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March 12, 2010 at 12:20 am #33482StevenModerator
Hello All,
As part of my ongoing spiritual exploration, I am subscribed to many
magazines/newsletters/etc. with the theme of spirituality. Even though
I align most strongly with the Daoist model, I like to get other
points of view also–say from Buddhism or Hinduism–to compare and contrast.
Sometimes they have useful things to say or useful ideas even if the
dogma doesn’t resonate.At any rate, here is a newsletter email I received recently from a
spiritual magazine I subscribe to that’s got a Hindu slant . . .I decided to post it this month, because this particular article
had a very Daoist feel to it, and I quite liked it.At any rate, here it is . . . S
—————————————–
Unlocking the Mystery of Creation
Satsang of Swami Amar JyotiNot only did God create the world, He made the world out of Him. And if He created out of Him, it must be He. Let’s put our concentration on this. If God made the world out of Himself, what will it be? God again. A pot made out of clay is clay. The universe made out of God is God. What makes it different from God? Dualism. A clay pot has been given form. Once it has form, we give it a name. This is dualism: form and name. The form is a conception and the conception is a name called pot. Break the pot; it is gone. This is called birth and death: birth of a pot, death of a pot. In both conditions the clay remains the same. In creation God remains the same throughout.
Replace this concept with Consciousness, Light, Awareness, whatever you wish to call it. Throughout it is so. The emanation of God must be God, whether the form changes or not. This is the phenomenon of birth and death. In all the three conditions – deep sleep, the dream state and waking – you remain. It is your dream, your physical world, you in deep sleep. Throughout you are you. Only conceptions change, forms change, names change. We call this birth and death. The entire creation, preservation and transformation incessantly carry on through you, by you, in you. All is within the drama – young age, old age, death and birth.
What we call creation is changing phenomena. That is why Realized Souls say to be detached from form and name and be devoted to the essence. Do not look to the pot, look to the clay. If you identify yourself with the form and name, you will have to lament. Identify yourself with the Reality, you will not lament. Unless we are awakened to non-duality, to the Absolute, we cannot really know what dualism is. We are in the dream – action and reaction, cause and effect, form and name – and we philosophize so much that we take it to be real. That which gives us pain, makes us miserable, frustrated and wanting is dualism.
Our folly is not awakening. We want to “sleep,” but sleep can be comfortable only up to some limits. Beyond that it becomes pain and drudgery, and that is the very drudgery we carry through life. When we awaken, we come back to our Absolute Truth: I am all this. How do we realize this? We must awaken from our dreams. Awakening is the answer.ยฉ 2010 by Truth Consciousness. Excerpted from the Satsang, Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation, published in Light of Consciousness Vol 11#2, from the original recorded Satsang,
The Dream and the Dreamer (R-5)available on CD.March 12, 2010 at 10:42 am #33483DogParticipantI enjoy doing the same. It is like walking through a garden smelling all different beautiful flowers.
I really enjoyed this.
March 12, 2010 at 2:16 pm #33485StevenModeratorI quite enjoyed that video also.
I can tell Almine has a heightened awareness of the truth.Her stages she speaks of sound very similar to the progression
through the Healing Tao immortality formulas. I was pleasantly
surprised to hear her talk about alchemy . . . and amused
to hear her alchemy/Michael comment. I wonder if Michael
realizes that his name is even linked into alchemy, LOL.
I guess he chose the right job ๐I like her comment about her “awakening in stage 2”, where
she says you don’t depend on others’ opinions of you. I
myself have come to this realization recently. It’s so
obvious, but so easy to miss and/or not absorb fully.Thanks for sharing the video. It was excellent.
