exorcist_1699

The importance of Chinese Buddhism is always overlooked by the westerners,there are several points I have to raise: 1) When the westerners arrived India and came across Buddhism in 18th century, Buddhism as a great philosophical and religion system , her dominant position already receded in India. In fact, her magnificent legacy had shifted to Chine more than 1,000 years before. However, Many people even can't differentiate what are Hindu , what are Buddhist. 2) Many Sutra, while their original Sankrit copies were lost, it is only their Chinese translated copies that are left and preserved so that people know about them . A little similar to Arabic rescue of the Greeks' legacy during the medieval times of Europe . 3) There were many new schools of Buddhist thoughts rose in China during her 2,000-year history of development ; many different, original Buddhist ideas were being debated , clarified and developed because of such a history . 4) Taoist influence on Buddhism ,which gives rise to Zen, is undeniable . It is unlikely to refute the simplicity of Zen , comparing to mountainous preaching from the Buddha, not coming from the influence of Taoism . 5) TCM influence on Buddhism which gives rise Kung fu and Buddhist medicine. 6) Tibetan culture , her rise and development was motivated by the Chinese culture. Tibetan Buddhist practice is unlikely to be higher than the Chinese ones..The repeated re-coming of the lama after his death , to me , can't be anything higher than the Taoist ability of manipulating of qi ( our physical body is just one of its forms ) at our free will .

Originally classical Chinsese is a very "condensed" language which admires using least words to express as many as possible meanings of things around us .Taoist classical writing, Lao Tze , of course, is such an example especailly when being compared to Buddha 's huge amount of spoken words recorded in the sutra after his 40-year preaching . However, when we come to the Taoised Zen, the significance of Chinese way of favoring simplicity once again appear, this time, pushing to its limit: Words is said to a barrier preventing people from understanding the Buddha Heart, any spoken word , or any change of our thought ,is said to be destracting us from the right way. In reality, hardly can we think without using words and symbols ( includes mathematical symbols ) , a wordless spiritual process , of course, can't be viewed as any kind of reasoning or thinking . However, Taoism finds that it is this kind of process makes initialization of high quality of qi possible and easier. Any word is ,in fact, a casing mounted on our mind , restraining us from upgrading and expanding our qi ,and , the earlier and easier we get rid of it, the better and happier for our cultivation.

Hi, Rainbow and Otis, I think a wordless spiritual process, even if we can persist in it , only brings us to the threshold of a much immense magic kingdom, and , as long as the gate not opened, we are still entangled in a persistent dullness despite some may claim that such a pool of dead water ( a status of feeling very peaceful, feeling oneself united with the universe ..etc) is enlightenment , and, get their satisfaction in some kind of self-deceiving vanity. I have to say that , here, Taoism adopts a much realistic attitude towards proof of achievement , and it reflects the practical attitude of the Chinese towards life , which we pointed out above ; it not only asks for spiritual proof ( how wonderful, how magnificent you feel ,..etc.) but also ask for some physical proof, ie, since you get so highly a spiritual achievement, does it affect your physical body ? Does it re-structure the time character of your physical existence, ie, leading to a reverse of your aging process ? In fact, just read the face of Osho, Nang Huai Chin or Xue Yun (虛雲) ,those well-known Buddhist/Zen icons, you know who is the master , who is just some kind of scholar. In fact, how people enter a wordless /concept-less spiritual status does count . Many people claim that they enter this status by the non-dual spiritual process , and explain : first, I do not think of good , then I don't think of evil either; Further, I neither think of good nor thinking of evil, then I try to forget that I am in a status of neither thinking of good nor thinking of evil....unfortunately such kind of hair-splitting our mind likely trap us in a dull , lifeless situation and is far from grasping the essence of the non-dual way . A better non-dual way should be an already embedded "mindset " in you by which you can utilize to explore and grasp the core of emptiness in just one stroke...

I think because Chinese are practical people , so they also like simplicity. Nothing more ideal than using least time , words and energy to fullfil most jobs if simplicity , without leading to misunderstanding, does works. Chinese is also a visual type of language. Comparing with most other audio type languages using varied forms of alphabets , it emphasizes an ability of grasping the meanings of those symbols and their complicated re-arrangement at a glance. So, likely it nourishes an unique intuitive ability that the Chinese mind different from others'. Or, it was because such an unique ability that made the Chinese choose pictograph as their characters. Chi is not only the most important concept in Chinese medicine, it is also a concept widely used in every aspects of the Chinese life: ethics , calligraphy, food, building ...however, qi is more than a western concept of atom reappears in this system because it always co-exists with another concept called shen . Chi and shen is the 2 facets of the same entity . It is such a reality that makes our mind's direct intervention of the world , not just things happen in our body ,without via material means, possible .Shen , by using qi, intervenes and shapes this world . For example, when doing acupuncture , you at least need a needle to proceed ; in qi gong therapy, you only use your mind , a mind that free of any literal, spiritual, energetic forms' limitations , to initialize qi, to cure . The discovry of qi at the very earliest stage of the rise of Chinese culture determines that it could not be any culture suffered from a dualistic (mind and body ) split as what happens in the West.

