Shen is the De, wrapped in a Personality

[dwai]

As I was reading through my teacher's notes recently, I came across this concept, which I thought I should share --

 

The soul contains the personality, the Spirit, (Shen), is the De. The soul is wrapped around the Spirit. The goal is to unwrap the soul from the Spirit, so that you are free. Free means that you can come and go as you please. Doing Taichi with the Spirit is the highest level.

 

This comes back to the concept of Dao and De, and how De really is not different from Dao. If you connect with your De, you connect with Dao.

 

Furthermore we are told, in Tai chi practice, we have to become aware of that which gives us the ability to think, feel, smell, taste, hear and see. Instead of focussing on the process of thinking, feeling, smelling, hearing, tasting or seeing, we should become aware of that which gives us the ability to do those things. That which gives us the ability to do all these things, is essentially empty, but full of potentiality. When we become aware of this "source", we are connected with the source of the universe too.

 

 

[shazlor]

Ooo thanks for sharing his note. 

 

And your quote mirrors my own experientalobservaperception, De as the unmanifest potency behind the three are ones - waiting to be tapped; Consciousness/Motion/Substance

Mind\thought-energy\matter

Spirit-a thought-an action&a cellular reaction?

- can one wield this power?

or does she wield you?

 

1 hour ago, dwai said:

That which gives us the ability to do all these things, is essentially empty, but full of potentiality. When we become aware of this "source", we are connected with the source of the universe too.

 

 

 

Here is a paper I read once which helped unwrap (..ha ha....ha...*sigh ) my head around and plunge into the concept...

 

http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp235_de_character_early_China.pdf

 

"Lin Yutang, referring to De, once wrote, “‘Character’ is a typically English word. Apart from the English, few nations have laid such stress on character in their ideal of education and manhood as the Chinese. The Chinese seem to be so preoccupied with it that in their whole philosophy they have not been able to think of anything else.”1 I suspect that what many scholars mean by “Virtue” — the most common English translation of De — is “character,” or good character. However, “character” has a wider field of reference than “virtue” tends to in English usage. 

 

Other translations/glosses have been offered, such as Power, Potency, Excellence, Integrity, Nature, Moral Charisma, Kindness, Generosity, Rewards and Gratitude. De has similarities not only with ancient Greek Aretê and Latin Virtus, but also Greek Ethos, Kharis, Kalokagathía, Dunamis, Eunoia, Chrēstotēs and Latin Bonitas, Bonum, Indoles, and Mores. All of these are accurate in some contexts, but there have been misguided attempts by many to choose a single translation or gloss and use it in every single passage, sometimes across numerous texts. This paper argues against such a simplification.

 

De is spoken of in texts of this period as something that can be present or absent, abundant or slight, high or low, bright or dark, good or bad, consistent or inconsistent. De can be accumulated, or it can be distributed and spread abroad. It can be maintained or neglected, kept intact or dissipated. De is something that can elicit changes in living things. It can be used by rulers to pacify a population and it can win the people’s hearts and minds, making people turn to them for direction. It can be used to guide and transform others. Although De is almost always attributed to human beings, the literature also shows that both Heaven and Earth have some sort of De, as does a ruling house, a government, the seasons, milfoil, roosters, jade, and alcohol, among other things.

 

Possessing De is contrasted not only to “lacking De,” but also with “physical force/strength,” “punishment,” a “baneful power,” and “ill will” or “resentment.” Accordingly, De is an attitude, disposition, temperament, concrete beneficent behavior/acts, power as well as an (other-praising) emotion, used both as a noun and a verb.

 

....

 

In the odes “High and Lofty” (Song Gao 崧高, #259) and “The Multitudes of People” (Zheng Min 烝民, #260), we hear of the De of the Elder of Shen (申伯之德) and the De of Shanfu, the second-born (仲山甫之德), respectively. The Elder of Shen’s De is described as “gentle” (Rou 柔), “kind” (Hui 惠) and “straightforward/just” (Zhi 直); Shanfu’s De as a “pattern of gentleness and pleasantness” (柔嘉維則). In these, as in the example with a negative adjective, De — character, nature, comportment — has a neutral meaning, for describing someone’s De as gentle, kind and just implies that the opposite also exists, otherwise there would be no need to explain the nature of a person’s De (i.e., it would be like saying “his kindness was kind”). Indeed, centuries later the Di 狄 people would be described as having the “De of ravenous wolves” (豺狼之德) and the De of the crown prince of Wei 衛 was once described as “naturally (disposed to) killing” (Tiansha 天殺).”92 "

 

*

• " Lieh Tzu's disciples felt convinced that there was enmity between their Master and Nan-kuo Tzu; and at last, one who had come from the Ch'u State spoke to Lieh Tzu about it, saying: 'How comes it, Sir, that you and Nan-kuo Tzu are enemies? * 'Nan-kuo Tzu,' replied the Master, 'has the appearance of fullness, but his mind is a blank.

