Harmonious Emptiness

One thing I do wonder about with drugs and alcohol on the path, is that if they make it more difficult, couldn't that be sort of an advantage to make us search harder and stronger, like putting weights around your body when practicing, or training in water? Could the resistance make you realize where your weaknesses are, or force you to use or discover proper technique to overcome the added difficulty?

I think people should be mindful, when developing vital energy, of the relationship between sexual desire and sexual energy. The idea is to be abundant with life and vitality without impulsiveness and emotional imbalance. The Yellow Emperor's "10 Questions," found at the Mawangdui site along with the second oldest available texts of the Dao De Jing, describes the importance of sexual energy as the most important of human energy, saying that "When sexual energy is stifled, the hundred channels become ill." It also talks about following the cyclical nature of Heaven's energy being used up and replenished monthly. So the idea for "the spirit to remain in the body" is to learn how to make love in way that is not agitated - and this attitude will help the sexual energy to remain in abundance within. One must also release stagnant energy at night and breathe fresh new energy into the perennial areas in the morning. This appears to be the origins chi gong, and of later sexual energy related developments, which arose with Taoist schools following the 8th century. So, be aware of this balance, so as not to "throw the baby out with the bathwater" in "skillfully governing energy and amassing vitality." Do not be afraid of sexual energy which is the source of the sexual desire. It should be welcomed into the body, nurture the body, and allowed to pass in a natural cycle reflecting the movements of Heaven . from: "Sex, Health, and Long Life:.." "The aim of daytime breathing is that the exhalation and inhalation should be gentle, ears and eyes clear, with a very subtle mood of joy, not suffering internal degeneration, so the body does not die prematurely from illness. "The aim of nighttime breathing is that respiration be deep, long, and slow, causing the ears not to hear, so one can sleep peacefully. The higher and lower souls rest in the body, so one can live long."

gotta eat to live; gotta live to learn I'd suggest reading some Leih Tzu for guidance

Sounds like you were using you mind/intention to clear the crown passage or check that it was clear and the nail was the image - perhaps it was not easy to relax the channel so the process appeared more tangible to put the energy, focus, and effort needed into perspective -- also energy coming in through the crown could be a strong almost shocking experience, so your subconscious perhaps was preparing you for feeling something of the sort... maybe..

This I found interesting: 瀟呵 = sound of rain + laughter/scolding 瀟灑 = sound of rain + sprinkle, spray 瀟灑 [xiao1sa3], adj., (1) free, emancipated, unhampered by conventions; (2) (person, writing) spirited, wayward, forthright; (3) (character) pure, noble

Opening the eyes a bit can be good to let some light in to avoid "turbid" sleepy heavy type energy that has no awareness. Opening the eyes to focus on a point can help be sure that you're still "there," in my experience. However, closed eyes allows for more awareness of internal things, closing off other senses (such as when playing music). So they both have benefits depending on what your aim/goal is. Open eyes is better for "presence" awareness, closed eyes for "internal" awareness (though internal and external may become less and less separate too). I can't remember where I read it (pretty sure it was at least several 100 years old), but another technique is to focus on the empty space between your nose and your eyes. I'm pretty sure the idea with open eyes is just to have the eyes relaxed and not engaged, which is why shutting them for the most part helps while still remaining "where you are" by seeing where you are.

sure it's not "who is the child?"? as in a sort of exclamatory statement, such as with 瀟呵 and 湛呵 [for MH, 呵 basically says "lol" here, lol] "瀟呵so spontaneous!" "湛呵so deep!" so then after describing this power of Dao (which I mentioned would appear to be further description of DE), he asks in further awe "who is this child? (where did it come from?!)" then perhaps responds "the image of the first ruling principle (Divine Lord)." De is the child of Dao, the chapter describes the power of De acting upon the myriad things to "set them right" as the character 德De shows walking with virtue or 彳walking with 直erect/straight 心heart. 誰之子也象帝之先 Who is this child? The image of the first ruling principle.

What is the real meaning of The Now? I'm sure we all have our answers. Please, share!

Ah, yes, this teacher would be great to learn from. A great opportunity if you're in that area. He learned from some of the best, and "paid his dues" on Mount Wudang.

I would say it's possible to start with videos and books if you're searching just for the start. For example, you can learn the basics of posture, and guiding philosophical principles with books. From what I have mostly seen, the videos made by the best teachers will only show what you can actually learn from a video, so there isn't much harm if your only working on the foundations. There can of course be problems learning higher things from videos because 1) most people don't do any warm ups before following the video and 2) (there are probably many more reasons, hwv..) it's easy to accustom the body to improper habits which will take longer for you to undo when you learn face a face. Chi gong is fairly simple though when you get the feel of the "true breath" which is a breath through you pores and muscles independent of the other breath. Like you feel the air moving in your body, you'll feel another energy moving through your muscles. Following the philosophy in the Tao Te Ching and other Taoist texts, let this energy take its course, like letting your body dance to nature. From this point it's easy to use Chi Gong movements with feeling and benefit.

