Daeluin

Aha, just found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/108_Stars_of_Destiny

The I Ching is great for studying cycles. As is getting to know the cycles of the sun and moon, and observing your tendency to respond or react to their 4 main transitions. There are some posts in the I Ching forum about this. If you're able to find a class that does circle walking as a group, that might be very beneficial. Or just get some friends to do it with you... it's simple. Hold the same postures as you walk, change them, make inside and outside changes together, go slow together, gradually speed up whenever you make changes in direction, then slow down again. Learn to harmonize with each other. Keep the head level as you walk, work on lowering your basin. If you have enough people, explore having a smaller center circle. Explore having women on the inside and men on the outside. Tom Bisio has a great book on circle walking. I hear there is a saying "one walks the circle to find the tao". In my own experience... after a good session of circle walking I feel a bit different in the head. I might be going about my day and surprise myself by responding to a situation completely differently than I normally would. It seems to help my mind develop a circular thought pattern, which then manifests through a smooth and natural ease of adapting to my environment.

I'd be interested in developing this Zhong Jin (long/heavy power) through my legs, to increase maneuverability. Seems far more applicable in the every day world... Here's a cool graphic novel which explores some pretty awesome Jin techniques. Exaggerated perhaps, but follows enough principles to be enjoyable from a taoist perspective. Perhaps. http://www.mangareader.net/530/the-breaker.html http://www.mangareader.net/the-breaker-new-waves The beginning is slow. Be patient and you'll be rewarded.

For me, taoist prayer lies in maintaining sincerity. There's an old saying.... where sincerity is, the way is open. Perhaps one makes some great new years resolutions and begins cultivating sincerity and they begin to change, correcting old habits and creating more harmony. But, as life tends to do in a very natural way, before long these new changes are tested. So when the pressure builds up, it is an opportunity to break through the blockages in one's energy which stabilized by years of maintaining an old pattern. Usually we have patterns for dealing with the pressures of change, and usually they release this pressure externally. Some of us go drinking, do drugs, spent more time socializing than we do by ourselves, overwork ourselves, move to new apartments or cities, go traveling, overeat, etc, etc. When we decide to release the pressure in this way, we decide to break with our sincerity. Instead of taking our development to a new level, we jump ship, and will need to start over again. The western advice of not holding onto pressure is good. When pressure builds up, if it doesn't move, it can cause damage. But this pressure provides an opportunity to break through the old patterns. If we summon courage and resist old patterns of jumping ship, we deepen our sincerity and as the pressure continues to build, our sincerity allows us come up with ways to channel this energy in order to break through the blockage. Often once we come up with something to do, it is most difficult in the beginning, but becomes easier as we keep at it, and gradually it has it's own momentum. Maintaining sincerity is the path of evolution, the path of breaking through the stagnant and nourishing healthy living. When we are able to maintain sincerity in our own personal integrity for a long time, it builds momentum. Each challenge we break through builds skill at breaking through challenges, and before long we find that doors begin to open for us automatically. Life knows we are coming and provides for us. ------------- So for me, maintaining sincerity is how I pray. I offer respect to the natural forces around me, respect to myself, and respect to my path. I do my best to radiate trust unconditionally to all around me, trusting and supporting all to be natural and right, without judgment. I observe my own nature and tendencies and try to bring them into greater alignment with the principles taught in the Tao Te Ching and Zhuangzi, especially cultivating frugality, compassion, and not daring to be ahead of anything else. Wielding these virtues we flow like water to the lowest point and avoid contention, slipping past conflict and creating harmony.

Ah! We seemed to have reached a limit of your current post-celestial mind. In the cultivation of the true mind, nothing is impossible. The post-celestial mind gives structure and stability and protects us from our fears of losing these things. If we were to simply abandon all logic, we might have trouble meeting our needs, paying our bills, acquiring food, maintaining our sanity, etc. But there is another way. If we cultivate simplicity and empty our lives of the chaos, cycles emerge. As we observe our momentum through these cycles, over time we learn to transcend them though harmonizing yin and yang. By placing our unwavering sincerity on maintaining the momentum of the balance between yin and yang, we gain stability within change. This one attachment precludes the necessity of all other constructs of understanding. Beyond all reasoning our needs will be provided for in mysterious ways, simply because we trust and flow through change. Thus with gradualness we are able to open our minds and hearts, surrendering the attachments and releasing the fears, allowing our awareness to embrace to greater depths and with greater clarity - in the moment, without attachment, we see all as it is. I'm happy to let you cultivate "your" mind in your own way. But if you can't acknowledge something as basic as communicating with a frog, it is difficult for us to speak on the dual cultivation of xing and ming.

