bums, which is considered to be a 'hard' style. If by doing it you are referring to the physical movement way then that is perfectly fine, as long as you do it both ways and combine it with all the other hundreds of flows in your body. It is much easier to cover all the bases with movement than with your mind, plus doing it with your mind is just plain WIMPY as it doesn't cultivate vitality. Wimpy is as wimpy does, wimpy chi kung causes wimpy energy, and you can take that to the bank. One needs to cultivate the vitality that comes from relatively strenuous exercises as you find in tai chi and zhan zhuang in order to cultivate chi power.

 

Really, all you need to do is cultivate more chi through movements and standings and the orbit flows will go by themselves. Having more chi will blast through blockages on it's own.

 

Maybe the MCO is OK for some old men who already cultivated for sixty years and who just finished working in the fields for eight hours and just want to sit, but for office workers with flats butts it's just killing yourself softly.

[Starjumper]

tIn reply to quiet sitting and tai chi- many texts that ive read due to Liu ming just call them abberant paths and side tracks so i try not to use them in my practice but im not adverse to anyone who regards that path for them(each to his own preference and nature i suppose)

 

Lui I Ming said that? What a naughty boy he is, in any case, he wasn't talking to you.

 

It's true, only sitting quietly and only doing tai chi are side paths, but they are far better than wimpy chi kung.

 

They may be side paths but they will prepare you well for the real path. Keep in mind I'm prejudiced. By 'real' path I mean the way of cultivating purified energy, which is at the foundation of the Taoist paths that lead to the Way.

 

If you just want some teacher to teach you verbally to be virtuous, then that's totally different and I don't think you'll ever find a true Taoist master that does that. The sage teaches without speaking, and there already are ten billion religious words that are all variations of 'be good', and they don't do much good, do they? A person needs the clarity and enlightenment that comes from true cultivation in order to excel at virtue.

Edited July 27, 2010 by Starjumper7

[Suliman]

FIRST OF ALL:

 

Lui I Ming said that? What a naughty boy he is, in any case, he wasn't talking to you. FANTASTIC LOL

 

 

SECOND: If you just want some teacher to teach you verbally to be virtuous, then that's totally different and I don't think you'll ever find a true Taoist master that does that. The sage teaches without speaking, and there already are ten billion religious words that are all variations of 'be good', and they don't do much good, do they? A person needs the clarity and enlightenment that comes from true cultivation in order to excel at virtue

 

I TOTALLY agree and my knowledge is partial ,i have to learn many things and so when im messaging im wanting to learn also so i am open.

[Encephalon]

When I go in search of truth, I usually bring my Bug-Out Bag. I keep $200 cash, an extra battery for my cell phone, a decent first-aid kit with a small bottle of tea tree oil, a $30 monocular, space blanket, tube tent, multitool, a three day supply of Mainstay Emergency rations, a Remington 870 with both shot and slugs, my Baretta sidearm with three extra clips, and a copy of "The Art of Peace" by Morihei Ueshiba.

[Mattimo]

To think that one NEEDS a teacher is doing a great disservice to his/herself. Read as much as you can and select a practice or two that doesn't deal with mental abstractions and see how far you can go. The only caveat is take every measure to remain grounded

[beoman]

I would recommend that you stop if by 'doing it' you are referring to the mind game way as taught by Chia and praised by great masses of misled Bums, which is considered to be a 'hard' style. If by doing it you are referring to the physical movement way then that is perfectly fine, as long as you do it both ways and combine it with all the other hundreds of flows in your body. It is much easier to cover all the bases with movement than with your mind, plus doing it with your mind is just plain WIMPY as it doesn't cultivate vitality. Wimpy is as wimpy does, wimpy chi kung causes wimpy energy, and you can take that to the bank. One needs to cultivate the vitality that comes from relatively strenuous exercises as you find in tai chi and zhan zhuang in order to cultivate chi power.

 

Really, all you need to do is cultivate more chi through movements and standings and the orbit flows will go by themselves. Having more chi will blast through blockages on it's own.

