I have read the tao te ching recently and also started the zhunagzhi and I am finding the philosophy resonant additionally I meditate. And now my mage side is curious about the magical side of taoism, do practices like qi gong, cultivation, fengshui and internal alchemy actually do anything or is it a meme. Is chi real if so why haven't we detected it? Can I expand my life span, increase my magical abilities and health or reach an arcane epiphany that abbates my existential dread this way?
>>39657791The answer to all of your questions is no. Better luck next universe!
>>39657812sad tfw so many magical paths and most are probably wrong. I guess I'll just stay a useless chunnibyu
>>39657791Yes. How? Impossible to condense that shit into a post and ain't nobody got time for that, but chi is real as is all the other energetic stuff. If you want to tap into any real magic you need lots of time and consistent training at it to grow results, might not take long to "feel a tingle" but it sure will take long to reverse aging or punch through concrete or other stuff.
>>39657858> chunnibyuThis is is legit the most powerful thing on /x/. A good chunni can start a cult with little effort.
>>39657791You probably need to sort out your mental stuff first from the sound of it. But otherwise, taoist cultivation practices do have their benefits. Just moderate your expectations. On the magical side of things, cultivation methods often accompany practices like spirit evocation. Search "Jerry Alan Johnson" on Anna's Archive. He has some informative introductory books on Taoist cultivation and magic in English. We can leave for later quibbles about whether he's truly Mao Shan or whether he's "CCP approved". As with all things esoteric, reading is fine - but it's best to study under a teacher if you seek serious practice.
>>39657887any good sources you would recommend. Currently the only books I've heard of in respect to the magic side are the neiye, I ching and secret of the golden flower.
>>39657888lol i always thought starting a cult would be kind of fun. Not really to manipulate people just in a it would be fun to be able to talk about/act on my delusions without seeming like a complete loser, life is just more fun when I see ordinary things in a more fantastical light.>>39657902I definitely have a lot of mental stuff to sort out I'm mentally ill + college. But it couldn't hurt to read the books and do the basic foundations like meditation and taichi.
>>39657909Sure. If you have enough autism, "The Way of Complete Perfection" will service you nicely.
>>39657977thank you
>>39657909NTA but I'm working on a massive effortpost of a Google doc that compiles good sources to escape AI Amazon slop and untrained Westerners. My undergraduate courses focused on Confucianism, Daoism, Sino-Japanese Buddhism, and Shinto. >tao te chingWhat translation/s did you use? I recommend using the Ames and one of the ones translated according to the commentary by Wang Bi, but Wagner's is my preference.>zhuangziAC Graham's translation, as well as Lynn's translation that uses the Guo Xiang commentary. Genuine Pretending and Zhuangzi and the Happy Fish are good secondary works. (Also read Graham's Liezi translation)>qi gongTaoist Meditation and Longevity Techniques is the go-to. Livia Kohn, the author, is very interested in the general topic of cultivation. Her other works include Chinese Healing Exercises and the Taoist Experience. Schipper's Taoist Body expands the microcosm of the individual practitioner to the community.>cultivationAs above, read Kohn. Her book Daoist Body Cultivation is a good start.>fengshuiCambridge has An Introduction to Feng Shui. Admittedly, a lot of sources you'll find are going to be uneducated Westerners. Always check the publisher and author.>internal alchemyFabrizio Pregadio has a ton of books on internal alchemy. I can't list them all here, but Foundations of Internal Alchemy is the place to begin. Also, more Kohn. Her books Internal Alchemy and the Zhong-Lu System of Internal Alchemy, specifically.
