Considering Private Neidan Subforum

[forestofclarity]

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. 

[DynamicEquilibrium]

19 hours ago, forestofclarity said:

The forum title would be visible to AI and general non-members, but posts and comments would not.  

Would there be some features making impossible copy/paste of the content? 

[Antares]

It depends if there will be good administration so that qigong or people with esoteric mind - set can't come there and ruin it with their musings and ideas. They can bring forward original texts but interpret it the way they like it. So the discussion will be ruined anyway I am afraid   

[Master Logray]

Why not give it a try?  at most we are back to where we are now.

[Antares]

1 hour ago, Master Logray said:

where we are now.

And where are we now?

[-ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ-]

22 hours ago, forestofclarity said:

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. 

I think it is a good idea, as long as we stick to what is generally accepted as neidan, not everyone’s personal interpretation of it.

 

Accepting the differences of each specific lineage or text’s definition of neidan is fine and healthy, but when it becomes everyone’s individual idea of what they think it is, things will get messy.

[Master Logray]

45 minutes ago, Antares said:

And where are we now?

 

The good thing is there has never been so much interest in Neidan.   

[Antares]

57 minutes ago, -ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ- said:

Accepting the differences of each specific lineage or text’s definition of neidan is fine and healthy, but when it becomes everyone’s individual idea of what they think it is, things will get messy

It is bcoz neidan methods differ, sometime greatly - in some sects there is more emphasis on Xing, in some on Ming so there can be a confusion of ideas. But people who practice same sects methods can come to constructive discussions. I think in most cases it will be Longmen northern methods discussions 

Edited 4 hours ago by Antares

[Master Logray]

A sub-forum could be useful in dealing with crawling bots.   But it won't be that private as so many already have 20 posts.  And it would not be effective vs. trolling, spamming, bashing and so on.

[Antares]

Just now, Master Logray said:

many already have 20 posts

yeah, one can make 20 jokes or just write some short posts with few phrases and then troll the sub-forum discussion

it where we are now

[Taomeow]

20 or 200 or 2000, I don't think it will help.  What might help would be applying a special rule to that forum:  only those who could reference their neidan teacher and lineage would be qualified to post.  Pipe dream of course.   But what passes for neidan discussions otherwise is akin to a plumber teaching a neurosurgeon that the internal carotid arteries supplying blood to the brain should be tackled exactly like the water pipes supplying water to the toilet.  After all both carry fluid (or as the case may be in current neidan discussions on the board, "breath"), and therefore there's absolutely no reason to call a neurosurgeon when one needs to regulate blood supply to the brain -- a plumber is fully qualified.       

[Master Logray]

Sub forums tend to die of dwindling interactions. Am I correct?   especially for a not so popular subject.

[Taomeow]

Yes, that too.  

[cake1234566]

I think that sounds good, many of the posts in daoist discussion seem neidan adjacent so i'd be interested to hear more about what specifically goes in which place

 

Also something that might help there is, (as i'm guessing its supposed to attract more high quality info and discussion), an informal rule of the OP stating which tradition they're talking about before bringing up the topic

 

Like
Topic: Pore breathing visualization

Dragons gate lineage

Does anyone have some tips for the visualization when doing WLPs pore breathing exercise

 

vs the current

Topic: Pore breathing

anyone know how to pore breath bro
*15 page flame war with 5 different schools*

 

Something to consider is that very specific topics often only have a few people that can answer the question, and so there tends to be a lot of threads that have no replies, a good example is dharmawheel where theres a ton of empty threads because people are asking things that only a few thousand people on earth can answer

 

Maybe something like, general open discussions of neidan can still go in Daoist Discussion and then the neidan subforum can be used for people who only want that specialized info and are fine with waiting for someone who can genuinely discuss the topic?

[DynamicEquilibrium]

It could be too difficult to manage what belongs to the 'for everyone ' section of a general book store in the same way as very specialized sources materials belonging to the 3rd underground floor of a university library or to the safes of a museum.

 

However between these two caricatural extremes there must be a compromise, both for the content specialization level and the structure of its management and protection system. 

 

To the question 'do such designed structure and system could be still called a discussion forum?' my answer is: 'I don't know.'

