The Reality Behind Cultivation Methods and Building the Foundation

[Blissdao9]

Here are some things I have learned from condensing a Qi core, and please read with grain of salt, as these words contain less than 5% of the true essence of the natural way. If one is not prepared for higher intensities of life, please disregard this. Also, please practice care, prioritize wellbeing and fitness, and see things the way things are with utmost awareness/consciousness, as most people cannot handle higher intensities without conditioning. Finally, please do not let these words limit your potential. These are simply just words, not truth. They are only a guidepost pointing in a certain direction. 

 

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The various methods to begin cultivation are many, and some may help one start cultivating, but they alone cannot take the practitioners to higher heights, or else the practitioners will stagnate in practice. One can breathe in Qi, consciously run MCO, bring Qi to the Dantian, and combine Yin and Yang Qi, but it may all be for naught. If one is sensitive enough, one can feel all the unnecessary stress that comes from unrefined methods. One might even kill or limit oneself in the process.

 

Is there even a point for one to cultivate without the possibility for the peak? So, this presents the question: why is this the case?

 

The method is that there is no method. The true method is that which cannot be defined. However, that doesn't mean that it cannot be comprehended and perceived. The only way to do so is to unlock and tap into one's divine intelligence/consciousness. One's divine intelligence is the "coding" that runs one's life processes without one having to consciously do anything. It is also same as the source of this cosmos. This intelligence can likewise be updated and improved by the cosmos, like a cloud server updating a software." Hence, to come back full circle, cultivation is the process of developing this "micro-cosmos" into its greatest potential. 

 

So, understand that the human system has an excellent ability to emulate its target. If the target is the cosmos, it will become the cosmos.

 

So, how does one tap into this divine intelligence? There are numerous ways, but from my previous post, I stated three core aspects of cultivation: Stillness, Emptiness, and All-inclusiveness. 

 

When one is still, one gradually returns to one's true nature. For many people who have not returned to a tranquil state, it is important to sit down and be still. It may seem simple, but in the grand scheme of things, stillness can extend to many deeper levels. To keep things simple, one aims for the following:

 

A still mind, heart, body and energy.

 

When one becomes still, one is able to gain greater awareness of one's inner workings, the blood flow, heart beat, breathe, etc. Stillness is very important because high awareness is necessary to "see" what is truly behind the living process. At the center of our being is the "still core." Being still aligns one with the natural laws of the cosmos, making it easier to also perceive and connect with the "strings" or "webs" of the cosmos that connect everything and link to the still core. 

So what does it mean to be still? There is no need to do anything. Simply be. One is naturally relaxed and loose, releasing tensions in the body and mind. One's heart is cleared and pure, like a mirror. One's mind is calm and empty. One's energy is vibrant and tranquil, like a flowing river. One is like a stone in the vast world, experiencing nature in full. As one becomes still, everything will gradually fall in place, resulting in a Blissful experience.

 

At first, it may be a tough experience for many because one must face all of which that is an obstacle to one's stillness, which may include tensions, obsessions/habits, thoughts. It may be important to discipline the mind and body throughout the day and increase awareness over time. 

 

When one is still, it will also be easier to be empty. 

 

In Emptiness, one essentially emulates, or becomes, the true nature of the cosmos, Nothingness or Emptiness. One's inner system will not only align with the natural laws but also naturally refine all the impurity or nonsense and unclog the system, conditioning a vessel to be more fit for cultivation. In addition, Emptiness has an attribute that naturally attracts or pulls in energy. The emptier one is, the more space is available and energy one can pull in. 

 

Emptiness is nothingness. Empty mind, Empty body, Empty self. One is empty space, void. This happens naturally over time. Likewise, one will face obstacles that prevent one from emptiness. 

 

Stillness and Emptiness stabilize and refine one's foundation. All-inclusiveness is necessary to consciously shatter boundaries and connect to the main server.

