I'd like some help

[wudangquan]

Hi,

 

I'm playing around with re-purposing my site at http://www.TaoistTraining.com . . .

 

Actually I decided to start doing this because I'm not going in the direction that I wanted with wudangquan.com, and can't find people in the area who want to do what I want to do (which doesn't really include pimping peoples wushu schools and not giving anything back to others). That being said, if I found some people in the area who wanted to work on it with me, I'm still up for it as long as we give EVERYTHING away for free (and no cheesy cliffhanger "click here to buy the rest" stuff).

 

I also have broader interests besides martial arts, and I think that a much broader value can be provided to more people.

 

Right now the only thing that's up is some place holder stuff, and existing audio/video stuff.

 

What I would like to do is something very similar to Buddhanet, but of course Taoist in orientation, and not sectarian.

 

The thing about Buddhanet is it's an incredible free resource. You can download hours and hours of audio lectures, lots of texts, etc. but there's not a big centralized place for Taoist stuff that's not in Chinese language.

 

So the vision I have is half buddhanet style, and half magazine format.

Here's what I would like for the buddhanet style repository:

Any kind of classical texts

Classical audio

Video releated to historical Taoism

Audio lectures from good teachers (with their permission) or you doing it by yourself (if I can put some stuff up anyone can!)

Heads up on material that I can source which won't violate copywrites or that I can get permission to host

 

Here's what I would like for the "magazine" style part . . .

Interviews

Articles

Step by steps/how to's

Audio lectures, interviews, etc.

Video (travel, temples, how to, interviews, whatever)

Whatever

 

This isn't a money making venture. I put some adsense up on there, because the hosting is about $30 a month because of the high bandwidth usage that will be required, but beyond MAYBE covering that - I am not looking to make anything off this, except something cool.

 

 

One thing I did is take down the part of the site that had forums, etc. because I didn't want to appear to be trying to compete with Tao bums or any other established sites. I just want to make a killer resource for people who are interested in this stuff.

 

If you would like to help (and I think any body could put something together), with Audio, Video, text, interviewing someone, documenting a process - doing something related to any of the sections, etc. please drop me a pm here.

 

I can edit anything, and do lots of work and plan to put a ton of new audio and video up in the next week. My big project now is an audio and video release of Preserver of Truths "Practical Taoism" which should be about 30 hours of Audio and maybe the same of video.

 

Since I'm in China and around Wudang in particular, I can do some other cool stuff as well, I think.

 

Again the articles and stuff there now is just a place holder that I populated from my blog.

 

I would like to do a public launch of the site in a couple of weeks or sooner if I could get some cool stuff.

 

Please drop me a pm if you could help.

 

Thanks

 

Jonathan

[Stigweard]

Hi,

 

I'm playing around with re-purposing my site at http://www.TaoistTraining.com . . .

 

Actually I decided to start doing this because I'm not going in the direction that I wanted with wudangquan.com, and can't find people in the area who want to do what I want to do (which doesn't really include pimping peoples wushu schools and not giving anything back to others). That being said, if I found some people in the area who wanted to work on it with me, I'm still up for it as long as we give EVERYTHING away for free (and no cheesy cliffhanger "click here to buy the rest" stuff).

 

I also have broader interests besides martial arts, and I think that a much broader value can be provided to more people.

 

Right now the only thing that's up is some place holder stuff, and existing audio/video stuff.

 

What I would like to do is something very similar to Buddhanet, but of course Taoist in orientation, and not sectarian.

 

The thing about Buddhanet is it's an incredible free resource. You can download hours and hours of audio lectures, lots of texts, etc. but there's not a big centralized place for Taoist stuff that's not in Chinese language.

 

So the vision I have is half buddhanet style, and half magazine format.

Here's what I would like for the buddhanet style repository:

Any kind of classical texts

Classical audio

Video releated to historical Taoism

Audio lectures from good teachers (with their permission) or you doing it by yourself (if I can put some stuff up anyone can!)

Heads up on material that I can source which won't violate copywrites or that I can get permission to host

 

Here's what I would like for the "magazine" style part . . .

