Opening the Dragon Gate: The Making of a Modern Taoist Wizard

[ValleyStream]

Opening the Dragon Gate: The Making of a Modern Taoist Wizard by Chen Kaiguo, Zheng Shunchao, and Thomas Cleary.

 

"This authorized biography of the contemporary Taoist expert Wang Liping (1949 -) tells the true story of his apprenticeship in Taoist wizardry, as well as Taoist principles and secrets of inner transformation. The 18th-generation transmitter of Dragon Gate Taoism, Wang Liping is heir to a tradition of esoteric knowledge and practice accumulated and refined over eleven centuries. This is the first English translation by noted writer Thomas Cleary of the authorized biography by two longtime disciples of this living master of the Dragon Gate branch of the Complete Reality school of Taoism, which integrated Buddhism and Confucianism into a comprehensive new form of Taoism."

 

 

I was just wondering if anyone has read this and had any thoughts concerning any subject of the book.

[dogson]

Yeah I have a copy. It's good. It'll make you want to shut yourself in a cave and meditate for a long time.

The Chronicles of Tao by Deng Ming-Dao is also really good. I wish there were more books like this... the old school taoist wizards and alchemists and superhero martial artists, that world is really hidden. I sincerely believe that it still exists, but it's so underground. It's either people living under bridges like Diogenes, or people who make a lot of money and then retire to cultivate themselves in chateaus and stuff in Switzerland.

 

I suggest reading books like this with a grain of salt, if you're trying to project a new reality. I read Opening the Dragon Gate in between bouts of driving through the mountains blasting skrillex. And I thought to myself, I want to do this taoist wizard thing, but in a modern way, and I did a lot of freewriting about how to make that come about.

 

I'm really into hitting spiritual books with a practical intent. Not just as entertainment. With these practices in general. We're cultivating life energy, cultivating physical power, training, but training for what? What do you want to use the energy and the consciousness for?

 

Training for its own sake is very blissful, for sure, but the world needs more than that. You don't see a lot of sages in shopping malls or walking the vegas strip (though many on here would argue they're "incogneto" and "you'd never know them") ... maybe so. But that's to all of our loss. If the sages weren't being so DL and "inner tradition" I think the level of consciousness would be a lot higher on this planet.

[Daeluin]

Books like this help to open one's mind to the bigger picture.

 

Many taoist techniques are simple stepping stones to assist one to center and transform - used when necessary and then transcended.

 

This book in particular is great for tuning into the big picture, getting a sense of reasoning behind various phases of development, and good exposure to the hidden-in-plain-sight aspect of taoist art. Read between the lines, absorb the essence, and allow that essence to have a place inside of you without needing to fully understand.

 

Property I'm living on has an albino squirrel resident.

[ValleyStream]

This book in particular is great for tuning into the big picture, getting a sense of reasoning behind various phases of development, and good exposure to the hidden-in-plain-sight aspect of taoist art. Read between the lines, absorb the essence, and allow that essence to have a place inside of you without needing to fully understand.

 

Will do.

 

I just recently started (on chapter 3 today) so i will take this into conseiderartion as i continue.

 

Great advice as always, Daeluin

[Daeluin]

Training for its own sake is very blissful, for sure, but the world needs more than that. You don't see a lot of sages in shopping malls or walking the vegas strip (though many on here would argue they're "incogneto" and "you'd never know them") ... maybe so. But that's to all of our loss. If the sages weren't being so DL and "inner tradition" I think the level of consciousness would be a lot higher on this planet.

 

In this book the achieved student spends 8 years in his small town, working and supporting his family like anyone else, hidden and waiting for approval from his teachers to share his lineage. This alone is a great lesson - sometimes it is important to allow things to settle and mature. Principle of the Lake trigram ☱. But during this time, others find themselves healed after short chats with WL, though he acknowledges nothing of this. Later, after he is teaching to the masses, a few students approach him saying they all had the same dream - but he denies having any intentional role, saying this is simply what the energy does naturally due to the circumstances. Those students were able to resonate and perceive, so they were the ones to have the dreams. This was possible due to the massive scale of the seminar and due to the high level of sophistication of WL's skill. In Shen Laoshi's translated blog, he describes his first seminar with WL, where he finds his hands forming a spontaneous mudra - again it is suggested that his energy was able to naturally resonate with what was available to all, rather than WL seeking him out deliberately and making his hands form the mudra.