 

This aspect has great potential and is a loaded subject, but can also be very dangerous, but so can the other two aspects. One's sense of self may feel "threatened" and feel uncomfortable, but in reality, one's sense of self is moving beyond the mind and body. In the process, one begins to see not only the vessel but also that which is beyond to some extent as oneself. As a result, one is able to gradually grasp more of the cosmos and its natural laws, unlocking one's true potential over time. This principle is important to touching upon higher dimensions, energies, and all kinds of esoteric processes.

 

These three aspects are not really in any kind of specific order, but work in tandem. Once one reaches a high enough intensity practicing them, one will begin to feel and tap into the divine intelligence in oneself and naturally implement it in cultivation. One can then pave the way forward and do what is necessary to walk forward to the peak.

 

I can provide insights on cultivating Dantian core throughout the process, but the way ahead and the steps must be taken, not given. In addition, here are two more critical core principles that one must consider:

1. Never falter
2. That which one focuses on will grow

Faltering at high levels is like a speeding race car coming to a complete stop. It will have heavy, negative consequences in all levels. Look forward and be connected with the still core.

 

What is focused on with one's consciousness will grow without a doubt. This is undeniable law of the cosmos. Decide wisely what you invest your focus into. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 30, 2023 by Blissdao9

[Chang dao ling]

1 hour ago, Blissdao9 said:

The method is that there is no method

How can a person meditate without a meditation method?

[Lazgrane]

4 hours ago, Chang dao ling said:

6 hours ago, Blissdao9 said:

 

How can a person meditate without a meditation method?

 

As One live their life their inborn nature will be obscured by acquired experiences. In order to find your purest nature state it is necessary to "clean away" all learned instincts that you have internalized upon yourself, including trauma, preconceptions, even words and languages, leaving behind only still emptyness.

 

Because since each person's life trajectory is different, dealing with your own past is a deeply personal matter that you yourself may not know how to handle, let alone expecting someone else to give you the answer.

 

Which is why the best someone can tell you is to quiet down and observe. Once the surface of your pond is settled, you will be able to see what kind of bad things is infesting it and figure out how to deal with it.

[stirling]

6 hours ago, Chang dao ling said:

How can a person meditate without a meditation method?

 

Open Awareness meditation, also known as Shikantaza in the Zen tradition or Dzogchen in various Tibetan traditions, is just resting in the presence of this moment and noticing the entire field of phenomena as it arises and passes. 

 

Methods are crutches in this case. While you may use watching the breath, putting the attention on an object, or some other method to learn to rest in the stillness of Open Awareness, eventually all methods are dropped. 

 

Open Awareness is not different than enlightened mind EXCEPT that most will lack the insight (prajna) to fully see what they are resting in. Enlightenment is the dawning of insight and the realization of this primordial way of being. 

[silent thunder]

8 hours ago, Chang dao ling said:

How can a person meditate without a meditation method?

Echoing the sentiments of stirling, this mind recalls a concept shared by Shunryu Suzuki that resonates.

 

"No teaching could be more direct than just to sit down."

[Blissdao9]

2 hours ago, stirling said:

 

Methods are crutches in this case. While you may use watching the breath, putting the attention on an object, or some other method to learn to rest in the stillness of Open Awareness, eventually all methods are dropped. 

 

Stirling is on the right track. 

[Blissdao9]

4 hours ago, Lazgrane said:

 

Because since each person's life trajectory is different, dealing with your own past is a deeply personal matter that you yourself may not know how to handle, let alone expecting someone else to give you the answer.

 

This isn't wrong.

[Salvijus]

I feel like i've practiced emptiness for a long time and recently added all inclusiveness practice of prayer/presence of love snd glory. What's the next stage then?

Edited March 31, 2023 by Salvijus

[Blissdao9]

11 hours ago, Salvijus said:

I feel like i've practiced emptiness for a long time and recently added all inclusiveness practice of prayer/presence of love snd glory. What's the next stage then?

The question is what are you cultivating for?

[Salvijus]

43 minutes ago, Blissdao9 said:

The question is what are you cultivating for?

Interesting. Well what options/directions are there in general?