That's the spirit. Now work on losing your own. On page one I quoted Liu Yiming's description of pre-celestial and post-celestial xing: But in the end... pre-celestial xing would let you have a conversation with a frog. Post-celestial xing would only be able to function within the limits of its fixed understanding, and might not believe the frog could be communicated with. To me this is logical, but to you it may defy logic? Zhuang zi, talking to a frog.

It is merely distinguishing between the post-celestial xing and pre-celestial xing. Imagine that your awareness has the potential to expand to the very edges of the universe. But... if you limit your senses with some sort of construct, you trap your otherwise infinite awareness within the confines of your construct. Take the eyes - they can't "see" to the edge of the universe. Take a window. When particles of dust and dirt attach to it, the clarity is diminished. Perhaps we draw a grid on the window to help define a perspective outside the window. It still casts a shadow and blocks the light. Pre-celestial xing is cultivated by wiping away the dirt attaching to our mind. Even the refined knowledge of science and laws which we place in a grid in the window of our mind, shape how the light of heavenly knowledge is perceived by the mind. Heavenly knowledge is not black and white, it is ever changing and incredibly subtle. Even the most precise and "proven" grid will not show the ever changing and unique truth of the present moment. We cultivate pre-celestial xing by following our intuition, and increasingly freeing our intuition from the trappings and control of our attached understandings. Good point. A master is just like some extra refined scientific knowledge. It may greatly serve one in aligning to the way, but how can one master one's self if one becomes attached to one's master? One must ultimately let go of all except one's connection to the tao. The mind of tao is the pre-celestial xing, the human mind is the post-celestial xing. Oddly enough, when I cast the I-Ching this morning it led me to a wonderful explanation of the human mind and the mind of tao. Also - casting the I-Ching is a method of increasing one's intuition. Taoist I Ching Liu I-ming tl Thomas Cleary 31 lake mountain Sensitivity Sensitivity is developmental. It is beneficial to be correct. Marriage brings good fortune. EXPLANATION Sensitivity means feeling and influence. As for the qualities of the hexagram, above is lake, joyous, and below is mountain, still: Firmness rest within, flexibility rests without; stillness is the substance of joyfullness, joyfulness is the function of stillness. This hexagram has the meaning of yin and yang responding to each other, so it is called sensitivity. This hexagram represents harmonization of yin and yang; it follows on the previous hexagram pitfalls. In pitfalls, yin traps yang - yang is not strong and yin is not docile; yin and yang do not combine. So this work of harmonization is indispensable. But harmonization of yin and yang calls for spontaneity, not force. Spontaneity is nonconscious sensitivity, while force is conscious sensitivity. With nonconscious sensitivity, yin and yang harmonize with each other, without any insensitivity. With conscious sensitivity, yin and yang are individually separate, and sensitivity has limits. Therefore in sensitivity there is a path of development. But though the path of sensitivity is developmental, there is right and wrong nonconsciousness, and there is right and wrong consciousness. You cannot say that the nonconciousness of a dead tree or cold ashes [see Awakening to the Tao] is the developmental path of sensitivity; dead trees and cold ashes are purely negative, with no positivity - how could that be called sensitivity? "Sensitivity" means the subtle communion of yin and yang, as in the image of the hexagram, wherein a boy and girl are together, each unminding, till the yin and yang energies are full, and their feelings stir and they naturally become sensitive to each other. This is unaffected sensitivity - how can you take ignorant mindlessness to be sensitivity? Nonconsciousness, or mindlessness, in the proper sense of the term, means there is no human mentality; when there is no human mentality, there is the mind of Tao. The mind of Tao is a mind that is not minding. Minding means having the human mentality; when one has the human mentality, one lacks the mind of Tao. The mind of the human mentality is not the real mind. The mind of Tao is real, the human mentality is artificial. When you use the artificial mind, sensing is inaccurate; yin and yang dichotomize. When you use the real mind, sensing is true; yin and yang commune. Whether yin senses and yang responds, or yang senses and yin responds, they are equally ruled by the mind of Tao, and sense correctly. When sensitivity is true, not sensing by mentality, what is there that cannot be sensed, what sensing is not potentially beneficial? In terms of correct sensitivity, no one in the world compares to a chaste woman. The virtues of a woman are based on chastity and calm; not easily losing herself to others, she will wait for a good partner to have feeling. This is feeling not by the heart but by truth. In the qualities of the hexagram, first there is stillness, after that joy; joy comes from stillness. When practitioners of the Tao harmonize yin and yang, causing yin and yang to communicate sensitively, if they can take the virtue of a chaste woman as their sensitivity, then whatever they sense will be right; tranquil and imperturbable yet sensitive and effective, sensitive and effective yet tranquil and imperturbable, they rest in the proper place. Whether they go along with things or reverse them, all is as they will, and they attain that good fortune.

