TzuJanLi

Greetings.. "Abstract"? are you unfamiliar with Energy? It is the fabric of the Universe, Consciousness is the weaver.. Be well..

Greetings.. My first inclination is to very highly recommend seeing the movie Avatar, but.. I also see the inherent tendency people have for seeing or reading or imagining a ficticious circumstance, then adding it to their belief system as though it were real.. So much of the 'new-age' movement can be linked to fiction published many years ago, or.. linked to myths and legends that have no verifiable basis.. in short, escapism.. Be well..

Greetings.. No, there is no inherent "Rose", but.. there is a cohesive unit of Energy with form, shape, and mass in a discernable pattern we have named "Rose", the 'name' has no essence, but it refers to the essence of the discernable 'cohesive unit of energy'.. we can interact with (see, touch, smell, etc..) the object described by the name "Rose".. you 'can' name it Goodyear 3-ply radial mud tire, but.. the cohesive unit of discernable Energy with the form, shape, and mass of something also named "Rose", remains.. names may change, but the essence remains.. Be well..

Greetings.. IF.. IF we stop masturbating our imaginations, the reality of existence is right here, right now.. the issue is that people prefer to play with their imaginations where they can avoid responsibility for the lives they live.. Life in the manifested reality requires honesty, clarity, and radical responsibility.. the notion that Life is a mirage or a magic show is hogwash. Look and see for yourself. Be well..

Greetings.. Physical reality isn't 'found', it is experienced continuously.. you became aware of the pre-existing physical reality as your individuality emerged and matured.. If someone sedates you and puts you in a cabin on a huge ship, your first awareness when waking up is only of the cabin.. you can't realize or know of the rest of the ship, but you might 'speculate'.. after an interval the cabin is opened and your awareness expands into passage-ways and other cabins.. finally you reach the deck.. it is without merit to sit in the cabin and assume there is no ship. If i try to find the essence of an automobile by taking it apart piece by piece, soon the essence is lost.. the essence of all things is in their relationship with all things.. the automobile's essence is in its existence, not its components.. each component has its own essence, but.. to discover the battery's essence and conclude it invalidates the automobile's essence is a simple error of limited perception an mental confinement.. No, the existence of the tree prior to my physical manifestation is documented by evidence, photographs, stories, and Clarity.. to suggest that it didn't exist prior to my observation of it is a leap of 'faith' unsupportable from any perspective.. physical reality exists, people like 'Buddha' couldn't deal with its undesirable aspects, so.. they contrived a "Plausible Denial", hence 'it's an illusion'.. Be well..

Greetings.. The mentor taught many things..some as you suggest, but.. the interpretation is mine. I am not really interested in the mental masturbation of simplicity.. i observe a lot of BS projections of poorly understood concepts.. it is only in recent years that such lofty definitions of Qi has emerged, because simplicity neither sells nor embellishes one's pride of knowledge.. Qi is Life, its very essence.. i speculate not much further on its definition. There is but one 'substance', Energy.. Matter is energy vibrating at frequencies that manifest form, shape and mass.. like an ice-cube in water, only the vibrational frequency manifests the change in states of existence, it's the same 'stuff'.. Be well..

Greetings.. SEE the movie.. suspend the thinking.. let the experience sink-in.. then, contemplate the totality of it.. On a scale of 1 - 10, it was a 12.5.. Be well..

Greetings.. "WuWei".. trusting your 'nature'.. letting experiences reveal their result, not 'forcing' a result.. It is possible to have 'conscious thought' that is perfectly resonant with the unfolding experiences, that too, is WuWei.. Be well..

Greetings.. That would be 'Clarity'.. in the quest to define, we confine.. as i said earlier, my 'Ah ha' moment was my mentor's example of the two birds, one alive, one deceased.. the answer was clear and wordless, it was obvious which had Qi, and it requred no 'definition' to understand.. Scholarly disertations about Qi, are a waste of good Qi.. Be well...

Greetings.. Yes, i have experienced reality apart from the mind.. you will not understand this, you will ask for proof.. and, that 'asking' IS the 'proof'.. Be well..

Greetings.. Hi Marblehead: LOL, it's not 'my' sentence.. and, i am honored you took the time to simplify it, thanks.. Be well..

Greetings.. The objective world exists as a verifiable continuum.. the tree that was in my front yard yesterday, is still there when i awake today.. The dream i had last night has no consistency, no continuum, the dream i had the night before was completely different, no relationship with last night's whatsoever.. Be well..

