Daeluin

When we do everything with sincerity, from our work, to our cooking, to our transportation, to our relaxation, to our setting things down, never mindless, never rushing, we can easily recollect where something went. We don't need to hold onto everything in our short term memory until it is like a computer that has been on far too long. We just need to be sincere, centered, empty. Then our past actions are easy to look back upon when necessary. They are part of what we've become; no need to hold them in our mind.

I've experienced this. Sometime in my first year of a taiji / meditation class, at the end of the class some people would return to a very chatty mental state. But I would be very quiet, in a state which the energy in my mind was calm and at peace, unwilling to adapt to their flow. At first I wondered if they simply didn't go very deep - and since then I have noticed changes. But now I have a different perspective. Refinement. We can bring ourselves deeply within, and naturally this depth can appear to travel further away from dualistic mechanisms. Perhaps the distance created here is merely a creation of stagnation and fixation. One mechanism operating on a different wavelength than another, and the bridge between them broken. Refinement dissolves the blockages between the center and the various mechanisms. Refinement works to cleanse the layers of encrustation to expose the pure within. Refinement allows the pure substances to draw together in unity. The more refined we become, the more easily we may adapt to changes in our environment. When we attach to static states it is not so easy to flow between them, so we decide to either cultivate a meditative state OR cultivate a state where memorizing patterns and taking exams is easy. Doing the work of remaining in a meditative state while we attempt to integrate with another state on the surface is doing the work of refinement. I quite enjoy the state the circular movements of bagua leave me in. Centered within, I find adapting to my environment becomes effortless. The energy spins and weaves non-linearly from within, able to adapt to the most harmonious flow of the external. The bridge is formed between without attachments getting in the way and without mental effort required to plan the optimal approach. So dissolving the body allows the energy freedom to adapt, but too it is important for the energy itself to be refined. The more refined and unified the energies become, the more easily they may unfold into whatever shape necessary for the bridge to manifest. And finally, it is important to return back within, dissolving the bridge when its purpose is complete. I sense that at first one uses yang and yin from within. But later one is internally yang; externally the yin response is withdrawn from the outside rather than entering from the inside. And so the inside full and firm, the outside supple and adapting to the environment harmoniously and effortlessly. And so one enters one of the final layers of duality on the approach to ultimate non-duality. This is all just my own perspective. I hope that it might help someone. Blessings.

Treasure a handful of dirt from your home, But love not ten thousand taels of foreign gold. 西遊記

Oh yes, this is all relative. The idea here is that once one reaches a level of true mastery, one has also mastered the spiritual work as well. What need is there to defend against those who have found peace? And the others can be scared off with a look. In any case, it sounds like fighting is fun for you! I'm not interested in fighting with you, just sharing. I like your perspective too! Edit: I don't mean to imply that a true master cannot be defeated by someone else. You are right - there are many operations, and my example is very simplistic. That said, a true master is more likely to be working with mysterious power, and slipping between the edges of polarity while working on a higher level of refinement. Such a one is unlikely to encounter challenges that cannot be dealt with by flowing with the dao.

When someone of value should do things a certain way, it often invites those who value that which should be done another way. I'd simply advise caution when looking for a teacher that emphasizes fighting application - a strong approach to internal and external is great, but there are also those who teach the external without knowing the internal. On the other hand, certainly it helps one's pathways to develop when one understands the application and is able to do solo work as though engaged with an invisible opponent. Taiji pre-exists taijiquan, but I gather what you are saying is that taijiquan developed and existed before receiving this name. I started learning taijiquan without any interest in fighting or self-defense. One day my teacher shared a story.... when one is self-realized one may unveil the internal energy that has developed through the eyes, and any would be opponent would no longer have interest in pursuing a fight. And on that level, when two masters come together, it is more a matter of waiting for an opening - it is clear to both when one has found the opening, and rarely is follow-through necessary to prove that point. The opening is found within the other's mind. Nice!

Thank you for sharing the new conceptual perspectives you linked. This has been a question of my own as well. These three conceptual states seem similar to the daoist notion of the golden elixir and the mysterious gate. The mysterious gate has no location; is every location. As the golden elixir enters this gate, one must be centered in one's self and centered within the universe. I may have experienced being centered in myself once, and that was all. And yet, it was so surreal it appeared to defy any notion of progress forward - all was one within, the energy felt golden and celestial, unified - my finger was just as much my center as my toe, and attempting to distinguish them as anything else was impossible. If one attaches to a state like that, is it sustainable without some other form of transformation? Without knowing anything, I can presumptuously compare this to Savikalpa, and by extension perhaps Nirvikalpa could be similar to centering one's self within the universe. The identity loss Sri Chimnoy describes might support this view. And then perhaps Sahaja could be compared to the actual entering into the mysterious gate, having both become centered within one's self and within the universe, able to slip into a deeper place where one remains, and too remains able to navigate within the world flowing the way I described above - knowing when to act and when not to, simply by resting upon resonance - using ziran to maintain tianran.

