松永道

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About 松永道

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    Song Yongdao

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  1. Of course there is a reason. The reason is habituated, reactionary, crooked emotional thinking. To continue playing with the rebel metaphor, rebels rebel for mainly two reasons - unjust government or weak government. One yin, one yang. Unjust government, in the context of our emotions, could be anger, rumination, negative self esteem, addiction, or over indulgence. Weak government could be fear, grief, or depression. One causes stagnation and counter flow in the body mind, the other causes deficiency. "Correct thinking" is the goal but simply forcing it over your existing framework is basically fascism. It's just going to cause the rebels to go deeper underground. The road to peace doesn't lay with giving the rebels what they want but with understanding and fixing the causes for rebellion.
  2. My impression is that Buddhism pretty blatantly points out the absurdity of these thoughts. As does Daoism. One could even make a case that the Bible says so too. According to Daoist theory you're tuning into the crooked Qi 邪气 of the Po mind 魄. Jung calls it the shadow. Tolle calls it the pain body. Popular culture calls it emotional baggage or just your shit. The objective of inner sight or Vippassana meditation is to encounter these thoughts with equanimity. They aren't you. Not the real you. They are junk clinging on to you. To mistake them for self is delusion. But they are in you. And that needs to be recognized before they can transform back into emptiness. These thoughts have tremendous power, take root in the physical body, and can be infectious, especially among close friends and down hereditary lines. Incidentally, the Chinese character for 邪气 xieqi, crooked Qi, originally meant a rebel capital within the kingdom. This is in contrast to 正气 zhengqi, upright Qi, which meant the rightful government mandate. You, the real you, are the rightful ruler of your kingdom, not the rebels. But the path to peace doesn't involve crushing one rebellion after another. Rather peace is won by finding out why the rebels are rebelling in the first place. They aren't demons. They are crying babies. Peace is in finding and filling your real needs. When you do the ancient maxim rings true, human beings are essentially good.
  3. Perhaps we'll just have to disagree. The school I know thinks Taijiquan and some other Waigong methods are a great avenue into Neidan. A 途径 in their words. I've observed other schools also use Waigong methods. Sitting for long hours is hard if you don't have a strong back. And progress is much slower if your meridians aren't open, moving and full. Now, if you'll indulge an analogy, a few months ago I treated a kid for sinus congestion. When his sinuses cleared up his grades went up. Does that mean my treatment made him a better student? Yes and no. Sinus congestion made his mind foggy and distracted. My treatment resolved his obstacle. Nevertheless, my treatment has no inherent ability to improve a student's grades. What does that have to do with the Great Dao and minor methods? Minor methods solve mundane problems. Mundane problems can be major obstacles. What I'm saying is if you understand yourself and cultivation principles, "side doors" become just another aspect of Dao. Every Neidan school at some point adopted outside practices and worked them into a coherent system. As your Dao understanding grows, you can see other practices, understand their principles and assimilate them for your own progress. Neidan is based on Yijing theory. To get clannish or rigid in cultivation utterly misses the point. I'm fully aware that my reading of the original Chinese text is biased by my own education, values and experience. But I still think that Zhong Liquan is saying that the problem with these minor methods isn't that they lead away from the Dao but that people mistakenly believe that they can lead to the Great Dao all on their own. You say That's exactly my point. If you have that knowledge, know the mechanism, know yourself and know what you need, you can use minor methods to suit your purpose. They are minor precisely because they aren't systematized into a greater whole.
  4. This is wandering off the topic but I think you're asking from a sincere place and deserve a sincere response. It basically comes down to personal integrity. The more you have, the more you'll see people for who they are. Everyone has flaws. No one has all the answers, not for themselves and especially not for you. Nevertheless, there are real cultivators out there. And spending time with them is valuable beyond words. My advice is to work with teachers you deeply respect and admire. Not for their words or abilities but for their character. Virtue isn't taught, it's transmitted over time together.
  5. This is the line from the Zhouyi Cantong Qi: 上德无为,不以察求,下德为之,其用不休。 Upper Virtue [is] Wuwei (without action), [one] needs not look [or] seek, Lower Virtue acts, it [takes] effort without resting. Upper virtue is the way of spontaneous enlightenment. Lower virtue is the way of effort, 有为, the way of desire. But the goal of both is to return to emptiness 清静归虚 and achieve the Dao. That tangent aside, do you really think the methods found in Neidan schools are somehow magic and immune from misuse? Do you think Taijiquan, Yoga, Zen Meditation, pranayama, and other methods that cure disease, promote longevity and stillness of mind can only lead people away from the Great Dao because they aren't part of a special Neidan lineage? Were that true the Great Dao would be oh-so-very small. The fact is, methods are like medicines. Used right, they bring the body into better balance, used wrong they are poison. My medicine may be my brother's poison. And the same medicine that cured me last year may be my poison today. No medicine or practice is a panacea. Any school that wants you to think their way is the only way are either trying to fool you or they are fooling themselves.
  6. The Zhouyi Cantong Qi, one of the earliest Neidan texts calls the lesser methods 下德, "lower virtue methods". Basically they are methods of 有欲, having desire as chapter 1 of the DDJ puts it. They have clear goals and results but do not lead to the great Dao. However, they can prepare a person to cultivate the great Dao. Buddhists practice concentration before they practice inner sight, Vippassana. Daoists cultivate health, energy, concentration, etc before cultivating immortality. Medicine is a minor method, physical strengthening is a minor method, anything you do to achieve a small result is a minor method. Dragon Gate Daoists these days who wish to cultivate Zhong Liquan's Lingbao Bifa first cultivate many minor methods. Together they are called 引仙法, attracting immortality methods. Minor methods move people away from the Dao only if people confuse them for the Great Dao. We agree, the ability to distinguish the Great Dao from the side doors is important. But If you have that ability, side doors pose no hazard. After all, the great Dao is 大而无外,小而无内 so great there is nothing beyond it, and so small that nothing separate exists within it. The side doors are also Dao.
  7. Guys, I didn't read the whole thread, just the first page. But the tone of the translation is a bit off in my opinion. I don't think the Chinese "旁门小法" should be translated as "false methods of minor schools". Literally, the Chinese reads, "side doors [and] minor methods". Zhong Liquan goes on to say that these methods are effective at curing illness, nourishing life, quieting the mind and achieving other results. The problem, as Zhong Liquan puts it, is that over time people started mistakenly believing that these methods lead to achieving the great Dao. But they don't. In my opinion, and the opinion of other Daoist works, health, energy, clarity, and ability are prerequisite to higher cultivation. But cultivated to excess, even good things become detours. I think that's Zhong Liquan's point here. These minor methods get results. However, they don't lead to the great Dao and anyone who mistakenly believes they do will be lead astray. Basically, the great path has a lot of side roads. They can be useful, interesting, seductive, confusing, dangerous or a waste of time. They are the many Daoist arts. Depending on where you are, the side roads may lead to the great path or they may lead away.
  8. Chinese Text Project

