Taoist Texts

The Dao Bums
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content count

    4,141

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    20

Posts posted by Taoist Texts

  1. Posted

    37 minutes ago, Shadow_self said:

    Can you add to the discussion by explaining  how to forget?

    I already explained some of the things leading up to it, but like  I mentioned im at the limits of what I can say, so you may be able to add to peoples understanding here

    well i will explain it to you since you ask;) no other peoples is asking me to: forgetting is done in the same way as catnapping. we get tired, sit back on a couch, put the legs up, think pleasant thoughts, relax, put the mind on the body and how comfy it is,  and go into half-napping but trying to keep the eyes half-open. with the time, if you do everything right, you will feel some pleasant qi, get refreshed and renewed at the end of the session. thats all there is to it. 

     

    46 minutes ago, Shadow_self said:

     "entering the white room" is concerned.Would you be open to discuss it now though ? 

     

    Sure why not. White born in an room is an expression from Zhuang-zi  虚室生白  Look at that aperture (left in the wall); the empty apartment is filled with light through it,  originally it had nothing to do with neidan, but the real chinese neidanists have borrowed it to describe the white light seen when something called the lead is produced. Thats all there is as to what it is. How to get it in a proper way is a different issue;)

    1 hour ago, Shadow_self said:

    Not exactly, but elaborating on the above would be very helpful

    gotta ask concretely;)

    1 hour ago, Shadow_self said:

    It seems to me like @freeform knew  what he was talking about, and  @awaken  figured it out. as well

    i was very sympathetic to both of them, tried to warn them. i failed. but i tried.

    • Like 1

  3. Posted

    1 hour ago, Shadow_self said:

    Well  you dont "do the dao" in the context of sitting and forgetting

    Sima says you should

    1 hour ago, Shadow_self said:

    Could you kindly elaborate  Why the confusion regards  the neidan phenomena freeform was talking about in this thread?

    good question. simply put it is because no one of the conversants understands what is  neidan . no one of the neidan seminar-sellers including those on this forum knows what is neidan. Because neidan means 'internal elixir' which is a very specific tangible thing. and none of them produced the neidan thing. so they do and teach fake neidan. a neidan without the neidan. and fakery can be confusing. when people talk about a thing they have no clue about confusion rises. did i answer your question?

    • Like 1

  4. Posted · Edited by Taoist Texts

    4 hours ago, Cobie said:

    “Your life has a limit, but knowledge has none. If you use what is limited to pursue what has no limit, you will be in danger.”

    ― Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu

    it is a more or less relevant quote but not quite. You see, DDJ48 has been mistranslated as to be about increasing the learning or knowledge thats why ppl mistake it to be about some kind of neigong;)

    8 hours ago, Shadow_self said:

    DDJ verse 48, practically speaking is discussing the practice of  Zuowang 坐忘 ,better known as Sitting and Forgetting

    which of course it is not. It is neither about learning something new nor forgetting something old,  because Guodian says

    学者日益，为道者日损。损之或损，以至亡为也，亡为而亡不为。

    it is about two kinds of rulers 

    - 学者 those who rule the Underheaven with learning, meaning they rule through an  ever increasing administrative interference; 

    - and 为道者 those who rule by 'doing the dao' meaning they rule by intentionally decreasing the administrative interference until there is a total non-doing 至亡为. Thats how the latter kind of rulers 'gets the Underheaven' 取天下.

     

    (gosh those neigongers have me in stitches every time)

     

     

    • Like 2

  6. Posted

    in their original ad neidan is not mentioned at all, the product is called "  called Dao Yin Shu (导引术), Spiritual or Divine Guidance Art"

    https://taishangmen.weebly.com/about-us.html

     

    in the 2016 ad it was claimed that their product is the original neidan just not called neidan for reason unknown. the ad is not yet titled neidan.

    https://www.thedaobums.com/topic/42456-xiao-yao-pai-xiantian-dao-yin-shu-official-thread/

     

    in the current 2023 thread the product is emphatically (13 times in one post above) called neidan. the thread is titled neidan.

    in marketing this might be called 're-branding'. in vernacular this might be called 'making it up as you go'. 

    (except of course it is too late, the neidan fad is  long time over)...

