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Exactly! The moment we label someone or something a certain way, we essentially give up the opportunity to learn anything from them. My experience is quite in line with your “sacred clown” analogy. Often the truth is so simple that we can’t even imagine it as being the truth. Our minds are evolutionarily oriented towards doing, and dissecting concepts and ideas. I used to laugh at the idea of “new agers” making “high sounding statements”, can’t remember how many times I rolled my eyes at the statement “you are already enlightened” in the past 😂 But it turns out the joke was really on me, because the very things I thought were impossibilities, were proven to be correct and all my complex ideas and theories about how things should be became ridiculously convoluted and complex. It seems we tend to correlate complexity with intelligence. Yet in nature we find the simplest things to be the most resilient and durable. Didn’t Lao-Tzu say “my words seem simple, but most laugh at me and call me a fool”?

Socrates said something along the lines of wisdom being knowing that you don't know many things. So I think it follows that as we become more and more wise, we can end up feeling more and more foolish about ourselves. Regarding others - the more foolish, the more dangerous they can be. So, it's wise to know who they are and not be destroyed by them. Some quick insights into a fool versus a wise person, in light of the tarot, for fun...not all there is to be said about it, and it may contradict some other interpretations of it... The fool turns away from the light. His head is high, assured of what he thinks is his wisdom (which is in fact just cleverness and stupidity), unaware of the truth. He isn't careful to support himself with his staff, so his footing on the ground of reality is unstable due to his own lack of precaution. His focus is on the external appearances of things, rather than the true reality of things, given his clothing. The dangerous nature of his foolishness is represented by the fact that he's about to walk off of the cliff. Not only is he about to become dangerous to himself, but the most loyal "man's best friend", who looks up to him, is about to go off the cliff as well - showing what happens to someone that's a good friend to others, who underestimates the dangerous nature of the fool. The white rose has a fragrance, which the fool has just smelled, representing "the finer things in life"...the fool thinks it's better to appease themselves with delights, than to truly be wise which is often the opposite of delightful. The hermit, or wise person, holds fast to the light. They have become aware of the darkness in the world, so in a sense, life isn't as bright and cheerful as it once when they were an ignorant fool. They have an aged appearance compared to the youthful fool, which means they've lived through things and learned. Their clothing isn't indicative of being focused on false appearances. With their staff, they support their footing in life, and instead of being about to walk off of a cliff, they have mastered the earth (become aware of reality) and stand safely upon the ground...which might even be the peak of a mountain, further indicating their mastery of reality, through being aware of truth. His head is low, knowing the cold and dark truth, as well as recognizing his own inadequacies fully, as opposed to being overconfident...in addition, the head bowed in prayer represents the inner light of wisdom and compassion, which he shines out into the world.

No one is an absolute fool really. Everyone is at varying levels of knowing. So “foolishness” or “intelligence” is a relative thing. It also varies from day to day. For example, on some days I feel really smart and others I feel really foolish. The feeling foolish bit usually goes hand in hand with whether I ended up succumbing to the propensity to do something compulsive. We can be compassionate towards someone who knows less. My teachers always did/do that with me.

One solution might be to give up expecting anything in our interactions with others. IF we don’t have any expectations, we won’t suffer the effect of disappointments. I know it’s easier said than done. But that is a maxim that was articulated to me by a very wise person many years ago, and I found it to be proven right many times over.

Three cheers for the sacred clown! (Great phrase, @Fa Xin) We fall so easily into judgment of seeming idiots but there´s a positive aspect to the fool archetype. You´ll know my spiritual practices have finally started to kick in when my posts exhibit less ironic sensibility and less cleverness, when I´m simple and innocent and without guile. Many will disagree, I know, but in my own estimation I´m not yet a fool. There´s still hope for me though.

