I AM THAT (Chapter 10)
by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Q: Yes, that is my problem. I want things, but I am lazy when it comes to action.
M: When your desire is not clear nor strong, it cannot take shape. Besides, if your desires are personal, for your own enjoyment, the energy you give them is necessarily limited; it cannot be more than what you have.
Q: Yet, often ordinary persons do attain what they desire.
M: After desiring it very much and for a long time. Even then, their achievements are limited.
Q: And what about unselfish desires?
M: When you desire the common good, the whole world desires
with you. Make humanity's desire your own and work for it. There you cannot fail,
Q: Humanity is God’s work, not mine. I am concerned with myself. Have I not the right to see my legitimate desires fulfilled? They will hurt no one. My desires are legitimate. They are right desires, why don’t they come true?
M: Desires are right or wrong according to circumstances; it depends on how you look at them. It is only for the individual that a distinction between right and wrong is valid.
Q: What are the guide-lines for such distinction? How am I to know which of my desires are right and which are wrong?
M: In your case desires that lead to sorrow are wrong and those which lead to happiness are right. But you must not forget others. Their sorrow and happiness also count.
Q: Results are in the future. How can I know what they will be?
M: Use your mind. Remember. Observe. You are not different from others. Most of their experiences are valid for you too. Think clearly and deeply, go into the entire structure of your desires and their ramifications. They are a most important part of your mental and emotional makeup and powerfully affect your actions. Remember, you cannot abandon what you do not know. To go beyond yourself, you must know yourself.
Q: What does it mean to know myself? By knowing myself what exactly do I come to know?
M: All that you are not.
Q: And not what I am?
M: What you are, you already are. By knowing what you are not, you are free of it and remain in your own natural state. It all happens quite spontaneously and effortlessly.
Q: And what do I discover?
M: You discover that there is nothing to discover. You are what you are and that is all.
Q: I do not understand!
M: It is your fixed idea that you must be something or other, that blinds you.
Q: How can I get rid of this idea?
M: If you trust me, believe when I tell you that you are the pure awareness that illuminates consciousness and its infinite content. Realise this and live accordingly. If you do not believe me, then go within, enquiring ‘What an I’? or, focus your mind on ‘I am’, which is pure and simple being.
Q: On what my faith in you depends?
M: On your insight into other people’s hearts. If you cannot look into my heart, look into your own.
Q: I can do neither.
M: Purify yourself by a well-ordered and useful life. Watch over your thoughts, feelings, words and actions. This will clear your vision.
Q: Must I not renounce every thing first, and live a homeless life?
M: You cannot renounce. You may leave your home and give trouble to your family, but
attachments are in the mind and will not leave you until you know your mind in and out. First thing first -- know yourself, all else will come with it.
Q: But you already told me that I am the Supreme Reality. Is it not self-knowledge?
M: Of course you are the Supreme Reality! But what of it? Every grain of sand is God; to know it is important, but that is only the beginning.
Q: Well, you told me that I am the Supreme Reality. I believe you. What next is there for me to do?
M: I told you already. Discover all you are not. Body, feelings, thoughts, ideas, time, space, being and not-being, this or that -- nothing concrete or abstract you can point out to is you. A mere verbal statement will not do -- you may repeat a formula endlessly without any result whatsoever. You must watch yourself
continuously -- particularly your mind -- moment by moment, missing nothing.
This witnessing is essential for the separation of the self from the not-self.
Q: The witnessing -- is it not my real nature?
M: For witnessing, there must be something else to witness. We are still in duality!
Q: What about witnessing the witness? Awareness of awareness?
M: Putting words together will not take you far. Go within and discover what you are not. Nothing
else matters.
Chapter 16 Desirelessness, the Highest Bliss
Q: What are the uses of self-knowledge?
M: It helps you to understand what you are not and keeps you free from false ideas, desires and actions.
Q: If I am the witness only, what do right and wrong matter?
M: What helps you to know yourself is right. What prevents, is wrong. To know one's real self is bliss, to forget -- is sorrow.
Q: Is the witness-consciousness the real Self?
M: It is the reflection of the real in the mind (buddhi). The real is beyond. The witness is the door through which you pass beyond.
Q: What is the purpose of meditation?
M: Seeing the false as the false, is meditation. This must go on all the time.
Q: We are told to meditate regularly.