In taoism we harmonize duality. When we make an attachment to something, be it a feeling, an understanding, a way of being, we create polarity. By distinguishing this from that we separate this and that. This is the direction of creation and separation. In taoism we harmonize opposing forces, dissolving duality back into oneness. Our human lives dance through many layers of duality, and our unique nature dances uniquely. Harmonizing our unique nature with the dance of everything around us in the moment is merging our Te, our inner power and virtue with the Tao of all things in our path. We all express our Te in Tao, but sometimes use force and create separation, etc. Every creation manifests as ripples off into the world that are tied to our karma for good or bad. Only when we harmonize polarity do we dissolve past karma. As we get good at harmonizing, and dissolving karma, we begin to dissolve our very physical bodies and our awareness, as our Te becomes more and more refined and pure and natural in its merging with the tao. At some point we dissolve things so thoroughly that our body and mind are one, and we slip between inside and outside, between self and other, and step out of the way, allowing the inside to merge completely seamlessly with the outside, flowing through change/time in the way that allows our unique inner shape to maintain connection with all around it. This in between state might be called the one opening of the mysterious barrier / mysterious pass / golden elixir, or enlightenment. Somewhere along the way we discover our past life histories and realize that many patterns and challenges from our current life came from past life karmas, which we've already done a good bit of work harmonizing. But now we are aware of all these separate existences and need to harmonize them back into oneness as well. And so we continue following the path of true harmony, never stepping back towards creation as that would again create karma. Yet, even as we take no further control over the actions of self, the seamless integration of self and the outside world acts all on its own, feeding each other in beautiful and mysterious ways, always creating more harmony as more and more magical but invisible means become available through which to maintain harmony. At any point we could stop and go the other direction, creating dissonance again, using power to do whatever we want. But then we would have something bigger to dissolve... and if we should die it would remain as that very big karma, trapping us into further cycles of reincarnation until we could dissolve it. Karma from strange powers might even bring us back in unexpected ways. I don't know. And so we maintain the three treasures of compassion, frugality, and not daring to put ourselves ahead of anything else. Thus we dance between all things, becoming the connection between inside and outside and maintaining it with sincerity. This dance is one of harmonizing the polarity of self and other. Yet there is another polarity - the unfolding dance of change. Time as we know it. As we refine the last remnants of our form, perhaps we slip between time itself, to continue on our journey to..... cannot be understood with words.

Welcome! I love the buttercup persona, and the story of what turned you to seek out taoism. I hope you are able to go much deeper in the following of your tao. I'm a little new to posting here myself, and I'm learning a few things about this community. I've browsed for years, but didn't start posting until most of my tao questions where answered. Mostly my questions were answered by studying life, reading the taoist classics and applying their principles to life all around me, and by exploring qi gong practices with a teacher my intuition led me to trust deeply enough to surrender to. Now I find it very useful to refine my understanding with discussion. For a beginner though, you should know that many of us have our own unique take on taoist teachings, and often disagree with each other. This is all part of the beauty of the tao, in my opinion. We each have our on unique nature and perspective, and thus our understandings are sometimes very unique as well! If we attach to much too there being a "right" or "wrong" way we might bump heads with others. But if we take what is right to be what is right in front of us, and trust that the way will unfold for us with greater clarity in time, the we create harmony with others. There are many shades of gray to the tao, but we often want to live in a black and white world. The more we surrender to there being absolutes, the more we are able to merge seamlessly with the flow of all around us. Taoist masters (immortals), often go completely unnoticed, as though they are invisible. They make no deliberate actions, and yet their high virtuous attainment radiates out from them, nourishing everything they pass with the breath of life and harmony. I believe we are all destined for this, and are walking in their footsteps even now. Many lives may pass, each one cultivating greater harmony and contributing to the evolution of the planet and the universe. Blessings to your way!