Why would one wish to move instead of remaining still? OK, perhaps that is simple enough to answer. But then, let us imagine the road upon which one moves - something that can only be developed for one's self, internally. Why would one wish to travel upon a smooth road rather than a bumpy one? It would take time to properly smooth a road and build a vehicle with wheels able to utilize this smoothness. A lot of time and effort, towards results that are only speculated upon. Just like a road for cars that must be built (and the cars invented), the path of taiji, or any other internally focused movement art, at first one begins slowly, so as to dissolve blockages, develop the intention and invite the shaping of one's body-mind-spirit into a container that may contain the energy and let it flow. This takes time, a lot of time in which one lacks any consistent connection to the changes or awareness of how they are developing. But, over this time, one begins to feel some changes, and begins to deeply understand that things are definitely happening within. So perhaps now we've cleared away enough of the obstacles blocking our road from being built. And now we begin to fill the energy within this container, and invite it to expand from our center to our extremities, and then to return back to our center. The movements of taiji, a stepping forward and reaching out, then returning - the form unfolds allowing many expansions and returns, gradually inviting the energy to flow along the unique pathways within the body that have been gradually becoming more and more clear. And our road begins to get built. In time, the road will complete, and will spontaneously connect as one, the energy full and flowing on its own. Now.... how might this assist with neidan? And.... how might getting knocked in the head help neidan? With training, perhaps one learns to open the meridians in the head, and the body filled with energy, develop the ability to energetically protect the head (or any area) from taking damage from this impact. But is one likely to develop this long-term skill in a discipline that involves getting knocked around a lot? The dissolving process which leads to development of energetic flow is held back by too much jostling around. How can a stream follow the same course and develop into a river when there are constant earthquakes?

Internal 'martial' arts can become a study of remaining within non-duality while being incredibly active with one's body, interacting dynamically within duality, the bridge a full-spectrum dance of ever changing adaptation, never departing from the center.

Can one be fully immersed in the non-dual while one still inhabits a body that recognizes a division between self and other? Or does true immersion into non-dual necessitate the body-spirit completely returning to dao? In this idea of a bridge, one inhabits the non-dual in one's center, and that center is all centers. And yet within the functioning of the body and spirit in the world, a bridge is formed to the outside. What is this outside, but a bridge itself? A bridge between matter and spirit, this life-supporting planet of ours. We all have momentum within duality. This momentum is itself a bridge connecting the original non-duality to our present form within duality, a bridge showing the shaping of every duality. Moving forward, we discover non-duality. Looking back, we discover non-duality. Resting upon the present, we connect past and future, beginning and end, together. Non-duality within, resting upon and embracing duality without. By resting upon duality while sincerity is maintained on non-duality, we do nothing to create new duality, even as we invite duality into non-duality. Resting upon the duality of our past momentum, we dissolve it effortlessly. When it is time to act, we act. When it is not we remain within. Action and non-action, according to the time, all unfolding based on momentum; can it really be called action? Momentum dissolved completely, perhaps one returns. Or perhaps one continues resting upon the operation of dissolving duality, in endless free-fall a bridge guiding duality into dao. Immortality?

Sometimes the path we see before us is the one we've tread in the past - all laid out before us, but very much our own. By forging ahead and creating my own path, I use past karma as I would a ladder, to build a foundation for the next rung. But what happens when I decide it is time to climb back down the ladder, not up? What happens when the past rung was already headed backwards toward the center? In freefall one allows the return, and the path one blazes is hardly that of another, yet hardly alone.

Wang Mu's Foundations of Internal Alchemy (tl: Pregadio) is a good primer on the big picture of what that book works with. In the back are translations of The Secret of the Golden Flower and Zhong Lu Chuan Dao Ji - of which other translations are available for comparison.

