flowing hands

Ah this is the trouble with words. You misunderstand me. When one uses the Dao one then can see that things are done to the end that one wants; by observation. So when cooking the food we prepare each ingredient and cook it knowing the nature of each ingredient. So such cooking shows us the 'balance of Dao'. We understand the nature and properties of what we are doing. Knowing this, gives us insight and application to other things. So we can literally see the 'balance of Dao' working throughout nature; the giving and taking, the interaction etc. But this balance is not Dao only, its just one of its many manifestations.

Ah let me take you up on this! There is only one Dao although it manifests in billions of ways. Even though one might not think one is doing things with Dao, one is! Go back to our first verse of Li Erh. We only have some insight into the balance of Dao when an action upsets this balance, but then this is Dao also. Confused? Yes we are now getting into the deeper edges of understanding.

CHAPTER 32 The Dao is eternally indefinable. If kings and lords could use it to rule over their lands and people, everything would naturally take its course. Men would need no laws or bars to restrict their actions and their movements. Once things are broken up and divided, the whole is lost. Then the parts are given names. When things are given names, their purpose in the whole structure is lost. Men should avoid giving things too many names, and look more closely at the whole. For the Ten Thousand Things are part of one on-going, flowing structure. Men are part of this also. Here lies the key to balance and harmony.

I have never seen this quoted and certainly doesn't appear in my transmission. I think you have to be specific in your questioning and quote from a translation directly, giving the translator and verse number, therefore the discussion can be valid.

The word 'Tao' or 'Dao' is actually pronounced more like 'Dough'. God is a concept and has nothing to do with Dao. Dao is the intrinsic way all things gel together; the way manifests itself in all things and those things obey powerful forces that we recognise and call natural. Intrinsic to these laws are other laws and so the way of many things are how they are done. If one masters the Dao of cooking for example, the food is cooked well and is nice to eat. etc etc. This is a simple explanation. So we have the Dao manifesting in millions of ways.

I think you really need to read the DDJ and understand properly the verses. All knowledge is directed to the reader. The reader of course has to use some intelligence to work out what is being said and what is being taught, it is not an easy task. Daoist practices go back thousands of years before Lao Tzu. Now humans invented the bow and arrow about 64,000 years ago, it is pretty reasonable to assume that Daoists, led by shamans, experimented and understood practices that would result in certain outcomes. Lao tzu came from a deeply rooted shamanistic culture, along with Chuang Tzu. To ignore this is not to see the root and fail to understand the writings however badly translated. Lao Tzu contains many chapters about the way in which one can self cultivate and become an Immortal; it is written there you just have to understand it.

Academics tend to use the term 'Philosophy' to describe Daoism, because they only read the writings of Daoist sages, but more importantly tend not practice anything to do with living, breathing, Daoism. The writings of Daoist sages were the result of their practices, not the other way round.

Its written in the verses, understand the verses and then you will know.

Certainly not over the internet!

If you understood Li Erh's verses like I do then you would know what I am talking about. He has been my teacher for 34 years.

Ah But Li Erh's was not speculative, his thoughts were not an intellectual exercise that most philosophy is. The term arm chair philosopher applies to those that speculate. Li Erh understood the Life processes, if he didn't he would not have been a Daoist. Daoism defines a path that is born out of observed and tested wisdom, not on speculation. If one writes a paper based on scientific testing and observation, that is not called philosophy. So Li Erh wrote verses about life science/processes that were observed and tested, due to the fact that he cultivated power and the understanding of that power which is a life science.

I think a philosophy can be a doctrine without scientific observation or input. A life science in the modern terminology, means 'a study of life processes' which is the opposite. So Li Erh observed the natural processes in a scientific way, based on his own great depth of understanding of self cultivation and of life processes. To make a philosophy, we can intellectualize all sorts of states of the human condition, including the mind, which are not necessarily based on any scientific observation.

As I have always said, the DDJ passages are primarily concerned with self cultivation. Religion and philosophy have nothing to do with it. Li Erh saw spirituality and not organized religion which is totally different. The Dao is not philosophy, it is a working understanding of life; a life science.

Verse 8 "In meditation go deep into the heart" (Li Erh Xian Shi)

Oh Dear!! If you can say that you completely understand at least one verse of the DDJ then you are doing well. If you cannot then you lack patience. Of course your understanding and mine may be completely different, depending on our perspectives and experience. But as Lao Tzu says whatever you name the Dao as being is not the constant Dao. This is the Dao's great beauty, so not to know it is really just as valued as trying to find it for the rest of your life. But it can be found and understood.

