Xuanpin – Mysterious Female

[Geof Nanto]

There’s plenty of discussion on this forum and elsewhere of contemporary neidan cultivation as knowable, systemised process – difficult for sure, but doable for those who dedicate themselves to it. And that’s all excellent as far as it goes – it makes it accessible and gives definite forms that can be described, discussed and practised – yet at its heart neidan is a mystery tradition.  And no way can that be easily discussed. It can only be hinted at. In the posts below I want to present some such imagery that I find personally meaningful. For me, the Christian and other Western imagery in my posts that follow the initial Daoist ones serve to enrich and deepen the Daoist insights.

 

(Please don’t add any comments until I’ve added some further posts below this one. In any case, I present the topic more as something for contemplation rather than discussion. Although I include intellectual commentary, it’s meant as a way to explore the spiritual depths of content that’s meant to be felt with the heart and to find parallels within one’s own inner experience. These concepts can only ever be soft-edged and fluid, not hard-edged and fixed, and will disappoint anyone who approaches them looking for intellectual understanding or clear practice guidelines.)  

 

Xuanpin from the Golden Elixir website: https://www.goldenelixir.com/jindan/ill_xuanpin.htm

 

The xuanpin (a term derived from the Daodejing, verse 6) is an emblem of the conjunction of the male and female principles. "Mysterious" (xuan) refers to Heaven (Yang), and "Female" (pin) refers to Earth (Yin).

 

The trigrams within the two circles are Li ☲ (Yang containing True Yin) and Kan ☵ (Yin containing True Yang).

 

The text surrounding the picture says:

 

(1) Top: "Chart of the Mysterious-Female".

 

(2) Right and left of the picture: "Gather the solid [line] from the center in the position of Kan ☵ / Transmute by projection the innermost Yin in the palace of Li ☲." (Two verses from the Wuzhen pian, or Awakening to Reality.)

 

(3) Bottom: "Valley of Empty Non-Being — Root of Heaven and Earth — Mystery and then again Mystery — Gate of All Wonders". (The last two phrases derive from the Daodejing, verse 1.)

[Geof Nanto]

From the Encyclopedia of Taoism:

 

Xuanpin – Mysterious Female

 

Xuanpin is a well-known but enigmatic term first found in Daodejing 6, which states that the Mysterious Female is "the Spirit of the Valley is the root of Heaven (gushen) [that] does not die," and that "its gate….[is] the root of Heaven and Earth." The first chapter of the Liezi equates the Mysterious Female with the transcendental origin that generates things without being generated, and changes them without being changed.

 

Neidan alchemists take the Mysterious Female as the foundation of their art and give it the attributes of Ultimate Truth: like the Dao, they say, there is nothing inside nor outside of it. The Mysterious Female is also the Original Qi (yuanqi), the "full awakening" (yuanjue), and the supreme Non-being that evolves into supreme Being.

 

 As a symbol of the Center, it is also called Mysterious Valley (xuangu), Mysterious Pass (xuanguan), Heart of Heaven (tianxin), or Heart (Xin), and is a synonym of the Yellow Dame (huangpo) or the Yellow Court {huangting). It is said to be an opening similar to those made in the body of Emperor Hundun (Chaos) in the anecdote of the Zhuangzi.

 

As a "gate," the xuanpin is a passageway, an entrance situated at the junction of Non-being and Being; it allows Yin and Yang to communicate with each other, and is the place where Yang opens and Yin closes. Indeed, this gate is dual, just as the Center is in Taoism, and therefore suggests the dynamic bipolarity of the world: Xuan, the Mystery, is equated with Heaven, and pin, the Female, with Earth. On the cosmic level, the Mysterious Female stands for what is above and what is below, and is represented by the trigrams qian (pure Yang) and kun (pure Yin). In alchemical language, it is the tripod and the furnace (dinglu), one above (qian or Yang) and the other below (kun or Yin).

 

Some Daoist authors distinguish between an inner Mysterious Female, equated with the Real Qi (zhenqi) and an outer one, equated with the Real Spirit (zhenshen) that "repairs" (bu) the Real Qi; these are also called the inner and outer Medicines (neiyao and waiyao). In term of psycho-physiological entities, the Mysterious Female represents the conjunction of spirit and body. On the bodily level, there have been several interpretations. Following the Laozi Heshang gong zhangju, some authors say xuan alludes to the nose, which corresponds to Heaven, and pin to the mouth which corresponds to Earth. Other texts equate xuan with the upper Cinnabar Field (dantian) or the sinciput, and pin with the lower one near the navel. Still others state that xuanpin designates the space between the two kidneys or the two openings of the heart, which respectively communicate with niwan above and the Ocean of Qi (qihai) below. Neidan writings, however, usually claim that the xuanpin cannot be exactly located in the body: like the Center itself, it has no shape, no direction, and no fixed position.

[Geof Nanto]

What I get from the above descriptions of xuanpin is that it’s something powerfully vital to inner cultivation but totally inexpressible with words. Ultimately “it has no shape, no direction, and no fixed position”.  Like the Dao itself it is mysterious (xuan). Hence the elusive poetic language of many alchemical texts.  Taomeow evoked it well when she recently wrote:  “the experience [of the true self] is of a kind of interplay between the changing and the unchanged, the created and the uncreated, opening-closing, movement-stillness, wuji-taiji, Xiantian and Houtian, form/substance and no form/no substance, being/nonbeing, manifesting/the unmanifest, individual/universal, and so on.  Also, it is an interplay of the energies of the world – an all-encompassing power equal to the power of creation, of nature, of tao itself.” 