Interviews

Articles

Step by steps/how to's

Audio lectures, interviews, etc.

Video (travel, temples, how to, interviews, whatever)

Whatever

 

This isn't a money making venture. I put some adsense up on there, because the hosting is about $30 a month because of the high bandwidth usage that will be required, but beyond MAYBE covering that - I am not looking to make anything off this, except something cool.

One thing I did is take down the part of the site that had forums, etc. because I didn't want to appear to be trying to compete with Tao bums or any other established sites. I just want to make a killer resource for people who are interested in this stuff.

 

If you would like to help (and I think any body could put something together), with Audio, Video, text, interviewing someone, documenting a process - doing something related to any of the sections, etc. please drop me a pm here.

 

I can edit anything, and do lots of work and plan to put a ton of new audio and video up in the next week. My big project now is an audio and video release of Preserver of Truths "Practical Taoism" which should be about 30 hours of Audio and maybe the same of video.

 

Since I'm in China and around Wudang in particular, I can do some other cool stuff as well, I think.

 

Again the articles and stuff there now is just a place holder that I populated from my blog.

 

I would like to do a public launch of the site in a couple of weeks or sooner if I could get some cool stuff.

 

Please drop me a pm if you could help.

 

Thanks

 

Jonathan

 

Sounds like a wonderful project ... if you need an article on any particular subject drop me a line and I would be honoured to contribute.

[froggie]

Cool !

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

p.s. I can add some articles about helpful herbs in time

 

p.s.2 It could be more helpful to edit the title or disciption of this topic to be a bit more informational rather than something general, just a tip

Edited September 17, 2008 by froggie

[thelerner]

Hi Jonathon,

 

For some ready made material you should contact Trunk here. Look for his name in the Personal Discussion area. He has a website called Alchemicaltaoism.com that is filled with well organized essays and observations from years of practice. Take a look at it and if you find anything worthwhile ask Trunk if you can use it.

 

 

 

Michael

[wudangquan]

Hey gang,

 

Thanks for the replies.

 

Right now I'm pretty busy doing my own stuff (job, training), and my MAIN goal at the moment is to complete this audio and video series on Preserver Of Truths "Practical Taoism" because I think it's a great text.

 

It's a lot of work because . . . Well because as I said it's going to be a minimum of 20 hours of audio, 20 hours of video, plus time for my computer to crunch all that, ftp it, etc.

 

A bunch of people asked me what I'm looking for (here and other places).

 

So before I talk about that, let me preface it, or kind of caveat it.

 

I want to have 2 or 3 levels of content.

 

The deep end, the middle end, and the shallow end.

 

The deep end will be the heavy stuff. Lots of classic material in the form of audio, video and text, as well as modern stuff from good teachers who are willing to provide it.

 

This kind of stuff will be mainly related to actual cultvation, and the goal of enlightenment, transcendence, becoming a Tao, etc.

 

On the middle end will be stuff related to health, longevity, martial arts, medicine, and other stuff like that.

 

Then there's the kids pool.

 

In this area, we'll have quick stuff, entertaining stuff, and stuff that's a bit more engaging.

 

. . . .

 

So why like this?

 

First of all, I think it's best to engage people in ways that are familiar to them, initially, and let them discover the deeper stuff when they're ready - but make it available for them - and free.

 

Second of all - I can take a look at something like google trends related to taoism, martial arts, meditation, enlightement, etc. and have a pretty good idea of what people are looking for.

 

. . . . .

 

And here's the part where I have to be honest and not pull punches.

 

If some kid in Booger Creek, Indiana is searching for something about qi powers - What is the best case scenario of where the information funnel can lead him? What's the worst case scenario?

 

What I would like to be able to do is engage that kid, and get him into an information funnel that leads to upright teachers, the ability to distinguish the upright from the not so upright, and as much information as he can possibly digest from righteous (I just mean correct, not as a moral judgement necessarily) traditions.

 

I can foot the bill on this.

 

I can do the lions share of the work.

 

I can facillitate it and I can task master it and whatever.

 

But I am not superman and I have my own stuff to do so that is why I want help. Also there is lots of stuff that I don't know about or haven't been exposed to.

