Nuralshamal

Thanks for sharing your viewpoints! I remember you said you had worked with MaoShan, how exactly did you learn these things?

I believe it's used to scare people away, and ensure that you come with a very determined commitment, and that you're willing to put in the work, even if it hurts you In the dark arts, okay, yes, I do belive there is a price to pay for sure. MaoShan has many lines from what I understand, and some of them are extremely dark and black in nature, I do believe you pay for doing that But other than that, I don't really believe in it as other than a means to filter who approaches

How's your experience with the Vimarsha Foundation so far? Which courses did you do? His ads kept popping up on my instagram, facebook, youtube etc, that's how I became aware of him

First Paragraph Thanks for sharing! So fascinating to hear about your journey. I heard great stuff about Wang Li Peng in general, online and at different qigong retreats where people spoke highly of him. Especially a lady from Sweden, she said his energy and transmission was so powerful it was almost unbearably when he was busting open deep blockages. Fascinating about Roni Edlund, she's also Swedish from what I remember, and dated Damo Mitchell for quite a while. I saw her in some of their joint videos etc throughout the years, but never knew she also taught "on her own". Pranayama and japa, happy to hear you found what works for you now Esoteric & Occult Awesome, fascinating to hear about your journey for sure. Very touching and beautiful to hear about your experiences with Shiva! And fascinating you go directly to the associated sutras and puranas. I am personally always completely flabbergasted at the depth of teaching from even some of the simple stories. Example of Story I was in India about a month ago or so, I first went to learn some "extracurricular" SKY, then went for the last level in Devipuram (Sri Vidya). In Devipuram we got diksha for Subramanyan. I grew up with Hinduism due to my dad, lived in a village in rural India for a month when I was 4, and we went together to that village many times when I grew up. So I knew a lot already, but I never really heard about Subramanyan before. Therefore I asked about some stories etc during the breaks while in Devipuram, and I was so amazed at these short and simple stories containing so much depth and teachings about the energies of each Devata.

Hey Michael, Do you mean Yin Debt and local spirit king? Yin Debt is quite simple, maybe it can be found online somewhere? It's just lighting candle and incense, saying different mantras and prayers, offering fruits, then a burning ceremony of symbolic money (paper ingots in a bag or an incense mountain), then end with mantras again. Local spirit king is included in 8 great mantras to be said daily in Daoism (da ba shen zhou). In Hindu rituals it's done at the end of a ritual by drawing a simple yantra to the right using sandalwood powder, placing a copper plate on it, then offering some of the naivedyam (food offering) that was used during the main ritual worship, then covering it with water and milk, say a mantra to confer to spirits and send them away, then throw remains in the SW outside your house, then come back and wash all. I can't really share any full detailed ritual here (it's too long), but if you're interested I can ofc point to some of the schools/teachers/courses where these are included One link for example to the 8 great mantras in Daoism is here https://fiveimmortals.com/the-eight-great-incantation/ At 01:07:17 the girl draws the yantra to the right of the devata, place 3 food offerings, give a drop of milk and water, then clap and snap your fingers while you say a mantra https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNvfcF0DZ-s

Thanks for sharing! Yes ofc, human beings are human beings Btw what would you say have been your top 3 greatest hits in spirituality? Teachers, practices and so on, would love to hear more

My Story Yes, it's all there in page 1 of this thread. In short summary, out of jealousy some part of the family still living back in the Middle East (we live in Europe) paid a black magician to curse her. Yes, all is well now. Thailand I've seen a LOT of youtube videos of magic pracitioners in Thailand, I must say I've been very impressed with a lot of them! Firstly they're sweet, human and kind in personality (compared to the more dry and unemotional Chinese) and secondly I really feel power from them. What are your own experiences/connection to Thailand and the Thai tradition?