 

Xuanpin, the conception-portal the true self. I suspect we all have glimpsed it in our own different ways. For me, as a heterosexual and heterospiritual person, this song of Leonard Cohen’s beautifully evokes something of it:  

 

 

Light as the Breeze  ~  Leonard Cohen

She stands before you naked

You can see it, you can taste it

And she comes to you light as the breeze

Now you can drink it or you can nurse it

It don't matter how you worship

As long as you're

Down on your knees

 

So I knelt there at the delta

At the alpha and the omega

At the cradle of the river and the seas

And like a blessing come from heaven

For something like a second

I was healed and my heart

Was at ease

 

Ah baby I waited

So long for your kiss

For something to happen

Oh something like this

 

And you're weak and you're harmless

And you're sleeping in your harness

And the wind going wild

In the trees

And it ain't exactly prison

But you'll never be forgiven

For whatever you've done

With the keys

 

Ah baby I waited

So long for your kiss

For something to happen

Oh something like this

 

It's dark now and it's snowing

O my love I must be going

The river has started to freeze

And I'm sick of pretending

I'm broken from bending

I've lived too long on my knees

 

Then she dances so graceful

And your heart's hard and hateful

And she's naked

But that's just a tease

And you turn in disgust

From your hatred and from your love

And she comes to you

Light as the breeze

 

Ah baby I waited

So long for your kiss

For something to happen

Oh something like this

Something like this

 

There's blood on every bracelet

You can see it, you can taste it

And it's "Please, baby

Please baby please"

And she says, "Drink deeply, pilgrim

But don't forget there's still a woman

Beneath this

Resplendent chemise"

 

So I knelt there at the delta

At the alpha and the omega

I knelt there like one who believes

And the blessings come from heaven

And for something like a second

I'm cured and my heart

Is at ease

[Geof Nanto]

The following is commentary on the song which I found on the web. I like it because of its parallels with xuanpin imagery. Cohen, finding inspiration for his external art of creating prayer-like songs through connection with xuanpin as the Muse; the Neidan practitioner likewise but internally creating of the Golden Elixir, the true self:    

 

Light as the Breeze – While these lyrics draw heavily on images of a relationship between a man and a woman, they are not about sex or the relationship between a man and a woman any more than Moby Dick is a story about fishing.

This song is about the creative process:

 

O baby I waited

So long for your kiss

For something to happen

Oh, something like this.

 

In this refrain, Cohen is talking about waiting for the “kiss” of inspiration from the creative Muse that resulted in these lyrics. The medium is truly the message here since the lyrics are about the creative process that goes into writing these very same lyrics.

In stanza one (my references here are to each stanza as they appear excluding the above refrain) when the creative muse is present, she provides access to “the universe” (or “intention” or “spirit” or “the mind of God”) without pretence – she appears before you naked but she is ephemeral and elusive – she’s “light as the breeze.” How great or small the insights you get when she opens this portal are up to you but you must recognize who’s in charge – you must be humble.

 

In stanza 2, Cohen kneels “…at the delta / At the alpha and omega” with all its imagery of female anatomy and its references to the cradle of civilization both of which conjure up images of creation and birth. This is where things are created and this is where things end – this is the creative portal. Through this portal, “For something like a second” he is cured and his heart is at ease – he gets the gift of creative access for which he has forgone so much and in which he has invested so much and, as brief as the inspiration is relative to all that he has to go through to receive it, it’s worth it.

 

The reference to “sleeping in your harness” in stanza three refers to the trappings of everyday life that wall you off from the creative process. Wordsworth said in Ode, Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood:

 

“Earth [the temporal, natural world] doth all she can

 To make her foster-child, her Inmate Man,

Forget the glories he hath known,

And that imperial palace whence he came.”

 

We sleep-walk in our everyday life while the rich flow of creativity with all its symbolism, insights and meaning is “…the wind going wild in the trees.” Like Wordsworth’s “inmate Man” mankind is not exactly in prison but, like the concept of original sin, we will never be forgiven for losing touch with our spiritual nature – we lost the key.

Stanza four recognizes the agony of the creative process where long stretches of effort yield no result – the creative flow is freezing over and Cohen is frustrated.

 

In Stanza five, the creative muse appears again, naked and apparently ready to give Cohen what he wants but that’s just a tease – she’s in control of the process and doesn’t always deliver, even when she makes an appearance. Cohen turns angrily from the muse and the creative process which is both his passion and the bane of his existence. Just as he is giving up, totally discouraged, she appears again, ready to inspire him – she cannot be summoned, she comes and goes as she pleases.

 

In stanza 6, Cohen acknowledges he is a captive to the creative process. The blood on every bracelet may be his blood – the result of subjugating his temporal needs to his pursuit of spiritual or creative enlightenment (“…things undone, worldly activities not attended to…” – from Wordsworth). The muse encourages him to “drink deeply, pilgrim” which, while a religious reference to the Christian sacrament of holy communion is also, in the context of these lyrics, the process of receiving the “sacrament” of creativity (or Spirit). As with the Christian practice of receiving Holy Communion, one must be in a state of “grace” to partake of the creative process which is a fragile one and easily ended if taken for granted.

 

Stanza 7 is a repeat of Stanza 2 followed by the fourth repeat of the refrain to hammer home the reminder that these lyrics are about the process of creating these same lyrics: “O baby I waited / So long for your kiss / For something to happen / Oh, something like this.” And again, Cohen reminds us in Stanza 7 that as brief as the inspiration is relative to all that he gives up to get it, it’s worth it.

