silent thunder

Another shift in regards to localized awareness' relationship to praxis unfolding... Forms and pursuits/meditation/various Gong used to be dietary, daily. Sustenance. Pursued rigidly and dedicatedly daily. Then after decades came a rather painful shift to medicinal. No longer could daily practice be played without impeding. The practice had become the impedition to the process, rather than revealing. Eventually the love of meditating became a hurdle to meditating. Kali, holding the severed head of her husband. One must, to experience source/god/dao, move beyond mental notions of such, as mental notions of such, do not and can not convey the unconveyable... Practice and form re-emerged after a time of 'no mountain', but then a period where they arose medicinally/occasionally spontaneously and seemingly sporadically (to conscious mind) Over time, the pattern to the spontaneous medicinal nature becomes revealed and an inkling of the process is perceived on occasion through a window in local awareness. In the spontaneous medicinal phase, forms seemingly arise in response to requisite balancing, or preventatively and receding upon completion of shift... all seemingly stemming from an open wei wu wei framework, from beneath the level of conscious awareness. tzu jan Lately life is practice and forms are life process. There is no longer meaningful distinction for local awareness between formal practices and non pursuit. Life and practice are one fluidly unfolding awareness involving form and void. Making eggs is meditation and qi gong. Alchemy is constant unfolding of awareness and form with formless. Self notions, assumptions, storytelling self dissolves in experietial co-arising aggregates and void of simplest beingness. bliss in simple raw being. not a manic bliss... softest, simple, gentle, yet utterly pervasive... thoroughly permeative.

Do you find that inner work, meditation, forms and praxis are predominantly medicinal or dietary in nature for you? Are they pursued each day like meals, to provide basic needs? Or are they preventative and situational like medicine? If you keep a journal, or from recall, have you noticed your daily habits, mental notions, behaviors and practices altering? Is practice something you do and pursue, or does it arise of its own accord? Over recent years my daily process has shifted rather radically. This shift has gained inertia particularly over the last couple years and it's been striking in recent months, the arching comparison when looking back at old journals and recalling the tone of former processes with current flow. What used to be daily, dietary practice of regimented and disciplined pursuits fueled by seeking have shifted into a place of no formal practice at all. Practices have not been abandoned, dismissed, nor rejected. But former regimented pursuits have fallen away utterly however. They arise now seemingly spontaneously and are incorporated as they occur when possible. I'm semi-retired, working a few months each year, so my days are my own for the most part. Former self had always assumed when this point in life arrived, it would bring more intense daily pursuits and who knows, it still easily could, but at present, just the opposite has unfolded quite naturally. As release unfolded, it seemed to fuel deeper release. This was unsought and at first, resisted for a time. Formal daily praxis, seasonal rites of behavior, cyclical pursuits fell away effortlessly, like flower petals. Mental seeking and assumptions steadily became utterly intangible and unsustainable as well. Along with old loved passtimes that used to be a respite, or enjoyably playfully engaging that brought relief and escape, have lost all gravity and inertia for them has dissipated. I still play them on occasion and participate in them when they arise, but they no longer have teeth to pull me anywhere, or drag me along on storylines of daily achievement and some kind of growth being required. They are experienced now as natural breathing occurs, rising and passing without forthought or mental fanfare. i am this. what else is there but to be as i am? aware. present. At one point particularly while I resisted the falling away, I played along in a story about it and assumed this was due to having healed and it was easy to allow myself to indulge in assuming it was due to some achieved progress, growth, or accomplishment on my part. Any notions of any achievement great or otherwise dissolved in presence and now seem like shadow projections that were played out on a screen that no longer exists. Simple presence seemingly dissolves all the old addon storylines. Don't feel like 'the work' is in any way finished, there is no sense of achievement, quite the contrary. Any notion of a finish line has likewise dissolved. The Work unfolds in presence instead of pursuit.

What is the speed of Dark? Humans, with our perceptual apparatus and our combined technology interact with slightly less than 5% of the universe. Light as perceived by human eyes is fractional. (And interpreted.) Darkness is not an absense of light, Darkness is the mind's interpretation of the limit of human visual capabilities. Darkness is full of unperceived light that lies beyond the ken of human physical perceptual modeling. Darkness is full of light. Sound is downright ear shatteringly loud. Emptiness is not empty, it contains everything.

