forestofclarity

I think we're always looking for the next, the better, the more efficient, the best. Some techniques may seem useless or a slog for a very long time and then one day they open up. I think if you have found a qigong from a teacher you trust, then it would be better to practice that in the long run than drift from practice to practice (like many of us do/have done).

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I think there is an initiating seer, like what stirling says, but then there is also a community of practitioners who may develop the spiritual practice in various ways. There was a book I came across some years ago called Philosophical Meditations on Zen Buddhism by Dale Wright who argued that Huangbo, for instance, was not the result of a single person but a reflection of the experiences of an ongoing community of practitioners. I will add, however, that receiving a lineage initiation does seem to also confer a sort of power--- whether that is receiving the Holy Spirit via laying on of hands, getting a burst of qi from a Daoist master, or being initiated into a lineage.

As you may see, we are considering establishing a private neidan subforum. Unlike most of the TDB, the contents on this forum would only be viewable by TDB members with 20 posts, would be limited to neidan discussion (based on well-recognized texts, established schools and lineages). In other words, it would be a semi-private place for neidan based discussion. The forum title would be visible to AI and general non-members, but posts and comments would not. Before proceeding down this path, I wanted to open up to community thoughts and feedback. Let us know your thoughts/concerns/issues.

It seems like Xing is equivocated to Buddhanature by Liu Yiming in his commentary to Awakening Reality and Huang Yuanji from the Middle School. The Secret of the Golden Flower I believe was incorporated into the Longmen Pai by Ming De. Wang Mu in his Foundations reject that there is a one to one comparison, so there is a spectrum of views. I don't think this is necessarily the case in many Southern or other schools.