M: Deliberate daily exercise in discrimination between the true and the false and renunciation of the false is meditation. There are many kinds of meditation to begin with, but they all merge finally
into one.
Q: Please tell me which road to self-realisation is the shortest.
M: No way is short or long, but some people are more in earnest and some are less. I can tell you about myself. I was a simple man, but I trusted my Guru. What he told me to do, I did. He told me to concentrate on 'I am' -- I did. He told me that I am beyond all perceivables and conceivables -- I believed. I gave him my heart and soul, my entire attention and the whole of my spare time (I had to work to keep my family alive). As a result of faith and earnest application, I realised my self
(swarupa) within three years. You may choose any way that suits you; your earnestness will determine the rate of progress.
Q: No hint for me?
M: Establish yourself firmly in the awareness of 'I am'. This is the beginning and also the end of all endeavour.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Authentic Expression & Bare Attention
by Joel D Zenie
Bare Attention is Reality uncluttered by the activity of a thinker who interprets and imagines according to past conditioned influences that have shaped perspective. This Attention clears perception and opens up the path of the Real, of What Is, not to become docile or resigned to human limitation, but that in humility there is an openness and connection with Peripheral Reality, so one is expressing harmony (or grace) in action, and altruistic/compassionate action at the highest level. To spend a lifetime clinging to the conditioned and biased personal view, to the past, not questioning one's own conditioned mental process, is to limit oneself to a narrow, mechanical, small minded and inauthentic way of thinking, feeling and living.
Attention to what is does allow for the desire to creatively express Self, allowing the inner to manifest as the outer, and with artistic appreciation that goes beyond the purely left-brained scientific, empirical, and often sterile observation of the outer perceptual reality. What we call objective truth is really a subjective story, a projection of mind, some of it individual and most of it a collective hallucination of consciousness. Previous conditioning has created the perception of "what is now" and it is essential to honor this as well as recognizing the need for changing it, not by discarding reality (what is) in favor of an ideal (what ought to be) but by acting in harmony with life as it is actually happening, in alignment with here and now. It is the only effective win-win good for ALL concerned way of acting spontaneously, authentically, creatively and artfully in the world... from the inside out.
The question that arises now is whether it is okay to put the love of Self (including close family, partner, friends, etc) first, after many years (as a western world raised individual) of having been disconnected from the really precious part of being alive, and not just as another physical human body (with a little egoic mind) looking to survive and make a success of itself in "the outside world". It seems that the transition to inwardness for many of us seeking to awaken spiritually is a full time occupation, sometimes a struggle and other times an infatuation... this individual life I call authentically my own is a new and exciting discovery, with much evolution and self expression to unfold.
While keeping this mindful awareness intact, which is attentive to surroundings, people, and the world at large, and has an interest or openness to peripheral connection, I still find it is a bare undeniable fact of existence that nearly all my time, interest and attention goes to my self and what I call *my life or life path*. Because I believe this to be true of most everyone in the world today, everyone who is human, I raise the question as to whether this self-absorption is a most necessary and natural evolution with regard to where so many of us are inwardly and also living within the conditions of the outside material (modern, western) world.
It is my perspective that as open as I am to understanding and accepting Universal Truth, the world I live in and the path I trod today is a very much an INDIVIDUAL Truth that is sometimes in perfect harmony with the Tao or Way of things and other times troubled, turbulent, full of turmoil. Either way you look at it, light or dark, it is the only Way that I know to simply Be who I really and truly Am, following the guidance of this Heart's Desire, and living in the Clear Light of Spiritual Illumination.
As Mohandes Gandhi famously said you have to "be the change/love you want to see in the world". Our first and foremost responsibility as spiritual human beings is in being true to Self, and living each moment from the Spiritual Heart of Being.
Aha! News ~ Insight for 2-20
Bare Attention is Reality uncluttered by the activity of a thinker who interprets and imagines according to past conditioned influences that have shaped perspective. This Attention clears perception and opens up the path of the Real, of What Is, not to become docile or resigned to human limitation, but that in humility there is an openness and connection with Peripheral Reality, so one is expressing harmony (or grace) in action, and altruistic/compassionate action at the highest level. To spend a lifetime clinging to the conditioned and biased personal view, to the past, not questioning one's own conditioned mental process, is to limit oneself to a narrow, mechanical, small minded and inauthentic way of thinking, feeling and living.
