Harmonious Emptiness

My two cents here, as elsewhere, is that most of the external practices are for healing the body to enable a longer period of practice time, increasing the odds if you will. Another major idea in Taoism which may be unique, is recognizing that it's more difficult to have a healthy spirit when it's housing, the body, is unhealthy or disharmonious. Additionally, you'll read in the Tao Te Ching that the idea is not to "be virtuous, be selfless, be humble" but to be in One state where these virtues are a natural extensions of your state of being, rather than conscious efforts that conflict with your inner states and desires. So, imo, qi gong and meditation are helpful ways to get into this One State which is essentially the base of Taoist practice, again, imo. Some practices could possibly lead further away from this state, especially when done without an advanced master. For example, martial arts can be a very useful tool, but with the wrong master could increase one's ego and selfishness. Obviously the same for certain sexual practices increasing desires and making a person less emotionally stable.

A key to this too, is a little vibrato, since the vibrato grabs other things that resonate at that frequency and starts to move them. I have another crazy theory which I'll never get to prove for myself, that music vibrates our internal glands and organs this way, perhaps relaxing the body by activating energy channels? I would bet the ren and du channels have reachable frequencies in this way! This seems to be the whole science behind singing bowls being tailored to particular areas.

So I wanted to see what the hertz frequencies are of all the tones/notes and came across: Line current In Europe, Africa, Australia, Southern South America, most of Asia, and Russia, the frequency of the alternating current in household electrical outlets is 50 Hz (close to the tone G), whereas in North America and Northern South America, the frequency of the alternating current in household electrical outlets is 60 Hz (between the tones B♭ and B; that is, a minor third above the European frequency). The frequency of the 'hum' in an audio recording can show where the recording was made, in countries using a European, or an American, grid frequency. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency So this probably creates resonance of other things with the B flat to B tones, since fluctuation around the frequency of an object causes vibration of the object and makes lots of Bb and B.

Ti, assuming your Do is actually in C.

I think nature tends to harmonize with whatever the dominant pitch is at the time, like a harmonic entrainment. B is normally associated with the upper, 7th, chakra, though personally I think no matter what key you play in, the 7th interval will be the most crowning while the root brings one back to earth. So in the key of C, B would be the 7th/crown, but in the key of B, A sharp would be the crown assuming there is an entrained grounding in the dominant key, or, so my theory goes..

Thanks for the contributions everyone Interesting video: Shamans of the Blind Country (1981) Part.1

Good point. There is a demonstration of a Korean shaman sort of "resetting" somebody about 1hr into movie, which might be of interest.

"Absorption of energy from the Tao required or not?" I would say yes, but the question maybe is in regards to active and passive absorption. Seems to me when I read the dialogue between Immortals Chung and Lu, that Chung is essentially describing what happens during meditation during various times of day and night, rather than what to do. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems in large part a way of opening oneself up to the energy and influence of the Universe. Difficult question still, though, since most Taoist masters were also master healers and this seems like an important part of the path, which does require a more active absorption of energy. Another part being that the health regimens are often seen as a way to buy more time in order to practice and cultivate with the resources that are available to us at this time.

Taoism definitely talks about common virtues like benevolence or generosity, humility and forbearance, but is maybe unique in stressing that they should be spontaneous. I'm quite sure somewhere in the Tao Te Ching it mentions how heaven gives benefit without thought to giving, and the earth bears without expectation of reward. This, to me, is the "sincerity" I think the thing for humanity is that we are in the middle, and in the middle of us is the heart, the middle dantien. So cultivating the virtue of the heart allows for us to have sincerity of virtues and thus act on these virtues spontaneously, like Heaven and Earth. Merit can mean different things however. From a Taoist perspective, I think it would mainly mean that if your heart is not pure, there are gods and spirits who will think twice before letting you come into knowledge. So the more pure our heart is, the more we can be entrusted with, the more we will be open and humble enough to learn, and thus to become harmonious with ourselves and life. So spontaneity is a big part of it in my opinion, since openness to spontaneity allows oneself to act from that part of them which is connected to Tao in the same way as the Heavens and the Earth. Taoist meditation has a lot to do with allowing and following, relaxing the muscles and the joints so that the chi can move through the body unhindered in order to nourish everything around it. This practice can aid in allowing ourselves to act from Tao in our interactions with the world, not forcing, taking when given, and supporting the beneficial actions all around us. "Practicing the non-practice" if you will...

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thoughts come to mind of the Native American Sundance which has movements incredibly similar to spontaneous shaking.

