Taoist Mystical practices

[nantogph]

What are some of the supernatural powers that you can acquire through Taoist Mystical practices?

 

I am just curious, do these abilities have to do with the psyche or are they physical? I have heard that physical flight and the ability to appear places by willpower are a couple. Is this true? Master Li, the head of Falun Gong has claims of being able to speak with extraterrestrials who are fighting over whether or not to "harvest" humanity, along with being able to fly and appear anywhere he wants in an instant. And those are just the simplest of his abilities supposedly. Please do not answer if you are just going to ask for proof or ridicule the question. If you need proof of where I got the info about falun gong, just google "falun gong".

[Chang]

What are some of the supernatural powers that you can acquire through Taoist Mystical practices?

 

Supernatural powers. The flowery trappings of the tao and the beginning of great folly.

 

The word power really says it all and that is what the seekers of the supernatural desire. This is not the way of Tao.

[vonkrankenhaus]

Supernatural and miracles - most people looking for these look right past a huge supernatural miracle as they ask - and that is themselves, that they appear and are asking these questions while doing so. Can anyone really explain how and why this ever happened?

 

"speak with extraterrestrials" - have you ever spoken to a new baby? The baby is apparently a terrestrial now, but where was it 100 years ago?

 

"the ability to appear places by willpower" - is this what the baby did?

 

It seems that these may actually be baby abilities, "mere" child's play that we probably just never penetrate the mystery of.

 

We are immersed in mystery. We are immersed in the supernatural.

 

And this is because as human beings we will never even fully see even the "natural". We will not have the perspective of being outside of nature, of being above or below or beside nature.

 

We are appearing and disappearing as manifestations of manifestations of nature.

 

"Supernatural" is an issue merely because we have never understood "natural".

 

-VonKrankenhaus

[Daeluin]

Oh certainly one can learn to move like lightning, turn invisible, manifest heat, lay on hands... who knows how much is possible. Any of this comes from deeply sincere cultivation work that surrenders the ego and walks back towards the tao.

 

Should one aim for powers instead of tao, one changes a selfless pursuit into a selfish one.

 

The Tao Te Ching speaks of three treasures, frugality, compassion, and not daring to be ahead of anything else. This is very important, as this is the mechanism of cultivation. As we cultivate, we transform. If, at some point in our transformation we place value upon what we cultivate, erosion begins. What is built up becomes assailed. If one avoids self-valuing and avoids becoming trapped by external-valuing, one is free to keep cultivating. If one falls into these side-paths, it may be difficult to maintain one's position or power.

 

If one becomes powerful and takes the world by force, even as a healer who may heal anyone of anything.... one threatens to shake the world, arousing more than can be given answer to; one may become the origin of a powerful cycle of change lasting centuries.

 

When one yearns for extremes, how will one find the center?

Edited December 15, 2014 by Daeluin

[soaring crane]

What are some of the supernatural powers that you can acquire through Taoist Mystical practices?

 

I suggest not even starting down that path.

[Brian]

What are some of the supernatural powers that you can acquire through Taoist Mystical practices?

<snip>

The abilities to argue ad nauseum about that which cannot be described and to over-intellectualize that which should be experiential seem high on the list.

 

[soaring crane]

The abilities to argue ad nauseum about that which cannot be described and to over-intellectualize that which should be experiential seem high on the list.

 

 

what I said, lol

[Rara]

What are some of the supernatural powers that you can acquire through Taoist Mystical practices?

 

I am just curious, do these abilities have to do with the psyche or are they physical? I have heard that physical flight and the ability to appear places by willpower are a couple. Is this true? Master Li, the head of Falun Gong has claims of being able to speak with extraterrestrials who are fighting over whether or not to "harvest" humanity, along with being able to fly and appear anywhere he wants in an instant. And those are just the simplest of his abilities supposedly. Please do not answer if you are just going to ask for proof or ridicule the question. If you need proof of where I got the info about falun gong, just google "falun gong".

Firstly, I believe that you found information. I know of Falun Gong, but not all Falun Gong will be this mystical.

 

So unfortunately, I have to say, if you can prove such things, good for you, and I would love to see it, as would the rest of the world.

