deci belle

Yes. Seeing potential is gathering. At that point there is still no idea. Not doing anything with it (speculating, intellectualizing) is sealing it in the empty vessel where it matures naturally. There is simply nothing to know. The situation defines itself in time as there are cycles within cycles. In a post about the "Meaning of Lezboyenne", I said that enlightening being is just being girlfriends with oneself and everyone else. By that I mean we are just intimate with the situation on its terms, sympathetic to response, not initiating anything. Response is mostly a matter of seeing, as the capacity of pure awareness is being. Sudden realization is proof of this fact. There is no need to construct views pertaining to past experience— experience being strictly the sensing of stimulus in multifarious aspects of levels. As for the general who "kept that bit of land in [his] pocket", this is a matter of potential reaching a critical mass in terms of power, whereby "the situation defines itself in time as there are cycles within cycles". There is an ancient school of thought discussed in the Kuei-ku-tzu, by the name of Tsung-heng hsueh (Zongheng xue), which is possible to be read as "the science of letting all hell break loose". It can also be called "the learning of freedom of thoughts and actions" (I say freedom from thoughts and actions). This from the introduction of Thomas Cleary's translation of the Kuei-ku-tzu called Thunder in the Sky. So it is the situation itself which determines one's degree of response in terms of releasing potential to meet the mutual arising of (karma) creation. Simply put, it becomes the time of release— of freeing potential in terms of response. This is also a way of matching creation where evolution is dictated by the situation itself. ed note: add "within" in 2nd sentence; add last three paragraphs

dawei said: Yes. I consider operating naturally as having a subtle enough presence in the situation so as to be able to find out what happened in the end (of each cycle) as if one had not been there (in terms of not influencing (impeding) the evolution of the situation from the perspective of circumstantial speculative intent, i.e.: the human mentality). So subtle operation is not necessarily limited to cautious consideration of action comprising the situation or even one's own action, or not, relative to it. Getting vulnerability is important. Even so, selfless adaption is not for the purpose of doing anything other than facilitating the gathering of potential~ as that is the most natural thing there is. Selfless adaption IS gathering potential already, as one is not transforming potential into energy. Just this is turning the light around oneself to follow it to its source immediately where it is stored naturally to repletion. So then when one penetrates the secret of vulnerability to the degree that one can gather the elixir freely grain by grain by oneself according to the time, the source of all the authentic traditions of the world are one's glinting talisman.❤ ed note: fix quote

This is a response to a PM about recognizing the potential for awakening. At the outset, the tug to do, in terms of bringing (manifesting), is a pattern— as for seeing, as you indicate, is already the realm of essence. We can work directly with this without intellectualism. Our femme aspect's penchant for process is something which does beg questions and inhibits the ephemeral natural incipience, which is a quickening of the living unborn process inherent within the outer (karmic) husk. When we see it but don't say what it is, we absorb this and the real body, which has no location, defines the center, the empty vessel, were potential is naturally refined void of intellectualism. The whole reality is already inconceivable. We enter Suchness, in terms of the living the Middle Way, functioning as a responsive cloud of all-at-once to the degree we accept its impersonal nature …impersonally. This is not a sudden realization— but we effect its gradual function in terms of this natural process. The Tao is impersonal, immaterial, whereas its Power is the Virtue of our enlightening being matching creation without going along with our remnant karma's habituated personifying psychologies. As for coming out (on whatever level), to match (clothe) the ephemeral, still this is husk. This is not the same as matching potential to creation, which frees potential for the development of the embryo. Something like Lezboyenne is beyond sexuality~ it is beyond electricity— yet what else comes close? When the self conjugates, the immortal is conceived; as such, there is nothing to do oneself but adapt impersonally to the husk while the embryo is nurtured on the potential our non-doing frees from the matrix of karmic process. When this celestial process reaches maturity, the immortal is born, and our gradually refined potential is freed all-at-once. This is sudden realization. As you can surmise, the sudden is an indicator of potential (the seed of buddhahood) being planted in the homeland of nothing-whatsoever. So it is not even close to what most people consider it to be. At this stage, it must still be "incubated", to use the taoist alchemical terminology, until it reaches maturity and one then shatters space, spiritually and physically sublimated to enter the Tao in Reality. It is not that we have to come out on any manifest level to anything as we are already this completely real basis. Unity has no differentiation in terms of gradual and sudden. Creation naturally comes out for us to aid in our natural transformations according to our karmic dna. All we need to develop is clarity (which is the work of self-refinement), in order to see Complete Reality's incipience at the onset, in order to ride its alternations; the breath of its bellows. ed note: add preface at the top, add "We enter Suchness, in terms of the living the Middle Way, functioning as a responsive cloud" in the 3rd paragraph