@Master Logray Hey, thanks for your comments. Split Definition Yes, regarding the first, I would split it up into 2: 1) spirits, 2) black magic. Cross Magic Regarding "cross" magic, what I've found is that energy is simply energy, nothing is inherently stronger than others. The energy of a traditional lineage (sampradaya in India, silsila in sufism) is manifold stronger than a guy riding solo. Then on top of the lineage energy, the next factor is the power of the individual practitioner. Finally is "the type" of energy. There are so many ways to classify this, in hinduism we could say the 3 gunas of tamas, rajas and satva, or in sufism we would say black or white. In daoism it would maybe be according to 5 elements. In tantrism you could define according to the 6 magical actions: Shānti (pacification) Puṣṭi (enrichment) Vashīkaraṇa (attraction/subjugation) Stambhana (immobilization) Uccāṭana (expulsion/separation) Māraṇa (destruction) In sufism we work with lataif, subtle energy centres, each representing a prophet, and each a particular quality of energy. Red latifa is strength, associated with aliveness, vitality, health and fearlessness (it's David as he was small yet fought Goliath), Yellow latifa is joy, associated with curiosity, playfulness, contentment, happiness (it's Adam, as he curiously named animals in paradise - some traditions take Abraham, as he was a friendly, sharing guy, sharing grass lots with his cousin Lot freely), Green latifa is compassion, associated with tenderness, healing, humanness, not fearing pain (it's associated with Muhammad, as he was very human, all-encompassing in his dealings, marriage, trade, politics, religion, prayer, psychic powers, prophesy etc) Black latifa is peace and power, losing fear of death, associated with Jesus (he literally came back from the dead) White latifa is solidity, stability, trust, patience and support (it's Moses, trusting God step by step through the desert). I feel that I tried to solve all our problems with protection, black and white energy, the peace and stability energy, spreading that everywhere from ayatul kursi and other select verses. This didn't help, so I followed Jesus' advice "pray for those who curse you" and made a specific du'a or prayer given by Muhammad for forgiveness and friendship (green and yellow energy). This also didn't help. The one that stopped all was the black energy of power, as in that particular ayat (verse) is a counter-curse at the end "no matter where the sorceror goes, he will never thrive", meaning that as long as the other person follows adharma or haram ways of life, he cannot suceed. But if he goes to the straight path, dharma, halal, he will live normally. I interpret that as a "punch back". No longer just shielding, blocking or befriending, but actually striking. That's what worked. Taiwan, Thailand, MaoShan Can you explain more about your teacher, lineage, experiences and cultivation in these areas? Would love to know more

Love Spells Definitely. Army I actually mentioned at the psych eval at 19 years old that I don't want to kill people. So I started as a sergent, then platoon commander training soldiers basic training nationally. However later I was moved to Language and Culture academy due to my language skills. Then I took the first deployment. They didn't bother reading what I said as a 19 year old :'D was late 20s then. Also had 2 herniated discs in an accident when I was platoon commander, that was also in my file, officially setting me as "8% reduced functionality". Luckily they saw none of that haha, so 3 deployments later I was promoted to captain and had my own unit at that army academy for many years. Sufism I grew up mostly with hinduism, honestly, but in a christian country. My dad had 2 main gurus when I grew up we visited in India, however when I was a teenager my dad got a sufi shaykh as his personal one-on-one guru. Because his hindu gurus were "sanyasis" living without family, sex, money etc, so he sought support in embodying his spirituality in his family and work life, hence came into contact with this sufi. So that's the story of my name on here "Nur" it means light, it was given to me by my dad's sufi shaykh. I also went into these sufi teachings in late teens and early 20s, but then went deep into hinduism for many years of sadhana. Then late 20s I returned to sufism and went deeper than just personal development called " 'ilm ul nafsiyya" or science of transforming ego to soul, and went a bit more into " 'ilm ul ghayb" or science of the unseen world. Aka using energies for protection, healing, attracting money etc. My wife's family's from the Middle East, and sufism's also widespread there. So that's my sufi/islam connection. Mixing traditions Yes, generally it's best to avoid mixing. As I grew up with hinduism and sufism, I've come to see them as quite close. Both use dhikr or japa (praying with prayer beads), get empowered by the teacher and the lineage, daily meditation, and then of course the whole spiritual journey to moksha (included in sufi 'ilm ul nafsiyya) as well as the more magical or practical side of tantra which corresponds more to the 'ilm ul ghayb. I believe in One True God, but my intellectual logical understanding of God comes through Martinus' thoughts, but my practical connection to God has come through my hindu and sufi practices. So for me at the end of the day, they complement each other. But yes, in general it would be best to zoom in on and master just one tradition, but my life has just unfolded like this, hence why I'm like that. Goddess worship Great pointers! Yes, hardline sufis would ofc not condone this at all. But the most secret traditions of Kabbalah as well as Sufism both teach about the feminine and masculine side of the Divine, and also includes reincarnation, sex magic and other interesting things. But it's obviously kept super secret in fear of being executed, as that is a very real concern if you live there. The Ka'aba is actually in the feminine in Arabic. There used to be Ka'abas all over the Arabian peninsula, embodying different energies. A white Ka'aba (in Yemen as far as I remember), the black Ka'aba in Mecca, there was also a green, red, blue and brown Ka'aba. It was the different energies naturally present in nature at those different spots. Arabian Magic Yes, al Buni and Shams al Ma'arif have been hugely influential. Interestingly a lot of it used sufism in the sense that there are names of God used, ayat and surahs (verse and chapters) from the Qur'an and so on. However ofc there is also mixed in some things from the contemporary religions that existed alongside Sufism/Islam, and the older religions predating Islam, calling on names, energies or the like from earlier times. I have not been taught these directly from a shaykh or sufi teacher, all I learnt was purely Qur'anic methods (my teacher might have know some other styles too, but from fear of being persecuted, I think he only teaches what could be defended as legitimate).