Yes. I think it’s a bit of a semantic trap. I don’t see people as foolish or smart or whatever... I see their actions as foolish or skilful... I’ve seen this turn into a sort of condescending arrogance in certain ‘spiritual’ circles. A foolish action is a foolish action - there’s no need to negate it or see the good in it or understand it... it is what it is. I don’t know the full extent of cause and effect chains that led to the action, so I treat the action accordingly, but I treat the person as just a person - not a fool not as a poor unfortunate idiot that doesn’t know any better... just a person with an Acquired Mind... just like me. Maybe that’s a form of compassion in a way? But Id deny it vehemently

I think this guy may be on to something

Guanzi, or Guan Zhong (管仲) is generally considered a legalist but the core 'cultivation' texts as daoist. This is at a time when no allegiances were formed nor such labels existed. So it is not uncommon to find such diversity among works. Taken as a whole, the work has been called the 'earliest masterpiece on political economy'; taken in some parts, as containing the earliest cultivation technique. Elsewhere I gave a link to a paper on “Tong guo shen” 通 國身 TGS (“Linking the State and the Body”) where it states: This seems but an expansion of Guanzi's other cultivation section, Xin Shu, a summary of Neiye on some level: 心安, 是國安也。心治, 是國治也. “His mind being at peace, his country is also at peace. His mind being well regulated, his country is also well regulated.” Also of note in the Xin Shu: 心之在體，君之位也. In the body, the [heart]mind holds the position of the prince. This might help understand why medical daoist theory says the heart is the [army] general; or as Xunzi said, “master of the five sense organs”. In some ancient texts that follow the Guanzi formula, Xunzi also talks that we store memories... which means emptying the storage is emptiness. Thus, to 'accumulate' jing one engages in emptiness (not seeking to accumulate jing as a focus). The TGS calls it JingQi, thus no differentiation between Jing and Qi. In others, Jing is settled in order to have the Qi and blood in harmony so that body/self is at ease/rest/calm. For this reason, rest (an 安) was considered Jing (tranquility) 安：靜也 in the ancient dictionary and may be a pointer to wu-wei concept. What might be pondered: 1. Self-regulation = State-regulation 2. Jing is the essential aspect for Qi and blood to be in harmony. There is no more transformational thought of Jing to Qi than there is of Jing to Blood. Jing seems to stand on its own, yet almost synonymous with Qi. 3. Is Jing (精), vital essence, the key to Jing (靜), tranquility , wu-wei ? 4. Jing is not to be grasped or sought, thus one cannot 'store' it or try to do so as that would go against its own nature. Being non-active, non-purposeful, non-attentive state, Jing becomes aware as just Qi: JingQi Of course I pulled in other texts to understand and suggest some things as looking at it in isolation is not always going to show the history or understanding, but I also don't want to impose too much outside thought to the text itself. So I let these ideas sit.

That’s good I think as long as students know what they’re getting into - specifically the risks of following a diy system - then I have nothing against it. In the past, alchemical substances were given to prisoners to check for safety So who knows, maybe if I was a prisoner in medieval China I might have signed up myself

That's incredible footage People freak out if they see 1 orb....here's SOTG swimming in a damn ocean of them Also OP Hes legitimate, I've seen similar (Not the exact same) to his techniques in very expensive neigong, neidan and magick books..these are basic techniques in his system, whereas they would be seen as more advanced in others...hes also streamlined them and stripped down a lot of the "mystique" I know damo mitchell doesnt teach students alchemy for years, yet SOTG basically starts the "firing process" immediately...go figure Also all of his students report the same experiences.....so objective results do happen, and the logs kind of speak for themselves really

I try to approach this like silent thunder. When I encounter someone I find to be stuck, opinionated, fixed, unwilling to see an alternative perspective, I do my best to see how I may seem just like that to others, given any particular context or set of circumstances. Whatever view I hold, no matter how convinced I am of its veracity, is limited and relative. When I can see this directly, my irritation, frustration, or impatience towards the other person dissolves and some degree of understanding and compassion remain. Trying to see the other’s point of view, no matter how ridiculous or far-fetched, teaches me far more than simply dismissing them as fools and idiots. The US political landscape has helped me enormously in this regard. That said, it has also taught me to take the approach of not engaging, debating, or arguing, unless I am willing to pay the price. And to be clear, this is my intention, not something I have yet mastered.