PM: Your reference to the Middle Way was perfect and seems to fit the situation like a glove. I love your reference to enlightened ones being girlfriends to themselves. It occurs to me as well that the first evolved Being after the Original Idea was both male and female. I get the impression that you too live within a state of readiness and acceptance (but without action)? Perhaps it's more of a discovery of the Original Self that we all have and will all have to acknowledge at some point in our spiritual evolution. Laotzu's tome expresses the notion that the sage acts without acting and the term adapting selflessly to situations is another way of saying the same thing. Even now the first evolved being is already you. The original idea is itself creation. We are neither separate from the Unborn nor the conditional. Yet our essence is neither. As well, our nature is nonoriginated in that it has never entered the creative. We can learn to see the nature of essence as Reality now. Not being confined by our ideas is simply a matter of not having them. Self-refinement is the purpose of arriving at the state of no ideas. Tao has no idea. Our nature is no different than just this. Having no idea oneself is harmonizing with the Tao. Then we can begin to follow it to enter its mysteries. This is not taoism. This is Complete Reality without equal. When we enter the Mystery of Mysteries, there is no end to it. We all die too soon to witness it all. This is our mind-ground of the unattributable light pervading Unity. It is this which is the Virtue of the Tao. Tao itself is unknowability. Perhaps there is that which is beyond even this. Human nature can only go so far and this is its limit. The reason why nothing is gained by enlightenment is that even now, your own mind is just this already. Sudden realization is just seeing this for the first time, so the sudden is just an indication. The gradual and the sudden are one without beginning and this is part of the mystery too. Enlightening being is an ever-readiness suitable for meeting situations in terms of their ultimate causelessness as soon as we begin to see through the self-reflective psychological habit-awareness that is currently creating illusion where there is none to begin with. ed note: add "PM" at top

This is another response to the original PM dialogue concerning "coming out" in an unconventional way. Enlightening beings are girlfriends …to themselves, to everyone, as I have come to find my particular expression. We go along; or don't. Moving, or not, is our response to meet potential. When potential matches, then it is mutual, that's all. Opening up to your own potential in this regard might be a way to evolve into a freer identity that transcends the karma activating "proof". This is because in making suitable arbitrarily designed lifestyle choices that don't just "fall off the tree" or are of the nature of carving out a hole and then slipping into it (if anything can be said to have happened in terms of an exterior fabrication of architectural details), these are still dealing with husk and second-guessing what the time of potential's all-at-once complete reality, which is the shifting cloud of you, is, in terms of the gradual. That means enlightening being is already as it is, to meet with the reality of Suchness, which is no different than one's own mind right now (as it is inseparable from the totality of the created). But what makes this work is seeing through phenomena without denying characteristics. This is what is called The Great Vehicle or the Middle way, in buddhist terminology. It would be exciting to go out and prove this affair, but it is the long way around. In my mind, I don't see any need to make exterior changes in order to help the Tao along, which is a mistake of the first order. It may very well be the conventionally unconventional thing to do, but a real human's bag is always already packed, without bias or inclination. One's intent is open sincerity, serene and unperturbable, beyond speculative concerns. So being ready without cause is just the perennial state of discipline in terms of the self-refinement of gradual practice. I am wont to think "some day…" about certain things~ but not in the sense of hope— it is completely in the sense of readiness, because the present is as true as it gets …unless, of course, it's not.❤

rainbowvein's quote is a bit troublesome as the absolute has never moved. This is from a guidebook for energy work. Whenever I talk it is from the perspective of working directly with essence itself. Prenatal and postnatal are relative to the person. Self-refinement is relative to essence here and now. This already transcends the person by dealing with potential as I describe it— this has nothing to do with a primer for energy-workers. When one sees in this way (per my perspective), there is no longer a pre or post anything worth discussing as presence is the order of the day. The only way I can see the quote rainbowvein posted (and I would prefer she quotes herself on my threads), is that until one begins to see as in my response to Green Tiger, one's so-called pre-natal is indeed out of reach and bumming around, as it were, because the conditioned human mentality is too limited in scope (outside its need to prop itself) to recognize what it has gradually ousted from pre-eminence, in terms of the objective nonpsychological aware nature that underlies conscious knowledge. ed note: add last two paragraphs

Hi Green Tiger❤ Potential is just what reality is when we don't deal with situations in terms of our self-reifying mentality. This is Suchness. The process starts when we see it. When we see reality by dismissing our self-reflective internal dialogue, we realize it has been glowing all along. This process is endless alternations. Taoist alchemy calls effective management of our self-refinement within these karmic cycles the firing process, just to be able to describe its nature (our natural function in terms of enlightening being). Enlightening being is dealing with Complete Reality on its terms, which is a matter of seeing potential within the matrix of polluted karmic evolution. Self-refinement is learning to clarify potential within the matrix. Karma is just the inert ingredient carrying the potential. There is nothing inside or outside. Seeing is realizing Unity as is. Karma isn't bad and neither is ego— it is just learning to pick out the true from within the false in terms of learning what to work with. ed note: fixed last sentence