We researched several VR Helmets and chose the Oculus.

When I'm on a project bed is 8-8:30, wake @ 3:30ish, @ work by 6, home around 7, wash eat repeat. When I'm not on a project that sleep schedule holds unless the break goes past a month, then I've noticed the last few years I begin to revert to my anti-circadian rhythm.

I envy your long walks. It's been a month or more since I've gone outside for anything but groceries. And since I really don't enjoy it, I do as much as possible and avoid it for as long as I can... How do you like Community? I worked on that show for almost six years from inception to end, still haven't watched it though... But many on that crew and cast became like adopted family. It was a very special group as hollywood crews go. I loved working on it. From writers to Laborers... that was a golden time in my career looking back. We've been gaming a lot. Mansions of Madness, Talisman and Ghost Stories (unique game where Taoist Sages team up to save a village from a Spirit invasion). One thing in common for the board games we play is they are all cooperative. But even that's slowed down the last week. My son has been using the VR helmet again after a long hiatus. Fun to watch on the screen, what he's seeing in VR. And he and I have been teaming up in the latest Ghost Recon. Pretending we're Geri and Freki in human form, sending folks to Valhalla. I can't seem to crack a book. Or rather, I can't seem to muster the mind to stick with it. I read the words, but they don't sink into mind, just absorbed by the eyes and dissolve, so I've stopped picking those up for now. Which is odd. I used to live with a book at hand at all times. Been watching more in the last two months than in the previous two years it seems... Altered Carbon, American Gods are two recent views. Undone was divertingly clever also. Been wanting to watch Westworld due to some very impressive snippets (Ed Harris and Anthony Hopkins) that revealed remarkable writing... but the setting (i despise Westerns) keeps putting me off. Playing guitar a bit more, but not much. Sorta like Qi Gong. Been painting and sketching again, nothing devoted, just getting lost in the colors and lines when I can. Last year I reskinned my Djembe drum with a nice thick goat skin, but since it's a synthetic drum, it has always had a very 'tinny' sound due to its entirely smooth interior. As a result it didn't get played much. So I decided to paint the skin, which can sometimes kill the sound when too thick, but as I wasn't playing it anyway, I went for it. Turned out beautiful and also, the very thick paint I used seems to have fixed the tinny tone, so not only is it beautiful now, I'm enjoying it's warmer tone and playing it regularly. Internally, I'm in a landscape of grieving/mourning, my lost parents and pets are visiting in dreams nightly in potent meetings. Strange times...

It reflects my experience of turning within and discovering source that is hence reflected holographically everywhere about me and invites the reader to 'enter into the bellows of dao' and reveal 'the center that is everywhere'. By turning within, that which is without comes to clarity.

my take on verse 5 5 Not sentimental. Heaven and Earth impartial, engage all as one. Between Earth and Sky, Tao behaves like a bellows; inexhaustible. No thoughts can fathom. Should one seek an encounter, dive deeper than thought. Abiding within. As above, also below. As without, within.

as i interpret through local awareness: either cleanse citta and experience True Nature or resign to engage only with the phantom vaporous ephemeral dust covering the lense of awareness, obscuring True Nature perpetuated by one's own self-damma via the not so gentle yet oh so pervasive social and familial conditioned distortions tulpas of communal dust devils and devas covering citta in addictive story time plato's cave people watching shadows then teaching folks what is real and not... the more words they use, the less meaning capable of reflecting reality. no matter what i encounter in life if citta remains clouded it has been filtered through the lense of my own personal interpretations social lense, family lense the lense of language thinking in words is thinking someone else's thoughts unless you habitually create your own silence utters no untruth leaves nothing unsaid silence: that which is murdered when you whisper its name words and mind often sully experiential beingness, with noise

It's certainly intrigued me. I've bookmarked it for future reference.

Haven't encountered that version yet. I have two versions... Cleary and Wilhelm. I prefer the Wilhelm but with translations it's always nice to have a variety of them and see what distills out.

I keep telling people... 1984 and Animal Farm were warnings, not 'How To' Manuals. We've been using them wrong. Or maybe not, as they are simple revelations of what was already unfolding. An alarm clock for the entranced and hypnotized... Either way... It's really fucking dark right now. These current unfoldings in "civilized" life, are wholly uncivilized... and why I was reticent to start a family and have a child. But someone has to populate the resistence... how desperately we need detail oriented observers, who are critical thinkers capable of synthesizing cross field observations and above all, we need piercingly unflinching hearts determined not to feed more inertia into the sink. Strange, sad times.