S
March 13, 2010 at 10:07 am #33487c_howdyParticipantMarch 13, 2010 at 10:22 am #33489c_howdyParticipantMarch 14, 2010 at 7:21 pm #33491atxryanParticipantMarch 15, 2010 at 2:32 am #33493c_howdyParticipantMarch 15, 2010 at 12:03 pm #33495DogParticipantThe pearl is embodiment. To embody the Yuan shen Chi Jing. Just do your Healing Tao Practices daily, relax and enjoy your day. Just do what you can, maybe just going for a walk in nature might just be the best thing that day. Try out all the practices, enjoy your self, they all have amazing lessons. Eventually the pearl will become more “real”. ๐ Go to a workshop for more details on this subject. Fusion workshop is in Asheville north Carolina in two weeks and I have a workshop on the Seven Star Step in April. http://www.triangeletao.com
March 15, 2010 at 1:45 pm #33497StevenModeratorYOU are the pearl. It’s just your consciousness crystallized
so that it’s easier to identify and work with, as opposed to working
on it in the abstract. You can’t “not” hang on to it. It’s
YOU after all. The two are inseparable. Cultivating the
pearl is cultivating YOU. The point of strengthening, cultivating,
and refining the pearl so that it can continue to live on
consciously after death, is to strengthen, cultivate and
refine YOU so that YOU can continue to live on consciously
after death.In the strictest Daoist sense, I’m oversimplifying things a bit,
but that’s my style ^_^If we want to get fancy with language, YOU are the amalgam
of the LING (prenatal soul which exists beyond death normally)
and the XIN (heart-mind; postnatal expression formed by the unified
five shen, which does NOT exist beyond death normally). Then
the pearl is a crystallization of your XIN via an energetic
vessel holding the FIVE SHEN. If this vessel is cultivated so
that it exists beyond death, then together with the already
immortal LING, YOU then continue to exist beyond death; otherwise,
only the LING continues on–which by itself is just a skeletal
version of you, emotionless with no goals, akin to a “Stepford wives”
version of you.But ignoring all the fancy-schmancy talk using formal lingo which
I usually avoid, to KEEP THINGS SIMPLE, in a nutshell, basically
YOU are the pearl.Sing it with me now ๐
(sung to “We are the World”)
You are the pearl.
You are the children.
You are the one who makes a brighter day
So now start living
There’s a choice you’re making
You’re saving your own life
It’s true you’ll make a better day
Just you and youSmiles,
StevenMarch 15, 2010 at 1:56 pm #33499StevenModeratorNever heard of him before now,
but if you like martial arts, check out this video:March 16, 2010 at 2:57 am #33501c_howdyParticipantAcrobatics work or not work.
It’s not tied to any tradition but to physics and will power of human body.
I have participated a capoiera course, but I decided not to continiue.
Good to remember is last Jason Bourne movie. Matt Damon by the way has some finnish ancestry.
March 16, 2010 at 11:42 am #33503DogParticipantI met two To-Shin-Do (different then bujikan/ninjitsu) instructors. I was not impressed with their energy. One was the blue lotus Buddhist meditation teacher. I found out that one ended up going crazy and shooting his pregnant wife. Stephen seems like a really nice guy and I enjoy spending time with Bud Malmstrom.
March 16, 2010 at 1:21 pm #33505baguaParticipantHi Steven:
Nice reply.
Can you share your source for the meaning of Ling? Another one is almost the opposite, Shen is our essential nature/yuan shen, Ling is a more dense energy formation in our current form to hold the shen, the vessel to allow the Shen to stay here, the two are inseparable in human form. It is the yin/yang aspect of Shen.
A question.
Are we born with a pearl?
If yes is there something about the pearl that can come into this life but not maintain itself in the next?
thanks,
baguaYOU are the pearl. It’s just your consciousness crystallized
so that it’s easier to identify and work with, as opposed to working
on it in the abstract. You can’t “not” hang on to it. It’s
YOU after all. The two are inseparable. Cultivating the
pearl is cultivating YOU. The point of strengthening, cultivating,
and refining the pearl so that it can continue to live on
consciously after death, is to strengthen, cultivate and
refine YOU so that YOU can continue to live on consciously
after death.In the strictest Daoist sense, I’m oversimplifying things a bit,
but that’s my style ^_^If we want to get fancy with language, YOU are the amalgam
of the LING (prenatal soul which exists beyond death normally)
and the XIN (heart-mind; postnatal expression formed by the unified
five shen, which does NOT exist beyond death normally). Then
the pearl is a crystallization of your XIN via an energetic
vessel holding the FIVE SHEN. If this vessel is cultivated so
that it exists beyond death, then together with the already
immortal LING, YOU then continue to exist beyond death; otherwise,
only the LING continues on–which by itself is just a skeletal
version of you, emotionless with no goals, akin to a “Stepford wives”
version of you.But ignoring all the fancy-schmancy talk using formal lingo which
I usually avoid, to KEEP THINGS SIMPLE, in a nutshell, basically
YOU are the pearl.Sing it with me now ๐
(sung to “We are the World”)
You are the pearl.