 

When someone reaches a level of self mastery, they heal others by simply being themselves. The higher their mastery and skill, the more widespread the affect. Zhuangzi speaks much on the trap masters fall into by teaching with words and becoming chained to the needs of others as opposed to the freedom and unhindered potential open to those who radiate their healing invisibly.

 

We don't need to intentionally send out instructions for how others need to heal - that is Inferior Virtue. Superior Virtue is in trusting and allowing all to happen the way it needs to - allowing and trusting the tao to operate at its highest level, not controlling based on our own highest level. The power of wholeness inspires wholeness all around it, and operates on myriad layers at once.

Edited September 22, 2014 by Daeluin

[ValleyStream]

When someone reaches a level of self mastery, they heal others by simply being themselves. The higher their mastery and skill, the more widespread the affect. Zhuangzi speaks much on the trap masters fall into by teaching with words and becoming chained to the needs of others as opposed to the freedom and unhindered potential open to those who radiate their healing invisibly.

 

We don't need to intentionally send out instructions for how others need to heal - that is Inferior Virtue. Superior Virtue is in trusting and allowing all to happen the way it needs to - allowing and trusting the tao to operate at its highest level, not controlling based on our own highest level. The power of wholeness inspires wholeness all around it, and operates on myriad layers at once.

 

I believe this. It is not what he does that makes him a master. It is who he is that makes him a master. Just by acknowledging his existence can help someone.

[bamboo]

Read the book, seen the master, got the t-shirt and practice the practice

[joeblast]

this is considered taoist textual study?

[ValleyStream]

this is considered taoist textual study?

 

why not?

[Daeluin]

Only mildly related perhaps - wasn't Wang Liping tasked with maintaining and organizing the daozang for future generations?

[ValleyStream]

This book is the story of Wang Liping (aka. "WANG Yong-sheng"), who is the 18th generation transmitter of the Dragon Gate sect of the Northern Complete Reality School of Taoism.

 

Sure this school may have some Confucianism and Buddhism tied into the Taoism but it is still mainly Taoist.

 

I believe that any autobiography of any transmitter of sorts of any sect of any school of Taoism would be considered Taoist textual studies.

 

Each one of these people lead by example and we may learn a lot about the Way through their experiences.

[Daeluin]

I think the line is subtle here, but my sense is that this forum is for more scholarly discussions using textual reference or detailed examinations of historical texts - as distinguished from open-ended subjectivity based theorizing and non-goal oriented discussion. Where this thread ends up will likely be related to the direction the posters take it.

 

This story is solidly Taoist, but was written by two students who interviewed Wang Liping, so is not an autobiography in the literal sense, and was subsequently translated, so there are multiple layers of interpretation here. On the other hand, I wonder just how deeply a sophisticated intention can influence things like this.

[ValleyStream]

I think the line is subtle here, but my sense is that this forum is for more scholarly discussions using textual reference or detailed examinations of historical texts - as distinguished from open-ended subjectivity based theorizing and non-goal oriented discussion. Where this thread ends up will likely be related to the direction the posters take it.

 

This story is solidly Taoist, but was written by two students who interviewed Wang Liping, so is not an autobiography in the literal sense, and was subsequently translated, so there are multiple layers of interpretation here. On the other hand, I wonder just how deeply a sophisticated intention can influence things like this.

 

hahaha I was mistaken by the definition of autobiography. Goes to show that I am a Computer Engineer major and not an English major. XD

 

As for the correct placement of this thread; I do not mean to delude the focus of the sub-forum and in hind-sight I do believe that it belongs somewhere else if the focus is for scholarly discussion rather than opinionated interpretation.

 

I guess it would be better placed in general discussion. Moderator!

[soaring crane]

I guess it would be better placed in general discussion. Moderator!

 

I compromised and put it in Taoist Discussion (it's actually a book discussion, but that's ok. This book in particular is so well-known it's kind of an entity unto its own).

 

Btw -- our Taomeow has some experience:

 

http://www.laoziacademy.us/2009_russia.htm

[Gerard]

I was just wondering if anyone has read this and had any thoughts concerning any subject of the book.

 

Be realistic. That training is not for people living in the ordinary world, and not only that you need to have accumulated a lot of good karma (past lives) in order to undergo such effort and attain that level. Sorry if this sounds like if I were throwing cold water on the subject, but this is how it works.