 

It would be unfair of me to not answer you in this way.

Edited December 12, 2014 by Rara

[dust]

What are some of the supernatural powers that you can acquire through Taoist Mystical practices?

 

None

 

I have heard that physical flight and the ability to appear places by willpower are a couple. Is this true?

 

No

 

Master Li, the head of Falun Gong has claims of being able to speak with extraterrestrials who are fighting over whether or not to "harvest" humanity, along with being able to fly and appear anywhere he wants in an instant. And those are just the simplest of his abilities supposedly.

 

If he's so special, why doesn't he take down the CCP single-handed?

 

Please do not answer if you are just going to ask for proof or ridicule the question. If you need proof of where I got the info about falun gong, just google "falun gong".

 

Sorry. It would be a ridiculous conversation if only the people who believed in this stuff were to answer

 

Proof of where you got the info ≠ proof of veracity of said info

 

 

i don't mean to ridicule; I only ask for honesty. Do you have even the slightest first-hand evidence that there's a shred of truth to any of these claims?

 

If these things were possible, I'd love to know. But from this and a number of your other posts, I'm getting the impression that you're willfully misunderstanding what Taoist practice is actually about. These things are not possible, and the pursuit of them is a huge waste of time and energy. And that is decidedly un-Taoist.

[Michael Sternbach]

First off, there is nothing supernatural. It's just that nature includes a lot more than what many people are giving her credit for. In human nature, there are a number of possibilities inherent which are not generally recognized. As for what abilities can be achieved by particular Daoist practices, I cannot be specific because my respective training has been more in the context of Western systems. However, the shamanistic practices of all cultures have much in common, especially regarding their results. So I will mention what I know to exist and to be attainable from personal experience (especially since most posters on this thread so far are surprisingly negative about such skills in a Daoist context). This includes:

 

- Remote viewing regarding unknown places and objects

- Remote viewing regarding people, including their physical and psychological characteristics, personal history, environment, etc.

- Telepathic communication

- Healing by spiritual energy

- Foreseeing future events

- Travelling in the astral body

 

I am convinced that many other things are possible as well, but as I said, I will limit myself right now to what I know first hand.

[vonkrankenhaus]

Re:

-----

- Remote viewing regarding unknown places and objects
- Remote viewing regarding people, including their physical and psychological characteristics, personal history, environment, etc.
- Telepathic communication
- Healing by spiritual energy
- Foreseeing future events
- Travelling in the astral body

-----

 

These are actually fairly common abilities that many, many people have reported or demonstrated (both currently and throughout history), and many of these without undertaking any form of direct(ed) cultivation at all.

 

So acheiving these is more like achieving generally ordinary human functioning.

 

And yes, even that is looking like a huge step now. Because few are even doing what results in a real human being. If someone wants to experience further development than that, they will have to pass through that growth of being at least "normal" on the way.

 

If the will cannot even reach that, how could it be expected to attain further, to graduate to further developments and skills?

 

-VonKrankenhaus

[Ilkka]

So acheiving these is more like achieving generally ordinary human functioning.

Indeed, but I think more in the lines of side effects and not actually pursuing those certain abilities, which most of the people doesn't believe in, nor they need to even, because it is their choice to have their own viewpoint in physical world as they see fit. So these abilities comes with meditation practice and also dreamwork that might/would have effect to invoke these hidden abilities that everyone has. Its like muscles, in order to have more power one needs to train their muscles and also inorder to keep that power one needs to keep on training, same goes for psychic abilities, one needs to train them and keep using them or one loses them.

[Taomeow]

Something I learned when teaching someone to ride a bicycle.

 

He was a grown man who never learned how to ride a bicycle as a kid. We were practicing in an empty parking lot where there was one sign post at the far end, and a planter nearby. This man alternated between riding smack into the post or splat into the planter. Over and over again. I kept wondering why, since there was more than enough room to avoid them. He told me he keeps looking at them, trying not to lose sight of them, because he's worried about hitting them.

 

That's when I formulated the First Rule of Mastering Any Skill:

 

"If you focus on the obstacle, that's what you're going to hit."