Dear Dao Bums, Question for you guys Do you have any interesting experiences with Jason Read and his Jasper Lake Maoshan Daoist Magic? I have seen a few posts here on Daobums about his books on daoist magic, but none about the actual daoist magic training with him. My own few observations A fellow qigong brother here on the forum that I'm corresponding with notified me about Jasper Lake Maoshan daoist magic training. I checked out his webpages and read all that I could, and am now reading through his book "Practical Daoist Magic". Webpages: I found the webpages extremely interesting, and I definitely felt what he's sharing to be real, authentic and substantial. I tried meditating on a talisman he's posted to connect with the energy of "the fire star" or Mars, and within 5 minutes I felt heat pouring into my body and getting heated up. I was extremely suprised how fast and powerfully it worked. I took this as a sign that what's he's sharing is truly legit! Book so far: The book is the same story in the sense that it feels very legit and authentic. All the history and mythology he's sharing is perfectly in line with what I've been taught by Master Zhongxian Wu (who I've learnt from for more than 6 years), as is his explanation for yin/yang, 5 elements, 8 trigrams (bagua) stems, branches etc. of course with some slight variations in their personal interpretations. His beginning practices "to cultivate magical power" is also similar to what I've learnt from Master Wu, namely building the lower dan tien, purifying & strengthening the 5 organ system, "retriving" or calling back the spirits of your organs as well as daily mantras for purification (mind, mouth, body, surroundings, pacifying spirits, calling upon the golden light etc). The idea of jing/qi/shen as well as mantra, mudra, visualisation and posture is also similar. All in all I feel it to be very real. What I especially enjoy is that as a westerner he explains things very clearly so that it's easy to understand from a western viewpoint. He also divulges the "secrets" of how things really work and explain the whole process as well as the end result. This is something my chinese teachers never do, they simply encourage you to practice, shoot down your questions, and never explain linearly and in a straight-forward way what things are, how they work, what the process is like, what the result will be or how to measure your progress along the way. The only thing that really made me stop and wonder, was that at some point in the book he says that 30 minutes before and after practice you shouldn't eat or drink (pretty standard advice), however then immediately after he says drinking "only cool water" is allowed. This is a huge shocker! Everyone knows that Chinese never suggest cold water, it should be either hot or lukewarm. This was a big suprise for me, and made me wonder and question how everything could be feel so real and authentic, yet this one basic thing was completely "off" for how Chinese qigong/TCM/cultivation usually rolls. Actually it was such a great shock that it made me question the authenticity of everything. Even though the fire star talisman worked (which I felt to build his credibility), and the explanations feel legit too (which also builds credibility) the advice to drink cool water was so off that it made me wonder and question everything about his whole story of training in China & Malaysia etc. This is what made me write a post here on the forum, I wanted to speak to my dao brothers and sisters and hear your experiences (if any) with Jason Read and his Jasper Lake Maoshan Daoist Magic training. I look forward to hear from you!

