flowing hands

CHAPTER 67 "All under Heaven say that my Dao is beyond compare. Because it is different, it has lasted a long time. I have three treasures which I keep in my heart. The first is mercy, the second is economy, and the third is being at one with the Dao. From mercy springs life and strength. From economy comes generosity. From the Dao comes the knowledge of all things. Today men shun mercy and take life without care. They abandon economy and seek to enrich themselves. They do not know of or follow the Dao, and so they are naive of the ways of all things. Having compassion and strength and knowing the way of all things, Heaven knows how to act." Now one sees in my transmission that we have certain elements that are consistent with the themes that run through the original work. We have the idea of the 'soft and yielding' of Heaven dealing with all things in a fair and understanding way. A dealing with aggression by using 'mercy' and compassion which will save more lives than aggression. Here we have the basis of many traditional Daoist martial arts. We have one of the greatest treasure being at one with all things; the ultimate goal and expression of Dao. Achieving this goal gives a true understanding of all things.

Now without getting into the 49 pages of bickering over neidan/neigong methods and schools, I think it is quite an interesting debate to see peoples opinions on the difference they see between internal practices and external practices. So what are the differences?

External: toughen the sinew, harden the bones, quicken the muscles, tit da practices. Internal: soften the body, relax the sinew, strengthen the spirit and the jing; 'the soft and the yielding can overcome the hard and strong', qi gong, neigong, In the school that I come from we start off with external and then we practice internal. Both 'work' affecting each practice, but there are many schools that are still very much categorized by their practices.

Yes I agree 'Dao' is still not a very good pronunciation of the word, it is probably more like 'Dow' or 'Dough'. Put it in the oven and we get Dao!!!

Of course one can download a free copy of my transmission from my website http://life-in-crisis.info

Traditionally there has been two separate schools in terms of martial arts. But having said that the school I come from combine both. External skills used to mean hard qigong, breaking and conditioning and generally muscle strength and speed is the core. Internal skills used to mean soft slow movements, the practitioner relying on evasive, absorbing techniques, using internal power to generate force. One can look at the these things philosophically as well as practically which I think would be most interesting.

When I started learning martial art the name of the art was 'Gong Jian Quan' (Bow and Arrow Fist). After some years of practice I took up the making and practice of using bows. It became a natural extension and I became reasonably good at it. I wrote an article once for a magazine entitled 'Gong Do' (the way of the bow), I would recommend anyone who practices martial arts to try shooting a bow, a really excellent way to focus your energy.

OK I look forward to what you have!

Only when the food inside starts to burn!

I realized the other day that on some threads I have clearly stated that I'm not from the Mao Shun Sect. When I said this I mean from the sect that is current today, but obviously my roots are from this mountain retreat and those teachings that I follow and practice originally came from Mao Shun (Paradise Mountain). Old Paradise Mountain teachings, yes, modern Mao Shun, no.

Not sure why they used the long tongue!! But a very animalistic period where things were perceived as half human and half animals.

OK I have found out what people called 'Dao' before the word was invented. In days gone by when a shaman was the wise bringer of knowledge, people talked about 'spirit knowledge' or 'spirit ways'. So as people realised that what the spirit (through the shaman) was saying, gave them an understanding of the environment, a way to live more beneficially to themselves and to their environment, they used the two pictograms of 'foot' and 'head' depicting a shaman wearing deer antlers to mean 'a wise way', a path. I have been banging on since I joined this forum about the basis of Daoism being from the spiritual and certainly not any intellectual pursuit and to read any Daoist work without a true understanding from its roots, will lead to complete misunderstanding. That's my little rant

You should add my transmitted version and new chapters to your list. My version was taught to me in 1986/7, published in 1992 (out of print). As this is not a 'translation' I think this is quite unique. The further verses in 2014. The establishment of a new sect which includes for the first time Hau Tou Xian Shi as a bond brother to Li Erh Xian Shi and Chi Tien Da Shen, in 1989.

One must remember that beyond the spring & autumn period, reference to Dao was probably talked about in a different way. One must remember the root of Dao comes from shamanism and without asking, it was called something else. I'll try and find out. Again when the Chinese first made characters to picture what they mean't, Dao was made by putting two characters together. So what did they say to talk about a spiritual and wise way?

Here is what I know, what I have been taught and what I have experienced. Aliens exist, that is life from other planets. Nearer to the epi centre of the 'big bang' life was created there and along the way of the expanding universes far before our earth was formed. Spirits exist they are energy without a body. They can be harmful and they can be inert. I once visited a museum and was attacked by a spirit that lived in an artifact. I was only young and an apprentice shaman so it got away with its attack. I have been attacked by many spirits, they are drawn to me by the blessings that were put on my body when I was baptized. So one can attract spirits by what one does. One can also build up 'energy' by what one does. For instance if one curses others a lot, does bad things to others, then 'dark matter' collects around that person/s. This is not a spirit. Most people do not suffer from spirit malady it is quite rare. One has to attract a spirit to make it want to bother you. Many things are states of mind/emotions/energy of the person and not the energy of a spirit. One knows when a spirit attacks you, one will feel the energy of the spirit starting to burn you up, it may also start talking to you as it makes you hurt. If you cannot get help from another spirit or Immortal it will extinguish your life.