 

So, when people say that "supernatural abilities" are yada yada yada, fill in the blanks... I ignore this completely. If I focus on "it's not real," it won't be real. If I focus on "it's not what taoism is about," it's going to be some non-taoist pursuit. If I focus on "don't go there," I'll go there. And so on.

 

What supernatural powers does a taoist develop if she does not focus on the obstacles?.. Whoa, surprise me. I can't imagine anything that can't be accomplished. If I could, it would turn into the obstacle to hit.

 

Taoism is process-oriented. That's how it differs from the goal-oriented practices. And that's how it surpasses them.

 

Hope it makes sense -- if not, carry on, I don't make obstacles to focus on of things I say that didn't make sense to anyone but me... I just say something else next.

[Rocky Lionmouth]

I thought Taoist Mystical Practices (hereafter TMP for short) were supposed to help you gain the power to be fully united with the Tao in your own living days and thereby being able to enjoy happyness and a long fulfilling life without constraining your own nature?

Happy side effects probably include an efficient economy of energy and a healthier more long-lasting body.

 

 

No but honestly, besides making cool party-tricks, what would you want superpowers for? Look at all the stories about people with superpowers, their personal lives suck without exception. Their closest friends might not even be privy to these powers because it'd freak them out. And they end up having to make impossible choices with disastrous consequences and they most often dont get paid anything else than with scorn, alienation and resentment.

Edited December 14, 2014 by Rocky Lionmouth

[Rocky Lionmouth]

Even the bad guys with all their grandiose schemes and awesome outfits have sad, lonely lives and their plans constantly get messed up because of other people with superpowers.

[Taomeow]

Traditionally, superpowers were used to help the community. E.g., I have a book of several hundred Russian spells, some of them extremely ancient and nearly all of them oral transmissions in their origin, collected over many decades, that were being used for centuries for exerting supernatural influence on the natural world. Most of them were designed to protect (people, livestock, homes), to improve health, to save lives, to bring about luck (very many for hunters' luck), to relieve pain, to get love, to stop the loved one's cheating, drinking, or being impotent -- and on and on -- every single problem, danger, difficulty has its supernatural antidote, which is how people lived throughout all of our history till very, very recently. I.e. till it was decreed by the rulers that supernatural powers must be monopolized and consolidated in their hands, leaving nothing unaccounted for in private hands. Much like Starbucks did away with mom and pop coffee shops.

 

Our rulers, in the meantime, have always been occultists, and rely on the supernatural to fetch what they're after without fail. Research the Bohemian Grove for starters, the Cremation of Care ritual and so on -- to ease your way into the simple truth of our time: the supernatural has been hijacked, taken out of public circulation, and the public was informed there ain't any such thing. A country whose recent troubles I've been following closely lost its gold reserve -- all of it -- so now there ain't any. So now they are told gold is a "six thousand year old bubble, with no intrinsic value." We are always taught to belittle things that someone has deemed too good for us to have. We are told they are worthless to begin with.

 

Think twice before discarding something you were oh so logically and so relentlessly prompted and pushed and ridiculed into discarding. You may be throwing away your gold reserve...

Edited December 14, 2014 by Taomeow

[Daeluin]

Opening the Dragon Gate (tl Cleary), ch 8:

 

As far as we can tell from written records, Chinese culture has existed for thousands of years, and its main thread, quite evidently, is Taoist culture. Over the long era of feudalism, however, the marrow of Taoist culture was officially suppressed time and again. Why? Because Taoists knew too much about heaven, earth, and humankind, so they were hard to dominate.

 

When the Qin dynasty unified China first it unified Chinese culture. All histories and documents not written by Qin officials were burned, scholars were buried, and books were destroyed. All that were left were books on medicine, divination, and forestry. Anybody who wanted to study had to be instructed by a government official. This idea of making government officials the educators was a significant invention, and it has been emulated by rulers ever since.