Good points. I also support ZOOM learning from the approach he is led by his friend - it may ultimately lead to the same approach, but without the necessity of rejecting that which does not resonate. He was led to this path via a friend, and so there is likely a deeper resonance within that relationship than we could hope to understand. This whole sith or nazgul based approach is interesting. Feels more like the idea of taking energy for personal use without needing to operate under the rules that other things operate under. Which is fine - it just means this approach will need to navigate the challenges related to how it positions itself within the whole. When we center ourselves within the whole and open, we can receive the energy of the whole, for giving and receiving are one. When we attempt to draw out the energy of the whole without an even exchange, it requires a certain cleverness to enable this type of exchange to unfold and then to guard what one has hoarded. It would appear this exchange often operates in the dynamic of competition, where one takes from another through conquest. All too familiar in the western realm. Seems pretty unnecessary, given that everything people compete over is free to be had if one just opens and accepts their role within transformation. Further, it is odd - what is the purpose of this hoarding apart from the whole? What beauteous design is planned that can only come to fruition apart from the whole? And how can it remain hale without the support and nourishment of the whole? This dynamic can be seen in cancer cells, who steal from the whole, but in the end fail to even sustain themselves once the dynamic of the body that sustains them fails. If there are those who would steal from the existing cancerous dynamics within our society rather than feeding them, all one needs do is absorb those threads and return them into connection to the whole. We are always seeking balance between absorbing life giving resources and sharing life giving resources. In time this balance can be refined to such a state that what is exchanged is merely a whisper on the surface, never reaching the core, even as one is open to all things, without walls. Whereas, if one is always protecting the core with walls, and always stealing and never giving, the resulting barrier against circularity might lead to difficulty in reaching new states of development, or perhaps require more conflict oriented progress. Just my musings. I don't really know what others mean when they speak in terms of the sith or nazgul approach. I was more a fan of Beren.

Was reading this in CantongQi, tl Pregadio: I feel like there is a subtle structure of balance in place. If we seek to forge our own balance and don't get it right, we'll get some help. So even as we cultivate energy, we too must cultivate the container which holds it - if our container has leaks, our energy will naturally be drawn into natural containers whose operation is to seek out and absorb it.

Yes, I agree. I like the vinegar taster approach to suffering - being happy that people choose suffering and not letting it weigh us down. So my advice to this person would be to listen to herself, to use what she feels inside to change, and to trust herself to change in the way that is needed, and to be patient, allowing the change the right amount of time to mature. And to let her know that I trust her ability to do this, and support where-ever she is in this process. Oh, I agree. Whatever karmic patterns at play are those we created, for the most part. So certainly if we had the ability to shape our relationship to the fabric of reality, then too we have the ability to change that relationship. To find our way back to the heart of things I feel is best done by resting upon our existing momentum and being creative within that flow, rather than trying to control the life-forms around us to help with manipulating our past momentum, keeping those lessons just out of reach, always one step ahead. I suppose I see running one step ahead of the influence of karma as avoiding the inevitable, in the grand scheme of things. Perhaps in another sense it isn't avoiding anything, but simply creating and ever moving forward. So there's nothing wrong with that. Just if we want to also cultivate peace and stillness, it probably requires letting some of that past momentum to catch up to us and understanding how to deal with it. Personally, I was always attracted to the opposite sex. I am not ugly, I am fit, and have a very sensual touch, etc. Yet mostly the lesson has been in letting go of that desire, as rarely am I able to find a mutual connection with someone in terms of cultivating a relationship. It has definitely happened, but usually felt like I was forcing the relationship to form, and it never lasted, despite being beautiful and loving. In time I began to realize that I am changing, and am becoming someone who doesn't truly desire to merge myself with another to forge a whole, but I am someone who wants to become whole unto myself, and I am walking that path. It took a while to realize and accept that this has always been underneath the surface of who I am. And so naturally my intention doesn't match up with what others are looking for, although I set my intention to be open to connection and sharing. The main lesson has been to let go of expectation, as what do I really know? This is how things are now, and I am happy and content with where I am, and I endeavor to euqally embrace where I will be tomorrow, though I know not who I will be tomorrow or how I will relate to my environment tomorrow. Yes, and thank you for your perspective! I hope I do not come across as attacking your perspective - I think it can be very valid, and I feel we should all trust ourselves to follow the path that is in front of us. Blessings.

The right sperm for that moment in time. The right gazelle for the survival of the herd. Why isn't being the first to die and the first to transform into something new considered winning? We consider heroes to be winners, even when they die, simply because they saved the princess or kingdom, or accomplished whatever goal they needed to. The gazelle that lagged back with a lame leg enabled the survival of his family. In the grand scheme of things, we are all one. What can be lost except attachment to ego? If always rejected by women, perhaps life has a different purpose for this individual - evidence of loss on one level is usually indication of gain on another level. Up to us to listen to the messages and change to embrace our gifts. If we only focus on living by the standards of what is attached to by our peers, we will blind ourselves to the truth hidden within.