 

Part of progress is reaching a point where you realize that you need to give back or contribute, I feel.

 

As a community, I think the people here, and others in the community of cultivators can chose whether they want people who are just starting out or who may be a bit interested in Taoist practice (of whatever type) to be funneled towards things that will really help them in their development --

 

Or "Chosun Ninja" and "Master" Wan on youtube.

 

So apologies for this long rambling post.

Here are specifics and general ideas about what I am looking for in more detail . . . Assume that text with images or photos, audio, or video is where we're looking to go with this:

 

Taoist Writings (And if you would like to record something, or if you would like me to make audio books of something I haven't already)

Taoist Music

Art, literature, whatever.. . .

 

 

Interviews (Shoot an email and get on the phone with someone you'd like to talk to. They'll probably do it!)

Over View of different sects, their origins, etc.

Iron Palm/iron body, related conditioning

Taoist Temples (I know there's one in Cali. and I know a lot of bums are in China)

Taoist Medicine

Medical Qigong

Martial Qigong

Qigong related to enlightenment

Tai Chi, Bagua, Tai Yi, Shuai Jiao, Hsing Yi, Yi Chuan, Yiquan, etc. (could be a technique, interview, general overview, or whatever)

Historic Taoists

Taoist Medicine

Taoist Music

Taoist Culture in general

Anti-Aging

Science related to Taoism or the relationshp of Taoism to science

5 elements

I ching

xinxing

attachments

Taoist Shamanism

Taoist Religion

Taoist Philosophy

Living as A Taoist

Zhan Zhuang

Specific types of Qigong

 

Plus really anything else that owould be related.

 

Even if you don't think you are an expert, it's ok. You can still TALK to experts, Interview them, create audio or video based upon what they have said and your own understandings of it, etc.

 

. . . And on alot of this stuff you can just do research.

 

This is what we're all interested in, and talking about anyhow, right?

 

So I want to say again - I would like some people to make a commitment to contribute some specific things. If you can commit to do 1 small project, just send me a PM here on the tao bums, or email me at general-at-taoisttraining.com . . ..

 

Also I should mention in case anybody is concerned about it, that I'll give full credit to the author, compiler, researcher, or whomever, a link back to your website, facebook, or whatever.

 

This is not about me trying to make money. It's not about me trying to be a glory hound, and it's not about me perp'ing myself up like anything I'm not (and what I am is a redneck covered in really bad tattoos!).

 

I just think since I'm studying and researching and learning and training this stuff anyway - there's a way that I can responsibly share it with other people who would be interested, and you also can and should.

 

peace

[wudangquan]

P.S.

 

For people who are selling stuff - I think providing some stuff for free is a great way to A. get attention, B. Get social trust C. Get social Credit, and if you give away GOOD stuff, people will assume that your other stuff MUST be great. Ergo you sell more stuff.

 

Here's the thing . . . I'm in my 30's. The generation of Western Taoists, martial artists, etc. before me are settling their stuff for retirement, and to payback their losses and sacrifices in previous years.

 

And respect is due.

 

Here's the other thing about guys my age. We can get this stuff a lot easier than previous generations could. We are more mobile. We are more connected and hopefully we can progress well and carry this stuff on in a good way.

 

But I mean . . . I'm a sketchy kid from Indiana, a high school drop out (almost a never attended!), am COMPLETELY incompetent, and I can still live in India. Live in Korea. Live in Thailand. Live in China, etc. and get access to the good stuff, and work a couple of hours a day and get paid while I'm doing it.

 

There's no huge sacrifice beyond time, commitment, perservering through some normal hardships, and choosing to care less about loss and gain and the things that other people normally care about (which, like pimpin', ain't easy).

 

I'm waiting on an upload to finish on a video I made about an excercise to feel Qi - just for people that maybe interested. It's real simple, and it's just me with a video camera here in the secret hideout. That's really all it takes.

 

So what I'm saying I guess, is -

 

Don't talk about it, be about it.

 

And don't sell it, live it.

Edited September 17, 2008 by wudangquan