Recently, there has been a lot of discussion about the word 玄關/hsuan kuan/mysterious gate/mysterious pass/etc. The following video has a Chinese teacher living in Canada discussing this concept quite thoroughly in English. He made a lot of points that I think are insightful.   For example, he pointed out that there are many different claims about the definition of this word, some of which are really quite different from each other. Also, he pointed out that, as for how to use this concept to practice, there are many different entry points and methods. They can be very different too.    Of course, it is unlikely that every method and every theory is right. However, if you have the opportunity to interact regularly with Taoists, you may find that they generally don't spend too much time denigrating each other's "incorrect" practices. Not only that, even if it is absolutely impossible for all people to "achieve Tao" in this lifetime, those Taoists tend to respect those whose approaches to practice can be very different, even totally different.   Why do Taoists respect those who use very different methods? It's not just because respect for others is a virtue or because if you are a Taoist who always criticizes Taoists who practice differently you will have zero friends (because nobody practices exactly the same ). There are many deeper reasons. Daoist disciples generally know very well that it is difficult for us to judge whether what we ourselves do is right or not, let alone others. It is also difficult for us to know the karma of others in past lives, the innate wisdom and potential of others, the morality of others, the destiny of others, the luck of others, and so on. These elements all affect the practice.   Therefore, it is entirely possible that a person who practices "incorrect" cultivation today will be on the right path tomorrow. Moreover, the reason why he realizes the right path tomorrow might be because he went astray yesterday. Also, there are actually many "unknowable" elements to human existence. Why does one person have a good response with a certain method, while another person suffers a lot of setbacks with the same method, or even has a terrible side effect? Who can really explain it? Precisely because these things are hard to say or know, you don’t hear many people in Taoist temples saying, “This is the one and only way to practice” or “It will definitely end bad if you practice that way.” There are nearly infinite variables in life. So many things really varies from person to person.   The meaning of the above is not to say that "everything goes in Taoist practice." It means that in practice, it cannot be assumed that everything is the same for everyone. To judge what counts as "right", one often needs to consider a person's age, experience, health, education level, character, potential, commitment, wisdom, maturity, background, and so on. Therefore, this kind of thing generally needs to be considered and discussed privately between teachers and students, and it is not possible to arbitrarily decide "right" and "wrong" for everybody on the Internet.     His suggested practice at the end I don't condone or oppose, btw. I learned exercises related to the Mysterious Gate with three different Taoist teachers. The methods are all different from each other, and they're all different from the methods in the movie. Taoism is really diverse!