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Found this interesting quote;
“However, the earliest works on the Tao do not emphasise visualisation but rather a state of mental serenity and surrender”. The Tao Te Ching says:
“A mind ever free from its own process beholds the true miracle of Tao
A mind ever lost in its own process sees only the forms of the world”
I personally dont use visualizations and believe the original Taoists didnt either, I focus on the dan tien during my my meditation but only to charge up my Chi beforing emptying the mind.
Here is the web address..
http://members.aardvark.net.au/borr/beiji/alchemy2.htm
DC
I am curious to know which version of the Dao De Jing, translation and verse you are using for your quote above?
Is it the Guodian, Mawangdui or a later version?
A note on the word “visualization”: I think this implies more of a mental/intellectual exercise. I prefer to use the word “Actualize”: Qi is real!
I think at an early point in “daoist” history, there were different schools of philosophy, alchemy and meditation. There were no formalised “daoists” until the Shangqing and Lingbao Daoist sects. Interestingly enough, the early Shangqing daoists used actualization extemsively: purple vapors, the sun and moon, deities etc, and they would actualize eating them, and ingesting thees energies into their bodies.
Another early source that used energetic alchemy and the imagery of the cauldron and stove is Wei Po Yang in his book the “Tsan-Tung-Chi”, or “triplex Unity”, written about 200 A.D.: for such a developed alchemical system, it is following closely on the heels of Lao Tzu (600-400 B.C.) to have been developed overnight don’t you think?
Note on dates: I will have to get them exactly, they are just estimates.
Any quote taken out of context can be made to serve a purpose.
The same author (B.Orr) where you got your quote from wrote a book called “Flying without wings” with the following exercises in it:Topics Include:
Subtle Body development – Increase health and longevity.
Opening the Eight Psychic Meridians – Brings more energy and vitality into your life.
The Ninefold Chakra system – Learn to control your endocrine and nervous systems.
Taoist Chakra symbols – Secret symbols for controlling your qi!
3 Aura Building exercises – Learn psychic self-protection and how to ward off negativity.
3 Paths of the Microcosmic Orbit – Allows you to balance the body’s energy quickly and easily.
Astral Travel Meditation – You can learn to leave the body at will.
Chinese Shamanism – The true secrets of the ancients.dc> I focus on the dan tien during my my meditation but only to charge up my Chi beforing emptying the mind. >
There is a still place in the center of each tan tien, what I’ve called the “deep-center”, that naturally connects to deep stillness states. Outside of that bulls-eye, there is a natural spin and energy-producing aspect to the tan tiens; all of that resolves in the deep-centers.
As the deep-center is found in each of the the tan tiens, and they align vertically, they share & balance nourishment through the core (aka central) channel: stillness is aligned vertically.
As the deep-centers connect to vast stillness (beyond self-separation), they become naturally more powerful: energies thus get drawn to the deep-center naturally, and resolve into vast stillness (emptiness, light). This is the “reverse” path.
Prior to that, the tendency to activate the outer layers of a tan tien, while ignoring the deep-center~stillness connection, produces sensation and complexity. This is the “forward” path.
When first hanging in the deep-center, there is actually less feeling of energy. Its a no-sensation zone, a no-spin zone, a place of union of concentration and openness, “the mysterious pass”.
I think that it is not so much about the outer or inner layers of the dan tien , but what forces you are activating there.
When creating a neutral space (through the process of kan and li), the “dan tien” in its manifestation as the “Elixir Field” is a space that can be larger or smaller than your physical body because it has essence, energy and spirit. It is a choice to spin the energetic objects or not, and it takes a certain amount of sustained intention to do this(not forced). If one were to force the spin there is often resistance, it should be effortless.
I have found that this generates a very deep core quality that is hard to grasp at first, but then begins to grow. A very high frequency vibration. The gateway into this is the union of the polar opposite energies.
There is also a process of centering and fusion at all levels, in each Dan Tien, which is similar to what you are describing above, but to center one self it is in relation to the “outer” parts of the dan tien and self, and all other collective selves whether they are energetic or physical.
I would agree that it is very important to become the balance point in the deep center for all the various multidimensional frequencies of consciousness, although in harmony with the “outer” parts, not in antagonism with them.
agreeing with singing ocean:
I would agree that it is very important to become the balance point in the deep center for all the various multidimensional frequencies of consciousness, although in harmony with the “outer” parts, not in antagonism with them.isn’t this where the child lives? the great director? stillness here? and wisdom. and light.
it was a wild ride until i learned to stay in that “balance point”. had some help, golden dragons.
also been thinking on the emptyness stuff. all the taoist meditations that i’ve learned that use emptiness it’s used like breath, empty then refill.
isn’t there some zen or something saying about that. you can’t go to the well with a full bucket. what’s the point of having a bucket if it’s gonna stay empty or full even? fill with good water while we are there …… ahhhh breathing finally…
in our light
mike 🙂> I think that it is not so much about the outer or inner layers of the dan tien , but what forces you are activating there.
When creating a neutral space (through the process of kan and li), >Sequence.
What I’m referring to in my above posts occurs, rather – is recognized, after the centers are activated and after their energies are blended. After circulation and blending. Concentration and resolution of the resulting blend into the deep-center makes a leap to something radically different. From qi gong to Taoism.“All phenomena are like
a dream, an illusion, a bubble and a shadow;
Like dew and lightning.
Thus should you meditate upon them.”
Diamond Sutra“Not the movement of the wind.
Not the movement of the flag.
It is the movement of the Mind.”
Platform Sutra of the Sixth PatriarchI tend to be more interested in what fellow Westerners have done and found to point to the way. What people thought 1500 or 2500 years ago should be studied and respected. But many of their ideas and probably most of the concepts in Taoist communities in China today are Religious Taoism. With prayers and salutations to their various deities.
There are teachers and felow students, many of them on these boards who are my contemporaries, going beyond study and experimenting and doing and living the work. Right now they are more my inspiration then age old scripts in a language I can’t read, written by people in a culture totally foriegn to me.
Besides the tao that is written isn’t the real tao. Man is closest to tao when he Sneezes.
Bless you and gezunteit
Michael
Taoism is usually divided into two different types. Contemplative Taoists follow more closely the teachings of Lao-tzu in that they accomplish action through non-action and “go with the flow.” Hsien Taoists, or immortalists, practice various kinds of alchemy and yoga-type exercises in an attempt to live forever. The primary criticism of hsien taoism is that it violates the aspect of tao called wu-wei.
I follow techniques from the contemplative Taoists, the original teachings.
DC
i like to think of the early daoist texts and practices as model t ford’s–beutiful elegant vehicles worthy of admiration and essential to the evolution of the automobile. but a brand new lexus is a much better car.
currently i’m working on a brand new spaceship…..
When wu-wei is achieved, is it non-action, or non-being, or both?
Wu: none, without
Wei: to do, be
Non-being, hmm, that has a familiar feel to it. It is similar in meaning to non-doing: doing through the realm of non-being or immaterial self.
It is interesting that the Nei Yeh, which is thought to be older and a root text for the Lao Zi does not use the terms emptiness (xu, hsu), valley spirit, the ravine, the mysterious female etc, or any reference to sages or political phiosophy.
It only uses Jing, Qi and Shen, and methods of circulating them through breathing, posture and twisting and coiling.
“All phenomena are like
a dream, an illusion, a bubble and a shadow;
Like dew and lightning.
Thus should you meditate upon them.”so does that mean we should spend about as much time meditating on these things as a flash of lightening?
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