    • Like 1

  7. Posted

    18 hours ago, Cosmicat said:

    in general, are most daoist/chi gong/TCM practitioners anti Tattoos?  

    about that we have the most wise saying with its meaning running  deep:

    不怕外国人不识汉字，最怕他们的汉字纹身

    ( I am not afraid of foreigners not knowing Chinese characters, I am most afraid of their Chinese character tattoos)

    well ok its a very funny inside joke

     thats why i could not resist . but in all seriousness tatoos dont do anything to you, nor good nor bad. its all in your head.

  8. Posted

    6 hours ago, Nungali said:

    Can you please supply the link to whatever wiki article you cited? I want to read all of it .

    sure

    21 hours ago, Taoist Texts said:

    an example being the Babylonian practice of offering to their gods a number of different kinds of cakes/bread (akalu);[2] the Hebrew term for showbread, Lehem haPanim, is exactly translated by the Assyrian phrase akal pânu, which refers to the Babylonian cake/bread offerings.[2]   

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Showbread 

     

    21 hours ago, Taoist Texts said:

    And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.”  And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it.  And he said to them, “This is my blood

    https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark 14%3A22-25%2CLuke 22%3A18-20%2C1 Corinthians 11%3A23-25&version=ESV

     

    21 hours ago, Taoist Texts said:

    The biblical regulations specify that cups of frankincense were to be placed upon the rows of cakes, and the Septuagint, but not the Masoretic Text, states that salt was mixed with the frankincense; the frankincense, which the Septuagint refers to as an anamnesis,  constituted a memorial (azkarah), having been offered upon the altar to God (Leviticus 24:7–9). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Showbread#Biblical_references

     

    • Thanks 2

  9. Posted

    1 hour ago, Nungali said:

    to doing this 'in remembrance of me'

    very very true...it was the later addition from the OT

    Quote

    The biblical regulations specify that cups of frankincense were to be placed upon the rows of cakes, and the Septuagint, but not the Masoretic Text, states that salt was mixed with the frankincense; the frankincense, which the Septuagint refers to as an anamnesis,  constituted a memorial (azkarah), having been offered upon the altar to God (Leviticus 24:7–9).

     

    the only thing is, in the NT originally  there was no 'remembrance'. originally it was the literal eating of his literal body and the literal drinking of his literal blood both substantiated by bread. 

    Quote

    And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.”  And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it.  And he said to them, “This is my blood

    same as the Mithra's bull's flesh and blood was consumed literally. Not in remembrance of the bull, but in order to become the bull. If you want to be like Christ you gotta eat him. A mere remembrance gets you nowhere.

     

    1 hour ago, Nungali said:

    Incense, candles, ritual, a 'spoken spell' , different coloured robes, precious temple 'equipment'

    all of that was already present in the parent religions long before so it was part and parcel from the get-go

     

    1 hour ago, Nungali said:

    in some core concepts seem to have existed in Zoroastrianism previously  that passed into Mythracism

    thats true, most importantly the bread sacrifice to replace the bull/Christ; the preceding religions also sacrificed bread but as a literal bread only, no substantiation . The substantiation was the sea change effected by the new religions

     

    Quote

     an example being the Babylonian practice of offering to their gods a number of different kinds of cakes/bread (akalu);[2] the Hebrew term for showbread, Lehem haPanim, is exactly translated by the Assyrian phrase akal pânu, which refers to the Babylonian cake/bread offerings.[2]

     

    • Thanks 1

  10. Posted

    On 8/5/2024 at 1:40 PM, blue eyed snake said:

    I have a vague memory that the lords prayer, as it is used in Christianity, has older roots. 

     

    Maybe Zoroastrianism? 

    great question. Not quite Zoroastrianism but a related religion of Mithra

    https://www.vexen.co.uk/religion/mithraism.html

     

    Quote

    But does someone ask by whose ingenuity these things are explained so that they
    lead to heresy? By the Devil, whose work it is to twist the truth, who imitates the
    sacraments in his mysteries of divine idols. He even sprinkles some of his believers
    and faithful, and promises redemption of sin through the bath, and if I remember
    Mithras, he signs his soldiers on the forehead (or: ,by the water’). He celebrates
    the sacrifice of the bread and shows an image of resurrection, and under the sword
    he denounces the crown. (Tertullian praescr. 40, 1-4; quoted in Roselaar 2014:
    192)
    The devil [is the inspirer of the heretics] whose work it is to pervert the truth, who
    with idolatrous mysteries endeavors to imitate the realities of the divine
    sacraments. Some he himself sprinkles as though in token of faith and loyalty; he
    promises forgiveness of sins through baptism; and if my memory does not fail me
    marks his own soldiers with the sign of Mithra on their foreheads, commemorates
    an offering of bread, introduces a mock resurrection, and with the sword opens the
    way to the crown (Tertullian, De paraescriptione haereticorum, 40:3-4).