 

As long as this creative process results in lyrics like those in this song, I wholeheartedly agree: it’s well worth the effort.

 

[Geof Nanto]

Commentary from the Leonard Cohen Files website:

 

“LIGHT AS THE BREEZE" AND GREAT AS THE GODDESS: Pagan Imagery in the Work of a Modern Troubadour by Heidi Nelson Hochenedel, Ph.D.

 

Leonard Cohen's song, "Light as the Breeze," from The Future, is a rich and complex poem drawing from a variety of religious and literary traditions. This poem is particularly interesting because it combines images of spiritual devotion and sexual passion. One of its most striking characteristics is the portrayal of the feminine as divine. The subject may or may not believe that the beloved is a goddess, but his devotion to her is comparable to the experience of a believer worshiping his deity. The subject's sexual love is a form of religious and spiritual worship. As we shall see, Cohen borrows images from Jewish, Christian, and Pagan traditions and incorporates them into a poem reminiscent of a twelfth-century troubadour canzone (1).

 

The first stanza begins with a description in the second person (2). The voice seems to report the experience of another person (presumably the reader), which suggests that he expects the reader to identify with the description. The voice describes a specific personal experience, which is at the same time common place and ubiquitous.

 

She stands before you naked
you can see it, you can taste it
but she comes to you light as the breeze
You can drink it or you can nurse it
it don't matter how you worship
as long as you're
down on your knees.

 

This stanza can be read both literally and metaphorically. Either a woman actually stands naked before the subject or he experiences a vivid fantasy of this image. In any case, the vision is so intense that the subject can actually see and taste the presence of the woman. If she is present only in his mind, she is ethereal and genuinely "light as the breeze." The reader has a choice between absorbing the vision slowly or immersing himself in it. ("You can drink it or you can nurse it, it don't matter how you worship, as long as you're down on your knees.") Clearly, the image of the woman is both erotic and spiritual. This stanza is intriguing because it suggests that sexual arousal can be a form of worship. Such ideas seem blasphemous from a Judeo-Christian perspective, but they were quite pervasive in twelfth-century Southern France, where the troubadours wrote poems venerating their ladies and worshipping Venus, the goddess of love. Andrea Hopkins writes:

 

In the poetry of the troubadours love was often celebrated in quasi-religious terms, with the beloved woman being venerated as an object of worship, and much emphasis on the torments suffered by the lover. They invented a religious cult of love, with its own deities- Venus and Cupid- and its own temples, rites, prayers, priests, and commandments. It was truly revolutionary because it placed women, who technically had no power in medieval society, in a position of complete dominance over their lovers. The beloved lady is the master, and the poet- even if in real life he was a great lord- is her servant, her humble supplicant. The poems express the poet's homage to his lady as if she were his feudal lord.... The goal aspired to in these love affairs is sometimes a platonic, spiritual union with the beloved, and sometimes a more physical one....On the face of it, for a poet to sleep with his lord's wife and then to write poems about it would be incredibly dangerous.... And yet it is clear from contemporary records that the writing of these love poems was seen to confer great "honor" and "worth" upon both the poet and the lady (3).

 

Although Hopkins describes the phenomenon of courtly love as "revolutionary," it almost certainly had its roots in pre-Christian European goddess religions. The discovery of many female figurines (many times more than male figurines) from the Upper Paleothic period (4) have led scholars to believe that goddess worship was widespread in Europe (5). In these ancient cultures, women had a dominant role because sexuality and motherhood were considered sacred and the Earth (the Mother Goddess) was the principle deity. Christianity spread throughout Europe but vestiges of pagan traditions (often characterized by goddess worship) persisted. The cult of Mary is one example of Christianized goddess worship and it is certainly no accident that most Christian holidays (including Christmas and Easter) were scheduled to coincide with pagan feast days. The songs of the troubadours also betray a goddess worshipping heritage.

 

Christianity, at first brought little change. Peasants saw in the story of Christ only a new version of their own ancient tales of the Mother Goddess and her divine child, who is sacrificed and reborn. Country priests often led the dance at the Sabbats, or the great festivals....Persecution began slowly. The twelfth and thirteenth centuries saw a revival of aspects of the Old Religion by the troubadours, who wrote love poems to the Goddess (6)

 

Like the troubadours, the voice in Cohen's poem describes the naked woman in conspicuously religious terms and regards her (or his love for her) as a deity to whom he is subjected. The blessings he receives are reminiscent of the "merci" shown to the troubadours by their ladies. For the troubadours, true love always involved immoderate longing and suffering. Canzones were rarely about the beloved (who was generally distant and uninvolved), and focused primarily on the torments endured by the lover. In a style which is both ancient and modern, Cohen's poem incorporates all of these characteristics and artfully depicts the painful and pervasive experience of being in love.

 

It is significant that the goddess/woman's movement is described as "light as the breeze." Cohen's goddess is not the first to manifest herself as moving air. The Jewish God too, came to his servant, Job, in the form of a whirlwind (7). In this story, Satan claims that Job's faithfulness is merely a result of his prosperity, saying that if his fortune should change he would forsake the Lord. To disprove Satan's claims, God sends several plagues on Job and his household. Although his wife urges Job to "curse God and die," he remains faithful.

 

Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped. And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. (Job 1:20-21) (8).