I can say that the two Qi Gong forms I've incorporated into my daily life have rewired my body and awareness to lasting and resonating effect. Though a word of warning... it's not all been pleasant. For certain, rewiring my body so I could walk normally again was very pleasant, in the extreme. The rewiring of mind has not been so pleasant. The relentless stripping away of untruthful and projective, assumptive thinking has been, unpleasant though welcome. I no longer study or play any hard arts, after several years of being crippled back in the late 90's early 2000's those desires never returned. But Master Zhou taught me how to provide the conditions where my body and mind could heal and remain whole. My body has since, fully recovered. My mind continues to relentlessly dissolve former assumptions and manners of projecting. His mastery is remarkably broad and if one desires, he teaches everything from Bagua, to weapons, to Shao Lin, to Wudang, stillness to Qi Gong for health or opening the third eye. His foundation comes from two uncles, both moved in with their sister, Master Zhou's mother when he was very young. They went into hiding as the Japanese were sweeping through China rounding up and murdering accomplished masters during the occupation. One uncle was from Wudang, the other, Shao Lin. They began his training at a very young age... in both traditions.

awareness unfolding as it is. awareness unfolding is what is. neither accepting, nor rejecting what arises within awareness is unfolding within perception and senses within thoughts and emotions within emptiness and motion within meditation and stillness unfolding in silence awareness dancing through unfolding within all experience and silence unfolding now and now and now

I haven't been in contact for some years now. The clinic moved to El Monte six years ago... perhaps the email has changed? Could try by phone, unless international. Tian-Jue Qi Gong Foundation & School 4528 Cogswell Rd. El Monte, CA 91732 Call 310 478 1798 for all requests, including Sunday group classes. https://www.masterzhou.com/contact.html

and I wonder why men have nipples... Perhaps it's where God solders our skin together at the end of the production line.

Very nice mate! Love it! thanks for sharing.

Good point Ilumairen. Reminds me of the importance for me of being able to distinguish between meditating mind, mindfulness, mindlessness and trance/hypnosis. A vital distinction to arrive at.

Stillness. Emptiness. In these when the mind operates, it is not fed, not avoided, just observed. Walking meditation is similar, thoughts arise and pass away like clouds, unfed, unfettered. Breathing and stepping, flow and presence. Five Element/Third Eye Pathing. Mind is heavily engaged, focused and precise, utilized to organize and energize the organs and the path. Working with the pores, the central orifice, Hui Yin, Bai Hui until all varying qi are placed in the pot, usually about 45-60 minutes. At this point all dissolves into stillness/emptiness for the final couple hours. Qi Gong. Mind skims along the surface usually, self correcting form postures and linking flow of breath to movements, but it's very light mind. Like a small bird skimming along the surface of water. Wu Ji: no mind, movement arises spontaneously, coming and going of its own inertia and leaving no mark on mind, but body sings. I recall my inner mind sharing an insight about the shifting relationship i have with mind. It came as an image from one of my Totem Animal Spirits, the Red Tailed Hawk. The jist of it is: In flight, Hawks have no feet. Folded and forgotten, until the moment of the strike, or the perch, when they materialize and administer the Rule of Claw, never let go, until task is complete... then again, when in flight, folded and forgotten. As life unfolds of itself, in raw presence... without pressure, seeking or avoidance, the various states of meditation follow off the cushion. My mind operates like a Hawk's feet. When conditions require it, it is sharp, focused and grasps fiercely releasing only when tasks requiring it are complete. When not needed, it folds up and is forgotten, as invisible as a Hawk's feet in flight.

true. there is always something to be said, if someone is willing to say it. c'est la vie.

while i see what you say about extreme responses and lack of listening, or closed responses... this is an example of reality tunnels and an example of how no humans possess dust free citta. it is an example of the very fact that, assuming any human sees objectively... or that objectivity is where one's self resides... while all others reside in ignorance, or that such objectivity is possible for a human perceptual modeling system... is the very definition of naive realism

well said mate. strong points to reflect upon.

yes yes, tantrum for the win...