ok~ I'll try to address it, dawei… no doubt, I may do a bit of rambling. So do forgive me, in advance.❤ Bodhidharma blew off the emperor of China by responding to the emperor's question, "Who is speaking to me?". "Don't know" was the response. He was saying, "I don't know who is speaking to you"; "You (the emperor) don't know what I'm saying, even now"; as well— telling the emperor to "stop (knowing) thinking". Bodhidharma had no protected status at the time and is still known as "the blue-eyed foreigner". Do you think that perhaps the sage was risking his life to be so sharp in his response to the ignorant emperor of China? Yet he was answering spontaneously and with the necessary vulnerability of penetrating insight. He is said to have left at once to the south. Smart man, under the circumstances. Vulnerability is in not knowing yet recognizing potential according to the time. Let's say vulnerability is in considering the loss of combatants in a single day's engagement to the tune of 10, 20, up to 40 thousand troops. Is that a sickeningly vulnerable enough position (as a commanding general) for you? It is if you feel responsible for the potential represented by even one wasted life. Warriors do not relish killing. Even so, a great general has the heart to take hearts. Vulnerability is risking one's purpose, whatever that may be. For myself, vulnerability is conducting my purpose outside of convention within the sphere of conventionality— not to spite convention, but to practice harmonizing the inconceivable light in the midst of ordinary situations in order to recognize, cultivate and follow potential until it is perfectly ripe for transmission. I risk believability at every turn~ not to sound unbelievably precocious, but to convey the mystery transmitted outside of doctrine. Does that not incite trouble? I'd call that risk. As an aside, all spontaneity is, really, is just responding to the time of recognizing potential and letting the subtle spiritual power flow unimpeded. It is you who "let". It is entirely up to you to act or not. Response is not acting too. That can get you in trouble too with femme, non? hahaha!!❤ I myself deliberately allowed a situation to fester for a calender year before fulfilling the potential I recognized and stored void of intellectualism. As long as a situation can withstand the tension, and it is also advantageous (in terms of potential), I give the world what it wants, but I only release when it is ripe. The more powerful the stillness is in abstracting the potential of a situation, the more powerful the potential becomes when it is released— like releasing a catapult. I am referring to inner and outer results in the process of holding and releasing. Spontaneity does not dictate the timing; only the mind that sees the potential (hence the quote of the victor of Waterloo). So what this could play out as is (in terms of the battle at Waterloo), and I apologize for being awkward here, as I cannot recall who's quote this is (most likely the Duke of Wellington or the Prussian general, Gebhard von Blücher), but it goes like this, "…I had that bit of land in my pocket for many years." So in this case a general had recognized the potential of the place of battle. Period. Forty-thousand lives were destroyed in a single day on account of that bit of insight— and that was the winner who had the ground of death in his pocket. So what I'm trying to illustrate is that vulnerability represents real risk in terms of one's relationship to who or whatever is set up as the ground or host of potential, (in this case the host could also represent an entire international military force)— and this is why enlightening activity is not attached to outcomes in terms of seeking honor or avoiding censure. This is because, it is dedicated to the time of potential, not the person. No enemy in front No ruler behind No heaven above No earth below. These are the words traditionally uttered by a Chinese general in ancient times when entrusted to lead an army to indicate that the purpose and course of victory was beyond the limitations of convention, though not strategy, which was at the service of potential, not rulers or enemies or rules dictated by terrain or season. Why do you fight? Obviously something is vulnerable, otherwise there would be no time of fighting. I would wager that you fight because it is time without necessarily regarding outcomes of struggle. Outcomes are moot. Only the ability to let the spirit flow freely according to the necessities of the time matters in terms of life or death. What is critical to vulnerability is that when one acts, or not, the situation changes, or not. Strategy is a flux. Sometimes the change is smooth, but sometimes the process is not smooth and creates real challenges in terms of one's viability and even ability to persevere. "It is better to cheat than repeat." It is better to retreat than be beat." As far as caring about vulnerability in terms of self and other goes, vulnerability is a window that is framed in time. As long as that time is viable, one can store that potential in one's pocket. Whether or not one is personally vulnerable is immaterial— as Roger may have been alluding to. Vulnerability is potential itself clothed in the situation. You are not separate from anything in terms of enlightening activity. One does not go along nor avoid going along with changes to save oneself. One follows potential to absorb it at its peak of ripeness. This is one's affair with Power. The Power of Tao is its Virtue. We absorb the immaterial energy of uncreated potential, which is the Virtue of the Tao. So, in essence, what we absorb as immortalists is a Power of spiritual potential by being vulnerable to that which is inherent in, and gathered within ordinary situations if we can see. Basically, when you sense vulnerability it is because you are recognizing potential. What is at risk when then endeavoring to match one's potential to the Colossus of Creation at critical junctures? — And then with masterful faena of a matador …tres sexy, dawei~ that's what!! hahahah!!❤❤ It's not a lust for power, it is a lust for presence. For me, it is a matter of being dedicated to now. Only one who skillfully risks selflessly without rushing nor tarrying can arrive at the transcendental properties of absolute vulnerability …and as I have said before~ there are no survivors, much less innocent bystanders in this world. Only an impeccable warrior can hone his spirit and, in the words of Hongzhi, "hold fast, then release" the spirit to freely transport the entire situation. ed note: typo in 1st sentence; change last line of 1st paragraph; add "As long as that time is viable, one can store that potential in one's pocket" to 12th paragraph