 

Finally the Lord comes to Job in the form of a whirlwind, explaining that mere mortals cannot understand His ways. Job is rewarded for his suffering with blessings from heaven. The process described in Cohen's poem is very similar. Like the Hebrew God, the goddess/woman comes to the worshiper as moving air or breath to assuage his torments. Although he, like Job, suffers because of her, he is unable to turn away. Job remains faithful to God out of blind love whereas the subject in Cohen's poem seems to do so out of emotional need, which suggests that faithfulness and dependance are identical.

 

The second stanza spells out quite plainly that the subject's romantic/ sexual love is indistinguishable from spiritual love. The woman (or more precisely, the vision of the woman) in Cohen's poem represents a spiritual presence. Although this presence is less forceful than Job's whirlwind god, it is certainly not less powerful.

 

So I knelt there at the delta
at the alpha and the omega
at the cradle of the river
and the seas
And like a blessing come from heaven
for something like a second
I was healed, and my heart
was at ease.

Oh baby I waited so long for your kiss
For something to happen,
oh for something like this.

 

The subject kneels at the delta because it is the temple of the deity, the Alpha and the Omega or God (9). God is both the beginning and the end, and the delta, the end of the river and the beginning of the ocean, symbolizes God's essence. A delta is also a triangle, which may represent the shape of female genitalia. The deltoid vulva is the mouth of the womb and the source of human life. Pre-Christian goddess worshipers considered the womb and vulva sacred. and many sculptures of female reproductive organs have been found from the Upper Paleolithic period (10). The womb is a sacred image in both pagan and Judeo-Christian belief systems. As we have seen, Job sees the earth as the great womb from which he was born and to which he will return. The earth (the mother goddess) represents the beginning and the end of all life. Cohen's "delta" may also refer to the great goddess or the earth itself .

 

In the refrain, which is written in the first person, it becomes clear what the goddess/woman must do to "cure" her worshipper; a simple kiss is all that is necessary to relieve his suffering. Unfortunately the "cure" lasts for only "for something like a second," generating a greater longing that can never be satisfied. Moreover, as in the case of Job, the deity (represented by either the woman or the subject's love for her) causes the suffering by withholding these "blessings." The next stanza, which reverts back to the second person, describes the feeling of entrapment caused by this addiction to "blessings."

 

And you're weak and you're harmless
And you're sleeping in your harness
and the wind going wild
in the trees
And it's not exactly prison
but you'll never be forgiven
for whatever you've done with the keys

 

The image of the wind in the trees evokes the vision of the goddess/ woman, whose movement was first described as "light as the breeze." In this stanza, she is outside and separate from the worshiper, manifesting herself as a strong wind, like the one that came to Job. The subject, however, is unable to be with her because he is too weak to escape from his "harness," an obvious metaphor for an obstacle to communion with the beloved. Strangely enough, this condition seems to be voluntary; he has locked himself up and takes full responsibility for having either lost or thrown away the keys. Perhaps the "key" represents the resolve to curse the woman and to let his need for her die. More plausibly the "key" would release him from his harness (or remove the obstacle) that separates him from her. In any case, it is clear that because of an obstacle he has chosen not to remove, he can not go to her.

 

The next stanza reverts back to the first person and describes the weather and landscape of a cold winter's night.

 

It's dark and it's snowing
I've got to be going
St. Lawrence River
is starting to freeze
And I'm sick of pretending
I'm broken from bending
I've lived too long on my knees

 

The images of winter, night, and the freezing river evoke the idea of death. On the album Cohen sings "Oh my love, I must be going " instead of "I've got to be going," suggesting that he is with the beloved but the environment she has created is so bleak and inhospitable that it is impossible to endure. The worshiper, who is as broken and tormented as Job, is clearly resentful for having spent so much time and energy "on his knees" worshipping a goddess, who rewards his efforts with coldness and distance. Significantly, the voice also expresses that he is "sick of pretending." The verb "to pretend" can mean either "to profess" or "to feign," but current usage seems to favor the latter definition. Perhaps the speaker is tired of pretending not to resent the indifference of a cold and distant goddess. At this point he seems ready to abandon his chilly "love."

 

And she dances so graceful
and your heart's hard and hateful
and she's naked
but that's just a tease
And you turn in disgust
from your hatred and from your love
and she comes to you
light as the breeze.

Oh baby I waited so long for your kiss
for something to happen
oh for something like this.

 

In this stanza the subject's ambiguous emotions are described. The beloved is beautiful and she looks available, but she is as inaccessible as ever, which may be both the source of his hatred and love for her. At the moment that he turns away, she comes to him with her blessings.

 

The next stanza is one of the most interesting because it evokes images of vampirism, blood sacrifice, forgiveness, and redemption.

 

There's blood on every bracelet
you can see it, you can taste it
and it's Please baby
please baby please
And she says, Drink deeply, pilgrim
but don't forget there's still a woman
beneath this
resplendent chemise

 

The reference to bracelets may be connected to ancient goddess figurines, whose arms were usually adorned with decorative bracelets (11). The blood on the bracelets may allude to the sacrificial blood of Christ, who died to redeem humanity. One of the most interesting aspects of Christianity is that Christ represents both God and the sacrificial Lamb of God. It is believed that His body and blood redeem the world from eternal damnation. His sacrifice, in the form of the Eucharist, is the spiritual food of Christians. The subject's need to drink the beloved's blood (a metaphor for accepting her sacrifice), is comparable to a Catholic's need to ingest the Eucharist. In Cohen's poem, the worshiper discerns that the beloved has made a sacrifice for his salvation, and, as in the case of Christ, this sacrifice is symbolized by blood. Like Christ, she invites the "pilgrim" to "drink deeply," although she suggests that her resources could be drained because she is a mortal woman clothed in the garments ("the resplendent chemise") of a goddess. Like Christ, she is both human and divine. Perhaps she is divine only from the perspective of the worshiper.