You are the children.
You are the one who makes a brighter day
So now start living
There’s a choice you’re making
You’re saving your own life
It’s true you’ll make a better day
Just you and youSmiles,
March 16, 2010 at 2:17 pm #33507StevenModeratorI find it to be mostly about the practices, and not so
much about the people involved or the “dharma” of tradition.I remember hearing about how Eric Yudelove–one of M. Chia’s
senior students–ended up doing some pretty crazy things also,
and yet that shouldn’t be proof that the Alchemical Daoism
of One Cloud is faulty. It’s just proof that people are
faulty, which we already knew.As to the “dharma”, again if the path to awakening is an
individual one and one which comes from direct experience
to all that is, then any commentary/beliefs promoted by
the tradition are just that: beliefs. Things other
travelers in the tradition thought to have had revealed
to them. As such, I don’t pay it too much mind.Example: In ADDITION to the Healing Tao practices, I
also do Zen meditation and occasionally go to a local
Zen temple. I think that the practice of Zen meditation
as well as some of the other practices of Zen are useful
tools to help with self-awakening. However, for the
most part, a lot of the dharma talks and discussions arising
from the Buddhist scriptures I couldn’t disagree with more.
They disagree with a lot of what I feel to be true from
the Daoist tradition (whose “dharma” aligns most closely
with what I think is the right perspective). However,
even though I disagree with 80% of the Buddhist dharma teachings,
does not mean I don’t think that the PRACTICES THEMSELVES
are not worth doing. Practices, taken out of the context
of a particular set of teachings, can be applied toward
whatever goal best suits you . . . which I suppose is
probably why I give value to the Zen tradition, because
it tends to downplay the Buddhist teachings in favor
of just doing the practices–In fact, the “fifth finger
of Zen” is called “no reading; direct experience” . . .
which means don’t let someone tell you what you should
believe, but go and experience it and see for yourself.S
March 16, 2010 at 3:27 pm #33509StevenModerator>>>Can you share your source for the meaning of Ling?
>>>Another one is almost the opposite, Shen is our
>>>essential nature/yuan shen, Ling is a more dense
>>>energy formation in our current form to hold the shen,
>>>the vessel to allow the Shen to stay here, the two are
>>>inseparable in human form. It is the yin/yang aspect of Shen.Let me clarify what I said earlier.
Prior to birth, the LING exists in the prenatal realm, and
is an immortal object. It is a skeletal version of you; it
has some degree of self-awareness, but no emotions, no goals,
no desires, no memory. Then due to some unknown linking
or association process, the LING links up with the
creation of a new physical human being. As the physical
human “comes online”, as if a radio has been turned on, the
LING puts out an “interdimensional whistle”, and summons
the FIVE SHEN (also immortal) to come to join it. Almost as if an employer
has put out a job posting, and prospective employees show up . . .
The FIVE SHEN are attracted to this interdimensional whistle,
and whichever five shen of the various shen in the nether
regions that show up, get “hired”. They then form the
“soul team” and collect around the LING, with the LING
acting as axis around which they collect. Upon the birth
of the human, the LING grants the “authority” to the FIVE SHEN
to “run the show”. Collectively, the “five member team”
are responsible for the emotions, goals, drives, desires, memories etc.