hi Clarity❤ Merciiiiiiiii

Z3N wrote: The Tao has never been when. This is the realm of inconceivability. It has no limit. Z3N's knowledge of this realm (because he doesn't discuss its application in this thread's context), is what seems a bit far-fetched. Ill-conceived states of hypothetical realms of being is all I'm hearing. The Tao is not a state of being, nor is it a kind of consciousness. I'm not seeing that Z3N has enough of a practical grasp of even the classics to really tighten-up his subject matter. Though lofty, it doesn't fly. If you just came up with this yourself, Z3N, I wouldn't doubt it, but that would not necessarily lessen its validity. Did you pick it up here? Did you just pick it up here and there and put it together yourself? There's nothing wrong with that, mind you. I just don't believe you really know what you are talking about. And I would not usually bring it up at all as there are plenty of people openly speculating on this kind of thing. There are just too many holes in your expository style for the kind of technical terms you are tossing around— again, if you knew even the rudiments without study, it would be because of your intuitive application of enlightening activity— but since you don't ever get into anything other than vague states of being and have nothing to say about knowledge based on harmonizing the light in actual situations (which is really the only way to learn anyway), I'm afraid you are completely out of your element. Why can I say this? Because even those who have seen their nature are just stupid cats trapped in the dark cave under the black mountain. Even of those with the realized potential of buddhahood, if they are unable to free that potential, they are no better off than an ordinary delusional worldling. Why? Because clinging to the absolute (which is what your discussion entails), is no different that clinging to the conditional. Why? Because the conditional and the absolute are the same thing, neither of which are the tao. Neither the created nor the unattributable light of aware enlightened nature is the Tao, only derivative from its incipience. Your lofty discussion has no grasp of this fact. I tried to have a PM conversation with Z3N, just now. For some reason I want to address this because there is a sense of the real here, but "when you are automatically" could very well mean pre-disposed: i.e., with bias and inclination. So, even though I like the Z3N's tone, and I perceive a sense of intellectual understanding— this is all very half-baked. Sorry!!❤ As for "spontaneously living in the present moment without being subject with [the word is "to"] the limitations of the self", here I must ask what other self would one be entertaining at just this present moment while living spontaneously? And if one were some sort of self other than one's own self, how would the one self be able to limit the other spontaneously living self per "the Tao is when"? And in either case— SO WHAT? What about it? What does Z3N do when he is living spontaneously unlimited by something that isn't him? IF THERE IS A SHRED OF ANYTHING OUTSIDE YOU, THE TAO HAS NO FUNCTION IN YOU. And finally, what the point of living spontaneously unlimited by one of the selves is, is never mentioned. There is a reason and it has a very concrete (however inconceivable) application, Z3N. May I propose yours is pure balderdash and poppycock? THE TAO IS NOT A TIME. THE TAO IS NOT WHEN YOU anything. As I commented on Z3N's post above (in terms of one being in a state of non-existence [who is talking?]), what seems to be the root of his thrust is he is using terms in their absolute sense to refer to an inconceivability in terms of its function in the temporal. That much would explain why I want to go along with his thrust except for the fact that he doesn't have the faintest idea what he is referring to (in terms of the absolute) and he has no idea of its application (in terms of the temporal). I wanted to speak to him first via PM, and I did, before going into this, but his overly-coy response told me all I needed to know. This all sounds very good, Z3N, but it is not based on anything you yourself have experienced. The statements you are making just don't cut it. You really ought to hang out with the recreational philosophers with this kind of thing… maybe— I say that because they could learn, perhaps, or at least they might be able to temper this nugget of knowledge you seem to be working out. I don't wish to discourage you, but I also can't see you going on like this~ unless you insist, of course (because I won't insist). …I just hope you at least get a better grip on your content AND its delivery). I don't usually PM people just because they visit my page~ maybe it was an accidental visit on your part? Otherwise I would not have gone off-topic on this thread to bring up this matter that was bothering me (on account of your off-putting response to my "hi❤". Finally I will address the last part of Z3N's quote "…and are functioning as awareness." How does one function as awareness, Z3N? Even more importantly, How does one NOT function as awareness? Don't just "like" this post to get out of answering my challenge, Z3N. Right now, how do YOU function as awareness in terms of when the Tao? How do you go from being yourself and the other self (of yours) that is living spontaneously and not limited by the self you aren't when it's when the Tao? I apologize for interrupting this thread!!❤❤ ed note: add (which is really the only way to learn anyway) in 3rd paragraph

What theft? The merchant sold the consignment and used his percentage to pay for the pearl that he discovered. When you discover what you already have, you still gotta want it to pay for it with the potential inherent in the situation itself. The consignee was paid for the pearl by the merchant who discovered it. This is a wonderful body of teaching goatguy is laying bare for us.❤

