Jim D.

Our sageo is not tied to the Himo but put under it so that the saya can easily be removed when bowing out. Can you imagine the sageo actually being tied to the Himo with a square knott, and there you/they are taking all day to get the saya out so you/we could bow out. Or can you imagine testing for a Kyu and needing to use a square knott to affix the sageo to something. Sometimes I have to look down to find a good spot to tuck the sageo under my Himo it's so tight. I want it tight so that my hakama does not slip down and I accidently step on the hakama when practicing the sitting katas. The shoe horn looking thing (dome) attached to the Koshiita is suppose to keep it from sagging. But if I do not have it securely behind my obi knott this can happen. Just recently I got it by bending over to create a bigger opening to allow the dome to be placed farther down behind the knott. This seemed to work. I am working on Hashiri Gakari Katas. Where are you in the learning curve? How is it that you got into Iaido? What do you like about it? JD

I read 365 Tao daily, and would be interested in a companion reader(s) who would like to comment on the page for the day. Comments on how one apply's it to their life. JD

Answering tough questions like I am most happy when; I am most angry when, I feel sensual when, some feelings I have, some of my needs are, some of my hopes are, some people I care for, I am good at, some of my hopes are, and I would describe me as (nouns and adjectives) would be a good starting place. As you name these things, step back and ask yourself how it is that I have answered this way or that way. JD

I have been practicing Classical Wu Tai Chi since 2003 and would be interested in your experiences, feelings, obstacles, goals, and journaling entries etc.

I am a practioner of Mugai ryu. I Youtube to be very helpful regarding your question. I just throw the sageo back and over my saya and bring it forward and loop it under my Himo starp. I don't tie it, it is just there to pull out when I bow out. The sageo was used to tie back the sleeves of the gi/kimono. I think that the sageo was also used to tie up the other guys sword so he couldn't use it to cut you. JD

Am I in a dark mood, melancholy mood, happy mood, distressed mood, altared mood... I live in a body that I cannot get out of. I walk from the entrance of my home to the sliding glass doors in back and look out...back and forth...back and forth...I/me/they seem to companion with me. In the moment I turn away to return the wayI came, there is an infinitesmal moment of respite from the agony I run from. I sense my legs carrying me in a direction only to be the same. If I stop I am forced to listen to the churning confusion that haunts me in voices that I only hear but do not recognize. My world is defined by my perception of the agony within. I am closed off to everything that is happening out there. My legs are like lead weights. Depression replaced summer. The Spring flowers now withered. I have been in a black out of self consciousness and anxiety. My hands tremble, I tremble with the sensations of cold and hot washing over my body. My heart beats so loudly I cannot sleep. I am terrified the "me" inside the "I" will be discovered. I drift off, but the demon within kicks my guts into awareness. The jackets I wear weigh me down. I am afraid to discard them. I resent those that appear to be free and in control. Unlike them, I am dependent on whomever or whatever. I tremble at what became of me living for the moment. Sarte makes jests of me. I am "puke" to him. He sits there with glazed eyes noting my ever simple moves.Nietzche speaks to me. Where is your "God" now? I am alone walking this Earth in a daze. How absurd my existense. What to do? These are realities of which Philosophies are born out of. How is it that we choose to live by them, own them, identify with? Who am I, really?

Don't worry about the Intellectuals. For some, it can be a defense mechanism used to ward intimacy with others. Vulnerability is scary but worth it. It leads to freedom and oneness with yourself...congruent. Work at meaning what you say and saying what you mean. JD

How is it that we are the only species that has to convince itself that we are special, unique, and irreplaceable regarding our place in the Universe? JD

My intent is not to change or argue my point until someone agrees with me. I just think that it is O.K. to live the way you want to live, and believe in what you want to believe. Whatever floats your boat, just don't try to float mine. Give me a real time example of Intrincisist philosophy, or floating abstract.