Hi, Adeha, I do not get any chance to read Liao's book , but I always find this kind of philosophical or artistic interpretation of Zen problematic. Besides, a persistent wordless spiritual process only provides us some initial condition to start , yet is still something unproductive ; hardly can it be claimed as any kind of significant achievement .

In high / secondary schools of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, students are requested to study lots of Classical Chinese , so we can't say it extinct. In fact, without some intensive reading in classical Chinese, students are incapable of writing any relatively high -level modern Chinese ( Baihua) essays. Of course, nowadays Chinese generally don't email each other in classical Chinese, however, it is still a form of writing acceptable, and , high respected. In some area, say TCM and acupuncture , of course, classical Chinese's role is still dominant . In Japan, many literature /arts students are still requested to study classical Chinese, not necessarily because they major in Chinese literature . You can find many classical Chinese tutorials, taught in Japanese, by searching in Japanese on Youtube . In fact , Most Menji- period Japanese literature icons are good at classical Chinese.

The degree of difficulties ( in some sense , danger to you ) does correspond to where you start : 1) from the lower dantian ( your abdomen) 2) from the upper dantian ( any part of your head) 3) from emptiness ( before your eyes or somewhere outside you) 4) from nowhere Not so many masters teach people to start from the upper dantian because it is very difficult to manipulate the degree of concentration, and in bad case, it leads to high blood pressure or other diseases. " What is the danger of starting from nowhere? " You may argue . Of course, starting from nowhere unlikely gives you any dangers. As the main Zen method, it either leads to divinity or unproductive dullness which , despite giving you some sense of vanity that you know the truth of Zen , in fact, wastes your precious time in such a short life.

Hi, Rainbow_Vein, Glad to hear what you have achieved.

Non-dual spiritual status is a status in which you don't think of being or nothingness, good or evil, achievement or loss...not just capable of entering it for a while but stationing there for a long time. It is in that status the jing arisen be called meta-jing /preheavenly jing ; by making use of it, we can repair our previously lost jing... However, old guys are unlikely to have such a "concentration" and persistence to succeed . Because of this, Taoist dual-cultivation is introduced . Relying on qi from an opposite sex ( female )is ,in fact, opposite to what most western followers think , a reluctant choice when no other workable ways are available . And, in most cases, should only be applied to old guys ( over 60's ) .

Of course we are talking about physical death here. Physical death can be due to: 1) Aging 2) Fatal diseases 3) Accidents Here what we are concerned is whether Taoist qi practice can reverse aging and cure fatal disease or not . If it does ,at this moment, at this stage of our life, we can say that the superstition about every man 's doomed destiny towards death , towards the effect arranged by the nature (in reality, the post-heavenly form of nature appear in our eyes ) ,is somehow not unchangeable . And, quite a large part of people who are forced to commit suicide are mainly due to the above-mentioned two factors.

Death is not the destination of every man, death is only the destination of the mass and those " scientific-minded" experts . Some philosophers even bullshit that life needs death to provide itself meaning ... After having attained the ability of initializing qi in your body , you find yourself grasp the crucial life force in your own hands,and get the initial condition of determining your destiny ;your life is no longer doomed to the so-called nature worshiped by many people here on this forum .

Unfortunately what we experience in daily life is qi 's "post-heavenly" form ,i.e, our breathing . To most people, up to the end of their life , never do they know the base of their breathing at background . This "degenerated" status also reflects in what a trivial mind we have that accompanies it . This mind of experiencing, this mind of daily reasoning, no matter how deep or great a status sometime it can enter, for example, solving equation about space's multi-dimensional characteristics, further helps alienating us from directly contacting the essence of qi.

Knowledge is said to be something annoying and beyond our control only because our life is short ,our mental ability recedes following the passing days... And our mind, comparing to the amount and varieties of knowledge we need to grasp ,is too limited. Whether we can keep knowledge , information that is processed to become something meaningful to us, under our control is really proportional to how powerful a mind we get. Information is somehow related to energy. Unfortunately , it is not only the volume of knowledge that depress us, but its varieties that make most individual minds look trivial : people who are good at dealing with graphical images may not be good at handling logical relations; people who can handle a tool well to measure things or build up something may not be good at manipulate abstract mathematical symbols. All these "defects" in human mental abilities reflect how our shen ( spirit ) in its degenerated form, its " post -heavenly" form , is being entangled , suffering . An all-round mind can't be accomplished not only because of division of labour ; our alienation from our human essence roots not only in our social status. Yet a Buddha Heart /Taoist Shen ( meta-Mind) is said to be free from any limitations and sufferings . A cure to any kinds of foolishness . Why ? Because it is boundless , not suffering from any deficiency of energy and power of understanding ; It understands everything because a Mind comes out from absolute emptiness does accommodate anything and their endless ways of expressions ; so any forms of knowledge, not necessarily those come from the intelligence producing on this earth , but those come from other places in this cosmos, are not beyond Its grasp .