 

Maybe the MCO is OK for some old men who already cultivated for sixty years and who just finished working in the fields for eight hours and just want to sit, but for office workers with flats butts it's just killing yourself softly.

Hmm interesting. if you do it with the movements, would you find it useful to also do the sitting with the mind one? i'm curious because i skimmed through this book, you can find it here: http://www.ebook3000.com/T-ai-CHI-QI-and-Jin--Ultimate-Guide-for-Developing-Internal-and-Intrinsic-Energies_80004.html . the book mentions that you should do sitting chi kung as well as all the forms. though i could see why doing it only sitting would not lead to best results.

 

have you read the book before? maybe you'll find it interesting. i'm curious what your opinions on it are.

[Encephalon]

I would recommend that you stop if by 'doing it' you are referring to the mind game way as taught by Chia and praised by great masses of misled Bums, which is considered to be a 'hard' style. If by doing it you are referring to the physical movement way then that is perfectly fine, as long as you do it both ways and combine it with all the other hundreds of flows in your body. It is much easier to cover all the bases with movement than with your mind, plus doing it with your mind is just plain WIMPY as it doesn't cultivate vitality. Wimpy is as wimpy does, wimpy chi kung causes wimpy energy, and you can take that to the bank. One needs to cultivate the vitality that comes from relatively strenuous exercises as you find in tai chi and zhan zhuang in order to cultivate chi power.

 

Really, all you need to do is cultivate more chi through movements and standings and the orbit flows will go by themselves. Having more chi will blast through blockages on it's own.

 

Maybe the MCO is OK for some old men who already cultivated for sixty years and who just finished working in the fields for eight hours and just want to sit, but for office workers with flats butts it's just killing yourself softly.

 

How do you account for why so many of the world's author/practitioners are so consistent and yet so horribly deceived regarding the MCO? I'm not a fan of Chia, but Deng Ming-Dao, Bruce Frantzis, Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming, Waysun Liao, Chunyi Lin, Dan Reid - those are just the authors I've read - are all these folks deceived?

 

Bruce Frantzis writes in great detail about the different advantages of building your energy with chi with chi kung physical movements and developing your capacity to move it with mind alone (nei kung). So does Dr. Yang KM. The practices go hand in hand. The consistent point made by all is that you need both if you plan on aging gracefully without becoming a hollowed out shell.

 

I'm a personal trainer, which is an irrelevent point, but insofar as strength training and vitality goes, I'm completely with you. Although I am obliged to say that I've only studied nei kung as taught by Master Chu and there is no mention of MCO in this system either. None. But I credit my nei kung with a very non-wimpy MCO that pretty much took off on its own when I discovered the MCO and started to investigate it.

Edited July 27, 2010 by Blasto

[Encephalon]

Great post Blasto.

 

(Also, best to you in your healing, _/\_ )

 

 

Thanks. I was trying to introduce a little levity, but honestly, I'm beginning to feel like someone who has trifled with something too important to mess with. I am after all, a beginner and should summon more humility.

[Spectrum]

pilgrimage

Edited July 27, 2010 by Spectrum

[Starjumper]

I'm a personal trainer, which is an irrelevent point, but insofar as strength training and vitality goes, I'm completely with you. Although I am obliged to say that I've only studied nei kung as taught by Master Chu and there is no mention of MCO in this system either. None. But I credit my nei kung with a very non-wimpy MCO that pretty much took off on its own when I discovered the MCO and started to investigate it.

If your MCO started on it's own without you dictating it then that's fine.

 

developing your capacity to move it with mind alone (nei kung).

You were fine there until you said that moving it with your mind is Nei Kung. Nei Kung includes all chi kung methods, including all the moving ones, and it's the moving ones that are important, they are important for vitality, which is needed for chi and shen. This, the requirement for movement NEVER ends ... until you are ready to die.

 

How do you account for why so many of the world's author/practitioners are so consistent and yet so horribly deceived regarding the MCO? I'm not a fan of Chia, but Deng Ming-Dao, Bruce Frantzis, Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming, Waysun Liao, Chunyi Lin, Dan Reid - those are just the authors I've read - are all these folks deceived?

