Iskote

a stranger to all mother to the sun and moon lair of the dragon

Sanity Check: Mak is a definite fake, but that should be quite obvious from his videos and comments, etc. anyway. You definitely want to avoid Mak. Please see my comment linked below where I recap some of Mak's sleazy history in my comment about Wilson Yong:

Well, no one here likely saw the body, but his death did make the Chinese news, as later his son was reported to have been convicted of fraud for continuing to collect Tian Ruisheng's pension for quite some time after his death. "Son of sect founder is convicted of fraud" - South China Morning Post https://www.scmp.com/article/420965/son-sect-founder-convicted-fraud That news story says Tian Ruisheng was reported to have died in September 1995 of liver cancer. Unless one of us saw the body and medical documents, we can't say for sure whether the news story was completely accurate or not, but chances are it is probably true that Tian Ruisheng died in 1995 of some type of cancer. I mean we could just as easily say there is no reliable evidence that Elvis really died because we personally may not have confirmed the physical evidence there as well, but chances are pretty high that both are really dead, and that they both did die at the time they were reported to have died.

Thanks for the feedback and info about your thread. .

Hello zerostao. Are you an initiate of this system, and, if so, in general what is your experience with it?

Hello matrod. The practice of zhan zhuang is actually traditionally taught by some tai chi teachers, and the opening stance of tai chi (in some styles of tai chi anyway) is the 'wuji' stance, which is a core stance of zhan zhuang practice. You should be perfectly fine mixing those two practices. As for fragrant qigong, I don't know what the teachers of that system have said in regards to mixing that practice with tai chi and zhan zhuang, so I can't comment from that perspective; but, from a practical point of view, I would be inclined to think that practicing level 1 of fragrant qigong along with tai chi and zhan zhuang will likely be fine, but the original teacher of fragrant qigong may have stated differently. I don't know. I think the level 1 of fragrant qigong is focused on health improvement, so I wouldn't think there should be any much of a conflict, and may actually be quite complementary practices. If you feel any ill effects when mixing, then you might want to re-evaluate mixing what you are practicing, or maybe just practice those different practices at different times of the day. I am doubtful you should run into any issues with mixing those practices though.

Hello Compassion Please. Welcome! I should warn you that some people here may get quite triggered and argumentative and insulting when it comes to certain religious topics and religious figures. Also, moderators appear to be in shorter supply here recently, so be warned. Also, this is more of a widely eclectic discussion forum than a pure 'Daoist' discussion forum. Qigong and internal martial arts are practices which have a long and varied history in China, and although the term 'qigong' (chi kung) itself is a newer term, some of the practices them self may have roots which may go back for potentially thousands of years. Such practices in China are not always necessarily linked to Daoism specifically, although in many cases they may be. There are also qigong and martial arts practices which are associated with Buddhism in China, and qigong and martial arts practices in China which may have no overt association to any religion. 'Daoism' itself is also more of an umbrella term which covers many varied practices and native traditions in China, and many of those traditions and practices may have quite different roots and outlooks. Some of what may be included under the Daoism umbrella might be better termed folk religious practices, and then there are other practices and traditions such as some forms of qigong and neigong and martial arts and related which may be less religion affiliated, or not religion affiliated at all, but which may claim roots going back to the times of Lao Tzu (the Dao De Jing text) (estimated approximately 500 to 600 BC) and the Yellow Emperor (AKA Huangdi) (estimated over 2500 years BC), etc. You might also consider that places such as India, Tibet, and Nepal, etc., also have yoga and pranayama and meditation and other practices which may have moderate to strong similarities to practices found in China (pranayama has strong parallels to qigong, for example) , as well. Some of the practices of Saddhus in the Himalayan mountains do appear to be similar in at least some ways to practices and goals attributed to mountain Daoists in China, although there may be no historical connection between those different traditions. The goals and practices of many Saddhus (AKA Sadhus) in India and other ascetics in various other countries may have moderate to strong similarities in practices and philosophy and outlook, even if there is no known direct historical link between those practices and traditions. There is a Hindu related text entitled the 'Avadhuta Gita' which describes a practitioner's point of view of reaching a non-dualistic realization of the world through cultivation which sounds strikingly similar to parts of text outlined in the Dao De Jing, although the person who wrote that 'Avadhuta Gita' text probably had never heard of Lao Tzu or the Dao De Jing. My inclination is that spiritual (or personal) cultivation is spiritual cultivation, and experiences and end results may well, and maybe should, have strong similarities across different traditions, if those practices and experiences are valid, even though there may be no known historical connection between different cultivation practices and practitioners from different parts of the world. That is just a speculation though, of course. Good luck in your research!