Thanks for chiming in! Awesome to exchange with you again If we for simplicity's sake divide the world in 3: 1) the Absolute (pure, unmanifest potential, pre-existence), 2) realm of energy/essence, 3) material manifest world. All spiritual practice is to "return" to the Absolute. Allah, the Dao, God, Nirvana, Moksha, liberation, salvation. However for practical purposes, we go to the real of energy and use specific energies for specific purposes. If you're very powerful, you go straight to the Absolute, because from this field you can generate any energy imaginable, whereas in the realm of energy you can only connect to the few energies within your personal reach. So black magic is simply hurting yourself or others, or violating free will, whether generated from the Absolute or the realm of energy. All else is white magic, which is of benefit to yourself and society. So yes, love/attraction magic ON A SPECIFIC PERSON would be characterized as black magic, whereas GENERAL love/attraction magic is fine. Because you're trying to violate their free will to choose. Whereas general attractiveness, free will is still there, and "the natural flow" of the universe will use its intelligence to connect with the right people. If you want a new job, you can with no problem make mantras/magic for that, because then the universe will automatically direct you to what's correct for you. But if you do it FOR A SPECIFIC JOB it can be questionable, as you might be interfering with others free will. So everything goes, as long as it's not a specific, individual person, job or house/appartment, or something that hurts others. The very few "permissible" black magic is just like in war; e.g. I am a vegetarian and believe in non-violence, yet I was an officer in the army working with leadership, languages, training and culture. When I was deployed to Africa, there were jihadist/terrorist attacks on civilians here and there. I had to decide for myself "if I am suddenly present at an attack, should I let myself and others get shot and killed, or should I shoot and kill the terrorist?" In the end, what came to me was that you should always pick the lesser evil. E.g. on one hand I get killed, and potentially hundreds of defenseless civilians, or one terrorist gets killed, because I shoot him. In that case, as seen from the universe, it's better that 1 person dies than 100 people. So I made up my mind. Obviously the best would be to shoot the guy in the leg and "catch him" alive. Then through re-education about islam in jail or something, he could learn that killing innocents is wrong, and thereby have a second chance in life to walk a new path, instead of having to be killed, die, then get reborn, and face the same situation again and again, until he learns through direct, felt, karmic experience that killing is wrong. So in that case, which I know is very specific, it would be ok to kill or harm 1 specific person, if hundreds and hundreds of innocents are being hurt and/or killed. But generally it's best to let the universe punish people with karma, and forgive and move on. Aka don't hurt others with magic, is what I'm trying to say So "do all you want and need, but minimize hurt" could be a general rule, that's given by Amritananda (my sri vidya guru). "Choose the lesser evil", that's given by Martinus (my main guy for understanding the universe). "Never hurt yourself or others, help alleviate the suffering of others when you can" given by my Kundalini Guru Vethathiri. In between those 3 and my own personal example given above, that would be my general take on white vs black magic. And so for me ofc, things like meat, alcohol, killing animals or other things like that would be on my own personal "no-no" list for magic, whereas if one eats meat and drinks alcohol anyway, then that kind of magical ritual would be fine for them. It depends on our own current "level", we just need to be in harmony with where we're at