Dude of the realm is at the helm!! hahaha!!❤❤❤

When the Unborn Has become activated Just this is nonbeing. "When the Unborn has become activated" doesn't imply it has just become so. "Just activating" is activating it yourself in everyday ordinary affairs. Activating nondwelling awareness is simply using its function, its capacity, its power to transcend its contents because there is no dwelling on these fleeting conditions of conscious awareness of events, people, places and things. The reality of sudden realization is not beyond ordinary affairs. Mystical experience is not up to oneself, nor is it even necessary to everyday enlightening function. Nonbeing is your own mind's nature. Selflessness is not a moral imperative in the higher teachings of buddhism or taoism. It is a description of the nature of aware reality. Activating the Unborn is simply seeing with your inherent enlightened aware capacity void of habitual psychological views of self and other. There is still self and other in conventional terms and impersonal adaption also encompasses this, yet one abides in the natural mind without transforming it into other states of existence. Why? Just this is nonbeing. The mystery of reality takes on the aspect of process in terms of the temporal, yet the potential of being is a secret that takes no energy to realize. It is just a recondite, hidden capacity that people rarely enter into. Why? Attachments to self and views of other which are projections of habitual energy patterns of the psychological awareness of the being that is going to die. Ego awareness closes down the aperture of awareness to suit its limited capacity to see. It is necessary to exercise the nonpsychological capacity of awareness to circumvent the intentional myopia perpetuated by the small faculties of the matrix of the ego-identities feeding the numberless streams comprising the flow of karmic existence. So in opening up our capacity to see reality as it is and not limit our scope only to that which props up the illusion of ego-identity, the natural and necessary ego functions perform within their capacities and the selfless identity of the being that is going to die enacts transcendence in terms of the process of karmic evolution no different than the nonbeing nature of when the Unborn has become activated. This is not a product of wealth, so politically motivated efforts to redistribute it have no intrinsic merit. Even in ancient times, it was the middle classes comprised of producers and merchants that paid the price— and opted out of it when their livelihoods became untenable due to laws and regulations governing their operations (sound familiar?). The wealthy/ruling class has always taken care of number one (even when that meant squeezing the economy to pay tribute to outsiders who eventually took over anyway). Everyone has this potential, yet so few activate it. Only concerned with external cravings, humanity goes on and on in the dark, suffering for no reason and blaming one another for conditions that each and every one themselves perpetuate simply by the fact of giving birth and being born. Taking personal responsibility for the being that is going to die is independent of society, events, people and things. It doesn't depend on anything. Activate the mind without dwelling on anything. ed note: add "these fleeting conditions of" in 1st paragraph, last four paragraphs

Source doesn't even know nonduality. It simply is without partner or beginning aware. This is your mind right now. It is not some other mind that you discover some day. Someday you discover your own mind presently as is, no different than reality. In this context, the only way I picture Source is Unity unborn unknowing awareness itself selfless in perpetuity. We are no different, not only in essence, but in enlightening function because only in selfless unified awareness (our own mind freed of self-conscious habit energy) do we adapt to conditions without admitting our own power. This is desireless action, which is spiritual because it is derived and carried out through the nonpsychological capacity of awareness. The Yin Convergence Classic says that "People don't know the nonpsychological is spiritual". To say it is selfless would be redundant as the nonpsychological has no energy of self-reification. Enlightening being is just resting in the nonpsychological as opposed to the psychological mentality. These are different transformations of enlightened mind. It really comes down to having given up striving for complacent speculative outcomes in our ordinary affairs. Once we give up privateering, there is nothing else to do but adapt to present conditions spontaneously (in my experience). It is not possible to really do NOTHING at all unless you're already dead. ed note: add last line of 1st paragraph

haha!! and just where did you get that, 4bsolute?!! haha!!❤❤