I read that he died of liver cancer. If true, it is anyone's guess what may have caused that cancer however.

Looks without seeing For there is nothing to see No here and no there

I like some abstract and impressionist art, but never put art on my walls. I don't really know very many paintings or art, but If I did put art on my walls, I might put some like this up (just chose some I like after searching Google Images, to give an idea of what kind of art has impact for me) : "Dali - The Persistence of Memory, 1931" (I first saw this when I was young and thought the melting clocks were very cool) "Haida Raven" "Tom Thomson - In The Northland" "Abstract Painting,1950 by Lawren Stewart Harris" "The Grey Tree, 1912, by Piet Mondrian" Even more modern stuff like this I think is nice, even if it it was created for more commercial purposes: "Abstract art deco seamless pattern Premium Vector" When you give people examples of what type of art you like, it gives them a window into your mind/soul...

Nor she the thorn's wrath for it acts by not doing like all in nature

Yes, that is the guy.

Not sure if you are still around to see this reply, but here is what I know about Wilson Yong. I had some interaction with Wilson Yong through email a number of years ago. My impression was he was sincere about what he was teaching and offering, and his tradition, but his type of lineage may not be for everyone. It involves the use of talismans and incantations and ceremonies and that sort of thing. I don't know very much about his tradition beyond that, but some might refer to it as 'folk Taoism', which is still practiced in places like Malaysia and Taiwan. The second webpage looks very similar to the kind of attacks against Wilson Yong that were being made by a person who once posted here at Dao Bums (Herman Mak, if I remember correctly, AKA 'Mak Jo Si', 'Mak Tin Si', etc.), who went by different self proclaimed 'Taoist' titles and names over the years, and who is a very troubled person, to say it as nicely as I can. I think Mak was banned from Dao Bums after only a short stint of posting here, to give you an idea about him. Mak declared himself and his partner to be 'high level Taoist masters' decreed by the 'highest level Taoist gods' whom he claimed appeared before them and ordained them, and he started his own 'Taoist temple' and 'Taoist sect', etc., but I remember reading on his website a few years after that where he admitted that he made the whole divinely decreed Taoist master stuff up in conjunction with another person as a scam. His remorse didn't last long however. Several months later he took that webpage down and started a new website under a new name, and a new 'Taoist sect' with a new name, and changed his and his partner's titles and names a bit, but the same story again. He was supposedly ordained into a new 'Taoist sect' by 'highest level Taoist gods' again, and he carried on again as if nothing had happened previously. He used to go on and on about how his 'Taoist sect' was the only true and authentic form of Taoism out there. Ha ha. One of the things he did was use pellet guns on his 'Taoist alter' and similar instead of say ceremonial swords as his special 'Taoist tools' for doing 'exorcisms' and that sort of thing, for which he charged very large sums of money. I kid you not. For several years Mak posted all kinds of videos on Youtube where he was reviewing all kinds of pellet guns and demonstrating all kinds of martial arts forms where it was obvious he was just copying various forms from many different Chinese martial arts DVDs, or making up his own 'martial arts' sets. For some reason Mak went after Wilson Yong a number of years ago, and Mak was attacking Wilson Yong all over the net, and I believe Wilson Yong just kind of went low profile on the net at that point rather than trying to deal with a very troubled person. Wilson Yong's website also went dormant around the same time, I believe. It looks like he may have decided to stay low profile after what happened with Mak. Wilson Yong is a medical doctor, I believe, and he likely didn't have time to try to deal with Mak's antics on the net. I can't vouch for the authenticity of Wilson Yong's tradition, because I know little about it, but Mak is definitely a very troubled person from what I saw over a period of several years. I wouldn't normally say much of anything about things like this, but I felt I should give a warning about Mak for people who may not have heard of him before, and who don't know his history.

A person who casts aspersions on another and disrespects them, when they really know nothing about that person, is displaying extreme ignorance. There is no point responding to such people. Nothing productive will ever come of it, and by responding to them, you invite more ignorant responses. A wise person steps over or around doo doo when they encounter it on the road, and they continue on their way unphased. Doo doo can only get on you if you step in it.

Warm up the sa-ké! But do not imbibe its warmth A clear mind is truth