We don't have to buy into a philosophy. Our own moral code is inherent in core values that we were born with but have forgotten along the way and replaced with the hedonistic behaviors that in time become self destructive. I posted a topic yesterday entitled Trapped in on the outside. That was me at the end of 38 years living insanely and not knowing it...no awareness. I acted out my own unhappiness. anger, and resentment at not getting what I wanted when I wanted it. So, I infused my control over others, circumstances, and events...most of the time dishonestly. I lived a dishonest life internally which made me untrustworthy and phoney. But I told myself that I was seeking the truth. O.K.since we are here to talk about Doa...Doa is formless but all knowing. We are not aware of this entity but ignore it because the life we live becomes too noisy to be aware of it. Doa is subtle and seems to hide itself in nature. Here is an example of how it works. There is nothing fancy about getting into the flow of life. My wife calls me over to help her. I am on this computer typing something I am interested in. I am annoyed that I am being inconvenienced. I have a choice. I could say wait a minute (which is more than a minute), or get up and go to her and help her. I can examine my feelings which are not fact, trace it back to its root cause, and correct my selfishness by getting into service work. I say I love her, so behave that way. Love is action, not a feeling. I get out of myself which is flawed, and get into the flow. I practice, practice, and practice. It gets easier and easier. And then I take it to the next level, the world at large. I don't know about you but I need reminders, and people around me who are like minded. "Those who consider their path superior are condescending. A parrot who speaks of the totality of the self is absurd. Many paths lead to the summit. But it takes a whole body to get there." (365 Tao Daily Meditations, Deng Ming-Doa, pg. 166) May peace and prosperity follow you always. :-)

If you look back at my thread, I suggested that a person "air their dirt laundry" with someone that would not spread it around or use it against them, like a sponsor in a 12 Step Program who has done a 4th Step themselves. You don't want to put it up on a Forum or with someone you don't know. Their can never be real peace of mind until we face what we have done or failed to do to ourselves or others until we take a fearless and moral inventory of our lives. Otherwise, the garbage keeps piling up. The weight of it all becomes unbearable. We are as sick as our secrets. JD

Wise sage, Scholar Warrior Winthin seconds likeable Within hours loveable Within days knowable Gentle soul, kind heart Intense gaze pondering, watching disciple Movements continuing, subtleties betray contrast... incorrect, then correct Sticking...with soft deception, Surpirsingly hard in execution Likeable soul so gentle in spirit sitting in quiet contemplation of what do you see.

Actually, we are irreplaceable. No one can ever occupy the space that we occupy the way and how that we do. That when our time comes to shut down and become dust there will never be another "Marblehead," "Sagebrush," or "Thelener." Just as Jupiter will never occupy the same place or spot that it did when it "danced with the moon the other night." If we believe that Doa is in us, and we are Dao then there should be a knowing. A sense of confidence and empowerment. That way to achieve this state of being is to meditate. If takes us into a state of formlessness. Another way to achieve this state over time is to air your dirty laundry with a confident...someone who will normalize your experieces. After a time what becomes of then and their is now. We only need to take an inventory of today...the good, bad, and ugly...and take care of it...one day at a time. Each moment thereafter will be coninuous and unfolding. JD

It is my conjecture that what we know of the Universe leads me to believe that before its creation there was nothing in terms of space and time. It just was. An example of this theory would be a simple wooden match stick. It becomes something when the proper action and substances are present...the tip explodes into flames which becomes something other than it appears. This something is called nothing, or something invisible to the naked eye. Much like the neutron and its constellation which are invisible to the unaided eye. This nothing is constant without beginning or end. When we add our need for a reason for something to begin, we give it a sex, character, personality, and power of selection and choice over its relationship...the I and Thou. The answer to this duplicity and confused mystery is to see it as one and the same. The basic foundation that relates humans to all things would be our chemical and molecular makeup, elements of which are found in the outer and inner space of all things. Everything is created, creates, and dies in time, of its own volitioin. There is no altering this process. Further example would be our Solar system which is totally dependent on the Sun's energy. If it were to die out instantly today, a dynamic would be set into motion that would have profound consequences. Earth as we know it would cease to exist over a very short period of time as well as its inhabitants. The loss of stabilizing gravity that the Sun exerts on all its planets orbits would in a sense throw the Solar System into a rebounding affect thus causing collisions, destruction, new forms other than the planets we know today, and dead silent debris sling shoting its way into space towards other galaxies light years away. For example, imagine a pool table with all its cue balls scattered but close enough to be affected by incoming force, the cue ball. The outcome of an impact is incalculable. Earth would just be another cue ball in the side pocket of the Universe...or distant galaxy. So, what is, is still becoming dependent on the stillness of nothing which is and always will be constant. JD

