Taoist "exercise"

[thaddeus]

Just throwing this out..i was really inspired by Plato's article. btw, being new here, what name does he post under?

Anyway, I liked the idea of using breath to uncrinkle the connective tissue. Helps me consolidate some ideas from my yoga and taiji practice.

But at the same time, I realized that doing a exercise for taoist purposes *must* be agains the 'way'.

My reasoning is simple, there is no disputing that the 'sage accomplishes everything by doing nothing'. *Doing* exercises like 10x a day, everyday, ultimately is a doing. I kinda like the idea, using the breathing exercise as an example, of an awareness of what the breath can be doing when we inhale and exhale. So instead of a "practice" per se, why not just be aware of uncrinkling fascia as we go about our daily activities. This way we can accomplish by not doing.

Comments?

Thaddeus

[spyrelx]

I am of the opinion that there is a contradiction between what many on this board (and even some ancient scholars) view as "the way" and the actual reason and practice of daoism.

 

Lots of people will say things like

 

"oh, all these things are just to get you back into a state of flow with complete harmony with nature, so the ultimate practice is no practice".

 

"in a pure state of nature we would all live in total harmony with the Way, we'd live to be 200 years old (or be imortal), and we'd all be able to do fantastic yoga moves and other phsical feats, and be able to birth immortal fetuses and fly arount the universe. And we do this all completely naturally, without any artificial "training".

 

In a nutshell, this view is that -- because we've lost connection with our true self and the true universe -- we've become separated from our easy access to the the Way, and so must use certain practices, methods, supplements, etc. to strip away all these blockages and get re-connected.

 

And I think that view is pretty much nonsense.

 

Man in a state of nature dies young and doesn't live that well. It's likely he doesn't have "all body orgasms"; isn't as flexible as a yogi and has no greater meditative skills than your average beginner. He doesn't have purified, concentrated herbs to tweak his body or the time, knowledg or inclination to use alchemical practices to manipulate his being.

 

Taoists developed their arts (herbs, breath, meditaiton, physical practices) not to live in tune with nature but to "maniputlate" nature. That's a loaded term and probably one I shouldn't have used, but my point is much of that taoist stuff is designed to manipulate your being so that it develops and grows in ways IT NORMALLY WOULDN'T.

 

No one can look at a bonsai tree and say "oh, that's how all trees would be in a state of nature". No, that tree has been tended and manipulated to get a particular result. All these practices are similar. They are actively manipulating you in order to grow you into something you WOULD NOT ordinarily become, even if you were left alone to grow up in the Garden of Eden.

 

And what are they trying to manipulate you into? Well, first, someone who lives past their normal life expectency and avoids the usual infirmities and time limitations of age.

 

They also, at some of the more esoteric levels, are attempting to manipulate you into something that can "avoid" death in that you are able to maintain a certain level of ego-related conciousness after your physical body dies. There is nothing "natural" about this. (Nor by the way is there anythying "buddhist" about this). It is simply a different (and manipulated) growth pattern for a human being.

[sean]

Cool post Spyrelx. Briefly (I'm at work) I just wanted to say, that it's my view that "the ideal" (Tao, Flow, Enlightenment, Awakening), is a pre-existing state of harmony only in the sense that it is always here, always available, always One; the container of our experiences, but also not separate from them. At the same time, I also don't buy into the "let's retreat to the golden days" mythology either, because I do think our minds have elevated our life situation, albeit in a far from perfect way. I think we are still too primitive in many ways, ie: relying on nonrenewable resources, pollution, etc. In the context of the human situation, the ideal in my eyes is to discover more sophisticated means of sustaining survival, comfort, happiness, etc. ... Spiritual technology being one important part of that. But I also believe in the Transcendent Ideal as well, aligning me with what I believe is at the core of all striving, religious or not. Along these lines I think you might enjoy Ken Wilber's pre/trans fallacy if you are not already familiar with it.

 

Hope some of this makes sense, I think I am not being very clear with my point as I'm rushing this post ...

 

Sean.