What has TaoBums taught you?

[Green Tiger]

That everything popular is wrong.

 

The hipster mantra.

[yabyum24]

... that it really hurts if you try to slam a chop stick through a solid wooden table with your bare hands!

[Marblehead]

I sure hope you didn't test the validity of the hypothesis.

[Prince...]

When I came herein 2007 or 2008, I knew more about the Mopai story then than some people know now.

 

I had the opportunity back then to study with Share K. Lew-- I came here thinking people like Pak John and Sifu Lew were a dime a dozen as long as you knew where to look-- boy was I sadly mistaken.

 

I met Santiago Dobles here and met a close friend who was also around to learn from Dr. Morris with Santi and Tao.

 

I learned that Wang Liping is not a myth as my Taiji teacher said to me in 2008--and even though I've forgotten everything I learned from his students, I'd still love to make the trip to China to attend a workshop in a few years-- it would be a fun adventure (and a nice piece for my blog!)

 

I met Michael Becker here, had a chance to glean all kinds of useful information from his post, and can joke about how Kosta owes me a beer and a few good stories when I make it out to Greece.

 

I've learned that the Tao Bums is whatever you make of it-- some people will come here and sit on the sidelines and talk about what's going on in the game--others will get in the game, commit a foul; get frustrated; make a good play; fall; get hurt; win the game; be the hero; but no matter what-- they've done something more than sit around and bullshit.

 

Wow...I thought I posted this last year or something-- add that I met some great connections as a result of coming here. Maybe in a few years, with Santiago and Tao's permission, I may be teaching my own spin on KAP in conjunction with my Taiji, kettlebell training, and nutrition programs.

 

I also got to finally thank Kostas for writing the Mopai books, and get to joke with him weekly.

 

So yes-- Tao Bums is whatever you make of it. I don't frequent the forums as much as I once did, but that's because I've made so many connections and learned so much information that now the time has come to ACT on what I have learned here.

[manitou]

I think TTB's is a forum for bouncing off each other, filing off our rough edges. If a person's ideas don't change over the years, they're not learning. We are evolving through each other, as we are Oneness anyway.

[GrandmasterP]

I have learnt nothing here.

A most valuable and salutary nothing.

Thank you TTB.

Edited May 10, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[GrandmasterP]

Also...

How to set fire to newspaper without recourse to matches or lighter*

That's been a real money saver.

 

:-)

 

 

* Tired of wasting money on matches and fire lighters?

Do YOU need instant fire where and when you want it?

Look no further.

Because....

Honest GMP Publications ( The Old Firm) has just the book for you....

Secrets of Mo Pai Level 32( ' Setting Fire to Stuff' by Sifu GM Smokey the Bear.

(32 pages, softback, no illustrations).

Special introductory offer to TTB and Space Panda members.

Just $2,000 ( postage and packing extra).

Buy today and receive our ' Bonus Butt Wire' completely free of charge ( one size fits all).

Edited May 10, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[Marblehead]

I have learnt nothing here.

A most valuable and salutary nothing.

Thank you TTB.

That's great! At least your mind is still virgin of all the confusion in the world.

[Marblehead]

Also...

How to set fire to newspaper without recourse to matches or lighter*

That's been a real money saver.

 

Funny. I was at a gun show a couple of weeks ago, looking for blades, not guns, and bought a "Fire Starter".

 

I bought it as a novelty but there are some who buy them for practical use.

 

The functional parts of it are: Magnesium, flint, and a piece of hacksaw blade. I've not used mine but the demo of it before I bought it was fantastic.

[GrandmasterP]

You just reminded me of an 'everlasting match' piece of kit that were issued with in army field rations.

Those things were useless in the damp.

Found these similar on eBay.....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/171242417279?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=108&device=t&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108

[Marblehead]

Different concept. Here's the one I spoke of: http://purefiretactical.com/about.htm

 

The one I bought is the top-left.

[GrandmasterP]

Looks good.

Nice and simple, less to go wrong.

[Harmonious Emptiness]

Spoken with many teachers, students, and even grandmasters who studied with Masters of Wu Dang mountain, other temples, schools, styles, masters, and teachers of whom I didn't even know existed previously. Formulated a practice and study regimen of exercises and inquiry based very much on the shared experiences of the many wonderful, experienced, generous, warm-hearted, and wise participants in this collective.

 

Learned Classical Chinese, with the encouragement, experiences, and knowledge of a number of participants here who persisted in haggling with me over subtleties and nuances in meaning.

 

Last, but perhaps not least, never missed being without television for 4+ years I've been here and always had a place to express and reflect on all passing spiritual illuminations.

 

You all are my teachers, and I thank you humbly as a student who's life you have changed many times over.