 

Please focus on a more tangible training according to your level and lifestyle, IMA and Vipassana fit the bill well.

 

Pros of the book: working with trees (very important to heal the liver) and water (kidney and liver); opening the higher centers of the energetic system which is manifested by particular signs (a teacher will be aware of this or yourself, usually by being able to pick up subtlety easily...this is discussed at the start of the book); the role of the mind (central concept in Buddhism, and discussed at the end of the book), etc.

 

Cons: erroneus translations, i.e. grains is not grains but meat. Unrealistic goals for the average practitioner. One needs to renounce the world in order to progress any further, some ideas are not discussed (it's a book anyway, so it's to be expected), etc.

Edited September 26, 2014 by Gerard

[silent thunder]

Just received my second copy today in the mail.

Gave my last one away to a friend years ago and decided to reread it.

 

It's one of my favorites.

[lifeforce]

Please be aware that The Chronicles of Dao is a work of fiction passed off as a true story. Kwan Sai Hung is a fake.

Edited June 7, 2015 by lifeforce

[lifeforce]

I'm also not convinced that Opening the Dragon Gate is true. There are some really bizarre, fantastical experiences detailed. Maybe it's fiction to advertise Wang Liping's 'system'. Then he can charge mega$$$$ to teach people to sit in full lotus.

Most Buddhist temples would teach you for free.

So much for 'leaving the dust of the world behind'

[bamboo]

Lifeforce,

 

...so much for running spiritual masters you've never met.

 

I have done the 5 week winter retreat in a Chinese Chan Buddhist temple - and I've done ten days with Master Wang. The Buddhists just leave you to get on with it, Master Wang cooks your practice and you make a years progress in 10 days.

[lifeforce]

Bamboo, I don't mean to disrespect you or your practice. Sorry if I sounded that way.

However, this is a public forum and I'm just stating my opinion. I remain skeptical.

Once this book became popular, suddenly Wang Liping appeared teaching seminars for extortionate sums of money. Something that goes totally against the Dao.

These trends are common in any of the Eastern spiritual arts.

From my own perspective, I've accomplished,(or not accomplished!)more in the short time of 'turning the light around',than I ever did in all the years I spent on the cushion. But that is something for another topic.

I sincerely wish you well and don't wish to come across as some know it all.

Everyone has their own path.

Edited September 24, 2014 by lifeforce

[ValleyStream]

Be realistic. That training is not for people living in the ordinary world, and not only that you need to have accumulated a lot of good karma (past lives) in order to undergo such effort and attain that level. Sorry if this sounds like if I were throwing cold water on the subject, but this is how it works.

 

Please focus on a more tangible training according to your level and lifestyle, IMA for example fits the bill well.

 

Pros of the book: working with trees (very important to heal the liver) and water (kidney and liver); opening the higher centers of the energetic system which is manifested by particular ns (a teacher will be aware of this or yourself, usually by being able to pick up subtlety easily...this is discussed at the start of the book); the role of the mind (central concept in Buddhism, and discussed at the end of the book), etc.

 

Cons: erroneus translations, i.e. grains is not grains but meat. Unrealistic goals for the average practitioner. One needs to renounce the world in order to progress any further, some ideas are not discussed (it's a book anyway, so it's to be expected), etc.

 

I am reading it right now and i am just considering it to be a story. Nothing more. It is a life of extenuating circumstances where as mine is a life of study. I do not plan to emulate his training because that would just be ridiculous. lol For real though, it is a good story and it is well written.

[Apech]

Enjoyed this book very much and learned a lot from it. Maybe there's a couple of areas where you have to suspend disbelief (I can't remember) but this is true of most biographies of mystics.

[ValleyStream]

Maybe there's a couple of areas where you have to suspend disbelief (I can't remember) but this is true of most biographies of mystics.

 

so true. As they say, grain of salt.

[bamboo]

That's cool LF, sorry I shouldn't have snapped at you. It's just after Falun gong, Longmen pai and Master Wang get about the most amount of abuse on here. I know the price is expensive. Tbh it's too expensive for most of us. I went to see Master Wang in 2011 and that will probably be my only trip to see him because the cost is so prohibitively expensive. Unfortunately it is what it is. That said, I would still recommend anyone with the money to go and train with him at least once.

 

All the best with your path.

[lifeforce]

True sages don't advertise themselves, at all, ever. It would go against everything they've ever learned.