I am still in the process of trusting my cynicism as accurate and accepting the speed with which I can often detect a hopeless case, a fool, someone who has a strong resistance to new insights and learning, who may not think what he says. I like to look at people's motivations, so that is what I usually see very early on, sometimes after one comment, sometimes after one sentence, sometimes after a couple of words. I came upon this picture and it expressed exactly that lesson in its most refined form - instant recognition, maximum avoidance of energy leeching: One of my teachers conveyed a lesson I still have trouble with due to its extremism, or maybe it was because he had so much energy that it was OK, or maybe he had it because he followed the rule: Send 10% energy out, keep 90% in. I guess the key understanding that helps to follow that rule is that the energy you keep in does not (have to) / should not just sit idly there.

That is similar to the teachings I received on the subject " " Yet, oh aspirant, let thy victories bring thee not Vanity, for with increase of Knowledge should come increase of Wisdom. He who knoweth little, thinketh he knoweth much; but he who knoweth much hath learned his own ignorance. Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool, than of him. " In my experience, the more I learn and know, throws up even more questions about what I dont know ! " ... Carlo Cipolla ( 'The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity' ) defines stupidity as ; " A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses. " While an intelligent person finds solutions that cause gain to others AND themselves at the same time . Carlo warns us hiw dangerous stupid people are ; " It is not difficult to understand how social, political and institutional power enhances the damaging potential of a stupid person. But one still has to explain and understand what essentially it is that makes a stupid person dangerous to other people - in other words what constitutes the power of stupidity. " Essentially stupid people are dangerous and damaging because reasonable people find it difficult to imagine and understand unreasonable behaviour. An intelligent person may understand the logic of a bandit. The bandit's actions follow a pattern of rationality: nasty rationality, if you like, but still rationality. The bandit wants a plus on his account. Since he is not intelligent enough to devise ways of obtaining the plus as well as providing you with a plus, he will produce his plus by causing a minus to appear on your account. All this is bad, but it is rational and if you are rational you can predict it. You can foresee a bandit's actions, his nasty manoeuvres and ugly aspirations and often can build up your defenses. " http://harmful.cat-v.org/people/basic-laws-of-human-stupidity/ Hmmm . Perhaps that is the 'reversed' Fool .... not the better side of the energy. When not averse, I see the Fool as more than what the external world may see of him; He is Lao Tsu, at times : Khidr at others (in his 'trickster' role ) and most definitely, Nasrudin ! The Missed Appointment A philosopher made an appointment with Nasrudin to have a scholarly discussion. When the day came, the philosopher dropped by Nasrudin's house as planned. However, Nasrudin wasn't home. The philosopher angrily took his pencil out of his pocket, wrote "Asshole" on Nasrudin's door, and then left Nasrudin finally came home later and saw this. He quickly realized that he had missed his appointment, and he darted off to the philosopher's house. "Forgive my error," Nasrudin told the philosopher when he got there. "I totally forgot about our appointment today. But when I got home and saw that you had written your name on my door, I came here as fast as I could."

ultimately no accidents, no more than any human-based concept. Even the idea of "direction" may have no reality beyond what we expect practically in our daily life. After 2 millenniums scientists realized the Euclidean straight line appears to be the "improbable" case at a "universe" scale. Not all at the same time, Spring flowers in autumn fade, Pushed to wax until it wanes.

Good post. Many times I am surprised if I “empty my cup” what turns up. There can be wisdom in any moment, and is sometimes delivered by a “sacred clown” 😀

Maybe we are going down something of a rabbit hole but anyway I'll press on regardless. 'Cultivate' in English of course would be something to do with gardening. And meditation means to think about something - but is in such widespread use for all kinds of yogic practices and so on that inevitably we would still use it. Perhaps neither is quite the right word for what we are talking about but we use them anyway. I 'meditated' for under a year before I started to feel qi - later after some martial arts training, taiji and qigong when I got some to slightly higher level I realised that qi feelings in the body and ordinary feelings in the body were closely related - and that in the broadest terms it's all qi. There is a difference of course - before and after. I would argue also that stilling your heart and addressing emotions is the most direct and powerful 'technique' (gong?). Who was the target audience for some of these early texts? The ruling elite, specially the king himself. This is true for anything coming out of the late Bronze Age/Early iron age - usually these exclusive texts were later 'democratised' and made available for what nowadays would be called the upper/middle classes. This is because all the skills and so on applied to ruling a kingdom can be applied to yourself - that you become master of your domain as Seinfeld put it e.g. Horus is both the god of kingship and awareness the mandalas of medieval India reflect the king (central deity), his court (the attendant deities), his kingdom (the chakra). in Christian mysticism Christ is King in Daoism Laotzu gives advice to the sage/king and so on.