 

Bruce Frantzis writes in great detail about the different advantages of building your energy with chi with chi kung physical movements and developing your capacity to move it with mind alone (nei kung). So does Dr. Yang KM. The practices go hand in hand. The consistent point made by all is that you need both if you plan on aging gracefully without becoming a hollowed out shell.

 

I'm a personal trainer, which is an irrelevent point, but insofar as strength training and vitality goes, I'm completely with you. Although I am obliged to say that I've only studied nei kung as taught by Master Chu and there is no mention of MCO in this system either. None. But I credit my nei kung with a very non-wimpy MCO that pretty much took off on its own when I discovered the MCO and started to investigate it.

 

Well then Master Chu probably knows the 'real' stuff. I'm not sure why some of these supposed experts sell the MCO, and I've spent a few microseconds contemplating it and it seems fairly self evident to me.

 

What I know is that my teacher, who is one of the top five most powerful Chinese chi kung masters, was adamantly against doing the MCO or ANY other forced flow where you arbitrarily direct it with your mind, whether it is visualization or intent. Also the other top masters don't teach it and are against it. I'll bet Wang Liping, who I don't think is in the top five, doesn't teach it either, nor do other chi power cultivation oriented masters.

 

So why does Mantak Chia teach it? It is said that the sage teaches without speaking, and yet so many Bums here ignore the important stuff in Taoism. The sage teaches without speaking but what happens when you go to a Chia seminar? It's blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, etc, and that's just about one technique. So is Chia really a master? Really$$? He talks so much one simplistic technique that you only have a couple of minutes to practice it. I showed my teacher a couple of his books and he said it looked like a bunch of unrelated stuff that someone threw together.

 

So let's examine why the MCO is so popular. It's quite hard to describe detailed movement exercises in a book, and most people are way too lazy to even make a half assed attempt - so - no money there. However, it's possible to write a whole book about something as simple as the MCO, and people who like to sit around and read stuff will eat it up if it includes some pretty color pictures along with plenty of other pictures of genitals.

 

Then some other authors noticed how popular it was and jumped on the band wagon.

 

True practitioners noticed that when you do good chi kung (good chi kung means moving chi kung) that the MCO starts up and goes on it's own so some people wrote about it, and then some other people decided to bypass the cultivation parts and just do the circle jerk with an empty tantien. So, not only is it getting it backwards, but it's forced and fairly useless (not mentioning the damaging part).

 

The important thing is that doing something like the MCO with your mind is, as my teacher said, like training a dog to stay, and then when you want it to come to your aid it won't come because it's staying. It's like a stream that wears a groove in the rock, it gets deeper and deeper and the energy you have available for other more important things, like health and self defense, not to mention enlightenment, is sidetracked into this groove, and for no good reason at all.

 

Those who want their dog chained to the dog house, fine, but when

 

Edit: needed lots of editing =)

Edited July 28, 2010 by Starjumper7

[Starjumper]

continued from previous post:

 

Those who want their dog chained to the dog house, fine, but having a lot of energy should be like a wild stallion running free across the open plains. it should be free to do any job at any time and not restrained.

 

Movements are difficult to describe with speaking when in person, and that much more difficult to describe by writing, very difficult. You could take one single moderately complex movement and by the time you described all the angles of all the joints through out the whole movement, along with timing, intent, focus on stretching, strengthening, and energy, and the myriad benefits and warnings and all the variations you would fill a whole book up with one movement, and there are ten thousand movements in a 'real' nei kung system. (One must accentuate the word 'real' in a place such as this). So the MCO types learn a couple of exercises from a book or a verbose teacher, which are like 0.1% of a true system and they're good to go.

 

There's only one way to learn the ten thousand ways: What real masters do is they do the movement and you watch them like a hawk and then you imitate it as carefully as possible (only a master attempts a true imitation of another) then you go home and study it a lot at home so you can fuckin' figure it out for yourself; and you better remember it, because next week it will likely by a little different or very different movement, and there are many such movement that comprise a form. If you're going to learn ten thousand techniques, even if you learn five new ways per week it will still take forty years to learn the system. What happens is that you might go for about eight years if you are lucky, and learn three to four thousand techniques, and then you have to extrapolate and figure out the other 6000 on your own. Real masters aren't spoon fed. Those who want spoon fed go to the book store.

