Search the Community

I've putted together Yogic and Daoist cultivation terms together for the same/similar practices. Maybe it will be of help for someone. Chinese terms are in pinyin. Yoga. Xiu/Xiuyang/Yangsheng. Pratyahara. Neiguan + Neishi + Neiting. Asana. Daoyin/Waigong. Pranayama. Qigong. Prana Vidya. Waiqi Liaofa. Dharana. Yigong. Dhyana. Zuowang. Yama + Niyama. Sanbao. Samadhi. Shenming.

In the spiritual world, there are many "buzz words" and most people use them quite profusely. I propose that we try to do an exercise where we compile a list of common terms and see if our understanding of these words match. Let me start with three words we use very freely and what they mean to me. Doing exercises like this may help us avoid unnecessary arguments over misunderstandings vis-a-vis jargon and syntax and work on creating better understanding/more meaningful discourses. Awareness Consciousness Mind On the surface these three words seem to be synonyms (or at least seem to be referring to the same thing). However, if we dig a bit deeper, our personal understanding of might be more nuanced. For instance, my understanding of the words have evolved over the years from roughly meaning the same thing to meaning more specific and different "things". Awareness - This to me means the primary quality that allows one to know. This can be used synonymously, imho, with Pure Awareness or Pure Objectless Consciousness. Consciousness - This to me means awareness in conjunction with any object. Or "objective consciousness". If there are no objects (ie empty), then I call it "Pure Objectless Consciousness" and can use it synonymously with "awareness". Mind - This is a field of objects or a stream of objective consciousness. To me, Mind doesn't mean "awareness" or even consciousness, per se. It is the stream of consciousness, basically the incessant knowing of objects.