idquest

You can look into one of Damo Mitchell's teachers Mark Rasmus. Rasmus uses different vocabulary from daoism, but essentially he teaches the same stuff.

There is a perception of non-dual light/dao and there are preliminary practices that lead to this perception. Among the practices that lead to the perception are numerous neigong techniques, and visualization is no worse than any of those techniques. The only difference is that neigong trains 'feeling' area of brain, and visualization trains a different area of brain. So for the completeness, one needs both. As for perception of the NDL/dao - one needs none.

The cave is a treasury, the dragon is the guardian of the treasury, the knight is short of cash (as always) so he must rob the treasury. The role of the maiden is somewhat ambiguous, she might even be the owner of the treasury, but she can''t do anything against the brute knight.

many times personally. Nathan has studied with Nelson for several years.

I"m actually quite impressed with what Rasmus teaches. here are some glimpses to his study material: https://vimeo.com/markrasmus/vod_pages As for the Golden Dawn, I've heard that there are literally several people (like fewer than 10) who actually understand the system.

Regarding Bardon's system and qigong & taiji, have you looked at what Mark Rasmus teaches?

Assuming that the goal of your cultivation is enlightenment/nirvana/samadhi - nothing will bring you to these states as I'm sure you have heard. It is a qualitative jump rather than quantitative when you move from one level to another. What yoga and qigong do - they provide your body-mind with empowerment which may help your make this qualitative jump. Yoga is good for health if practised correctly, so it is a benefit by itself. Silent sitting could also be good for health is you include internal cavity practice in your sits.

IMO chanting Hindu (or others) deities names is the same practice as done in Hermetics/Magic as invocation/evocation of various beings. But when it is done in Hermetics, there are a lot of security measures taken, and there is a list of friendly beings and not so friendly ones. I don't remember any security measures in Hindu deities chanting, I could be wrong though. What I'm trying to say is that you are right in a sense that poking into these practices could bring more harm than good; and following security protocols is better than not.

I don't think there is big difference, if at all, between feeling something in various parts of the body, and visualising certain things like colours, shapes, etc. Both are senses and I can't understand why one type of sense would be preferable to the other. Ideally we need to cultivate all of them. I still voted for 'Other' to highlight two things. First - visualisation should not be used as imagination. Pure imagination is just a waste of time. Second - visualisation could become a waste of time either if it becomes a goal. As any somatic experience, BTW.

That was exactly my point. Some people become ghosts by way of unfortunate events, and some work hard to become ghosts.

A Third eye is not the same as the upper dantien. When somebody works on the 3rd eye, this is not necessarily the work on the UDT, although it may coincide. When somebody works on the UDT, they may work either up or down. If down, they go from shen to qi. If up - they go from shen to wuji. At least this is how I understand things. It is not advisable to work on the UDT until you get at least basic understanding of how LDT and MDT work.

The real question is this: What is a danger of becoming a ghost immortal from doing daoist practice incorrectly? In my understanding the danger is quite high, although I haven't come across meaningful discussions about this.

I'm studying his online curriculum. Very impressed. And I can compare to others...

Less theory, more practice. The more people talk and use professional jargon, daoist or not, the more dualistic they become. Talk less, practice more.

Open and Close refers to the fundamental characteristic of the Universe which is pulsing. WHile you cultivate, you find this quality of pulsing everywhere from physical movements to stillness meditation. It is fun to observe.