 

So obviously most people don't have any desire to do the real thing, that's why there are simplistic chi kung forms on DVD. Real Nei Kung includes all the chi kung forms, except for the hard style stuff, which is normally bad for your health.

 

So the sage teaches without speaking because it's far and away the most efficient and quickest way to learn a vast thing. There are hundreds of chi flows in the body, and if you want to go to the mountain top you need to get them all racing and pulsing in unison and you need to do it along side the exercise which create chi and vitality to put it to good use. Just sitting is wimpy and how are you going to play the MCO game with all your chi flows, what if you miss something? You WILL miss something, in fact if you get it from books you'll probably miss a lot. With a full spectrum of movements done mindfully you can cover all the chi flows without having to bother even thinking about it. Why think about it, isn't no mind better? Isn't it better to listen to the energy rather than dictate to your dog?

 

There's also the exercise aspect of movement. If you just sit around with your finger in your nose and visualize stuff then you are wasting time! If you want to cultivate high power you need to make efficient use of time. Therefore in a good Nei Kung system you do stretching, strengthening, energy gathering, blockage removal, energy cultivation and generation, and meditation ALL at the same time.

Edited July 28, 2010 by Starjumper7

[Sloppy Zhang]

A picture is worth a thousand words.

 

It might take a long time to explain a movement, but show a picture, even better, show a set of pictures as the movement progresses, and you've cut down about 3-5 thousand words that don't need to be said.

 

Add in some general principles of movement that the student should be expected to maintain at all times, and you've suddenly described a rather complex movement in a format that can be put in a book. Maybe add an instructional DVD, and voila- complex movement delivered right to your doorstep.

 

 

Is there are going to be a teacher there to nitpick every detail? Of course not (unless the teacher psychically observes you).

 

But for a dedicated student with the passion and ability, they can do a lot with that movement.

 

It's 2010. C'mon people. It's not like you gotta etch your qigong movements in a stone cave with a chisel. Any idiot with a camera can video tape themselves doing something stupid and put it on youtube in a matter of minutes. Surely a qigong/neigong teacher determined to teach people the "genuine technique" can at least make a 10 minute youtube vid that illustrates the final points.

Edited July 28, 2010 by Sloppy Zhang

[Starjumper]

It's true, there are some good chi kung DVDs out there, and some not so good ones, but ten minutes? If I made a 90 minute DVD of my system, and I'm going to soon because my kung fu brother who is lineage holder of my system asked me to, it will be one little teeny snapshot of a vast ever changing thing, and it will be beginning style only. Nor will it explain how it applies to the philosophy of the principles of power ... no talking

Edited July 28, 2010 by Starjumper7

[Sloppy Zhang]

It's true, there are some good chi kung DVDs out there, and some not so good ones, but ten minutes? If I made a 90 minute DVD of my system, and I'm going to soon because my kung fu brother who is lineage holder of my system asked me to, it will be one little teeny snapshot of a vast ever changing thing, and it will be beginning style only. Nor will it explain how it applies to the philosophy of the principles of power ... no talking

 

*sigh*

 

 

How did I know you were going to respond so literally to the "ten minute" comment? It seems like whenever someone wants to dodge a point, they do so by examining it in an excessively literal fashion. When I wish a performer good luck by saying "break a leg", I am not wishing that they physically break their leg......

 

The point is that ten minutes is a minimum. A rather pathetic one, especially given the context of qigong/neigong. Obviously the hope is that you exceed that in the teaching. But you could at least try. If you really cared about getting the good stuff out to people, there are tons of easy ways to do it. You could put hundreds of hours of videos up on youtube. Plenty of people put a shit ton of videos up that have literally ZERO VALUE. There are thousands of hours of video game footage. It's videos of other people playing a video game.... and people watch it.

 

 

Ten minutes is nothing. Again. It's 2010. There are no good excuses.