    It's an amazing resource. I use it a lot. Great for word searches.
  9. embarrassment at the nightclub....

    Looks like you found the treatment. I've found some people who have so-called "kundalini rising" are actually exeriencing the symptoms of an illness Chinese medicine calls a Jueyin syndrome. Basically, yang get unhinged from its root in the lower dantian and surges upwards. One symptom of yang surging upwards is increased spiritual phenomenon. I was about to write spiritual delusion but yang surging doesn't only produce meaningless hallucinations. The nature of the spiritual experience can be quite meaningful. Nonetheless, it lacks firm grounding and the more it is indulged the less grounded things get. I say indulged because certain practices exacerbate the condition. Notably, focus on the third eye, psychedelics, fasting, and other purposeful attempts to induce spiritual revery. What re-anchors yang? Fat, red meat, dairy products, fermented foods, zhanzhuang, emptying the mind, and lower dantian focused practices. I actually speculate most people who experience 'kundalini' events are actually experiencing Jueyin syndrome. A lot of folks these days don't have a strong anchor to begin with, especially the types who are attracted to spiritual practices. Throw in drug use (including alcohol and pot) and/or excessive ejaculation and folks get unhinged even easier. Oh and I forgot to mention that when yang surges upwards, yin predominates below. Decreased libido and erectile dysfunction are symptoms.
  10. Chinese Medicine demystified

    I would love to see the results. I trust you'll forgive that I maintain skepticism towards your claims since, to me, you're just a random dude on the Internet. Delusion is real and common, especially in the wild and wooly world of contemporary cultivation. Nonetheless, I maintain a open mind. If you have proofs I'd love to hear them. Now I would like to re-emphasize my original point. I'm not reducing Qi to physical phenomenon. Though I believe it always has some measurable basis, however small, I don't presume that that's all it is. Similarly I don't think an emotion is just biochemistry. The whole takes on s life greater than it's components. I also don't presume we can measure every physical phenomenon out there. There's still a whole lot we don't know about how the body works without needing to bring mystical energy into the picture. To bring this topic back around to Chinese medicine, the notion of Qi as a mystical, unmeasurable energy is destructive to medical practice. The channels are physical things. But like Qi, that's not all they are. The Yellow Emperor's Internal Classic likens the channels to rivers and I think that's a great metaphor. Rivers are more than water in a river bed. They are functional environments. They ebb and flow with the seasons. They direct currents of wind, earth and water. They create habitats and are maintained by those habitats. Rivers are fantastically complex. Nevertheless they have a physical location and a plethora of measurable physical properties. And still they are more than the sum of their parts. You ask, "what's the productive nature of determining a limit?" Daodejing chapter one has your answer. Limits are also part of the Dao. 此两者同出而异名同谓之玄, "the two [boundaries and wonders] arise together but we give them different names, both are mysterious". I'll add that the character 玄 Xuan, translated here as mysterious, depicts a tiny thread or ray of light leading back to the reality above form (形而上). I love that character.
  11. Chinese Medicine demystified

    That's quite a claim. Also not difficult to verify scientifically. A fundamental practice in Daoist cultivation is 分真假, distinguishing real from illusion. Fortunately for you, living in the Bay Area means you're literally surrounded with geeks who have the equipment and would love to examine your experience. Have you done anything like this?
  12. Super enzyme Serrapeptase and Lower dantian

    @Fu_doggy and Trunk, if you don't mind, would you please describe what issues it has helped you with to this point?
  13. Super enzyme Serrapeptase and Lower dantian

    From what I gather, Chinese medicine would call this drug a blood mover and phlegm transformer. That means it's not suitable for people with spleen/pancrease deficiency (脾虚) or liver disharmonies (肝热或肝郁). Remember folks, there are no panaceas in this world. Medicine to one is poison to another. Anyone know what it comes from? Sounds similar to Gualou, Banxia, or maybe Changpu. Edit: looks like it is the enzyme silkworms use to dissolve their cocoons.
  14. Xing gong (' 性功')

    性命双修!Xing and Ming must be cultivated together. Which to do when depends on the person. @exorcist, I like the last analogy and have thought the same way. Added strength to a crooked heart is a recipe for disaster. As Confucius said, 欲修其身先正其心 "[if you] wish to cultivate the body first upright the heart".