Greetings.. The Original Post, by Marblehead, is too well stated to either improve upon or diminish.. enjoy its Clarity.. Be well..

Greetings.. To better understand Taoism, read the accounts of people labeled as 'Taoists' before there were the concepts of 'Taoism.. authors looked back in history and found certain traits of certain people to be consistent with 'their' notion of Taoism.. but, the Taoists that were Taoists before there was 'Taoism', share a resonance not found after the 'naming'.. Be well..

Greetings.. The mind is adept at over-analyzing simplicity.. Rice eaten and air breathed, food and air, is, in it's intended simplicity, energy.. remove either and there's no energy to animate the body, no Qi.. Be well..

Greetings.. Those with penchants for dreams as representing some element of reality, do not understand the process of dreaming.. their's is a story they tell to support their preferred beliefs.. from a taoist perspective it is amusing to hear such stories, to reject the objective universe while living in it's midst.. it's a great story, but wholly unfounded on anything other than clever semantics.. how does one sit down at their computer and compose a post that says their computer is an illusion.. then, sequentially read and respond to replys? Life happens, either you're there for it, or.. you are comtemplating mind-play.. Be well..

Greetings.. Qi is a word the ancients used to describe what we 'now' know as energy.. energy in its most subtle and profiund manifestations.. not everything is some esoteric mystical secret.. One of my mentors held a live bird in one hand and dead bird in the other.. which one has Qi, he asked.. it's really that simple.. the more we complicate it the further away our understanding gets.. Be well..

Greetings.. I have to second the suggestion of, "Stillness".. from stillness clarity will reveal the appropriate experience.. Be well..

Greetings.. Hi Hagar: i hope you will indulge a minor revision: A clear mind, a compassionate nature, unconditional sincerity, and.. a radical gusto for Livin'... Be well..

Greetings.. I generally stay away from this topic, but.. what the heck: Enlightenment is a placebo, a place-holder.. a notion that lets you rest awhile.. it's not a 'destination', it's a new point of departure.. i have yet to see an adequate definition of 'Enlightenment', so further discussion is pretty much "apples and oranges".. each person in the discussion will have their unique perspective of the definition of 'Enlightenment'.. personally, i think the 'word/concept' has done much more harm than benefit.. it has become a prize for spiritual competition.. Be well..

Greetings.. Without the qualified observer to make the corrections the student can't see or feel, the likelihood is that the student will do more damage than learn a complex and powerful system.. in this instance, it would be arrogant and egotistical to believe you can actually 'get it' from books or videos.. imagine doing 200 strikes per surface, per day, per hand.. and, making even one mistake, practicing it continuously for 100 days.. and, the chances are that the student will make many mistakes.. it's a very precise system.. don't deceive yourself.. Be well..

Greetings.. Definitely with a 'qualified' teacher.. and those are few and far between.. Be well..

Greetings.. You cannot, nor should you be, be free of self-identification.. that's what existence IS.. certainly, we can each better understand the relationship between self-identification and that which is doing the identifying.. we exist like ice-cubes in the sea, same 'stuff' vibrating at different frequencies.. understanding this relationship is Clarity.. Be well..

Greetings.. We are not these aging bodies, we are the eternal energy that animates them.. We are traveling to where we have always been, from ignorance to enlightenment.. awareness is the vehicle.. We are the "source" experiencing its own existence.. Bed well..

Greetings.. War is seldom, if ever, about resources.. it's about ideologies. The 'ideology' may use resources to express their their beliefs, but.. the appropriate 'ideology' understands compassion and sharing.. "a rising tide lifts all boats".. Politics has become a self-perpetuating contest of ideologies, where the interest of the electorate is barely a passing thought.. there are no 'statesmen' left. The healthcare reform, without the Public Option, is the largest windfall the insurance companies have ever had.. 40 million uninsured 'required' to purchase insurance from the same industry that has been inflating prices for the last 3 decades.. there is a disconnect when the democratic majority of congress and its democratic president can't even manifest its own fiscally sound programs.. without the public option to control the pricing, the insurance conglomerate will continue to profit from the nations weaknesses.. and yet, the democrats are so wishy/washy and fearful of 'bad press', they won't even act in the best interest of the people that trusted them to do so.. That being said, i do not favor the two-party system.. it has become a game of party survival to the detriment of the governed.. Yes, Taoists should speak their truth clearly and resolutely.. one for all and all for one.. hurt one/hurt all ~ help one/help all.. Be well..