[Starjumper]

What are you harping about ten minutes for? I said it would be for ninety minutes.

 

and I DO care about getting the good stuff out to people, which means I don't want to water it down. Plus, a very important part of this system is the student and teacher being in the same room, both for feedback and for the radiated energy the teacher gives off, which makes a BIG difference, it make all the difference, really.

 

So is it actually GOOD to give away (or sell) something that is a mere shadow of it's true self and is missing the important part?

 

If someone wants to learn the real thing from me they need to be living in Seattle. The DVD won't be the real thing.

 

But I DO really like that double face palm picture! even though it didn't apply.

 

Edited for speeling

Edited July 28, 2010 by Starjumper7

[Encephalon]

Nice explanatory power. Like I said, my nei kung instructor never mentioned MCO, and actually got a little indignant when I told him about it. I'm a synthesist and have always had a knack for research and pattern recognition. This served me well in college and work but I'll readily concede a shortfall if it has rendered my Taoist learning curve a little bumpy. I enjoy my Taoist library nevertheless, except for the Chia material.

Okay. Could you kindly do me the favor of sharing with me what you know about the background of these movements/postures? This is the system I practice after 20-30 minutes of Embrace Horse. It takes me another 30 minutes to get through the nine movements. Thanks in advance.

 

Straight out of The Book of Nei Kung by C.K. Chu -

http://www.amazon.com/Book-Nei-Kung-C-Chu/dp/0961658606/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280282357&sr=1-1

 

EMBRACING HORSE 30 min.

 

RIDING THE WILD HORSE

 

PLAYING P’I P’A

 

THE COMPASS

 

DOUBLE DRAGONS LEAP FROM THE SEA

 

RHINOCEROS GAZES AT THE MOON

 

RIDING TIGER

 

PHOENIX SPREADS WINGS

 

HITTING THE TIGER

 

OWL TURNS HEAD

Edited July 28, 2010 by Blasto

[Dr. Dcup]

I've been thinking about this question for a while now and ill try and be as clear as possible.

 

In alot of Taoist books it mentions its key to find a teacher and learn the true ways and understand properly from the illumined. As to start practicing the true teachings without guidance or guides they say "who would dare set to work" and if a "slight deviation causes tremendous loss" then its silly to not find a teacher.

 

The question is i do not know where to start and hope (or pray) that someone can shed some light here.

I have considered travelling around china and searching for a true teacher but will that be foolish? , would i find the right one? how would i know because i cant say im exactly anywhere near in harmony with tao or life and so cant uses forces beyond my control to synchronistically have this happen.

Many true taoist masters had a teacher and often found the right guy to teach them.

 

Should i continue on the path im on living without a master in this mundanity that surrounds me,evermore in darkness to the true reality (even though ive got books they can only give me so much- i work very slow lol).

I have considered going to China in search or continuing on my path in life practicing virtue as it says in most taoist texts-

im confused because in many teachings it says when the student is ready the master appears,does that mean i should continue my mundane life reading and practicing truth but living and striving in the world until i harmonize my life with nature and then at the right time the master will appear OR SHOULD I earnestly search in China for a true master.

 

---Any advice or anything even related to this issue will help me a hundredfold and so would really appreciate any input

Thanks guys

 

I would answer by asking, " are you on the path or not?". Why would you not always practice virtue, etc.? You can be on the path everyday by doing basic tai chi, qi gong etc. If you aren't on the path figure out how to start, if you are already on then figure out the next step. There are masters/teachers here domestically but they may be a distance away (there are a few Taoists in the US). Are you taking their workshops and practicing? See yourself having a plan and progressing. If your biggest desire is not to have a mundane life then go to China and find someone then DO IT, though it will be harder if you don't speak Chinese (btw if you do go let's keep in touch). Most Taoists on Hua Shan don't speak English but you might be able to find students there or in Beijing or other places that do.

 

It may be true that when a person is ready the teacher will appear. I've also heard internal alchemy is the process of speeding up natural unfoldment, for you if that means getting off your ass then do it, if not then have a comfortable cushion.