 

The line "Please baby, please baby, please" declares the subject's hungering need for salvation from the torments of life apart from the beloved. It is not enough that she shower him with blessings, she must sacrifice herself because anything less would not demonstrate a great enough love. If the deity does not suffer, the worshipper cannot be saved. This idea is emblematic of Christianity and is expressed in John's first epistle.

 

God is love. In this love of God was manifested to us, that God sent his only son into the world, so that we might have life through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he has loved us and sent his son as an expiation for our sins. (I JN. 4.8-10)

 

The last stanza describes the result of the worshiper's communion with the beloved. It is very similar to the second stanza, but in it he professes his faith.

 

So I knelt there at the delta
at the alpha and the omega
I knelt there
like one who believes
and like a blessing come from heaven
for something like a second
I was cured, and my heart
was at ease.

 

Significantly, the subject says that "I knelt there like one who believes." This suggests that in general, he does not identify himself with the believers, but after the beloved's sacrifice, he does believe. One has the impression that the experience has come full circle and that the cycle is destined to repeat itself. After the goddess/ woman makes her sacrifice, the worshiper believes in her love and her ability to "save" him. Once again, he kneels at the delta, which symbolizes the Alpha and the Omega. Again, he is cured only "for something like a second." This implies that his desire is only piqued by her sacrifice and he is not fully satisfied.

 

Her blessings temporarily relieve his pain, but like her presence, they are ephemeral. When more is not offered, he will find himself separated from her. As a result, he will become consumed with both desire and resentment. At this point he will turn away from her, falling into a metaphorical state of sin. For Christians, sin is separation and estrangement from God and is described as spiritual death. In Cohen's poem, the subject's spiritual death is represented by being caught in a harness while the deity (represented by the wind) is outside. The cold winter night by the freezing St. Lawrence river also portrays spiritual death. Finally, in her infinite mercy, the goddess/ woman will return to the sinner as light as the breeze. Her sacrifice, identified by the blood on her bracelets, will assuage the subject's heart for something like a second, whereupon the process will begin again.

 

Footnotes:

1) Canzones were lyric poems set to music and written in Provencal or early Italian. These poems expressed the ideal of courtly love, which developed during the twelfth century in France. The code of courtly love, which became a paragon for aristocratic behavior in Europe throughout the Middle Ages, celebrated intense and idealized sexual passion, usually between an unmarried man and a married woman.

2) The perspective of the poem alternates between first and second person, yet it is clear from the context that both subjects refer to the same person. The use of two subjects conveys the universality of the experience described in this poem.

3) Andrea Hopkins, The Book of Courtly Love (HarperSanFrancisco: Singapore, 1994), pp.10-11

4) The Upper Palaeolithic period began about 35,000 years ago and is characterized by the use of flint, stone, tools, hunting, fishing, and gathering.

5) Theodore Ludwig, The Sacred Paths: Understanding the Religions of the World (Simon and Schuster: New Jersey, 1996), pg.30.

6) Starhawk, The Spiral Dance (HarperSanFrancisco: New York, 1989), pg. 19.

7) Deities may manifest themselves as air because they represent the "breath of life. "And the Lord formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." (Gen 2:7)

8) This excerpt from the Bible is interesting because it suggests that Job sees the Earth as the mother Goddess- the womb of all life, from whence all things are born and to whom all things return in death.

9) "I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." (Rev.1:8)

10) The Sacred Paths: Understanding the Religions of the World, pg. 30.

11)The Sacred Paths, pg. 30.

 

 

Edited March 22, 2021 by Yueya

[Geof Nanto]

OK. That’s all from me for this opening series of posts.  The above content is not meant as anything definitive…..just trying to hint at something elusive that I feel within myself as the vital core at the heart of neidan as a creative spiritual art. 

Edited May 5, 2021 by Yueya

[Geof Nanto]

A poem, xuanpin born, by William Butler Yeats:

 

 

THE SONG OF THE WANDERING AENGUS

 

I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.

 

When I had laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire aflame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And someone called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.

 

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.

 

(Aengus, an Eros, is the god of love and beauty from the Celtic mythology of Ireland and Scotland.) 
 

[Sketch]

  On 4/13/2021 at 9:19 PM, Yueya said:

A poem, xuanpin born, by William Butler Yeats:

 

 

THE SONG OF THE WANDERING AENGUS

 

I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.

 

When I had laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire aflame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And someone called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.

 

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.

 

(Aengus, an Eros, is the god of love and beauty from the Celtic mythology of Ireland and Scotland.) 
 

Story of my life.

[Geof Nanto]

  On 4/13/2021 at 10:06 PM, Sketch said:

Story of my life.

 

Yes, for me too. The best insight I’ve gained into this is from Carl Jung with his concept of the anima – the feminine soul of a hetero-spiritual man. (Conversely, a hetero-spiritual woman has a masculine soul which he called her animus.) These are archetypal forces and hence can never be known because they are the living ‘building blocks’ of our psyche.  We can only feel their effects acting from within ourselves. And for me, that anima effect has been the most powerful driving force in my life – and far and away the most meaningful one too.  

