ValleyStream

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I am very interested in understang the coorelation between Yijing and the lunar phases. This thread is full of very useful information. Thanks, guys!

The link to the MCO thread is also great. A new horizon of study for me. Thank you, Joe Blast.

Aha! I 'see' what you are getting at.

Awesome information eloquently explained.

I had to chuckle at the "new moon in sight"

I am new to relating Yijing to anything really (let alone lunar cycles). Is it applicable?

With the new moon in sight we can appreciate this one...

Hexagram #2

Earth- "Field", "the receptive", "acquiescence", and "the flow"

What is your interpretation of this hexagram? (Celestial, Lunar, Personal, Meditative, etc.)

Maybe there's a couple of areas where you have to suspend disbelief (I can't remember) but this is true of most biographies of mystics.

so true. As they say, grain of salt.

Be realistic. That training is not for people living in the ordinary world, and not only that you need to have accumulated a lot of good karma (past lives) in order to undergo such effort and attain that level. Sorry if this sounds like if I were throwing cold water on the subject, but this is how it works.

 

Please focus on a more tangible training according to your level and lifestyle, IMA for example fits the bill well.

 

Pros of the book: working with trees (very important to heal the liver) and water (kidney and liver); opening the higher centers of the energetic system which is manifested by particular ns (a teacher will be aware of this or yourself, usually by being able to pick up subtlety easily...this is discussed at the start of the book); the role of the mind (central concept in Buddhism, and discussed at the end of the book), etc.

 

Cons: erroneus translations, i.e. grains is not grains but meat. Unrealistic goals for the average practitioner. One needs to renounce the world in order to progress any further, some ideas are not discussed (it's a book anyway, so it's to be expected), etc.

I am reading it right now and i am just considering it to be a story. Nothing more. It is a life of extenuating circumstances where as mine is a life of study. I do not plan to emulate his training because that would just be ridiculous. lol For real though, it is a good story and it is well written.

-beyonder

Of course, there can be no discussion about Yang without including Yin. I should be posting topics concerning the hexagrams in pairs. To analyze one hexagram without the corresponding hexagram would provide no contrast and therefore no picture of how Yin Yang is relating.

As for "What it means to emulate the heavens"; It is a general statement to invoke discussion from the populous. Perhaps it could be considered rhetorical because like you said, it is too big of a concept.

I do like your simplistic way of applying pure yin & yang to mental activity though ( if i understood that last part right XD ). Good stuff.

I think the line is subtle here, but my sense is that this forum is for more scholarly discussions using textual reference or detailed examinations of historical texts - as distinguished from open-ended subjectivity based theorizing and non-goal oriented discussion. Where this thread ends up will likely be related to the direction the posters take it.

 

This story is solidly Taoist, but was written by two students who interviewed Wang Liping, so is not an autobiography in the literal sense, and was subsequently translated, so there are multiple layers of interpretation here. On the other hand, I wonder just how deeply a sophisticated intention can influence things like this.

hahaha I was mistaken by the definition of autobiography. Goes to show that I am a Computer Engineer major and not an English major. XD

As for the correct placement of this thread; I do not mean to delude the focus of the sub-forum and in hind-sight I do believe that it belongs somewhere else if the focus is for scholarly discussion rather than opinionated interpretation.

I guess it would be better placed in general discussion. Moderator!

This book is the story of Wang Liping (aka. "WANG Yong-sheng"), who is the 18th generation transmitter of the Dragon Gate sect of the Northern Complete Reality School of Taoism.

Sure this school may have some Confucianism and Buddhism tied into the Taoism but it is still mainly Taoist.

I believe that any autobiography of any transmitter of sorts of any sect of any school of Taoism would be considered Taoist textual studies.

Each one of these people lead by example and we may learn a lot about the Way through their experiences.

this is considered taoist textual study?

why not?

To share with others; the good and the bad. Mutuality.

When someone reaches a level of self mastery, they heal others by simply being themselves. The higher their mastery and skill, the more widespread the affect. Zhuangzi speaks much on the trap masters fall into by teaching with words and becoming chained to the needs of others as opposed to the freedom and unhindered potential open to those who radiate their healing invisibly.