Death is not something going to happen at certain moment of our future ; life is not an arrow heading to a doomed direction . Death happens inbetween every of our changing ideas, every of our breathings .There is no guarantee that an inhaling will be followed by an exhaling. Smart guys make use of every change of idea, changing death to life , and try living a never ending future .

What Hagar expresses here , to me, are some basic , but crucial ideas of Taoism : 1) Both spirit and life , not solely the spiritual side of us ,have to be cultivated . Emphasize solely the spirtiual side is the main shortcoming/mistake that most , although not all , Buddhist methods commit. 2) In our "post-heavenly" status, life and spirit of we human beings are split into two polars. The aim of our cultivation is to eliminate such polarity, merge them and further upgrade the level of the result to a higher plain. This is what really the so-called Kan and Li trigrams are used to teach us. 3) One of the always happened dangers of Buddhist methods is that the pre-mature leave of a spirit , which in fact is still in its ying-mind status , from its physical body is mistakenly recognised as some kind of achievement which , sadly is just a pre-mature death of pitiful, shallow-minded monk. 4) Spirit must be nourished by essence and qi in order to get its yang characteristic, its real independence and freedom . As a Taoist saying tells us: Qi without shen as some kind of control inside is just a dull and unintelligent stuff. Shen without qi as its basis is insecure and not lasting.

Hi, Marblehead I enjoy reading some of your translation of Dao De Jing on this forum . I think from " Wu" ("Nothingness") , people should try to nourish some kind of Being * otherwise Tao will be trapped in an unproductive status . This Being , of course, is what we call qi . Qi that comes out from such "Wu" , comes out from such " chaos" , of course, has quality higher than those we get from paying attention to dantian or visualization. (* A French philosopher ,Sartre , wrote a book called "Being and Nothingness " . However, by using traditional philosophical reasoning , although having it quipped with newly invented categories , his re-interpretation of human's status in this world can't give us any genuine way out of our predicament)

Exploring the utmost of shen means you have to spend several years on "drilling " the emptiness/ "wu" (nothingness ) , which is the way hardly will people choose to follow. They likely incline to adopt those more interesting methods like paying attention to dantian, visualizaing something , sexual practice... which are funny, trivial and seems effective, yet are ways aberrant and unlikely to succeed . As a Taoist saying tells us ,they are ways " that you are easy to come across in your lifetime , yet unlikely to make you succeed " ("易遇而難成" ),which is just opposite to the genuine Taoist way of " unlikely to come across in your lifetime, but once you meet it, it makes you succeed easily" ("難遇而易成"). In fact, there are thousands of books in bookstores and videos on Youtube teaching people how to open 3rd eye or become more psychic .

As Dawei stated , it is: 20 pills twice per day . I think the key for people to use such well-prepared dose of TCM(中成葯) is that they understand what symptoms the dose targets at ; in this case , whether it is the deficiency in Kidney 's yang or yin .

To be a teacher is something beyond my capacity , and , is too weary ... The best that I can achieve is to become some kind of translator.

No matter how messy or fruitless our life is , we always think that a clear-headed "me" is there , finding out solutions for problems in our life, giving meanings to what we did. Descartes's " I think therefore I am " is just too candid / candied not to believe. Hardly do people recognise that when they are asking such a question, they are only talking some kind of somniloquy .A Chinese Taosit saying tells us the status : "There is some possiblity that a sea be dried up and its bottom be seen, yet there is no possiblity that people, before their death, can recognise their Heart " ( "海枯可見底, 人死不知心 " )

Sorry for not leaving a translation. Mine is as follows : It is to the utmost (窮) of shen (神) (mindlessness /emptiness )* that makes us know (知 )the way of assimiliating/ integrating(化) ourselves with Tao. * Pure shen that free of any characteristics and limitations is , in fact, equal to absolute emptiness .They are just two faces of the same entity .

Who is the "me " asking the question ?

Although the world is said to be created by God, in Western Christian framework , the answer to the question is "No " .While science studies cell, molecule, atoms and particles, Theology studies God and human beings' relation with Him; there is no real bridge in between these two arenas. In Taoist framework, the answer is "yes" . All things are just composed by qi, and shen, which is some kind of god-like entity, is just the high expression of it . There is no gap between them . Of course, the study and cultivation of qi can't exactly be called a science, however, the point is , with the introduction of qi, the gap between physical and spiritual world is eliminated . Man is now really grasping his fate in his hands..

It is interesting to see how people tell their age / times by relating to what old machine or OS they used. Mountain can crumble and sea can be dried up , hardly do real Taoists worry about their age ; maybe they should talk about theirs by referring to the disappeared sea or landscape ?

I expect more contribution from the overseas Chinese to the spread of Taoism in this world. It will not be any surprise if one day in future I find a separate, unique school of Taoism emerged in the West ..