 

When the anima is projected outwards onto a woman, then ‘she’ entangles us in the world of illusion. (And, of course, also makes it impossible to see the woman as the person she is.)  Yet for me, and for most people who are destined to walk this path, that’s the only way forward; obsessive love the only way to connect with this vital source of life and wholeness, our soul. 

 

Here’s a heartfelt lament of where projecting the anima outwards can lead: 

 

 

Townes Van Zandt - Rex's Blues

 

Ride the blue wind high and free
She'll lead you down through misery
Leave you low, come time to go
Alone and low as low can be

And if I had a nickel, I'd find a game
If I won a dollar, I'd make it rain
If it rained an ocean, I'd drink it dry
And lay me down dissatisfied

It's legs to walk and thoughts to fly
Eyes to laugh and lips to cry
A restless tongue to classify
All born to grow and grown to die

So tell my baby I said so long
Tell my mother I did no wrong
Tell my brother to watch his own
Tell my friends to mourn me none

Chained upon the face of time
Feeling full of foolish rhyme
There ain't no dark till something shines
I'm bound to leave this dark behind

Ride the blue wind high and free
She'll lead you down through misery
Leave you low, come time to go
Alone and low as low can be

 

 

That’s ‘her’ power; can lead to suicide. But, for me, Jung’s and Daoist alchemical insights have shown me the way forward; of how the manifestation of this archetypal force can be transmuted into my inner guide. Projected outwards the anima is ultimately destructive; found inwardly she becomes the only true guide into the beautiful and savage world of the divine: 

 

Ride the wild wind high and free
She'll lead you out of misery

 

Easy to understand in theory;  a long yet deeply meaningful struggle for me to begin to actualise as real inner experience. 

 

 

Edited May 5, 2021 by Yueya

[Geof Nanto]

I’ve mentioned previously how helpful and complementary to neidan I find some of the insights of Western alchemy. In that light, below is an excellent overview of the stages of alchemical transmutation using Biblical and Pagan imagery rather than our familiar Chinese cosmology. It is an extract from a letter, found by Carl Jung, which the English theologian and alchemist, John Pordage (1607–1681), wrote to his soror mystica (mystical sister) Jane Leade. In it he gives her spiritual instruction concerning the opus (alchemical work).

 

I assume anyone with knowledge of neidan, and especially those practitioners such as myself who feel an affinity with Liu Yiming’s teachings, will recognise many parallels and, hopefully, find them enriching. Considering they have no ming practice as we understand it, I find it remarkable how this account begins with the significance of the lower dantian. And of particular relevance to my previous posts is that the love-fire of the Divine Venus (Pure yin?) is seen as the secret key for opening the xuanpin.

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

This sacred furnace, this Balneum Mariae, this glass phial, this secret furnace, is the place, the matrix or womb, and the centre from which the divine Tincture [Golden Elixir] flows forth from its source and origin. Of the place or abode where the Tincture has its home and dwelling I need not remind you, nor name its name, but I exhort you only to knock at the foundation. Solomon tells us in his Song that its inner dwelling is not far from the navel, which resembles a round goblet filled with the sacred liquor of the pure Tincture. You know the fire of the philosophers, it was the key they kept concealed. . . . The fire is the love-fire, the life that flows forth from the Divine Venus, or the Love of God; the fire of Mars is too choleric, too sharp, and too fierce, so that it would dry up and burn the materia: wherefore the love-fire of Venus alone has the qualities of the right true fire.

 

This true philosophy will teach you how you should know yourself, and if you know yourself rightly, you will also know the pure nature; for the pure nature is in yourself. And when you know the pure nature which is your true selfhood, freed from all wicked, sinful selfishness, then also you will know God, for the Godhead is concealed and wrapped in the pure nature like a kernel in the nutshell. . . . The true philosophy will teach you who is the father and who is the mother of this magical child. . . . The father of this child is Mars, he is the fiery life which proceeds from Mars as the father’s quality. His mother is Venus, who is the gentle love-fire proceeding from the son’s quality. Here then, in the qualities and forms of nature, you see male and female, man and wife, bride and bridegroom, the first marriage or wedding of Galilee, which is celebrated between Mars and Venus when they return from their fallen state. Mars, or the husband, must become a godly man, otherwise the pure Venus will take him neither into the conjugal nor into the sacred marriage bed. Venus must become a pure virgin, a virginal wife, otherwise the wrathful jealous Mars in his wrath-fire will not wed with her nor live with her in union; but instead of agreement and harmony, there will be naught but strife, jealousy, discord, and enmity among the qualities of nature….

 

Accordingly, if you think to become a learned artist, look with earnestness to the union of your own Mars and Venus, that the nuptial knot be rightly tied and the marriage between them well and truly consummated. You must see to it that they lie together in the bed of their union and live in sweet harmony; then the virgin Venus will bring forth her pearl, her water-spirit, in you, to soften the fiery spirit of Mars, and the wrathful fire of Mars will sink quite willingly, in mildness and love, into the love-fire of Venus, and thus both qualities, as fire and water, will mingle together, agree, and flow into one another; and from their agreement and union there will proceed the first conception of the magical birth which we call Tincture, the love-fire Tincture. Now although the Tincture is conceived in the womb of your humanity and is awakened to life, yet there is still a great danger, and it is to be feared that, because it is still in the body or womb, it may yet be spoiled by neglect before it be brought in due season into the light. On this account you must look round for a good nurse, who will watch it in its childhood and will tend it properly: and such must be your own pure heart and your own virginal will. . . .