 

There is a notably peculiar phenomenon in the development of Chinese culture. As everyone knows whatever object exists in space must have latitude if it has longitude. The human body also has longitudes and latitudes, as mentioned earlier. These ancient books also had longitudes and latitudes; now only the longitudinal books survive, while the latitudinal books are lost. The reason for this is that after the Qin emperor burned the books, the following Han dynasty only honored Confucianism, so the "longitudinal" Confucian classics naturally were preserved, while the "latitudinal" books based on Taoist thought evolved among the populace. These latitudinal books all dealt with the strategic points of heaven, earth, and humanity; and they were subjected to government bans.

 

Similar phenomena continued to occur throughout history. From the point of view of the ruling classes, it was too dangerous to allow the peasantry to obtain the knowledge of astronomy, geography, calculation, and military science. Such books could hardly be called superstitious; feudal rulers knew what they were about, and they had their own reasons for banning such books.

 

A notable example of this is the banning of the Back Figuring charts mentioned earlier. Originally a prognostication manual, this book was a state secret; it was inaccessible not only to peasants, but even to officials below a certain rank. Eventually it leaked out to the public somehow, and in spite of official prohibitions people continued to keep secret copies. When Zhao Pu, prime minister of the first emperor of the Song dynasty, memorialized the throne about this matter, the emperor replied, "There is no need to multiply prohibitions and bans. Just scramble the internal order of the contents of the book."

 

Later on, as these scrambled copies circulated in society, the more the book was read the more confusion there was. Thus, even though everyone knows of the importance of the Back Figuring Charts, very few people can really understand the contents.

 

Another example is seen in the case of the highly successful Ming dynasty general Liu Ji. Skilled in astronomy, military science, and calculation, Liu helped the founder of the Mind dynasty wrest China back from the hands of the Mongol Khans. He also designed the enlarged capital city. When he was on his deathbed, Liu ordered his son to turn all of his books on astronomy in to the government. There had actually been an imperial edict forbidding people from keeping such books, banning private study of astronomy. This goes to show how Taoist books were not superstitious trivia.

 

So these treasures of Taoist culture have repeatedly been suppressed on account of political changes over the ages. A relatively small number of texts have survived, transmitted by various lineages and concealed in secret caves deep in the mountains. This is like a secret passed on in a family, actually a method of preserving culture, done for lack of feasible alternatives. Since the essence of Chinese culture has been preserved and transmitted in this way, in that sense it is laudable; but it is also lamentable that the transmission and development of Chinese culture have also been severely constrained in this way.

 

ch 10:

 

 

As the three old wizards taught Wang Liping each of these arts of developing knowledge, they also admonished him that these five arts are all to be practiced by means of the Way, using the arts to help people, using the arts to support the Way, using the arts to communicated the Way -- this is basic. The arts are out-growths: the Way is the main body. When one develops on the Way, intelligence opens up, and it is not hard to learn techniques. When the Way is lofty, techniques are also lofty; this principle becomes all the more evident in work on the higher vehicle.

 

Wang Liping understood what his teachers meant. Even though he was very interested in learning the arts, and he spent a lot of time and effort on them, to the end he never departed from the basic essence of the Way. Later on, Wang Liping would prove the truth of his teachers' admonitions in actual experience. When dealing with patients who are seriously ill, or when treating difficult cases without precedent, a high master instructed him in dreams, teaching him extraordinary arts and telling him how to cure the particular illness. By this time, of course, Wang Liping already had the capacity of spiritual communication.

 

After developing knowledge, the three wizards taught Wang Liping to "refine the spirit."

 

Perhaps these excerpts can help show how powerful Taoist Mystical practices can be, and how easily they can be perceived as threats by political structures. Political structures can be very delicate and it is easy for deep truths and arts to pose a threat to a government's structural choices that may go against the Way, especially if those truths become widespread.

 

Now that we have means to share and preserve knowledge, these arts are beginning to spread, but those who make use of them still must be careful to follow the Way, avoiding force, allowing time for what is powerful to integrate into the culture so that it is not treated as threatening or extreme. Following the Way is following Balance.

[Rocky Lionmouth]

Figures, i had to open my yap at superpowers and here come the cavalry making me go back on it

 

No but really, if a power can be developed and used so that it helps the people and also helps you along the Way, then money is green and so are pastures and traffic lights. I will not stand in the way of furthering the welfare and prosperity of the community, especially those less fortunate than the average fortunate person, wether by special powers or not.