 

With sincerity, gratitude, and respect,

 

 

 

 

[SonOfTheGods]

 

What has TaoBums taught you?

One, can over stay their welcome, quite quickly, here.

[balance.]

TTBs is a wonderful teaching opportunity.

 

While there are excellent and informative posts, sometimes they are not the greatest teachers. Sometimes it is watching ourselves get angry over a post on the internet, or us being able to strongly relate to a post someone has made, or perhaps something we need to work on brought up, or perhaps sometimes remembering to be grateful. So many teaching opportunities here.

 

So what have you learned from TTBs?

 

 

FUCKING DISCERNMENT!

 

[GrandmasterP]

You get to choose?

[manitou]

interesting you say that, SonoftheGods - I think that's in my cycle with TTB's too. Sometimes I just have to get away from the forum - but I've also learned that in my particular case my feelings are usually the result of a banging of my own ego in some way, and my own resultant discomfort. So I let a little time go by, stay off the forum, and always want to get back to it sooner or later. More recently I go through periods where I feel like I have absolutely nothing to say about anything at all. So, one more time, I'll lay low for a few weeks, or a month. But sooner or later I miss the discussions. More accurately, I miss the Minds on this forum. I miss the bantering; but more importantly, the sense that TTB's are building a virtual mountain of wisdom and return to Oneness, a virtual library of the evolution of the wisdom that we've gained through years of thinking through these concepts together. We are contributing in a concrete yet virtual way to the evolution of the species; and for some of us who leave behind no children, this may be the only mark of consequence that we make on mankind at all. It is, in its own way, a community of honor and a return to the light. Fallible we are, but we are all guided by the same urge toward unity of self, both individually and collectively.

I surely am one that hopes you stick around. Or take a short break and come back to us soon.

Manitou

[Rocky Lionmouth]

One thing ttb keeps confirming is that everywhere and at all times there is opportunity to learn about Everything and observe and scrutinize oneself. With the right mind anyone is your teacher.

 

I've learned how much i really need to talk to others about the crazy floating around inside my mind as well as hearing/reading other express themselves, humble thanks to everyone sharing!

 

That i am petty, hasty, quick to mounting high horses and spout spiritual garglenuggets and phlegmgems i already knew, but i didnt know that i have attained some level of restraint and that (feel free to thank me for it whenever) only a very small iota of all the crap i intended to post is now immortalized publicly.

Edited May 21, 2014 by Rocky Lionmouth

[manitou]

Love your self honesty, Rocky. Allow me to be the first to thank you for your restraint level And I really like your phrase 'observe and scrutinize ourselves'. This is the key, IMO. We are rocks in a lapidary hopper, making each other better and more refined in our observations about things within and things without.

 

The unexamined life is not worth living.

[BaguaKicksAss]

Love your self honesty, Rocky. Allow me to be the first to thank you for your restraint level And I really like your phrase 'observe and scrutinize ourselves'. This is the key, IMO. We are rocks in a lapidary hopper, making each other better and more refined in our observations about things within and things without.

 

The unexamined life is not worth living.

 

Nice analogy .

[ThisLife]

Love your self honesty, Rocky. Allow me to be the first to thank you for your restraint level And I really like your phrase 'observe and scrutinize ourselves'. This is the key, IMO. We are rocks in a lapidary hopper, making each other better and more refined in our observations about things within and things without.

 

The unexamined life is not worth living.

 

*

 

"Plato said that the unexamined life is not worth living. But what if the examined life turns out to be a clunker as well?"

 

Kurt Vonnegut

 

*

Edited May 21, 2014 by ThisLife

[manitou]

*

 

"Plato said that the unexamined life is not worth living. But what if the examined life turns out to be a clunker as well?"

 

Kurt Vonnegut

 

*

 

 

Maybe Kurt wasn't doing it right.

[ThisLife]

Maybe Kurt wasn't doing it right.

 

*

My intuition tells me that you're confusing the tail with the dog here. I feel that life is 'doing us',... I don't think it's a question of 'us doing life', (though it certainly appears that way.)

 

But as you know, appearances are very often deceptive. To every person in the world, it clearly appears that the sun rises in the east, travels across the sky, and sets in the west. That 'sensory perception' is universal.

 

Perhaps, so too with this idea of me, or you, or Kurt, living our life 'rightly', or 'wrongly',... as you put it.

 

*

Edited May 21, 2014 by ThisLife

[GrandmasterP]

We should all have Kurt's book sales.

[Marblehead]

"Plato said that the unexamined life is not worth living. But what if the examined life turns out to be a clunker as well?"

We have to work with what we have. Some have little or next to nothing. But it still can be a life worth living.