Diaitadoc

Of Sauvignon Blanc

I simply have this to say;

"New world trumps the old".

"Live in harmony",

Plead the seventh fire prophets,

"To light the eighth fire".

Is much the same thing

As few, little or nothing?

Perhaps, perhaps not.

Abiogenesis

this moment in time

consumes the past and excretes

recycled futures.

They taste like chicken

EVERYTHING tastes like chicken

At least I can taste.

Have some déjà vu

With a twist of lemon lime

Make it sweet this time

There are some interesting little tricks found in Feng Shui and Bazi that you can play with.

Feng Shui:

The simplest one is: Keep the toilet lid closed. Sure, it sounds superstitious, but what harm could it do to try? If you prefer, you can Think of it as an active conditioning practice whereby you anchor the idea of wealth to the closing of the toilet lid.

The second one is: Place an object that represents wealth in the room corner that is the furthest visible corner from the front door. In this case, it's a passive conditioning anchor whereby you will always see the representation of wealth as you walk in your front door.

Bazi:

In Bazi, wealth is not possible without talent\work. Wealth and talent are both represented by one of the five elements, so if you have a lot of wealth element but no talent\work element, chances are that wealth will not accrue. However, if you have a lot of talent\work element, it's possible that you could accumulate wealth.

If you know what your useful elements are then you can enhance\activate wealth accumulation by using Feng Shui or YangShengFa.

I've heard of people using their Bazi to select the best times to gamble as well... I've never tried this and would never recommend it as a specific strategy for making money.... but it's quite common for Gamblers to use Bazi in Asia.

If wealth is a concern for you, though, and the pre-occupation of money is creating distress, then it's probably best to re-evaluate your relationship to it, instead of trying to bend the universe to your will. You might succeed, but at what cost?

"No" limits to "self"

"Yes" limits to "self" as well

No limits? "Maybe".

They're not proactive

They're not reactive either

They're simply active.

Thank you all for the feedback and reviews!

I'll continue to accept requests for consultations until July 10th, 2016. If anyone else would like a Bazi consultation, please submit your request along with your birthday, birth time, birth location and birth gender to me before then.

Diaitadoc

I study and Practice Bazi. If you would like a consultation, I'll need your birthday, birth time, birth location and gender.

If you'd like the consultation to be private, pm me. If you don't mind it being public, we can do it right here.

If you have a particular question in mind, this is also useful.

The Imperial Guide is definitely a helpful tool, however I think it is through this particular compendium that some confusion can arise vis-a-vis the eight chambers.

In section 2, two variations of the eight chambers are described - the lesser and greater roaming year sequences. Their transformations involve just one half of the trigram, and they emphasize that it doesn't matter which trigram is the one to change - the upper/outer or the lower/inner - as long as the changes continue within that particular trigram. Both the lesser and greater sequences use the same pattern of change, however they name the generations differently. Furthermore, they use the same terminology, which makes it a bit difficult to decipher.

Wen Wang Gua uses the same terminology for the eight chambers as well, which makes things even more confusing, and since the sequence of change involves BOTH the inner/outer hexagrams, it leaves room for contemplation, to say the least. Jack's explanation of how Jing Fang developed his sequence helps a lot, though... he developed it from the Shi Er Xiao Xi Gua (the 12 enhancing and diminishing trigrams), so it's different than the 8 chamber sequence used in the Feng Shui schools.

Like you, it's something I'm exploring. When I cast, I do two readings - one using Jing Fang's chambers, and one using the Feng Shui chambers - I'm interested in seeing what, if any, difference results, and whether there is more resonance with one method or the other. As things currently stand, Jing Fang's chambers have brought greater accuracy than the Feng Shui chambers. I'm not surprised, given the fact that the Feng Shui school's chambers are also known as "Mountains", and refer to space more than time... whereas Jing Fang's chambers are based off of the 12 monthly trigrams, which refer to time more than space. I think something we as English speakers (or even modern chinese speakers) might be missing is that the term "chamber" can represent both a spatial aspect (on earth) and a temporal aspect (in the sky - think of astrological "houses").

So Jing Fang's chambers are the ones to use for divination, IME.

Indeed, Fire Pearl Forest Method IS Wen Wang Gua. Another name for it is Liu Yao Yi Gua (Six Lines, One/Changing Gua). Yes, Jack Chiu's book is excellent but difficult to grasp without a background in Chinese cosmology, metaphysics and especially Calendrics. My background in acupuncture and Bazi have been immensely helpful in this regard.

I'm actually studying this very topic.

The trigram wuxing method that is being described here comes from a method known as "Mei Hua" or "Plum Blossom" divination.

There's another method called the "fire pearl forest method" (火珠林法). It is a way to interpret hexagrams line by line according to their wu xing values. Although the received texts are song Dynasty, they refer back to a Han Dynasty text, which in turn claims to have received the original oral tradition of divination that was used to actually write the Zhou Yi.

It's the one I'm practicing right now.