This reminds me of something Sir Alec said... oh wait ... who is the more foolish?

Its just like to some extent all humans are crazy - all humans are foolish as a matter of self serving nature, which is why its refined to go beyond that. It is always amusing watching people who believe foolish things talk about this stuff

Impossible for it to give a shit about anything, it is none of the Daos concern to care and especially not care more about something than something else, especially by human distinctions. It grinds the land like corn, and turns the stars over within a heartbeat and with no remorse.

that's a bit limiting on the term 'cultivation' - which is used also in sanskrit 'bhavana'.

A black dragon named Starjumper? That's my name from the other side of the veil. It first came to me because I learned a method of astral projection in which, in the final stages, you jump in to the center of stars. When you do that can you hear the song of the star?

Jing is "Essence", yes. Essence is polarities and potentials, inherited and acquired. This is the basis of Qi. Qi is just movement between the poles of polarities. "Essence" in the human is polarities and potentials, inherited and acquired. Polarities and potentials of Heaven and Earth contain the Human, so are beyond full Human comprehension. But inside the Human are functioning the same kind of polarities and potentials. This is the way people know Heaven and Earth ("Sages"). -VonKrankenhaus

There was another old Indian living with Mink and I for awhile, and he was kind of like an informal 'police force', in charge of enforcing the ceremonial customs, that they be done correctly. His name was Xatud Firestarter, because he would start the ceremonial fires. He was also a bodyguard for Arvol Lookinghorse, who is the Lakota chief and considered to be the 'pope' of all the indians. I had a chance to meet Arvol a couple of times and talk with him. Here is Xatud's mask: Got to run along now, I'll finish this story later.

I use humor playfulness and absurdity to get a feel for the level of absolute certainty exhibited. Absolute certainty for me is a barometer for foolishness. They seem to have a direct proportional relationship... as one rises, so does the other. Then I remember that all of this is my own interpretations about them made by my mind, out of the partial information received from my senses, which reminds me that this renders almost all input utterly self projected assumptions based on subconscious behavioral conditioning models... then I throw the entire thing out and go about my day.

OMG. You're going to love it. Rest easy the first 3 or 4 episodes, like always. It seems to fly around, but it settles in real nicely.

it is wise to recognize one's own times of foolishness, it is even wiser to recognize one's own times of evil-ness...

Actually that’s clearly what you’re saying. You’re clearly saying that how he teaches is a business decision. Yet you can learn all his material in whatever order you want for the price of a few books... Clearly he didn’t make it to Business 102. Actually the reason he teaches in the order that he does is because that is the classical path of development. It’s how I’ve been taught by my traditional teachers, it’s how they were taught by their teachers and their teachers before that - for many generations - there’s a good reason for it. If you don’t want to do it this way then that’s perfectly fine. But the reasons for it are not business-related. Just safety and efficiency.

So is detecting intention, so is detecting ego, so is detecting purity, so is detecting emotions, so is detecting unconsciousness, so is detecting intuition... the list can go on and on I guess we all have some thing we like to detect that we find invaluable. I wonder if there is a connection in between what we like detecting and who we are hmmmm

