Daoists in the Modern Chinese Self Cultivation Market

[yeniseri]

I came upon this excellent work "Daoists in the Modern Self Cultivation Market" by author Vincent Goossaert and I would recomment it to any student or teacher who currrently teaches yangshenggong practices.

What is believed in the greater public has always been at odds with the historical records hence the cult like addiction to the illusion of what is considered "Daoist", "qigong" "tai chi" etc and this does affect how one's art can be made better just by understanding the background and attitude of how course future and direction can be made better. What prompted this was a discourse with some tai chi people who do Zhang Manqing version of tai chi and some Tai Chi Chih adherents who appeared so cult like in their devotion to their corresponding master that I could not respond and did not but I did summarize by saying that people choose what they choose despite the "truth" about a thing and they refuse to even consider opposite views. As long as they do this in their corner that is fine but telling a student what to believe is anathema to my limited esposure in teaching!

Anyway, the author proceeds to distinguish the main currents of this Daoist knowledge of the late QIng and modern China with references to Falungong (limited) to show that any system that questions the prevailing governmental structure is doomed to 'destruction' (minor point) but how one presents this method, propped up by DVDs. workshops, membership fees, etc does influence a proliferation of a "system" regardless of whether it is authentic or not. David Palmer's recent opus sheds light that many a system that mimicked Communist ideology fared a far better chance of being "popularized" than one known to be 500 years old and was authentic!

As we know with taijiquan, it was practiced in "secret" by family members because they spoke out against the status quo and were meaginalized for decades.

[everything]

Ancient “technology” will stay relevant if something in it remains useful and accessible without needing to join a cult and despite the language needed by marketers to fit whatever micro generation addicted to smartphones needs as packaging (meditation apps?).

But people do need some “packaging” even if simple and no nonsense, at least at first. I guess.