Complete Reality tradition has left behind a strategy for wayfarers who are ready to set up the alchemical furnace and cauldron, who have clarified the foundation and can see the medicines. By that I mean one who can see and assess inner and outer events and hold them clearly while adapting to chaotic situations without getting confused or loosing one's place. In other words, one who can remain calm and unperturbed however serious the situation already has a stable foundation based on impersonal awareness unswayed by their dubious unrelenting fellow creatures who simply don't know any better for the life of them. If you can impersonally harness the potentials of those around you without anyone knowing for no reason at all, you are ready to set up host and guest. It's not a matter of manipulation. If you can see what is really going on in any given situation, you can then adapt to it selflessly. It really boils down to willing an inner openness to see reality in the first place. Reality isn't out there. Seeing reality is seeing through phenomena without denying characteristics. Reality is a matter of a real knowledge arrived at by not following inner feelings based on reactions to externals. When objectivity is accomplished (and you don't do anything with its insight ), the real coalesces, and (if you don't do anything with its potential), you enter the path. This is the result of ridding oneself of desires; of severing the root of fascination. There is already no reason for reality and nothing has ever been decided in terms of the Tao. Gazing into the unborn in ordinary situations is its ultimate expression. Following the Tao is imitating the Tao. If you can't imitate the Tao, you can't follow it. If you don't follow the Tao, then how can you learn the Tao? Unless you can learn the Tao and know its harmony, how can you begin to enter its profound mysteries? The terms host and guest are also used in Chan, where they are used to illustrate multi-faceted relationships (the five ranks) between psychological and nonpsychological awareness; illusory projections of identity and unified selfless non-being in mundane and trans-mundane realities; absolute and relative in terms of contemplating these various relationships through the context of non-attachment to these ranks. In alchemy, the device is recognizing other as host and the self as the guest. Actually, setting up host and guest is an allegorical application of turning the light around to shine back on its source. When setting up host and guest in the midst of ordinary situations, one enters completely without reservation without anyone noticing. In the process of sinking in, one becomes subject to the psychological terrain of ongoing events for the hell of it. Isn't this the nature of practice? I hope so. The whole strategy of this set-up is to dispense with the conventional compulsion to decide. The ramifications of freedom from deciding will shatter not only your world but emptiness itself, when you get to that point in your spiritual evolution. The whole strategy is to be able absorb the most insane abuse the world can seemingly put you through without minding too much. It's not a matter of turning the other cheek, it is simply passing through successive karmic cycles without attachment to outcomes. And that, my friends, is what real practice is because the result is a pure awareness body outside of your body for no reason at all. When you let the world have its way without helping it, nor without hindering it, it gets what it wants (selfish unfulfilling illusory gratification) while you get what you want (absorption of real immaterial potential). The world follows creation while you go in reverse. That's what alchemy is, people. You take shit and turn it into alchemical gold. It ain't about traveling the globe to enter Taoist temples for who the hell cares— leave that to the credit-card divas of de rigueur life-style spiritual materialism. When the compulsive need to manufacture une raison d'être (a reason for being) is eliminated by virtue of leaving that up to your host, you save energy by just going along with your desire (to go along). This frees up your resistance to the dynamic of the situation and ultimately you will find out what happened as if it mattered. The energy you free up is the energy you absorb in the process of going along. And I assure you, not even nothing matters. Not one spec of this circus has a shred of reality. If you steal potential in the midst of a polluted realm it is only because of the fact that you can see it. Nothing more. This is the subtle operation of enlightening being carried out in secret. This secret within a secret has been left behind by pure wisdom, not a person. In fact, this is not even taoism— it is the light of awareness …your true nature. This does not involve thinking. It involves not-thinking. It does not involve complacent speculation on hypothetical outcomes. It involves open sincere intent. It is the perfect incubation ward for the medicines to meet, fuse and quicken the embryo of immortality; the seed of buddhahood; the golden pill; the pedestal of awareness. ed note: delete 9th paragraph (refering to s'body's 24/7 meditation thread); add "And that, my friends, is what real practice is because the result is a pure awareness body outside of your body for no reason at all" in 14th paragraph

