Nintendao

I heard that some people have a bowl made of hands. I have hands, but I don't know if I have a bowl. I will easily put my hands together into a bowl shape, like as if to scoop up some water. I now have a bowl. I can fill this bowl with dry tea leaves. I can dump the leaves onto my head. It feels neat, but something's missing. I will add water to the bowl. The water keeps leaking out, but through continued perseverance I develop some particular dexterity to close all the gaps and hold the bowl level. It will likely take an even longer time, to keep adding a little bit hotter and hotter of water, before I build up enough to where I can actually brew some decent tea in there. Only then will I have formed the true bowl.

Not related to Tin Yat at all, but on the subject of eccentric altar-oriented practitioners, @Lord Josh Allen comes to mind! Several of his youtubes have cool historical reference as well as extensive personal anecdotes.

What's great is we often have no way of even knowing whether the author was explicitly transmitting something in particular, or we are simply resonating a source wisdom already innate, as with @silent thunder's tuning forks. I saw an interview with Paul McCartney on one of those late nite talk shows. He said sometimes fans would come up to him to talk about how a certain song really opened up for them. They might say, "wow, so by this-or-that lyric in such-and-such song, did you really mean so-and-so? You are so wise!" Paul sheepishly admitted to the host that, at the time, he was just trying to write something catchy that would make money . Instead of answering the fan directly he just praises their insight and maybe thanks them with a hug

Even though it comes out to the exact same thing, nobody wants to exert patience having to wait for the better part. This seems more like your standard aphorism to help put things in perspective. Reaching for a hint of internal or at least longevity practice, i'd say as many people would rather burn up early, conserving youth for a later ripening is also good. But then again, what have you really gained overall? Maybe better to make sure and savor every acorn no matter when. Well now i'm just rambling

I found this thread with some good dialog from an insider. Over the years since then they seem to have gotten even more structured, and purged some of the nasty forces that may have latched on earlier in the development. I remember one of the youtube episodes, he goes in depth about why a lot of people end up going mad when they start practicing meditation a lot. People tend to want to open themselves up to any and all experiences, not realizing that there's plenty of stuff they really do not want getting into their system. Just like we need skin to protect our organs from bacteria, and firewalls to keep servers from being hacked. ..wonder how he learned that!

Lately my favorite is the "Scholar Sage Podcast" and associated Q&A from https://www.youtube.com/user/LotusNeiGong/videos I feel like i'm trying to be a spokesperson for this channel, I refer to it so much . There's just a lot of really solid information in an easy to understand and approachable format. New material. It's the same teacher that Welcomer mentioned is offering a free course.

Hey welcome @Sanity Check. I like the Tin Yat TV Show. It's fun and informative. You can tell he enjoys the subject a lot. Just beware that he definitely does things his own way, and might not always line up with more established taoism teachings and practice. Beyond that I will not comment on his lineage because I don't look into it much. He used to be a member here over ten years ago, and there seemed to be some bad blood. A few people say that he has been a great help. Others consider him to be a deluded scammer, corrupt and dangerous to get involved with. https://www.google.com/search?q=Mak+tin|jo+si+site:thedaobums.com

There was a long time where reading and writing in any capacity would have been considered relatively elite. Being able to fuse such a tech with spiritual pursuit is highly accomplished. Imagine a practice so refined, that with a few simple materials, in a moment of pure focus, to create an object that many generations then receive multiple levels of meaning from, just by looking at.

Jade Writing (Yellow Court Classic) by Imios Archangelis edit: i think they used the simplified chars, though. https://books.google.com/books?id=dmtgAQxWh5cC

This story of the ninja in the cornfield is tragic, but I LMAO every time.

Something interesting considering texts that mention cardinal directions: Didn't ancient Chinese maps / compass have the South at the top? 🙃

I'm probably wrong but I feel like this could have something to do with the Yuan Shen moving upon the face of Primordial Nature to create an incarnation of Life Force. Some of the other stories then demonstrate that no matter what ridiculousness of acquired circumstances may ruffle but a feather of this great bird, to align with the true fate is to become unstoppable.

In the meantime, continue to condition your Horse, is easy enough to learn on one's own. Also if you have access to even a few square meters of garden, check this original Earth Cultivation training style:

Would calligraphy be practiced as a foundational skill for someone working towards creating fu talismans?

I haven't read any Damo Mitchell books, but have been catching up on his "Scholar Sage Podcast" and older Q & A on youtube. It turns out he absolutely knows what he's talking about, and has a very down-to-earth approach and openness. His latest book is called A Comprehensive Guide to Daoist Nei Gong. It's over 500 pages, but he has several other books on the topic that may be more introductory.

Something i find hilarious lately, once in a while my nose will spontaneously twitch exactly like in that old t.v. show Bewitched

ascension

I thought it would mean each person puts their feet on the other's thighs. Or maybe one of each thigh-to-thigh and foot-to-foot/thigh. Or like, one foot on your own thigh, and the other foot on the other person's thigh, or foot. Wow this new "dual lotus" system is becoming a game of Twister.

I'll go into a Daoism and qigong bookworm phase. Even if not to take on physical practices, just beefing up on terminology, concepts, culture, context, perspective, appreciation. Hope I can be of help to other seekers someday. Hoarding the pdf collection https://www.thedaobums.com/topic/49954-jun-yu-xian-repository/ (How are you doing by the way @OverseerFeatheredImmortal!) Yang Jwing-Ming stuff is usually pretty solid. Also this looks neat: https://the-eye.eu/public/Books/Occult_Library/Taoism/Louis Komjathy - Handbooks for Daoist Practice/

At least maybe it's in terms anyone can understand, even if not able to practice. Then if people interested in the topic can see the gory details instead of a bunch of poetry, they will be motivated to finally "shit or get off the pot"