 

Currently i'm going down the rabbit hole of "esoteric" christianity and seeing where that will take me. So far it's been mindlowing

Edited March 31, 2023 by Salvijus

[Blissdao9]

36 minutes ago, Salvijus said:

Currently i'm going down the rabbit hole of "esoteric" christianity and seeing where that will take me. So far it's been mindlowing

 Sorry, I am not sure what that means. 

You can take it whichever direction you want. You must listen to your heart to figure it out. 

[exorcist_1699]

On 2023/3/30 at 5:11 PM, Chang dao ling said:

How can a person meditate without a meditation method?

 

How can an english native speaker speak english , so quick and fluent , with his mind  paying any attention to those english grammars ?  Or, if a fish knows  that it is swimming in water, can it still swim that free ?

 

Our mind is , in fact, a flow of consciousness that we are situated  and succumbed to ,  regardless most people think that they /we are in charge ;  which , also makes us think that all methods and possibilities  come from it , only become realistic via it  . However, as we reach certain depth in meditation , more precisely , no-mind meditation , we can detach from it and become some kind  outside observer , not only then capable of  viewing our minds objectively , but also manipulating  our bodies' organs ,  say stop our breathing or heart-beating at our own will ( it is in this sense that Taoists claim  Xing meets Meng ) . So, before asking  this question , first ask : Can we consolidate a mind without  minds/ ideas..etc  ?  Or, if ever  a mindless Mind be  possible ?  If anyone still holds any mind ( of method , step ,value..) to meditate , then of course he is not doing no-mind meditation .

Edited May 12, 2023 by exorcist_1699

[Chang dao ling]

3 hours ago, exorcist_1699 said:

 

How can an english native speaker speak english , so quick and fluent , with his mind  paying any attention to those english grammars ?  Or, if a fish knows  that it is swimming in water, can it still swim that freely ?

 

Our mind is , in fact, a flow of consciousness that we are situated  and succumbed to ,  regardless most people think that they /we are in charge ;  which , also makes us think that all methods and possibilities  come from it , only become realistic via it  . However, as we reach certain depth in meditation , more precisely , no-mind meditation , we can detach from it and become some kind  outside observer , not only then capable of  viewing our minds objectively , but also manipulating  our bodies' organs ,  say stop our breathing or heart-beating at our own will ( it is in this sense that Taoists claim  Xing meets Meng ) . So, before asking  this question , first ask : Can we consolidate a mind without  minds/ ideas..etc  ?  Or, if ever  a mindless Mind be  possible ?  If anyone still holds any mind ( of method , step ,value..) to meditate , then of course he is not doing no-mind meditation .

Thanks for answering 

[Lairg]

On 3/30/2023 at 7:11 PM, Chang dao ling said:

How can a person meditate without a meditation method?

 

There are many functions that operate at a subconscious level.    Some are learned consciously.   It takes a baby at least a year to learn to walk.  Progressively it becomes instinctive except in difficult situations.

 

Meditation is more difficult in that it properly is looking to superconscious functionality rather than subconscious.  That is, the functionality exists beyond the personality frequencies.

 

And just like the baby, it takes some years of learning the superconscious functions before meditation does not need a technique.

 

The process is complicated by various internal and external intelligences that object to the human becoming superconscious and attempt to prevent that.  Some even fake meditative states to distract the human from progressing.

 

 

 

 

[Antares]

On 30.03.2023 at 10:34 AM, Blissdao9 said:

When one becomes still, one is able to gain greater awareness of one's inner workings, the blood flow, heart beat, breathe, etc. Stillness is very important because high awareness is necessary to "see" what is truly behind the living process. At the center of our being is the "still core." Being still aligns one with the natural laws of the cosmos, making it easier to also perceive and connect with the "strings" or "webs" of the cosmos that connect everything and link to the still core. 