Update: Just messaged with a friend regarding black magic and evil spirits. I wrote a small bullet point list for him, of all that I've found to be causes of these disturbances, and all I've found to resolve them over the past 10 years. Thought I would share it here for everyone's benefit: Causes 1) Black Magic This is much less widespread than we would think, and most often when people blame black magic for their misery in the western world, it's not true. However! Black magic is HUGE in Africa, the Middle East and Asia as well. So if you have any family members there, or if you visit these places, it's good to be aware that this possibility is there. Also if you're originally from there, or if many of your social circle are from there, you can also be aware. 2) Karmic Debt to souls currently not incarnated or spiritual debt, Daoist ‘yin debt’ I came into contact with the daoist occult idea of yin debt, or karma owed to spirits from previous lifetimes. No matter the protection, these cannot be stopped until your debt is paid. It can be done through rituals. After I did 3 of these, it stopped. 3) Kshetra Palaka, Tu Di, local spirit kings In both Hinduism, Daoism and lots of occult systems, each local area is governed by a spirit king. If you do any kind of spiritual practice and work with spiritual energies, and this spirit king doesn’t like you, it can create problems. Eg if you live in a Christian nation, but worship or practice with different energies. There are again certain mantras, rituals and offerings used in Daoism and Hinduism to befriend the local spirit king. When this is done, no black magic or evil spirits can touch you in that particular local area. Just be aware whenever you go to a new area, his protection cannot follow, and you’ll have to befriend the new local spirit king. 4) Conceal your blessings, jealousy and evil eye Whenever something good happens to you, don’t let anyone know. If you trigger a feeling of lack in others, even your loved ones, involuntarily they will create a negative energy that can harm you. 5) Spirits following you home Restless spirits that don’t want to move on linger in areas of their former life addictions. Eg clubs, brothels, casinos, all the addictions of dancing, eating, gambling, sex etc. If you frequent these places, you can invite them in. 6) Destroying own protection Intake of alcohol, drugs and cigarettes will weaken your normal spiritual protection and allow them to attack you. Also any kind of sinful action like hate, anger, violence, illicit sex etc 7) Enmity with others If you are not a good person, others will naturally harbor negative thougts and feelings towards you. Thoughts and feelings are also energy. So depending on the intensity, as well as the overall power of that person's energy, this can also harm you. The solution is to work it out, forgive it each and solve the problem Resolutions 1) Sufism (the spiritual component of Islam, some say predating Islam, those say it was the original way of the prophets, the 3 wise men, ancient Egypt, Babylon and so on) 1.1 Firstly you purify your energy daily for 7 days (this is done using salawaat connecting to the prophet and the full bismillah) 1.2 then you purify your room daily with blessed water (this is done using ayatul kursi or verse of the throne) 1.3 then you make a spiritual circle of protection around your house (this is done using ayatul kursi and "4 qul" or last 4 verses of the Qur'an, all starting with "qul" which means "say"). 1.4 then you maintain all of these daily, and use dhikr to strengthen it (dhikr is reciting the names of Almighty God, al asma ul hosna, there are specific names for protection) 1.5 if purification, protection and increasing your spiritual power is not enough, you "strike back" with 2 verses (ayats) describing how Moses defeated the magicians of pharaoh, it's from surah (chapter) Ta-Ha, verse (ayat) 68-69 2) Hindu Sri Vidya In this system of Goddess worship you open your chakras one by one through rituals. There’s a God or Goddess in each chakra. Varahi in the third eye chakra was used in ancient times for spiritual warfare, she's the protector of sri vidya upasakas or worshippers. After I did a 41 day ritual to her (puja, tarpanam and havan, prayer ritual, water ritual and fire ritual, alongside daily mantra recitation) all stopped. 3) The proper rituals for Kshetra Palaka, Tudi, Local Spirit Kings as well as Yin Debt 4) Get initiation into a true spiritual lineage, this will naturally protect you Conclusion All of the above are the past 10 years of blood, sweat and tears, no practitioners could save me, only after tremendous strain and suffering did I discover the above facts.