Li Erh spoke the way he did because he had deep understanding; he was part of that culture and he accepted those beliefs. 'Imitation is the greatest form of flattery'

Actually it actively encourages people to be at one with all things, these include spirits which are a natural phenomenon. Because all life contains a 'spirit', it encourages one to feel this; a way that our ancestors could do more readily than we can today.

"All things came from the one" "All these things are in wholeness with the Dao" What makes all things what they are is the One, the Dao, the spirit and Qi. The Dao appears almost non existent, but it is truly great and humble. The mistake mankind makes is to abuse Dao and become arrogant. This will lead to disaster. Therefore those that follow Dao think that they don't know, seek only to be at one with Dao, avoid perusing a path of wealth and riches and making noises that are superficial. In doing so only those with eyes of Dao will recognize their value.

This is why Li Erh decided to teach me his proper teachings back in 1986. "The meaning has got lost: here is the true teaching in English as near as I can get it". (Li Erh Xian Shi)

Hi Folks I have taken off the verses that I had put on before. I have decided that really what I am being taught is a unique and special thing, no other holyman has ever been taught these verses, so I am going to publish them up to verse 108. I have taken them off because I own the rights to them. I'll let you know when they get published. Hope you really appreciated them while they were here:)

To use Dusty's words: "There is no single, original version of what we call the Tao Te Ching, much less a single "authentic" translation. Anyone claiming to have "the correct" translation is either a liar or a fool. The best course is to read a few, and see where they take you." Dabbling with ancient unauthorized texts that give a nonsensical meaning without proper training from a Daoist Master, is foolish at the very least and presumptive that the original author intended the meaning that you have come up with. To understand the DDJ, one needs a 'core' that will show you a proper understanding. This understanding comes from an apprenticeship with a genuine Daoist master. You can try and translate till your blue in the face even if you are a native Chinese speaker, but your realizations of the text will only be limited. In this chapter there was originally no 'baby'. It is about how a Daoist treads the path as a sage and a person who lives an ordinary life and experiences ordinary things. That in turns brings to them a greater awareness and understanding about the human condition and about the other living things that are alive. Having experienced these things, a sage can then know and understand the principles of self cultivation in its fullness, so eventually becoming 'Dao ren'. I am neither a fool nor a liar, but I will state categorically that what was taught to me in English is the authentic version of Li Erh Xian Shi's words. Now I could try and transpose it back to Chinese, but it was taught to me for the English speaking population. What you are doing here is madness, for you are playing like children and not developing yourselves which was the whole point of Li Erh's teachings. I have given you a proper understanding of LI Erh's words in English, it can lead you to real understanding and realization without deceit from copyist fearful of their heads. In ancient times many a King was fearful of magicians and sorcerers, so copyists would make the King appear to be more powerful than them in any texts that were copied. People were corrupt in politics then, just as they are now. One word against the local lord and your head would go missing! Any text that was written that may undermine the power of the King etc. would have to be altered. Copyist were not Daosits so they knew very little about what they where reading. They would write down in many cases their own interpretation on what they were reading. Need I really say any more? I have also decided that the further verses of Lei Erh that I have put on this site I will eventually make into a book and complete the verses up to the number the Divine master wishes to teach me. I think that this is very special and is really wasted on this site.

FYI one starts in universal stance and the breathing and movement of the arms is called 'imitating the beginnings of Heaven and Earth'. Your warm up should have started over 20 mins ago before you started the form. The great difference between when one learns wu shu and then eventually learn tai ji is that one comes to it from a martial point of view. Ones physical conditioning has been done and tai ji is then just another set of martial techniques to add to ones repertoire. Learn it in isolation and one will normally practice it as 'moving meditation' and other such labels.It was slowed down originally so that people could learn the movements more easily. Proper martial forms have slow bits, fast bits, the practicing of internal strength bits, fa jin bits, yin bits yang bits, etc etc. There is no difference between wu shu and Tai ji, it is those who purport to teach it and practice it that make it different, and a whole culture and perspective in itself has been founded out of this teaching. The Monkey God actually knows hundreds of styles of martial art. He has taught me literally thirteen of them.

Tai Ji has been mucked around with so much over its history that really one can't say what or how the original should or should not be practiced. The Monkey God taught me his own Tai Ji, it was fast, flowing and powerful, it made your fast form look like you are standing still. So one day I asked him, why it was so fast, he replied Tai Ji is a martial art and have you ever seen a slow fight! With reference to Stigs 'real fight' vid, a real fight is actually very different to this as life lost/injury can be sustained very quickly if one uses the wrong move first.

Well tell me where you think 'energy' can go to and fro from from the head and how you think this energy is from the divine?

This is not like Taoist cultivation, there is no similarities. For a start in Taoist cultivation one is not looking for images of holy people or the love of them, or using any holy book,one is returning to the source through the self and the self needs great work on it to return to the source. Hyped up emotions are simply that, an enlightened person has no emotions, no desires, etc. Christians tend to be locked up with the Idea of a single God and Jesus, this tends to obscure them fom self cultivation to become equal to their God as they see that they were born in sin and could only hope that'God' may save them from damnation and certainly not become a God themselves. Whereas there are no such limitations in Taoism. The energy that Taoists cultivate comes from the one; it is not divine as such it is only the Immortals in Heaven that are divine. The one is inert and gives life to all whether good or bad whether divine or mortal. Take religion and God out of the picture, look at the self first, this may take many lifetimes to come to resolution. In one lifetime you may become a shaman, the divine will enter into your life. In many lifetimes after this you may find true realisation. From true realisation one can become divine.