Yeah, looking over the discussion on 48 I see there are many different interpretations of these two lines. Gotta say though... this text speaks on things like the mysterious pass, and I prefer reading a translation by someone who has experience with the mysterious pass. Edit to ChiDragon's post below: And hence I prefer reading the translation I quoted, as the translator is a teaching Master. Additionally he is a teacher of one our own members, who has posted extensively and greatly expanded on the inner alchemical perspective and definitions of the teachings found within the quoted book. I think it safe to assume experience with the mysterious pass is transmitted in this translation. But no matter ChiDragon, translate it how you like. The concept remains intact - when conceptual attachments, however "proven" they may be, rule over the mind of tao, the human mind is the master. When even proven conceptual attachments do not rule over the mind of tao, mysterious happenings unfold and one trusts and connects with the tao in a full embrace. The seed of the human mind remains useful, but does not control the Sage. Perhaps the human mind says "you must eat to survive" but the mind of tao says "don't eat now", and for many days the Sage abstains from food. And thus is not poisoned with the others. Crude example.

The mind of tao is not vacuous. I agree it is helpful, but not necessary, to have clarity on the "knowable way" to help align oneself with the natural way. In any case one does this by: The pursuit of learning is to increase knowledge day after day. The pursuit of Tao is to decrease knowledge day after day. Hu Xuezhi, TTC, 48 Yes, but the knowledge based mind can't do it instantly. It takes time to process knowledge. The mind that is "empty" discerns truth without attached knowledge. The "empty" mind is only empty in the sense that it is not attached to itself and in turn blocking it from receiving the knowledge of heaven. How's that working out for you? I'm serious. Your defense of the truth you attach to in this very thread seems to have cause you a bit of stress and the necessity of dealing with the pressure of anger. Known facts are still contaminants and also must be emptied. Oddly enough, one need not even retain language; should one need to speak using language, the knowledge of heaven provides in the moment.

I wonder how different this would be if one were to actually stand in a stream. How deep? Waist? I've read of people who would meditate completely under water. Seems an interesting way to practice... naturally assumes one has reached that level of breath unity. From experience I know when one dunks under some nice cold water it really helps with sealing leaks.... if a bit of the body is above the water, the energy will want to leak out there. So maybe training in awareness of leaks, practice in intentional sealing, and practice in full body sealing/refining-without-leaking when fully submerged. With just legs in might be more difficult to get qi circulating in legs... and more powerful once it gets going? Maybe a goal related to the name? Please pardon my rampant, off-topic speculation.

Now we just have duality with force. Everything else has to revolve around these two things stuck together.... who knows, maybe they'll create a planet of their own over time.... or religion, political system, etc. Ever notice how when one person attaches to a particular part of a thread, the flow of the thread revolves around that attachment? If they never ever budge, then their attachment becomes the centralized pivot of the thread. Get rid of the duality of polarized separation by dissolving the attachment that caused the polarization. Often this means stop giving attention to the point of attachment... drain it back into the whole, don't feed it.

illusion of duality

Separation

As for the grass being greener.... a lot of this is a world-wide separation of the five elements. In very general terms.... fire and wood are expansive and freedom oriented. Water and metal are sinking, compressing and attachment oriented. Earth keeps the first two grounded and keeps the second two from sinking too deep. Earth is truth, integrity, sincerity. On the global level we could use a bit more of it to hold things together. Right now the G8 enjoy freedom and expansiveness at the expense of the lack of freedom and expressiveness of the 3rd world countries. The G8 countries need to self-discipline themselves more and cultivate greater wisdom, thus strengthening the lack of water-earth-metal. The 3rd world countries need to detach from their overwhelmed senses so as to overcome the weight of any attachment to suffering and live the best happy life as possible, cultivating the wood-fire elements and creating greater wholeness with what they have. In one case, the greater balance will create less exploitation. In the other case, the greater balance will create less desire to take the bait of the exploiters. Just one way of seeing it... so many ways. But in the end all about balance and wholeness... be it a person or a construct. Right now it's all out of balance, and that's what causes the suffering. It takes time to heal it - patience and sincerity.