Attention to what is does allow for the desire to creatively express Self, allowing the inner to manifest as the outer, and with artistic appreciation that goes beyond the purely left-brained scientific, empirical, and often sterile observation of the outer perceptual reality. What we call objective truth is really a subjective story, a projection of mind, some of it individual and most of it a collective hallucination of consciousness. Previous conditioning has created the perception of "what is now" and it is essential to honor this as well as recognizing the need for changing it, not by discarding reality (what is) in favor of an ideal (what ought to be) but by acting in harmony with life as it is actually happening, in alignment with here and now. It is the only effective win-win good for ALL concerned way of acting spontaneously, authentically, creatively and artfully in the world... from the inside out.
The question that arises now is whether it is okay to put the love of Self (including close family, partner, friends, etc) first, after many years (as a western world raised individual) of having been disconnected from the really precious part of being alive, and not just as another physical human body (with a little egoic mind) looking to survive and make a success of itself in "the outside world". It seems that the transition to inwardness for many of us seeking to awaken spiritually is a full time occupation, sometimes a struggle and other times an infatuation... this individual life I call authentically my own is a new and exciting discovery, with much evolution and self expression to unfold.
While keeping this mindful awareness intact, which is attentive to surroundings, people, and the world at large, and has an interest or openness to peripheral connection, I still find it is a bare undeniable fact of existence that nearly all my time, interest and attention goes to my self and what I call *my life or life path*. Because I believe this to be true of most everyone in the world today, everyone who is human, I raise the question as to whether this self-absorption is a most necessary and natural evolution with regard to where so many of us are inwardly and also living within the conditions of the outside material (modern, western) world.
It is my perspective that as open as I am to understanding and accepting Universal Truth, the world I live in and the path I trod today is a very much an INDIVIDUAL Truth that is sometimes in perfect harmony with the Tao or Way of things and other times troubled, turbulent, full of turmoil. Either way you look at it, light or dark, it is the only Way that I know to simply Be who I really and truly Am, following the guidance of this Heart's Desire, and living in the Clear Light of Spiritual Illumination.
As Mohandes Gandhi famously said you have to "be the change/love you want to see in the world". Our first and foremost responsibility as spiritual human beings is in being true to Self, and living each moment from the Spiritual Heart of Being.
Aha! News ~ Insight for 2-20
Friday, February 17, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Bare Attention
By Mark Epstein M.D.
Common to all schools of thought, the unifying theme of the Buddhist approach is this remarkable imperative: "Pay precise attention, moment by moment, to exactly what you are experiencing, right now, separating out your reactions from the raw sensory events." This is what is meant by bare attention: just the bare facts, an exact registering, allowing things to speak for themselves as if seen for the first time, distinguishing any reactions from the core event.
It is this this attentional strategy that is followed throughout the meditative path. It is both the beginning practice and the culminating one: only the objects of awareness change. Beginning with the in and out breath, proceeding to bodily sensations, feelings, thoughts, consciousness, and finally the felt sense of I, meditation requires the application of bare attention to increasingly subtle phenomena. Culminating in a state of choiceless awareness in which the categories of "observer" and "that which is observed" are no longer operational, bare attention eventually obviates self-consciousness and permits the kind of spontaneity that has long intrigued the psychologically minded observers of Eastern practices. This the spontaneity that Western psychologists confuse with a true self idea. From the Buddhist perspective, such authentic actions leap forth from the clear perception of bare attention; there is no need to posit an intermediate agent who performs them.
The key to the transformational potential of bare attention lies in the deceptively simple injunction to separate out one's reactions from the core events themselves. Much of the time it turns out our everyday minds are in a state of reactivity. We take this for granted, we do not question our automatic identifications with our reactions, and we experience ourselves at the mercy of an often hostile or frustrating outer world or an overwhelming or frightening inner one. With bare attention, we move from this automatic identification with our fear or frustration to a vantage point from which the fear or frustration is attended to wit th same dispassionate interest as anything else. There is enormous freedom to be gained from such a shift. Instead of running from difficult emotions (or hanging on to enticing ones), the practitioner of bare attention becomes able to contain any reaction: making space for it, but not completely identifying with it because of the concomitant presence of nonjudgmental awareness.
Thoughts without a Thinker, pp 110-111
Common to all schools of thought, the unifying theme of the Buddhist approach is this remarkable imperative: "Pay precise attention, moment by moment, to exactly what you are experiencing, right now, separating out your reactions from the raw sensory events." This is what is meant by bare attention: just the bare facts, an exact registering, allowing things to speak for themselves as if seen for the first time, distinguishing any reactions from the core event.
