Wayfarer

Hi all, These names such as 'Shen', 'Qi', 'Ming' etc are only here to help a teacher express to the student what is happening but in truth nothing is really happening and there is no separate Shen or non-Shen. For instance, heart is often used because around the solar plexus area and below is where we feel the presence of stillness when our practice has developed. This 'feeling' or 'awareness' can also be noticed in objects around you and when this is so what is felt in the 'heart' is also felt outside the body. The confusion of heart and mind comes from meaning Mind as in Emptiness, Tao, Buddha-Nature etc and not an intellectual thought process. So what is in the 'heart' is also in the 'head' and what is 'spirit' is also what is not 'spirit'. So my point being: these different words are used for two reasons: to help a student feel that they are progressing and for someone who has 'Awakened' to try to explain what has happened. In truth, whether you Realise or not makes no difference, nothing about you changes other than knowing IT. So there is no need to get caught up in what is Shen or not because neither Shen or not-Shen exist lol! All the best, Heath

If you are prepared to invest that much time in your spiritual practice you may want to consider the following too: 1) Do any practice that helps you feel settled - meditating, having a quiet ten mins drinking a cup of tea, watching clouds go by in silence etc. When your energy becomes settled you begin to feel it sink from your chest to around your stomach and lower - here is when you afford yourself the chance to begin to notice a differnt internal presence. The danger of circle walking is that your energy remains high and does not settle - so if you continue walking be aware of this my friend. 2) Take time to observe the world around you so you may notice the presence of a common trait in all things: the appearance of IT in a cloud is no different than the expression of IT in a stone or a flower or a tree. The more time you watch nature (even animals) the greater your chance of noticing IT. These two types of practice are all you need. Spirituality is not on levels, it's simply a case of 'awakening' to something you don't already notice and you are unlikely to do that until you slow down, stop 'doing' things and start to 'be'. Best of luck, Heath

Do Immortals exist? There are two types of 'Immortal' in Taoism (at least in my experience) they are: 1) A belief people have that due to a high level of practice their bodies can stop deteriorating and therefore not die - and the best we often get is evidence of people living over one hundred years. 2) That being Immortal has nothing to do with the physical body or the spirit; it simply means that once a person 'awakens' or 'realises the Tao' they understand that nothing is born or dies. The Tao is noticed within us as a settled presence and we start to be aware of it by becoming still however, the same presence is outside of us too and is exactly the same. A person who has noticed this, is awakened and therefore knows that nothing changes, all is permanent because there is only a single holy presence that in itself is neither holy nor present. To not be Immortal is to be ignorant and think that there are 'things' and that they change. Hope this helps!!! Heath

Hi, I hope this answer helps: Firstly Wuji cannot be entered as such because what it is trying to describe is nonduality. For one to 'enter' something there must be 'other'. Hope you don't think I'm picking at words. Yin and Yang does not exist - it might help to view the black and white symbol as something to remind us that what we consider to be black and white or light and shade are a single whole (i.e. the circle). This I feel is the true teaching of the symbol - not that light contains dark but that light is suchness expressed as light and dark is suchness expressed as dark; where is there difference. To 'Awaken' or 'merge with the Tao' is to notice something before our eyes that we mostly overlook - what is inside is what is outside. Buddha noticed it while glancing at Venus, Moses saw its presence alight in the bush, Bodhidharma in the cave wall and so on. Hope this helps a little! Heath