Harmonious Emptiness

Yes, this is more or less my approach.. "having nowhere for the tigers claw to alight." Just a matter of consistent and correct cultivation of both qi and virtue I guess (which is the more likely the most difficult cultivation...)

This does resonate well with me actually. I generally just avoid throwing any exhausted or negative energy on living or sacred (spiritually alive) things. I think I understand what you mean by just appreciating the essence that it has to offer, sort of like finding the voice of a hand-made drum, or paying attention to the subtleties of fine tea, appreciating or honouring the character of them. Since I'm not an energy master. Though sometimes if I feel something was given to me with a bit of negativity I'll intend that away before really accepting it for myself. I also use cedar or sage smudge on occassion, but not on food.

What's your take then on the basics, like yin and mirrors in the Fire area, water flow... Do they still apply in general to every house? Also, Taomeow, how do you weigh compass school with schools where south is just the back wall of the house?

Cool, I'll pick that one up (maybe the title is like the small door in a Channoyu tea house..? ) Any thoughts on Jerry Alan Johnston's book on Form Feng Shui?

Thanks for your reply Ya Mu. I checked through the blog posts but didn't see it. Read some good ones along the way though. Looks like your diggin' up some gold on that D string !

Just had a thought about addictions that I thought I'd share: Using substances to feel good is like eating Twinkies to feel full. It might work in the meantime, but it's just a cheap substitute with zero nutritional value other than taking away your hunger for a little while and saving you the trouble of preparing something or going to the grocery store.

Thanks for the response Dawei I guess just using the hands would require a refined state in the person which, as shown by the video (thanks for the reminder of that btw), could be altered by thoughts in a prayer. So say someone was working with food and they blessed the food for several hours a day, they could maybe repeat a mantra in their mind rather than projecting their qi it seems. I think that just bringing the hands down over the food may or may not bring good qi into the food, as someone may just expel turbid or exhausted chi for example. Maybe just a single word or a few words like, "happiness" "prosperity" "divine" or names like "Shakyamuni Buddha" "Leih Tzu" will have a nice effect for all involved..

The understanding I've found most durable is that jing is still at the vibrational level of energy rather than matter, but it is still a lower or heavier frequency than refined qi, though it is made of qi as everything within Dao is made of Qi and governed by Dao. I wonder if anyone could explain what it is that shoots up your spine when you're loosening up, just stretching for example. It feels like maybe just some nerve stimulations along the spine but also like something shoots up it, though not with the tingling tinkling bell sensations which may accompany Kundalini. Joeblast, you seem like you would have a pretty thorough explanation or understanding of this. Other people know what I'm talking about right?

I'm wondering in regards to this thread, how does this relate to blessing food as some people suggest to do. Or what if you bless food or items that you give to others. Does one need great training to do this, or just focused attention? Could this diminish ones store of qi, and require meditation to replenish it? Any suggestions on effective ways to do all or any of this?

Reminds me of Chapter 37-8 of the Tao Te Ching "It is because man desires to act and change things, that he creates imbalance within himself and all around him. If he lacked desire, then all would be well.." "A truly good man does nothing and yet nothing is left undone."

Thanks for relating that explanation Taomeow. That Russian book sounds great. Any comparable English books you can recommend here?

I guess I'll also add that I think one of the reasons eating vegan or vegetarian makes me feel spiritually lighter is that it is easier to digest vegetable proteins in legume and grains along with carbs than meat protein along with carbs. So I have more energy and a "lighter" feeling. If you can separate carbs and protein without feeling hungry then that may be the same thing, at least for that effect....

One with everything Chasing after birds, now these Dogs can't fly or sing edited to change "and the" to "now these" as I thought I put earlier.

Man oh man are these ever scarce so I hope whoever buys them will scan and pdf them (I'm pretty sure the copyrights are expired) so they don't effectively disappear forever.. But here's some links: Master Who Embraces Simplicity: A Study of the Philosopher Ko Hung, 283-343 [Paperback]Jay Sailey (Author) Nei P'ien: Alchemy, Medicine and Religion in the China of A.D.320 [Paperback]Ko Hung (Author), James R. Ware (Editor)

An important note for vegetarians, seeing that anemia can be one of the risks: "Anemia related to poor nutrition: Vitamins and minerals are required to make red blood cells. In addition to iron, vitamin B12 and folate are required for the proper production of hemoglobin. Deficiency in any of these may cause anemia because of inadequate production of red blood cells. Poor dietary intake is an important cause of low folate and low vitamin B12 levels. Strict vegetarians who do not take sufficient vitamins are at risk to develop vitamin B12 deficiency." Iron is easy to get from legumes, and folate from orange juice. Beyond this, nutritional yeast is a great for B12 and B complex. Also, I recently learned that pine pollen is a vegetable source of vitamin D ! Really though, I could see some unexplained complications happening in people who's genes are heavily geared to high meat intake, like Inuits for example. Tibetans might be in this group as well. I think most Native American tribes did enough foraging to offset this but maybe not.

Ya Mu, I'm wondering, given your expertise, what do you usually eat when not eating meat? Any favourite recipes or special foods or combinations? Ways to make lentils more tasty, etc..? H.E.

