A warning about the fraudster ReturnDragon aka ChiDragon

[Walker]

Word to the wise: 

 

ReturnDragon aka "ChiDragon" was very active on this site until 2014.

 

He disappeared in disgrace (I don't know if he was banned or simply had enough good sense to disappear) due to the following:

 

In November 2013 ChiDragon shouted the following in all-caps: 

 

On 11/13/2013 at 3:08 AM, ChiDragon said:

Xing Ming(性命) means life. I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF XING GONG(性功) OR MING GONG(命功) in any Chinese Classics.

 

This statement made it clear that ChiDragon, who is semi-bilingual and positions himself on this forum as a font of Daoist knowledge, had obviously never made a serious reading of readily available Daoist writings, and clearly could not have received any sort of oral education in Daoism.

 

For those who are new to these things, here is an analogy: not having heard of xing and ming practice in Daoism is a bit like not having heard of a concept like "communion" in Catholicism or "kosher" in Judaism. These concepts are utterly fundamental and they are widely known to people with only a cursory knowledge of Daoism. If a man who wanted to teach you about Catholicism yelled in all caps "I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF COMMUNION IN ANY CATHOLIC TEACHINGS" would you believe anything else he had to say? If the answer is that you would, well, then ChiDragon has many lies that he would love to pour into your ears.

 

Anyway, there is a story to see here. Please note that the above exclamation was made by ChiDragon in on November 13, 2013.

 

Not even two months later, January 2, 2014, ChiDragon wrote the following post (bold added by me):

 

On 1/2/2014 at 2:05 AM, ChiDragon said:

Hello NotVoid,
I do respect your own personal beliefs. I do have absolute facts in regards to Taoist beliefs. Have you heard of the Dual Cultivation of Xing and Ming Kung? There are two sides to Taoism, one is philosophical and the other is spiritual. 

 

Somehow ChiDragon went from yelling about the nonexistence of this subject to acting as its representative in just seven weeks. This was merely the start of a worsening trend, probably one predicated by untreated mental illness. I feel pity for ill individuals who need treatment, but I do not think pity requires we be politely silent and watch disasters unfold (especially if that means watching the a disaster repeat itself). This disaster of lying-mixed-with-false-spiritual-teachings continued to unfold on January 2, 2014, when ChiDragon suddenly began presenting himself as a representative of Quanzhen Daoist (全真道, often called "Complete Reality Daoism") teachings. He wrote the following:

 

On 1/2/2014 at 7:28 AM, ChiDragon said:

Well, I only hold to the standard practice of the QuanZhen Tao but not other Taoist beliefs. It is more than just associated with internal alchemy traditions. Perhaps read this, with your own discretion, and see does it alter your thinking in anyway.

DCXM

 

"DCXM" is an acronym that ChiDragon invented during this time period. It stands for "Dual Cultivation of Xing and Ming." Recall that two months prior he had "NEVER HEARD OF XING GONG OR MING GONG in any Chinese Classics."

 

Now he was teaching it.

 

The next day, January 3, 2014, he wrote (bold text again is my addition):

 

On 1/3/2014 at 12:38 AM, ChiDragon said:

I am practicing the DCXM which require me to follow the principles of the Quanzhen Tao. One of the requirement is to isolate the facts from the fallacies and opinions. What I am putting out here are not my personal opinions but from the high standards of the Quanzhen Tao. Some of the people were against me was because they only thought it was some translation from some fancy Chinese words without basis. I saw those who had accused me of putting lots of craps which only their personal opinions. Thus I haven't seen any merits in their presentations which are so convincing in any way. Most of time, I only see statements to say what is not rather than what it is. However, due to my present practice in DCXM, I have great tolerance for this kind of activities.

 

Obviously, there is no way that ChiDragon could go from "I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF XING OR MING" to "following the principles of the Quanzhen Dao" in a mere seven weeks. At the time, if I recall correctly, he did not even live in China, but somewhere in the suburban or rural United States. Even if you lived on Mt. Wudang or Mt. Qincheng, you would likely not be able to find a qualified teacher who was willing to transmit introductory xing-ming cultivation instructions to you within seven weeks of meeting you, and you would not be able to tell if this teacher had given you genuine instructions or not in such a short amount of time. ChiDragon most certainly had not spent seven weeks wandering from temple to temple in the mountains of China. He had, at best, done some clicking around Baidu, before inventing his own "practice," stealing Daoist terminology, and inventing an acronym for it. 