Hey @Master Logray Thanks for your interesting questions! Ofc this is a thread on Jason Read, but I'll answer about Wu's story shortly He was born and raised in a very primitive village, no electricity, no running water, no heat, no roads, no bicycles, cars, nothing. They lived as people did thousands of years ago. They had to go fetch water themselves, crack it open with pickaxes during icecold winter, warm themselves by the fire, traditional lifestyle. No showers or baths like we know, you shower "in a bucket" if you've ever been to villages in Africa, the Middle East or India you might know. Some places in Asia too. There's a bucket of water, then with a smaller bucket your pour it on yourself. That's a "shower". So ofc they also didn't have modern medicine, drugs etc. They lived using the old school ways, e.g. yi jing divination, daoist mantras, mudras, talismans, fetching local herbs on the nearby mountain etc. He was very weak and sickly as a child, but at around 4 years of age he learnt some basic qigong forms from the local village priest/shaman/qigong teacher. He got better health-wise, so he kept training. I think it was only in his teens or 20s he left his village for the first time to go to school, that was the first time he saw busses, cars, roads, bicycles etc, and also the first time he met "modern" people who didn't necessarily believe in the traditional, old school worldview of spirits, ghosts, qi, ancestors etc. which shocked him, as were he came from all believed in the old ways. Further all these "superstitious things" (or indegenous wisdom as we'd call it today) were destroyed as much as possible by the communists, so he had to learn all these things "on the down low". But throughout his life he travelled far and wide in China to further his studies and learnt all kinds of different practices. Obviously like you said, when he was in the national association, he had to filter everything "magical" away, and keep it strictly "modern, atheist, materialist, medicine worldview", yet he ofc maintained his own traditional practice personally, yet in secret. Now in the West he slowly started sharing more and more openly about these magical things, but obviously in line with what westerners and his students "can take" or accept based on their own conventional beliefs or tcm views.

@Lala Nila thanks for sharing your 2 cents!

@Lala Nila By the way, what's your take on Jason's MaoShan? We've established he's more of a scholar/reader/translator than a powerful cultivator/practitioner. However, do you think he's even really truly initiated? And do you think he's even been given permission to initiate others? Aka is he even hooked up to a lineage field through a legit teacher or not, or are those all just stories to help make a name for himself?

Yes, I think it’s quite weird they’re sporting these dadbod types of builds. I also got more tendency to get a belly, but that’s just after passing 30, not my qigong it’s just basic calories in vs out and ofc physical training vs being sedentary Qigong is in no way, shape or form a ‘complete’ body exercise as seen from western science, normal fitness with strength, cardio and flexibility is definitely superior for general health and body composition. however qigong is great for addressing chronic health issues in a targeted way with specific qigong sets, mantras, mudras, herbs etc, and ofc mind body wellbeing due to the meditative and mindful qualities encouraged by qigong and Taichi But honestly it’s mostly (from western perspective) the mindfulness component giving wellbeing, not because qigong is physically more powerful than conventional exercise for health, it’s just more specific and targeted from the TCM worldview perspective. that’s just my own observations and experience ofc i think it’s just a poor excuse and kind of outdated view of qigong vs west, and living in denial of basic western science one is not superior, they’re complementary, and devaluing and denying one for the other is just old fashioned and black/white mindset use both and win 😁

Thanks for clarifying Yes, my feeling is that it’s too mechanistic. Eg I will say that my uncle is actually quite vital and energetic from daily practice, ofc also flexible and has some gymnastics like strength Yet it has also given him shoulder joint issues where he had to get an operation, and can’t really vouch for any real spiritual benefit from it to be honest. He actually got a light in his eyes when I spoke about getting Zhongxian Wu to come do a guest workshop in his studio, because I said I had been really impressed and personally impacted by his talisman qigong healing. So I feel Astanga is more or less a mechanistic physical system that through asana and pranayama give you a gymnastics style workout, but no real, tangible, powerful benefits for energy or spiritual development, say like SKY or Wu’s qigong, nor a ‘complete’ system like the Chinese including herbs, astrology, you name it, all as one indivisible, functional unit actually able to powerfully change your health, finances, spirituality, you name it It’s still great for strictly physical fitness, but would personally deem normal fitness training in the western style superior for health, and SKY or Wu’s qigong supplemented with TCM superior for healing for most