Feed the poor, help your neighbour, stay the aliens invading us, everybody has their straw to add to the mound.

 

I dont mean to discredit or ridicule, i get mildly crabby when great spiritual leaders and their claimed powers come in play because the world's still a meatgrinder to most and those with the obvious powers (spiritual, military or economical) are oblivious or need everybody to abide by a few conditions like "stop being gay", "stop being muslim", "stop being of a certain ethnicity". People are under the heel all the time and the pay for their patience is poop in their face and an agonizing slow death. Cant be right. Lets all get superpowers now and knock some sense in world leaders. Willpower ourselves to their breakfast tables and have a chat. Overcrowd them telepathically and say "if you dont feed and house and care for all your homeless immediately we're all going to take turns sining annoying songs in your head for weks".

 

As you can all glimpse, i'd be a pretty awesome world leader, im ready for the coronation when you are.

 

 

Ps. Dont give me superpowers, i couldnt handle them.

Edited December 17, 2014 by Rocky Lionmouth

[Taomeow]

Figures, i had to open my yap at superpowers and here come the cavalry making me go back on it

 

No but really, if a power can be developed and used so that it helps the people and also helps you along the Way, then money is green and so are pastures and traffic lights. I will not stand in the way of furthering the welfare and prosperity of the community, especially those less fortunate than the average fortunate person, wether by special powers or not.

Feed the poor, help your neighbour, stay the aliens invading us, everybody has their straw to add to the mound.

 

I dont mean to discredit or ridicule, i get mildly crabby when great spiritual leaders and their claimed powers come in play because the world's still a meatgrinder to most and those with the obvious powers (spiritual, military or economical) are oblivious or need everybody to abide by a few conditions like "stop being gay", "stop being muslim", "stop being of a certain ethnicity". People are under the heel all the time and the pay for their patience is poop in their face and an agonizing slow death. Cant be right. Lets all get superpowers now and knock some sense in world leaders. Willpower ourselves to their breakfast tables and have a chat. Overcrowd them telepathically and say "if you dont feed and house and care for all your homeless immediately we're all going to take turns sining annoying songs in your head for weks".

 

As you can all glimpse, i'd be a pretty awesome world leader, im ready for the coronation when you are.

 

 

Ps. Dont give me superpowers, i couldnt handle them.

 

That's the thing -- like I said earlier, the powerful do use the supernatural, a lot, all the time, never stopped. I've been researching for years. Collecting books on ancient signs and symbols, studying them... then reading corporate logos and country seals and flags and all manner of insignia on all things state, military, corporate, medical like an open book of black magic. I wouldn't know where to start telling you its plot... and most people who've heard of these things heard of them from the infamous David Icke (and his now countless clones) who's on a mission to hijack anyone's budding interest and take it for a ride to the la-la land of genetically modified truths thoroughly intermixed with a crock of shit, smearing truths with shit so no one looks twice at them anymore... I dunno... try Peter Levenda, try Jordan Maxwell, i.e. a taoist and a pessimist, for a better researched and far more accurate introduction to the occult practices of the overlords.

 

And what do we have? What they told us to have -- skepticism, i.e. the "na na na na na, I'm smarter than you, I don't believe in fairy tales, conspiracies, hidden agendas, supernatural phenomena, anything not approved by my overlords for my consumption" stance -- and the badge of superiority it confers: "I'm better than you, better educated, better provided for -- look, we rule the world, you bite the dust, na na na na na." Plus the new age monkey wrench thrown into the inquiring minds. Pleiadeans, lightworkers, channels, galactic federation of this and that, angels, positive thinking, indigo children... I'm going to go rinse my... er... keyboard.

 

So, you see the world is going to hell in a basket and fast, and accerlerating -- and this proves what?.. I think it proves what I've just said. They're abusing power, we're not using it at all. They work really, really hard on becoming efficient at what they do. Do we? No, we don't. We make a joke about it and we don't make a dent. I don't mean you personally, of course. I mean "we the people." They got us good...

 

But I'm not throwing in the towel. Not yet. Not ever. I know their number. (spoiler: it's not 666....)