 

 

[steve]

1 hour ago, Taomeow said:

What might help would be applying a special rule to that forum:  only those who could reference their neidan teacher and lineage would be qualified to post. 

 

This would definitely add to the quality of discussion. It may also encourage more detailed sharing. That would be fun.

Edited 2 hours ago by steve

[Taomeow]

14 minutes ago, cake1234566 said:

 

Also something that might help there is, (as i'm guessing its supposed to attract more high quality info and discussion), an informal rule of the OP stating which tradition they're talking about before bringing up the topic

 

 

Yes, this is not unlike what I proposed.  Name your teacher, name your lineage, and then which part of that practice you are going to discuss.  This would be great to apply to qigong, neigong, taiji discussions as well. 

 

29 minutes ago, cake1234566 said:

Like
Topic: Pore breathing visualization

Dragons gate lineage

Does anyone have some tips for the visualization when doing WLPs pore breathing exercise

 

 

The first tip I got from a fellow practitioner back in the day: start with a very limited volume.  Don't breathe in the whole expanse of the universe, don't breathe out the ocean and the sky.  Practice in a small room.  When you can pore breathe reliably the volume of air wall to wall, ceiling to floor, then move on to larger volumes.  Precision trumps ambition.   

[Apech]

I read the title of this thread as ‘Saving Private Neidan’ on first take  made me laugh.

[Taomeow]

44 minutes ago, Apech said:

I read the title of this thread as ‘Saving Private Neidan’ on first take  made me laugh.

 

I read your comment as "on first fake." 

 

Which reminded me of that visual game someone posted a few days ago...  I didn't fare all that well...  would  you  give it a try, see what you see?

 

 

[steve]

2 minutes ago, Taomeow said:

 

I read your comment as "on first fake." 

 

Which reminded me of that visual game someone posted a few days ago...  I didn't fare all that well...  would  you  give it a try, see what you see?

 

 

 

I got cake, weed, and arrested!

🤣

[forestofclarity]

36 minutes ago, Taomeow said:

Yes, this is not unlike what I proposed.  Name your teacher, name your lineage, and then which part of that practice you are going to discuss.  This would be great to apply to qigong, neigong, taiji discussions as well. 

 

The current rule would at least require at least a demonstrable source--- i.e. a reference to either a particular school or text (understanding that schools and text may not always agree). 

 

If there is enough demand, I imagine we could create some section with those limitations. 

 

6 hours ago, DynamicEquilibrium said:

Would there be some features making impossible copy/paste of the content? 

 

I don't think we have the software for that, and even if we did, I don't think it would matter. It is fairly easy to take a screenshot and pull text. 

 

1 minute ago, steve said:

 

I got cake, weed, and arrested!

🤣

 

Pancakes, arrested, hooker. 

[Taomeow]

1 minute ago, steve said:

 

I got cake, weed, and arrested!

🤣

 

You fared better than me.  I got arrested first, then nothing, then beer.  The "nothing" proved somewhat prophetic -- my son sent me a gift he got from Amazon and Amazon happily delivered a freaking empty package where six bottle of Diamine fountain pen inks should have been.  (They promised a replacement once I complained but so far...  nothing.)    

[Nintendao]

Scrutinizing from the top-left (ignoring getting yeeted by slang) i got "tv hi ki" (classical for "turn on the television, say hi to qi.") which does in fact remind me of a Christmas long past, when sat for countless hours in front of that glowing phosphor portal, painstakingly reassembling the Triforce of Wisdom.

 

After that I got the bigger picture and received some hooker dinosaur love.

 

That said, it goes without saying there must always be some wiggle room in what constitutes thread derailment or downright goofing. Having a clear declaration of where it should be avoided is a good idea. And I agree it would be nice to be able to represent specific lineages in a respectable and precise manner.

[liminal_luke]

With real maple syrup?

[ChiDragon]

10 minutes ago, Nintendao said:

That said, it goes without saying there must always be some wiggle room in what constitutes thread derailment or downright goofing. Having a clear declaration of where it should be avoided is a good idea. And I agree it would be nice to be able to represent specific lineages in a respectable and precise manner.

 

That may be hard to breathe the same air in one room.