for the human. The collective “five member committee” forms
a voice called the XIN (heart-mind). Then the LING + the XIN
form everything that is you. Assuming nothing special is
done during life (i.e Daoist cultivation or the like), then
upon death, the “radio is turned off”, i.e. “the interdimensional
whistle stops whistling”, and thus the “magnet” that attracted
the shen originally is no more. Thus the FIVE SHEN scatter,
as their “job” is over. They are immortal, but they separate
to go off and do other things. In doing so, the XIN which was
the assemblage of the five-member committee is no more. It
dissolves. Thus what is left is the LING alone. Thus your
memories, emotions, goals, drives, etc. all evaporate and
much of what you were is cast into oblivion, only leaving
a shell. Under this picture, the point of doing the Daoist
cultivation is to strengthen the energetic vessel in which
the FIVE SHEN collect around the LING axis, so that after
death when the “whistle” is turned off, the FIVE SHEN are
“caged” and are prevented from going off their separate ways,
and thus keeping everything that is you intact in the hereafter.
Of course, this phrasing of the word “caging” is misleading as
it implies a forced prison, when what is really happening is
that the cage is created/strengthened by getting the FIVE
SHEN to realize how compatible they are with each other and
helping them to realize that they WANT to continue to work
together forever. This “wanting” creates a mutual desire
or longing for them to be together, which means a kind
of “magnetic” or “sexual” attraction amongst them develops which is
independent of the “interdimensional whistle of the LING”
(holding them “hypnotized” around the LING’s axis). It is
this “wanting” or “magnetic” or “sexual” attraction that develops that
is really the source of the energetic field creating the
vessel; so yes they are caged, but they are caging themselves
by “choice” of falling in love with each other. Thus–if
the cultivation during life is done to “a sufficient degree”–
then when the “interdimensional whistle of the LING” is
silenced by death, then the “magnetic attraction” of the
FIVE SHEN as manifested by the vessel is sufficient to
keep the FIVE SHEN together as a unit still operating around
the LING axis.So getting back to your comment . . .
I don’t think this concept of LING is too far opposite
from the other interpretation you mention as it is “holding
the shen” and “allowing it to be here” (I realize I’m using
the word shen differently here than your intention of
shen as essential nature).As to “my source” for the meaning of LING I’ve given.
I reference the teachings of Michael Winn from his course work,
which I give credit to from his 30 years experience in
Alchemical Daoism–trusting that the information relayed
in his courses is accurate–although to be honest I have
not gone and independently verified his interpretation
through written Daoist sources. To be honest, I’ve felt
no such need. Furthermore, in addition to M. Winn’s
teachings, I reference my own personal interpretation of
his teachings. Thus if there is any discrepancy between
what M. Winn preaches and what I’ve described, then that
discrepancy lies solely with my personal interpretation
of what was taught, although I don’t *think* there is
too much deviation.Of course, part of the reason I’ve not gone to too much effort
to verify certain Daoist terminology is because I’m not
one to explore the technical Daoist jargon too much. In
fact, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, I rarely make
such references in my posts on this list. Owing to the
years of teaching college algebra to students who only
want to know the “bottom line”, I’ve graduated from the
school of “Keep It Simple, Stupid” ๐ Which is why
cutting out the technical philosophy and just getting
to the essence is why I said “YOU are the pearl”. I
don’t think you lose much by looking at the picture from
this simplified perspective, and if anything, I would
argue it even clarifies it a bit. ^_^>>>A question.
>>>Are we born with a pearl?As per the previous discussion, the pearl is the energetic
vehicle of crystallized consciousness that “houses” the FIVE SHEN.
This is created with the XIN upon the birth of human life. Awareness
of it, is another matter entirely. I would argue that many would not
be aware of it. The visual image itself of the pearl is just a
visual projection on the mind of the actual manifestation of one’s
consciousness when sufficiently condensed in a certain area–say
the lower dantian. The movement of the “pearl” around the MO say,
is nothing more, nothing less than the physical observation of this
condensed, localized consciousness of the essence of what is you.>>>If yes is there something about the pearl
>>>that can come into this life but not maintain itself in the next?My opinion to the answer to this question I believe has to been
answered via the discussion earlier in this same posting about
my “clarification”.Hope you are well, my friend,
Steven -
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