[Rocky Lionmouth]

That's the thing -- like I said earlier, the powerful do use the supernatural, a lot, all the time, never stopped. I've been researching for years. Collecting books on ancient signs and symbols, studying them... then reading corporate logos and country seals and flags and all manner of insignia on all things state, military, corporate, medical like an open book of black magic. I wouldn't know where to start telling you its plot... and most people who've heard of these things heard of them from the infamous David Icke (and his now countless clones) who's on a mission to hijack anyone's budding interest and take it for a ride to the la-la land of genetically modified truths thoroughly intermixed with a crock of shit, smearing truths with shit so no one looks twice at them anymore... I dunno... try Peter Levenda, try Jordan Maxwell, i.e. a taoist and a pessimist, for a better researched and far more accurate introduction to the occult practices of the overlords.

 

And what do we have? What they told us to have -- skepticism, i.e. the "na na na na na, I'm smarter than you, I don't believe in fairy tales, conspiracies, hidden agendas, supernatural phenomena, anything not approved by my overlords for my consumption" stance -- and the badge of superiority it confers: "I'm better than you, better educated, better provided for -- look, we rule the world, you bite the dust, na na na na na." Plus the new age monkey wrench thrown into the inquiring minds. Pleiadeans, lightworkers, channels, galactic federation of this and that, angels, positive thinking, indigo children... I'm going to go rinse my... er... keyboard.

 

So, you see the world is going to hell in a basket and fast, and accerlerating -- and this proves what?.. I think it proves what I've just said. They're abusing power, we're not using it at all. They work really, really hard on becoming efficient at what they do. Do we? No, we don't. We make a joke about it and we don't make a dent. I don't mean you personally, of course. I mean "we the people." They got us good...

 

But I'm not throwing in the towel. Not yet. Not ever. I know their number. (spoiler: it's not 666....)

 

Are we throwing gasoline on each others fires Taomeow?

 

I think we're reading similar stories. Mine's called "As above commands, so below lives." The symbols are there, i've seen them. It's not even a question about the morals involved, wether this or that is satanic as so many conspiracists argue, its about the fact that as you say, people are held down by all means available. All means of education are controlled everywhere because maintaining power is priority 1 through 10, later we'll look at human progress and endeavor through the lens of "how much of that cake is in it for me." and it's allowed out, watered down, broken in its core and sold as a commodity.

There are so many tai chi and yoga classes where an empty gift wrap is all they have. Why? What turned a tool for self cultivation into a commodity? Because people who are relaxed and know themselves even a little are more likely to walk away from an abusive situation. Why practice? So you can reduce your stress, change nothing in your life and be more productive. It's like "eat your vitamins".

I remember Ken Cohen talking about why soldiers stand at attention with their knees locked and spines arched: you cant walk away like that. Its a position of unresistance. Should you stand the same but with your knees and pelvis relaxed it's a whole different story. You're going to be in a position to call BS on your superiors, your field of vision will be better.

 

My god am i derailing this into a black hole...

 

[Daeluin]

Expectation is the hoary curse of humanity. -- Steven Erikson

 

When an empire's heart revolves around greed, where is the surprise in any of this?

When a greedy society yearns for healing, what shape does this take?

 

The truth is here for those who look, and is parroted widely by those who take what they want from it.

Parroted truths may miss the mark, but spread quickly.

Parroted truths may lack foundation, but invite foundation.

When the foundation appears, what was once superficial gains support and grounding.

 

This works both ways. Politicians know to address the dominant memes, harnessing the worries of the misguided with promises of manifestations that will support those fears. So easy to build a house of cards, to line up the dominoes just so.

 

Chinese Astrology functions along the lines of this "As Above Commands, So Below Lives" - the Heavenly energies are active, but unrooted. The Earthly energies are contained and dormant. When the Heavenly energies connect to the Earthly energies a bond is formed. What was dormant becomes aroused, what was intangible is given substance. Ideas are able to manifest instead of remaining as dreams. Stone becomes fertile soil and life takes form.

 

The key to this is integration. It takes time, should not be forced. The increasing popularity of "Superficial Spirituality" has great potential to become rooted in deeper truths, over time. My mother raised me doing yoga for health, but I felt called to something deeper. People need time to hear the call from their heart.