As for the Child, I believe the child is DE. 瀟呵 and 湛呵 are descriptive of the mysterious, which I've found to be consistent with Miao as referring to De. Also, De can be described as the "象 manifest form" and "Child" of Dao. More on this connection (selon moi) can be read here.

I found something in the Chuang Tzu which seemed to support my perception of the opening lines of DDJ4: My translation of DDJ4: 道沖 而用之: Dao is that in which all is immersed, thereby it is used 有弗盈也: and so is not overfilled 瀟呵: [lol, (free laughter) and/or] spontaneously correcting and teaching 始萬物之宗: the first ancestor of the the 10,000 things from Chuang Tzu, book VI, ch. 11 (Legge trans.): Tsze-kung rejoined, 'I venture to ask the method which you pursue;' and Confucius said, 'Fishes breed and grow in the water; man develops in the Tâo. Growing in the water, the fishes cleave the pools, and their nourishment is supplied to them. Developing in the Tâo, men do nothing, and the enjoyment of their life is secured. Hence it is said, "Fishes forget one another in the rivers and lakes; men forget one another in the arts of the Tâo."' So, simply by being immersed in the Dao, it is used and the people are nourshed by it. The rest of the chapter (DDJ4) shows the leveling effect of Dao, ie., not being "overfull." This is the way of Wu Wei by which Dao is applied.

Ah, it's finally here with English subtitles. "Think Global Act Rural" is a documentary about sustainable farming without the use of pesticides or tractors, and how this is entirely possible on massive scales, not mention immeasurably healthier. Amazing info as well there about how the pesticide industry developed as a way to keep chemical warfare industries making money, and just how unnecessary all the crap that we pollute our food with actually is. Enjoy, and share! "Solutions locales pour un désordre global / Local Solutions for Global Dysfunction"

The pace of grace..

where the light wanders waving away, and yet in stillness it ponders

In Chapter 32 of the DDJ, I see that most Chinese translators translate the following as "people do not direct.." rather than "people are not directed..". Is there any grammatical rule that dictates this? It seems to me to make more sense as: 民莫之令而自均。 The people are not given directives yet treat each other as equals (lit. "people not directed/directing, yet, self equal") for example, Chan has "Heaven and earth unite to drip sweet dew. Without the command of men, it drips evenly over all." and Cleary has "Heaven and earth combine, thus showering sweet dew. No humans command it; it is even by nature."

Makes sense as well. Merci bien!

Ah, yes, that makes sense. I translated it as 民莫之令而自均。 The people are not given directives yet treat each other as equals because of the apparent political context of the chapter, but I like how this is also implied by "self-balance," given the existing political context, while including the more personal meaning of "when things are left alone, the people will be internally balanced." Thanks for your response!

Thanks Slim!

Found a great website about Daoism and Ecology Which includes some "faith-based" Eco-activism groups for Buddhists, Daoists, etc. When I read something like "..Teachings of Immortals Chung and Lu" so much of it is about the way the earth and environment go through changes. I ask myself "How could Daoist notions of ecology be used in modern ecology?" What do you 0_o think?

Here's my impression of things, as of a fairly recent realization: Most things that appear on the earth are put there, or develop, to level out and balance something that was already in existence. I guess when the first amoeba got too numerous, another one appeared to decrease the first one. This is a reflection of something existing in the nature of Dao. So humans play a major role in balance. What scientists and geologists seem to miss, is that all inert matter is not merely a dung ball full of bacterias any more than they are. A dung ball does not have an energy field around it, like humans do, and like the earth does as well, when you look at the heavens, the atmosphere and the symbiotic relationship going on between earth, heaven, and humanity. We do most of our job without thinking about it, our organs do their job without really thinking about it, and our bacterias do their job without really thinking about it.. but there is an internal balance which expresses itself in the external state. When we feel energetically depleted we deplete the external in an unhealthy way. When we are internally balanced, we interact with Dao and nature in healthy ways both externally and internally. What does it mean to be internally balanced though? There is mental balance and wisdom which can help to see the difference between what seems like the best course of action and what is the best course of action. There is also the simple wisdom of cultivating generosity, benevolence (offering without expectation of return), and keeping our emotions in balance so that we don't have desires without a reason for their existence. This rewards us with contentment, but we are forever under pressure of emotions of survival, so there is need to cultivate this in ourselves. Like building a house or lighting a fire, this is a process that we need to undertake for it to happen, though it is part of our nature, and role in nature, to do so. Thanks for the great questions!

Hey Matt You might find some interesting angles this thread on ecology and Daoism: http://thetaobums.com/topic/26992-daoism-ecology-and-action/

Hey lienshen, Not sure if you saw this already in my PPD, but here was my view on these lines from link

?? What are the charges!?

Intelligence is often lacking in "the intelligent" because they are often not (as they say in Cha'an and Tao) in the moment. This seemed to be one of the major differences with the character in "Limitless." He was hyper aware in the present. This is not something you can learn by rote, memorization, etc., and is why so many super-intellects seem to be missing the obvious....