Does wining imply that someone else loses? Or can we all be winners? Aren't we all winners already, simply for being? Dissolve expectation. Expectation is a sword - melt it down into something that can nurture growth rather than latching onto others and then snapping back to cut at you when that expextation is betrayed. Or use it! Grasp ahold of something and go with it, and if it snaps back at you be prepared and move on - that's what many do, anyway. But what is betrayed expectation? What is rejection? Even a punch is a gift. Stop attaching to the rejection or the punch and the pain it caused and the restriction from achieiving your desire - instead acknowledge the direction you are pointed. Usually these things come when we aren't taking consideration for ourselves first - when we become more whole, more healthy, we develop more love for ourselves, more confidence, and then others are naturally attracted to us. When we are only focused on what we can get from the outside world, we actually push it away by depleting our inner power. So... just beleive in yourself more and let go of desire more. It can take a lot of strength and patience, but we usually start changing to cultivate what serves us - how we take care of ourselves, and the service we give to others, and all of these things help us to become people that others want to build relationship with.

What debate? I am not attached to polarity; it does not interest me, and if invited I prefer to dissolve it back to its origin. Where you see something to oppose, I see something to embrace. Together we are one, whether you accept it or not. The more you attempt to slice and stab, the more elusive I will naturally become, as I hold no interest in feeding your desire to steal from me in the name of proof. The more you attempt to open and share in acceptance, the more you will meet the openness of others and the more your fixed attitude will be able to embrace alternate perspectives without conflicting with those you are attached to. Perhaps you will even find that the concept of proof becomes alive and ever changing within you.

If there is something that can even be escaped from, it is of your own creation.

Sometimes I wonder if the daoist ideas of heaven and earth subsequently informed christian ideas of the same. But I'm no scholar. The idea of heaven being up makes sense in comparison to gravity, as heaven is associated with what is more refined and has a quicker vibration; what is more spiritual. When what is spiritual is cut from ties to the physical, it is free to float away, to fly off. Certainly many high level beings may exist in heaven, though I like to remember that while matter is a new layer on top of spirit, returning back to spirit isn't fully the way back, but rather one should focus on returning to what comes before spirit/heaven as well, which I like to think of as between the principles of heaven and earth. All pretty simple - simply follow the unpredictable, subtly unfolding layers back to the center. Fear is no worse than any other attachment - all attachments can be used as a temporary compass, and all attachments lead to stagnation when we don't let go, including attachment to judgment.

The unfolding of stillness and peace. Seeing clearly through what is most subtle. A sense of the changeless at the heart of the cyclical momentum of the changing. A sense of freefall founded upon trust.

The isms point the way to the unfathomable origin of the undifferentiated whole. To attach to the isms is to separate from unity. Grabbing tools we forge a path through the darkness. Beating back the darkness we distinguish self from other. Beating back the darkness we forge pockets in which we create our own darkness, but one that comes when called. Some tools identify the separation. Using isms we reforge connection to the unchanging Refining, transforming, until there is only effortless naturalness within the whole. Many are the transformations, Many are the departings, Many are the returns. What is close may be covered, until appearing far. What is far may be uncovered, until appearing close. What is uncovered may be tempting, but is covering it up again the right course? Slippery and uncertain, hold fast to the root.