 

This landscape changes slowly. Who can judge its progress, its purpose, its place in the greater balance? Even chaos and violence have purpose in balance - if we care to promote harmony, it helps to trust that all things have their place, and to smile at them rather than frowning. Opposing negativity simply maintains negativity. Harmony is created when negativity is simply seen as a staircase one may follow up or down. Challenges take us to new levels, new layers within the tao. How can we flow like water if we reject what is lowly, stagnant, dark? When one slows down and sees clearly these things are not the obstructions they once appeared to be.

 

 

Zhuangzi, Watson:

 

Cook Ting was cutting up an ox for Lord Wen-hui. As every touch of his hand, every heave of his shoulder, every move of his feet, every thrust of his knee — zip! zoop! He slithered the knife along with a zing, and all was in perfect rhythm, as though he were performing the dance of the Mulberry Grove or keeping time to the Ching-shou music.

 

“Ah, this is marvelous!” said Lord Wen-hui. “Imagine skill reaching such heights!”

 

Cook Ting laid down his knife and replied, “What I care about is the Way, which goes beyond skill. When I first began cutting up oxen, all I could see was the ox itself. After three years I no longer saw the whole ox. And now — now I go at it by spirit and don’t look with my eyes. Perception and understanding have come to a stop and spirit moves where it wants. I go along with the natural makeup, strike in the big hollows, guide the knife through the big openings, and following things as they are. So I never touch the smallest ligament or tendon, much less a main joint.

 

“A good cook changes his knife once a year — because he cuts. A mediocre cook changes his knife once a month — because he hacks. I’ve had this knife of mine for nineteen years and I’ve cut up thousands of oxen with it, and yet the blade is as good as though it had just come from the grindstone. There are spaces between the joints, and the blade of the knife has really no thickness. If you insert what has no thickness into such spaces, then there’s plenty of room — more than enough for the blade to play about it. That’s why after nineteen years the blade of my knife is still as good as when it first came from the grindstone.

 

“However, whenever I come to a complicated place, I size up the difficulties, tell myself to watch out and be careful, keep my eyes on what I’m doing, work very slowly, and move the knife with the greatest subtlety, until — flop! the whole thing comes apart like a clod of earth crumbling to the ground. I stand there holding the knife and look all around me, completely satisfied and reluctant to move on, and then I wipe off the knife and put it away.”

 

“Excellent!” said Lord Wen-hui. “I have heard the words of Cook Ting and learned how to care for life!”

 

Edited December 17, 2014 by Daeluin

[Rocky Lionmouth]

Indeed. Its a positive outlook, its saddening that the old knowledge is fading to give rise to a void who will then be filled with that knowledge again. It seems like a human energy waste, but then again, putting energy into rediscovering things is aways gainful. Perhaps the knowledge is going from heaven to earth and the bond has yet to be reformed in the new state of things.

 

Obstructions are like libraries if you go slow enough.

 

If i were Ting i would chase those three moochers out of my vinegar stash, they didnt even deign to use a spoon!

 

Who painted it?

Edited December 18, 2014 by Rocky Lionmouth

[Spotless]

The closed door teachings are still taught and the students are utilized in high governement in China.

 

Many of these teaching are abounding now. Many of the abilities are little understood. The utility is very great even in the most passive use.

 

[ChiForce]

Chi Kung healing. Chi projection. The ability to see through the body and to diagnose illnesses. Precognition. Telepathy. Remote viewing and remote healing. Of course, you think somehow anyone can achieve all these just because you want to....you are dreaming. You better stick to the fundamentals.

[Spotless]

Chi Kung healing. Chi projection. The ability to see through the body and to diagnose illnesses. Precognition. Telepathy. Remote viewing and remote healing. Of course, you think somehow anyone can achieve all these just because you want to....you are dreaming. You better stick to the fundamentals.

These are not so hard to achieve - if taken in terms of what a college degree might take the effort is very different but the amount of time not so far off.

 

I am speaking of my own personal experience but I do not think I am so different from others - if the effort is there the gifts will emerge.

Edited January 22, 2015 by Spotless