Glad to share... I find it so touch and go. Family members are highly sensitized to our tiniest emotional projections, even the ones we don't verbalize, in my experience. Good luck in your journey with this person! For me, simply becoming aware of the extremity of person B's patterns allows me to have compassion for them and really be there for them, without looking down on them, helps me to just flow with them. I think it's really when we lose our composure that we leak our energy out with the frustration. By carefully directing the energy we give to the situation we avoid leaking it out in tainted ways that might fuel the imbalance instead. I think in the end, the scope of a Sage and an ordinary person is so different. The Sage flows like water using humility, and not being above the person, the person does not see fault in them. The Sage maintains this low position by submitting early and using deference, and thus gives without being taken from, and thus has no need to defend from loss. 57 Govern a country with upright integrity Deploy the military with surprise tactics Take the world with non-interference How do I know this is so? With the following: When there are many restrictions in the world The people become more impoverished When people have many sharp weapons The country becomes more chaotic When people have many clever tricks More strange things occur The more laws are posted The more robbers and thieves there are Therefore the sage says: I take unattached action, and the people transform themselves I prefer quiet, and the people right themselves I do not interfere, and the people enrich themselves I have no desires, and the people simplify themselves 58 When governing is lackluster The people are simple and honest When governing is scrutinizing The people are shrewd and crafty Misfortune is what fortune depends upon Fortune is where misfortune hides beneath Who knows their ultimate end? They have no determined outcome Rightness reverts to become strange Goodness reverts to become wicked The confusion of people has lasted many long days Therefore the sages are: Righteous without being scathing Incorruptible without being piercing Straightforward without being ruthless Illuminated without being flashy 59 In governing people and serving Heaven There is nothing like conservation Only with conservation is it called submitting early Submitting early is called emphasis on accumulating virtues Accumulating virtues means there is nothing one cannot overcome When there is nothing that one cannot overcome One's limits are unknown The limitations being unknown, one can possess sovereignty With this mother principle of power, one can be everlasting This is called deep roots and firm foundation The Tao of longevity and lasting vision

In the first year of my training, I abandoned my thinking mind to an extreme. In great emptiness I greatly reshaped my energy self, and attained experiences of great union. However.... the extreme of change had its own ripples through time, like a sine wave. The attainments were the heights of the sine wave, and powerful dips into my shadow were the lows. Basically I had no center and only caught glimpses, and couldn't rely on the patterns of my mind to lead me in the right direction. All in all I discovered it needed time to stabilize, and that gradual progress (hex 53) was the key. Now I am taking things more slowly, have stabilized my momentum, and can more easily discern when the ripples of my life begin to threaten the stability. Mostly my human mind is still the master, but more and more I gradually allow feeling of the mind-of-tao to dominate, so my human mind can become used to the interaction. My goal is to gradually allow the human mind to accept its role of servant and recognize how to stay in the back seat. As I progress, the cruft of the human mind is abandoned, only leaving the conceptual supports which allow it to attach without needing as much framework. I feel that at least for me, the launch into complete mind-of-tao needs to be gentle and effortless, so that I don't have to "tread water" with any force in order to maintain the state long enough for it to become permanent. That said, there is definitely use of strength being applied via internal martial arts, but following the same principles of stability and working towards effortlessness. I like both of the above posts. goldisheavy I really like the essence of balance and gradualness you describe. Oh also goldisheavy, do you have any more to add about the Zhuangzi stories?