There's going to be a book coming out very soon by Thomas Avery Garran, called, "Chinese Herb Cultivation: Daodi Practices for Growing and Processing Chinese Herbs" (Passiflora Press, 2019). It's supposed to be the most accurate/comprehensive on this subject. "Daodi" is what the methodology is called for growing Chinese herbs correctly. You could do a google search and find more info on it. There's an identification book, which helps one know whether an herb is a fake or the legitimate one. It has less to do with growing, but could sometimes be important for determining whether the plants you're growing are the right ones and not look-alikes. https://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Medicinal-Plants-Herbal-Substitutes-dp-184246387X/dp/184246387X/ High Falls is involved in attempting to grow Chinese herbs in the US (if that's where you're located). I haven't looked into them much, but apparently they have lots of info, and very knowledgeable people are involved with them. Mountain Gardens grows Chinese herbs, or variations and different species similar to them, although they're less accurate in terms of daodi cultivation. They have a workshop coming up with the author of the book that's coming out, which I first mentioned. https://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Medicinal-Herb-Farm-Cultivators/dp/1603583300/ This book is considered to be pretty basic.

the issue is how the heart is regulated. With qigong or with commonplace morality, such as reducing desires? If the latter then its not 'cultivation'.

The Andrew Marr show was disgraceful so I won't even highlight that but here's Nigel in full flow on LBC:

Not outer force but inner force, not outer voice but inner voice?

I think that may be a good catch as there are lots of archtypes Yin/Yang associations and this text (I believe) never says Yin/Yang. In any case, it is a good pointer to duality concepts like LZ2. Intent was also translated as awareness in the above authors... so various interpretations may emerge. As TT mentioned, only Linnell seems to translate the first line in complete (which I'm losing interest in his translation), but the rest may not be representing things (even Linnell). I think 'thus' and 'therefore' are not transformation but just pointers. They have not mentioned Qi in the chest yet. But seems a text change to talk about Qi. Yi (intent) has many meanings: idea / meaning / thought / to think / wish / desire / intention / to expect / to anticipate It seems clearly in thought level. One observation, using Linnell with chinese... is after a 4-2-4-2-4-2-4-2-4 pattern, is a set of 5 character patterns: 是 故 此 氣 也 Thus this Qi –不 可 止 以 力 Can not be brought to rest by using force,而 可 安 以 德 But can be calmed by using De.不 可 呼 以 聲 Can not be summoned by using your voice,而 可 迎 以 意 But can be made welcome by using your intent. the "thus.. Qi" is repeated to continue the thought of how Qi is viewed using more dualistic ideas. Force vs De Voice vs Yi Should we equate a forceful voice vs a De of Yi ?

ah ok that makes sense.i want to learn to astral project. maybe for another thread So what do you know about end times? It's gonna happen, so what do we do? Do we find a tall mountain like where you live and pray to God that it's high enough?

"According to the earliest comprehensive dictionary of Chinese characters (ca. 100 CE), Xu Shen’s Shuowen jiezi (Explaining Single-component Graphs and Analyzing Compound Characters), yin refers to “a closed door, darkness and the south bank of a river and the north side of a mountain.” Yang refers to “height, brightness and the south side of a mountain.” I find this interesting given that the first two verses refer to 'bright' and 'dark.' Further associating Heaven with yang and its opposite 'abyss' with yin is also valid IMO. I cannot help but wonder if these are early precursors to the more refined yin/yang notion of later times. '而 可 迎 以 意 ...can be made welcome by using your intent' can help clarify the question in the first verse about whether vital essence arrives on its own or if intention is used. We can use the inner power we do have to calm the jing (which is now referred to as qi?) that exists in everyone and everything, and then use intention to establish the conditions in which jing will come to 'rest'. These conditions are referred to later, so I won't refer to them here. When this qi is maintained/held onto/nurtured/guarded and never lost or let go of (I would assume in the chest as specified in the text of the first verse), this leads to developed inner power/de/perfect virtue. The dictionary defines developed as advanced or elaborated to a specified degree, thus this leads to inner power that has been advanced or elaborated to some extent.

By essence is meant the essence of qi. When qi follows the Dao there is birth. With birth there is awareness. From awareness comes knowing. With knowing the limit is reached.

I think you misunderstand me. I didn't mention trying to help or enlighten anyone. This approach is is for my own practice, my own growth. If it somehow benefits them, that is great! If not, that is equally fine. Whether or not it benefits them is mostly a function of where they're at and if they're ready for a change. I can't control that and attempting to will cause negativity for us both. I take this approach in large part for this very reason. One cannot avoid problems or challenging people but it is possible to turn those very problems into one's spiritual path.