I can give an example reading if you like, just submit your question and casting, along with the date of the casting.

God takes liberties

With the fate of creation

By granting free will.

So it's settled, then. From now on, we shall all converse via mathematical equations.

Humorously, neither "the absolute" nor "the relative" matter more or less than one another.

One side of a coin is not worth more than the other side.

The GuiGuZi is an interesting text, often considered Daoist in nature, that is included in the DaoZang. It is, in essence, a Daoist approach to the art of rhetoric and persuasion. Thomas Cleary's book "Thunder in the Sky" provides an accessible translation of this text, whose title Cleary translates as "The Master of Demon Valley".

I recently came across a different translation, freely available online, by Michael Robert Broschat. It is a PDF version of a microfilm copy of Broschat's PH.D. Dissertation.

In his dissertation, he describes the history and provenance of the GuiGuZi; explains the methodology he used to translate his version; provides a complete translation; and includes the original Chinese version.

https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/15506/8521564.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Deliberately seeking to reproduce particular experiences, such as the state you describe, would actually be a form of resting your mind "somewhere" and therefore belong to the realm of dualism.

Not that there's anything wrong with dualism - it's just not wuwei.

Practice your ZuoWang daily without seeking any particular experience and eventually dualism will give way to Wuwei.

ZiFaDongGong, properly practiced, opens up blockages and promotes the smooth flow of Qi throughout the body.

The idea behind structured, choreographed types of Qigong is that they are intended to unblock and promote circulation to specific areas. Doing these types of movements are useful if there is a specific imbalance or problem, but when that problem is resolved, the continued practice of the Qigong does not provide any more benefit. It is better to move on to another form.

Although Zifa movements arise spontaneously and may be quite varied at the beginning of a session, they do tend to settle into a certain repetitive groove. This is normal; the body's natural tendency is to calibrate towards normal, so when the spontaneous movements encounter a blockage, the movements will begin focusing around that blockage in an attempt to unblock it, ie the movement will become repetitive. A single session may involve one or many groupings of repetitive movement - it depends on whether or not the blockage resolves during that session. If it doesn't, the same set of repetitive movements may re-appear during the next sessions, until the blockage resolves... if it does resolve, then the repetitive movement naturally quiets down and spontaneous movement resumes until a new blockage is found.

Verse 6 in the received version (Verse 50 in the Mawangdui version). Any spelling or formatting errors are my own.

 

06::50A[*]

 

Valley spirit is immortality.

Its image is that of a hidden womb.

The gate of the hidden womb

Has the image of Heaven and Earth.

Continuous.

Unchanged by use.

 

This chapter is certainly one of the text's most extraordinary, with images that are truly splendid. The recitation has a cadence that suggests it may be a kind of ancient chant. The language contains layers of a number of spiritual practices and integrates them into Laozi's cosmology. The practice traditions of

zuowang

and 

jindan

found in Laozi clearly predate the Chinese Daoism of the 1st century that later preserved them.

 

The first line links old gods with the meditation and alchemical traditions. 

The Valley Spirit

 

is

 at once a goddess; the equanimity of meditation; and the central channel of inner and outer alchemy. It is a spiritual image of the nourishment from, and/or the path that leads to, 

immortality

. What is Laozi's immortality, the Dao of 

wuwei

? 

Its image

,

 its 

qi

 appearance, 

is that of a hidden womb.

 Immortality (Dao) is potentiality itself. The hidden womb is the passive potentiality of existence. It is obscure because we cannot find it with certainty like we find a thing or a being. It is a womb because it is passive and empty. It has no job description and is nothing like a god of creation who pronounces the absolute truth, an agenda, or great purpose. This womb-like potentiality, like the bellows of chapter 05/49, is not productive in the original creative sense, because, it is implied, everything that is "created" is like a dream, an illusion, a temporary polarity of cofactors which do not constitute an abiding thing or an abiding being. All that is composed is eventually decomposed and composition is no "more real" than decomposition.

 

In 

zuowang

 practice, this valley or womb represents meditation itself. 

Zuowang

 is to rest in the potentiality of all things. It is cultivating an intimacy with the obscure, yet universal, potentiality of beings and things. It is sitting in potential rather than creation.

 

In 

jindan

 or 

neidan

 (alchemical meditation), the valley/womb is the central channel and lower 

dantian

 where 

jing 

distills into 

qi,

 and 

qi

 into 

shen,

 analogous to the sublimation of lead into gold. This alchemical process, though elaborate in detail, is parallel to simple 

zuowang,

 both of which make use of Laozi's cosmology. All Daoist cultivation methods are characterized by a kind of "return" - a return to potential; a return to the valley.

 

If we relax and soften our strained grip on what seems to be "created," we naturally sink back to where things/beings begin. This is called the gate. 

The gate of the hidden womb

 

is

described in ancient lore as a secret door in the remote mountains guarded by spirits. In meditation, it is the soft focus on the posture of 

zuowang.

 In alchemy, it is the sublimation or distillation of the many into the principle of 

yang

 and 

yin, 

or

the

 

image of Heaven and Earth

.

