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As an incomplete saint I help grandmothers halfway across the street. Not perfect but working on it.

ok If you are a spectator of a virtual concept, which has no physical proof, trying to understand the principle of something you don’t believe in, then why did you start a thread called the practice of neidan? Can you explain this because I am lost at this point.

This case is about basic psychology. In Daoism, nothing serious can be achieved without a teacher. That’s a law. But there are people who want to deceive the Dao and themselves. I have read on this forum that some people believe it's possible to achieve 'transmission of knowledge' directly from the Dao and that a teacher is not necessary. This approach is dangerous both for those who believe in this concept and for others to whom they spread these ideas. This is another reason why no one will widely share their practice and knowledge — these people will start inventing their own methods, achieving 'significant' results as they see it, and then teaching others while also making money from it. Such cases have happened more than once. ChiDragon is trying to convince himself that he is doing everything right, he doesn't need the opinions of others. He is here to teach. The outcome of such an approach leads to deviations that become increasingly difficult to correct over time, and in some cases some people can descend into madness. They no longer understand what is happening to them

Haha! How could I intend to teach? There is no student here. I am so lonely here. I just want to find someone that I can talk to. Hopefully, we can share some common knowledge.

No ! This is serious business ! Do you realize all pretzels used to be soft ? ! Thats the original and true pretzel . It wasnt until that upstart , Martin Luther like , Julius Sturgis ( an American , of course ) decided to intentionally bake hard pretzels and market them , thus splitting the holy symbol into two followings . This 'Church of England America Pretzel ' now has influence world wide ; Hard Pretzels: Account for approximately 57% to 76% of total market revenue. Soft Pretzels: Account for approximately 24% to 43% of total market revenue. Thus overthrowing the once true and only pretzel . Gosh ! They are nearly like a 'Communion wafer ' ! ... except you can make them at home . [ No, I have no idea what that is . ]

It is serious but I often am overreacting.

Is it that serious and you are not overreacting?

@ChiDragon Have you read 炁体源流 by 张至顺? Its a modern collection of classic neidan materials with commentary by a taoist hermit Back to the original topic its very close to the neidan that I practice, good source to learn about quanzhen imo Also, theres quite a bit of variation in neidan in the other lineages but within a given lineage things are (mostly) consistent from what ive seen There's some really out there stuff from Wang Wengqing for example

Yeah, Daoist texts have no merit but ChiDragon' understanding that he has got through AI has it. It does not exist, Daoist made it up. You just have to be "real man" that means: you should be well-read, smart, able to communicate with AI, have biceps, English boots, and you also need to help grandmothers cross the street.

Is there any chance you could outline your basic ideas about how to do Neidan. For instance what is the Dan in your opinion.

Coincidentally I mentioned quite some time ago his intention was to teach. He was quite unhappy towards my observation.

You are a real 君子 who 自強不 息, as you said, no wonder the friendly gesture. I respect you very much, your words tells everything about quality.

Thank you. Let me put it this way. Before the AI was invented. I Had already researched the information and stored in my head. I had filtered out the distorted and unwanted information. The definition are very straight forward. I used as my reference to reason with any doubt. I always update these information as new idea comes along. As I am interacting with the members, here, I am also learning from them. I wouldn't be prejudice about using AI. It is because some of the information online is no longer available for me. I had discovered by using AI, it can bring back the information for me and save me a lot of time. Based on my mental reference, I am at a point that I can spot what is useful to me or not with reason and logic. I will never say that was not it without reasoning. I wouldn't just say no and that was not it and stop from there. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here this long trying to reason with the members. Every time I am making a point I get side tracked. People think I am using AI to snow everybody without reasons. I just have to swallow it. The cultivation of 性 and 命 I had translated, once, few years back from the explanation of 王重陽, the Taoist priest himself. In return I got various disparaging remarks or even got banned for the manner. To make the story short. Why should it be a problem I am relying on AI to get the information when it's true. If someone put a gun through my head, I still would say the same thing with no regret. When a term comes up, people start citing with irrelevant information for their argument has no merit. In one case, someone cited some Chinese phrases out of nowhere and ask me to translated as his argument. He didn't even know what he was asking. That was ridiculous.

There's an element of infinity in a pretzel. Similarly all religions have an element of infinity that connects them. Btw, historically a pretzel was a symbol of hands being in a prayer position and three circles represented holy trinity. It originated with an Italian Christian monk giving "pretiolas" or "little gifts" to children for memorizing prayers. You could say a pretzel is a symbol of prayer, love and infinity all in one. Beautiful. Just don't take it too seriously. It's just a fun little comparison.