It is this this attentional strategy that is followed throughout the meditative path. It is both the beginning practice and the culminating one: only the objects of awareness change. Beginning with the in and out breath, proceeding to bodily sensations, feelings, thoughts, consciousness, and finally the felt sense of I, meditation requires the application of bare attention to increasingly subtle phenomena. Culminating in a state of choiceless awareness in which the categories of "observer" and "that which is observed" are no longer operational, bare attention eventually obviates self-consciousness and permits the kind of spontaneity that has long intrigued the psychologically minded observers of Eastern practices. This the spontaneity that Western psychologists confuse with a true self idea. From the Buddhist perspective, such authentic actions leap forth from the clear perception of bare attention; there is no need to posit an intermediate agent who performs them.
The key to the transformational potential of bare attention lies in the deceptively simple injunction to separate out one's reactions from the core events themselves. Much of the time it turns out our everyday minds are in a state of reactivity. We take this for granted, we do not question our automatic identifications with our reactions, and we experience ourselves at the mercy of an often hostile or frustrating outer world or an overwhelming or frightening inner one. With bare attention, we move from this automatic identification with our fear or frustration to a vantage point from which the fear or frustration is attended to wit th same dispassionate interest as anything else. There is enormous freedom to be gained from such a shift. Instead of running from difficult emotions (or hanging on to enticing ones), the practitioner of bare attention becomes able to contain any reaction: making space for it, but not completely identifying with it because of the concomitant presence of nonjudgmental awareness.
Thoughts without a Thinker, pp 110-111
Monday, January 23, 2012
Toward Silence
by Ken Russell
It is somewhat ironic that I need to speak so much of silence. Yet silence is the most potent inducement for spiritual transformation, so potent that no moment of it, however brief or fleeting, is ever wasted. The fruits of silence are one of the few things you can be sure of in this life.
If you are on the spiritual path, you will want to do whatever is necessary to increase the amount of silence in your life. Unfortunately, you cannot make silence happen. You cannot, through exercises, will, or whatever, create silence. Silence happens when you are not there. That is, when you, as a distinct person or personality, are inactive, quiescent, not engaged. It does not mean that you are blotted out but that your personality is put on hold and a vital presence is functioning. Silence is actually a very alive space.
Silence gives us a taste of what we really are. When silence occurs, the focus of our awareness shifts from its mundane concerns and rests in our Being. This is a profound shift, and healing potentials are released. We become open to the vastness that is our true nature. We normally believe we are what we appear to be: the mind, the personality, our memories and history. We get caught up in the dramas that our mind and personality keep on creating. Because we live in and through our mind and are so familiar with its activities, the occurrence of silence—which is actually non-mind—generally does not register. When it does, it scares the personality because it looks like death. To the personality, the halting of its activities appears to be the end of it, death. Personality is akin to a bureaucracy that does not want to end. It does not want to relinquish the control it has over our lives.
Thus, silence does not appeal to the mind, and it does everything it can to avoid it. Sad but true, silence is an acquired taste. Although it is our birthright, something intrinsic to our being, society has buried it. We are trained from birth to have what is called in Buddhism monkey mind. This monkey mind is easily distracted and likes to flit about from one thing to another or, perversely, to obsess on something. Our conditioned mind is attuned to the grosser aspects of life: excitement, highs and lows, learning and achieving. These things create the appearance of aliveness that our conditioned mind so relishes. Silence holds little attraction for the monkey mind.
So it is necessary to become familiar with silence, and learn how to enjoy and be nourished by it. You need to create various ways to bring silence into your life, with the understanding that any doing is in itself "noise." Bringing silence into your life is more a matter of elimination than actively doing something new. You begin by eliminating those activities and attitudes that create noise and mental chatter. You observe the results of your activities and discover that certain ones, like watching TV and gossiping, tend to make your mind more active. You find that other activities, like walking in nature or listening to classical music, leave your mind less busy. So you start to create spaces and conditions where silence is more likely to happen, where silence is invited to arise. You have to invite it and clear the space for it since you cannot directly make it happen.