Again, you are describing the Northern path of meditations. It's worth keeping in mind that stillness and calmness are Yin. Cultivating only Yin can easily create an imbalance in energy. This way of cultivation can lead to excessive consumption of Yang Qi. It's a very common mistake made by many practitioners

[Taoist Texts]

29 minutes ago, Antares said:

Again, you are describing the Northern path of meditations.  . It's a very common mistake made by many practitioners

 

Quote

 

  the Beizong, or Northern Lineage, consisting of Wang Zhe and his seven disciples, who lived between the 12th and the early 13th centuries:

https://www.goldenelixir.com/jindan/nanzong_beizong.html

 

 

 

Are you saying that Wang Zhe and his disciples were mistaken in their practice?

[Antares]

25 minutes ago, Taoist Texts said:

Are you saying that Wang Zhe and his disciples were mistaken in their practice?

 

No. There are old Northern school and more modern Northern path of meditations. The latter one is just like echo of old Northen school. Wang Chongyan wrote that cultivation begins with Ming cultivation but his followers lost this method. I dont know how that happend.  

[Taoist Texts]

5 minutes ago, Antares said:

Wang Chongyan wrote that cultivation begins with Ming cultivation

Did he now? Do you have  a quote?

6 minutes ago, Antares said:

his followers lost this method. I dont know how that happend.  

but, but... how do we know that they lost it? 

[Antares]

10 minutes ago, Taoist Texts said:

Do you have  a quote?

 Not directly from his writing but nevertheless I have one at least from an article of a сontemporary researcher

Quote

– Stephen Eskildsen

Wang Zhe, in Chongyang zhenren jinguan yusuo jue, outlines as follows the relationship between body and mind and between physical practices and mental discipline:

Only the Single Numinous [Nature] is Real. The body of flesh made of four elements (earth, water, fire and wind) is provisional. Borrow and refine the provisional to complete what is Real. Move and combine and become one. A lesson says that [the methods that deal with] the ease and comfort of the present body are of the Lesser Vehicle. But all such methods are the roots of the Greater Vehicle. The Dharma mind of the initial ground is the Lesser Vehicle that bears fruit to create the Greater Vehicle. The Lesser Vehicle is the root, and the Greater Vehicle is the stem. A lesson says that the stems and branches rely on each other. The stems rely on the roots and are thus born. Practitioners of nowadays do no understand what the body acquires its Nature and Life from and how it got to be born. A lesson says that everybody is not separate from what is created by the yin and yang. You must rely on your father’s semen and mother’s blood. These two things are the basics of your body. People nowadays who train themselves all do not cherish their father’s semen and mother’s blood. They waste and scatter their real qi and damage their primal yang. Therefore they have aging, the aging have diseases, and within diseases, they have death. For the practitioner to always be pure and still is the fundamental method of the Greater Vehicle. Those who want to practice the Greater Vehicle must begin by seeking and following the Lesser Vehicle.

 

 

[Taoist Texts]

1 hour ago, Antares said:

– Stephen Eskildsen

Wang Zhe, in Chongyang zhenren jinguan yusuo jue, outlines as follows  . For the practitioner to always be pure and still is the fundamental method of the Greater Vehicle. Those who want to practice the Greater Vehicle must begin by seeking and following the Lesser Vehicle.

well, you see, nowhere in your quote Eskildsen or Wang state that

2 hours ago, Antares said:

Wang Chongyan wrote that cultivation begins with Ming cultivation

in fact the very first line of the quoted text  directly refutes that claim. 

Instead Wang states the direct opposite of that claim

 

Quote

 

曰。如何是修真妙理。Q: what is the true marvelous cultivation principle?

答曰。第一先除无名烦恼。第二休贪恋酒色财气。此者。便是修行之法 A: First, start with removing all kinds of worries. Second, stop attachments to 'wine, flesh, profit, temper'. This is exactly the method of cultivation.

https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hans/重陽真人金關玉鎖訣

 

 

In fact, the idea of  'beginning with Ming' comes from a source directly opposite to the Northern lineage: from the Southern one. It was first notably voiced by Zhang Bo-duan

《悟真篇》自序中谓：“先以修命之术顺其所欲，渐次导之于道。" but even that phrase does not mean 'to begin with Ming'. Despite being misunderstood to mean that;)

[Antares]

1 hour ago, Taoist Texts said:

in fact the very first line of the quoted text  directly refutes that claim. 

