My newcomer post

[izcozmic]

Namaste friends, 

     I have had this site bookmarked for a couple years and come here sometimes to read, tho recently had the urge to be more involved, so I made my account and am making this post now in the Newcomer section. 

     What got me into Taoism was my instructor for Yellow Dragon Kung fu, he recommended some  books on Taoist philosophy, and from there I had read more books and resonated with their content. 

 

     Some of the books I like are the following: 

• The Chronicles of Tao
• 365 Tao
• Fourth Uncle in the Mountain
• Bones of the Master
• Enter Mo Pai 
• etc. 

     

Some of these books may not fall into the strict genre of Taoism (tho technically we can say everything falls into Taoism...) I got similar stories and vibes from all of these books, however. 

 

I look forward to discussing these subjects with all of you! 

 

Eternal Love & Light, 

Arya  

[Fa Xin]

Hello, izcozmic, and welcome.

 

Your membership is approved and we're happy you found your way to us. We look forward to accompanying you on some of the way that you still have to go.

 

Please take the time to read the post pinned at the top of this Welcome page and take a look at the forum Terms and Rules.   This covers all you need to know when getting started.

 

For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day.

 

Good luck in your pursuits and best wishes to you,

 

Fa Xin and the TDB team

 

Hi Arya,

 

Welcome. Nice post. I enjoyed Chronicles of Tao a lot, very nice novel with cool imagery.  I will look up the other stories you mentioned, and see if I can recommend any good ones that come to mind. Thanks, and enjoy the forum.

 

You are welcome to jump right in to the ongoing discussions, revive an older thread, start a new thread of your own, or start a discussion in the "Newcomer Corner" sub-forum to expand on your introduction or ask general questions to help you get started.

 

May you enjoy your time here.

 

Fa Xin

[Papayapple]

Hello and welcome!
That's some interesting set of books I have not heard about.

Can you talk a little about  your dragon kung fu style?

[izcozmic]

On 2/24/2019 at 10:22 PM, Fa Xin said:

Hello, izcozmic, and welcome.

 

Your membership is approved and we're happy you found your way to us. We look forward to accompanying you on some of the way that you still have to go.

 

Please take the time to read the post pinned at the top of this Welcome page and take a look at the forum Terms and Rules.   This covers all you need to know when getting started.

 

For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day.

 

Good luck in your pursuits and best wishes to you,

 

Fa Xin and the TDB team

 

Hi Arya,

 

Welcome. Nice post. I enjoyed Chronicles of Tao a lot, very nice novel with cool imagery.  I will look up the other stories you mentioned, and see if I can recommend any good ones that come to mind. Thanks, and enjoy the forum.

 

You are welcome to jump right in to the ongoing discussions, revive an older thread, start a new thread of your own, or start a discussion in the "Newcomer Corner" sub-forum to expand on your introduction or ask general questions to help you get started.

 

May you enjoy your time here.

 

Fa Xin

Thank  you!! 

Awesome that you have read that book as well. I would absolutely appreciate any other reading recommendations that come to mind. 

 

(p.s. I hope this is the correct way to reply to a message --by clicking "quote" then responding) 

[izcozmic]

2 hours ago, Papayapple said:

Hello and welcome!
That's some interesting set of books I have not heard about.

Can you talk a little about  your dragon kung fu style?

 

The Chronicles of Tao & Fourth Uncle in the Mountain are my 2 favorites of those that I listed. 

 

Yes, the Yellow Dragon Kung Fu ("Huang Long"), originated from China, it was introduced into Peru from Chinese immigrants in beginning of 20th centruy. I'm not sure on exact details, tho I discovered a club for it on my campus (Purdue University) taught by an instructor from Ukraine (he lived in China for 10 years studying it). They have a little website for it if you want to check it out. 

 

(Here's the website link:   https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~ydragon/history_en.html  )

 

Edited February 27, 2019 by izcozmic

[Fa Xin]

10 hours ago, izcozmic said:

Thank  you!! 

Awesome that you have read that book as well. I would absolutely appreciate any other reading recommendations that come to mind. 

 

(p.s. I hope this is the correct way to reply to a message --by clicking "quote" then responding) 

 

Yes, the quote method is generally what is used when replying.  You're learning quick!

 

I thought of a good spiritual novel, one you may have read so far.  "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Yogananda ... very entertaining.  Another good one that's similar to that is "Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master" by Sri M.  Both come from the Kriya Yoga tradition, but the latter includes Bigfoot and UFO's in his story... that seals the deal for me

 

There's also "Opening the Dragon's Gate: Making of a Daoist wizard" , the story of Wang Li Ping. Another romantic taoist novel that discusses some alchemy stuff.  I didn't learn much in terms of practical information (I don't practice neidan) but it was a fun story to read.

Edited February 27, 2019 by Fa Xin
your vs you're

[whitesilk]

I would NOT read 'surfing the himalayas.' and I am too careless to go and get it off of the shelf. I find trouble with the my own non literal interpretation of some of these texts. I think that the author uses convenient literary constructs to illustrate his / her point. 

 

For an intro to Kublai Khan's mentality, I WOULD recommend a book that transparently uses literary constructs, "Invisible Cities," by Italo Calvino. 