To make space for silence, you must be vigilant with your free time. What you do with your discretionary time is critical in fostering silence and has a major effect on your spiritual progress. Discretionary time is the time you have available to do exactly what you want with. Most of us have work responsibilities, household chores, perhaps a mate or children that require our time—the basic overhead of living. But over and beyond that, you have time available to use as you wish, even in the busiest schedule. And, if you find that you don't have free time and wish to grow spiritually, it is imperative that you create free time for yourself.
It is much easier for silence to happen when the mind is quiet, so do what you can to quiet your mind. The context for most of our lives is primarily social, and this social life is filled with mental and emotional snacks and feasts. You need to weigh the benefits of momentary social gratifications against the possibility of connecting with something deep within you which is vastly more nourishing.
Instead of feasting on all kinds of goodies, like the news, movies, self-improvement, parties, informative or pseudo-informative books, and gossip, start fasting the mind. Go against the whole trend of society, which is toward constant and excessive stimulation. The mind does not like it when you do this. The mind craves its diet of stimulation. It needs something to occupy itself with. But resist the mind's appetite for stimulation. Fasting the mind issues an invitation for silence to visit.
Normally, the mind is a glutton for activity. Society provides a nonstop carnival of distractions and allurements. If you succeed in avoiding these pitfalls, you will find that the mind still needs to be active and it will provide its own distractions. Mental activity doesn't always need the external to stimulate it. You can be sitting quietly, to all appearances doing nothing, and yet your mind can be working furiously. If you succeed in minimizing external stimulation, the mind will manufacture something to keep itself occupied. It feasts on planning, worrying, scheming, analyzing, fantasizing, regretting, hoping, and so forth. Anything to keep it going and having you believe you need its services. It is like a fireman who, worried about losing his job, goes about starting fires. There is always something that the mind will attempt to snack on. Do not harbor or play with these thoughts or indulge them or take them seriously. If you stop engaging with them—perhaps through meditation or a similar practice—they will die down, and silence will begin to happen.
A powerful aid for using your time wisely is to keep in mind the fact that you may die at any moment. No one can guarantee that you will live another day or even another minute. This is not intended to be morbid but to focus your attention on how you use your most valuable asset, time. Ask yourself how you would want to spend your last moments, and do your best to spend more of your time in those activities.
If you are serious about progressing on the spiritual path, you will be vigilant in how you use your time. The most powerful thing you can do is nothing. When we are silent we are closest to what we really are, an infinity beyond mental comprehension. Give silence a chance. You will find your life transformed without conscious effort.
"It is necessary to become familiar with silence, and learn how to enjoy and be nourished by it."
http://thewayofseeing.com/article_toward-silence.html
It is somewhat ironic that I need to speak so much of silence. Yet silence is the most potent inducement for spiritual transformation, so potent that no moment of it, however brief or fleeting, is ever wasted. The fruits of silence are one of the few things you can be sure of in this life.
If you are on the spiritual path, you will want to do whatever is necessary to increase the amount of silence in your life. Unfortunately, you cannot make silence happen. You cannot, through exercises, will, or whatever, create silence. Silence happens when you are not there. That is, when you, as a distinct person or personality, are inactive, quiescent, not engaged. It does not mean that you are blotted out but that your personality is put on hold and a vital presence is functioning. Silence is actually a very alive space.
Silence gives us a taste of what we really are. When silence occurs, the focus of our awareness shifts from its mundane concerns and rests in our Being. This is a profound shift, and healing potentials are released. We become open to the vastness that is our true nature. We normally believe we are what we appear to be: the mind, the personality, our memories and history. We get caught up in the dramas that our mind and personality keep on creating. Because we live in and through our mind and are so familiar with its activities, the occurrence of silence—which is actually non-mind—generally does not register. When it does, it scares the personality because it looks like death. To the personality, the halting of its activities appears to be the end of it, death. Personality is akin to a bureaucracy that does not want to end. It does not want to relinquish the control it has over our lives.
Thus, silence does not appeal to the mind, and it does everything it can to avoid it. Sad but true, silence is an acquired taste. Although it is our birthright, something intrinsic to our being, society has buried it. We are trained from birth to have what is called in Buddhism monkey mind. This monkey mind is easily distracted and likes to flit about from one thing to another or, perversely, to obsess on something. Our conditioned mind is attuned to the grosser aspects of life: excitement, highs and lows, learning and achieving. These things create the appearance of aliveness that our conditioned mind so relishes. Silence holds little attraction for the monkey mind.