"When you move your mind by creating the sentiment of worship, you fashion something outside of the mind as the object of your worship. By so doing, you trap your mind in the illusion of duality which is against Tao. Rather than invent an outside sovereignty to act as his authority, the Toaist perceives the worshiper and the worshiped as one. When a Taoist engages in worship, he is revering the objectivization of his own true nature...(Ultimate Guide to Tai Chi, pg. 280, copy right 2000, Master Ni Ua-Ching). I was raised Catholic from a very early age. Eight years of indoctrination into a system of worship and adoration of something outside of myself. I was trained to give over responsibility for me to this entity that never had an office I could go to to check in about how things were going. This entity had many wives and a support system of adoring priests that had "its" power, while we commonors didn't. The idea of sin kept me coming back. The coming back benefited their staying in business and in control of me. And I only had to give over money to ease the penance assigned to me (there idea of a good life), only to turn around and go right out there and sin again. I was never going to get away from sin. Confession was a respite from the sins of that past week. But once I hit the bricks and I had an "mpure thought" there went that feeling of purification and holliness. After years of this, I finally gave up and got into what paid more dividens...sex, drugs, and rock & roll...at least for a time until my body, mind, and spirit gave way to insanity. The thing I like about Taoism is that there are no rules and no one is in charge. And there are no guilt trips and a fear of Hell to be afraid of if I mess up. I have only me to contend with, and that can be difficult at times. I once saw a guy wearing a jacket that read, "I am not going to Hell because I have already been there." He was a Vietnam Veteran. Hell for me is being told what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. If I am not working for you, you don't have a right to live my life for me. JD

I failed to comment on the Collective Unconscious, or "unavoidable influences exerted upon it by the enviornment." Let's look at TV in the 50's. Some of you might remember "I Love Lucy Show" that came on every week. Do you remember the social mores then? Desi and Lucy were never shown sleeping in the same bed. But there was "little Rickie!" Now fast forward to 2016. What do you see on TV...sex in all shapes and forms, circumstances and situations. How did this happen over time? Was it the media? Was it the sexual revolution of the 60's. Was it marketing? Or, all of the above. I think we could say that we are seeing and have seen, if we take a look back, Collective Unconscious (people) influencing the planet. No matter what the motive, it happened because enough people bought into it. And it made money. Or how about "All in the Family?" Remember Carroll O'Connor's character? It was a ground breaking comedy that crossed social boundaries. Archie was just out there! Fast forward 40-50 years and he does not seem so shocking. JD

About 3 or 4 posts back I talked about 'The Way.' I described my internal life before the moment I consciously as chatter and noise of my perceptions, judgements...thoughts about my environment, goings on that day, the roses I was looking at, my internal life. As I pushed those thoughts aside I was in the moment...truly present. As a practioner of the healy arts, there have been times when I have offered to take my client(s) through a guided meditation in order to help them calm down their overly active and pre-occupied minds. They either were rumminating about someone, something, the past, or the future. The results of this exercise was a feeling of the abscense of self...a oneness...no fragmentation...just peace. Lao Tzu tells us "the name that can be named is not the universal name." Taking it a little further, I would say from my own experiences that Dao or Great Integrity transcends the material and reveals itself as an awareness. And therefore, since we are aware of this at some level, we too are the Dao For example, light a stick match and watch it burn down. What does it become? How does its form change into ash? What happens in between? We see the change occuring, but are aware of something transcendent happening...indescribable! JD

Just finished watching a talk on Time and the I Ching. I posted my ideas regarding awareness fo Dao, or the transended Dao. Terrance McKenna seems to be in agreement. Let me say this for now. I deep mediation there is a core experience of no sensation of time passing. It seems to stop. The waves of Consciousness seem to be divided down he middle allowing for the unconscious to emerge and express its timeless dimension. I have experienced this phennomenon using mood altering substance Cannabis (my historicla past). For me, time slowed down incredibly as was evidenced by looking up at the clock, looking way to talk with someone, and then looking back at the clock and remarking to myself that the hands had not moved at all, or just slightly. THC had interferred with the potentiation of my neural pathways at their receptor sites. Analogous to this phenomenon we might say that deep meditation also interfers with our sense of time. McKenna seems to be a brilliant man. He has a facinating theory on Time and the I Ching. I wonder what Einstein would have said about his theory? JD