Yeah. I think it's pretty simple. The whole slower-vibration to higher vibration kinda thing. Jing - Qi - Shen. Shen is more what people refer to as being of spiritual substance, but all three are linked, come from the same original source. If we are highly physically active, we rely on a lot of Jing, and if we have extra Qi and Shen those can densify into more Jing to support our needs. It's pretty easy to see balance in the physical world. We can look at nature as kill or be killed, but that includes a bias that is afraid of death. One of the subtleties I've uncovered in taoist cosmology is that spirituality functions on the principle of non-attachment, non-identity, while physicality, the world of mass, functions on the principle of self-vs-other, inside-vs-outside. So in terms of these principles, we can logically come to understand how spiritual nature is not attached to fixed outcomes or preservation of self. Spirits people interact with are often described as not forcing their environment to do anything, but guiding, beckoning, inviting, without the ability (strength of mass/gravity) to force things to happen if they don't want to. Spirituality is inherently of a higher refinement, a higher vibration, and this higher vibration rides upon the lower vibrations, and is at the mercy of the foundation provided by these lower vibrations, i.e. the mass-based structure of the universe. So it is easy to see the physical links of balance, the intricate web of life where one thing feeds on another and is fed on by another. Life is inherently a mix of spiritual and mass-based, and thus it operates in a balance between these principles. The self-vs-other dynamic is expressed in desire for personal growth, even at the expense of other life, and this allows life to evolve - when there are extreme changes, beings will expand to fill the gaps and intensify their effort to overcome obstacles. And thus we have evolution. Simultaneously, the interconnection of all things as one, the spiritual side of things, allows one life to feed another, and here death is not seen as an end, but a seamless transformation of form: the spiritual energy transforms based on the needs of a new physical form, and becomes one with that form, or with many new separate forms at many different levels. While there may be much living and dying, there is a very delicate balance - if one thing pushes beyond one layer of balance, the other things that were operating within that layer of balance may become threatened. The spiritual layer of balance operates on the same principles, where everything is linked and intricately influential upon everything else. So when a large amount of spiritual energy is densified into qi that ignites into flame, this is an event on a larger scale. Others in these forms have mentioned the ability to start fires with their qi, and how they have no interest in wasting so much cultivated qi. Further, broadcasting such a feat to countless excited viewers creates a unique spiritual web of desire focused upon one individual and one particular operation of energy transformation - this spiritual web holds weight, and as the people within this web make attachments based on what they see and read, a collective intent is formed that begins to pull the collective momentum in some particular direction - but it's too large of a change and too rapid of a change for one person's qi to deal with easily, and so the effects of a large magnitude of change have their effect upon this person. Simple cause and effect. Now I don't know the precise magnitudes involved here, or which directions the balance will shift, and what is required to remain stabilized at the focal point of such large fields of influence. Wang Liping seems to hold his own, as do others. But I'd imagine he understands how this all works, while some masters end up showing off and discovering just how real the subtle changes in their connection to the spiritual web can be - especially in terms of how many karmic ties there are to us, and how we feel them as we try to operate in the more subtle realms. Cultivating spiritual substance relies heavily on one's higher vibration connections to the world. Thus virtuous conduct, maintaining equanimity within conflict, and cultivation of harmony everywhere one goes lead to stable spiritual development. it is easy to do drugs and have a temporary spiritual awakening - but to step into a consistent higher level state of spiritual awareness requires stability and the ability to adapt to one's environment without losing one's center. Then one begins to become aware of and see the web of spiritual connections and begin to understand the complexity of this layer of the web, and too of the ease at which we are able to influence this web, having consequences that are impossible to completely predict with fixed, logical mindsets. Perhaps think of a big soapy block that we need to push around. We give a little push and it slides forward, gradually stopping. We try to push it one way, and hope it stops where we've marked an X, but it is just too easy to misjudge the push we make (like displaying some powers in front of a video camera) without even knowing how hard that push really is, and the block keeps on sliding, sliding, well past the point where we had intended it to stop. So everything influences everything else. If we expect to understand this all logically, expect to always know the results of our actions, expect the world to step aside as we meditate in our cave, well we might be in for a surprise. By developing skill with using our intuition, slowly and gradually learning to trust the pull of our heart, we can hone this skill into just as keen a device as the logical mind, but now we have a device that is not blocking the flow of internal energy with its attachments, and are able to push just the right amount, simply by setting our intention upon the heart of things, and resting all else upon free-fall. Just my perspective, just sharing for those who are interested. Dismantle all you want. We all have our own perspectives, but in the end they are all one.

Interesting interpretation. I don't interpret any of what Taomeow said like that. Studying influences and pointing them out isn't the same as declaring those influences to be absolute. The dao operates on many layers, under many influences. Again, as soon as something is built up, there are those waiting to tear it down. Easy to do. No need to build things up - they already stand on their own ground and need no external validation.

I view this more as an issue of balance. Extreme displays of spiritual power upset the energetic balance that many work to achieve - this is all in the subtle realms but very real. Powers can be used for great good, but use of powers is a side-path to the main path of returning to the dao, so if the use of the powers is kept in connection to the dao so that it's use never strays too far away, then the influence of that power can help invite things toward connection to dao. But if power is used out of connection to the dao, as in for proving something to people who study things for the purposes of seeing how we can use the fabric of our reality to further our own positions, to feed the constructs of our egos, then the power is being taken from the dao and leading everything it touches away from connection to dao. Thomas Cleary's intro to Immortal Sisters: Ultimately all is dao, however, here on earth the balances are very delicate. We're lucky to be part of such balance. If we move to a very hard extreme all life may end, and will still be part of dao, to eventually transform in different ways, but we may miss an interesting opportunity here. Whatever happens happens. Just in general, self-interest is at odds with the interest of the whole.

Wow, didn't take long for the full moon energy to burst. Study hexagram 44.