 

So, when exactly did ChiDragon come up with the lie that is "DCXM?" 

 

It turns out he did that on November 21, 2013. That is, to be exact, not seven weeks but eight days after screaming "I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF XING OR MING."

 

8.

 

Fucking.

 

Days.

 

On November 21, ChiDragon created a new thread entitled "Taoist Important Thoughts and Canon." In this post he literally copy-pasted blocks of text from Baidubaike, which is the online encyclopedia portion of the Chinese search engine, Baidu. 

 

It was only another week before ChiDragon began offering advise about cultivation in his thread. It started with: 

 

On 11/25/2013 at 8:57 PM, ChiDragon said:

Hopefully, by the time I am done with this thread, everyone will know what a Taoist or a True person is. Then, everyone will know how to cultivate to be a True Person. Btw Please keep in mind a True Person is different from a Perfect Man! However, I have to advice everybody must abide by the definitions of esoteric Taoist Terms, in order, to become a Taoist.

 

Egged along by some too-easily-impressed-by-a-bit-of-Chinese board members, ChiDragon continued his descent into megalomania. By November 27, 2013, somehow he had magically developed enough expertise to begin offering a detailed roadmap of what "DCXM" practice involves. He wrote:

 

On 11/27/2013 at 2:45 AM, ChiDragon said:

The Dual Cultivation of Xing and Ming should be performed sequentially in a progressive manner; from low level to high, and from shallow to profound. The Neidan-ist had spoken of the "beginning level, middle, and advanced"......................................................Whatever it was, form purifying the spiritual heart, elevated to the next realm, regulating the chi-blood, or the enhancement of the quality of the body, it cannot be done in a second, it needs lots of endurance to practice diligently. It is a long term project which needs continuance of body sensation and mental intuition to progress into the realm of refinement. Of course, there are some hardships but it has to be acquired naturally, not forcefully.

 

Just a month after not knowing what the words xing and ming mean, by December 11, 2013, ChiDragon had lost totally touch with reality, making statements about what an enlightened mind thinks, implying he personally understands these things. This is, speaking plainly, delusional false enlightenment psychosis. The reason I am making this post is to make sure this record stands right alongside the new offerings of "ReturnDragon." Newcomers, it would be extremely dangerous for you to follow the "Daoist" teachings of a mentally ill person like ChiDragon. It is, certainly, a tragedy that he is insane, and I would be overjoyed if he had a massive turn of fortune in this life that allows him to return to sanity. However, since that has not happened yet and he is back again giving out terrible qigong and neigong advice, I feel a harsh warning needs to be made. Here is what he wrote about the "true mind" on Dec 11:

 

On 12/11/2013 at 8:34 AM, ChiDragon said:

The cultivation of Xing in Quanzhen is to transform a "false mind" into a "true mind" rather than face reality as one might thought. To a Taoist, a false mind is full of contaminants which is deceiving the mind from seeing things clearly. A true mind only see and isolate the facts among the chaotic fallacies. Any uncertainty or assumption will make the thought incomplete which puts the mind into a state of falsehood. Thus it has not met the canon of Quanzhen Tao.

 

ChiDragon did not limit his campaign of lies and false teaching to the above thread. His new month-old "DCXM" obsession immediately began spilling all over the forum (he had over 7,000 posts) and soon he was using an expert's voice to make blanket pronouncements about the entire study of Daoist internal alchemy (also known as "内丹/neidan"). Nine months after "discovering" the concept of xing-ming on Baidu's encyclopedia, on August 4, 2014, he wrote:

 

On 8/2/2014 at 6:08 AM, ChiDragon said:

As a basic concept for Neidan from our ancestors, they had come up with the best method there is, the Dual Cultivation of the Xing and Ming(DCXM). It is also known as the Dual Cultivation of the Mind and Body. The mind and body are the two major ingredients to be cultivated for one to be a better or true person. Thus the DCXM is the best method to cultivate a person into a most effective internal pill ever.

 

Surprise....

Are you surprised what Neidan(內丹) is all about now......???

 

To make another analogy for newcomers, telling people that he knows what is the "best method to cultivate the 'internal [elixir]'" less than a year after screaming that he did not know about xing and ming would be like a person on a Buddhism forum telling you he knows the best way to reach enlightenment just eight months after screaming "I HAVE NEVER HEARD ABOUT THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH IN ANY BUDDHIST SUTRA."