Hello TaoMaster, thank you for the opportunity to answer such a strongly posed question. What exactly is the mind......... Recently had a thread about the "dual cultivation of body and mind". One of the main ideas there was to bring them both into balance. In a commentary on taoist classics of internal alchemy I've been reading, it speaks of.... well I suppose it could be considered the physical body and the thinking mind, as opposed to the life-force-and-essence-of-existence-of-the-body and the mind-that-is-one-with-all. The physical body and thinking mind are said to originate from these other descriptions of body and mind, which in turn are a manifestation of the conception and birth process. As for what exactly the mind is and where is it located.... what an important question. We sure like to think things have a set-in-stone absolute fixed place. But the one unchanging facet of reality seems to be change itself. At least my mind is always changing, and I think where it is changes too. For a few years I've been learning tai-chi (among other things) from a teacher. One of the main techniques we use is resting the mind on the breath, and to do this we focus our mind to our lower abdominal area. Otherwise... at least my mind likes staying wrapped up in its many cycles of thinking. The lower abdominal area (to avoid attachment to overly specific terms, for the benefit of the point of the discussion) is where the denser types of Chi like to settle, and these denser types of Chi are more related to the "life-force-and-essence-of-existence of the body" from above. The breath is between the mind and this denser type of body energy, so when we focus our intention at where the denser energy likes to settle, we help mix together the mind energy and the body energy, using the breath as a go-between. So... after several years of practicing this, I've noticed some really interesting effects upon what I used to consider my mind, and now consider to be my "thinking mind". It really helped me to have my teacher's guidance with this, as my mind had been (and often still is) very eager to trap itself in patterns of constant thinking, as opposed to doing the work of non-thinking. Why non-thinking? Well.... at first I set my intention down to the lower abdomen and focus on the breathing. After a while I am able to relax and the lighter, fire-like Chi of my mind has been mixed in with the denser, water-like Chi of my body that a sort of balance has been achieved and my mind doesn't immediately go back to thinking. When this happens something interesting occurs. I begin to be more sensitive of my heard. My head is now more clear and empty.... but I begin to notice that when thoughts pop into my head, they actually come from changes in my heart! Of all places, who would have thought! Thus I started discovering that my emotions and my thoughts are all connected. My emotions will manifest as feelings and my mind interprets them, and sometimes certain complex feelings will have a whole history and will trigger memories in my brain that unleash whole cycles of never ending thought patterns, only to be compounded by more thought patterns whenever my heart feels new information. I suppose it's complicated to explain to someone, if that person hasn't done some similar explorations - I'm not saying you don't, just for the benefit of any readers to whom this is getting to be a bit of a stretch. But in any case, I sorta understand the heart-mind connection to be sorta like this: The brain/mind receives all these neural signals sent by the eyes, ears, and other senses. The mind naturally processes these bits of information. The heart energetically feels this information and reacts to it with the emotions. The brain then processes the reaction of the heart. Here is where I think it gets complicated. The human mind likes to make attachments. "The way I felt after she slapped me sucked. She slapped me after I said I didn't like the way the dress looked. Better not say that again, I don't want to be slapped again." The attachment might be made... and even though both the heart and the brain/mind might be a bit confused and feeling a bit unresolved - Didn't she want me to tell her the truth? - the next time this situation occurs the attachment is used to respond to the situation instead of attempting to process the confusing feelings that might still remain. And so we go through life making attachments based on what our brain-mind decides works best for us in most situations, and we start stock-piling these attachments.... and begin to really separate the brain-mind from the heart's role in this decision making process. With me so far? I apologize for using such a long simple explanation for someone who is clearly aware of the Tao. I attempt to humble myself like water that flows to the lowest point for the sake of our new thread here so as to catch any readers new to this way of understanding the mind. So, I am doing this training. I focus my mental intention on the area of the lower abdomen so as to lead the mental Chi there, and so the fire-like Chi of my mind and the water-like energy of my body begin to mix together, and I find my thoughts begin to settle. As I do this type of breathing work, I am also doing slow movements of Tai Chi. As I work on moving the denser, water-like energy of the body, I am instructed to use this energy to dissolve my body. The physical body begins to dissolve and return to it's original Chi like state. As my body merges with my breath, I feel it expand and contract like ocean waves, slow and powerful, and I move with the weight of the ocean coursing through me. And then I am instructed to dissolve my mind, and as I work on doing so the mind is everywhere and no-where at the same time. There is the ebb and flow of the ocean, and this incredible crystalline clarity of complete awareness of everything all at once. I am told when the mind is dissolved, what is left is the mind of tao. When the human mind stays in charge, there is no room for the mind to absorb and unite with the knowledge of the universe. When the seed of the human mind returns, the mind of tao must remain in charge. But alas, I find it is very difficult to keep the deep and powerful ebb and flow of the ocean merged with the crystalline clarity of the empty yet one mind, as I am not fully dissolved in body or mind, and need to spend more time cultivating in this way. But as I come out of this state, I am distinctly aware of how the clarity of my mind only has thoughts after the Chi changes in the area of the chest, the heart. I am aware of how the Chi of my mind has now settled to embrace the whole area of my head and chest, but is actually moving upwards to go back to it's habit of resting in the head. And so I deliberately pull it back down with my intention, and as I stabilize this, I am aware of my head only a processing and sensing unit, and my heart as a something more than just a feeling unit. I am aware that my heart is connected to something deeper, a oneness somewhere that knows everything without thinking, and I am aware of my own unique shape as separate from this oneness, and this is part of my unique self-nature. Alas, I recall a session with an energy healer whom told me I carry the Chi of my mind all up and around my head like a cloud, rather than inside of my body. And I realize the more time I spend thinking, the more I cause mind Chi to leak out of my head and reform this cloud. And then oh how difficult it is to return to that state of being in my body again. Please forgive me for this very long answer to your question, TaoMaster. These are only words from my own humble and biased experience, and undoubtedly others and perhaps your self will need to add illumination to any hints of truth they may contain.