Hi Chi How is Heaven associated with 9 though (only 8 trigrams)? May I ask where you learned about Feng Shui? Not that I question it, I'm just looking for more sources. Thanks.

Interesting about the no salt connection. I wonder if has something to do with having things in their natural state. To my knowledge this is why Ital Rastas do not use salt and always eat raw, following "you are what you eat" they eat things in their natural state to maintain their own connection to the land. For the sake of adding a few talking points: the reason Christians do not follow the Judaic dietary prohibitions is based on the quote "it's not what you take in, but what you put out." This occurring in the midst of obvious corruption and cold hearted intolerance by priests. There are of course parallels to modern day society here, looking at imperialist governments and fundamentalist prejudice. So the point is that someone can be vegetarian but lack real spiritual actions, or eat meat and be incredibly compassionate in general (as Ya Mu has mentioned a few times). However, for me, the thing about diet is making it easier for myself. It's nice to know that I'm not contributing to the demand for slaughter. Also, eating pork, in my experience of going without it, somehow seems to infuse the person with more subtle tendencies of the pig (lack of discernment and being led by desires). And even though this may be mental rather than biological thing, when I stopped eating pork it was also a commitment "You stopped eating pigs, don't act like one" and this was helpful as a reminder. I think the same goes for spiritually minded vegans and vegetarians telling themselves "wait, you stopped eating meat so as to be more compassionate, so why are you acting like an animal?" I think it is a very useful TOOL to changing ones actions and emotions. Of course, just because I have a hammer doesn't make me a carpenter, and if I walk around everywhere with my hammer in my belt acting like I know shit, I'd be better to leave it a home now wouldn't I Another part of the Bible that has influenced Christian diets is a part in The Bible about not refusing the food that someone puts in front of you as this would be an insult to your host. I'm pretty sure Buddhist texts say something about this as well. But more so, I would rather eat a left over piece of chicken than let it get thrown out. To me that shows more respect to the chicken which has already been slaughtered. Not to say this is the ONLY time I'll eat meat, but it bridges some of the issues without contaminating the mission, in my estimation...

Another question: Can someone tell me, why is Feng Shui translated as Wind & Water, but the Wind and Water trigrams are Xun and Kan? @ Chi Dragon: I'll have to take your word on that, not knowing exactly what caused these specific lines to interact. There is also this explanation: 1-6 1 Heaven generates water, Earth 6 completes it. The North (bottom) is assigned the Water element. 2-7 2 Earth generates fire, Heaven 7 completes it. The South (top) is assigned the Fire element. 3-8 3 Heaven generates wood, Earth 8 completes it. The East (left) is assigned the Wood element. 4-9 4 Earth generates metal, Earth 9 completes it. The West (right) is assigned the Metal element. 5-10 5 Heaven generates water, Earth 6 completes it. The North (bottom) is assigned the Water element. Yes, flipping the trigram creates a different trigram, as is the case with Thunder and Mountain. One symbolism I have heard is about eart/humanity/heaven. The bagua center is generally considered earth, so the trigrams would grow from the center, I believe.

Hm, yeah personally I feel spiritually lighter when all my nutrients are obtained without anything having to die so I try to maintain that. On the other hand, I will eat meat on occasion when it is left over and might otherwise go to waste. I also eat sushi maybe a few times a month, but I think the fresh sushi fish only keeps so long so I guess the same logic could sort of apply there. The Buddhist rule was not to eat anything that was prepared for you and so only eat left overs (or stolen food! ha ha...) that people give you. I guess when it comes to meat this is generally my exception right now. I also resonate more fully with Taoism and so can see how eating meat at times can help your spiritual pursuits, so I'll make some exceptions by that as well. But you make an excellent point and picture of the natural cycle Ya Mu. I wonder what would happen if all meat eaters had to do their own slaughter. I guess it might make for some unnecessarily desensitized citizens, but it might also make people realize the importance of taking something and thanking and praying for it. I wonder how our use of natural resources would be affected if we had national ceremonies to thank the earth and forests for our use of them..?

Can someone also tell me how the times of day relate to sections of the bagua? edit.. actually never mind, I found this: So I guess Fire ends at 3pm..

Hmm... Does it have something to do with Fire opening to heaven to become Thunder, and Water becoming strong at the earth level to become Lake? Looking at the trigrams lines as representing Heaven (top) Earth (bottom) and Humanity (middle). I'm also noticing now how Thunder and Lake are reversed to become Mountain and Wind in the Post-Heaven Bagua, while Thunder and Lake become West and East in the Post-Heaven Bagua. I'm not sure these are related though..

I did the hot shower/cold rinse thing for a while after reading about the benefits obtained by Native Americans jumping in the lake after a sweat lodge.. year round I may start to do that more often again though without as much heat since too much hot water causes eczema for me..

Interesting! Thanks. One question about the reverse flowing method... Is this rising up the back and down the front or up the front and down the back? I've heard some confusingly different things about this. H.E.

Did you mean change from Fire in the East? as in the Pre-Heaven Bagua? Interesting explanation!!