     

    • Like 1

  11. Posted

    4 hours ago, snowymountains said:

    does Daoism have something similar to "true names",

    of course

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulu

    4 hours ago, snowymountains said:

    if so are they written in any "classic" Daoist book,

    yes https://en.daoinfo.org/wiki/Talismans

    4 hours ago, snowymountains said:

    which also happens to be translated in English ?

    not as a whole. for  excerpts you can try this https://archive.org/details/TheTeachingsOfTaoistMasterChuang

    14 minutes ago, Daniel said:

    Because it is their nature.  They will obey. Your question is nothing more than asking:  "Why does the light switch turn on the light?" We are talking about forces of nature.  Gravity has no choices to make. 

    not to mention the green cheese moon!  not much choice there either.

    • Thanks 1

  12. Posted

    5 hours ago, Nungali said:

    Instead ;

    "  Hey Taoist Texts !  What's up ?"

    " Oh ....  the usual, just trying to educate some Daobums ."

    Gotta speak the lingo to get a result .

    no, no, you guys just dont think this through;)

    you see, even if you speak my lingo i may congratulate you on your linguistics but i am not going to wash your car for you.

    even if you address me by my secret middle name there will be no result. 'Gimme gimme because your name is Jimmy"? How does that work?

    16 hours ago, snowymountains said:

    Well, that's the exact opposite of what I'm saying 

    i know. i was only poking fun at those who think that invoking a spirit by his true name somehow makes the spirit to do their bidding. why would it? they just dont think that far ahead;)

    • Like 1

  15. Posted

    23 hours ago, snowymountains said:

    In terms of names discovered exclusively by means of archeological research/excavations etc, have any fragments, papyri etc been found which mention alleged true names?

    of course there were. e.g

    . Before the names of the Maya deities were deciphered, Itzamná was known as "god D"

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itzamna

     

    but those true names still remained secret. because a secret is not something people do not know. a secret is something people refuse to know.

     

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

    2 hours ago, johndoe2012 said:

    Someone more knowledgeable ..would suggest his realization was lower than that of Gautama Buddha. 

    of course they would,  because they personally  surpassed his realization and personally reached Gautama's  realization too!  

    • Haha 1

  19. Posted

     

    Quote

    questions not answered:

    thats another amusing western misunderstanding of buddhism. it comes from 2 main western flaws of the western mind 1) not thinking (in full sentences).  2) not understanding (that askers are different some are worthy of a direct answer and some are not).

    A westerner does not think  in a full sentence: "hmm, questions not answered to whom"? Thats why he remains forever ignorant of the answers.

  20. Posted

    42 minutes ago, Chang dao ling said:

    Gautam Buddha 

    nah, if he had no self and no soul, how come he has a name?

     

    but joking aside, this

    10 hours ago, Taoist Texts said:

    buddha teach no self . ... buddha taught there is no soul

    is nonsense which the ignorant westerners parrot. there is no such teaching in buddhism. as usual the truth is the exact opposite of the western  nonsense.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anattā#No_denial_of_self

     

     

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 1

  22. Posted

    4 hours ago, Nungali said:

    Eh ? Are you saying Shackleton's phenomena got the term third man as someone else wrote some thing else 'inspired' by it  , using a third man , while quoting Shackleton as saying  it was a forth man ?

    not me, wiki

    Quote

    Lines 359 through 365 of T. S. Eliot's 1922 modernist poem The Waste Land were inspired by Shackleton's experience, as stated by the author in the notes included with the work. It is the reference to "the third" in this poem that has given this phenomenon its name https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_man_factor

    4 hours ago, Nungali said:

    The inspiration seems confused ;    the counting is 'you and I together'  but when looking up the road , the other is not together with the observer , but up ahead with another   ?  Eh  ? 

    my understanding is that the traveler talks to his mates in turns, each time seeing a third stranger who is together with the team, walking just slightly ahead, maybe next to another teammate.