Super interesting! Can you link to where you read it? Would love to follow up Just to contribute I can say that Sharath Jois (son of the founder of Astangha Yoga) also died of a sdden heart attack last year though young, right in front of my uncle (who's a senior astanga teacher in my country). Also a great sufi from Iran specialised in heart prayer also has suffered major heart issues throughout his life, has a pacemaker etc, Dr. Seyed Mostafa Azmayesh It seems like a repeat offender in spiritual schools, were heart issues maybe become more likely? Ofc not to rule out that x amount of people are anyway predisposed to heart problems, and it could be seen as completely unrelated to their spiritual practice

@Lala Nila amen brother! Well said, words of wisdom

@Lala Nila thanks for your positive feedback! Glad you found it useful And thanks for also sharing your own experiences and observations of his books and interviews. I really wished he was the real deal, as it's almost impossible to penetrate these obscure spiritual arts. Kudos to him for his "academic" side of translation, studies and explanations for sure, bringing all this obscure stuff into the limelight for those interested. I do feel just like you said that he's not a powerful cultivator, which is a pretty big and important point. What's the use of knowledge, if you don't live and embody it? That's more or less the whole daoist philosophy, embodiment and the practice first, including health and vitality, then you get understanding through practicing, and not so much from intellectual studies. Because like you said, there are some super interesting things here and there, e.g. for me there were specially 1 or 2 mantras/talismans from the Black Magic section that shocked me, simply because they actually worked! NOTE, it wasn't black magic I did ofc, it was a kind of energy practice to help with some practical things in life, which ofc didn't include hurting myself or others, but to help myself and others. The vast majority of the rest I felt something, but it wasn't life changing. If I feel anything at all, I'm always positively surprised, as in my own personal experience 99% of what we can find out there is 100% fake, whereas the real is few and far between. So my appetite whetted from these black magic, I obviously wanted to go on, it would be so cool to be friends with him and having him personally coach you with all his knowledge and share the exact teachings you're interested in with you, but as I shared earlier, all personal interactions with him left me super drained and unhappy, pale in my face and dark under the eyes, also he's so flaky and slightly manipulative in his dealings, which led me to having to completely stop all interactions with him, unfortunately. But most of us are ofc one trick ponies, we can do one thing very well, then fail at everything else. E.g. some are pleasant people to hang around, but completely incompetent. Others are highly competent but complete assholes. In cultivation someone might have one chakra, dan tien, talisman or energy they're good at, but they suck as people and their personal life is a mess. I could go on. Seems he's good intellectually, he has studied and translated so much, he has a great overall knowledge of all these occult folk magic practices and how they work, how they fit into chinese history and daoism/confucianism/buddhism, differences and commonalities etc. So he's knowledgeable, but he's not a cultivator, nor a people person, nor a personal coach/guide/master for one-on-one. It would be cool to use him as a personal librarian, him being your tome-pusher, sliding you what you need but ofc he has his own interests. Feel he's mainly interested in just getting chinese folk magic out there, and then secondly carving a place for himself in the social hierarchy in the niche of the occult and getting some much needed recognition after a life behind the scenes socially most of the time So not interested in the people in his school, their personal life, personal cultivation, personal succeses and failures, he's just interested in getting things out there. No problem with that, but that's just my feeling, which ofc doesn't align well with my personal interest of a one-on-one tome-pusher helping me in my personal cultivation, personal life, overcoming life obstacles, getting health, wealth, success etc, as well as developing spiritually Anyway, peace to all! Rant over, mic drop, I'm out, God bless you