Hello. I'm new here too. It's nice to have you here TaoMaster.

Is there a right or wrong side of truth? I hear this whole idea of it being a choice... but what if the truth of it is something like gravity? In any case, it seems to me we all come from somewhere. The teachings of taoist cultivation talk of side paths and the one true path. They say the one true path leads backwards towards where we came from, to the very gate of birth and death. As we cultivate in this area we see our true self in the seven suns, and become aware of all our previous incarnations. Then we continue backwards toward true unity and unravel the pattern of all our incarnations until we merge completely with the tao. That's what they say anyway. As far as choice goes.... we all have choice over what layers of delusion to surround ourselves with. All perfectly valid and also part of the tao. Undoubtedly the teachings I read are their own layer of delusion. Silly human words.

Yeah, that's the situation I was replying to. Basically it sounds like something in the situation is stuck. Pretty much nothing you say to this person matters, they just want a listener they can find release from. So... you can push them away because you don't deserve this treatment, but as you say, then they would blame you for the wound to the relationship. Or you could just tune them out, smile and nod, and they would blame you for not listening. I would work on finding a way to actively listen to them without validating them. Keep things simple, and even though you're listening to them, don't support their pattern. There are probably some good thing to say that show you are listening, but have nothing to offer. Then let them get upset at you, but don't defend yourself. Let them make the decision to stop talking to you because they aren't getting the "support" they need from you. Ultimately because it is their decision, they have to be responsible for it. I'd guess the relationship has some really deep and beautiful ties holding it together. But the main thing getting expressed is this dominant pattern. It needs to change, and that means this person needs to change. But they need to change themselves, and they might not want to. So I say loss is inevitable. If you have a temporary separation now, it may mean you are able to come towards a deeper healing and connection with this person. Or perhaps they'll refuse to change. The best thing you can do for yourself is learn to be whole in their presence, without reacting or becoming emotional, without tuning them out, without trying to get them to change because you have a different opinion. But without letting them put out your light. Be happy, regardless of what they do. Learn to see their suffering as interesting, rather than something that triggers you to try to change it. Learn to hear their complaints not as something that need a solution, but as part of a dance. After all, if it isn't a threat to you, what harm can it do? Stop letting it pose a threat to you. Sages and Immortals are largely regular people. They've figured out how to blend into their environment and dissolve the sharp edges of whatever circumstance they happen to be in. Many many people achieve high levels of spiritual attainment without even realizing it, just because they follow the path of least resistance. They don't necessarily see it as a terrible situation - that is relative - so perhaps they don't try to escape. Many trees grow out of cracks in boulders, where their situation is extremely controlled. They don't have freedom to put down roots in all directions. They have scant access to water. Yet they follow the path of least resistance, growing where there is room, with what nourishment is provided. They don't focus on what they are missing, or what the other trees have, they focus on being who they are in the moment. You say it is surely a fortune... but is it really? Our lives are so incredibly controlled, and the abundance of wealth and food we have is really a poison, over time causing people to live with slow debilitating diseases, that never existed before, and have congested systems that block true awareness. The list goes on. Why focus so much on what is an ideal way of living? Living is living. Why so much focus on where the grass is greener and who should have what? That is a disease of the mind, and inhibits change. Live in the moment, naturally, where what is right is right in front of you. The Sage lets go of all attachments, even the senses, and exists purely according to their own true nature, without any second guessing.