[Fa Xin]

Another interesting book is The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen.  While not directly about spirituality (he goes in search of a snow leopard in Nepal area), the book has a lot of Buddhist content (the author himself is a Buddhist, and the people he meets along the way like the Sherpas and monks). It’s a classic imo and worth the check out. 

[izcozmic]

6 hours ago, Fa Xin said:

 

Yes, the quote method is generally what is used when replying.  You're learning quick!

 

I thought of a good spiritual novel, one you may have read so far.  "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Yogananda ... very entertaining.  Another good one that's similar to that is "Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master" by Sri M.  Both come from the Kriya Yoga tradition, but the latter includes Bigfoot and UFO's in his story... that seals the deal for me

 

There's also "Opening the Dragon's Gate: Making of a Daoist wizard" , the story of Wang Li Ping. Another romantic taoist novel that discusses some alchemy stuff.  I didn't learn much in terms of practical information (I don't practice neidan) but it was a fun story to read.

 

I have read Autobiography of a Yogi, that one is a really good one too (I forgot to add it). I have not heard of the Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master book, tho I plan to order it now. Even the title itself sound promising. I have a book called Opening the Dragon's Gate, tho I still have not read it yet. I would like to read it next. I didn't even know what the book would encompass, tho I have been interested/fascinated with alchemy, so when you mention that it involves Neidan, now I'm looking forward even more to reading it! 

 

I really appreciate the suggestions! 

[izcozmic]

5 hours ago, whitesilk said:

I would NOT read 'surfing the himalayas.' and I am too careless to go and get it off of the shelf. I find trouble with the my own non literal interpretation of some of these texts. I think that the author uses convenient literary constructs to illustrate his / her point. 

 

For an intro to Kublai Khan's mentality, I WOULD recommend a book that transparently uses literary constructs, "Invisible Cities," by Italo Calvino. 

 

Thanks, I haven't heard of either of those books. I will order that 2nd one you mentioned off ebay and give it a read.

 

Interesting & valid point about literary constructs. Would you say the christian bible would fall into the a similar category as the "Surfing the Himalayas" book? 

[izcozmic]

5 hours ago, Fa Xin said:

Another interesting book is The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen.  While not directly about spirituality (he goes in search of a snow leopard in Nepal area), the book has a lot of Buddhist content (the author himself is a Buddhist, and the people he meets along the way like the Sherpas and monks). It’s a classic imo and worth the check out. 

 

I probably would like this book, thanks! I actually was in India for about three months last year, and considered traveling to Nepal to renew my visa, then ended up going back to the states instead. Will be interested to read the way the author describes the travels in those areas. 

[whitesilk]

21 minutes ago, izcozmic said:

Interesting & valid point about literary constructs. Would you say the christian bible would fall into the a similar category as the "Surfing the Himalayas" book?

 

It is difficult, because of my faith, to give a direct answer to your question.

 

When I was in university I studied the Christan Bible as a book. Take a look at the theme of suffering. In the book of Job, God offers Job to Satan, as a testament to a good man's Faith in God. Much as Jesus Christ was offered as a sacrifice for humanity's sins, Issac was almost sacrificed by his own father in the Old Testament. So No is my final conclusion, a direct no. 

Edited February 27, 2019 by whitesilk

[izcozmic]

20 minutes ago, whitesilk said:

 

It is difficult, because of my faith, to give a direct answer to your question.

 

When I was in university I studied the Christan Bible as a book. Take a look at the theme of suffering. In the book of Job, God offers Job to Satan, as a testament to a good man's Faith in God. Much as Jesus Christ was offered as a sacrifice for humanity's sins, Issac was almost sacrificed by his own father in the Old Testament. So No is my final conclusion, a direct no. 

 

Thanks for sharing your point of view! 

I feel some of the messages in the bible are direct as those are.. those I have found there to be many embedded messages, or symbolism that tells deeper stores. I haven't studied it that much yet though. 

[whitesilk]

Remember that the Gospel is different than the Bible as a whole. In the Gospel, there are many parables which are transparent enough to be figurative.

[izcozmic]

52 minutes ago, whitesilk said:

Remember that the Gospel is different than the Bible as a whole. In the Gospel, there are many parables which are transparent enough to be figurative.

That's a good point. I have read some the Gospel of Thomas... tho I haven't dived into the gospels  much in general... 

 

Have you read the Dead Sea Scrolls or heard of them? 

[whitesilk]

2 hours ago, izcozmic said:

Have you read the Dead Sea Scrolls or heard of them?

 

I've heard of them, yet looking back on my university years, I was dead to the sea, and am proud that I remained dead to the sea until I got to real life.

Edited February 27, 2019 by whitesilk

[Fa Xin]

5 hours ago, izcozmic said:

That's a good point. I have read some the Gospel of Thomas... tho I haven't dived into the gospels  much in general... 

 

There's a thread on the forum where members gave their interpretations of Gospel of Thomas.  Heres the link, if your interested

https://www.thedaobums.com/topic/31789-gospel-of-thomas/

 

[izcozmic]

4 hours ago, Fa Xin said:

 

There's a thread on the forum where members gave their interpretations of Gospel of Thomas.  Heres the link, if your interested

https://www.thedaobums.com/topic/31789-gospel-of-thomas/

 

 

Neat! Thank you