By no means a term of disparagement, in the mouth of a Taoist. His ears do not hear, his eyes do not see, his mouth does not speak, his mind is devoid of knowledge, his body free from agitation. What would be the object of visiting him?"

 

 

 

[Daeluin]

On 3/11/2017 at 10:46 AM, dwai said:

Yuan Shen is Pure Awareness - Dao

 

Precelestial Jing, Qi, and Shen

 

Yuan jing, yuan qi, and yuan shen come from a time before father and mother conjoin. ... Jing, qi, shen have three names, but in fact they are one. "One" refers to the inchoate Origin, "three" refers to the subdivision of the Numen (fenling). "One" is the foundation (ti), "three is the operation (yong). We might say that, in the body of the inchoate Origin, what is unmixed throughout its pure Unity becomes the jing; what flows throughout its veins becomes the qi; and what moves throughout its numinous emptiness becomes the shen. They are three but it is one; it is one but they are three. When we speak of the the three superior Medicines, we mean the operation; when we speak of its being plentiful and whole, we mean the foundation. It cannot be called "three," but they cannot be called "one" either.

 

...

 

Yuan jing is like a pearl or like dew; it is pure, flawless, and unmixed, and nurtures and moistens the hundred bones. Yuan qi is like haze or like mist; it runs throughout the hundred vessels. Yuan shen is utterly numinous and utterly sacred; it rules over the ten thousand pursuits. ...

 

Precelestial Qi of True Unity.

 

Yuandu zi (Zhao Youqin) said:

The precelestial qi comes from within Empty Non-Being.

 

The Wuzhen pian says:

The Tao from Empty Non-Being generates the One Qi,

Then from the One Qi gives birth to Yin and Yang.

 

Xue Daoguang said:

There is something before Heaven and Earth,

it has no name and is fundamentally silent and still.

It is capable of ruling over the ten thousand images,

and does not decay along the course of the four seasons.

 

All these passages say that the precelestial Qi is the Ancestral Qi that generates all things. It comes from within Empty Non-Being; it is the ruler of the ten thousand images and the patriarch of Heaven and Earth; it has no form and no image; and it is soundless and scentless. "Watching, you do not see it; listening you do not hear it; grasping, you do not get it." However, although it is devoid of form it can generate forms, and although it is devoid of image it can generate images.

 

With regard to its shen, it is "the shen that is not shen"; with regard to its qi, it is the qi of True Unity; with regard to its jing, it is the jing True Unity. It is also called True Seed, Golden Elixir, and "method of not dying of the other house." It cannot be compared to the postcelestial qi of inspiration and expiration, the thinking shen, and the jing of the intercourse; and it also cannot be equated to the yuan jing, the yuan qi, and the yuan shen.

 

Yuan jing, yuan qi, and yuan shen are Yang in the postcelestial, but are Yin in the precelestial. The are different from the precelestial qi of True Unity, which is indestructible for ten thousand kalpas, transcends all things, and is "the only Honored One." Neither life nor death adhere to it, neither Being nor Non-Being are established in it. This qi is the root of the postcelestial jing, qi, and shen, and the ruler of the precelestial jing, qi, and shen. It is something of the nature of utmost Yang, the Treasure of Heaven. Those who comprehend it are few.

 

Superior De and Inferior De

 

An ancient scripture says:

Superior de has no doing: there is nothing whereby it does.

Inferior de does: there is something whereby it does.

 

Another scripture says:

Superior de keeps one's form intact by means of the Tao.

Inferior de extends one's mint by means of a technique.

 

Both passages say that superior de and inferior de differ in status, and that their operation is also not the same.

 

Essentially, in superior de one's body is intact and one's de is full, and the Yang of Qian ☰ has never been damaged. "Never been damaged" means that the precelestial Yang has never been damaged; it does not mean that the postcelestial body has not lost its integrity. When the Yang of Qian is plentiful, with a pure and flawless perfect jing and an inchoate One Qi, the five agents gather together and the four images join in harmony. All of the precious things are intact.

 

Without a method for protecting and guarding this, the Yang necessarily culminates and generates the Yin; wholeness culminates and becomes lacking. Those who know this hasten to seek the oral instructions of an enlightened master. Without waiting for the birth of Yin, they use the method of "keeping one's form intact by means of the "Tao." They set the natural True Fire in motion, and refine the Yin breath of the entire body; they use the Yin instead of  being used by the Yin, and achieve efficacy in the postcelestial. When the Yin is exhausted and the Yang is pure, they live a long life free from death.

 

As for inferior de, after the Yang culminates and the Yin is born, the precelestial is dispersed. The five agents are divided from one another, the four images are not in harmony, and all of the precious things are lost. If you cultivate this state by the way of "non-doing," it would be as if in the tripod there is no Seed; what is the purpose of using water and fire to boil an empty pot? You must "steal Yin and Yang," "seize creation and transformation," and return from the postcelestial to the precelestial. Only then can that old thing from times past be recovered: it had gone but now it returns, and comes again into your complete possession.