 

When you encounter a man like this, beware. He is on a downward spiral, and as they say, "misery loves company." He does not want to drown alone, and he is actively recruiting naive, gullible, credulous people to drag down with him. The saddest thing about such a descent is how much will and stubbornness is involved. The more you try to stop him, the more he slams his foot onto the gas pedal. Part of this illness seems to be a perverse notion that plowing ahead no matter how much other people disagree with you proves you are right. Catastrophe for such a person is not merely unavoidable; it has already arrived. 

 

I am content to finish this post with a final quote from ChiDragon which should suffice to make it extremely clear just how deluded and (to a practitioner who follows any of his advice) dangerous he is. On August 4, 2014 he declared himself to be a realized being. He wrote:

 

On 8/4/2014 at 9:56 AM, ChiDragon said:

Perhaps you might say that I do live in a black and white world to see things from a scientific perspective.

 

I have found Tao and there is no need to search for Tao.

 

Self-deception that has reached stratospheric levels is merely a pity. Stratospheric self-deception that attempts to blaze like a sun and redefine clearly established facts in order to aggrandize a malignant-tumor-like ego and create a following is something for which the word "crime" is probably not too light.

 

In conclusion:

 

A self-declared realized being now using the name "ReturnDragon" has returned to the forum promulgate a vision of Daoist philosophy and practice whose foundation is built upon fantasy, dishonesty, and a desperate need for attention and affirmation. 

 

I strongly urge:

 

Do not be a victim.

 

Do not be an enabler.

 

Do not let yourself be hurt.

 

Do not let yourself be an unwitting assistant in another man's harmful behavior. 

 

祝 道安

Edited February 10, 2020 by Walker

[gendao]

Lol, he is good for some translations...but did anyone actually take him seriously beyond that?

[Walker]

1 hour ago, gendao said:

Lol, he is good for some translations...but did anyone actually take him seriously beyond that?

 

Unfortunately, yes. 

 

@dawei Do you remember, was ChiDragon banned in 2014, or did he leave of his own accord?

Edited February 10, 2020 by Walker

[ReturnDragon]

無聊!

 

[ReturnDragon]

48 minutes ago, Walker said:

 

Unfortunately, yes. 

 

@dawei Do you remember, was ChiDragon banned in 2014, or did he leave of his own accord?

If yes, then, I don't need to defend myself. Do I?
 

FYI:

Both   无聊!

 

Edited February 10, 2020 by ReturnDragon

[Michael Sternbach]

Hey Chi Dragon!

 

Welcome back to TDB!

 

[SirPalomides]

4 hours ago, ReturnDragon said:

If yes, then, I don't need to defend myself. Do I?
 

FYI:

Both   无聊!

 

You can do what you like but if you don’t offer an apology/ retraction for what Walker quoted from you above then no one  here should trust you.

Edited February 10, 2020 by SirPalomides

[ReturnDragon]

Thank you, Sir
Do you know how many people don't trust me here? I am only dealing with, perhaps, 5% of the knowledgeable people here. The rest already have their minds made up. If they can't get the fact straight, thus it is not my problem.

Please read my signature. Thank you for your concern.

PS I shall not waste my time and cyber space for this nonsense!

Edited February 10, 2020 by ReturnDragon

[SirPalomides]

50 minutes ago, ReturnDragon said:

PS I shall not waste my time and cyber space for this nonsense!

Indeed, attempting to scam people when your game has been exposed is indeed a waste of time. You may perhaps find greener (ie uninformed) pastures elsewhere.

[dawei]

8 hours ago, Walker said:

 

Unfortunately, yes. 

 

@dawei Do you remember, was ChiDragon banned in 2014, or did he leave of his own accord?

 

It started as repeated statements he was leaving on his own which seemed due to his not wanting to adhere to repeated requests made by staff to play nicer.   We provided examples and pointed out the offense, etc.  He ignored them all and made some hoopla about leaving yet again, so he was banned for a year with the chance to ask for a return.    That was 2015, I believe.

 

I did share this idea with Sean, about a banned member being able to ask for a return but the result is based on staff decision...  Sean simply seemed like it was something he would think about but I could see that likely it was not a path he wanted to go when he came back.  

 

In either case, a banned member has no standing to be back here without staff approval.   