Instead Wang states the direct opposite of that claim

 First, start with removing all kinds of worries. Second, stop attachments to 'wine, flesh, profit, temper'. This is exactly the method of cultivation.

Well, this seems to be the precondition of the cultivation method for it can't be considered as method cultivation. Read that text you provided link for - there is said that these preconditions precede the real cultivation method.  I will continue citing the article that I mentioned above

Wang Zhe thus endorses the simple cultivation of purity and stillness as the only true way toward recovering the Real Nature and gaining eternal life. This is the Greater Vehicle. However, this inner serenity needs to be built upon a foundation of sound physical health. This foundation is built through the more complicated physical practices of the Lesser Vehicle. Wang Zhe sometimes seems harshly critical of the various physical practices, referring to them as ‘small methods of subsidiary schools’ (pangmen xiaofa). The seeming inconsistency occurs because the various discourses of Wang Zhe address different audiences and situations. Some of his followers perhaps tended to content themselves with pursuing the petty details of physical exercises, failing to attain true inner purity and stillness in the process. Others probably suffered health problems that hampered their spiritual progress.

 

So I agree that apparent contradictions are based on whom the teacher specifically gave instructions to, as he had several students. But overall, referring to the quote above, personally for me it is clear that the Ming cultivation method should either precede the cultivation of the Xing or go along with it, but it is definitely not the method of quiet sitting as some modern schools understand it. 

[Taoist Texts]

38 minutes ago, Antares said:

Read that text you provided link for - there is said that these preconditions precede the real cultivation method.

I red the original while you did not. and no it does not say anything of  what you imply;). In fact the text says the direct opposite of what you imply. If the text said what you imply you would quote the text instead of quoting a western academic who is not a part of the tradition. Again I quote the text

 

2 hours ago, Taoist Texts said:

曰。如何是修真妙理。Q: what is the true marvelous cultivation principle?

答曰。第一先除无名烦恼。第二休贪恋酒色财气。此者。便是修行之法 A: First, start with removing all kinds of worries. Second, stop attachments to 'wine, flesh, profit, temper'. This is exactly the method of cultivation.

https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hans/重陽真人金關玉鎖訣

 

Please understand that i am not arguing with you personally. I wish to thank you for lending me your post which I use to refute the falsity of the modern fraudulent teachers with their hackneyed  'secret Ming method first' fraud.

 

51 minutes ago, Antares said:

personally for me it is clear

everybody is welcome to his opinion. However everybody would be well advised to:

A] not to refer to texts which do not endorse the said opinion under a pretense that they do

B] give a thought as to why everybody does not have any achievements over many many years;)

(present company of course excluded)

[Apech]

2 minutes ago, Taoist Texts said:

I red the original while you did not. and no it does not say anything of  what you imply;). In fact the text says the direct opposite of what you imply. If the text said what you imply you would quote the text instead of quoting a western academic who is not a part of the tradition. Again I quote the text

 

 

I see the red text and I want it printed black,

No colours anymore, I want them to turn black.

[Antares]

18 minutes ago, Taoist Texts said:

I red the original while you did not.

I read it too and I meant to read it thoroughly. And what the northern schools you refer to? I know some initial methods from 2 northen schools (lineages) at least and how many northern methods and from what schools you know and practise? Texts cant help you much if no one explains it to you. Period

Edited April 15, 2023 by Antares

[Taoist Texts]

1 hour ago, Antares said:

how many northern methods and from what schools you know and practise?

well since we are having such a pleasant chat i will let you in on a secret: there is just one method. anyone who  teaches you that there are many methods is an ignorant cheat.

 

1 hour ago, Antares said:

Texts cant help you much if no one explains it to you. Period

Hehe if you mean me personally then perhaps we let me be the judge of that. Question mark.

 

As an aside this logic always had me scratching my head. If somebody does not understand words on paper in black and white what makes him think that he will understand words coming out of somebody else's mouth?