There's obviously a difference from situation to situation, and a humongous difference between theory and practice. However, what I will say to adress your points is, yes. What I've seen in my life is that it's generally best to do just 1 practical action. All the thinking, planning, feeling, strategizing etc, honestly, for manifesting something in this physical world, is not that needed. People who actually create the life they want to live, every single one of them, take massive practical action on a daily basis, even without a long term plan, even when conditions are not ideal, even without any strategy. However, I've met tons of people who are super smart, intellectual, have all the right plans and strategy, but they have nothing to show for it, as they don't take practical action on it. So yes, as a general advice, I would say for 99.9% of people, if you want to help them live and manifest their dream life, it's actually a better piece of advice to "just go for it", than to plan, wait, get conditions perfect, prepare, plan, strategize. Just get going, 1 step at a time, that's what's king in this physical, material world. Just take the first practical step. Just DO the thing. Then the rest will naturally follow. Whereas thinking and planning endlessly doesn't work. It's actually a trap for most, especially white, middle class people. Try to interview all the strongest, richest, happiest, most materially succesful or most powerful spiritual people you know, I'm sure you'll find all who make it, who rise above the inertia of average, they would all agree, that action is king, even without a plan. The few people (remaining 0.1%) who I would advise to just use their head a bit before starting, is people from poor or lower class backgrounds, or most non-white people. Many of these are master-doers, but mostly get themselves into trouble, whereas white middle class people are experts at thinking and analyzing, but always remain wage-slaves to "the man" and argue that "I could if I wanted to", yet never do it. This is also where we find the most incels. And I take that the vast majority of people on this forum are white, middle class people. Hence the tailored advice "just do!". Ofc you can let me know your concrete situation and I could tailor advice to you personally, whether you should plan or do

Dear Dao Bums, I will share my experience with Master Zhongxian Wu (known as Master Wu). I will share my experiences in the following points: 1) Overview of what of his qigong I've done 2) General overview of my impression of his systems 3) Big positive suprises with his system 4) Small negative aspects I've noticed over the years 5) Summary 6) Conclusion Overview of his qigong I've done I've practiced many of his forms and meditations, namely: a) fire dragon meridian qigong, b ) shamanic cosmic orbit qigong, c) talisman qigong and healing, d) TuGuNaXing ("blow out the old, take in the new" which is his preferred alchemical meditation), e) Stretching exercises for acheiving the lotus position f) and many more General overview of his systems He teaches different systems, namely: a) Emei Qigong b ) Dai Xin Yi c) Tai Ji d) Wudang Dragon Gate The Emei is more "spiritual" in nature in my opinion, as in this school you connect to the lineage through mantras, mudras and talismans, and thereby gain access to universal energy as well as the energy of the lineage. It is then through this connection you further your own energy, by plugging in to a larger container. My impression is that the Wudang Dragon Gate is a more "mainstream" qigong, meaning that it focuses more on stretching and strengthening the physical body, with a heavy focus on the lower dan tien and increasing health and vitality. Big positive surprises with his systems I was very surprised that no matter what he does, it works! Calligraphy, music, mantras, qigong, meditation, drinking tea, no matter what he teaches, there is a large amount of qi transmission taking place. There really is a possibility of cultivating your jing, qi and shen, your body, energy and spirit, through things such as calligraphy, drinking tea, playing music. This was a big positive surprise. The same goes for his healing methods; all these methods can be used for healing as well. And it works! Even though you don't have powerful qi yourself, by connecting to the lineage through mantras, mudras and talismans, you can get extra qi. Small negative aspects I've noticed over the years The first thing is that he doesn't always answer people's questions. This can be very frustrating. It's a two way street: you need to prove yourself to him, only then will he consider your questions. The second thing I've noticed which is very strange, is that people meeting him for the first time tend not to like him. His long time students worship him, because they know he is for real. He has qi, he has knowledge, and if you keep at it, he can really "deliver the goods". However, for some reason, people who don't know him tend to dislike him, e.g. when going to their first course or workshop with him. This is in stark contrast to other spiritual teachers I've met. Here everyone who meets them simply likes them for no reason. Summary He is a legit master, he teaches the real thing, and whatever he teaches works. He has the knowledge, experience, qi, skills, lineage and transmission to take you all the way from the body, to the energy, to the spirit, and to connect with the universe. The negative aspects are that he is quite expensive, can disregard people's questions, people tend not to like him in the beginning, and he surprises everyone with the amounts of meat and alcohol he ingests. Conclusion If you're looking to experience qi directly, his qi transmission is legit. If you're more into the spiritual side of things, go with Emei and learn the mantras, mudras and talismans. If you're more into the physical and vitalizing aspects of qigong, go for his Wudang Dragon Gate Qigong.