You do bring up a good point. Again, not that I know much or anything about Native American healing, but I do recall an incident in Wallace Black Elk's book where a child had an unexplainable disease where his nerve system was just not working normally. Spider God came in and unwrapped these sort of ethereal strings that were binding the child internally. With that kind of help, there's probably not much that couldn't be treated! I would put my guess at the possibility of there being a healer similar to Wallace Black Elk in the world today, but probably not very easy to find.

I guess it really depends on the person. Excessive meditation can be beneficial for some, say Tibetan monks following the long lineage teachings that involve sitting in a cave for years at a time. If I personally was to attempt this, I don't think it would be of much benefit compared to learning true compassion by being around people and testing myself against the ups and downs of life. I could miss out on many opportunities to learn from ordinary life by spending so much time in the inner-dimensions. On the other hand, not meditating enough, I might not have the patience or center with which to learn and develop. Like the metaphor of a sword smith, too much heat or too much cold, or all heat and cold with no hammering and shaping will not create a sword which can go in and come out with perfect ease. Even when a masterful sword is created, it still must be sharpened from time to time or it can dull against so many obstacles. Few are there who, like Chuang Tzu's butcher, travels through perfectly every single time, never dulling the edge.

Not sure if there was a misunderstanding.. just meaning that he deals with energy channels more explicitly and directly, so issues stemming from them would likely be more apparent and addressable for him than for say a Native American or Siberian healer.

I've heard a few different scenarios of this in various types of shamanism. I'm not sure how they would "play out" with wrong practice of other spiritual traditions though if the shamanic practices don't focus so heavily on energy channels. Either way, the people who can do this properly (ie. not killing you in the process), in the more Aboriginal type traditions, are probably extremely rare today. Not to advertise for Ya Mu, but his tradition deals with similar practices and issues so I would be inclined to pay more attention to what he says about it.

Tao?

Pointing at the moon There it sits so sharp and quick Pointing back at me

I've been approaching this book very slowly, but what I really liked that stood out in the purpose of the practice was realizing when we're basically dreaming when we're awake, falling for ego illusion etc., and how the strength of awareness in dreams leads to strength of awareness in waking life. just my two cents

lol.

yeah, I was expecting like massive harvest moon but I suppose that would be more than 14%. 14% for this time of year I guess is the difference. Coincidentally though, I was writing some decent stuff (comparing to my own work) maybe a day before this thread popped up and it was very saturated with moon symbolisms. Maybe there was some influence for that since it is not a common theme at all in my other writing, and I had no idea about the super moon coming around.

Here's my take on it, not sure if it's going to be of more use - As you retain your vitality, when you sit in and enter void, after some time the energy will be fired and your channels will open and the energy will begin to steam through those channels, circulating the energy that was just sitting at the bottom. This opens channels wider and allows for better energy circulation. You may later feel more relaxed, yet with a balanced ease of energy and flow. Retention and building up of vitality is an important part, especially when you are new to the practice, to have enough oil in the lamp to start a small flame. How much exactly can vary dramatically from one practice and teacher to another, and the age of practitioner. For general health, a 30 yr old should go 4 to 7 days without leakage, according to Plain Girl's advice to Yellow Emperor (in Reid's "Tao of Health..."). For serious Nei Kung practitioners, generally much longer (especiallly with age). I'd recommend reading the NeiYe (translation available in TTB Neiye subsection) for this practice as well as it speaks more about entering the state where this all starts to happen on its own (in my opinion). As, I believe, Gerard mentioned in an earlier thread, some green tea (or pu erh, in my experience) before meditation can help. For chronic fatigue you might also look at Maca root powder or chewing schizandra berries. A good traditional Chinese herbalist (capable of pulse prognosis) would probably help a great deal.

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Seems like a fairly solid recommendation to ask the spirits of a place for their blessing when you choose a particular environment for cultivation. If you don't feel welcomed then perhaps there might be something to learn, I guess. Even just ordinary crossroads seem to have particular influences at one time or another, like I'll notice a particular attitude in someone and then when I walk by the same spot I feel sort of an influence towards the same behaviour but have enough awareness to observe it as I walk by. Something seems like it was the spot we both walked by rather than just the personality of the person. Sometimes busy areas can be conducive to cultivation or centering since the challenge is a bit of a test to the senses. m2c

This reminded me of something by Zen Master Ta Hui: "Don't Cling to Stillness Once you have achieved peaceful stillness of body and mind, you must make earnest effort. Do not immediately settle down in peaceful stillness - in the Teachings this is called "The Deep Pit of Liberation," much to be feared. You must make yourself turn freely , like a gourd floating on the water, independent and free, not subject to restraints, entering purity and impurity without being obstructed or sinking down. Only then do you have a little familiarity with the school of the patchrobed monks. If you just manage to cradle the uncrying child in your arms, what's the use?"