[Zhongyongdaoist]

Here are some of the details:

 

ChiDragon suspended in late September, with details of the reasons:

 

On 9/4/2014 at 9:24 AM, dawei said:

I moved the thread to the Moderator Log:

 

 

~~~ ADMIN Comments ~~~

 

Chidragon was suspended for two months given his history of arguing his point as the one and only point to be listened to, arguing with staff beyond the last-warning, constant comments of creating division or belittling or not respecting other’s practices or systems or beliefs. This happened yet again and a review of the threads this occurs in shows a pattern over several years which remains the same. There are several past banned members who share this style of non-discussion, lecture to all; these member often seem to portray themselves as superior based on knowledge or race; an elitist above the rest. This just won’t be tolerated.

 

He has been warned more than once, now suspended for the third time. This comes at a time when recent staff action reveals a common issue in the above for posters. There are several banned members which fit this description as well. So the mold and model is well known, the posting style may differ but the message sent to members and the board is the same.

 

It creates an unsafe place for members to freely post and particularly new members who get confronted with the “listen to me and read only my posts” lecture.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

I will be posting another thread to share some insight to the issues we face and discuss.

 

In January ChiDragon posted his "farewell":

 

On 1/15/2015 at 10:29 AM, ChiDragon said:

Good morning to all TTB's

This is the biggest and most active forum I have ever been in. It is inevitable not to have any conflict with anyone. I want to apologize to those who I have offended before due to my peculiar way of expression and undesirable gesture. I believe in any discussion should be done in a calmly manner as long as within the limit in the freedom of speech. I also believe that one should use all the reasons to substantiate and end a discussion. IMO Discussions should not be left with an inconclusive ending if we are here to find the facts instead of shooting the breeze. Everyone should have the right to express oneself in a subject with consistency. Finally, if I am an administrator, I would just let any discussion run its course without interference and regardless of the consequences.

In the past, as a Taoist, I believe I had not use profanity in my discussion to offend anyone. However, I do forgave those who do. My presence here is to make some contributions to share some knowledge. Everyone here is trying his/her best to claim how correct they are and it is the law. Hey, so what, let them. Everyone has the right to make one's own judgment. We are adults, do we really need a referee to say who right or wrong. Let them work it out themselves. I am saying this is not asking for fairness but just more openness and tolerance.

In regarding to insults, as long as the members do it in a subtle way without profanity might not be an insult or a mild one. If it was, hopefully, they will iron it out and come to a mutual understanding. I believe I had done that with couple members.

Enough is enough. I have learned a lot in the past few year. I have understand more about the concept of Wu Wei than ever before. It almost made me to think that I am a True Taoist with this comprehension. I do believe in the course of Nature should not be interfered. However, it seems to me I have many unpleasant encounters with the new administrator. I believe that I do have a personality conflict with him for sometimes. Therefore, I am no longer wish to be a pest to annoy all the members here. I have designed to withdraw myself from this wonderful society for awhile.


I wish you all the best.
Thank you all and have a splendid day.

 

However, this was just before he could be officially banned as dawei notes in his reply:

 

On 1/26/2015 at 6:23 PM, dawei said:

On 1/15/2015 at 12:45 PM, dawei said:

~~~~ ADMIN MESSAGE ~~~~

 

There was admin discussion concerning the recent warning being ignored with continued posting in the same vein.

 

An admin PM was sent with examples of the postings and it was made clear that there needed to be some change.

 

This appears to be likewise ignored with instead a public post to announce (for the third time) he is leaving but calling out the staff as wrong.

 

Chidragon has been indefinitely suspended to stop any furthering of games and potential later return which ignores the previous warnings.

 

Further discussion to come.