I think this all refers to 'fill the belly and weaken the ambition'. A guidance on how to view life. Eat well, not too much and too little, let not the mind crave for more than a simple way of life. A more complicated life leads to stress, leads to the world going out of balance and the way is lost and can't be remembered.

One has got to remember that Li Erh wrote down on Bamboo strips his teachings, these numbered far in excess of a hundred. It was others who compiled them and discarded ones that did not perhaps suite their own opinion. Copyists then have done their work to change certain words and someone along the way (sorry for the pun) chose the title of DDJ. Intellectual study of the text that we have does not do it justice, nor does it show the great understanding of Daoist cultivation that Li Erh has. So we accept as a act of faith that whatever has been translated is true, but given the fact that multiple translations do not agree with each other, even if my further verses of Li Erh's teachings are just made up in my head, they really can stand alongside the validity of any other translation, because these are not truly valid also.

You are obviously not familiar with approx. 15,000 years of tradition? Shamans have practiced their mediumship and possession arts for this length of time. One of my teachers is Lao Tzu (li Erh Xian Shi). I have been following the Immortal master for 34 years and he has taught me his teachings.

As a traditional Daoist Shaman on the whole we have a very different perspective to that of ordinary folk. When being possessed by the divine spirit, brings about some interesting experiences. Li Erh Xian Shi rarely comes but when he does come to teach one is immediately aware of the very deep level of his cultivation and as he says in many of his writings "dwell in the infinite". So to whet your palate here is verse 97 as he taught me. 'When the spirit is neglected, so the body and mind will suffer. When the body is neglected, so the spirit and the mind will suffer. When the mind is neglected, so the spirit and the body will suffer. When spirit, mind and body are all at one, a long life can be obtained. Taking care of all three is a life times work. When the spirit is sick consult the shaman When the body is sick consult the healer When the mind is sick, dwell in the infinite. In the infinite one can find everlasting peace.'

Yes they are 'pictograms' and are basically symbols or drawings. The root of Dao is foot and the head of an ancient shaman wearing deer antlers, meaning to walk in a wise way.

Of course one can interpret many things as being this and that which certainly it can apply, but remember the DDJ is a book of self cultivation and the practices of Li Erh are hidden deep in the words.

The path to true enlightenment is to let go of all desires, to free the mind and heart and so open it up to the higher truth. What we see here is a teacher who's spiritual development is just a black shadow, where the self and ego are still present. He has a long way to go and I feel sorry for those who have been caught in such an abusive and corrupt trap.

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven was once a Daoist Immortal. He somewhat got himself in trouble with the Heavenly Immortals and then through the compassion of Quan Yin was released from his prison and then was given the task of escorting a Buddhist monk to India to receive the true teachings of Buddha. In the following film from 5.50 to 7.20 you will see my good self perform part of the Great Sages 'Cudgel' form. It is part of a set of three very long forms, which entail acrobatics etc etc. Now the interesting part of this is that these forms contain the story of the Great Sage on his path to Buddha hood. We see at the beginning the Great Sage put down his bundle, sliding it off the end of the cudgel, we see him clearing the path for his monk master to keep walking the path. We see the Great Sage eat the peach of Immortality and so through these forms the story is told and the martial skills are passed on. I never finished learning the first form and regret it now. My life was so busy and I had so many other forms to practice that in the end I just had to concentrate on a few forms only. Perhaps when I am fully retired I take up the cudgel again and if lucky beg the Great Sage to continue teaching me his cudgel form. Therefore I will realize and re-inact to the end, his journey to Buddha hood.