 

We don't need to intentionally send out instructions for how others need to heal - that is Inferior Virtue. Superior Virtue is in trusting and allowing all to happen the way it needs to - allowing and trusting the tao to operate at its highest level, not controlling based on our own highest level. The power of wholeness inspires wholeness all around it, and operates on myriad layers at once.

I believe this. It is not what he does that makes him a master. It is who he is that makes him a master. Just by acknowledging his existence can help someone.

I don't even touch 5 hour energy. There's like 2-3 caffeine pills in those little things! I admit though that the crash was smooth.

Also, (after a bit of reading) you are right. A 5 hour energy has 200mg caffeine; which is over double of Pu-erh ceremony. So i retract my previous comments of it being equivallent or even a good choice. I just avoid all that BS and stck to the herbs and beans.

This book in particular is great for tuning into the big picture, getting a sense of reasoning behind various phases of development, and good exposure to the hidden-in-plain-sight aspect of taoist art. Read between the lines, absorb the essence, and allow that essence to have a place inside of you without needing to fully understand.

Will do.

I just recently started (on chapter 3 today) so i will take this into conseiderartion as i continue.

Great advice as always, Daeluin

Well, I am not familiar with Zazen so I don’t know if energy drinks will aid or impede with that technique.

Yet, I would think that excessive anything in a nutritional sense would not help any kind of meditation. Usually energy drinks have excess sugars and caffeine so i would not personally intake one prior to a session.

I know that some types of energy drinks have less caffeine and no sugar.

5 Hour Energy is a good example, its main energy components are caffeine and B12 vitamins. (As much caffeine as a typical Pu-erh Gong Fu tea session)

If you really want to have an energy drink before meditation i would say that tea or coffee (1 cup) with some honey would be your best bet (nutritionally and financially). No excess sugars or caffeine. No foreign chemical doing whatever it is that they do to your body.

A wide, deep, assisted horse stance is great for strengthening muscles used in the full lotus. I use my hands to push my legs further apart in the deep horse stance position, which really helps to stretch the hips. Flexible hips are key to a good full lotus.

A deeper horse stance will help my Taijiquan also!

Good advice.

Is this a troll thread?

http://zenmontpellier.voila.net/eng/lotus/lotuseng.html

Great Stuff and exactly what i was looking for. I definitely bookmarked this.

well... I would say start with half lotus. But there's a huge thread on full lotus in the archives. I'll see if i can find it ... well, here are a few threads on the subject:

 

http://thetaobums.com/topic/14194-getting-to-full-lotus/

 

http://thetaobums.com/topic/12514-what-is-so-special-about-full-lotus/

 

http://thetaobums.com/topic/21518-my-first-full-lotus-experiences/

 

(searching tip: go to google and search "thetaobums ________ " put whatever you want in place of the underline)

I guess this would have been the right course of action before starting a duplicate thread. Was not thinking straight. XD

Thank you.

I am currently trying to limber up enough to sit in full lotus position.

I am not unfamiliar with proper stretching techniques and all the basics of fitness.

I was only wondering if anyone had personal advice concerning specific techniques to limber up to successfully sit in full lotus.

Opening the Dragon Gate: The Making of a Modern Taoist Wizard by Chen Kaiguo, Zheng Shunchao, and Thomas Cleary.

"This authorized biography of the contemporary Taoist expert Wang Liping (1949 -) tells the true story of his apprenticeship in Taoist wizardry, as well as Taoist principles and secrets of inner transformation. The 18th-generation transmitter of Dragon Gate Taoism, Wang Liping is heir to a tradition of esoteric knowledge and practice accumulated and refined over eleven centuries. This is the first English translation by noted writer Thomas Cleary of the authorized biography by two longtime disciples of this living master of the Dragon Gate branch of the Complete Reality school of Taoism, which integrated Buddhism and Confucianism into a comprehensive new form of Taoism."

I was just wondering if anyone has read this and had any thoughts concerning any subject of the book.

After reading a couple interpretations of this hexagram, I couldnt help but wonder what all of you fine individuals think of it.

Hexagram #1

Heaven- "Force", "the creative", "strong action", "the key", and "god".

What dos it mean to you to emulate the heavens?