Never argue with idiots, for they will beat you with experience every time. Try to talk sense to a fool and he will call you foolish. To argue is to make both of you look like fools, and upon realizing that, continuing to argue then makes you alone both a fool and idiot.

Look towards the stars and breathe. Everyday life is becoming more and more about looking down or straight. Whether looking at a laptop, a book, people. There is a reason looking up exists. edit: safety reasons

I can hear pretty clearly. Animals will make a sound (or humans will say something) and I hear very clearly in my head what they actually mean by their vocalization. It's more strange with humans though as their intent can be the exact opposite (if not most frequently incongruent) of what it is they are saying. Animals are nice as they don't necessarily want much from you and it's nice to watch natural beings be themselves. My cat however has been an interesting study. The rapport is fun to see develop. He also seems to be aware on the subtle plains as I catch him coming to me from where ever he goes out to in the neighborhood for two things. 1. is whenever I start my gong practice 2. (and I have a suspicion this is instructed to him from my teacher or his accomplished wife as we live in close proximity) He comes to scream at me whenever I have subtle "pest" bothering me. As if to say "Don't listen to it, it's a pest, send it away". A good friend he is! For practice I'd say if you sit in the early a.m. listen to bird songs with the appropriate neutrality and hear when/what they are trying to communicate. They are literally sitting there screaming to one another. I was delighted to sense the richness and range of each respective personal expression behind each little squeak and chirp.

Therefore it is that there is often chaos in the world, and the love of knowledge is ever at the bottom of it. For all men strive to grasp what they do not know, while none strive to grasp what they already know. - Chuangtse

Yeah, I know. I have allowed myself to be useful lately so naturally I am being used. But I am in control and can change things any time I wish. Anyhow, what is being used is my excess so it really doesn't matter all that much. And I am getting something back in return. That useful/useless concept is very important. Most rarely understand its significance.

“Golden Elixir is another name for one’s fundamental nature. There is no other Golden Elixir outside one's fundamental nature. All human beings have this Golden Elixir complete in themselves: it is entirely realized in everybody. It is neither more in a sage, nor less in an ordinary person. It is the seed of the Immortals and the Buddhas, the root of the worthies and the sages.” Liu Yiming (1734-1821)

Worry is a misuse of imagination. ~anon

He who conquers the world often does so by doing nothing. When one is compelled to do something, The world is already beyond his conquering. - Laotse 48

To be poured into without becoming full, and to pour out without becoming empty, without knowing how this comes about; this is the art of Preserving the Light.

All things have different uses and varying capacities; fine horses can travel a hundred miles a day, but unlike cats or weasels, they cannot catch mice.

Can you understand that no master will go and use this to anybody just to prove anything? even slight use of martial art Qi can destroy harmony between five zhang fu which can create diseases in the couple days of using this. If I call myself bunny hopper and say I will beat up MMA figher and lose this will make bunny hoppers fake? Use logic please. There are many master "doing" miracles because of high kung fu. Most of guys are too lazy to practice to that level and just want to talk about titles. If martial art qigong do not work then any qigong would not work. Those methods are secret. Those methods for example in longmen pai are deadly, but they are practicing they ass off not talk on forums.

Sounds like we just disagree on this topic. Like now, I can sense/know that your third eye is somewhat open.

Yes I can see them quite clearly if I wish to. I do not do readings and I do not do "prove it", and for the most part I do not pry into someone's privacy - it is trespassing. People show themselves pretty openly and what is put out in the open is for anyone to see if they have developed these abilities. I am interested in becoming awakened - this was and will continuously be my never ending activity. Remote viewing is easily done, speaking to a persons spirit is also not difficult - you just need the play space to work on your abilities. This work is best done in groups - most spiritual work is best done in groups - it is hard to hide in a group. You will always know if it is the right group for you and you will always know when to leave if that should come to pass. Outside of a group it is easy to pontificate and promote your story - within a group your ignorance and bad habits will surface and if you are truly on the path then these gifts will help you to see yourself and yourself in others.