So it is necessary to become familiar with silence, and learn how to enjoy and be nourished by it. You need to create various ways to bring silence into your life, with the understanding that any doing is in itself "noise." Bringing silence into your life is more a matter of elimination than actively doing something new. You begin by eliminating those activities and attitudes that create noise and mental chatter. You observe the results of your activities and discover that certain ones, like watching TV and gossiping, tend to make your mind more active. You find that other activities, like walking in nature or listening to classical music, leave your mind less busy. So you start to create spaces and conditions where silence is more likely to happen, where silence is invited to arise. You have to invite it and clear the space for it since you cannot directly make it happen.
To make space for silence, you must be vigilant with your free time. What you do with your discretionary time is critical in fostering silence and has a major effect on your spiritual progress. Discretionary time is the time you have available to do exactly what you want with. Most of us have work responsibilities, household chores, perhaps a mate or children that require our time—the basic overhead of living. But over and beyond that, you have time available to use as you wish, even in the busiest schedule. And, if you find that you don't have free time and wish to grow spiritually, it is imperative that you create free time for yourself.
It is much easier for silence to happen when the mind is quiet, so do what you can to quiet your mind. The context for most of our lives is primarily social, and this social life is filled with mental and emotional snacks and feasts. You need to weigh the benefits of momentary social gratifications against the possibility of connecting with something deep within you which is vastly more nourishing.
Instead of feasting on all kinds of goodies, like the news, movies, self-improvement, parties, informative or pseudo-informative books, and gossip, start fasting the mind. Go against the whole trend of society, which is toward constant and excessive stimulation. The mind does not like it when you do this. The mind craves its diet of stimulation. It needs something to occupy itself with. But resist the mind's appetite for stimulation. Fasting the mind issues an invitation for silence to visit.
Normally, the mind is a glutton for activity. Society provides a nonstop carnival of distractions and allurements. If you succeed in avoiding these pitfalls, you will find that the mind still needs to be active and it will provide its own distractions. Mental activity doesn't always need the external to stimulate it. You can be sitting quietly, to all appearances doing nothing, and yet your mind can be working furiously. If you succeed in minimizing external stimulation, the mind will manufacture something to keep itself occupied. It feasts on planning, worrying, scheming, analyzing, fantasizing, regretting, hoping, and so forth. Anything to keep it going and having you believe you need its services. It is like a fireman who, worried about losing his job, goes about starting fires. There is always something that the mind will attempt to snack on. Do not harbor or play with these thoughts or indulge them or take them seriously. If you stop engaging with them—perhaps through meditation or a similar practice—they will die down, and silence will begin to happen.
A powerful aid for using your time wisely is to keep in mind the fact that you may die at any moment. No one can guarantee that you will live another day or even another minute. This is not intended to be morbid but to focus your attention on how you use your most valuable asset, time. Ask yourself how you would want to spend your last moments, and do your best to spend more of your time in those activities.
If you are serious about progressing on the spiritual path, you will be vigilant in how you use your time. The most powerful thing you can do is nothing. When we are silent we are closest to what we really are, an infinity beyond mental comprehension. Give silence a chance. You will find your life transformed without conscious effort.
"It is necessary to become familiar with silence, and learn how to enjoy and be nourished by it."
http://thewayofseeing.com/article_toward-silence.html
Monday, December 12, 2011
Tao of Creation
by Jampa Mackenzie Stewart
Despite the achievements of health, wealth and love, the only certainty in life is that it will end in death. Maintaining health and wealth is of limited value if one's life lacks meaning. I believe that while the aforementioned benefits of the Taoist arts are both real and good, the ultimate goal of Taoism is immortality. Immortality is synonymous with enlightenment, conscious union with the universal mind, and with the attainment of a spiritually transformed body that will last forever like heaven and earth.
Therefore the purpose of this article is to examine the various Taoist arts from the perspective of the Taoist yogi on the path to becoming an immortal, to see how all of these branches relate to the trunk of Taoist beliefs and goals.
THE BASIC VIEW OF TAOISM
Although there are many diverse arts flowing from the wellspring of Taoism, all of these different arts are grounded in the same set of principles, what Taoists see as the fundamental laws of Nature applying to all things, high and low. These principles form the core of Taoist "general systems theory." By developing a working knowledge of
these natural principles, you will have the master key to open the mysterious portals of the Tao.