I have been in conversations with a TDB member about his school and their practices. It hasn't been easy dealing with him. I have tried to stick to showing this person what is very wrong with his practice. I have explained it based on many years of teaching by Immortal Masters and being around the culture and a lot of research into spirit based practices. Many Daoist sects pass on 'power' (fa) in various ways. Many sects originate from the old wu practices and many wu's were involved with these sects at the very beginning. These sects though developed away from the core practices of the wu and went their own way. But the core power of the sect still remained and it was passed on to a trusted student to use wisely. How this was passed on was done in various ways. Sometimes the Master would hit the student and then transfer the power, sometimes an amulet was drawn and taken and sometimes it was passed on in water. Sometimes a command was drawn on the floor and around the recipient of the power. Which ever way the power was transferred to the new student, Instructions was generally given to the chosen student on how to use and what to do with the power and what to expect and what it is. Now this is a very old practice. In shamanism, it is the Immortal master who donates their power to you and then trains you. When one is inexperienced, the power that now resides in you can very easily play all sorts of games, make you believe that you are being taught by the Immortal spirit, when in fact you are not. To know the difference takes time, because this new and unusual power that you have been given can easily be the source of your own mind games and nothing more. So here's the crack and use this as a parallel. Now I want to spread the fa (power) and I am of the belief that this will make people believe that they are being taught by the divine and as a student I am told that I can call upon the spirit master and instantly they will answer my request. So I set up an alter to an Immortal in name only, I don't go into a trance (I wonder why I wouldn't and is explained away as a base action) of that Immortal and then I get the paying guests to stand in a line and to shut their eyes. I use my power (fa) and give all those people that power. That power inside all those vastly inexperienced people is a cocktail for disaster, their minds which are full of all sorts of pre-conceived ideas and images makes that power then start to take over their bodies and the more they practice this the more this power keeps fooling them, until there is no turning back. Now I could very easily do this, each student does not have to make any effort and I am making them a student instantly of the chosen Immortal master. Unfortunately they are not, the passed on fa on initiation is only just that and depending on what command is used when it is passed on will depend on the effect on those unsuspecting people. People will do all sorts of things, thinking that it is an Immortal master teaching them and so we clearly see a shen gong demonstrated that has nothing to do with shen gong, hand and postural movements from chan Buddhism that have nothing to do with much earlier Daoist practices. Why, because they simply come from the mind. I have compassion for these people, because I have experienced what they are doing and know how easy when inexperienced and a master has given you some fa, how without the very source being the teacher it can fool and then create its own self perpetuating circle of self deceit. If this person demonstrated a real shen gong and used hand and body postures that were concurrent with what they claimed, then it would be a different story. But hey didn't it was a mish mash of all sorts of different ideas and combined with the way in which students are taken on and then given the fa is concurrent with self deceit that is self perpetuating, because the core Immortal master is not giving the fa, it is the organ grinder. For example, I once was begging the Immortal master to come when I had only just started and I wanted to learn martial art. The fa given to me, as I recited the Immortals names, was stimulated and for all intense and purpose the Immortal had come and was teaching me the 'drunken art'. I showed what I had learnt to a much more experienced person of the same sect and he told me that it was just my fa fooling me and my mind using images that I had seen in the past of the art. He then worked with me to show me how to control the fa and then to recognise when the Immortal master had come in person. This indeed was an eye opener. What I showed as a drunken art that was nothing like it at all! It took me another year or so to then be able to learn martial art from the Immortal master, I then knew when he had really come to teach me and when I was fooling myself with the power he had given me.

Ok here are some facts about fa. 1 Idols are dangerous things, people go and buy an idol of some God or Immortal, they place it at home or even in a temple. They start burning incense and saying prayers to that idol and they believe that the idol will help them in self knowledge and their lives and the God who's idol it is will hear their prayers. Big mistake, many un-blessed idols (using fa) even in temples are inhabited by evil, who see the opportunity to gain power over the persons who pray to that idol. Proper idols or images must be properly baptized by a medium fully in trance of the idols God, who then places marks on the idol and 'open eye' the idol so that it is then a vehicle for the God to see through. This can never be moved from its alter, once this has been done. 2 If this has never been done one might as well put an idol of Elvis or Batman or anyone else for what use it is. Sadly the Daoist folk religions are full of superstition and folk are very easily led because of this and fear. 3 Like many other cultures around the world, not all what the Chinese believe is right or factual, so through ignorance and fear people are led down a path that involves control. We see this in all sorts of religions and sects and this is very un-Daoist. 4 In Effilangs sect, we see an un-blessed idol, the teacher does not go into a trance of the Immortal to bless the initiates, so he/she is using their own un-cultivated fa. This fa will not be a pure fa as it does not come directly from the Immortal. It may have all sorts of commands and impurities in it, so when it is given to the initiates they will receive whatever is in that fa. 5 There is one instance where fa can be used without the Immortal master coming to give it in person, but this can only be done by a shaman who was originally baptized by another in a trance of the Immortal Master. Therefore the fa is pure. So the shaman can use his/hers fa and do it in the name of the Immortal master, say if an urgent healing is needed or something needs to be blessed ready for when the Immortal Master is invited. People or animals cannot be baptized in this way, nor idols/images etc be blessed in such a way. Keeping the fa (power) pure and without taint is the key. Ordinary humans are not pure or enlightened, so if they keep using their fa without the Immortal master it will become deteriorated. Some shamans will use their power for self gain and improper use, so this becomes tainted and the assignation to the Immortals fa is very much lost.