In response to a PM about Awakening to Reality (Wu chen p'ien), by Chang Po-tuan: oh duh!! "Understanding Reality"!! (Thomas Cleary) haha!! I did look through that volume trying to find where I'd come up with my usage of host/guest when I was writing this thread, but I could not find any correlate there. I just looked back on how I dealt with situations and saw how the host/guest device as I had been understanding it from perhaps the "400 Words on the Gold Elixer", also by Chang Po-tuan. But I couldn't really see that I had gotten it from there either. I just use it in the context of the guest dealing with conditions on the host's terms, not reflecting the habitual views of the personality (guest). So this is using reality itself to transcend ego-consciousness and saving energy to boot.

If this was me, how could I be following at all? It would be me, but Z3N made the call.❤ ed note: change "I would not" to "how could I", in last line

Yabyum started a thread titled "Flowing with the Tao - how can you be sure?" I subsequently "edited in" everything below the first paragraph of my second post there, so I just went ahead and blatantly spun-off his thread to start this one. i sso evil!!❤ Below, I really get into "stealing" anyway, so it's par for this course… You can be sure when there is not a hairsbreadth between inside and outside. When you have seen through a change and there is no discernible difference and no knowledge of before and after in terms of self and other, this is where one has followed potential outside of the influence of creation (karma). This is what following the Tao seems like in terms of inconceivability. In terms of convention, the closest conventional example would be a very close call where nobody noticed. But in this example, you know self and other have a separateness and there is clearly "before and after", where you would be temped to look over your shoulder. You know for sure when nothing happened and there is no sense of self and other, but the cycle has clearly been transcended and pristine awareness has refreshed itself without awakening reifying thought. (This would be when one seals up tightly in terms of the Yin Convergence, which I have discussed elsewhere). Since this is how it is, how can one function in terms of the inconceivable? The original question is framed as a dilemma. Seeing reality and construing a dilemma is due to habit awareness of the nature of the mechanical mind: i.e., getting it right, not wrong. In reality, there is no answer or question— just what is. If reality is seen as inconceivable, any resolution can then be carried out in terms of inconceivability. This can be viewed in terms of an algebraic equation because both sides of the equation are equal. There is no right or wrong here in terms of algebra, only a differential equation. In terms of the Unborn, nothing is unresolved. It is the human mentality of dilemma overflowing. First of all, the definition of delusion is ignorance of the deluded state. If you are aware of its functioning, and can freely adapt within deluded conditions, this then is enlightening activity. Dogen calls this being deluded within delusion. This is trusting the inherent potential of the situation itself; following desires without stepping over the line. Secondly, trusting inherent potential is the same as the subtle spiritual operation of inconceivable nature, where radiant presence is impersonal. I don't say this to sound impressive (these are just w-o-r-d-s). Open sincerity is just trusting inherent potential by not entertaining views of self and other. The impersonal being of self/other is reality. If you can see with the unborn mind, just this is it. Since free adaption within inherent potential is no different than having the power to see potential inherent in the stultified energy of manifest energy (creation/karma), then enlightening activity is just seeing creation as inconceivability no different than the absolute of selfless nonorigination. Thirdly, in order to be flowing with the Tao in surety one must indeed be seeing in terms of the nature of the ground of inconceivability. It is really as simple as activating the mind without dwelling on appearances. This is not formal sitting meditation. This is adapting to everyday ordinary situations like ordering a single wet breve ristretto without thinking anything while really seeing in a 360˚ focusless focus of observational presence of the entirety of space (merci, thelerner— haha!!). I swear, your eyes will not buG OuT. It is not the sense organ. It is simply not thinking, whereby the real knowledge of immediate perception operates naturally having been freed of habitual self-reflective mental patterns. Fourthly, since it is a fact that the real knowledge of immediate impersonal awareness void of bias and inclination arises spontaneously in the absence of habitual mental contents, and seeing reality is seeing this inconceivable mind-ground naturally with no separation of self and other, knowledge and content are the inconceivability of sameness, neither ordinary or holy. Obviously, there is no sense of opportunistic circumstantial speculative complacency abiding in this mind. When speaking of the root of delusion perpetuating karmic evolution, just this is it. In spying this thief, it is essential that you do not confront it directly. Specifically, it is a matter of choosing not to choose. This is how to deal with the familiar characteristic of the mechanical mind. In choosing not to choose, the human mentality, the master thief, is left with nothing to entertain in terms of orchestrating the facetious shimmering fascination of deciding. It is a complete sham battle. Now you know (but it doesn't). It is necessary to wait in order to see this exact moment in the course of affairs. What you don't know is that seeing this sham battle is exactly where you step into the middle of it. When you get the pivot of creation, destiny is up to you. It's like stepping in to jump rope *girl-thing*. This is the critical juncture of every karmic cycle. This is the heart of creative evolution where potential is stolen by adepts, immortals and buddhas. You go along unminding just to see this time; not-choosing is stealing the potential at its peak of ripeness. Not afraid to miss out, you miss out on polluted energy; dismissing energy, you absorb immaterial essence. It all depends on the situation. The Art of War states, "Victory depends on the opponent". In this case, opponent consists of the ground of conscious awareness— the realm of karmic evolution. In not-choosing, karma is left to its own device which is to helplessly maintain its kinetic momentum, and its neurotic speed without your involvement. This is the space of not going along with creation …seeya! …and eventually, the whole situation goes along without you. This is transcending a cycle. This is what certainty is. It is the certainty of not-knowing. It is inconceivable, after all. This is precisely where Bodhidharma turned a flip with the emperor who asked, "Who is speaking?" The response~ "Don't know". Then he left the realm of the man who could not recognize nonempty emptiness. The function of Tao is return. Transcending a cycle is return. This is following the flow of Tao, not the flow of creation. This is functioning inconceivably in which one recognizes the inconceivable nature of delusion/karma/creation and matches it with one's inherent potential imbedded in the unity of the situation itself, thereby to go through this and subsequent transformations endlessly. It should be obvious that enlightening being is beyond the realm of conventional mores, while one influences creation secretly from within ordinary situations, for no reason at all. Nevertheless, one must endeavor to provide Caesar his due in conventional terms in adapting to situations and not create dilemmas where there are none. ed note: add comment re: Yin Convergence in 6th paragraph, "only a differential equation" in 8th, "Not afraid to miss out, you miss out on polluted energy; dismissing energy, you absorb immaterial essence" added to paragraph 19. Add last paragraph.

Kadesdes said: may I rephrase that to …moving within duality are we not still moving naturally within what defines good? hi Kadesdes~ I finally came to the conclusion that "good" in terms of accepting the basic goodness of one's present situation without thinking of anything predicated to obtaining happiness produces harmony with the Tao. If I say it backwards it sounds like "harmony with the Tao is "good". This is non-doing independent of the conditional. It is a road straight into the Mystery as it is in harmony with its nature which is independent of the conditional, yet it is not separate— in fact, it is the very sameness within the conditional. The basic fundamental tenet of spiritual alchemy is that the real is found within the false. Inversely, if it weren't for the false, there would be no way to find the real. Self-refinement is refining away the human mentality to arrive at the Mind of Tao, which is no different than your own mind right now. The degree of one's ability to rest in this dynamic of stillness independent of karmic evolution yet responsive to it results in a power of spontaneity commensurate within that fluid stillness. Neither stillness nor activity, spiritual action responds independent of habitual self-reflective mental patterns.