Wu Ji
In the beginning, nothing existed. In Chinese this is called Wu Ji (meaning
absolute nothingness). Wu Ji is synonymous with the Buddhist word sunyata, meaning emptiness, the void, pure openness, no boundary. Wu Ji is also sometimes referred to as the mystery, the nameless, the great mother, the source. Thus Lao Tzu says, "That which can be named is not the eternal name." Words cannot describe Wu Ji; it is beyond any thought, idea or concept, yet it can be directly experienced. Conscious realization of Wu Ji is called "Returning to the Source."
Qi
The first principle to manifest out of Wu Ji is primordial energy. The Chinese call this energy Qi. Qi (pronounced "chee") means breath, air, wind, or energy, and is similar in meaning to the Sanskrit word prana, the Hebrew word Ruach (breath of God), and to the Tibetan word rLung.
Qi is the force of all movement, from the movements of waves and sub-atomic particles to the movement of stars and planets. Qi is the force moving world systems into creation, existence and destruction; everything manifests out of Qi, exists as a form
of Qi, and returns to Qi. In living creatures it becomes the life force and source of all metabolism. Qi is even the root of the movement of consciousness, of thought, sensory
awareness and emotions. The activity of Qi is what holds things together: atoms, molecules, our bodies, the earth, the solar system.
As soon as Qi appeared, it moved as Yin and Yang. The Chinese character for Yin depicts the shady side of a mountain, while the character for Yang depicts the sunny side. Thus some characteristics of Yin are earth, receptiveness, darkness, cold, moisture, heaviness, descension, contractiveness, stillness. Yang, by relative contrast, is heaven, creativity, brightness, warmth, dryness, lightness, ascension, expansion, activity. Everything in the relative world of existence can be viewed in terms of Yin and Yang. However, Yin and Yang are not separate; they are like the two poles of the same magnet.
Thus, nothing is entirely Yin nor entirely Yang; each contains the other. The interdependent existence of Yin and Yang is known as Tai Ji (the Most High). Tai Ji and Wu Ji are seen as inseparable. Yin and Yang create each other; as soon as you have a front, you must also have a back. Yin and Yang check and balance each other; if something is too hot, you balance it by adding cold. Yin and Yang also transform into one another; activity naturally transforms into rest, night transforms into day. Life is peaceful when Yin and Yang are in harmony and balance, when the transitions from Yin to Yang and Yang to Yin are gradual and even. When either Yin or Yang becomes too extreme or when the transitions from Yin to Yang are unusually sudden and abrupt, harmony and balance are lost. These imbalances may appear as health problems, relationship difficulties, trade deficits, or unseasonal weather; all the changes in the universe can be analysed by understanding Yin and Yang.
Wu Hsing - The Five Phases: Yin and Yang are further subdivided into Wu Hsing. Wu means five Wu means five, while hsing means form. Thus Wu Hsing is translated as the Five Forms, Five Phases (of Qi transformation) or most commonly as the Five Elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water.....
Thus all existence unfolds from the emptiness of Wu Ji into Tai Ji, the dance of Yin and Yang. From Yin and Yang things are further differentiated into the Five Phases and the Eight Trigrams. From these all of the myriad forms of existence come into being. Dazzled by the various appearances, we forget who we are and where we come from. Taoist spiritual practices seek to reverse this process. All phenomenal forms can be summed up in the eight trigrams, the eight trigrams can be simplified to the Five Phases; the Five Phases can be reduced to Yin and Yang, and when Yin and Yang come into equipoise, one can perceive Wu Ji.
(Foundations of Taoist practice pp.2-6)
Despite the achievements of health, wealth and love, the only certainty in life is that it will end in death. Maintaining health and wealth is of limited value if one's life lacks meaning. I believe that while the aforementioned benefits of the Taoist arts are both real and good, the ultimate goal of Taoism is immortality. Immortality is synonymous with enlightenment, conscious union with the universal mind, and with the attainment of a spiritually transformed body that will last forever like heaven and earth.
Therefore the purpose of this article is to examine the various Taoist arts from the perspective of the Taoist yogi on the path to becoming an immortal, to see how all of these branches relate to the trunk of Taoist beliefs and goals.
THE BASIC VIEW OF TAOISM
Although there are many diverse arts flowing from the wellspring of Taoism, all of these different arts are grounded in the same set of principles, what Taoists see as the fundamental laws of Nature applying to all things, high and low. These principles form the core of Taoist "general systems theory." By developing a working knowledge of
these natural principles, you will have the master key to open the mysterious portals of the Tao.