 

~~~~~

 

Upon review of his return from the past three suspensions and most recent response from the last several warnings and PM to reflect on his posting style... the response was to mimic the last warning as his topic title ("enough is enough") and blame the admin for the conflicts.

 

As is the case for anyone banned, He is welcomed to request a return in a year.

 

CD: Be well.

 

I hope this information is helpful.

 

ZYD

[Walker]

Dawei and ZYD, thank you both for adding some clarity to this situation. 🙏

[ralis]

1 hour ago, dawei said:

 

It started as repeated statements he was leaving on his own which seemed due to his not wanting to adhere to repeated requests made by staff to play nicer.   We provided examples and pointed out the offense, etc.  He ignored them all and made some hoopla about leaving yet again, so he was banned for a year with the chance to ask for a return.    That was 2015, I believe.

 

I did share this idea with Sean, about a banned member being able to ask for a return but the result is based on staff decision...  Sean simply seemed like it was something he would think about but I could see that likely it was not a path he wanted to go when he came back.  

 

In either case, a banned member has no standing to be back here without staff approval.   

 

Play nicer? What a joke! In spite of all the complaints when you were admin, you and Kar3n allowed 4chan devotees to spew their hate, Stephen Molyneaux videos to be posted, who by the way is a known racist, misogynist, anti-Semite,  and a purveyor of hate! Protected Jeff from criticism! All the persons that were free to spew their hate were obviously alt-right supporters!

 

I was threatened a number of times by one member here and you did nothing!

 

 

[gatito]

Chi Dragon is highly entertaining and an extremely useful barometer (because he's almost invariably wrong).

 

Not only that but he certainly catalyses some extreme reactions in people, which demonstrate clearly the difference between the wheat and the chaff (e.g. the de facto Taoists and the pseudotaoists...).

 

I particularly enjoyed reading dawei's admin notice because it calls out his own behaviour and that of his Chaturbate cult and its enablers and supporters, so thanks for digging that up and posting it here ZYG.

 

What goes around comes around, eh @dawei.. (et alia)?

 

 

 

 

[thelerner]

It was a long time ago.  As I remember, while ornery,  I admired Chidragon for being willing to provide people with translations from Chinese.  Can't speak to his knowledge of Chinese alchemy but it was nice to have someone onboard fluent and willing to help other members translate.  By the end ChiDragon was clearly as upset with many on the board as they were with him. 

 

Course translating such material is hard.  So much symbolism, poetry, metaphor.. revealed and hidden.   

 

Rule of thumb: Take internet advice and 'experts' with a couple grains of salt.  Some are frauds, just as often people are a mixed bag; right on somethings, wrong on others.   Listen to different viewpoints, double and triple check.  Chinese esoterics are not in our culture, its very easy to misunderstand them. 

 

Also, there's no one tradition.  Different schools, different rules. 

Edited February 10, 2020 by thelerner

[ralis]

@ReturnDragon

 

Why did you post a laughing emoji as a response? I was being serious! Wtf is your problem!

 

 

[ReturnDragon]

Sorry, my friend.
I saw the phrase play nicer. I just couldn't help it to think how others are playing nicer to you and me. Like you said it was a joke!
 

Edited February 10, 2020 by ReturnDragon

[ralis]

56 minutes ago, ReturnDragon said:

Sorry, my friend.
I saw the phrase play nicer. I just couldn't help it to think how others are playing nicer to you and me. Like you said it was a joke!
 

 

You don't seem to understand the sarcasm behind "what a joke!"

[ReturnDragon]

Yes, I do. Let me put it this way. I am on your side to give you the benefit of the doubt. However, I didn't want to make it any worse than I did. The intent was to add a little humour into it to dilute the sarcasm.       

 

[ralis]

4 minutes ago, ReturnDragon said:

Yes, I do. Let me put it this way. I am on your side to give you the benefit of the doubt. However, I didn't want to make it any worse than I did. The intent was to add a little humour into it to dilute the sarcasm.       

 

There is nothing humorous about right wing hate which I spelled out!

[Starjumper]

1 hour ago, ralis said:

There is nothing humorous about right wing hate which I spelled out!

 

What about Left Wing hate?

[silent thunder]

Never known hate to limit itself to any one ideology, path or group...

 

it's quite all inclusive... egalitarian even

[Earl Grey]

7 minutes ago, silent thunder said:

Never known hate to limit itself to any one ideology, path or group...

 

it's quite all inclusive... egalitarian even

 

Dale Carnegie said one of the best ways to make friends and influence people is to find common ground.

 

How I have seen people do that in Manila is complain about traffic, because it has some of the worst traffic in the world where a 12km ride can take anywhere between 2-3 hours on average. 

 

Hating on scams and lies seems to be a good unifier here.

Edited February 11, 2020 by Earl Grey

[ralis]

1 hour ago, Starjumper said:

 

What about Left Wing hate?

 

I was referring to the alt-right Trumpster cabal which nearly brought down this forum.

[silent thunder]

I miss being able to bike everywhere with relative safety.

 

For the seven years we lived in Brooklyn, we owned no vehicles and for the three prior to that, I rode year round in Minnesota and left the car to my gal.

 

I find I'm losing inertia for hatred and sustained anger.  Most I can manage these days is a brief flare, which, if I keep my mouth shut for 20 seconds, passes as if it wasn't there.

 

Unsurprisingly, I'm also losing inertia for manic joy and hyper happiness, which is turning out to be fertile soil for contentment and occupation of the center, which really is wherever awareness abides, it seems.