Dont pretzelytize ! Pretzelytize ; To convert or attempt to convert someone from one ( a mixed up hodge - podge of ) religion, belief, or opinion to another.

Thank You. I will make a mental note of that. I would, also, like to remind you that the method of Neidan was only a virtual concept dreamed up by the ancient Taoist and there wasn't any physical proof. People are just took it for granted.

well I've done some of that pretzel-ing myself but it doesn't really work that well with the wide and sometimes very drastic differences among religions even if ultimately they all or mostly derive from on pretzel.

So a 'vital force' and a 'driving force' is not an energy? Hmm. Energy just means the capacity to do work ... or to effect change in some way. So anything which is a vital force must be by definition an energy. Not trying to be picky here as although I accept that the term energy in these contexts has been used in a sloppy way, it does have an exact meaning. Also is it not true that terms which are used elsewhere in certain ways are used in Neidan spcifically as technical terms which may be different to the general meaning of something. I think this needs to be remembered.

yin/yang is also associated to hidden/exposed, they reminding you to put that thing away nah but actually: p.38 ISBN 978-1-4327-9689-1

Some books also depict history in a way that makes me laugh, cry, or fall asleep from boredom. But I'm sure shows are capable of doing even more of the above. History, by the way, has never been a reliable account of anything at all, since we all know it's written by the winner. "Until the lioness has her historian, the hunter will always be the hero." And another quote that comes to mind -- from circa 1600: "Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason? Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason." That's not to say you shouldn't accept the "challenge to read more books." The best of them are among the best things life has to offer. The rest are (or will be) history.

Sure, gladly. It starts with TCM. Dan, 丹, is just a pill. It is no different in Western medicine. At first, the Taoist started with the idea of using poisonous chemicals to make pills. The intention of the pills was assumed to make them live longer. However, they took the final product and caused death. Eventually, they tried and tried to bake it in a cauldron and blew up. That was how gunpowder was invented by the Chinese, by the way. So, Taoists thought, since the external method failed. Let's try it internally. They thought there must be something in the body to make it function. They thought the material that makes up the body structure is 精(jing). Something that vitalizes the body is 氣(Qi), Something that drives the body is 神(shen). The three items were called as three treasures. It was assumed they interacted with one another to form an internal pill. The purpose of the pill was for longevity. Instead of calling it a pill, it was called Elixir. So far, this is the introduction of the pill per your request. We will go into the procedure in the next post. PS It is getting late, I must go to bed now. See you all at sunrise! TBC

內丹術 is just a virtual concept by the ancient Taoist. There was no physical proof. It is the principle that matters. If you think you understand it, then, practice it the way you think it is. If it works for you, congratulation! I am only a spectator trying to understand what the principle was. I might not believe it. At least, I am trying to figure out what it is saying with the best of my knowledge in my disturbed and distorted mind.

https://fabriziopregadio.com/files/PREGADIO_Destiny_Vital_Force_or_Existence.pdf I was wondering where are the people getting the confusion from. People took this as Bible. That was the problem. He wasn't sure what he is talking about. He may know the definition of the individual characters. However, he doesn't know what the individual meaning of 性 and 命 abide to definition of the cultivation. P.S. The cultivation of 性 and 命 is not pertaining the Neidan. The cultivation was intended to be a better person as 真人. 真人 should be known as a "True man," other than a "real man" as commonly translated. The idea for being a True man is to have a good educated mind with a healthy body. BTW They don't called this as 性命雙修 for nothing you know. Quoted from the above: "Neidan or Internal Alchemy has developed two main modes of selfcultivation. The first is based on cultivating the mind and intends to remove the causes that prevent one from “seeing one’s true nature,” which is equated with the Elixir. The second is based on purifying the main components of the human being—Essence (jing 精 ), Breath (qi 氣 ), and Spirit (shen 神 )—so that they may serve as ingredients of the Elixir. These two modes of self-cultivation are said to place an emphasis on xing 性 and on ming 命 , respectively. However, Neidan texts repeat time and again that xing and ming can only be understood and realized in conjunction with one another." I can accept that the 精 as essence. However, 氣 is definitely doesn't mean breath here. Rather, it is the vital force to keep the body to function. Also, it is not an energy. 神 is not spirit, rather it is a driving force to keep the body in motion.