 

This child, this tincturing life, must be assayed, proved, and tried in the qualities of nature [huohou 火候,fire phasing]; and here again great anxiety and danger will arise, seeing that it must suffer the damage of temptation in the body and womb, and you may thus lose the birth. For the delicate Tincture, this tender child of life, must descend into the forms and qualities of nature, that it may suffer and endure temptation and overcome it; it must needs descend into the Divine Darkness, into the darkness of Saturn, wherein no light of life is to be seen: there it must be held captive, and be bound with the chains of darkness, and must live from the food which the prickly Mercurius will give it to eat, which to the Divine Tincture of life is naught but dust and ashes, poison and gall, fire and brimstone. It must enter into the fierce wrathful Mars, by whom (as happened to Jonah in the belly of hell) it is swallowed, and must experience the curse of God’s wrath; also it must be tempted by Lucifer and the million devils who dwell in the quality of the wrathful fire. And here the divine artist in this philosophical work will see the first colour, where the Tincture appears in its blackness, and it is the blackest black; the learned philosophers call it their black crow, or their black raven, or again their blessed and blissful black; for in the darkness of this black is hidden the light of lights in the quality of Saturn; and in this poison and gall there is hidden in Mercurius the most precious medicament against the poison, namely the life of life. And the blessed Tincture is hidden in the fury or wrath and curse of Mars.

 

Now it seems to the artist that all his work is lost. What has become of the Tincture? Here is nothing that is apparent, that can be perceived, recognized, or tasted, but darkness, most painful death, a hellish fearful fire, nothing but the wrath and curse of God; yet he does not see that the Tincture of Life is in this putrefaction or dissolution and destruction, that there is light in this darkness, life in this death, love in this fury and wrath, and in this poison the highest and most precious Tincture and medicament against all poison and sickness.

 

The old philosophers named this work or labour their descension, their cineration, their pulverization, their death, their putrefaction of the materia of the stone, their corruption, their caput mortuum. You must not despise this blackness, or black colour, but persevere in it in patience, in suffering, and in silence, until its forty days of temptation are over, until the days of its tribulations are completed, when the seed of life shall waken to life, shall rise up, sublimate or glorify itself, transform itself into whiteness, purify and sanctify itself, give itself the redness, in other words, transfigure and fix its shape. When the work is brought thus far, it is an easy work: for the learned philosophers have said that the making of the stone is then woman’s work and child’s play. Therefore, if the human will is given over and left, and becomes patient and still and as a dead nothing, the Tincture will do and effect everything in us and for us, if we can keep our thoughts, movements, and imaginations still, or can leave off and rest. But how difficult, hard, and bitter this work appears to the human will, before it can be brought to this shape, so that it remains still and calm even though all the fire be let loose in its sight, and all manner of temptations assail it! Here, as you see, there is great danger, and the Tincture of life can easily be spoiled and the fruit wasted in the womb, when it is thus surrounded on all sides and assailed by so many devils and so many tempting essences. But if it can withstand and overcome this fiery trial and sore temptation, and win the victory: then you will see the beginning of its resurrection from hell, death, and the mortal grave, appearing first in the quality of Venus; and then the Tincture of life will itself burst forth mightily from the prison of the dark Saturn, through the hell of the poisonous Mercurius, and through the curse and direful death of God’s wrath that burns and flames in Mars, and the gentle love-fire of the Venus quality will gain the upper hand, and the love-fire Tincture will be preferred in the government and have supreme command. And then the gentleness and love-fire of Divine Venus will reign as lord and king in and over all qualities.

 

Nevertheless there is still another danger that the work of the stone may yet miscarry. Therefore the artist must wait until he sees the Tincture covered over with its other colour, as with the whitest white, which he may expect to see after long patience and stillness, and which truly appears when the Tincture rises up in the lunar quality: illustrious Luna imparts a beautiful white to the Tincture, the most perfect white hue and a brilliant splendour. And thus is the darkness transformed into light, and death into life. And this brilliant whiteness awakens joy and hope in the heart of the artist, that the work has gone so well and fallen out so happily. For now the white colour reveals to the enlightened eye of the soul cleanliness, innocence, holiness, simplicity, heavenly-mindedness, and righteousness, and with these the Tincture is henceforth clothed over and over as with a garment. She is radiant as the moon, beautiful as the dawn. Now the divine virginity of the tincturing life shines forth, and no spot or wrinkle nor any other blemish is to be seen.

 

The old masters were wont to call this work their white swan, their albification, or making white, their sublimation, their distillation, their circulation, their purification, their separation, their sanctification, and their resurrection, because the Tincture is made white like a shining silver. It is sublimed or exalted and transfigured by reason of its many descents into Saturn, Mercurius, and Mars, and by its many ascents into Venus and Luna. This is the distillation, the Balneum Mariae: because the Tincture is purified in the qualities of nature through the many distillations of the water, blood, and heavenly dew of the Divine Virgin Sophia, and, through the manifold circulation in and out of the forms and qualities of nature, is made white and pure, like brilliantly polished silver. And all uncleanliness of the blackness, all death, hell, curse, wrath, and all poison which rise up out of the qualities of Saturn, Mercury, and Mars are separated and depart, wherefore they call it their separation, and when the Tincture attains its whiteness and brilliance in Venus and Luna they call it their sanctification, their purification and making white. They call it their resurrection, because the white rises up out of the black, and the divine virginity and purity out of the poison of Mercurius and out of the red fiery rage and wrath of Mars….

