singing ocean

Been busy lately, will answer the other post soon.

My understanding of the idea of pure yang is that it is a corruption of the yuan qi concept. possibly influenced by the confucian ideas of hierarchy, or just another metaphorical way of speech used in the alchemical texts, or maybe another way to say “cultivated spirit given substance” for lack…[Read more]

The literal translation of the Chinese characters means “beyond limit”, or “without limit”.

Of course, by its very nature, there is no definition in words that could define it…it is by its nature undefinable!

An indirect way of describing it would be a field of neutral consciousness/energy/matter that is pure potential.

The best method for verification is self-observation. Since Chinese medicine is an art form that has been studied and practiced for AT LEAST 3000 years, the channels and elemental interactions mentioned have been cross-verified by hundreds if not thousands of humans during that time.

To me, the validity of these sources would be confirmed by…[Read more]

That makes sense that a rabbit for example could affect one person much differently than another depending on their personal configuration of elements/animals.

So if a person has a weak day master, then it is really about how all the other elements and animal aspects affect that day master…it is about the interaction of all of them, not the…[Read more]

its pretty basic but if you just want the word, pronunciation and character, its helpful.

Any thoughts on how the year element/animal affects a persons personality versus the element/animal of the day master?

There is a good glossary in the book “Nourishing Destiny” by Lonny Jarrett that has many terms specific to Daoist cosmology. Also “Read and Write Chinese” by Rita Mei-Wah Choy, or you could go here:

http://www.mandarintools.com/

and find the chinese-enghlish dictionary, but just remember that if you are searcing chinese terms in pinyin (the…[Read more]

I just read your post, and do agree that these two types of raw foods, based on the “LIVING ENERGY” in grasses, sprouts, juices and earth (clay) as put forth by Ann wigmore and Edward Szekely are well researched and practiced, and highly beneficial for peoples health.

People should also note that in China, “cooked” vegetables are often just…[Read more]

OK, thanks for the insights. So it appears that they would be different levels of a person’s personality. I guess my next question is how can one cultivate either the year or day master aspects of ones personality to make them more balanced or dominant?
Because we are really talking about the ten celestial stems (elements) and the 12…[Read more]

I have also found the four pillar astrology useful in determining the balance of elements in my self and others (I bought the program in its first edition back in 2004, which I actually like the layout more than the 2nd edition).

According to the four pillar astrology book by David Twicken, it seems that the year animal/elements refer to your…[Read more]

Here is an excerpt from Livia Kohns book (p.129), that represents the stages of eating that some Taoists go through as they cultivate (from the Xuanmen Dalun, “Great Treatise on the Gate of all WOnders”, translated by Eskildsen):

1. Coarse eating: grains, “to terminate cravings and desires”
2. Rough eating: vegetables, “to abandon fats”
3.…[Read more]

I agree, that if you are in good physical and energetic shape than your overall functioning is much stronger…imagine people who live off the land, and how much more physical exercise they do every day compared to our sedentary overly intellectual society…with the resulting lack of physical body awareness. Being constantly exposed to the…[Read more]

I can see how that happens, because of all the work required to digest something in its raw state as opposed to half-digested (cooked).

It does seem though that almost all animals in the world eat raw food and do just fine, except some that pre-chew it, but that seems mostly for their babies. I guess this leads us off into another question…[Read more]

Awesome, I eat none of that stuff raw.

For me it makes no difference…I’m the same sign regardless of the system as it falls within the middle of all the ranges.

I have noticed that people that seemingly completely lack one element in taoist (earth based) astrology sometimes are dominant in that element in Western (planet based) astrology. Interesting that the lack of elements on…[Read more]

The “Self with no personality or memory / skeleton of the self” that you mention sounds a lot like Peter Novak’s concept of the Spirit (as opposed to the soul). Have you been reading his books?

Does Chan use the term wuji, or is that your insertion of a daoist term into a buddhist framework?

I think Steven already pretty clearly said that Zen is only about the here and now and the other stuff are his views.

Much of this has been discussed before, but as you said, you apparently hold a different view than most Chan or zen practitioners, and Bagua as well so its probably a good thing that you are clarifying it. It is refreshing to me to discuss it using common terms.

My practice has not been on observing the “already existent underlying personal…[Read more]

Yes, I would like some more clarification of what the ling is in order to continue. I will read up on it, and maybe Michael can add to it.

This question of observing the “collective impersonal self” is relevant because in previous conversations on this board, when a Chan practitioner focuses on “emptiness between the thoughts” with the goal of…[Read more]

Another option would be to view it in light of how you used your will to steer the course of events. Instead of just giving in to her repeated demands, you held on to YOUR course based on the observations that it was the balanced thing to do in the situation. In return, maybe she learned from it in that she will not achieve resolution by simply…[Read more]