Only Comfortable With Paid Lessons

[Mikey_Power_Up]

Is there some sort of karmic goodwill with only using techniques from teachers you have paid to learn from?
On the Internet, there's so many stolen books, courses and videos being pirated. 
It almost feels fraudulent and dirty using these 'stolen' sources.
I wonder if it has any bearing on the outcomes that ppl produce, or perhaps only the significance we place on such things flavors the outcome? 

I am not speaking about freely given techniques, but the piracy culture of the Internet. 

[thelerner]

The fact that you're asking the question

means for you, there probably is. 

[Mikey_Power_Up]

@thelerner Most likely so. I like sticking to things I've 'paid' for an have 'earned'', in some ways I can see how that extends into both negative and positive outcomes in my life. 

[Earl Grey]

Be careful as there are people who can gift you with something, but they aren't even allowed to give it to you to begin with, and sometimes those lies go back in their lineage.

 

Here's an example of institutionalized lies: someone leaves a lineage without finishing more than 40% of their training, let's say it's Liuhebafa. They suddenly post pictures of themselves with the master and say they are the new masters of the lineage, file proper papers and copyrights, then start a business and have a web presence, create formal accreditation through their group. They take students and have 2 generations succeeding them believing that they have ties to someone, let's call him "Lee". 

 

Lee's actual designated successors have no formal business titles or organizations, as it is passed down from teacher to student only, and the third generation of successors meets the bastard lineage with formal establishment and sees pictures of late grandmaster Lee. The legitimate lineage sees this fake history and compares it to their own notes and teachings, and sees that this is no longer the same lineage, but they are making money off of the name of Lee.

 

Now, this is a riddle for you: even if you pay the bastard lineage, are you karmically protected for not knowing? Or if someone from the bastard lineage gifted you something that was a hidden technique stolen from the legitimate successors, would you be protected?

 

The answers to this riddle are actually in the book Tibetan Yoga and The Secret Doctrines, which Sifu Terry Dunn has people read as requirements for graduating. 

[gatito]

9 hours ago, Mikey_Power_Up said:

Is there some sort of karmic goodwill with only using techniques from teachers you have paid to learn from?

 

Without knowing the specifics, it's impossible to answer the question in detail.

 

Generally, many people purloin open secrets and then set up their stalls, attempting to market tawdry trinkets and baubles cobbled together from such open secrets as though they have exclusive access to the Truth.

 

You'll sometimes even see hawkers of techniques based upon purloined open secrets screaming about infringements of what they may even believe are their copyrights.

 

The Truth is eternal, open and both literally and metaphorically priceless.

 

It is neither some whore nor some gigolo to be bought or sold.

 

Edited April 11, 2020 by gatito

[dwai]

12 hours ago, Mikey_Power_Up said:

Is there some sort of karmic goodwill with only using techniques from teachers you have paid to learn from?
On the Internet, there's so many stolen books, courses and videos being pirated. 
It almost feels fraudulent and dirty using these 'stolen' sources.
I wonder if it has any bearing on the outcomes that ppl produce, or perhaps only the significance we place on such things flavors the outcome? 

I am not speaking about freely given techniques, but the piracy culture of the Internet. 

Yes, there is. Mostly along the same lines as, if someone stole parts to a gun and built one but not the bullets to fire the gun.  

Or worse, if they figured out how to make the bullets too, but didn't really learn how to shoot the gun -- they'll end up hurting themselves.

Or even worse, let's say they taught themselves to shoot the gun too, but then didn't learn all the other associated soft-skills around handling guns (do's and don'ts). 

 

Guns, of course, are an analogy here, but the same idea applies to esoteric knowledge. Only, the risk of failure, or worse, the risk of success are orders of magnitude more severe. 

 

[liminal_luke]

Before and after I do a practice I´ll often take a moment to connect energetically and express gratitude for whoever taught me the practice and the entire lineage beyond.  Sometimes I´ll ask that the practice be for my own highest good, or that good come to others through my efforts.  My experience is that this kind of prayer is surprisingly effective.  I don´t think it would work, however, if I´d knowingly ripped anyone off in the learning process.

[Gerard]

On 11/04/2020 at 1:02 PM, Mikey_Power_Up said:

On the Internet, there's so many stolen books, courses and videos being pirated. 
It almost feels fraudulent and dirty using these 'stolen' sources.

And you will learn NOTHING from any of them.

 

Only a live teacher from a reputable and long standing tradition will.

 

End of story.

 

Note: He Jinghan's vídeos are free and are very good but still you need to learn the art first from a teacher and not necessarily him. 
 

 

[Mikey_Power_Up]

 

 

 

1

15 hours ago, Gerard said:

And you will learn NOTHING from any of them.

 

Only a live teacher from a reputable and long standing tradition will.

 

End of story.

 

Note: He Jinghan's vídeos are free and are very good but still you need to learn the art first from a teacher and not necessarily him. 
 

 

I don't agree with that. My stolen collection of SFQ about 15 years ago served me well. This reminds me that I need to make a donation to Chunyi Lin. His techniques helped a lot when I was going through health issues back then. I'm about to send him an email. The whole you have to have a teacher and lineage trap is a presupposition that many have, a type of programming, people just need quality techniques, and a resource to lean on if they have more questions. Potentially, good remote teaching will answer more of the questions and provide solutions for the most frequent issues that people might have. I find that it isn't just ethical, it is the cornerstone of good business. 

[thelerner]

When I turn youtubes into mp3's I'll usually throw some money/donations at the site.  Been doing that most recently with The Shows Must Go On youtube channel.  Turning a whole play into an mp3 for my personal use. 

 

For a long drive, I figure it may be better to listen to the whole musical, rather then individual songs.