 

Now is the stone shaped, the elixir of life prepared, the lovechild or the child of love born, the new birth completed, and the work made whole and perfect. Farewell! fall, hell, curse, death, dragon, beast, and serpent! Good night! mortality, fear, sorrow, and misery! For now redemption, salvation, and recovery of everything that was lost will again come to pass within and without, for now you have the great secret and mystery of the whole world; you have the Pearl of Love; you have the unchangeable eternal essence of Divine Joy from which all healing virtue and all multiplying power come, from which there actively proceeds the active power of the Holy Ghost. You have the seed of the woman who has trampled on the head of the serpent. You have the seed of the virgin and the blood of the virgin in one essence and quality.

 

O wonder of wonders! You have the tincturing Tincture, the pearl of the virgin, which has three essences or qualities in one; it has body, soul, and spirit, it has fire, light, and joy, it has the Father’s quality, it has the Son’s quality, and has also the Holy Ghost’s quality, even all these three, in one fixed and eternal essence and being. This is the Son of the Virgin, this is her first-born, this is the noble hero, the trampler of the serpent, and he who casts the dragon under his feet and tramples upon him. . . . For now the Man of Paradise is become clear as a transparent glass, in which the Divine Sun shines through and through, like gold that is wholly bright, pure, and clear, without blemish or spot. The soul is henceforth a most substantial seraphic angel, she can make herself doctor, theologian, astrologer, divine magician, she can make herself whatsoever she will, and do and have whatsoever she will: for all qualities have but one will in agreement and harmony. And this same one will is God’s eternal infallible will; and from henceforth the Divine Man is in his own nature become one with God.

 

[Geof Nanto]

 Suzanne – Leonard Cohen

 

Another of Cohen's songs with masterful, multilayered lyrics. Plenty of powerful symbolism here for those who care to look. For me, I feel xuanpin in every verse in that the song evokes something of the magical ineffable feeling of divine connection, of transcendence, which lights up out of the timeless realm when the heart touches something it vitally needs for wholeness; in this case Suzanne and Jesus as feminine and masculine aspects of the Self.    

 

It’s rare that I like a cover of a Cohen song as much or more than the original, but this one comes close:

 

 

Suzanne

Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river
You can hear the boats go by, you can spend the night beside her
And you know that she's half-crazy but that's why you want to be there
And she feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China
And just when you mean to tell her that you have no love to give her
Then she gets you on her wavelength
And she lets the river answer that you've always been her lover

 

And you want to travel with her, and you want to travel blind
And then you know that she will trust you
For you've touched her perfect body with your mind

 

And Jesus was a sailor when he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching from his lonely wooden tower
And when he knew for certain only drowning men could see him
He said all men will be sailors then until the sea shall free them
But he himself was broken, long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human, he sank beneath your wisdom like a stone

 

And you want to travel with him, and you want to travel blind
And then you think maybe you'll trust him
For he's touched your perfect body with his mind

 

Now, Suzanne takes your hand and she leads you to the river
She's wearing rags and feathers from Salvation Army counters
And the sun pours down like honey on our lady of the harbor
And she shows you where to look among the garbage and the flowers
There are heroes in the seaweed, there are children in the morning
They are leaning out for love and they will lean that way forever
While Suzanne holds the mirror

 

And you want to travel with her, and you want to travel blind
And then you know that you can trust her
For she's touched your perfect body with her mind

 

~ Leonard Cohen

[Bindi]

  On 3/24/2022 at 9:50 PM, Yueya said:

 Suzanne – Leonard Cohen

 

Another of Cohen's songs with masterful, multilayered lyrics. Plenty of powerful symbolism here for those who care to look. For me, I feel xuanpin in every verse in that the song evokes something of the magical ineffable feeling of divine connection, of transcendence, which lights up out of the timeless realm when the heart touches something it vitally needs for wholeness; in this case Suzanne and Jesus as feminine and masculine aspects of the Self.    

 

It’s rare that I like a cover of a Cohen song as much or more than the original, but this one comes close:

 

 

Suzanne

Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river
You can hear the boats go by, you can spend the night beside her
And you know that she's half-crazy but that's why you want to be there
And she feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China
And just when you mean to tell her that you have no love to give her
Then she gets you on her wavelength
And she lets the river answer that you've always been her lover

 

And you want to travel with her, and you want to travel blind
And then you know that she will trust you
For you've touched her perfect body with your mind

 

And Jesus was a sailor when he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching from his lonely wooden tower
And when he knew for certain only drowning men could see him
He said all men will be sailors then until the sea shall free them
But he himself was broken, long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human, he sank beneath your wisdom like a stone

 

 

I was trying to say something like this here 

 

 

  Quote

 

And you want to travel with him, and you want to travel blind
And then you think maybe you'll trust him
For he's touched your perfect body with his mind

 

Now, Suzanne takes your hand and she leads you to the river
She's wearing rags and feathers from Salvation Army counters
And the sun pours down like honey on our lady of the harbor
And she shows you where to look among the garbage and the flowers
There are heroes in the seaweed, there are children in the morning
They are leaning out for love and they will lean that way forever
While Suzanne holds the mirror

 

And you want to travel with her, and you want to travel blind
And then you know that you can trust her
For she's touched your perfect body with her mind

 

~ Leonard Cohen

 

Edited March 27, 2022 by Bindi