Very glad to share. One thing to add is - when we are able to slow down enough to feel the way the firing process works with the sun and the moon and the day, we can learn to identify the effects and dissolve them, thus neutralizing the effect as we become one with it. Ultimately in inner alchemy I suspect the idea is the same - to merge with the breath so finely that we ultimately transcend it. Here's my other post with some observations on this. OK.... another thing is important to note, in my experience anyway. I've found that if I do something a little more extreme in one part of the lunar month, when the same part of the next lunar month comes there is an increased tendency to follow those same footsteps. And the same applies to the year, etc. Also what I do before ending my day, I tend to do when I wake up the next day. It's all about slowing down and exploring our momentum.

Thanks for this topic! That's an interesting system for getting hexagrams through the moon cycle. I've never seen the post-heaven order of the trigrams applied this way in the English translated taoist classics I've read, but that doesn't mean it isn't valid in it's own way. I've only just started reading Pregadio's translation of the Cantong Qi, and it seems to go deeply into matching the trigrams and hexagrams to the lunar and solar cycles. Just a taste: Book 1 3 The monthly cycle of the hexagrams In one month there are 6 nodes of five days; warp and weft abide by the command of the sun. Altogether they are sixty: The firm is external, the yielding internal. At dawn of the month's first day, Zhun ䷂ is on duty; When sunset comes, Meng ䷃ takes charge. One hexagram for each day and each night: Their operation follows the Sequence. With Jiji ䷾ and Weiji ䷿ comes the clear light of the month's last day; After the end there is another beginning. The Sun and the Moon set periods and measures; movement precedes, quiescence follows. So this seems pretty simple to follow. Pregadio notes this is the lunar month. 60 hexagrams means 4 hexagrams are unused. The first 2, ䷀ and ䷁, and double water ䷜ and double fire ䷝. A lunar month is really 29.5 days long, so that seems to indicate a 59 hexagram cycle.... perhaps the yijing never wants to feel unsettled. (Pun intended - Cleary translates hex 64 as unsettled.) The yin-yang symbol mapping is simpler and more common, and describes the basics of the rising of yang during the waxing moon, followed by the rising of yin during the waning moon. In the 30 day system from above with 6 nodes of 5 days, we would use 6 of the trigrams and 12 of the hexagrams. All yin aligns with the new moon; all yang aligns with the full moon. ☷ ☳ ☱ ☰ ☴ ☶ and ䷁ ䷗ ䷒ ䷊ ䷡ ䷪ ䷀ ䷫ ䷠ ䷋ ䷓ ䷖ These are known as the "Sovereign Hexagrams" and govern the "firing process". Seasonally they apply in the same way. The Winter Solstice is the yin most time of the year, after which yang begins to build until yang is full at the Summer Solstice, after which yin begins to build until yin is full at the winter solstice. Personally, I think the principle is more important than the day or month association. For example, we could say the month of wu (horse), which is centered around the day of the summer solstice, is ruled by hexagram 1, ䷀. However, at the very moment of the summer solstice, yang culminates and the seed of yin is born, however small, and begins to grow. The month itself is still more yang than the other months, but the effective hexagram to read is relative to the situation at hand. I hope this is helpful for you. Using the sovereign hexagrams might be an easier way of studying this if you are just beginning like it seems. Good luck!

Good point. Of course we all communicate energetically with our spirit guides. I suppose I was asking more if you change based on their advice, follow where they lead, surrender to the work they lead you to without judging it with your mind. True, we unconsciously are led by them in many ways. But do you consciously interact with them? They have lessons for us, when we're ready to trust them. I'm still working on this, but boy do I feel them. No need to answer in a round-about way. I already know you are clever and your mind is able justify its attachments in any way you want. The essence of all of this is about trust and surrender to growth and vertical change. Open your heart, don't lock it away in fear. We love you. Edit: Didn't mean to tell you what to do, or imply I know the state of your heart. Reminding myself to trust you to do what's right for you.