 

After you recover that original thing and the foundation of your ming is firm, you should again set up the furnace and the tripod, and perform the way of non-doing. By "nourishing warmly" the Embryo of Sainthood (shengtai), in ten months the qi becomes plentiful, and you deliver the dharma-body (fashen). Then this road has led to the same destination as superior de.

 

...

...

 

From this we know that superior de and inferior de are not to be considered with regard to the postcelestial, but with regard to the precelestial. When the precelestial is intact, that is superior de., and when the precelestial is lacking, that is inferior de. This is the proper conclusion.

 

Then there are those who do not understand the Great Tao. They either say that ming is more important and xing is less important, or that xing is more important and ming is less important. This is all wrong. Xing and ming must be cultivated together, but in the practice there should be two stages. In superior de, there is no need to  cultivate ming, and one just cultivates xing: when xing is fulfilled, then ming is also fulfilled. In inferior de, one must first cultivate ming and then cultivate xing; after ming is fulfilled, one must also fulfill xing.  Fulfilling ming is "doing," fulfilling xing is "non-doing."

 

The Ways of "doing" and "non-doing" are established to provide a starting point to those who possess superior de or inferior de. When one comes to fully achieving the Great Tao, not only does the operation of "doing" not apply, but also the operation of "non-doing" does not apply. When one reaches the highest step there is a different wondrous operation, but it does not pertain to either "doing" or "non-doing."

 

...

The relative status of xing and ming entirely derives from the distinction between superior de and inferior de.

 

Liu Ming's xiuzhen houbian

tl Fabrizio Pregadio in Cultivating the Dao

[Daeluin]

So Liu Yiming's perspective here is interesting, and perhaps sees some differences in word definition when compared with the path of three barriers: Refining Jing to transmute it into Qi, refining Qi to transmute it into Shen, refining Shen to return to Emptiness.

 

In this path, as one enters into the stage of refining Qi to transmute it into Shen, one has learned how to cultivate the Golden Elixir, or Precelestial Qi of True Unity from above, which according to Liu Yiming above has already gone beyond the level of yuan shen. In this stage one nurtures the reverted elixir into the great elixir - creates and incubates the immortal embryo. This seems like the stage of non-doing and superior de from above, and works toward the completion of the embyro.

 

After this intermediate barrier, the "two return to one" and there will only be the One Spirit (yishen), and one will progress to the higher barrier. In both systems this appears to be the stage of "nine years" and so on.

 

In any case, I've found it helpful here to find just a little clarification on some of the different terminologies used by different systems. Otherwise it might indeed be confusing!

 

Also, as to the idea of the soul being wrapped around the shen and unwrapping it to become free. We have the five organ shen, which include the hun and the po also known as the upper soul and lower soul. The work at the initial barrier is to accomplish "doing" to return to the precelestial state so that the five organ shen are not only unwrapped, but reverse their diffraction to return to one:

 

When the four images join one another, and when the five agents gather together, then Jing, Qi, and Shen coagulate and coalesce one with the other. Therefore it says "the three families see one another." This is called the Infant, the One Qi prior to Heaven, the Embyro of Sainthood, the Golden Elixir.

 

The 3 families here also refers to the numerology of the five elements. Five represents the center and earth. One (water) plus four (metal) = five. Two (fire) plus three (wood) = five. The three fives are able to merge as one.

 

The "yishen," or complete embryo, does seem like a good comparison to superior de. After that is returning it to dao.

 

Thanks for the thread and sorry for my confusion, this has been helpful for me!

And of course Sifu gave a lecture on spiritual freedom tonight.

 

excerpts from Fabrizio Pregadio's translations:

Cultivating the Tao

Foundations of Internal Alchemy

[voidisyinyang]

Quote

Yuan jing, yuan qi, and yuan shen are Yang in the postcelestial, but are Yin in the precelestial. The are different from the precelestial qi of True Unity, which is indestructible for ten thousand kalpas, transcends all things, and is "the only Honored One." Neither life nor death adhere to it, neither Being nor Non-Being are established in it. This qi is the root of the postcelestial jing, qi, and shen, and the ruler of the precelestial jing, qi, and shen. It is something of the nature of utmost Yang, the Treasure of Heaven. Those who comprehend it are few.

 

This is a crucial key secret in the training - what Zong Gong calls the "golden key" of "yin matter" that is superluminal.

 

I saw http://springforestqigong.com in full lotus making individualized spirits to heal each person - they formed on the top of his head - shaped as a human - each breaking off and floating out to heal a person. This is from the full lotus meditation embodying the Emptiness. At this stage also ghosts as yin shen go to get healed by the qigong master.

 

So Yuan Shen are individualized to each person in their body - but as Yan Xin did his healing - the person needs to have sympathetic resonance by turning their own light around to go into the Emptiness as a "virtual information" field as Yan Xin called it. This is a spacetime vortex.