I just read a thread from a man who is seeking a better understanding of Hexagram 15. My understanding of the process is to ask the Oracle on how to approach the problem being faced. I don't believe that the Oracle will answer questons that begin with "what." Synchronicity Some years ago, a psychologist named Carl Young, took an interest in how the I Ching worked. His conclusion: Sychronicity, meaning coincidence. I would like to take his conclusion a step further. I have read that the Oracle is within us. We are the Oracle. It could possibly be characterized as our Unconcious. Before consulting the I Ching, I believe that we are predisposed to the answer we are looking for. It is already there. It is innate. When the question is formulated, we let down our walls/defenses and become open to stored unconsious material that has been encoded over the years that we have been on this planet (please refer to my second post entitled The Way for an example of my spiritual dillemma). Regarding jobs and hating them. Probably the best way to approach a feeling is to ask myself, what is it about the present job that I resent. Write it out in detail. Write until you can't write any more. Put it down, and come back to it the next day, and the next day. And then, formulate a question for the I Ching that is open ended...for example, how should I approach this problem or delimma. The answer given should point towards core values you already have within you...or the core values of the greater society. I would pay attention to the commentaries made by Confucius who's philosophy encompassed Flial Piety and social harmony. To harmonize with others, I must know myself first and foremost. JD

Finding "the way" is a process of discovery. This has to be tried and that has to be tried. It depends on where your at Developmentally. I have always been behind...but I think that the time line window is getting smaller. Anyway, I started out learning Classical Wu Tai Chi. A very long and arduous learning curve. We use the abdomen and back muscles to drive 108 postures. But being impatient, I added other martial arts as a means to cross train e.g. Win Chun, Arnis. I needed to experience hand to hand combat. The outcome...injury, treatment, and then rethinking the risks of coninuing, stopping martial art altogether, or finding something to fill the void. Tai Chi was always there. It had never left. Continued along side the others. Still needed to feel I could protect me and mine. Then Iaido entered, the art of drawing the sword, Japanese Swordmanship. I was all in. Practiced three times per week outside of class. Made it to 3rd Kyu. And then it hit me...where is the meaning in this. Where is the way. I could not find it in Shinto. I could not find it in the language or the culture. I could not find it in the Samari code of conduct. I felt existential anxiety. How could I practice such grossly different styles of martial art and not be confused spiritually? I was to consult the I Ching, but first needed to formulate a question that was open ended. I wrote out my feelings, impressions, and circumstances. Without throwing the coins, the answer came. Tai Chi is to be the way, and Iaido is to be the sport learned. JD

Can Tao be directly experienced? I have had times in my life where it seemed that I have. But it was fleeting...momentary. I was sitting in my back yard under a climbing rose bush. I was able to discard the rumminations that cluttered my head. Suddenly, life around me became absolutely clear...profound. I was able to stay within this affectual experience for a while. But then my ego got in the way and reminded me that life had its demands, and I must move on. Tao seems to be present in the observable, like the Universe which expands. Stars are getting dimmer, while others are beginning. What I see in the night sky may have taken billions of light years to reach my retina. How would I know this? Tao could be the "sweet spot" on a tennis racket, or baseball bat. It can be having a that pencil right there on your way down stairs to the laundry room. It can be the experience of redirecting incoming force with as little effort as you may think it will take. The ego sees it as a surprise. The spiritual self senses something transcended. How is it that I do not seem to create and hang on to this all? How is it that there is a struggle to achieve peace in the face of choas? JD

I am a 70 year old Classical Wu Tai Chi practioner, and have been for the 10 years. I am seeking conversation at the philosophical and practical level regarding Taoism. JD

Can Tao be directly experienced? There have been numerous times in my life that I think that I have experienced it, but it has only been a fleeting moment. It happens without effort. There is a oneness with the situation...a flowing...the timing is right. I may need something and it is there...a part of my daily activities. I only need to keep going forward into the next moment. There seems to be evidence in our Univers for the presence of Tao. It is expanding, stars are extinguishing, plants live and die. People come and go...and there I am in the middle of it all, observing. How can I get this out to the membership for additional feedback? JD