Wu Ji
In the beginning, nothing existed. In Chinese this is called Wu Ji (meaning
absolute nothingness). Wu Ji is synonymous with the Buddhist word sunyata, meaning emptiness, the void, pure openness, no boundary. Wu Ji is also sometimes referred to as the mystery, the nameless, the great mother, the source. Thus Lao Tzu says, "That which can be named is not the eternal name." Words cannot describe Wu Ji; it is beyond any thought, idea or concept, yet it can be directly experienced. Conscious realization of Wu Ji is called "Returning to the Source."
Qi
The first principle to manifest out of Wu Ji is primordial energy. The Chinese call this energy Qi. Qi (pronounced "chee") means breath, air, wind, or energy, and is similar in meaning to the Sanskrit word prana, the Hebrew word Ruach (breath of God), and to the Tibetan word rLung.
Qi is the force of all movement, from the movements of waves and sub-atomic particles to the movement of stars and planets. Qi is the force moving world systems into creation, existence and destruction; everything manifests out of Qi, exists as a form
of Qi, and returns to Qi. In living creatures it becomes the life force and source of all metabolism. Qi is even the root of the movement of consciousness, of thought, sensory
awareness and emotions. The activity of Qi is what holds things together: atoms, molecules, our bodies, the earth, the solar system.
As soon as Qi appeared, it moved as Yin and Yang. The Chinese character for Yin depicts the shady side of a mountain, while the character for Yang depicts the sunny side. Thus some characteristics of Yin are earth, receptiveness, darkness, cold, moisture, heaviness, descension, contractiveness, stillness. Yang, by relative contrast, is heaven, creativity, brightness, warmth, dryness, lightness, ascension, expansion, activity. Everything in the relative world of existence can be viewed in terms of Yin and Yang. However, Yin and Yang are not separate; they are like the two poles of the same magnet.
Thus, nothing is entirely Yin nor entirely Yang; each contains the other. The interdependent existence of Yin and Yang is known as Tai Ji (the Most High). Tai Ji and Wu Ji are seen as inseparable. Yin and Yang create each other; as soon as you have a front, you must also have a back. Yin and Yang check and balance each other; if something is too hot, you balance it by adding cold. Yin and Yang also transform into one another; activity naturally transforms into rest, night transforms into day. Life is peaceful when Yin and Yang are in harmony and balance, when the transitions from Yin to Yang and Yang to Yin are gradual and even. When either Yin or Yang becomes too extreme or when the transitions from Yin to Yang are unusually sudden and abrupt, harmony and balance are lost. These imbalances may appear as health problems, relationship difficulties, trade deficits, or unseasonal weather; all the changes in the universe can be analysed by understanding Yin and Yang.
Wu Hsing - The Five Phases: Yin and Yang are further subdivided into Wu Hsing. Wu means five Wu means five, while hsing means form. Thus Wu Hsing is translated as the Five Forms, Five Phases (of Qi transformation) or most commonly as the Five Elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water.....
Thus all existence unfolds from the emptiness of Wu Ji into Tai Ji, the dance of Yin and Yang. From Yin and Yang things are further differentiated into the Five Phases and the Eight Trigrams. From these all of the myriad forms of existence come into being. Dazzled by the various appearances, we forget who we are and where we come from. Taoist spiritual practices seek to reverse this process. All phenomenal forms can be summed up in the eight trigrams, the eight trigrams can be simplified to the Five Phases; the Five Phases can be reduced to Yin and Yang, and when Yin and Yang come into equipoise, one can perceive Wu Ji.
(Foundations of Taoist practice pp.2-6)
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Be Here Now
To Be means to let go and turn onto being/feeling fully alive and awake. Being Here means *filling the space* with your total presence and giving full attention to all matters closest to home. Mindfulness or sensitivity/awareness is key. Being Here Now means openness to thr momentum and flow of light/energy, tapping into *pure creative potential*... "What can I potentially do and accomplish with my free time today?".
True contentment is recognizing that the greatest opportunity for life, love and happiness is right here, right now, rooted in the depths of your being, embodied in/as the immediate present moment...
JDZ
True contentment is recognizing that the greatest opportunity for life, love and happiness is right here, right now, rooted in the depths of your being, embodied in/as the immediate present moment...
JDZ
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