yabyum wrote: ❤!! What is wonderful is that in finding that just this place is Reality, that it is the function of everyday situations and that this pivot having been on the verge of action in perpetuity both in terms of absolute and temporal—its Sameness is pristine incipience; whether we get involved or not. The scene changes and affects our relativebalance according to our attachment. What is so alien to most everyone is the notion of the mechanism within the critical juncture of every cycle. Cycles repeat because they are so by virtue of creation. This is the mechanism. This is because in talking about it, it seems like doing. There is no doing involved. It is a matter of seeing. The simple over-riding fact of life is that in not seeing is how we get dragged along by circumstances. So in seeing is the key to the enlightening mechanism of detaching from creation at the right time. Immortalists use the mechanism to their own advantage to return to the beginning of every cycle by incrementally seeing a bit of the essence inherent in all of creation. In following creation, one gets karma. In following Tao, one gets immortality. Seeing through phenomena without denying characteristics is how not to follow creation. There is no other way to follow Tao by virtue of seeing the essence of potential in everyday ordinary situations than by not going along with created karmic cycles. Seeing and karmic involvement are mutually exclusive. Though they are the same in terms of potential, yet one ordinarily follows the light of conscious awareness of life and death or one naturally follows it in reverse to arrive at its source of nonorigination. There is no other mechanism beyond the incipient manifest respiration of the Way, which is the alternation of yin and yang, whether it is seen or unseen in the course of affairs. Ordinary people go along, whereas enlightening beings go in reverse thereby to return to the source; at first incrementally, then, eventually, they return all at once. Otherwise there is a tendency for people to think of following Tao as a moralistic, passive, or even a preemptive avoidance strategy. It is beyond convention. It is already inside you, naturally to be discovered by those who will. How else would one enter into inconceivability than by entering the mystery of the Tao in reality? Tao is Mind. There is no other mind. There aren't two, let alone one. It is in willing to treat mundane situations as completely real adventures, where one consciously and honestly doesn't dare to presume upon one's conventional knowledge as ordinary people do habitually— thereby to speculate on their relative karmically saturated outcomes. One is already vulnerable to the consequences of events, aware or not. There are no innocent bystanders; no survivors. Using ordinary circumstances to practice authentic unknowing is a game of life and death— not in the morbid sense, but in the sense of self-refinement leading to arrival of harmonizing one's light in the Tao as well as harmonizing the light of awareness to the circumstantial events requiring our response. In buddhist terms, meeting the matter of life and death is not living one's life in vain by actually experiencing the Great Death, the Great Wonder of suddenly arriving at the selfless realization of essential nonorigination which is spoken in terms of the absolute. Regardless of relative or absolute, gradual or sudden, the reality of the matter of life and death is one, without before or after in perpetuity. I'm talking about right now, right here. This is the natural pivot of awareness of enlightening being, and no one knows why. Actually how "catching the Tao" comes to pass is in detaching from habitual psychological patterns, and their combined momentums. Eventually, after a long time, artificial momentum loses its kinetic (karmic) force, and in letting the world pass us by, the Tao's influence in our lives picks up our brave and lovely inner hitch-hiker who wouldn't dare dream of knowing how the next fresh breath will or won't come to pass in the next turn.

We wait by the gate and door of the Mysterious Female watching for the critical junctures of potential arising incipiently. The Mysterious Female is the incipience of changes; witnessing Change, we do not go along with changes. What we follow is the timing of the Celestial by harmonizing with the breath of the alternations of yin and yang by the Virtue of the Receptive. All creation follows the alternations of the celestial breath. Those who see the changes arising do not go along with them; only gathering the elixir at the primal aperture, thereby returning to the source of each cycle within each cycle, in endless transformations. Enlightening beings call this entering the Tao in reality. Worldly beings follow creation's births and deaths. This is the crystalization of the elixir of immortality spoken of in the alchemical classics. Flowing with the Tao is returning within each cycle. Tao only returns. It never leaves its place. Its place has never fallen into the created. If you can function effectively within each cycle without entering the created, only this can be construed as following the tao. Although it may look good on paper, this is not a matter of doing by itself, while you go along for the ride. If you go along for the ride, you're going over the falls in a biG way. You must activate this subtle operation by yourself within the course of ordinary events. You actually see it— or not. If you don't see, Creation carries you along within the course of events. When it dies by itself and Z3N does not die— how does Z3N not die along with it without seeing the incipience of evolution? When it dies by itself and it is not Z3N dying, who is Z3N at that moment?

Thank you, Basher!!❤ Someone was noting various ranges of experiential realization via PM and this was my response. ed note: say hi to Basher

zoze tricks are my thigh-high stilettos grazing Vous' tete, cheri~❤❤ hey! zen i gets in a bump wis my rump— thump!! hahahahaa!! ed note: add ze bumps wis my rumps!!

This is key: I say simplify this to We desire as it is the driving force of creation. Forget religion, it's the first bit of slag to discard. The OP states essentially, "Not seeking yet getting" …ain't gonna happen. Even in supreme perfect sudden realization, nothing is acquired. So what have you gotten? Even in getting, one neither rejects nor acquires. This is selfless adaption. So in accepting, you do not construe, and you do not start anything yourself, either. Getting back to the driving force of creation: in order to transcend creation effectively while in its midst it is necessary to follow desire without stepping over the line. Buddha nature has never been realized outside of one's own mind— it is one's own mind. We follow desire to penetrate the course of Suchness; complete reality neither ordinary or holy— this is neither absolute nor temporal. This is one's arrival within enlightening function. Real desire without yet attaching craving is simply recognizing an inherent potential: your own impersonal inherent potential within any given situation. Following this without activating speculative attachment to outcomes is "not stepping over the line". Following desires (aversions too), we gradually introduce guidance by the application of wisdom at critical junctures according to the timing of the inherent potential of events themselves by virtue of non-attachment to outcomes. Enlightening practice does not renounce the driving force of creation. What other creation would there be? Suchness is not apart from this driving force as there is no other mind. Not beyond polluted or pristine [mind], the driving force is itself impersonal incipience upwelling immaterial selfless potential. Unrefined potential is recognized as unrefined elixir by immortalists who are such by virtue of their ability to see it. Passivity is inadequate for the task of refining the elixir of immortality (freeing potential from the matrix of creative evolution (karma). Renunciation is not even in the game (not that some people shouldn't go through such temporary expedients to counter the psychological momentum of viscous karmic energy). Take it away, Jetsun!! ~oop! he cut in before i posted!! heehee!!❤ ed note: add "either" to end of 2nd paragraph, correct syntax in last paragraph