Wordless

From a daoist perspective, if you have removed all thoughts from your mind so there is nothing left, then you should remove what is left, the "nothing", for it too, is a conjuration of your mind. That is one of the steps of Zuo Wang, the daoist "sitting and forgetting" meditation.

Aww stupid image link didn't work..... oh well... Joke link instead: https://umamusume.com/

Banger music choice though ;D

computer translate.... yes... yes... i see now....... "Wang Zhenyan is not a magist, but he has set up a true religion (Northern Zong) with a t-shirt and emphasis:"....... yes... we must increase market share through t-shirt branding.... google translate what would i do without you.

This picture clearly shows the end goal of a true ATPaoist, arms and legs gotten rid off for better aerodynamics. The tap in the lower half of the picture is where the ATPaoist ties a knot before taking his final deep breath, expanding like a balloon and ascends to the divine.

It's a compulsion really.... i hear foundation and qi, i just throw the Yi Jin Jing at them and yell HUANG before running away. Thank you for the share The reason i use Huang is exactly the reason that was discussed earlier about the word qi is better being left untranslated.

Can't believe the amount of times i've mentioned the Yi Jin Jing in the past 24 hours, but here we are again.... Muscles are not very conductive to qi..... the fact that you only feel energy there and it's a "tremendous energy", i don't consider a positive sign. I think whatever your practice is, you need to slow down, go back to the very basics and slowly move your attention from within, outwards and ensure there isn't any problems... Maybe get into your wuji stance and get everything relaxed, ensuring there's no feeling of strain or contracted/closed off muscles and methodically check your body with your attention.

Putting into question the existence of Chi and the Dao on a mainly daoist forum in a topic about the practice of neidan...... I'll leave it at that...

I honestly think we're agreeing with each other here I'm not saying not to include other things after/later. I'm saying when starting out, start with wuji stance. Have the beginner start out with wuji stance, depending on progress, i'd say minimum 2 weeks with daily wuji stances. There'll be plenty of time to include all kinds of corrections and remodelling, expanding the practice after those beginning weeks. It honestly just promotes qualities you'll want in a cultivator and in the grand scheme of things, a couple weeks of wuji stance is but a drop in the ocean of a lifetime of practice. Either way, i enjoyed your post on your website @TaiChiGringo, your experience is definitely valid and the time and effort you've put into your corrective work is commendable

I think his point was more that Zhan Zhuang should be done after some foundational energy-body work is complete which would "warm the clay" so to speak... I just wanna circle back to previous conversations in this topic about the wuji stance. A systems wuji stance should allow plenty of foundational work to be done. Seems like most here talk about it from a martial arts point of view, from a neigong point of view. You'd want the wuji stance in your system to allow working on the early stages of the neidan practice. Since it would allow such work, there'd be no reason to rush to other practices until the start of a foundation has been made.

A quick google gave me this: In the context of Yi Jin Jing (Muscle/Tendon Changing Classic), the Chinese character 黃 (huáng) refers to the fascia and web of connective tissues (the "yellow" substance filling spaces) Whether it's the correct character, i have no idea, i'm not chinese. You can look up the Yi Jin Jing and find the character in there i suppose.

I'll confess i didn't read the entire article, but it seems the basic goal was really to remove the mysticism of qi in the western world so TCM would gain greater legitimacy. Which i think is a positive thing and classifying qi as "energy" for the layperson is completely acceptable. After all, part of cultivation is a continuous shift of perception, so i don't see why a laypersons definition of qi hinders a deepening of understanding of qi as the practitioners spiritual journey unfolds, shifts and evolves. Also i think any interest from the science community in jing, qi, sheng, so on, is a positive thing and should be met with encouragement from the daoist community.

I think the comparison the article makes would have worked better in a Buddhist context where the focus is predominantly on the mind. Daoist cultivation also has a big focus on Ming (body/vitality) which makes the comparison kind of weak, even if the end result is comparable, the path to get there is extremely different. Comparing end results rather than actual practice seems unwise. I think the real take away from the article from an average Christians POV is Buddhist meditations may help their mind reach closer proximity to that of Christ. Which again seems to ignore something rather major..... Christian mysticism exists and already includes meditative and contemplative practices... Which makes it seem the author just found 2 comparable end results and wanted to find unifying practices, lacking the understanding of really either tradition. The conclusion of the article again highlights the comparability of the 2 end results, while instead it's real conclusion should just have been something along the lines of "Christians could probably benefit from developing a daily meditative practice". Anyway, thanks for the share @Haribol, it at least gave a slight insight into Jungian thought.

I'll second this. Well if it's any consolation, there's high quality english translations of chinese daoist text that does a good job at being nuanced and not over-simplifying the chinese texts or their concepts This is also why people should buy and own at least 1 or 2 good translations of daoist texts, to support high quality work. Hopefully encouraging publishing houses to keep supporting such work.

Your translation literally differentiate between breath and Chi. I'm not sure why you keep saying "in the west", Chinese daoist view Chi as an energy or "subtle substance" as well. There's plenty of Chinese practitioners on youtube you can look up yourself. You're free to pursue whatever path you believe is the correct one, but don't try to overturn well established concepts. It only muddies discussions and benefits no one.