 These two represent all duality - the image of separation. Heaven is how things arise. Earth is how things are nourished. Yet each thing that arises declines and vanishes back to potential. Each thing that is sustained also concludes. The hidden gate, when found, is the resolution of duality, the ruthless loss of "this" and "that."

 

In 

zuowang

 practice, the gate is the maintenance of a particular posture. The 

"

qi

 attention" gathered at the lower 

dantian

 is also referred to as "the gate." Holding this posture, one passes through the gate of duality to non-duality. This shift is not an action, not a revelation, but simply an acceptance of things-as-they-are. This may be called "the natural condition."

 

In alchemical meditation, the gates of Heaven and Earth may refer to various aspects of respiration, 

qi

 circulation, and the assimilation of nutrients. What do we find when we "enter" the gate? What is this unnamable potential? It is

 

continuous.

 It is continuity itself. It cannot be found because it has no beginning and no end. It is continuous in time - infinite. It is continuous in space - boundless potentiality without shape or form. This potentiality is also 

unchanged by use.

 Even though things "seem" to arise from it, it is never exhausted. It never shows effort or strain, even though the things/beings that arise from it are countless.

 

Zuowang

 is practiced with continuity (both formal and informal postures) and not aimed at a goal. It is never finished. The natural condition is continuity without boredom or exhaustion, and fruition or illumination is not an incident or event. Fruition itself is continuity, not a reward.

 

Alchemical sublimation of 

jing

 to 

qi 

parallels the softening of our experience from the attachment of forms to the flow of energy. Sublimation of 

qi

 to 

shen

 means energy without boundaries. Continuity, then, means the natural flux of energetic totality. Energy (

qi

) hardens into forms (

jing

) temporarily and then returns to toality (

shen

). The Daoist alchemists do not do alchemy; they find it. They do not transform from effort. They are unchanged by use and simply re-enter the gate of continuity.

 

Observing Wuwei:: The Heart of the Daodejing

* Liu Ming actually has two translations of this chapter, translation A and translation B, each with its own commentary.

A new translation + commentary of the Daodejing by Liu Ming has recently been published and is available for purchase at http://www.dayuancircle.org

Observing Wuwei :: The Heart of the Daodejing - Liu Ming, 2016

From the introduction:

The following chapter translations and commentaries were composed through a Chinese Orthodox Daoist View. However, we do not pretend that this is the only, or the correct, View through which the Daodejing can be interpreted. (19)

From the editor's notes:

After working with the Daodejing for more than twenty years, Ming was still reluctant to make public this translation and commentary . . . it was his choice to seed this text with only a select number of the chapters he felt were the most essential in the teaching of wuwei, zuowang, and the unnamable Dao. (20)

 

Hence, this book does not provide translation and commentary on the whole of what is now the standardized 81 chapters that comprise the contemporary Daodejing. It was Liu Ming's sense that many of the chapters pertaining to governance and rulership were more recent additions to the Daodejing . . . In total, we have included 47 chapters. (21)

The translations of the verses themselves are quite succinct, clear and impressive. As a comparision, Jonathan Star's translation of verse 1 contains 180 words. Liu Ming's translation contains 77.

As impressive, if not more, is the utterly unique commentary. I'd recommend this version for those alone. On the whole, I greatly enjoy this translation. It's as practical as is it beautiful.

Diaitadoc

Hello Marblehead, Manitou, thank you for the kind welcome.

Manitou, I'd never heard of Diaitajuice until you mentioned it so I can't comment on it.

You are correct in your understanding that "Diaita" is the root word for "Diet", however Diaita is much broader in scope. The ancient greek usage of δίαιτα (Diaita) refers to "way of living", which includes certainly includes diet but also includes the antique definition of hygiene.

From Wikipedia:

Whereas in popular culture and parlance [hygiene] can often mean mere 'cleanliness', hygiene in its fullest and original meaning goes much beyond that to include all circumstances and practices, lifestyle issues, premises and commodities that engender a safe and healthy environment.

"Diaita" is therefore in many ways analogous to Daoist health and hygiene practices

Hello everyone!

My name is Christian. I've been a lurker on this forum for a few years now, I figured it was as good a time as any to join.

As a Canadian of Protestant and Catholic European descent, my journey towards the "philosophy and practice of Daoism" (Ha!) is pretty typical... 20 years of "traditional" martial arts, punctuated early on by an acupuncture degree and accentuated throughout by the study and exploration of various Daoist lineages.

My current view and practice derives from:

- a lay-Daoist form of the martial art known as ZiRanMen

- my Chinese (Taiwanese) Medicine instructor, Richard Tan, who taught me Balance Method Acupuncture, Bazi, Feng Shui, ZiFaDongGong and JingGong

- the teachings of Liu Ming (Charles Belyea), especially his view teachings and SanTiDao practices.

Anyhow, I'm happy this community exists, and I look forward to lurking less and participating more.

Happy Pi Day!