deci belle Posted September 10, 2012 (edited) Unity, openness The heart's desire Silent island In a sea of jewels. Unity, Openness, the Heart's Desire; Silent Island, Sea of Jewels Unity, openness is "everything, empty". The heart's desire is "nothing isolated". The shining mind is the "silent island". The flowing wheel is the"sea of jewels". Not craving admits no separation, so selfless impersonal awareness can swallow potential completely whole within oneself. This is called taking over creative evolution and is the meaning of "reversal", whereby the world is used to refine, not gratify, the self. As the dissolution function is the substance of the flowing wheel, you are able to contain this killing energy in silent stillness because stillness isn't really still when it is used to take over potential in order to reverse the light to shine it back on its source. The secret of "everything, empty" is in "before". Afterwards, nothing is isolated so you keep potential sealed by not following habitual mental and emotional patterns. "Everything, empty" involves "effort" which is contained in the meaning of the third hexagram, Difficulty. The secret of "nothing isolated" is "after". Where before there was effort, afterwards there is innocence. Darkness, the fourth hexagram, shows how raw potential is refined through stopping in danger. Effort coming first, detachment following later, is fortunate. Mixing up the order is the ordinary flow of delusional conditioning. This is disaster, the aftermath of folly, arrogance and greed. Doing "before", and only then allowing "after", is the effective method for reversing the light of created energy cycles. When the evolutionary process is applied correctly, it becomes the basis for refinement of the true self, outside the matrix of time. It is a natural process. Oblivion is ignorant darkness, whereas awareness of hidden potential is true darkness. This must be kept tightly sealed, not letting in any light (thoughts). Inside Darkness, there is truly nothing we can know. It is like climbing into an unknowable realm where everything is empty. Actually, what is "done" is non-doing, because the self being refined is a mystery. Any willful, arbitrary actions at this time destroy all that has gone before, so this phase relies on unceasing correctness. This is expressed by the sixth line of the forty-sixth hexagram, Rising: "If you can be correct, rising up into empty darkness is possible." This refers to completing one cycle of energy (consciousness) refinement. Silent still darkness is just the light itself, shining back on the source of awareness. Innocence is the silent stillness of nondiscursive observation~is this not hidden light? When "nothing isolated" has no attachment to "nothing isolated" it becomes "everything empty". This "everything empty", "nothing isolated", "before" and "after" all arrive at the result beyond time because sameness is like having no beginning. Where there is no beginning there is no such mind. Isn't this the same as Bankei's "Unborn Mind"? Not one, other, neither, nor both, this realm is none other than the impersonal living awareness inherent in the shining mind, manifesting by virtue of reversing the light in one's own body in every-day ordinary situations. How is it possible for one to turn the flow of killing dissolution into a sea of jewels without first refining the self in order to meet the energy of created situations by your own skillful means within selfless potential? One simply refines the self of habitual patterns of thought and complacency, gets rid of selfish motives and ideas of one's own abilities and wears down the psychological momentum of the personality until it completely ceases. One uses one's ordinary existence to accomplish this. ed note: didn't like the "alchemy" tag; unsuccessful in getting rid of it… Edited September 10, 2012 by deci belle Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
